There Goes the Neighborhood

Personally, the only "There goes the neighborhood..." moment I've had was when the woman living two floors above us decided to remodel her bathroom and therefore now causes the pipes to leak everytime she takes a shower. But thinking on a bigger scale, I realize that the foreign invasion of Asia was a real kind of "Oh shoot me NOW." I read about it today again in The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason, of British India and Burma.

Starting at the beginning with Christopher Columbus' "India", I personally don't like him very much. Or more precisely, I don't like his fame. (I am not jealous.) Although he is the reason why we are all here, and why corn exists in Europe, I dislike the fact that we celebrate him in America even though he didn't discover the present day US. I dislike that he was the cause of smallpox spreading to the Native Americans, and that he came as a missionary to convert them to Christianity. Most people don't care much because all this is offset by the fact that we exist here in America today and whatnot. In comparison, Hitler accomplished a lot in his reign, like the creation of Volkswagen, jet propulsion, and laid a foundation in genetic engineering. But we don't remember him for those things, do we?

Columbus coming to the Americas was like genocide. Genocide like Hitler, genocide like Rwanda. He even came out to explore for treasure; he purposely said he was out to seize the wealth of others. In the end, however, no one cares about that.

As for colonialization of Asia, I'm starting off with the British rule of India in 1847 to 1856. First of all, I don't understand why, if India was already a country at that point, a bunch of white people decided to come in and take countrol. Was it a race issue? That because people were white they were superior to others? James Dalhousie who was the governor-general (a system of ruling) at that time, insulted Muslims and Hindus by using sacred cow and pig fat to lubricate bullets cartridges that had to be bit open, and annexed princely states and regions.

European penetration of China comes as a pretty personal thing for me, since I'm Chinese. China was split up between so many European countries. On top of that, the British got many Chinese people hooked unto opium. Countries fought over China and reduced it to rubble and chaos. The whole history is long, confusing, and just plain insulting.


At the end of the day, countries fight and invade each other--that was reality back then and even today. I'm only voicing my opinions (aka ranting). Columbus-was-an-idiot or not and China's-Old-Summer-Palace-was-looted-and-burned-to-ashes or not, we're here today, and that's all that matters.


-a piece of JY