Monkeyrockworld

My connection with Daniele started randomly over the internet when a few weeks before embarking on my Chinese teaching adventure, I was googling and researching about Punk in China. His blog “Secondo Me” was the first search result, and he was the first to tell me a few random things about life in Beijing and North east China.

Almost three years passed, me and Daniele had the chance to meet several times over different kinds of mouthwatering bei cang, discuss several topics, and sample several kinds of lung melting Chinese alcohol. Since the first time, I was really captured by the mental intensity of this out of the ordinary character, currently a Phd researcher in the prestigious People’s University in Beijing, writer and academic publisher disguised for a cheap ass punk with holes in his shirt and shoes and a taste for cheap, oily street food. In three words, my kind of guy.

Since then I’ve been an avid consumer of his excellent blogs and have tried to keep in touch as much as I could over the years… and finally decided to show you how much you can learn from this man sending him a few intense questions. For the sake of internet communication brevity, we didn’t engage in writing an encyclopedia, but what follows deserves to be tattooed on your brains with psychedelic ink. Enjoy.

MM- You are a PHD student in Beijing, but a particular one. Can you briefly introduce yourself, and draft an idea of your life philosophy?

Well, well… I was born in 1982 in Macerata, a peaceful (too peaceful) town in central Italy, close to the Adriatic sea, surrounded by countryside and hills of olive trees and grape vineyards. Since I was 14 I became more and more interested in different countries and cultures, travelling, reading, getting involved with punk music and politics. When I was 18 I move to Rome to study East Asian cultures. A couple of years later I went for my first time to this huge world called China. And here I’m living at the moment, enrolled in a Ph.D. course in the Sociology department of People’s University in Beijing. Travelling, reading, writing, punk music and cultural studies are still my biggest passions.

Life philosophy? Still looking for one. Let’s say that basically (and sorry if I am too insipid) I just try to enjoy the life, do what I like and feel to do, avoiding boredom and trying to leave this world better than it is at present.

MM-  I’ve read you call yourself an anarchist. How would you describe your mindset, especially seen from the perspective of the Chinese Communist Way?

When I was in high school I often played truant and spent all the morning in the library of my city, reading Kropotkin, Bakunin, Necaev. Since the beginning I felt fascinated from those radical thinkers. Anarchism is a political philosophy. I consider myself an anarchist because I refuse authoritarianism, because I dislike borders and property, because I believe in freedom and solidarity between people all over the world. I know it sounds likes an “utopia”, but in my opinion it is important to spend your life being coherent with your ideas, not always accepting compromises, doubting the mainstream. As far as you can, at least. Of course there are many ways to live anarchism (or no one in particular, if you prefer). At present for me to be an anarchist means to learn (that include to travel,  to study, to observe and to discuss) as much as I can and try to realize some social project as an attempt, an alternative to the “mainstream” life in the so called “developed countries” (that is production-consuming society). Be well informed and conscious about what happened around us as much as we can, create social forums, social spaces, social networks, be “open” and not victim of commercial advertisement and politic.

Trying to live like this in China is more difficult than in other countries but maybe more interesting and fascinating. For example, to live in a country with a strong internet control forces you to think about new ways of meeting and sharing information. But to say the truth, living as a foreign student here in Beijing is obviously easier than a Chinese citizen. And, apart from this, sometimes I feel I am more free here (in the meaning of opportunities and things you can do) than in a “democratic and civilized” western developed country as Italy.

MM- You are currently researching on migrant workers in China. Can you briefly explain to my readers what does it mean, and which significant experiences have you got so far approaching this problem?

I am trying to realize an ethnographic research among young female migrants in Beijing. That means among low educated, unmarried and young ladies who leave the countryside to reach the capital city and work as waitresses, maids, shop assistants, prostitutes. I am working on gender and migration studies. And this is hard for me. Because during my studies in Rome my major was Sinology, that means Chinese culture with a classical perspective. But since the first time I came to China (six years ago) I suddenly became interested in contemporary society and I shifted my studies’ focus to social and economic changes. I have no sociological or anthropological background and this make my research harder. Fortunately, my knowledge of the Chinese language and culture helps me a lot.

As you know, “guanxi” (social connections, relations, contacts) is one of the most important things in China. And luckily I can say I know many people and have much guanxi here in Beijing. That is why I can rely on a lot of Chinese and foreign friends who help me in my research. At the same time I met a lot of interesting people (migrants, social workers, NGOs members, students, activists, journalists, …) just thanks to my studies and surveys.

At the same time, I simply cannot completely concentrate and spend all my time on my Ph.D. research. I use to read and work a lot even on other things. For example I am interested even in other fields of Chinese society such as art, music, organizations. Sometimes I do work as interpreter or translator. I collaborate as a free lancer with China Files (an international press agency concerning China). I take part in political and social workshops and meetings. And, of course, I never forget to have fun and go travelling or visiting other countries every time I have the opportunity.

TO BE CONTINUED