For over four months now, the employees of the scrapyard SRW Metalfloat in Espenhain near Leipzig have been on strike for a collective agreement. It’s the longest strike in German history; the Chinese investor of the parent company Scholz Recycling GmbH is currently blocking any negotiations. The strike activity will reach the capital city on Thursday – potentially casting a shadow on German-Chinese relations.
Representatives of the plant and the IG Metall union will be meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Berlin. They aim to hand him a letter with demands. Christian Domke Seidel has already read this letter. In it, Yongming Qin, the Chinese managing director of Scholz Recycling GmbH, is harshly criticized. “Ignoring our legitimate concerns arrogantly and leaving unanswered offers for dialogue from our IG Metall representatives, despite this behavior being in contradiction to the company’s code of conduct, damages the reputation of Chinese shareholders in Germany,” it says.
The image of China is also at stake for Mercedes CEO Ola Kaellenius – but in a completely different context. At the beginning of the week, he once again emphasized his opposition to EU tariffs on EVs from China. And he is now facing massive criticism for it, as analyzed by Marcel Grzanna. The accusation: Instead of national interests, he only has sales figures in China in mind. Are German automakers becoming China’s enablers in Europe?
The Chinese ambassador in Berlin is meeting representatives of IG Metall and the recycling company SRW Metalfloat today, Thursday. They will hand over a letter addressing the background of the record strike that has been disrupting operations since March 8. The trade union and works council blame the Chinese investor for the situation. Scholz Recycling, the parent company, however, places responsibility on IG Metall and the works council. The positions are entrenched.
The letter, which the employee representatives will present to the Chinese ambassador, has been obtained by Table.Media in advance. In it, Yongming Qin, the Chinese managing director of Scholz Recycling GmbH, is harshly criticized. “Ignoring our legitimate concerns arrogantly and failing to respond to offers of dialogue from our IG Metall representatives, despite this behavior contradicting the company’s code of conduct, damages the reputation of Chinese shareholders in Germany,” it says.
Employees accuse Qin of lacking reliability and breaking promises to customers, suppliers, shareholders and employees. “The actions of our Chinese employer have unfortunately become a stain on German-Chinese economic relations.” In fact, the strike is unique not only in terms of its duration. Chinese investors usually enjoy a very good reputation among unions and employees.
Until the summer of 2023, there were constructive negotiations, but then the managing director of SRW Metalfloat had his negotiating mandate revoked by the investor. In addition, there are specific allegations regarding working conditions. “Our wages are just above the minimum wage and around 600 euros below what colleagues in our industry earn.”
After a total of four warning strikes, the workforce has, therefore, permanently ceased work. By now, this strike – which has lasted 128 days on the day of the letter handover – has become the longest strike in German history, apart from the occupation of the Seibel & Soehne cement works in 1975 without union support – which lasted 449 days.
There are four central demands:
In a conversation with Table.Media, a representative of Scholz Recycling explains, however, that the situation is not as one-sided as portrayed in the letter. The company states that it is so close on three of the four points that there would be no obstacle to an agreement. Since January 2024, the company has been paying its employees 200 euros more, which means an increase of between 7 and 8.5 percent at SRW Metalfloat.
There would be Christmas and vacation bonuses on a voluntary basis, and the reduction in working hours with full wage compensation has been approved. Moreover – according to Scholz – only accounting and administration would still work 40 hours. About 80 percent of the workforce already have a 37.5-hour week.
The sticking point is the demand for a collective bargaining agreement – which Scholz Recycling fundamentally rejects. Therefore, no negotiations have taken place since August 2023. There is simply no basis for it. Moreover, Scholz Recycling, like the employee representatives, complains of a lack of trust. Agreed negotiation dates with the Chinese management simply were not honored. Qin, according to the representative, is regularly on site, and there have been attempts to sit down at the table.
This has its reasons. There has been massive criticism from IG Metall regarding the previous negotiations. Previous agreements would have violated Section 77 of the Works Constitution Act. This states that conditions that are usually regulated in a collective bargaining agreement (such as payment) must not be the subject of a works agreement.
