Some notes on China
China has close to 1.5 billion people. They could have remained isolated forever because their population is capable of buying all that they produce with a market that is half that of the earth. However they ran out of raw materials so they had to open trade. Once they opened trade, they opened visibility to/from within China to the outside world. By doing that they created desire by those inside to want what was available to others in other countries. To keep domestic turmoil and uprisings to a minimum, they allowed other countries to sell their goods in China, and in doing so "keep the children happy".
I saw kids, no older than 10 standing on the side of 4 lane highways with their bikes waiting until it was safe to cross. Not sure that safe is a word I would use since traffic in all lanes appeared to be continuous. This is a common way that kids and adults will cross these massive roadways in mainland China.
Though this is a communist country, you wouldn't know it from the way that commerce is flowing on every street corner. Businesses seem to have free reign on how they package and deliver goods. I suspect that there are freedoms that don't exist, but in the day-to-day lives of the Chinese, as one said "you don't miss what you've never had" and I'm not sure I can see what freedoms they don't have for the everyday citizen.
Negotiation is a way of life in China. I was with a business partner at an ancient temple (build on 12 AD) and they were selling things at the gift shop. I was interested in a set of lion figures and they sold for 350 RMB (roughly 50 USD). I went to pull out my credit card to pay and he told me to put it away. He then proceeded to negotiate the price down to 150 RMB and the lady seemed fine with the sale. That's over 50% off and she did the deal like it was list price.
The horn is a favorite instrument of all taxi drivers. With scooters, other cars, trucks and people littering the streets, the blowing of the horn is the accepted way of clearing a path through the maze.
I took a taxi/limo from Forshan to Guangzhou airport and I don't remember seeing any unpopulated landscapes. That was roughly 100 kilometers and there were buildings everywhere, like NYC on a conveyor belt. It's almost impossible to comprehend how many people are living in China. As we travel, there are thousands of massive apartment buildings wherever you look. Ducked below their skyline are businesses that must find a way of employing all these people, but it is just so hard to imagine that for every apartment I see there is a job someone that duplicates the space that is required to house all these people. Where do they all go and how have they been able to so efficiently exist without utter chaos as the standard norm.
They say that English is a required language, but I would say that the vast majority of Chinese either never learned it or they never practiced it so it was soon lost from their memories. I have met many business professionals that say that when they are in grade school that they are encouraged to choose an alternate name that will be recognized internationally. I know an Eric, a Leo and a Julian and expect there is a story behind each choice, but I never asked. I probably should have. Maybe next time.
As an update to this topic, while in a restaurant at the airport I struggled to ask for a specific (chicken) dinner or a Coke (so much for international name recognition) when I noted a table with a set teenagers. I asked if any spoke English and 2 quickly came to my rescue. This either means that my opinion of lost memory is correct of older people, or it is only recent that the requirement to learn English is new to the schools of China.
There was a sign above the highway that said, in Chinese and English, "No driving with fatigue". For some reason I suspect that saying you fell asleep at the wheel may show how communists punish those who don't obey the rules. Very much like the head of the Ministry of Commerce (I think) was executed when it was found out that he accepted bribes and let defective/poisonous goods be exported from China. No lengthy trial. Just executed and then "on with the show". Now that's accountability. I don't think that will be a common occurrence in China’s government.
I would suspect that the every day Chinese person doesn't notice they live in a communist country. The ones who notice are those that the government fears and needs to silence. The analogy that comes to mind is that of a car. If the steering wheel or bucket seat told the engine that it wanted to propel the car, the engine would consider it a useless request and either stop running to show the steering wheel that its mission is to steer the car and that it can't run it, or show the bucket seat that it’s there for rider comfort and has no business trying to trade places. If that doesn't work, then the car gets rid of the steering wheel or bucket seat and gets a new one. In democracy we allow the steering wheel to try to power the car, similar to George Bush running our government.
