(Rain and Tear: Late last night, the van I rode back home tore onto the road in the rain but at the red traffic light the driver still dutifully stopped the car, giving me a chance to take a shot of the medley of colours reflected on the windows full of raindrops. There was not enough light so I simply defocused the shot a bit)
An OZ (Australian) friend of mine who took almost five years to travel around the world commented badly on China for its people. She was annoyed by the sly quality of the people she met during her China leg of the trip. Opinionated her comments might be, but there is some truth in it.
I have made regular trips to the Mainland China for some years. There are certainly good people I have met. But a large portion of the people can be summed up into two categories: the-without-morals and the-without-hopes.
(Believe It or Better Not: Two youngsters with their hair dyed in golden colour are selling self-proclaimed medicine for skin problems. News about fake foodstuff and medicine in China are galore. The government ad in the background, “Be a Civilized Citizen, Build a Civilized City”, speaks volumes for the general situation)
It is not that only China has the-without-morals. There are surely a great number of them in the more advanced countries, but in finer attire and with fancier titles for probably even more voracious ulterior motives. The moral dissonance in China is more deafening because there seems to be scant advancement for a fairer and more open society to compensate its fast-tracked economic development. So, people tend to take chances to cheat. It has grown to be kind of a moral plague. It is contagious too: sights of very mature Caucasian men holding the hands of fledgling Chinese women (usually with a great body) have become more common in China. This is not intended in any way about age discrimination. But something is fishy about it nonetheless.
(Agricultural Past: Some twenty years ago, he was probably transporting the goods on a bike or an oxcart. China used to be a big agricultural country. After 30 years of economic reforms, it has jumped to become the fourth largest world economy)
(Traffic Police: The policeman is on duty at a busy road junction. China is already one of biggest world economies and on the rise probably as another superpower. More should be done to improve its governance and government. Without a more fair and open system, a huge economy as China is now could dent the world economy if anything serious about it goes wrong)
Comments
I'd guess you didn't bother to learn to speak Chinese--so people had to give you special treatment every step of the way.
-> No, not much really. I just had fun.
Ano: Your observations on China are bigoted and small-minded. Like all bigots, you generalize freely from a handful of experiences.
-> Noted. My first time to China was in 1985 when it started to open up again to the world. In comparison with the vast size of China, my four stays in Beijing and occasional living in China for the past ten years can only afford me a handful of experiences.
Ano: I'd guess you didn't bother to learn to speak Chinese—
-> I hope you don’t wish to generalise: I speak Putonghua very well, fluent Cantonese and English. I regret that I hadn’t worked harder for my Japanese and French which I have forgotten more than I learned.
Ano: so people had to give you special treatment every step of the way.
-> Maybe we can meet some time and then you can tell me exactly what you think.
You're very wrong in your comment.