China fee, China fi, China fo fum.
I've pinpointed what it is about China that I don't like. The travelling industry. Yinjialing village really saved China for me. It gave me another perspective on the people that didn't include badgering me for my money. Travelling in China means having to fight all the time. Fight for a good price, fight to be left alone, fight for spring water - not dusty spring water that's a year past the expiration date. Doing anything in China means being annoyed or harassed at least 60-70% of the time. D. summed it up well when she said that she likes living in China, but not travelling in it. I think I'd agree with that sentiment though she's much more qualified to utter it considering that she's been living here for a year. China's hard to get to in the sense that there seems to be a glass floor between you and the community, presented in the form of a renovated Great Wall and a shiny new facade for the Forbidden City. Interestingly, the only people you'll find at the unrenovated portions of the Great Wall are Westerners, whereas China's own local tourists throng Badaling - the renovated section complete with cable car. So the question is - do the Chinese not see beauty in the crumbling oldness of the ruined wall? The answer is no. What they see instead is a past they're trying to leave behind and forget as China opens its borders and begins to modernize. They see no purpose to the ruined sections. They want to look forward to the new "renovated" China. I don't think this is a perspective I could've had until now.
And the government doesn't represent the people. I think it's too easy to measure China by U.S. standards and see how far it falls short. I hear it all the time in hostel lounges. But it's easy to forget that China is in a lot of ways still a developing country. Yes, discrimination against minorities is rampant and absolutely wrong. Yes, the rich here are very rich and treat the poor in awful ways. But what surprises me is the fact that travelers here are so surprised by all this that the trendy thing to do is to complain about it constantly. What country doesn't have discrimination against their minority groups? What developing countries don't have a disparity and conflict between the classes. South Africa's wealth gap is so large that the rich feel the need to ring their homes with high walls studded with broken glass, topped with barbed wire, plus attack dogs inside - and yet no one is surprised by it there. Maybe because it's expected in a country like South Africa whose problems have been so visible to the world for so long. Whereas China hides behind a veneer of "face" and wants to be treated like a developed country though it's not. Then again, who -doesn't- want to be treated like a developed country. I hate it when I argue myself into circles.
The problem with China is that it wants to deny its problems so it hides them from foreigners, separating them from the local Chinese in hostels. It's one of the few countries I know that treats its own people with discrimination (a Chinese national calling a hotel will be told it's full, but they'll have space for an American). Part of it is wanting to show the "good" China to outsiders and part of it is simply the government sucking. The ex-pat community here is even worse. What I find the most interesting contradiction about China is that the most critical individuals I've met on the road are the ones who've stayed in China the longest (at least a year). Arguably, they've seen more of the bad parts of China, but yet they've still somehow managed to do it a) without learning to speak a word of Chinese or b) without learning anything about the community and culture. Its interesting especially because its so different from every other country I've been to where the travellers make it a point to learn about the communities. D says the problem lies in the recruiting for English teachers. China doesn't care about prior teaching experience - only if you're a native English speaker. D., as an English teacher herself, says its a shame that so many lowbrows are let in because not only are they poor PR for the country when they complain without keeping an open mind, but also an injustice to the students who pay for these English lessons. Also, a lot of them become part of the ex-pat community which has its own exclusive neighborhoods where Chinese aren't allowed, Chinese isn't spoken, and where the local culture and flavor is often a topic of disdain. What compounds it is a natural Chinese inclination to put foreigners on a pedestal to begin with.
So, I suppose the question is - what do I want to happen? I want people coming here to come with an open mind and try to understand the why's of the situation. I want people to keep in mind that China is still a developing country despite all its assertions that it's developed (like a teenager insisting she's all grownup). I want people to hate the government, not the people, and see that the government and the people are two separate things. I want people to see that I'm trying to make valid points, instead of only seeing my skin color and assuming that I'm defensive about my own "country" that's filled with people I share a language with but don't necessarily feel I identify with since they come from completely different places than me or my parents.
The hardest thing about travelling in Asia has been the thing I usually like the most - the other travellers I meet. Even in Thailand - it was all about the gross old white men with Thai wives. What is it about Asia that only allows foreigners to see the differences and not the similarities? That the Thai also have families and children they want the best for. That Thai women don't have a lot of choices (who would choose to marry a gross old white guy who can't even speak your language?).