Families seem to have a high degree of closeness and no problems expressing it. Small children tend to be "worked by the parents" in a way that is like working dough for a loaf of bread of a pizza. They seem to flow with the mood of the child and, like water over a rock, the child just come back to good behavior. I think our culture breeds discipline, while the Chinese culture breeds acceptance, and that permeates their very existence.
I saw kids, no older than 10 standing on the side of 4 lane highways with their bikes waiting until it was safe to cross. Not sure that safe is a word I would use since traffic in all lanes appeared to be continuous. This is a common way that kids and adults will cross these massive roadways in mainland China.
Though this is a communist country, you wouldn't know it from the way that commerce is flowing on every street corner. Businesses seem to have free reign on how they package and deliver goods. I suspect that there are freedoms that don't exist, but in the day-to-day lives of the Chinese, as one said "you don't miss what you've never had" and I'm not sure I can see what freedoms they don't have for the everyday citizen.
Negotiation is a way of life in China. I was with a business partner at an ancient temple (build on 12 AD) and they were selling things at the gift shop. I was interested in a set of lion figures and they sold for 350 RMB (roughly 50 USD). I went to pull out my credit card to pay and he told me to put it away. He then proceeded to negotiate the price down to 150 RMB and the lady seemed fine with the sale. That's over 50% off and she did the deal like it was list price.
The horn is a favorite instrument of all taxi drivers. With scooters, other cars, trucks and people littering the streets, the blowing of the horn is the accepted way of clearing a path through the maze.
I took a taxi/limo from Forshan to Guangzhou airport and I don't remember seeing any unpopulated landscapes. That was roughly 100 kilometers and there were buildings everywhere, like NYC on a conveyor belt. It's almost impossible to comprehend how many people are living in China. As we travel, there are thousands of massive apartment buildings wherever you look. Ducked below their skyline are businesses that must find a way of employing all these people, but it is just so hard to imagine that for every apartment I see there is a job someone that duplicates the space that is required to house all these people. Where do they all go and how have they been able to so efficiently exist without utter chaos as the standard norm.
They say that English is a required language, but I would say that the vast majority of Chinese either never learned it or they never practiced it so it was soon lost from their memories. I have met many business professionals that say that when they are in grade school that they are encouraged to choose an alternate name that will be recognized internationally. I know an Eric, a Leo and a Julian and expect there is a story behind each choice, but I never asked. I probably should have. Maybe next time.
As an update to this topic, while in a restaurant at the airport I struggled to ask for a specific (chicken) dinner or a Coke (so much for international name recognition) when I noted a table with a set teenagers. I asked if any spoke English and 2 quickly came to my rescue. This either means that my opinion of lost memory is correct of older people, or it is only recent that the requirement to learn English is new to the schools of China.
There was a sign above the highway that said, in Chinese and English, "No driving with fatigue". For some reason I suspect that saying you fell asleep at the wheel may show how communists punish those who don't obey the rules. Very much like the head of the Ministry of Commerce (I think) was executed when it was found out that he accepted bribes and let defective/poisonous goods be exported from China. No lengthy trial. Just executed and then "on with the show". Now that's accountability. I don't think that will be a common occurrence in China’s government.
I would suspect that the every day Chinese person doesn't notice they live in a communist country. The ones who notice are those that the government fears and needs to silence. The analogy that comes to mind is that of a car. If the steering wheel or bucket seat told the engine that it wanted to propel the car, the engine would consider it a useless request and either stop running to show the steering wheel that its mission is to steer the car and that it can't run it, or show the bucket seat that it’s there for rider comfort and has no business trying to trade places. If that doesn't work, then the car gets rid of the steering wheel or bucket seat and gets a new one. In democracy we allow the steering wheel to try to power the car, similar to George Bush running our government.
Families seem to have a high degree of closeness and no problems expressing it. Small children tend to be "worked by the parents" in a way that is like working dough for a loaf of bread of a pizza. They seem to flow with the mood of the child and, like water over a rock, the child just come back to good behavior. I think our culture breeds discipline, while the Chinese culture breeds acceptance, and that permeates their very existence.
posted by Brion Carroll | 12:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home