The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Something is Happening in China

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

There's a story behind that title above and you'll hear it on today's podcast.  As for China, how serious is the situation for China's President Xi and is the world prepared for what might happen?  Plus, new stories about air travel, words of the year, and all-time book-selling leaders.  Sound like SPAM? We have that too!

Hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. Something is happening in China. No kidding. We'll get to it right after this. And hello there, Peter Mansbridge in Stratford, Ontario today, and welcome to another week of The Bridge. And our focus today is going to be kind of scattergun. It's kind of all over the place. A lot of different topics to touch on as we begin a new week. And we're going to start with China.

And starting with China involves telling a little story, first of all. And it's about China and the news business. China and the newsroom. China and, in particular, my old newsroom, the CBC newsroom. And we've got to dial back to the 1980s, the early 1980s, for this story. And it will explain to you why we've titled this week's show Something is Happening in China.

Well, in the early 1980s, this is a few years after the death of Mao Zedong. He died in 1976. And China was in a degree of chaos following that death in terms of leadership. Nobody really understood what might be happening at those top levels of the Chinese leadership. the struggle between right and left, if there can be such a thing as right and left inside the Chinese Communist Party. So it was a Sunday night in the early 1980s, and we were getting a variety of different reports coming in from China about that leadership struggle

and the positioning especially of a fellow by the name of Deng Xiaoping who had been a senior Chinese leader but had been pushed through the Cultural Revolution and at other times as well into a kind of re-education program by Mao and by Mao's followers after his death. So Deng was in Deng. He was in trouble.

And so on that Sunday night, there were these various reports coming out of the struggle going on, and perhaps Deng Xiaoping's re-emergence in a leadership role. But we couldn't determine what the truth was about what was happening. And the different people we talked to, including the various analysts, China experts, they were unsure as well. So we were at that point on a Sunday evening where we were writing the opening to the program.

Good evening, I'm Peter Mansbridge. Bang. Some kind of major sentence that would launch us into the news. And so I said, well, listen, something's happening there. So why don't we say that? Good evening. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Something's happening in China. So that's what we ended up doing, and we were very proud of ourselves until the next morning

when the Monday to Friday, the regulars, the big wheels came in and said, what was that all about? What kind of stupid lead was that? Something's happening in China. Well, of course something's happening in China. There's always something happening in China. There's always something happening in China. There's always something happening everywhere. So why would you go with a sentence like that?

Well, we went with a sentence like that because we thought it was kind of interesting and would make people sit up and go, what are they going to tell us now anyway i'll always remember that i'll always remember those strange looks we got the following day and the kind of criticism we got the following day and so that's why I decided to headline today's program, Something's Happening in China. Because something sure is. Something always happens in China. But these last couple of days have been, well,

they're making people sit up and say, just a minute here. This is different. And what's different is there is resistance to the dictatorship of China's president, Xi Jinping. And while there have been voices in opposition in the past, nothing like this. There are demonstrations in the streets. It's all over COVID. COVID began in China,

and COVID is still very much in existence in China. In fact, it's at its highest rate right now that it's been in the last three years. China has a zero COVID policy. That means tough lockdowns. And I mean,. That means tough lockdowns. And I mean, we're talking tough lockdowns. Not like the lockdowns we saw here for a brief time. But these are strictly enforced.

But right now people are resisting in different communities, cities, villages, right across the country, including huge cities like Shanghai, where there are big demonstrations going on. And at the moment, they're being met by police, Chinese police. Will it go further than that? Because this is an outright push against the government of President Xi. They're demanding his resignation, that he gets out. He's just been re-elected for another, whatever, 10-year term or something. He wants to be dictator for life. He's got China on an ambitious course to be

not just a world power, but the world power. But right now he's got a problem at home. And I heard one analyst earlier today in discussing some things happening in China, that this is the first major opposition to the Chinese government since 1989, the democracy movement, the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. And we all know how that turned out. So are we looking at another situation like that

where President Xi is going to have to call out the army and the tanks to quell the protests, the riots in some of the streets in China over the COVID policy and over his leadership? Well, could be. It's a serious situation. And it has the eyes of the world on China.

