Dear Editor,
Re: “Raising flag raises ire,” News, Oct. 5
During our last Canada Day celebrations, the inhabitants of a house near us prominently displayed, alone, the national flag of Communist China. I found this particularly disrespectful, especially on that day, but it also reminded me of a conversation I had heard in a local restaurant between what I assume were visiting Chinese citizens and a young Asian woman who sounded like she had been born in Canada. When asked by a member of the nearby group if she had ever visited China, she replied that she had no interest in doing so. When asked why she wasn’t interested, she simply replied that she liked having her freedoms. One young man testily stated that she was misinformed about life in China. She responded by pointing out that if he were to go to Robson and Granville in Vancouver, wave the Chinese flag or a placard villifying the Canadian government and calling for its removal, nobody would pay much attention to him. On the other hand, if she were to go to Tiananmen Square and wave a placard calling for the overthrow of the Chinese government, she would probably be arrested and jailed, or worse.
I have always regretted not congratulating that young women on her illustration of this fundamental difference between the Chinese government and ours. By doing so, she also reminded us that flags are symbols that betoken the inherent values and principles by which the represented society abides — they are not just designators of national territory and boundaries as MP Joe Peschisolido shamefully rationalizes.
Ray Arnold
Richmond
