The Chinaphiles: Interview with Jessica Beinecke, Creator of OMG! Meiyu

Ever wonder how American slang translates into different languages? Well, you're about to find out! This month's Chinaphiles interview is Jessica Beinecke (白洁), the creator, writer, host and producer of Voice of America’s viral daily web show “OMG! Meiyu.” In each episode, Beinecke uses Mandarin to teach American slang and culture to her young Chinese audience. With just her Apple laptop and a few props, Beinecke produces “OMG” from her one bedroom apartment in New York City, and has garnered 20 million hits since July 2011. In addition to OMG! Meiyu, Beinecke hopes to broaden her production company's cross-cultural impact with more in-depth views into the lives of young people in China and the U.S. I was eager to find out the behind-the-scenes information on how OMG! is made, how Beinecke mastered Chinese, and her favorite Chinese slang. 

 Jessica Beinecke, Creator of OMG! Meiyu

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Chinaful News: Secretary Clinton's Trip to Asia

US-China relations have been at the forefront of American foreign policy since Nixon's 1972 visit -- a delicate dance between two behemoths, each with their own economic and political interests to assert. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is traveling in the region and plans to make the customary stop in Beijing. She will meet with President Hu Jintao and his apparent successor, Xi Jinping (check out Chinaful's coverage of Xi Jinping's visit to the US here). I tweeted my approval for her robust Asia itinerary earlier this week -- Cook Islands, Indonesia, China, Timor-Leste, Brunei, and Russia.   

{Clinton on a previous visit to Asia to meet with Republic of Korea, via Chinaful's Pinterest}

Yet, not everyone viewed Secretary Clinton's itinerary as positively. Los Angeles Times - World published yesterday that Beijing is not happy with what it perceives as US efforts to exert dominance on the foreign stage.

"Many Chinese people dislike Hillary Clinton,” the often-acerbic Communist Party-controlled Global Times newspaper stated in an editorial. “She has brought new and extremely profound mutual distrust between the mainstream societies of the two countries."  Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was more polite, saying at a briefing in advance of Clinton’s arrival late Tuesday, “We hope the U.S. side will keep its commitment and make efforts that help, rather than harm, regional peace and stability.”

It appears at least part of China's qualms are with Clinton's proposal of a code of conduct administered by ASEAN for disputes that arise between China and neighbors Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia regarding uninhabited islets. Though this issue does not hold the same political significance for China as say, the Taiwan Straits, it does mess with the Sino-centric nature of Asian politics that remains from more than 2,000 years of Imperial China's dominance.

Many of the smaller countries in Asia were formerly part of China's tributary system, bringing lavish gifts to the Emperor in exchange for protection during conflict. Specifically, Japan, the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia, as well as Korea, Siam (now Thailand), and Burma sent tribute missions to various dynasties. Even the West (England, Italy, Netherlands, to name a few) submitted to China's tributary system during Imperial China's rule in order to trade with the East. After the fall of the dynastic system, the Chinese tributary system also failed. Western influence in the region rose at the same time through occupation in China's foreign concessions as well as colonization of South East Asia.  

Placed in this context, quotes in the article make more sense. China sees Western involvement in regional politics as a threat to its own dominance in Asia -- not out of paranoia, but rather based on past experience.  

“We feel there are too many different countries ganging up on us. The U.S. is playing the role of the aggressor here .... It is a sign of their insecurity in the global arena," said Xu Guangyu, a retired military officer and analyst for the China Arms Control and Disarmament Assn. in Beijing.

“The concurrent themes that run through this is a strong, determined effort on the part of the United States to underscore our rebalancing toward the Asia Pacific region, to make clear that we’re here to stay,” is how a senior State Department official described the trip Thursday on the eve of Clinton’s departure.

For its part, the official New China News Agency editorialized last week that the trip is “aimed at curbing China’s growing influence,” “stirring up disputes” and perpetuating the “surreal ambition of ruling the Asia-Pacific and the world.”

In her speeches over the last week, Clinton has tried to back away from criticizing China and to downplay the rivalry. “After all, the Pacific is big enough for all of us,” she said during her first stop in Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands, where she attended a Pacific Islands Forum.

My two cents? The US should maintain its involvement in the region but refrain from spearheading political reform regarding issues of minor importance to US interests.  

Reading Between the Newspaper Lines on Xi Jinping US visit

As reported in several major US media outlets, PRC Vice President Xi Jinping, the “heir apparent” to current PRC President Hu Jintao, will be visiting the US this week. Once elected later this year, Xi will lead the PRC for 2 consecutive 5-year terms. With US-China relations in somewhat of a precarious position, the fact that China’s future head of state is traveling to the White House later this week is understandably a major event. Interestingly, as reported in the Global Post, another planned public appearance on Xi Jinping's US visit will be in Iowa.  

Xi Jinping hosts US Vice President Joe Biden in 2011 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.                                     

Source: flickr.com via Courtney on Pinterest

These reports probably raise a few questions in your mind, including:

How can Xi Jinping be an “heir apparent” when there will be an election? Do reporters mean "heir apparent" in the same way that it seems Romney will get the Republican nomination?

No, it’s very different. First, the election of the PRC President is not public – the only direct elections in China are at the most local level, the village councils and the local People’s Congress. All other officials are elected by a vote of representatives at the level below it, such that the President of the PRC is elected by the National People’s Congress, the national legislative body. This vote by the NPC, however, is more of a ratification than a true election. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decides who will be the President long before the election through a variety of strategic appointments. China Law & Policy provided an excellent analysis of the rise of Xi Jinping in Sept. 2009 if you are interested in the specifics of Xi’s rise and how the PRC President is elected.  (It’s also fascinating to see how early Xi’s rise could be tracked!)

Why is Xi Jinping visiting Iowa?

The Global Post reported Xi’s purpose in traveling to Iowa is to reunite with the same farmers he met with 27 years ago in his position as an agricultural official. In fact, some of the original Iowans no longer live in the state but still plan to return for the Vice President’s visit. Why this rendezvous? I agree with the Global Post article that the Chinese government is limiting Xi’s interactions in the US to curtail any possibilities of bad press. But I also think it’s a calculated move perhaps on Xi’s part to highlight his “down-home” roots when he was sent by the Communist Party to serve as a laborer in Shaanxi province during the Cultural revolution. The LA Times discusses how the CCP has tried to counter assertions that Xi’s rise to power is due to political positions held by his father, former Vice Premier of China and party secretary of Guangdong. Xi represents in many ways the new leaders of China – he is educated, benefited from privilege and has served as a politician most of his life. After the founding of the PRC in 1949, political leaders were primarily leaders from the military and engineering sectors, with the intention of departing from the corrupt rule of aristocrats from China’s past and moving toward an industrial future. Hu Jintao graduated from Tsinghua University with a degree in hydraulic engineering and worked as an engineer for several years before his political career; Xi also graduated from Tsinghua with a degree in engineering, but entered political life much more quickly thanks in part to his father’s network. The CCP and society are not so anti-bourgeois as in the past, but just as US presidential candidates are quick to pitch themselves as “one of us,” Xi and the CCP stand to benefit from public support garnered through an “everyman” pictorial.    

Why do the reports refer to him as “Xi” when it looks like his last name is “Jinping”?

In Chinese, the last name is written first. (Kudos to NYT and LA Times for getting this right, I’ve seen it written incorrectly even by the best publications.)  If you’re not sure whether an author has written a Chinese name in the proper order, you can usually tell which is the last name by looking for the shorter name.  Chinese last names are generally one syllable (e.g. "Xi") with first names of either one or two characters (e.g. "Jinping").