A Campaign, In Spirit

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It would be very hard to miss Beijing’s current slogan of choice. Beijing Spirit: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, and Virtue. Red banners and posters proclaim these four virtues all across Beijing along roadways and in all manner of public gathering places. These are hard to miss. Or they would be hard to miss, that is, unless you’ve lived in Beijing your entire life.
Six months ago the local government in the Capitol of China launched its Beijing Spirit Campaign in an effort to promote values and concepts which would embody a modern Beijing. To be clear, however, the words chosen did not originate from common Beijingers, but rather from a panel of 30 experts from universities and research centers who came up with 5 different word clusters. These 5 choices were posted on popular Chinese sites like Sina and Sohu to be voted on. The winning word cluster, totaling four values and eight characters took the voting with a 60% majority.
The whole process did involve the basic citizen, with over 3 million votes being cast. Unfortunately the voters likely only comprised people who frequent the websites in question, and may have entirely missed the older generations. More importantly, while voting did take place, the members of the expert panel are the only ones who can really take credit. The four values are their brainchild, and it is clear which direction they were trying to go with their various clusters. Inclusiveness and Innovation are clearly the ideas being pushed the hardest as they each appeared in multiple of the five nominated clusters.
Beijing can claim to be an “inclusive” city according to United Nations standards introduced in 2000. Beijing gives everyone who looking for opportunities the same treatment and rights regardless of who or what they are, but lately this does not seem to extend to foreigners. The ongoing 100 day crackdown on illegal foreigners, although fully justified, doesn’t encourage Beijingers to want to be inclusive to their foreign neighbors. On the contrary, they are encouraged to call official hotlines to turn in those suspected of overstaying or holding improper visas. Perhaps inclusiveness is not meant to refer to non-Beijingers.
Innovation is something that any modern city would love to brag about. It is unclear, however, whether innovation is something that can really be seen in Beijing more than anywhere else in the China, or whether the campaign merely hopes to encourage more innovation by telling everyone how innovative they are. Virtue on the other hand should be something with which Beijingers are already familiar. Beijing, like other cities in China, derives its virtue and morality from the same sources which influenced morals and culture in here for thousands of years. China’s rich history has produced many important thinkers and philosophers who are still held in high regard today. Confucius is perhaps the most respected of these, and Confucius institutes are a visible symbol of China’s effort to promote Chinese language and culture around the world. Now, it appears that the Beijing is trying to promote Chinese morals and culture to Chinese citizens in Beijing as well.
Patriotism, according to the official government statement was included due to the great patriotic reaction to events like the Beijing Olympics of 2008. This value is actually somewhat tangible, given that the infrastructural benefits created in Beijing to facilitate the Olympics are still in place and one can even occasionally still see an Olympic mascot toy being sold. After spending $40 billion, most countries would hope that a little patriotism would result, and if vestiges of 2008 are any indicator, one could even forget that the 2008 Olympics are already four years in the past. By comparison the London games have barely been mentioned in the last few months outside commercials featuring various Chinese Olympians.
Regardless of the perceived wisdom or lack of regarding each of the four values, the subsequent promotion has been considerable. Banners hang beside or over almost all major motorways, and also grace subways and construction sites. Posters in myriad shapes and forms are everywhere.
The question I asked Beijingers was simple. How many of the four values can you name? Of ten locals I asked, 3 were able to correctly name all four (2 were taxi drivers who drive past banners all day). The ten foreigners I asked fared slightly better, with four getting 100%. Does this mean that the only ones receiving the message of the Beijing Spirit Campaign are taxi drivers and some foreigners? Not at all, it means that maybe culture and spirit can’t be defined by a panel of experts and banners, no matter how good the panel or how red the banners. Spirit starts with people. The sooner some people realize this, the sooner we may start to see some posters worth a second glance.