China: general impressions

Economy

Whatever you've heard about the Chinese economy is probably true. Walking around the cities brings home the explosive growth--every block has a crane on it, and even in the "small" cities (it is hard to find a city in China with fewer than one million people) skyscrapers are shooting up like a heroin addict. In this picture, next door to mainland China's tallest building, an even bigger beast is arriving. The Shanghai city palnners' optimism for growth and the agressiveness with which they pursue it is on display in the Shanghai urban planning building. Exhibits there show Shanghai's five year plan to become an international air and shipping hub, and continue to expand their suburbs to become tourist, commercial, industrial, and technological centers. The museum also has a stunning slideshow of pictures taken in the same location in 2004 and ten years ago; many places in the city are completely unrecognizable after even 10 years.

A middle class is emerging due to this success, making their presence known at tourist sites where the majority of tourists are now Chinese domestic tourists as opposed to foreign tourists.

Shanghai and the other zones that opened up to economic freedom earliest are the leaders in China economic development. Buoyed by financial success, Chinese customs, fashion, and attitudes are transforming most rapidly in these zones and diffusing outward into smaller cities.

When I traveled to China three years ago, I was amused by a number of commonplace occurrences on Chinese streets. First, I used to see men crouching around for hours at a time with nothing to do except gather around any commotion, be it a police officer, an argument, a tourist, or a board game (see right). Second, many men, sometimes the same men, would roll their shirts up to expose their bellies in the hot weather. Next, I was used to being stared at as an oddity and hearing people say "lao wai" (foreigner) to each other as I passed. I saw motorcycles and bicycles loaded with many times as much cargo as I imagined they could bear, presumably because it was more economical than a car or truck. Only three years later, I saw much less of all of that, especially in more urban areas.

Luckily for the sinophiles who've learned to love these quirks, there are still recognizable moments on the everyday Chinese street: naked babies' bottoms, funny Chinglish signs, and busses stopping in the middle of the road to pick up any extra cargo they can carry, be it passengers, rice, or raw meat. This fuel efficient and hyper-capitalist ingenuity is one reason I think China is the most capitalist economy in the world--at least from a tourist's perspective. Or maybe it was decreed from on high, maybe Hu Jintao passed the No Passenger Left Behind Act without my knowing it. So what is the political situation in China?

Politics

It is almost taboo to talk politics in China, but I sometimes dared to broach a few topics with people who spoke English. I love bringing up the uncomfortable issues of the environment, democracy, and Taiwan to see how people react. Across the country, typical responses to any political questions are: "the government has our best interests in mind, they are doing the right thing." Or, "it is not my place to make that decision, so I don't think about it." Perhaps the government can keep people happy by delivering economic improvements and more material goods to storefronts to divert their attention from political matters. If I ever got more specific comments to my questions, the opinions haven't changed much at all since I asked the same questions three years ago. On the environment, the consensus is that the economy comes first, and the environment can be cleaned up later. On democracy, people generally agree that "China isn't ready for democracy yet. All the peasants won't know how to vote." And on Taiwan, it seems as if the younger generation is slightly less militant than the older generation, but everyone insists on the "One Country" label, and nobody seems to be against war to regain Taiwan.

Spurred by my reading of a fantastic biography of Mao, I also asked people's perceptions of Mao. By the way, I highly recommend the book. Very well researched and excellent writing make it a good lesson in history for those who weren't alive during Mao's time, and its behind-the-Iron Curtain look at Mao and Stalin's relationship gives a fascinating account of how geopolitics was handled by the world's worst tyrants. The book's only flaw is that it is too biased against Mao, but I can certainly see that 10 years spent researching Mao would leave one with enough spite for Mao to fill a book.

Fashion

Aside from several bizarre trends, fashion in China is progressing rapidly to rather Western, or even Japanese styles, such as mod. The older generations tend to wear rather drab, formal attire: men usually wear a buttoned short sleeve oxford shirt with slacks and black or brown shoes, but never a suit, even in the morning rush hour in Pudong, Shanghai's equivalent to Wall Street. Younger people are flashier, brighter, and more daring. Again, the trendiness is more pronounced in Shanghai.

I found the most bizarre trends to be:

1. Pantie hose are still very common; even more common are socks made of pantie hose material. These may be worn with shorts, a skirt, and open toed shoes. I don't even remember when they went out of style in the US, but they are sill definitely around in China. Even men may wear socks made of this nylon.

2. Shirts full of English words, even if the words are misspelled or don't make sense (see picture).