The works councils would otherwise make themselves vulnerable. “This means that the previous practice had no legal validity. Negotiations on an equal footing and with the necessary mutual respect require two parties in Germany: employers and trade unions,” writes IG Metall in its letter to the Chinese ambassador.
The situation is also deadlocked on-site in Espenhain. SRW Metalfloat had to switch from a three-shift to a two-shift operation. According to the Scholz Recycling representative, this has created a rift among the workforce – between those who work and those who strike. About 50 employees have, therefore, filed an application with the Leipzig District Court to disempower the works council, according to Scholz. The process is still ongoing.
One point that the union sees differently. Because in November, 89 percent of the employees had voted for an indefinite strike – at a time when the company’s offers were already on the table.
With his plea against European Union import tariffs on Chinese EVs, Mercedes CEO Ola Kaellenius has reignited a long-standing debate. His critics accuse him of pandering to Beijing to curry favor with the Communist Party. They believe Källenius is doing exactly what China expects of him: representing the interests of Chinese exporters to ensure extensive equal treatment for his corporation in the world’s largest automotive market.
In an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times, the corporate boss urged the EU Commission to reduce tariffs on Chinese EVs instead of considering further increases. Indeed, the Commission has already taken initial steps to impose retroactive tariffs. On Tuesday, Brussels stated that the EU Commission had sufficient evidence of state subsidies for Chinese electric vehicles.
Kaellenius’s statements draw criticism from around the world. On one hand, he is accused of naively ignoring Chinese interests, which go far beyond the sale of EV. On the other hand, he is seen as employing a misguided business strategy, as he wants to open the floodgates to the home market for his fiercest competitor, believing he can counter state-subsidized Chinese competitors in the European market with quality alone. Others see his statements as inevitable because Mercedes-Benz is approximately 20 percent owned by Chinese shareholders. Competitors Geely and SAIC hold about one-fifth of the company’s shares.
“I hope he sleeps well because he prioritizes China sales and his shareholders over national interests,” judges Briton David Benyon, host of the Political Risk Podcast, which deals with the risks of multinational corporations in the geopolitical climate. US technology investor Al Mabrouk sees “a continuation of German deception. Apparently, they have learned nothing from their Russian experience”. Ian Oxnevad from risk consultancy Infortal speaks of “corporate suicide”.
“It seems that many in Germany do not fully understand China’s intentions,” writes Australian author and Asia strategy consultant Andre Wheeler on social media. He points to the example of Huawei. The Bundeswehr’s internal communication platform, “Bw Messenger“, is available for private phones in the app store of the Chinese telecommunications provider. “This indicates that they know nothing about China’s military-civil fusion strategy,” says Wheeler.
Regularly expressed concerns, whose likelihood is difficult to quantify, suspect not only economic interests behind the Chinese technology wave but also security-related ones. The more Chinese technology is used in Europe, the more data flows to the autocratic regime, increasing the risk of ceding control of critical infrastructure to the People’s Republic.
“It is once again evident that companies initially exploit liberal values (in our countries through lobbying), and then undermine them by supporting the autocracies in which they have grown large,” comments business ethicist with a focus on China, Alicia Hennig, from IHI Zittau at TU Dresden.
Mercedes-Benz defends Kaellenius and sees his statements as taken out of context. The company CEO made a general remark “that tariffs, in general, should be avoided on all sides.” He included all stakeholders in his call and only specifically appealed to the EU to reduce tariffs when asked.
Kaellenius justified his stance by seeing in the Chinese companies wanting to export to Europe “a natural evolution of competition.” Mercedes-Benz and others must face this challenge “with better products, better technology, and more agility“. “That’s the market economy. Let competition play,” says Kaellenius.
“The lack of equal competitive conditions poses a threat to European automakers. Messages like these will be welcomed in Beijing – probably by the target audience,” commented Rhodium analyst Noak Barkin on LinkedIn.
