This morning I thought, "I don't want to go to Chengdu" (for the
Worldcon), and the rest of the song promptly demanded that I write it.

OK for Xenofilkia.

Here's a PDF version, with chords:

http://www.mcgath.com/songs/IDontWantToGoToChengdu.pdf

I Don't Want to Go to Chengdu
Lyrics: Gary McGath, Copyright 2022
Music: Gary Ehrlich, "I Don't Want to Go to Pennsic"

When it's August I'll see people packing
To take a plane to the Far East,
They tell me I really should join them
When the fans throw a Chinese-style feast.
But I value my life and my freedom
And the news tells of doings malign.
I would much rather be dragged to Pennsic
Or go to a filksing online.

Refrain:
I don't want to go to Chengdu
And spend the week 'neath watchful eyes.
I much prefer freedom to speak out
When people in charge utter lies.
I don't want to go to Chengdu.
It's not what I'd most like to do.
If I went to the Worldcon in Chengdu
I might never come back home to you.

Now it's true that I love foreign travel
And learned German just for a con.
But there I'm not in too much danger.
S. S. and Gestapo are gone.
I do not want to hear Lukianenko
Declare that they've moved to Ukraine
Where Putin has brought liberation,
Since I'm not completely insane.

I enjoyed Liu's "Three-Body Problem,"
But he has to follow the line,
So when he is asked about Uyghurs,
He must say oppression's just fine.
To keep up his good social credit,
The system he has to defend.
He knows that to voice criticism
Would bring his career to an end.

With the Chinese fans I have no quarrel.
They're stuck living under Xi's rule.
They do what will let them live safely.
An S.F. fan isn't a fool.
But they aren't ever going to tempt me
To join them where tyrants hold sway.
If they want to come here, I'll say "Welcome,
And if you would like to, please stay!"

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

In Message-ID:<tip817$2puv$3@dont-email.me>,
Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:

>
>This morning I thought, "I don't want to go to Chengdu" (for the
>Worldcon), and the rest of the song promptly demanded that I write it.

And in today's news, Chengdu is cracking down on evilness, like
LARPing:
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/19/chinese-city-decides-larpers-are-next-in-line-for-government-censorship/

--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" pobox "dot" com

On 10/19/2022 9:18 AM, Gary McGath wrote:
> This morning I thought, "I don't want to go to Chengdu" (for the
> Worldcon), and the rest of the song promptly demanded that I write it.
>
> OK for Xenofilkia.
>
> Here's a PDF version, with chords:
>
> http://www.mcgath.com/songs/IDontWantToGoToChengdu.pdf
>
> I Don't Want to Go to Chengdu
> Lyrics: Gary McGath, Copyright 2022
> Music: Gary Ehrlich, "I Don't Want to Go to Pennsic"
>
> When it's August I'll see people packing
> To take a plane to the Far East,
> They tell me I really should join them
> When the fans throw a Chinese-style feast.
> But I value my life and my freedom
> And the news tells of doings malign.
> I would much rather be dragged to Pennsic
> Or go to a filksing online.
>
> Refrain:
>     I don't want to go to Chengdu
>     And spend the week 'neath watchful eyes.
>     I much prefer freedom to speak out
>     When people in charge utter lies.
>     I don't want to go to Chengdu.
>     It's not what I'd most like to do.
>     If I went to the Worldcon in Chengdu
>     I might never come back home to you.
>
> Now it's true that I love foreign travel
> And learned German just for a con.
> But there I'm not in too much danger.
> S. S. and Gestapo are gone.
> I do not want to hear Lukianenko
> Declare that they've moved to Ukraine
> Where Putin has brought liberation,
> Since I'm not completely insane.
>
> I enjoyed Liu's "Three-Body Problem,"
> But he has to follow the line,
> So when he is asked about Uyghurs,
> He must say oppression's just fine.
> To keep up his good social credit,
> The system he has to defend.
> He knows that to voice criticism
> Would bring his career to an end.
>
> With the Chinese fans I have no quarrel.
> They're stuck living under Xi's rule.
> They do what will let them live safely.
> An S.F. fan isn't a fool.
> But they aren't ever going to tempt me
> To join them where tyrants hold sway.
> If they want to come here, I'll say "Welcome,
> And if you would like to, please stay!"

Thanks.

--Lee

On 10/19/22 2:46 PM, Arthur T. wrote:
> In Message-ID:<tip817$2puv$3@dont-email.me>,
> Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> This morning I thought, "I don't want to go to Chengdu" (for the
>> Worldcon), and the rest of the song promptly demanded that I write it.
>
> And in today's news, Chengdu is cracking down on evilness, like
> LARPing:
> https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/19/chinese-city-decides-larpers-are-next-in-line-for-government-censorship/
>

I thought about doing a verse on that but couldn't make it fit.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

On 10/20/2022 5:12 AM, Gary McGath wrote:

> I thought about doing a verse on that but couldn't make it fit.