The most interesting thing about travelling as a "hua ren" (Chinese born in America) is how much more willing the Chinese are to talk about the problems here. As a white person, the local Chinese are more likely to put on a smile and talk about how things here are okay - saving face. As a Hua Ren, they usually pat my knee and talk about how we're all Chinese here despite our birth place. And how they're proud that so many of China's seedlings have fallen so far from the tree and still managed to grow. And then they give their honest opinions about Mao, about the Cultural Revolution, about modernization. Most interesting was an account from a service person at Far East Hostel in Beijing. He spoke very nostalgically of the Communist era. I was astounded. Wasn't everyone poor? Yes, he said. But we were all poor together. Now, only some people are poor, and the rest laugh at them.
And the government doesn't represent the people. I think it's too easy to measure China by U.S. standards and see how far it falls short. I hear it all the time in hostel lounges. But it's easy to forget that China is in a lot of ways still a developing country. Yes, discrimination against minorities is rampant and absolutely wrong. Yes, the rich here are very rich and treat the poor in awful ways. But what surprises me is the fact that travelers here are so surprised by all this that the trendy thing to do is to complain about it constantly. What country doesn't have discrimination against their minority groups? What developing countries don't have a disparity and conflict between the classes. South Africa's wealth gap is so large that the rich feel the need to ring their homes with high walls studded with broken glass, topped with barbed wire, plus attack dogs inside - and yet no one is surprised by it there. Maybe because it's expected in a country like South Africa whose problems have been so visible to the world for so long. Whereas China hides behind a veneer of "face" and wants to be treated like a developed country though it's not. Then again, who -doesn't- want to be treated like a developed country. I hate it when I argue myself into circles.
The problem with China is that it wants to deny its problems so it hides them from foreigners, separating them from the local Chinese in hostels. It's one of the few countries I know that treats its own people with discrimination (a Chinese national calling a hotel will be told it's full, but they'll have space for an American). Part of it is wanting to show the "good" China to outsiders and part of it is simply the government sucking. The ex-pat community here is even worse. What I find the most interesting contradiction about China is that the most critical individuals I've met on the road are the ones who've stayed in China the longest (at least a year). Arguably, they've seen more of the bad parts of China, but yet they've still somehow managed to do it a) without learning to speak a word of Chinese or b) without learning anything about the community and culture. Its interesting especially because its so different from every other country I've been to where the travellers make it a point to learn about the communities. D says the problem lies in the recruiting for English teachers. China doesn't care about prior teaching experience - only if you're a native English speaker. D., as an English teacher herself, says its a shame that so many lowbrows are let in because not only are they poor PR for the country when they complain without keeping an open mind, but also an injustice to the students who pay for these English lessons. Also, a lot of them become part of the ex-pat community which has its own exclusive neighborhoods where Chinese aren't allowed, Chinese isn't spoken, and where the local culture and flavor is often a topic of disdain. What compounds it is a natural Chinese inclination to put foreigners on a pedestal to begin with.
So, I suppose the question is - what do I want to happen? I want people coming here to come with an open mind and try to understand the why's of the situation. I want people to keep in mind that China is still a developing country despite all its assertions that it's developed (like a teenager insisting she's all grownup). I want people to hate the government, not the people, and see that the government and the people are two separate things. I want people to see that I'm trying to make valid points, instead of only seeing my skin color and assuming that I'm defensive about my own "country" that's filled with people I share a language with but don't necessarily feel I identify with since they come from completely different places than me or my parents.
The hardest thing about travelling in Asia has been the thing I usually like the most - the other travellers I meet. Even in Thailand - it was all about the gross old white men with Thai wives. What is it about Asia that only allows foreigners to see the differences and not the similarities? That the Thai also have families and children they want the best for. That Thai women don't have a lot of choices (who would choose to marry a gross old white guy who can't even speak your language?).
The most interesting thing about travelling as a "hua ren" (Chinese born in America) is how much more willing the Chinese are to talk about the problems here. As a white person, the local Chinese are more likely to put on a smile and talk about how things here are okay - saving face. As a Hua Ren, they usually pat my knee and talk about how we're all Chinese here despite our birth place. And how they're proud that so many of China's seedlings have fallen so far from the tree and still managed to grow. And then they give their honest opinions about Mao, about the Cultural Revolution, about modernization. Most interesting was an account from a service person at Far East Hostel in Beijing. He spoke very nostalgically of the Communist era. I was astounded. Wasn't everyone poor? Yes, he said. But we were all poor together. Now, only some people are poor, and the rest laugh at them.
posted by ink at
12:11 AM
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