In contrast, the mechanisms of the market economy are systematically undermined in the People’s Republic. Subsidies in various forms such as favorable interest rates, cheap land or tax breaks, coupled with a tight framework in which foreign carmakers operate, are added to import tariffs of 15 percent, so German manufacturers in the electric segment must fight against significant resistance. In comparison, the EU currently imposes only 10 percent tariffs.
The fierce competition has also led Volkswagen to announce a decline in profits for 2024. CEO Oliver Blume stated that Volkswagen’s share of the operating profit of its joint ventures in the People’s Republic would decline to 1.5-2 billion euros – a decrease of up to 40 percent.
The US House of Representatives has approved a bill that would force the Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell its video app TikTok. A large majority of 352 representatives voted in favor, with only 65 against. This marks a significant step toward the forced sale. The next step is for the Senate to consider the matter. However, some influential senators have already spoken out against the bill.
A group of US lawmakers introduced the bill on Tuesday. It proposes that ByteDance has six months to sell its globally popular short-video app TikTok. Otherwise, a ban in the app stores of US providers like Apple and Google could be imposed. ByteDance stated that this would amount to an absolute ban. The concerns revolve around national security, with critics fearing that ByteDance could transfer user data to the People’s Republic of China. The app has around 170 million users in the United States.
US courts could be occupied with the case for years. Observers say that a TikTok ban could violate freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. According to media reports, ByteDance is determined to exhaust all legal avenues in the United States before considering a sale. Separating from TikTok is seen as a last resort, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the United States of harassing TikTok and undermining the international economic and trade order. rtr/fpe
In Brussels, a clause in the proposed EU packaging regulations is being hotly debated: The requirement stipulates that manufacturers in China and elsewhere around the world would be obligated to adhere to the standards for recycled plastic packaging applicable in Europe. If recycled plastic from China does not meet the same standards demanded by manufacturers in the EU, access to the EU market would be denied.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU urged on Wednesday “the need to keep an eye on potential trade disruptions and cost increases due to excessively strict packaging requirements”. The Chamber emphasized that the “principles of fairness and non-discrimination” must be upheld and “no market barriers” should be erected.
The EU Parliament and EU Council agreed on the packaging regulation last week. France is said to have insisted on the “equivalence criteria”, also known as the “mirror clause”, which pertains to recycled plastic from EU countries abroad.
The European Commission is also reportedly not entirely supportive of the proposal with the clause from the Parliament and Council. According to a South China Morning Post report, an EU official described it as a “de facto ban”. Consequently, the EU Commission seeks to persuade the other two EU institutions to drop the “mirror clause” in order to avoid accusations of protectionism from the Global South. ari
Her feminist commitment, according to curator and art critic Juan Xu, is fueled by the experiences of several generations. Even before she says a word about herself, she talks about her grandmother, who became a widow at the age of 20. She was not allowed to work, marry or even be seen by strangers for the rest of her life, confined to the rear area of her family’s rundown villa, just to avoid encountering unfamiliar men. The feeling of barely being tolerated on this earth, despite having committed no wrong, shattered this woman’s life. The prospect of such a fate terrified Xu even as a child.
In contrast, her mother’s demeanor was different. She earned her own money, dressed rebelliously, and wanted to be in control of her life: “Driving a car would have been an unimaginable shame for my grandmother. For my mother, it was more than just a symbol; it was an expression of her independence.”
However, there was a shift in the perception of women’s roles in her mother’s generation. With the economic boom in the 1990s, suddenly there were women whose sole life goal was to marry a wealthy man. For Xu, this was a strange development: “That was and is a strange historical time shift. But one movement always seems to be followed by a counter-movement.”
Never feeling particularly at home, Juan Xu spent her youth: “Neither Confucianism nor communism suited me. I always felt like a stranger.” She was interested in poetry and theater, in art beyond party lines. After an unsuccessful attempt to start anew in Australia, which turned out to be too sunny and carefree for her temperament, she studied in Tübingen. The situation of feminism in Germany in the 1990s was different from that in China. Although not all battles had been won, feminism was established here as a brand.
