I was conscious of the fact that my perceptions of the city were restricted to a rather narrow and attractive portion of it around the University and the downtown area. I thought it was time to see some more so I hopped on the first bus I saw and let it take me for a ride. 30-40 minutes later I stepped out in an area given over to large public buildings and a large shallow lake. Walking around it I came to a rather upscale road featuring a number of Western style cafes which did indeed feature a scattering of Westerners. This seemed one particular type of Westerner, more the business type than the backpacker or student. Maybe I haven’t been here long enough to feel any desire to step back into a Western style place, maybe I will will not venture to these sort of ex-pat bars and cafes. Time will tell.
It did strike me that I should frequent this strip, even if only for research, as some of the Westerners here may be able to help me with some of my questions. I think it is the memory of stepping into a particular type of ex-pat bar in Beijing that has put me off. Inside it they were holding a month-long drinking contest. When you ordered a drink you told the person behind the bar which country you were from. Your consumption would then be added to your country’s tally so that you were in effect drinking for England or drinking for Australia or wherever because at the end of the month the totals would be calculated and the winning country’s drinkers treated to a piss up on the house. As if they needed another one. Suffice to say I didn’t support the nation on that occasion. Now of course that was just one place and I didn’t see anyone downing chasers on this Sunday afternoon in Xiamen so I should perhaps be a little more inquisitive. Next time.
I later saw my first Chinese jogger. I felt like this was more my sort of person.
During a walk of several hours another rather striking thing became clear. I saw practically no CCTV cameras. I saw many guards sitting in their little boxes by gates but no cameras. The UK however is absolutely bristling with cameras, we have the greatest concentration, by some way, of any country in the world. Not so in Xiamen. I had to wonder what this constant surveillance does to your sense of space and personal privacy and whether removing the cameras removes this internal sense of being watched. One thing that is for sure is that I feel more safe here than I do in London or Portsmouth where random violence and gang behaviour is not exceptional though usually avoidable. I have seen none of that here and I it makes me think the CCTV cameras are about something other than security exactly.
I recall having a bag of mine stolen in Hoxton a couple of years ago. It was beside me and whisked away in plain view of the many police cameras and when I immediately reported it to the police they said they didn’t have the time to look over the images. They had bigger fish to fry, as it were. I suspect if I had been Lord Aitchison it would have been another matter altogether.
So why this British trust in technology to deliver us to a cleaner, safer future when all it seems to do is televise muggings and produce a pixilated image of hooded assailants? I think it has more to do with addressing a public perception of crime which is quite unrelated to the actual incidence of it.
In any case, upon returning to my compound what did I see at the entrance but CCTV cameras! It seems I live in a rather special gated community. In spite of any efforts I might make to the contrary I seem to still be in an island of the West.
