Note: The following entry is an edited version of my final “journal,” our reflective pieces that we had to write periodically through the trip to give it an appearance of academic proportions. With that, happy reading. Additionally, I’ve posted my China pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/evanjdoran
My time in China has been very eye opening for many of reasons, seeing something new and different every second of every day tends to be both exhilarating and exhausting. Even simple actions such as ordering at a McDonald’s on Nanjing Road can turn into a lesson in “Lost in Translation” and I was often very pleasantly surprised that two people with vastly different languages can still enjoy McNuggets through hand gestures. Simple things walking down the street were noticeable in their subtly, a shoe store crammed into a space no bigger than a closet, but still thriving with customers. Everyone in China seems to want their share. The three different cities we visited in China have come to illustrate small pieces of the large puzzle that is China as well as mean vastly different things to me personally. I’ve also really tried to reconcile some of the paradoxes of China’s rapid growth, from the massive development of the country to the “Gucci question” and the inefficiencies of much of the current system of growth. China’s growth has lead many of my fellow students and I, as well as our lecturers to comment (or lament) the rise of China and what it means for both China and the United States. After visiting China, if only for a brief time, I feel as though China’s rise might be less a signal of the US’s demise and more a resurgence of Americanism, a rise in disguise.
In Xi’an, the immense pride of the people living in a city of such cultural importance to China was eye-opening. And I do believe that in some of the most noticeable ways, Xi’an still represents much of Chinese culture. The Terra Cotta Army was just the first in what seemed like an endless number of ancient sites in the relatively small city of six million. If Beijing and Shanghai we’re full of broad boulevards and designer stores, Xi’an in my mind will always be the smoggy walled city that I think is in many people’s minds when asked to describe the traditional Chinese city.. In the markets, there were smiles at our direction, but to me the smiles indicated a genuine happiness and pride at seeing visitors, and not a smile intended to entice us as shoppers. I also thought that the other lasting legacy of Xi’an was the “realness” of the city to me. It didn’t host the Olympics, isn’t a large port city gleaming with financial skyscrapers, nor will it have an Expo. The lack of these global aspects resulted in a city that was a little grittier, a little dirtier, and a little more Chinese to me.
Beijing, on the other hand, was clearly presented to us as the “present” of China and I thoroughly believe it fit that title. However, even though Beijing was home to the Forbidden City and other historical landmarks (apart from the magnificent Great Wall), the culture of Beijing was very much of a higher attitude: power and stability. There was always a sense of organized chaos, as if the traffic and constant flow of people had a definite pattern and rhythm. Xi’an’s historical legacies were alive in the influx of Chinese and foreign tourists lining the hanger enclosing the warriors and the pride of its citizens. Beijing’s being could very well be felt in the calm, almost cold, reality of the state’s huge power base there. As a student of international relations, it was curious to see the watchful eye of Beijing hovering over everyone. I saw many fewer smiling faces in Beijing as well as many more empty stores than in Shanghai.
Shanghai was an entirely different story when it comes to embracing capitalism. The embodiment of Shanghai wasn’t in its empty designer stores or extravagant malls, but in the attitude of its people. All of the younger people were well dressed and had a sort of carefree attitude. You could tell the wealthier kids from the working class families fairly easily. I know that China’s growth has propelled countless millions out of poverty, but it seems strange to me that so much is spent creating an iconic skyline while thousands within the same city are begging on the streets.
For all the growth of China and the pundits who claim the demise of the United States, being in China has given me a slightly different take on things. I no longer have any doubt that China will one day claim the title of world’s largest absolute economy. However, as China’s economy grows I also notice that it is intimately linked with America’s, growth in one leads to growth in another. I think it’d be hard to deny that as more Chinese have more and more disposable income, the likes of Starbucks and KFC will continue to do well. As was said during lecture, GM’s most profitable region was in Shanghai. Therefore, China’s growth is a lifeline of sorts; it can never grow while America shrinks, because Chinese growth directly propels American corporate growth.
My lasting impression of China will be more than just the Great Wall or the Terra Cotta Soldiers, but the general attitude of its people. I’d imagine that many westerners are turned off by the in-your-face hustle and bustle, but just as many are probably turned on. Writers like to claim that present day China is like America in the 1920’s or the 1780’s or any other rather arbitrary period of time, but China today seems like nothing else I’ve ever experienced or read about. The people’s spirit on one hand embraces a government of censorship and planning to secure jobs for the future while also turning to friends on “Have you eaten yet” (China’s Twitter) to discuss the latest movies, many of them watched via bootleg I’m sure. You can be irritated immediately after stepping into the Pearl Market, but I for one came away with a grudging respect for the people who are in these shops day in and day out to sell the same junk they next stand sells. The rules and laws are firm, but the people are not, they seem to know as a collective whole that they are part of something special. And that while they may never see the day when they can own a car, or a TV, that their days spent in the soy fields outside Xi’an are necessary to propel Shanghai into the world’s preeminent position. Their collective contentment with sacrifice goes hand in hand with their general eagerness to prove themselves on an individual level. The paradoxes and ironies of China never cease to amaze me, as Plaza 66 illustrated to me back in Shanghai. Here was a glittering mall filled with merchandise many Chinese will never touch across the road from local eateries stuffed with Mercedes driving business owners and bike peddling hawkers, all the while scaffolding is up to ensure the upper level apartments are clean enough for next year’s Expo. It’s easy to write in cliché’s about China, I’ve admittedly done it many times in this journal and other, but there really is nothing else left to describe China or her people. As a race, we have yet to come up with a terminology to describe what is happening.
With that concludes my reflections and recollections of my China trip and I’ll be turning my attention to Hong Kong and other cultural commentary, with more of my usual sarcastic tone. Thank you for reading.
