We live, as the supposed Chinese expression partly goes, in interesting times. For the West generally, and America in particular, part of the contemporary malaise derives from the fact that, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, the world is no longer unipolar. The rise of China, though long anticipated, has nevertheless been swift. In his memoir BEIJING BOUND: A Foreigner Discovers China, author Glen Loveland refers to the country as “dynamic, modern, and sexy… everything that America was not.” A deep affection for the country, its people, and its culture is evident—though the book also expresses considerable concern over what lies ahead.
After seven years in Washington, Loveland, a self-described dreamer, left for a twelve-month sojourn in China in 2007 that ultimately stretched to a twelve-year stay. Life on the Hill during the George W. Bush years—Loveland worked as press secretary for a Democratic congressman—caused him much discomfort and dismay over what he saw as the gradual failure of America’s “Great Experiment.” A public relations job in Beijing provided the necessary change—though Loveland soon discovered that he was at least partly being hired for his ethnicity, as a prominent seat in his new office building next to a street-facing window amply demonstrated.
The usual experiences of an American abroad—the curiosity of locals, the struggles with language, the need to answer for America’s foreign policy—are sketched in highly readable prose, although at times the narrative strikes an uncalled-for melodramatic note. For instance, Loveland, having just landed at Beijing, expresses surprise that the “rumors” of pollution were true when a few seconds’ worth of Googling prior would have established that fact beyond doubt. Loveland’s learning curve was a steep one. Office politics, a kaleidoscope of culinary experiences (some wonderful, some diarrhea-inducing), and an entirely unanticipated marriage proposal—Loveland’s would-be wife was apparently lacking in gaydar (Loveland, a gay man, later offers eye-opening comment on the “comrades,” as the local slang had it, in China’s LGBTQIA culture)—elevate the narrative beyond simple travelogue and into the realms of genuine insight into another national culture.
This latter emphasis on relationships forms the heart of the book. Loveland was forward in asking his new acquaintances and friends about the nature of romance and marriage, noting without judgement the transactional nature of the latter—which was at the time beginning to yield to a slightly more permissive approach, as dating websites were already ubiquitous in 2007. But the sexual politics of Beijing—with affairs carried on in plain sight by office bosses; furtive hook-ups organized between men on Craigslist and through the “Language Partners” section of local papers—provide endlessly fascinating material. Loveland ends on an ambiguous and humble note, acknowledging the enigmatic nature of a country that, after his first year of residence, he had only just begun to explore.
Glen Loveland’s first book, BEIJING BOUND: A Foreigner Discovers China, is an endlessly fascinating snapshot of life in Beijing at the very beginning of the twenty-first century.
~Craig Jones for IndieReader