Now this comes on the same weekend that Canada announces a new Indo-Pacific policy and how it's going to deal with one of the most important regions of the world right now. And included in the Indo-Pacific policy, it's not called a China policy,

it's called the Indo-Pacific policy. But included in there are some clear words of concern, warning about China. The first time the Trudeau government has talked this way since it took power. They've been very, as liberals have been since, well, for the last 50 years, open to discussions with China and openings with China and trade with China and trade missions to China. But this is the first time that there seems to be

a formal cautionary move on the relationship between Canada and China. There's still much more to find out about this, but it was interesting yesterday listening to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Jolie, who was on Rosie Barton's show on CBC News Network yesterday. And when Rosie was questioning her about this new policy,

here's part of what she had to say. Jolie, our approach is clear, and we have a clear framework, which is essentially about protecting our national interests without compromising our values and principles. So what I've said many times at this point is we will challenge when we ought to and we will cooperate when we must. So that's the description of the relationship with China

right now between Canada and China. We will challenge when we ought to. We will cooperate when we must. So, as often happens in these things, great words, how will the follow-through happen? That will determine what our relationship is with China. That will determine what the road ahead is going to look like.

That will determine whether those rough edges that we witnessed between Justin Trudeau and Xi Jinping at a conference two weeks ago,

where that's heading. But right now, you can be sure that the last thing that's on President Xi's mind is Canada or Justin Trudeau or that relationship. What's on his mind right now is the fact he's got an open revolt being witnessed by the world on the part of more than a few people in some of his biggest cities over his policies and his leadership. So when I say something's happening in China,

something's happening in China. Okay, moving on. Next topic. Next topic is, well, it's kind of related. It's not about China, but it is about COVID, which has kind of stunted everything about our lives in the last three years, including our travel, our travel plans. Right?

People stopped flying. People stopped visiting. People stopped touring. Now, it started to pick up over this past summer. And then over this last weekend in the United States, the Thanksgiving weekend, which, of course, spills over to beyond just the U.S. because Americans are traveling everywhere,

including to our country on Thanksgiving when they're meeting friends and relatives or they're going home to meet friends and relatives. Anyway, the numbers for travel, they're meeting friends and relatives or they're going home to meet friends and relatives. Anyway, the numbers for travel, the preliminary numbers that came out last night, show millions of people traveling in a way they haven't traveled since before COVID. So on the one hand, that's encouraging. That's kind of a signal in some ways, hey, it's over. But know what it's not over and we know it's not over and we know health officials both in the

u.s and canada and elsewhere are desperate for people to you know make sure they're updated on their shots but this travel aspect is fascinating because with increased travel come increased problems. It's also November. The weather ain't great in a lot of places. So you had these stories, especially yesterday, of huge backlogs at American airports. Travelers trying to get home after their Thanksgiving weekend and huge delays. I think there were at one point yesterday afternoon

that already been 4,000 flights canceled in the U.S., 4,000. So I'm not going to dwell on that. I'll just mention, one, they're back. Two, COVID ain't over. Three, it's huge problems for the airports and airlines. And it reminded me of another story. You know, I love it that you write letters and tell me that most of you, I'd say 99% of you, say it.

Love it when you tell stories about the past. Tell your anecdotes. Just like in your book, off the record, full of anecdotes. Well, here's one that didn't make it into the book. Probably should have. Didn't. It's not about broadcasting. It's not about journalism because it's before. Before then, for me. The year, I believe, was 1968.

And I was in Churchill, Manitoba. Where everything started for me with the CBC, but before the CBC, I worked for this little airline called Transair. I love Transair. Talk about it all the time. Doesn't exist anymore.

But every once in a while, I'll hear from or bump into one of my old colleagues from Transair. A pilot, a flight attendant, a ticket agent, a mechanic. Well, this story happened in the holiday season somewhere around this time in 1968. Our busiest flight of the day, and it was a daily flight, was Churchill to Winnipeg. We flew DC-4s on most of those flights until we ended up getting a YS-11, which was a Japanese aircraft, a turboprop,

and then the 737, the jet, our first jet. But this was a DC-4 day. And the flight had been booked for weeks. Friday, it was a Friday flight. And I was, you know And I was a cargo agent, freight agent, and occasional ticket agent. And for ticketing, it shows you how long ago it was. Nothing was computerized.

We used to have to, if somebody phoned for a reservation, we had to make up a little card, like a little file card, and wrote it down, wrote the information down on the card, you know, Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so Churchill YYQ to Winnipeg YWG, and what the fare was. And I still remember the fare, 67 bucks one way, $134 return. And we'd fill all that out and make the reservation.

