Everybody is Irish (if they want to be)

Today marks my second St. Patrick's day here in Shanghai, and it simply pales in comparison to the festivities in Boston. If you went to school in Boston you KNEW when St. Patrick's day was because it was one of the biggest festivals of the year: Christmas, Your Birthday, St. Patrick's Day. Let's face it, there are a few finite rules to celebrating the holiday, which if obeyed will resulted in an awesome time had by all. 1) Everyone wears green. 2) Everyone claims to be part Irish (no exceptions). 3) Eat something Irish - an Irish fry-up or corned beef. 4) Drink good Irish beer. That's it. 4 Simple rules which, if followed, allow everyone to share in this special holiday. Yes, yes, I'm sure it's nothing like how the holiday is celebrated in Ireland (I imagine that none of the 4 rules actually apply) - but the beauty of St. Patrick's day is that its such an international festival. It's about inclusiveness and togetherness - We're all Irish Today.

I'm intrigued, especially on this most inclusive of holidays, by an advertisement for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai that airs everyday on the subway. Staring the incalculably creepy mascot Hairbo - who resembles the old Crest toothpaste mascot if he had been on happy drugs - the ad opens with this animated creature sways and waves from the hills of Tibet, while young children and women in traditional Tibetan dress excitedly run up and wave along side it. Next Hairbo appears in Xinjiang, the Muslim northwest province of China, amidst Persian looking girls in long flowing dresses dancing to rhythmic drums amids grape vines and feast filled tables. Finally, Hairbo is a giant, standing tall aside the skyscrapers of Hong Kong, peeking and waiving from behind the buildings, bridges and peaks of the stunningly beautiful city. All three places Hairbo promotes the World Expo are gorgeous - and I wonder if all 3 would rather consider themselves separate from China.

It seems strange to me that someone (the government?) is trying to create buzz and excitement over the expo in the same way it was created for the Olympics. For the Olympics, China's status as host to the world spurred patriotism and excitement, but how can it work again when the fact is that the expo won't generate half the buzz the Olympics did. I'd even go so far as to doubt the people of Tibet and Xinjiang know there still IS a world expo (did you?), let alone that it will be in China. Why do the advertisements for the expo revolve around fringe elements of Chinese society?

In light of St. Patrick's Day, when everyone is happy to call themselves Irish, this ad crashes headlong into a mental divide I cannot seem to bridge. The people of China, never mind it's government, will fight vehemently that these societies are part of China and that they always have been, yet at the same time they slight them at every chance they get, blaming them for all the crime and making it difficult to create upward mobility or move to cities. Maybe I'd feel better about it if my students didn't tell me Tibet is a dangerous place, or that most of the crime in Shanghai is from migrant Xinjiangnese, but as it is these 'Chinese citizens' seem to be disregarded as second class and only trumpeted when images of national unity are desired. No matter how great China claims to be, or how inclusive it tells it's people it is, I don't know of a holiday where people claim to be Chinese. Go Ireland.