The alienation with the country of her birth changed during this time, but did not diminish. Xu particularly remembers an episode vividly, when the security authorities instructed her to report to the police during a visit to her father. They wanted to question her about her role as secretary-general of the Chinese Student Association in Germany – which Xu finds amusing: “That shows that they couldn’t assess me either. In this role, I was by no means a threat to the state.”
When the officials then asked her if she would like to invest money in future projects of the authority after the interrogation, the Kafkaesque play was perfect: “It was all so absurd! But also one of the reasons why I cannot live in China today.” Because for 20 years, Xu has been a German citizen. While foreigners were treated better in China some time ago, having a foreign passport now brings no advantages; on the contrary: “By now, I am more strongly discriminated against because of it.”
A turning point for Juan Xu was her encounter with contemporary Chinese art: “It was sharp, critical, playful. These were not the traditional things. Suddenly, something connected me to this country again.” Since being a mere spectator was never her thing, Xu decided to take action herself. In 2012, she authored the manifesto of the Bald Girls, a group of feminist artists whose protagonists shaved their heads bald at their first public appearance. The Bald Girls realized exhibitions in collaboration with figures like Nobel laureate Herta Mueller; their action garnered attention from publications such as The New York Times.
However, even though her work as a curator and critic reconnects her more closely with China, Xu sees the situation there increasingly ambivalently: “On the one hand, this whole country is experimenting – which is brilliant because if the thresholds are lower, you can try everything.” A welcome change from the routine and well-fed cultural scene in Germany.
But the cat-and-mouse game with the authorities, which she and her fellow activists could still play in China over ten years ago, is over. Wild antics like those of the Bald Girls are now banned. Therefore, exhibitions in Europe, and perhaps the USA, are planned for next year. Xu views it all with equanimity: “Some people complain, but I don’t find that useful. Whatever we do – the main thing is, we keep going.” Julius Schwarzwälder
Actually, March 15 is World Consumer Rights Day, but you can’t learn about your rights soon enough. So, an employee of the Trade Department of the Market Supervision Bureau in Handan is showing elementary school students how to identify safe food. On World Consumer Rights Day, many information events take place in China.
For over four months now, the employees of the scrapyard SRW Metalfloat in Espenhain near Leipzig have been on strike for a collective agreement. It’s the longest strike in German history; the Chinese investor of the parent company Scholz Recycling GmbH is currently blocking any negotiations. The strike activity will reach the capital city on Thursday – potentially casting a shadow on German-Chinese relations.
Representatives of the plant and the IG Metall union will be meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Berlin. They aim to hand him a letter with demands. Christian Domke Seidel has already read this letter. In it, Yongming Qin, the Chinese managing director of Scholz Recycling GmbH, is harshly criticized. “Ignoring our legitimate concerns arrogantly and leaving unanswered offers for dialogue from our IG Metall representatives, despite this behavior being in contradiction to the company’s code of conduct, damages the reputation of Chinese shareholders in Germany,” it says.
The image of China is also at stake for Mercedes CEO Ola Kaellenius – but in a completely different context. At the beginning of the week, he once again emphasized his opposition to EU tariffs on EVs from China. And he is now facing massive criticism for it, as analyzed by Marcel Grzanna. The accusation: Instead of national interests, he only has sales figures in China in mind. Are German automakers becoming China’s enablers in Europe?
The Chinese ambassador in Berlin is meeting representatives of IG Metall and the recycling company SRW Metalfloat today, Thursday. They will hand over a letter addressing the background of the record strike that has been disrupting operations since March 8. The trade union and works council blame the Chinese investor for the situation. Scholz Recycling, the parent company, however, places responsibility on IG Metall and the works council. The positions are entrenched.
The letter, which the employee representatives will present to the Chinese ambassador, has been obtained by Table.Media in advance. In it, Yongming Qin, the Chinese managing director of Scholz Recycling GmbH, is harshly criticized. “Ignoring our legitimate concerns arrogantly and failing to respond to offers of dialogue from our IG Metall representatives, despite this behavior contradicting the company’s code of conduct, damages the reputation of Chinese shareholders in Germany,” it says.
