Stories from South China

03 Aug
By Emily. Posted August 3, 2006 at 7:51 pm. Filed under Stories from South China. Permalink. Subscribe to this post’s comments. Post a comment or leave a trackback.

Hebe-Bi Jeebies

"Are you Jews?" "What?" "You and your husband, are you Jews?" "I'm Jewish, but my husband isn't. Why do you ask?" I was very surprised the first time I had this conversation with a Chinese person. It is not unusual for other Americans to guess that I'm Jewish. The hair and the nose usually give it away. But I was surprised that anyone in China would be able to guess my religion. I assumed that to most Chinese, all white people would look the same. I guess not. I have told a few of our Chinese colleagues that I was Jewish, and their faces really lit up with curiosity. They don't know anything about Jews. They think we are extremely smart and exceedingly rare. It seems like finding out an American friend is Jewish is similar to knowing your co-worker is from Africa and then finding out he is Massai. One of the Chinese teachers at this University said she was very interested in Judaism, so I explained a little bit about the religion. I told her that Judaism was focused around the study of the five books of the Torah, and that by studying those books we learn how to lead a good life. In that way, Judaism has a lot in common with Confucianism in China, they are both centered around holy books. She asked what it meant for Jews to lead a good life. I said that in Judaism, as in Confucianism, you have to study your whole life to figure it out. The issue of religion came up again in my last lesson with the summer campers. I asked my students to come up with differences between Americans and Chinese. Sirius said, "Most Americans believe in God and angels, and most Chinese believe in this..." and she put her hands together in imitation of the Buddha. I decided to skip over the issue of angels when I responded, "yes, most Americans do believe in God. Most Americans are Christians, but there are also many other religions in America. There are Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and some people who have no religion at all." "WHAT ABOUT YOU?" my class cried out, almost in unison. When I told them that I was Jewish, they immediately asked, "what about your necklace?" Josh calls it my cosmic life-saver. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was called out for using someone else's religious symbol. For the past several months I have been wearing a bi pendant. A bi (pronouced bee, with a falling tone) is a flat, jade disc with a hole in the middle. I wear it hung from a red string, as do many Chinese. They wear it long and low, so that it is sometimes covered up by a shirt. I wear mine tight around my neck to show it off. It is supposed to protect me from evil spirits (which could either mean ghosts or baijiu) and give me a long life. The bi is an ancient symbol in China. It goes back to neolithic times. Josh and I saw some two-thousand-year-old bis at a museum in Guangzhou. They were unearthed in the 1980's, along with the remains of a Nan Yue Emperor. The bi pre-dates Confucianism and Buddhism, and has probably been used by scores of other religions in the past 5000 years. While this wandering Jew is passing through the Middle Kingdom, I will be using it, too.

8 Comments

  1. 1
    Betty
    August 4, 2006 at 12:19 am
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    What a wonderful title! And yes, you belong to a great race of Wandering Jews. And the world is so much better for it. xoxo

  2. 2
    The Humanaught
    August 4, 2006 at 12:57 am
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    Hey Emily, good post. Have you been following the lambasting that Mr. Gibson’s getting for his anti-semitic comments? Now, and please don’t label me the same, I don’t mean to sound insensitive about this - but do you think all this talk about his “career being over” and “the final nail…” is well founded?

    I mean, is it just reactionary? Do you think it’d be as much a big deal if much of Hollywood wasn’t populated with high-profile people of the Jewish faith?

    Sorry, I know it’s a bit unfair to make you the spokesperson for the Jewish people… but I’m here in N. America at the moment and it’s ALL the news… it’s beat out the crap in Lebanon a couple times now… just wanted some perspective on it.

  3. 3
    Emily
    August 4, 2006 at 6:20 am
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    Ooooh, celebrity gossip! Everyone loves to see the rich and good-looking (or in Gibson’s case, formerly good-looking) get their comeuppance. It doesn’t matter whether the object of our schadenfreude is Catholic, Jewish or Scientologist.