Now, in those days, and I believe for some airlines still today, there was a kind of accepted no-show number. I think it was somewhere around 20%, 15% or 20%. You knew we're not going to show up. So, when flights started to get full, you oversold the flight by a little bit

because you knew there were people not going to turn up. And 99% of the time, that's what happened. They didn't turn up. You put the extras on and everybody was happy not on this day this day was not a good day it was not a good day for trans air

it's not a good day for me it's not a good day for the president of the trans air because what happened was those uh expected no-shows showed. And we were suddenly in a situation of an oversold flight, which is a terrible position to be in because you've sold the ticket to these people and they can't get on the plane. So for the most part, it's first come, first serve. And you then have to get into an explanation. It's a Friday, you know, the next flight.

I believe at that time it was five days a week. It was Monday to Friday, and so if you couldn't get on the Friday flight, you were going to have to wait until the Monday, and you're going to have to stay at one of the hotels in Churchill, and, you know, like we're not talking the Shangri-La here, we're not talking the Westin or we're talking the Churchill Hotel or the Hudson Hotel.

Anyway, for the most part, people kind of accepted it, but not one guy. He was livid. He was furious. And he demanded that he be given a seat on the plane. That he'd sit up in the cockpit, you know, in the jump seat. We couldn't do that. And we couldn't, there was nothing we could do. We couldn't give him a seat. He was really, really mad. And he was taking it out on me as the guy was standing there at the counter and i said i'm really sorry sir you know we'll do everything

we can for you but we can't get you on that flight by now the flight was loaded door closed starting to taxi away so this guy said you're going to be sorry for this. And he turned around and he walked to the payphone, which I remember was right in the terminal area, right in the room we were all in. Not far from the counter. And he walked over to the phone and he put in whatever coins he needed to put in

to make a long-distance call to Winnipeg, and he got through to Transair headquarters, and he demanded to talk to the president of Transair. And I don't know how he did it, but the next thing I knew, he was on the line with the president, and he was demanding that the president do something about it. That he was going to stay in the airport terminal until there was a plane there to take him home. Now, this was before the days of passenger rights and special legislation that ensured certain things.

But this guy was adamant, and he was livid. And guess what? It worked. The president of Transair called us up and said, you got to get this guy out of here. So put on an extra plane. We said, well, there are no more DC-4s here. That's gone. It's on its way to Winnipeg through Thompson and the Paw. And he said, what other

aircraft you got here? And we said, well, we got a Norseman. It's like a little single engine float plane. Opened up the Arctic, great plane, but not exactly. It was going to take, if you flew that to Winnipeg, it was going to take a long time. And he said, you got no DC-3s there? And we said, they're all up in the Arctic. And he says, when's the next one back in? We said another hour or so, and it was a

freighter, so all the seats were pulled out of it. And he said, well, when that plane comes in, put that guy on him, fly him to Winnipeg. And he said, well, when that plane comes in, put that guy on him, fly him to Winnipeg. And that's what we did. The DC-3 came in, we cleaned it up as best we could. We loaded it with freight that was headed for Winnipeg. And we put a couple of seats in it. And off they went. And this guy got back to winnipeg so that was the power of the yelling and screaming on that day i'm not sure that could ever happen again but it sure did that

day and i thought of that yesterday when i started seeing all these lineups at airports and delayed flights and people you know losing their flights and things being rearranged and and how frustrating that can be you know at a much different time of air travel today than it was well I guess almost 60 years ago now so that's my airplane story. But I've got another. I bumped into this article yesterday about air travel. You know I love airport stories, airline stories, and airplane stories. I love all that. Well, CNN wrote this piece talking to a number of flight attendants

about some of the most common issues that confront them. I'm not going to read it all, but I'm going to read a couple of them because there are things even I who seem to think that I'm some kind of, you know, alleged expert on airlines. The headline on this CNN piece is called Flight Attendants Share Their Air Travel Secrets. And it just came out last week.

But some of these, some of these are obvious. I'm not going to bother you with them. But some of them, I hadn't heard this one. I don't know whether you suffer from jet lag. I suffer from it a lot more now in my, you know, sunset years than i did when i was younger but especially on flights back like if i fly to europe no problem i fly home problem takes me

forever to get a a normal night's sleep anyway so the question to the flight attendants was how do you beat jet lag and here's the the simple solution that one of these flight attendants uses and i'm going to try it next time if you're crossing time zones this person is a big believer in a power nap when you arrive with one caveat keep that power nap short like an hour and then stay up until night falls now most of those overseas flights you know if you're flying to heathrow to london or to paris or to frankfurt wherever you may be flying to they're overnight flights right so your your night is already kind of crunched down. You land in the, you know, wherever it is, say it's Heathrow. You land there and you're kind of like groggy and tired.