Employees accuse Qin of lacking reliability and breaking promises to customers, suppliers, shareholders and employees. “The actions of our Chinese employer have unfortunately become a stain on German-Chinese economic relations.” In fact, the strike is unique not only in terms of its duration. Chinese investors usually enjoy a very good reputation among unions and employees.
Until the summer of 2023, there were constructive negotiations, but then the managing director of SRW Metalfloat had his negotiating mandate revoked by the investor. In addition, there are specific allegations regarding working conditions. “Our wages are just above the minimum wage and around 600 euros below what colleagues in our industry earn.”
After a total of four warning strikes, the workforce has, therefore, permanently ceased work. By now, this strike – which has lasted 128 days on the day of the letter handover – has become the longest strike in German history, apart from the occupation of the Seibel & Soehne cement works in 1975 without union support – which lasted 449 days.
There are four central demands:
In a conversation with Table.Media, a representative of Scholz Recycling explains, however, that the situation is not as one-sided as portrayed in the letter. The company states that it is so close on three of the four points that there would be no obstacle to an agreement. Since January 2024, the company has been paying its employees 200 euros more, which means an increase of between 7 and 8.5 percent at SRW Metalfloat.
There would be Christmas and vacation bonuses on a voluntary basis, and the reduction in working hours with full wage compensation has been approved. Moreover – according to Scholz – only accounting and administration would still work 40 hours. About 80 percent of the workforce already have a 37.5-hour week.
The sticking point is the demand for a collective bargaining agreement – which Scholz Recycling fundamentally rejects. Therefore, no negotiations have taken place since August 2023. There is simply no basis for it. Moreover, Scholz Recycling, like the employee representatives, complains of a lack of trust. Agreed negotiation dates with the Chinese management simply were not honored. Qin, according to the representative, is regularly on site, and there have been attempts to sit down at the table.
This has its reasons. There has been massive criticism from IG Metall regarding the previous negotiations. Previous agreements would have violated Section 77 of the Works Constitution Act. This states that conditions that are usually regulated in a collective bargaining agreement (such as payment) must not be the subject of a works agreement.
The works councils would otherwise make themselves vulnerable. “This means that the previous practice had no legal validity. Negotiations on an equal footing and with the necessary mutual respect require two parties in Germany: employers and trade unions,” writes IG Metall in its letter to the Chinese ambassador.
The situation is also deadlocked on-site in Espenhain. SRW Metalfloat had to switch from a three-shift to a two-shift operation. According to the Scholz Recycling representative, this has created a rift among the workforce – between those who work and those who strike. About 50 employees have, therefore, filed an application with the Leipzig District Court to disempower the works council, according to Scholz. The process is still ongoing.
One point that the union sees differently. Because in November, 89 percent of the employees had voted for an indefinite strike – at a time when the company’s offers were already on the table.
With his plea against European Union import tariffs on Chinese EVs, Mercedes CEO Ola Kaellenius has reignited a long-standing debate. His critics accuse him of pandering to Beijing to curry favor with the Communist Party. They believe Källenius is doing exactly what China expects of him: representing the interests of Chinese exporters to ensure extensive equal treatment for his corporation in the world’s largest automotive market.
In an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times, the corporate boss urged the EU Commission to reduce tariffs on Chinese EVs instead of considering further increases. Indeed, the Commission has already taken initial steps to impose retroactive tariffs. On Tuesday, Brussels stated that the EU Commission had sufficient evidence of state subsidies for Chinese electric vehicles.
Kaellenius’s statements draw criticism from around the world. On one hand, he is accused of naively ignoring Chinese interests, which go far beyond the sale of EV. On the other hand, he is seen as employing a misguided business strategy, as he wants to open the floodgates to the home market for his fiercest competitor, believing he can counter state-subsidized Chinese competitors in the European market with quality alone. Others see his statements as inevitable because Mercedes-Benz is approximately 20 percent owned by Chinese shareholders. Competitors Geely and SAIC hold about one-fifth of the company’s shares.
