During a week when China’s national legislature held its annual session in Beijing, and top leaders made high-profile speeches on policy goals with implications for the country’s — and the world’s — economy, the chatter in China was somewhat bizarrely over, well, unused vaginas.
An over-the-top satirical ‘Agony Uncle’ column by a faux Italian in Beijing, published on March 4 in the official, nationalistic Global Times newspaper, in which he offered ‘advice’ on a question about what happens to female reproductive body parts if they are unused for long, drew unflattering media attention — and was even deleted from its online edition.
The issue also highlighted the ongoing search for a new identity among China’s traditionally staid official media, particularly as they seek to gain a bigger voice among foreign audiences and make themselves more appealing.
The question that haunts them, however, is whether in trying to shed the stereotypical images of Chinese humourlessness with trendy tongue-in-cheek humour, Chinese mainstream media are perhaps slipping up on racial and gender stereotyping of the tasteless kind.
At the heart of the chatter is a contribution by a foreign columnist resident in Beijing who writes under the pseudonym of ‘Alessandro’ and purveys straight-faced Borat-like satirical outpourings that are, from all accounts, hugely popular among the expatriate community who know it for what it is.
Much of the advice that ‘Alessandro’ dispenses relates to relationships, particularly sexual relationships — although he’s been known to respond to questions on the merits of using Coke to clean toilets. They abound in racial and gender stereotypes that, Alessandro’s critics say, won’t be tolerated in societies
with a heightened sensitivity to such cultural nuances.
And although many readers acknowledge that Alessandro’s Italian identity is an obvious sham, it’s a consideration they’re willing to overlook.
But one female Wall Street Journal reporter was incensed enough to write a blogpost on Alessandro’s column, which she said “manages to fit in plenty of xenophobic stereotypes, sexism, nonsense and foul language, seemingly intent on offending almost everyone in under 400 words.”
In particular, the March 4 column, she added, “is so vulgar we cannot even think of a way to summarise it for a family newspaper’s website... (suffice it to say it involves an incoherent
and offensive discussion of the female anatomy).”
Curiously, the WSJ post was criticised by readers asking the journalist to “lighten up”, and not draw Chinese censors’ attention to the Global Times’ attempts at finding a new idiom.
Nevertheless, Alessandro’s March 4 column was deleted from Global Times’ website. “Admittedly, the joke is sophomoric and perhaps should have been killed with better judgement,” noted Jacob Li, an editor at Global Times.
But, importantly, Global Times has decided not to spike the Alessandro column — although a keener editorial eye will likely be kept for inappropriate content.
According to an insider, the decision had been taken “after extensive closed-door negotiations.” The “spirit of Alessandro”, noted Li, “will live on in a good way.” The official Chinese media’s search for a new identity and a new voice, it appears, is still a work in progress.
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