Those condemned to live somewhere other than Manhattan may not know this, but we have this enormous skyscraper right in the middle of the island that we’re all rather proud of called the Empire State Building. Not content enough to allow the building to speak for itself and project an image of strength, power, sophistication, and confidence, the hucksters who own the thing often bathe the building in light to convey some other message. Typically the message is some kind of civic boosterism, like using blue and red lights to celebrate the Giants’ victory in the Super Bowl, or green lights on March 17th to signal a day of public inebriation.
Usually it’s all rather harmless. But according to a story on google news from AFB, on Wednesday of this week–tonight!–the building will be lit up red and yellow Wednesday in honor of the 60th anniversary of communist China. Yes, the People’s Republic of China, that big, repressive, violent totalitarian regime that takes up such a huge chunk of Asia. They own a great big chunk of America’s debt, and I guess when a country has your balls in a vise like that, they can pretty much do what they want, including make everyone pretend that none of us remembers the day the tanks rolled into Tiannamen Square. According to reports, the Chinese consul, Peng Keyu, will be among the officials who will take part in the lighting ceremony. I wonder if Peng is aware that the Empire State Building is just a couple of blocks from Herald Square, because, you know, if he wanted to make a day of it, I’m sure somebody would be happy to kiss his ass in Macy’s window, too.
You know, the students at Tiannamen Square made a paper mache model of the Statue of Liberty. Now the real one will have a ringside view of Wednesday’s lighting.
Welcome to the Chinese century.