“I hope he sleeps well because he prioritizes China sales and his shareholders over national interests,” judges Briton David Benyon, host of the Political Risk Podcast, which deals with the risks of multinational corporations in the geopolitical climate. US technology investor Al Mabrouk sees “a continuation of German deception. Apparently, they have learned nothing from their Russian experience”. Ian Oxnevad from risk consultancy Infortal speaks of “corporate suicide”.
“It seems that many in Germany do not fully understand China’s intentions,” writes Australian author and Asia strategy consultant Andre Wheeler on social media. He points to the example of Huawei. The Bundeswehr’s internal communication platform, “Bw Messenger“, is available for private phones in the app store of the Chinese telecommunications provider. “This indicates that they know nothing about China’s military-civil fusion strategy,” says Wheeler.
Regularly expressed concerns, whose likelihood is difficult to quantify, suspect not only economic interests behind the Chinese technology wave but also security-related ones. The more Chinese technology is used in Europe, the more data flows to the autocratic regime, increasing the risk of ceding control of critical infrastructure to the People’s Republic.
“It is once again evident that companies initially exploit liberal values (in our countries through lobbying), and then undermine them by supporting the autocracies in which they have grown large,” comments business ethicist with a focus on China, Alicia Hennig, from IHI Zittau at TU Dresden.
Mercedes-Benz defends Kaellenius and sees his statements as taken out of context. The company CEO made a general remark “that tariffs, in general, should be avoided on all sides.” He included all stakeholders in his call and only specifically appealed to the EU to reduce tariffs when asked.
Kaellenius justified his stance by seeing in the Chinese companies wanting to export to Europe “a natural evolution of competition.” Mercedes-Benz and others must face this challenge “with better products, better technology, and more agility“. “That’s the market economy. Let competition play,” says Kaellenius.
“The lack of equal competitive conditions poses a threat to European automakers. Messages like these will be welcomed in Beijing – probably by the target audience,” commented Rhodium analyst Noak Barkin on LinkedIn.
In contrast, the mechanisms of the market economy are systematically undermined in the People’s Republic. Subsidies in various forms such as favorable interest rates, cheap land or tax breaks, coupled with a tight framework in which foreign carmakers operate, are added to import tariffs of 15 percent, so German manufacturers in the electric segment must fight against significant resistance. In comparison, the EU currently imposes only 10 percent tariffs.
The fierce competition has also led Volkswagen to announce a decline in profits for 2024. CEO Oliver Blume stated that Volkswagen’s share of the operating profit of its joint ventures in the People’s Republic would decline to 1.5-2 billion euros – a decrease of up to 40 percent.
The US House of Representatives has approved a bill that would force the Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell its video app TikTok. A large majority of 352 representatives voted in favor, with only 65 against. This marks a significant step toward the forced sale. The next step is for the Senate to consider the matter. However, some influential senators have already spoken out against the bill.
A group of US lawmakers introduced the bill on Tuesday. It proposes that ByteDance has six months to sell its globally popular short-video app TikTok. Otherwise, a ban in the app stores of US providers like Apple and Google could be imposed. ByteDance stated that this would amount to an absolute ban. The concerns revolve around national security, with critics fearing that ByteDance could transfer user data to the People’s Republic of China. The app has around 170 million users in the United States.
US courts could be occupied with the case for years. Observers say that a TikTok ban could violate freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. According to media reports, ByteDance is determined to exhaust all legal avenues in the United States before considering a sale. Separating from TikTok is seen as a last resort, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the United States of harassing TikTok and undermining the international economic and trade order. rtr/fpe
In Brussels, a clause in the proposed EU packaging regulations is being hotly debated: The requirement stipulates that manufacturers in China and elsewhere around the world would be obligated to adhere to the standards for recycled plastic packaging applicable in Europe. If recycled plastic from China does not meet the same standards demanded by manufacturers in the EU, access to the EU market would be denied.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU urged on Wednesday “the need to keep an eye on potential trade disruptions and cost increases due to excessively strict packaging requirements”. The Chamber emphasized that the “principles of fairness and non-discrimination” must be upheld and “no market barriers” should be erected.
