This article from the China Daily either indicates an opening up of China’s state-run media, or officials in Shanghai have done something serous to anger Beijing. Whatever the case, in this China Daily op-ed, columnist Hong Liang uses the imminent visit of Barack Obama to explain why young people in Shanghai love the president – and loath the ‘authoritarian excess’ that critics regard as the hallmark of the Beijing regime.
For the China Daily, Hong Liang writes in part:
Shanghai has caught Obama fever. … Obama is idolized by Shanghai’s youth because he embodies the personality and character of a leader with whom they can relate to – as opposed to some of the stern-faced Chinese officials they have learned to dread.
Later, relating an encounter with a uniformed official to illustrate his point, Hong Liang writes:
“At the front door of a downtown office building, a Shanghai colleague and I were once ordered by a uniformed guard to get out of a taxi line because we failed to prove we were guests of a tenant there. Seeing no point in arguing with her and not wanting to disturb our host, we walked to the street and got into a taxi making the turn to pick up passengers waiting in the line we just left. We evened the score.
“But at times like these, I wonder how people feel about such official arrogance. The Obama factor has made it clear that many people in Shanghai, particularly the younger ones, feel just as indignant as I do about authoritarian excess.”
By Hong Liang
November 14, 2009
People’s Republic of China – China Daily – Original Article (English)
Shanghai has caught Obama fever.
Scheduled on Monday to make a grand appearance in the mainland’s most cosmopolitan city during his first visit to China, U.S. President Barack Obama is revered by young people here as much for his superstar appeal as for being the leader of the world’s sole superpower.
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