Random Thoughts on Chinese New Year
by Mickey Z.
Dissident Voice
January 31, 2003
I was born in the
Year of the Rat. I'm reminded of this because February 1 is Chinese New Year
(ushering in the Year of the Goat). For most Americans, other than ordering
take-out, watching images of the colorful and loud parades in the nation's
various "Chinatowns" is probably the extent of their contact with
anything remotely Chinese.
I've never been
ashamed of having a much-maligned rodent represent my year of birth. Contrary
to public opinion, the rat is a remarkable creature. Here's a little something
I dug up on the web:
"The Norway
rat is the only animal other than man which has been scientifically proven to
both laugh and dream. No doubt many other animals do laugh, or dream, but only
the Norway rat has been proven to. Norway rats' cries are mainly ultrasonic,
too high for most humans to hear, but with suitable electronic equipment young
rats can be heard giggling as they wrestle and play - a sort of staccato, clicking
"Eh eh eh". And in a study published in January 2001, researchers at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported that they had monitored the
brainwaves of rats while solving a maze, and while sleeping afterwards, and
found that the rats seemed to be running the maze again in their sleep."
The rat isn't
the only one suffering from a bum rap. The Chinese provided much of the labor
behind America's brutal westward expansion and were rewarded with the 1882
Chinese Exclusion Act, which read in part:
"Be it
enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety
days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years
next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the
United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension
it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or, having so come
after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain within the United
States."
There's so much
about rats to learn and appreciate:
* Rats have no
gallbladder. They cannot burp or vomit
* Rats
don't have paws; they have hands and feet...the have glands on the bottom of
their feet, so they leave a wet scent trail wherever they walk.
* A rat's
incisors never stop growing. Therefore, they must gnaw.
* A rat's heart
beats 260-600 times in one minute.
* A pair of rats
can produce 15,000 babies in one year.
* Rats begin
breeding as young as 5 weeks of age. Gestation lasts 21 to 24
days, and
females can produce up to seven litters a year, each containing
six to 22 young.
* Rats use their
tails for many functions - balance, temperature control and
communication.
It's important to note that you should never handle a rat by
its tail. The
skin is very sensitive and can cause great distress and even
death to a rat.
* Rats have
highly developed senses, and their ability to climb, jump, burrow
and gnaw gains them entry to places inaccessible to many
other small mammals.
* Rat packs can
include up to 60 individuals (not counting Sinatra).
* History
books often associate the Black Death with rats but it was the fleas living on
the rats that were responsible for spreading the virus.
* In 1996, New
Yorkers reported 184 rat bites...and 1,102 human bites.
Can there be a
new, more agreeable image of China? According to Xi Kiaohe, a reporter for the
China Sports Weekly, there already is, thanks to Yao Ming, the 7' 5"
Chinese basketball player now playing for the Houston Rockets. "People
thought of Chinese people as short and skinny, not fierce, unable to play
competitive sports. Yao has shown that it is wrong." Being a long time martial
artist, these words felt like déjà vu all over again. When Bruce Lee, in the
1972 film Chinese Connection, waded through a Japanese karate school in an orgy
of revenge, he made certain to remind his vanquished foes: "We are not
sick men." The film set box office records in Hong Kong. Fierce enough for
ya?
Somehow, the
word "rat" has become synonymous with betrayal. Maybe human disdain
for this animal is envy-based. They can do so many things we can't:
* A rat can fit
through an opening that is just one half inch wide.
* Rats can
breath under water for two minutes.
* A rat can swim
for three days before it drowns.
* A rat can chew
through concrete.
* In
a college experiment rats were pitted against college students to learn their
way through a maze. The rats learned three times faster than the students
Actually,
there's another way we Americans encounter Chinese life and that's the
ubiquitous "Made in China" label. Practically everything we buy these
days is produced by sweatshop labor, prison labor, child labor, or slave labor
provided by the People's Republic of China. In a telling illustration of
American capitalist evolution, the largest US employer was once General Motors
(GM is now the largest employer in Mexico). Then it was Manpower, Inc., a temp agency.
Today, it's Wal-Mart, a company owned by one of America's richest families...a
company where 50% of its employees are eligible for food stamps...a company
with over 900 factories in th People's Republic of China. Despite (or because of)
all those sweatshops in China, many in America's working class opposed China's
entry into the World Trade Organization. The AFL-CIO declared: "No blank
check for China." Mike Dolan of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch told
the Wall St. Journal: "China, we're coming atcha. There is no question
about it. The next issue is China." Workers were pitted against one
another while transnational corporations profited.
It's fascinating
to behold how particular animals never seem to be accepted. Like the dog, the
rat has taken the first step toward domestication: initiating contact with
humans. Unlike the dog, rats are despised and exterminated.
Good luck,
Goat...
Mickey Z. is the author of The Murdering of My Years: Artists and
Activists Making Ends Meet (www.murderingofmyyears.com) and an editor at Wide
Angle (www.wideangleny.com). He can
be reached at: mzx2@earthlink.net.