Sydney journalist and radio producer James West unearths a brave, new China in his first book, Beijing Blur. He sat down with Garrett Bithell.

“I was really surprised and impressed by what I found. The first weekend I was there, I went to a Great Wall rave party! It blew out every assumption I had about China – that people were all going to be the same, and that there was no youth culture, independence or free-thinking. It set the standard for me, and I started investigating what young people were actually thinking in the country.”

So says James West, a 26-year-old journalist and radio broadcaster who worked as a ‘Foreign Expert’ for state-run radio in Beijing in 2005. Beijing Blur is an intimate, no-holds-barred account of his experiences. But it is also the story of modern China, the China you perhaps don’t see – underground gay clubs, punk-rock dens, bloggers and dissidents.

“I found that the gay culture was underground but thriving,” James tells SX. “So while the authorities don’t really have a problem with you going to a gay club or being gay necessarily – you can fuck who you want to fuck – just don’t be political about it.

“In the book there’s a chapter called ‘Gay-jing’, which describes the shut down of the mainland’s first ever gay and lesbian cultural festival, which happened when I was there. And I think they shut it down not because they necessarily had a problem with gay people, they just didn’t want people talking about it.

“It’s like a classic American military ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ scenario in China. But having said that, there were boys kissing boys on dance floors, girls kissing girls – and that was surprising because ten years ago I don’t think that would have been the case.”

According to James, forging a functional public gay identity in China is very problematic because of the overwhelming cultural emphasis on traditional family.

“I met this boy, who I called ‘Pool Boy’, and in Sydney we might call him a ‘playboy’ or a ‘slut’ – but he really had no understanding of his own sexuality,” James says. “He was fucking both genders with no complaints from either.

“And I think in Australia he would have come out by now and owned a gay identity. When you come out here, there is an identity that you can be. When you come out in China, that’s not the case.

“There are academics who suggest that coming out for a Chinese citizen might actually make them a non-person – they can’t contribute to family, and family is hugely important in China. If you can’t get married and have kids, what use are you? So it’s not a moral objection; it’s this whole idea of family and being able to contribute to Chinese society.

“Ironically, the push for gay marriage in China is a lot stronger than it is in Australia in some ways. I’d love to see China legalise gay marriage before Australia does – I think that would be amazing!”

As James observed, China is changing, and younger generations are beginning to reflect the ambivalence of their times. They are consumerist, connected and self-aware – perhaps the first ‘me’ generations – with a palpable desire to shrug off the shackles of duty and fly in the face of Confucian convention.

“My findings were based on how wealth has changed young people’s understanding of politics,” James tells. “I found that young people were incredibly open-minded and forward-thinking, but naïve about politics. They had no memory of Tiananmen Square or the Cultural Revolution because they’ve simply never been taught about it.

“This generation of 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 finally has the money to dream – they can go to universities without the State telling them what to do, the can go to Ikea and buy the couch they’ve always wanted. Consumerism has liberated them from living with that burden of memory – but the price of that is they don’t have any cultural memory.”

Threaded throughout Beijing Blur are touching references to the man James left behind in Sydney, his long-term boyfriend Nick. The vivid prose is littered with romantic failures he made abroad, and incisive remarks about love and travel.

“Throughout the book are observations about being young, about love, about how desire works when you’re overseas and how it affects your sense of belonging,” James muses. “I missed my boyfriend in Sydney so much and it was this classic story of making mistakes overseas, which I think a lot of people would identify with.

“You’re lonely, you’re in this foreign country, you’re a bit upset, and you want something to connect to – you want a bit of intimacy.

“I think in our generation there’s so much peer pressure to travel and experience the world no matter what the cost. Nick and I have been back together for six months, but he’s just recently gone on his own adventure – we’re a bit like ships passing in the night at the moment.”

Prior to his Chinese hiatus, James worked as a radio producer and journalist for the ABC. After completing his Masters in journalism at New York University, he returned to Australia to work as the producer of Triple J’s current affairs program, Hack.

“There are six of us, all under 30, that put on a national current affairs program every day with little to no managerial pressure. That’s absurd! I feel like I’m getting a free ride.”

Beijing Blur is out now via Penguin. Hack airs on Triple J weekdays at 5.30pm. Check out James’ blog at jameswest.net.au.

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