On several of my early business trips to southern China I would always notice that the Chinese gas stations all had these brightly colored plastic pendants festooned above their stations. No doubt to catch the eye of the passing motorists and make them think about stopping for gas. I get that. 
These triangular pieces of flapping plastic started to have a different meaning for me. After numerous trips I would get this feeling that those colored strips were fading into gray.Let me emphasize,this was a feeling, an impression not something literal that my eye saw. It was almost kind of dreamy even,albeit a little ominous (cue up the Bernard Hermann soundtrack).
So I decided to discuss it with George. George was a friend from Taiwan that had been living in mainland China for almost 10 years by that point. When I mentioned this to him he smiled at me. Then he said, “That is communism.” Well more accurately totalitarianism or oppression.
Instantly I knew he was right. I had met a lot of people in China. All different kinds and most of them were just:people. No special feelings one way or the other. Some were really nice. Yes I had been the participant with some political/official types but those were all pretty mild and I got the sense that they didn’t really have religion as much as a chip in the crazy poker game life dealt them into. The thing that came into focus the minute George spoke those words were the under-current of heavy handed control that was very prevalent and real like electrical power but also like electrical power virtually invisible other than what it powered and moved before your visual plane. This was kind of a novel sensation-not one that I loved of course but it definitely made it to my mental file cabinet of significant subliminal impressions.
There was one time I was in Seoul, Korea prior to their hosting of the Summer Olympics in fact. I was there on my visa run since at that point South Korea and Taiwan still had diplomatic relations. When I got to the airport I queued up for a taxi. Now Korea had an interesting system with there taxis. I believe there were 3 kinds-one you haggled the price with and 2 different metered systems. I waited in the haggling line since I knew the going rate for my trip. A cabbie asked me where I was going, we discussed price and he said no. No biggie I backed away and looked for next cab when some guy in a leather coat coldly asked me, :what’s the problem sir?” I was like what the… and then I realized, hmm bet he’s a plain clothes cop. Very dour ultra-serious and not letting it go. I told him it was nothing just wanted another cab. He asked me again, ready for this-”What’s the problem sir?” OK, now I was beginning to feel uneasy. I had been to Korea before always just to renew my Taiwan visa,don’t speak the language, don’t mind the food but not really sure what to so in this scenario. Feeling even more certain he was a cop, I politely told him what had just happened. He said he’s take care of it. I said thanks but that’s not necessary I’ll just catch the next one. He replied icily, I’ll take care of it sir.” OK so comforting to know the big issue of my life in that tiny moment was being managed for me by this leather clad member of Seoul Airport’s finest. After rattling of a few lines of terse Korean between the cop and the cabbie Mr. Plain Clothes informed me I can now get in the car. Oh boy, I didn’t want to waste my time having already decided this cab is not for me but I wanted to offend this stern faced cop even less. I still offered a mild objection saying another cab would be OK but thanks. He replied,”GET IN SIR.” So now I say,”OK” and I quickly get in. The cabbie took me outside the airport main gate and then asked me to get out and get another cab. Great! Now I get to do this again but at least I don’t have hatchet face breathing down my neck on my choice of hacks.
The return trip to the airport was quite a different experience altogether. I rode in on an airport bus. I was one of a few foreigners on the bus with mostly locals filling the seats. We came to a check point at which time M16 armed soldiers got on the bus and made a beeline for the few foreigners riding it. They wanted to check our passports,did that and quickly got off the bus.
What were we discussing originally? Oh yeah colored flags…