You go to your hotel and a lot of people, you know, you get there, you're in your hotel by like 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock in the morning and you crash for the day. Then you go, maybe go out for supper. Then you come back to your hotel by like 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock in the morning, and you crash for the day. Then you maybe go out for supper, and then you come back to your hotel room, and you can't understand why you can't fall asleep. Well, you have already slept a lot. So the idea is when you go to your hotel, sure, lie down, but lie down for an hour,

and then get up and get out and carry on your day as you would normally in terms of the clock. That's just, don't go to sleep and just sleep your way through because you're staying on your own time. You're not helping your own body clock to readjust. That's the advice. Here's a good one. Who has the right to the middle armrest? You know, when you're in the, when you're kind of somehow end up in the middle seat of a three seat thing.

I've had, I've had that. You get in that sort of like who, who actually has that armrest? Is it the person on the aisle? Is the person on the window? Or is it you? The answer from the flight attendants who've monitored these things over years, this is nothing written down, but if you're in the middle seat, you get the armrest. That's the way it should be. That should be the one benefit you get

after getting the worst seat. Should window blinds be kept closed or open? That's a good one. Some people want them up. Some people want them down. Window blinds can be a contentious issue, particularly on long-haul flights. But the answer is often pretty clear. If it's a night flight, close them.

Just one person opening the blinds, the light comes in and keeps people awake, and it can really have an impact on people. You understand it, though. People want to have a look down if you're flying over the Himalayas. I remember when I flew over the Himalayas. You want to have a look. You want to try and see, can I see Mount Everest? Why wouldn't you?

Blinds also need to be open upon arrival. This is important. And see, can I see Mount Everest? Why wouldn't you? Blinds also need to be open upon arrival. This is important. There are safety regulations, and I guess they're different for different airlines, but most airlines will say the blinds have to be open on landing. And that doesn't go over well with some passengers who are still trying to sleep on long flights. I think there's one more here somewhere.

There's a ton of them in this article. If you want to read it all, you won't have any trouble finding it. What do you think? Have you ever been on a flight when for one reason or another, you land and everybody starts clapping? Well, so the question was asked to the flight attendants, what do you think when passengers applaud when the plane lands? The flight attendant's common answer is, that only seems to happen when, you know, you've been on a flight with a lot of turbulence, you know, a lot of air turbulence,

and on landing they start clapping. But here's something they all seem to agree on. I didn't know this, but where is it here? Trying to find it here. Oh, here it is. It's more common on European flights than North American flights. And according to a couple of these flight attendants, Italians do it every single flight, every single time.

I didn't know that. And I'm anxious to check that. You know, I've flown in Italy and out of Italy lots of times, so I don't think I've ever flown on an Italian flight. And I don't seem to recall people clapping flying in and out of Italy.

All right. Again, take a quick break. A couple of things to do when we come back. As I said, this is a different kind of show today. Very different. And we'll keep that difference going when we answer this question. What was the word of the year

this year, 2022? I'll tell you right after this. And welcome back. Peter Mansbridge here in Stratford, Ontario. You're listening to The Bridge on Sirius XM, Channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. And on Wednesdays and Fridays, I remind you, the video podcast of The Bridge is available on my YouTube channel. You can go to my bio on Twitter or Instagram.

You'll find the link. You can go right there and sign up. No subscription fee. Anyway, there seem to be a lot of people who've already signed up and seem to be enjoying the video podcast of both Smoke Mirrors and the Truth on Wednesday and Good Talk on Fridays. Alright, the question was that I promised I would answer

was what was the word of the year, at least the word of the year, according to Collins Dictionary? Now, this is not a new word. It's just the word of the year. Here it is. Permacrisis. Permacrisis. The word describing the feeling of living through a period of war, inflation, and political instability. And it's true, right? One of the top people at colin said look perma crisis we picked perma crisis because it was understandable that people may feel we are in an ongoing state of

uncertainty and worry after living through upheaval caused by brexit the pandemic, severe weather, the war in Ukraine, political instability, the energy squeeze, and the cost of living crisis. Now, some of those are particular and peculiar to the United Kingdom, where Collins is based, but not exclusively. Many of those tick off on our list as well. And the word perma-crisis is apparently the word of the year. But not exclusively. Many of those tick off on our list as well. And the word permacrisis is apparently the word of the year. Now, I've never heard it before this day.

