Great Powers
China will be the next great power.
The 21st century belongs to China.
Nothing can stop the rise of the Chinese juggernaut.
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I hear these pronouncements daily now
Like a mantra spoken religiously to this idol of the future
By pundits and publishers, financial wizards and frenzied technocrats
Doctors and drunks, politico-poets and pallid prosecutors
All of them gripped with expectation and envy.
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I still see China as the gangly son
Of some great althlete, whom everyone expects
To fill out in the course of a summer
And become a bone-jarring beast like his dad.
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I think more about this on the bus to Jing’An Temple
Shanghai’s newest city center with spindly skyscrapers
Popping up in dust and refuse like a bad case of acne
Unable to be restrained, a nuisance of development.
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The TV on the bus is playing the third report in my memory
About the newest talking magpie or parakeet that says:
Nihao, zaijian and byebye.
Although last time, it was nihao, zaijian and hello.
I guess people at the last featured bird spot
Were more fond of saying hello than byebye.
Maybe the shopkeeper was an asshole
And byebyes weren’t necessary.
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The segment ends and another begins:
A girl who’s become a balloon-animal wunderkind,
Twisting up swords and flower bouquets
Bridegrooms and cartoon characters
In an awe-inspiring display of carnival-styled genius.
They ask the girl if she’s afraid the balloons will pop,
And she says she’s used to it.
Then it dawns on me:
These are the real trappings of power.
I’ve seen it all before.
Cutesy animal shorts and children’s tricks
Soon give way to interventions
Escalations, assertions of economic dominance
In order to ensure their continued presence
On the TVs in buses and skyscrapers
Promising their viewers that their pets
And balloon gifted children
Might claw their way onto the screen too.
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When I get off the bus at Jing’An
I see a young man in a beauty salon
Feeling his flexed bicep.
Despite his apparent lankiness
I can tell he puts pride into this brawn
What little of it he has.
As if there’s much more to come
And soon the world will have to take note.