A large part of the art of writing is knowing when you've said enough,
and/or editing out the things which are good but don't significantly
advance the story... "Kill your darlings". (Original meaning, not the
movie.)

On Saturday, 22 October 2022 at 1:16:57 am UTC-4, Joe Kesselman wrote:
> On 10/20/2022 5:12 AM, Gary McGath wrote:
>
> > I thought about doing a verse on that but couldn't make it fit.
> A large part of the art of writing is knowing when you've said enough,
> and/or editing out the things which are good but don't significantly
> advance the story... "Kill your darlings". (Original meaning, not the
> movie.)

Decent enough lyrics, nice enough jobs. And the sentiment is
fairly appropriate to the current leadership.

I have been to China many times, it has generally always kept a lot more
tabs on both highly visible citizens and vocal citizens certainly than the US;
before technology it was through sort of 'civic responsibility' (tell on your
neighbors and friends!!) started in
early communist movement times, then it became much more technological.

However, never once have I ever been bothered by anything or anyone
about such things any time I've been there. I've walked all over the cities
I've been in, gone to shops, restaurants, tourist places, rural countryside,
villages, etc. I've even driven on the highway with my US license. Taken cabs,
etc., all with no problems. I've gone out by myself any hours of the day
or eve with no problem and no questions any time.

The first time I was in Beijing it was easier to find someone trying to
take me to a back room and offer to sell me 'gangster knives' at night in
the street booths than it was to find a policeman.

It is true, if you spoke out against the new leader, who really aspires
to be very much a total dictator, more so than his predecessors,
that could go badly very quickly. He clearly wants 'reunification' on his
watch, to leave his mark in history, and IMO that is the biggest danger
that could be coming up soon. That could be a pretty scary escalation.

But if you go about your tourist trips, visits, etc., I don't think you will
notice the effects of the state growing more tolitarian.

What you may notice, the wrong time of year, in Bejing airport and there-abouts,
is the air can be as thick as a coal burning iron factory and smell just as bad.

You may notice a drive from one of the outer rings into the center of the city
now can take more than 3 hours.

You may also notice that prices are pretty high now in the big cities, you
can often no longer save a lot buying things there vs. ordering them online
and having them shipped to you.

You also may run into the Quarantine rules. For a while it was 22 days.
Then 7 days. I'm not sure what it is now, but that is a big concern to check
before you go there.

We have not gone back due to the extended quarantine rules, they would eat
up too much of the vacation.

But there are a lot of good things. The museums are fantastic. The Aquariums
are fantastic. They have great in-city water parks with all sorts of crazy pipe slides
and such. You can play tennis in the Olympic tennis stadium (if it's not being renovated
again...). You can visit lots of cool cultural and historical sites.

The traditional medicine hospitals are orders of magnitude better practitioners than
you are likely to find in your local neighborhood. There, the acupuncture and traditional
medicine is actually likely to work, not just cost you money for expensive placebo like
nearly all US trained practitioners.

The hotels and restaurants in the big cities are world class and not crazy expensive.

Some of the food is intentionally differently flavored, like pizza has sort of a
local twist on some of it, and there are still a lot of international franchise places if
you want to eat like you are home.

Generally the people are really friendly, though you may not find people casually
that happen to speak any English. Your cell phone and translation app these days
can help with that.

You will need a specific app to get a cab, find that before you go and put it on
your phone. They used to stop when you waved them down, I'm told not so much
now, everyone used the phone.

Your OS may not seem to function right if it depends too much on the internet
connecting to the 'mother ship' of the vendor. Except in the Shanghai business
district, they block a fair number of sites.

But phone signal is pretty good in most places and you can get a local SIM
for about $30 that will last a month of use probably.

YMMV

Dave

On 10/22/22 6:35 PM, david union wrote:
> It is true, if you spoke out against the new leader, who really aspires
> to be very much a total dictator, more so than his predecessors,
> that could go badly very quickly. He clearly wants 'reunification' on his
> watch, to leave his mark in history, and IMO that is the biggest danger
> that could be coming up soon. That could be a pretty scary escalation.
>
> But if you go about your tourist trips, visits, etc., I don't think you will
> notice the effects of the state growing more tolitarian.

Yes, you can go to Chengdu, keep your mouth safely shut, not utter any
controversial opinions, and most likely come back safely. Curiously, the
people denouncing the Florida NASFiC bid didn't consider this sufficient
reassurance, even though visitors to that state are far less likely to
be punished for their speech than visitors to China.

But yeah, just go there and look at the pretty costumes. Pretend you've
never heard of the Uyghurs. Shut up about Hong Kong. Don't say anything
about the consulate in Manchester. Smile and nod as Lukianenko praises
the Ukraine invasion. Don't ask questions.

That's what fandom is all about, isn't it?

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>This morning I thought, "I don't want to go to Chengdu" (for the
>Worldcon), and the rest of the song promptly demanded that I write it.

You do that Chengdu voodoo that you do so well?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."