Poznan Radio

[imomus]

Hisae had to renew her visa, so we jumped aboard the Berlin-Warszawa Express and went to Poznan. It was my first trip to Poland. Here, in the form of a radio programme, are my first impressions. As a Polish pope dies Hisae and I watch Wong Kar Wai's 2046 in Cantonese with Polish subtitles, look at paintings, sit in cafes, admire the architecture, read design books, lie in the sun on the central square... and try to figure out why the local skinheads are wearing White Power Poland t-shirts when we can't see a single non-white person in town.

Poznan Radio (mono mp3 file, 39 mins 17 secs, 17.9MB)

Comments

Re: Momus banned in China shock

[sarmoung.livejournal.com]

It's unlikely, but we'll see (err, no pun intended!). Christianity has had its chances before in China: the so-called Nestorians from around the 7th century (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/781nestorian.html) (with some later encouragement during the Yuan Dynasty), the subsequent Jesuit missions (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/vatican/romechin.html) from the late 16th century and Western missionary activity (such as the China Inland Mission under Hudson Taylor (http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorptaylor.html)) in the 19th and early 20th.

I don't think China had anything particular to fear from Christianity in these forms and I suggest, turgid hymn singing and dour countenances aside, that people like Taylor did their bit to reduce rural immiserification where they found it. The Jesuits came to an end in China because those back in Rome didn't appreciate the sorts of accommodations and compromises those there were making along the way. In particular, the Rites issue, which stemmed mostly from domestic Roman misconceptions about Confucianism. I've no idea what the Nestorians were up to, but it can be suggested that their Syriac Christianity was no more foreign to China than the earlier interloper of Buddhism and became similarly adapted (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/ark/stories/s772906.htm) across time to local cultures.

Nevertheless, each of these events are pretty much a footnote in Chinese history and, certainly until now away, precedent would suggest things either adapt to the Chinese palate or they're spat out. With some reservations, I'd suggest that certainly Buddhism, and to a lesser extent, Confucianism have already been displaced in China. I don't suggest that a framework doesn't remain, but perhaps no much more than that of Christianity in the contemporary West. Or maybe I'm just too eager for the restoration of the Imperial system. Who knows, all those online Chinese gamers might try to recreate earlier historical periods on the ground one day.

I'd disagree that Christianity isn't a universal philosophy, or rather I don't see how it's any less universal than any of the others on offer. Given time, current missionaries might have their zeal thwarted or at least bent by China and something quite unexpected and novel might just come of it. I suspect not and, as a Christian, I'm fearful of most of their activities for it's not Christianity as I recognise it, but then not much is. Nevertheless, history (if I can appeal to something so abstract) suggests that China is all too capable of shaking off its unwanted fleas when required.

Thanks for the post on Poznan. My memories of late communist Poland seem very grey with occasional flashes of the ubiquitous yellow. It seemed the only colour manufactured on any scale at the time. I don't even remember the delicious Polish ice-cream being so luridly coloured.

I blame the Teutonic Knights. Malbork (http://www.zamek.malbork.pl/en/historia/indexh.php) is well worth a visit if you head east from Berlin again.