Today is an unofficial holiday in America. It does not memorialize a deceased notable nor an historic military victory. It commemorates fun and was created by the American people themselves.
The pursuit of happiness is right there in the American Declaration of Independence alongside life and liberty in the trinity of American desiderata. Happiness is part of America's soul.
It seems to me that happiness forms a larger part of America's soul than that of the rest of the west but it is part of the western soul generally too. "Ode to Joy," by a German, Beethoven, is the official anthem of the European Union.
It is my impression that happiness does not form as large a part of China's soul. My experience is limited and limited to the serious in China but I cannot recall a single instance of the kind of thing one can't avoid in the west: someone telling a joke, or relating a humorous anecdote, play (except the kids on the playground of the school where Teacher Bian was murdered, that is organized play), couples holding hands, friends involved in light-hearted repartee on the street, in restaurants or cafes. I can say that I never recall seeing anyone in Beijing "having fun."
The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics brought much joy to western viewers. My younger lawyer colleagues, knowing of my interest in China, excitedly asked, "Did you see? Did you see?" I hadn't, and didn't until October 2009 in a hotel room in Providence Rhode Island, and when I did I was creeped out.* The Opening Ceremony didn't look to me to be an authentic expression by Chinese of something essentially Chinese. To me it looked like something Chinese did for foreigners, to impress them, or to make them happy.
Was it authentic? No. Geremie R. Barme wrote in The China Quarterly** that the vast majority of the performers were P.L.A. soldiers, not common Chinese from all walks of life. They were the military arm of the state. They were also trained that it was their political duty to smile and wave while performing.
The subject of this post was brought to mind last Saturday evening as I was thinking about how to respond to XYZ' last email. She has written about a "spiritual situation," I am writing about "seeking the soul." Though similar, those two ideas are different as used by each of us and I can't just ask XYZ, "What is the soul of China?" That's an inane question unless two people are clearly thinking about the same thing, and she and I are not yet.
My girlfriend and I were on our way to dinner at a fancy restaurant but there was an hour's wait so we walked around looking for a substitute. We settled on an eatery categorized in American restaurant nomenclature as "casual dining." "Characteristics" came to mind as a less-flaky substitute for soul, and since I am American and was in America I was thinking of American characteristics and American characteristics were suggested by the visual imagery in the casual dining establishment: casual...obese...silly; this last by the omnipresence of televisions in the restaurant. They were, and are, everywhere in America, even at the gas pumps! Television, like Song Yaowu and China's blocking of this blog, annoys me beyond all reason. It "pushes my buttons" in the American patois. In more clinical psychological terms it is a "known stressor." I glanced about for a hammer.
When we were seated at our table I began thinking about American television more dispassionately. All of the reasons it pushes my buttons seem, to me, legitimate: it is silly, it is dumb, it is a narcotic, it bores worm holes in your brain. An American football game, the "Pro Bowl," which is the National Football League's all-star game, was showing on the tvs (tvs, plural) in the restaurant. And I thought forward to today's Super Bowl and mentally added "excess" to silly, dumb, narcotic, and wormhole-bored. Television, especially televised sports, especially the Super Bowl, is a guide marker to a part of the American soul. For Americans, television is fun, it makes them happy, and happiness is a big part of the American soul.
*Public Occurrences, October 18, 2009.
**China's Flat Earth. History and 8 August 2008, vol. 197, March 2009.
