The New York Philharmonic is WHERE?

Retyped word-for-word from saved draft: typed between midnight and one AM [posting clock is not correct]... Hot off the press - just today, February 23, 2008 in he New York Times! We find the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Shanghai: five members of the orchestra at Shanghai Datong High School coaching pupils, including violinist Mei-Ching Huang. This is the orchestra's debut in Shanghai. New York Philharmonic president Zanin Mehta told local journalists, "It astonishes me that we've never been to this cultural capital before." The orchestra was here after visits to Taiwan and Hong Kong. They were to travel to Beijing on Saturday (today-23rd). The Times referred to Beijing as the "staging ground" for the "ballyhooed journey" to North Korea for a concert Tuesday, making "some anxiety among them". That is no surprise. While China supported North Korea in the Korean War, and the two nations share communist ideology, the tables are turned more recently. For one thing, the vibrant economy of South Korea is more commensurate with modern Chinese economic ambitions. But beyond that, recent nuclear threats in North Korea have alarmed China as well as the rest of the world, and China took a leading pro-active role in the 2003 six-party talks. When North Korea fired missiles and tested a small nuclear device in 2006, China's leaders got tough with Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator. (See Shirk, pages 123-127). China needs to be more conciiatory to this bordering regime with past ties and uncomfortably close proximity than does the United States where George Bush proclaims it to be an "axis of evil", but China is not happy with it. It is also no surprise that all of these Asian orchestra appearances were "two years in the making." I found it interesting that "audience members were considerably younger than most at Avery Fisher Hall" [the orchestra's home in Manhattan]. The Times pointed out that a man in his twenties wore a tee-shirt and several people wore stylish leather jackets. Government officials in contrast wore mutually conformist formal drab suits. Globalization has improved the ecnomy of Chinese citizens and introduced them to capitalist concerns for style and individual expression as opposed to communal dress, and also given them the economic means to take advantage of it. In contrast, the fuddy-duddy officials are a page out of the pre-reform past. "At Datong, the Philharmonic deployed three Chinese-speaking members" the Times reported. One, a Ms. Huang, "announced at the outset that she was Taiwanese" because students had some difficulty with her accent. The Times went on to say, "She later said she felt no political overtones in coaching children from the mainlan, given the sensitive relationship between the mainland and her country." To explain the whole history of China-Taiwan relations is beyond the scope of this blog, but it is interesting and perhaps encouraging to see this kind of harmony presently, even if it is an isolated incident and no generally indicative. That raises an interesting question: just how indicative is it? Taiwan is indeed a very sensitive issue, nearly bringing the United States into a war with China in 1996. Japan had taken Taiwan from the Qing government of China in 1895 inj a humiliating war. After World War II, it appeared ostensibly - at least to the Chinese - that with the defeat of Japan, China should get Taiwan back. It didn't happen. The US Navy saw to that. Taiwan is a pride issue, and blown out of proportion by Chinese propaganda in the past to where China can no lo0nger be soft on Taiwan. Public opinion in China is venomous toward what has more recently been emerging as a more-and-more democratic republic (dare I call it that?) The CCP is afraid it will fall if Taiwan wins its independence. This belief is so ingrained it has a life of its own and may be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Yet the Taiwanese musician felt comfortable. Is it because she was dealing with children and not adults? Is there an "emperor's new clothes" lesson here?