The Chinese internet cares about your opinions 😊 However, you may not be pleased at what they may think of some of your views.
I leaned of the Chinese term 白左 Bái-Zuǒ 'White Left' from white Westerners (ironic, eh?). Here, I would like use some of my know-how (reading/translating Chinese), to share with English-language audiences what is being discussed on the Chinese web.
Here's a translation of a passage from the Chinese language Wikipedia entry (accessed 7/29/2018) describing 白左 Bái-Zuǒ:
白左是中国大陆的网络流行语，内涵繁复，语境依赖性强。大概用于称呼某类西方左派，尤其是具左派傾向的白人社會運動份子。
有人认为“白左”一词大概等价于西方的“退步左派”（regressive left）。
Bái-Zuǒ ('White Left') is an Internet slang term from (Mainland) China. Its connotations are complex and strongly depend on context. Broadly, it is used as a label for the political left in the West. More specifically, it refers to left-leaning white socialists.
Some people equate the term "Bái-Zuǒ" with the term "regressive left" used in the West.
And here are some translations from
zhihu.com, comparable to Quora in the Anglo-sphere and
Chie-bukuro in Japan:
简单描述西方左派的心态和风格：
自立自私自谋都是大恶。必须站出来反对一切这种行为。
别人的痛苦都应该视为自己的痛苦。
必须反复原谅别人的过错才是好人。还要让步。
个人（以及“自己人“）什么都不是，不存在这种立场。
争取他人的利益才有意义。所以需要牺牲。
为了自己人而破坏别人，这是一件最尴尬的事情。
但是拯救多数人，不破坏其他人（或者少破坏那些已经过得非常不错的顶层），可以讨论。为了提升大众的生活，当然愿意让 top 1% 多付出一大半资产。人家仍然还很富裕。
Simply put, Bái-Zuǒ describes the attitudes and mannerisms of the left in the West:
That which is done in self-interest in a spirit of self reliance is perceived as a great evil. Anything of this sort must be opposed.
The suffering of others should be viewed as one's own suffering.
To be a good person is to repeatedly forgive the mistakes of others. To do so often means to yield.
The individual (as well as "us") doesn't exist.
We find meaning in struggling for the benefit of those that are not us. Sacrifice is required.
To do something with one's own interests (or one's group's interests) in mind is to enter into a dilemma.
What can be discussed, however, is how to save the majority of people and to not hurt others (or, to do some damage to those who have already ascended to the upper echelons of society). To improve the lives of the masses, we should of course expect the top 1% to contribute a large portion of their wealth to this end. (Even after forcing redistribution) people are still quite well off.
Summarizing some other comments I've read:
The Bái-Zuǒ are perceived as naive, despite high levels of formal education. They are considered self-complacent, prone to "virtue signalling" by, for example, stating their commitments to ideas such as equality on social media. They likewise often seem to have "savior complexes", perceiving themselves as heroes in an unfair world (c.f. Social Justice Warrior).
So there you have it. It's not just the "Alt-Right" or Neonazis or smug centrists that think left-leaning agendas in the US have gone too far. Chinese people can simultaneous be people of color (POCs) and hold views that may be deemed intolerant or extremist in the current political climate.
Are the 网友 wǎngyǒu 'Internet friends' woke, or are you still sleeping?
A couple more language/culture notes:
While making puns makes people sigh and face palm in the West, it has long been recognized as a mark of Wisdom in China. Confucius says, to "make egg roll just push". (joke)
The term 白 bái 'white', has other connotations in addition to its more literal reference to color, and race (which I'll assume here is a borrowing from Western usages; Chinese people can be just as pasty pale as "white people"—it's not just 'skin color')
白菜 báicài "white vegetable" aka bok choy
白白 bái-bái "in vain, for nothing"
白扯淡 bái chědàn "speak rubbish"
白吃 bái chī "scrounge for food"
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| Báicài 'White Vegetable' |
Labels: Chinese, culture, politics