    There are many Jewish people in prominent positions in the movie business. There have been ever since the days of Charlie Chaplin, who had quite a fall from grace himself. Jewish people may be represented disproportionately, but they don’t run Hollywood. The only thing running that industry is the market. And if Gibson makes an all-Aramaic Sado-Christmas story (imagine Joseph being thrown off a bridge and Mary whipped with a cat o’nine tails…) no Hollywood cabal is going to keep it away from a multi-plex near you.

  4. 4
    Josh
    August 4, 2006 at 7:39 am
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    I have to disagree with Emily on this one. Schadenfreude is somehow more fulfilling when its object is a Scientologist. Call me small-minded and petty.

    Still, whether or not the Jews (or, more precisely, the gay Jews) run Hollywood is immaterial to this scandal qua scandal. It’s not the drinking and driving, either. DUI is commonplace in the States. Ask any American middle school civics student, and they’re likely to tell you it’s a prerequisite for a position in the Executive Branch.

    The true scandal here is that Mel made those remarks while only testing a .12 BAC. According to the handy BAC calculator, that’s about 8 beers over a 4 hour period. C’mon, Mel! You’re a disgrace to the Australia that sired you.

    Actually, Emily and I have some stories of Mr. Gibson’s escapades in Philadelphia while filming that pseudo-Calvinist, hydrophobic alien stinker, Signs. I could share them with the world, but I won’t.

    Why not? The reason why this Mel thing is all over the news is that (unfortunately for the Republic) news is market-driven, too. You asked why this is a story. This is a story because we’re talking about it. The only way to turn this into a non-story is by not talking about it. Let’s not talk about it. A drunk actor with anti-Semitic opinions gets a DUI. He’s just another actor. He’s just another drunk. He’s just another anti-Semite. It’s just another DUI.

    And please don’t think I’m being hypocritical. I really hope Mr. Gibson is wrong about his particular Judgment Day/Book of Life scenario. Because if he’s right, God’s going to have put in one awfully big strike against me for knowing what “Brangelina” stands for when there are more important things in the world to do.

    (editor’s note: I took out the phrase “Mumbo Jumbo”, because it was an insulting, small-minded perspective that I didn’t really mean. However, Scientology isn’t a religion (LRH said so), and I was only joking, so I don’t feel bad about that bit. - JM)

    (editor’s note part deux: Sorry. I checked the Scientology website. It self-identifies as a religion. I took out the word “humiliation.”  The rest is my willful small-mindedness. We must allow room for some good clean fun. If you are a Scientologist, please don’t be offended. Nothing you could possibly believe is wackier than transubstantiation, a scripture read via secret decoder ring, the bit about the wheels within wheels from Ezekiel, a cowherd who makes out with 1,000 milkmaids at once or ascension from the Dome of the Rock, and I consider all of those creeds perfectly valid theses. - JM)

  5. 5
    The Humanaught
    August 7, 2006 at 9:09 am
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    @Josh: you crack me up.

  6. 6
    molly
    August 9, 2006 at 11:35 am
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    That was such a great entry. I cant wait to go to China and learn more about the people! I also cant wait to go and be a jew in china because that sounds cool too.
    Gibson isnt worth commenting about. Who is Gibson?
    -molly

  7. 7
    Gena Marshall
    August 10, 2006 at 12:47 am
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    Can’t resist a Gibson comment. As a lover of conspiracy theories, I’ve got to suggest the possibility that Trey Parker and Matt Stone put Mel Gibson up to his stunt. Maybe they hypnotized him. Maybe he lost a dare. One way or the other, the story of his freak-out is just too closely parallels the South Park episode where the boys go to Mel Gibson’s house to thank him for making The Passion, only to find out he’s old-school-style raving lunatic.

    Em - hope the Bi continues to work it’s magic with evil spirits and beaurocrats alike!

  8. 8
    dharma
    March 6, 2007 at 10:23 pm
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    I dont know why i am looking at these website
    i dont know what i am searching & why i am searching
    i like to studies how much people are develop now in existence

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