But I'm prepared to accept the word of the Collins Dictionary people. Because they've got not a bad track record for previous words of the year. Just in the last 10 years, these have been some of the words of the year. Climate emergency, toxic, youth quake, post-truth. I always liked that one. I still like it. We're in the post-truth era, right? Emoji tears of joy. Vape and selfie. I mean, really, could you get by without selfie as a word of the year? But some of the other contenders a word of the year. But some of the other contenders for words of the year this year,

splooting. Have you ever heard of that word, splooting? It's the act of lying flat on the stomach with the legs stretched out. Never heard of it. But maybe I'll try splooting today. Party gate. That's particularly British. That's what brought down Boris Johnson, right?

All right. One more little thing. These are kind of end bits, right? We've talked a lot about books in the last couple of weeks, and I had an amazing number of people write for your turn last week. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. Don't be shy. Send your letters in about any topic.

But there were a lot of emails in response to our discussion about the book business last week. So this question came up, and we just happen to have the answer for you today. What are the best-selling books of all time? Okay, I know right away you're saying the Bible, the Koran, quotations from Chairman Mao. Mao gets two mentions on the podcast today. Oh, man, what are we going to say about that?

Anyway, those books obviously are clearly miles ahead of any others as best-selling books of all time. But those who've done the ratings here have decided that religious books shouldn't be in this list. There's all kinds of issues surrounding religious books in terms of monitoring how many are out there, because many printings are underreported or unreported.

And there's, you know, huge numbers have been given away. But it's assumed that of the ones I mentioned, they're all in the billions, more than a billion books sold. But outside of that, you name the number one best-selling book of all time. Don Quixote, 500 million copies sold. The number two, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. Lord of the Rings, A Tale of Two Cities, 200 million copies sold.

So more than double that by Don Quixote. The Lord of the Rings, 150 million copies sold. Of the top 20, six or seven are Harry Potter books. Number five, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 107 million copies sold. Number 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

all Harry Potter books. Number 13 is a Harry Potter book. So J.K. Rowling does pretty good on this list. And you say, but Peter, what about a Canadian book, or one that at least has something to do with Canada? All right, I have an answer for you. Sitting at number 23. Number 23. 50 million copies

sold. Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. There you go. You know, you have to come to the bridge to get these basic questions answered, right? Okay, last point on this day. This day, it's kind of a potpourri, right? Kind of a mix of a potpourri and bits. Opening bits. A bits, anecdotes.

Have you ever eaten Spam? Now, I always thought Spam was kind of an English thing. British, post-war. I know that, you know, I was born in England, grew up in Southeast Asia, then we moved to Ottawa, and spam was kind of like a regular feature in our house. Now, I always thought it was because, you know,

we couldn't afford, like, real food like everybody else had. And tins of Spam were our sort of way around it. But then I actually grew to like Spam. And I miss it today. We used to get it out of its tin, slice it, and fry it up. Fried Spam's great. Well, National Public Radio in the U.S.

put a piece out last week called All We Want for Christmas is Spam Figgy Pudding. week called all we want for christmas is spam figgy pudding really and there it is it's a limited edition spam so if you're at the store and you see a tin of spam marked limited edition figgy pudding you better it. It might be worth a fortune someday. Because that's the other great thing about Spam. It had great shelf life. Didn't have to eat it right away.

It was the kind of thing for the bomb shelter, right? Okay, I know some of you are saying, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Mansbridge. Well, here's the answer to your question. What is spam? Spam is pork, sugar, water, salt, potato starch, and sodium nitrate. Preservative. That's what spam is. Now, the new seasonal spam adds fig and orange flavors cinnamon cloves nutmeg ginger

and allspice now doesn't that sound tasty and it too is shelf-stable as NPR says in case of the apocalypse I'm done I'm out the bridge for another week get started tomorrow it's Brian Stewart the latest on Ukraine

if you listen to Brian's show last week just like almost every week with Brian he puts you on a track that no other analyst is doing and it almost

always comes true just as it did last week when he talked about the Russians' strategy of knocking out power grids and isolating Ukrainian cities. That's exactly what's happened since. But what's he going to tell us tomorrow? You'll find out on The Bridge tomorrow,

the Tuesday edition. Wednesday, Smoke, Mirrors and the Truth with Bruce Anderson. Thursday, your turn. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. And Random Ranter. And Friday, Good Talk with Chantelle Hebert and Bruce Anderson. That's it for this day.

Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you again in 24 hours.