As the West continues to deplore China, its Communist practices, its human rights abuses, its Tibetan-oppression, its production of lead-tainted products, and whatever else negative, I can't help but feel a great sense of Chinese accomplishment as I am here today. Of course, this country has its problems, but ask anyone--literally, anyone--and they can all nod in agreement when talking about how much lives have improved. Western media has you believe that the Chinese laobaixing (country folk) have a tough road to hoe. Of course, some certainly do. As there are starving people in America, there are also starving folks here... but it's not all bleak.
As my Dad keeps saying when he gazes upon the vast metropolises of today's China, "When I left 20-some years ago, my monthly salary was Y60. Hard to imagine, huh?" Even after factoring in inflation, today's China is unarguably a lot richer. When we visit extended family and friends--middle class Chinese--in their city apartments, we often say that their "xiao huan jing" (or immediate environment) is better than we have it back in the States. For one thing, their homes are all fancifully renovated and decorated with many more luxuries than our middle class homes in the US. It's the "da huan jing" (large environment), including air pollution (and awful public bathrooms--hah), that is the main difference. Pretty much any middle-class Chinese can afford a car these days with the Chinese-built ones costing as low as Y20,000. That classic image of Beijing's streets filled with bicycles is now completely outdated; it's the cars that cause the congestion these days. I was even surprised by how few bikes I saw, even in the poorer cities. But we all know that city folk are doing ok--what about the countrymen?
The countryside is definitely poor by US standards, naturally. But everyone's carrying a mobile and everyone's got electricity, though it can get a bit wonky as we experienced in Haba Village. On our trip up Haba Mountain, we first stayed in a ostensibly poor family-home on the outskirts of town with dog-earred posters of Chairman Mao glued to the walls. We ate in the kitchen/living/sleeping area with the farming family and talked about how things have changed. They laughed when we asked if those fields they were planting outside were enough to feed their growing family. "It's for the animals to eat!" they say. "We buy our food!" Subsistence farming? Not so much, it turns out. Next we moved to the Haba Mountain Inn in the middle of the village with all sorts of people from all walks of life ready to climb the mountain. We immediately became fast friends with a group of fellow climbers also staying at the Inn. When learning that we came from the US, they were all curious to think about what we thought of modern China. Turns out, the three of them--in their 30s and 40s--all grew up in the countryside, farming outside of Kunming. Today, they're equipped in western climbing gear ready to partake in a sport that only those who don't have to worry about where their next meal is coming from can bother with. One said, "I ask my mother about today's China and she said she couldn't have even dreamt of it--of how things have changed, have gotten better. 20 years ago, we couldn't even get food! Like hell would I be climbing mountains!"
As China continues to grow develop, lives will only continue to get better. However, there is still a huge threat in this development: the income gap continues to widen. While the poor have their basic necessities met and have rising standards of living, the super rich are in an entirely different stratosphere in terms of material things, but more importantly, in terms of the opportunities provided them. In the West, there are also super rich and super poor, but if you're super poor and willing to work hard, you will be able to pull yourself up. In China, this is just not the case. Education is the main difference. Educating a massive billion-strong population to the same degree is just not possible at the moment. We can only wait and see how China will adjust to this growing crisis in the future.
So yes, Chinese government has its share of problems including its horrid media censorship (blogspot is blocked, AGAIN! grr). But ask anyone if they want "Democracy Now!" and they respond with a laugh. It's a slow process, and the people here want to keep it this way. Could any of today's progress have been possible had they gone the way of Russia with glasnost and perostroika and suddenly, bam, Russian "democracy"? Nope. The country would be a lot worse off if that's the route it took.
Thus, China grows. And the West will continue to reprobate her as she does. Historically, there has always been a great fear of rising powers. When the US grew in the early 20th century, Europe was up in arms. When Japan grew after the War, the US was up in arms. And so today, as China looks like she will become a global power, the rest of the world is up in arms and "China Threat Theories" will become ever more popular. For one thing, would the West really care about the Tibet situation (I'm still unsure what to think of it myself) if China wasn't the party involveed? What if Tibet was a territory being claimed, rightfully or unrightfully, by Tanzania or something? We hardly even heard news about Rwandan genocide, so nevermind a few oppressed monks if that were the case.
Anyway, point is... forget the Beijing Olympics. Ask most Chinese and they agree that government hype over the Olympics is totally out of control and unnatural--not to mention stupid as it draws unnecessary attention from the West. The government wants to use the Olympics as a vessel of Chinese nationalism, but it's not necessary. People here seem to be quite proud of all their country has achieved and don't need that symbolic Olympic torch to prove it.
On a semi-related sidenote, environmental practices here are also changing, I am happy to report! There is still a great deal of waste, but "huan bao" (or environmental protectionism) is on the rise! More and more groups like the environmentally-conscious climbing group we met while climbing up Haba Mountain are popping up. A country can only start to care about its environment once it has the economic criteria to do so, and today's young generation is proving this as just about everyone climbing Haba abided by the classic "Leave no trace" philosophy of US outdoor enthusiasts. Even in the countryside, I was surprised to see how many solar panels were sitting atop shanty huts.
All right... /end really long post. :D
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