The EU Parliament and EU Council agreed on the packaging regulation last week. France is said to have insisted on the “equivalence criteria”, also known as the “mirror clause”, which pertains to recycled plastic from EU countries abroad.
The European Commission is also reportedly not entirely supportive of the proposal with the clause from the Parliament and Council. According to a South China Morning Post report, an EU official described it as a “de facto ban”. Consequently, the EU Commission seeks to persuade the other two EU institutions to drop the “mirror clause” in order to avoid accusations of protectionism from the Global South. ari
Her feminist commitment, according to curator and art critic Juan Xu, is fueled by the experiences of several generations. Even before she says a word about herself, she talks about her grandmother, who became a widow at the age of 20. She was not allowed to work, marry or even be seen by strangers for the rest of her life, confined to the rear area of her family’s rundown villa, just to avoid encountering unfamiliar men. The feeling of barely being tolerated on this earth, despite having committed no wrong, shattered this woman’s life. The prospect of such a fate terrified Xu even as a child.
In contrast, her mother’s demeanor was different. She earned her own money, dressed rebelliously, and wanted to be in control of her life: “Driving a car would have been an unimaginable shame for my grandmother. For my mother, it was more than just a symbol; it was an expression of her independence.”
However, there was a shift in the perception of women’s roles in her mother’s generation. With the economic boom in the 1990s, suddenly there were women whose sole life goal was to marry a wealthy man. For Xu, this was a strange development: “That was and is a strange historical time shift. But one movement always seems to be followed by a counter-movement.”
Never feeling particularly at home, Juan Xu spent her youth: “Neither Confucianism nor communism suited me. I always felt like a stranger.” She was interested in poetry and theater, in art beyond party lines. After an unsuccessful attempt to start anew in Australia, which turned out to be too sunny and carefree for her temperament, she studied in Tübingen. The situation of feminism in Germany in the 1990s was different from that in China. Although not all battles had been won, feminism was established here as a brand.
The alienation with the country of her birth changed during this time, but did not diminish. Xu particularly remembers an episode vividly, when the security authorities instructed her to report to the police during a visit to her father. They wanted to question her about her role as secretary-general of the Chinese Student Association in Germany – which Xu finds amusing: “That shows that they couldn’t assess me either. In this role, I was by no means a threat to the state.”
When the officials then asked her if she would like to invest money in future projects of the authority after the interrogation, the Kafkaesque play was perfect: “It was all so absurd! But also one of the reasons why I cannot live in China today.” Because for 20 years, Xu has been a German citizen. While foreigners were treated better in China some time ago, having a foreign passport now brings no advantages; on the contrary: “By now, I am more strongly discriminated against because of it.”
A turning point for Juan Xu was her encounter with contemporary Chinese art: “It was sharp, critical, playful. These were not the traditional things. Suddenly, something connected me to this country again.” Since being a mere spectator was never her thing, Xu decided to take action herself. In 2012, she authored the manifesto of the Bald Girls, a group of feminist artists whose protagonists shaved their heads bald at their first public appearance. The Bald Girls realized exhibitions in collaboration with figures like Nobel laureate Herta Mueller; their action garnered attention from publications such as The New York Times.
However, even though her work as a curator and critic reconnects her more closely with China, Xu sees the situation there increasingly ambivalently: “On the one hand, this whole country is experimenting – which is brilliant because if the thresholds are lower, you can try everything.” A welcome change from the routine and well-fed cultural scene in Germany.
But the cat-and-mouse game with the authorities, which she and her fellow activists could still play in China over ten years ago, is over. Wild antics like those of the Bald Girls are now banned. Therefore, exhibitions in Europe, and perhaps the USA, are planned for next year. Xu views it all with equanimity: “Some people complain, but I don’t find that useful. Whatever we do – the main thing is, we keep going.” Julius Schwarzwälder
Actually, March 15 is World Consumer Rights Day, but you can’t learn about your rights soon enough. So, an employee of the Trade Department of the Market Supervision Bureau in Handan is showing elementary school students how to identify safe food. On World Consumer Rights Day, many information events take place in China.
