Know thy audience.

Today I was physically closer to President Obama than I have ever been - just had to go half-way around the world to do it! The President made his debut visit to China this week. Even if I hadn't heard this via news sources, I would have known because several Chinese locals told me so. More than once upon discovering that I was "Meigouren" (American) a "Zhonggouren" smiled and said "Obama! Come Shanghai!" So I knew, and then I forgot.

This morning, after my Chinese lesson, I hopped in the car to go to the underground market (affectionately known as the fake market) which is just a stone's throw away from, and perhaps even beneath, the Science and Technology Museum.  Just four days ago the kids and I spent the afternoon in this very museum, scoping it out for Obama. Anyway, as I arrived near the entrance to the market I saw all the streets and drives cordoned off with police everywhere. And then I remembered. "Obama!" I said to my driver. "Obama!" my driver said back. (Fascinating how entire conversations happen with just a few simple words given our mutual disfluency in each other's language.) Not one to give up easily, I asked my driver to go talk to the police and see if I could walk past the barricade and to the market entrance. No go, not surprisingly. I began to wonder just how far the access had been blocked. From the S & T museum, one can easily enter the market. And inside the market is the entrance to the subway line. Did the whole town shut down?

So, yes - Obama came to Shanghai and he went to a museum very close to where we live and by which Sarah and Zach's school bus drives everyday. And then I read this article posted via AP:

http://news.aol.com/article/obamas-first-visit-to-china/767596?cid=12

and the headline is:  "Obama Presses for Freedoms in China: President Says Country Should Stop Censoring Internet Access".

And I wonder... Really??  What a great idea - I am so surprised nobody has thought to bring this to the Chinese governments attention.  This select paragraph, from Obama's speech to the young chldren in the audience, says it all:

"I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable," Obama said Monday in a town hall with students during his first-ever trip to China. "They can begin to think for themselves."

 

The citizens can hold their government accountable. The citizens can begin to think for themselves. I haven't been here long, but I am pretty sure the government here will not be saving that speech in their archives.    I miss YouTube.