Wrapping Up: an Overview of China

First, a list that took shape in my head but never made it to the blog,
Things that the Peking University campus has but yours probably doesn't:
-a lake that belonged to the emperor
-beer/hard liquor in the cafeterias
-dog meat in the cafeteria, for that matter
-intense bicycle traffic
-monks
-20,000+ Chinese people

I didn't arrive in China with many expectations. I didn't really know that much about China before I went, and I knew that I didn't know much, so I just tried to have a good attitude and be open to new experiences. And China was certainly full of new experiences and discoveries for me. Through a lot of coincidence, I ended up volunteering at a migrant school and helping organize a fundraiser. I grew to love bargaining. My spoken Chinese went from basically nonexistent to highly functional. I traveled thousands of kilometers into the West of China. But I also witnessed China's failings firsthand. I saw domestic violence in public, people who survived by eating out of trash cans, and kids who the government refused to educate. Many times I heard people defend the horrifically backwards mindsets still prevalent in modern China by invoking their nation's long and glorious history, as if China's historical achievements negated the fact that Chinese people are still racist, sexist, and a long way from free. Before my trip, when I mentioned that I was going to China, most people responded with some comment about the Chinese economic boom and how useful it ought to be to know Chinese in the business world. Well, I never intended to go into business, and now that I've seen what it's like, I wouldn't go investing in China either. By putting American money into China, we're just perpetuating the current order. The more America depends on China for trade, the less power we have to stand up to China and take effective measures to stop its human rights abuses. The Chinese economy may be progressing swiftly, but the government is not progressing with it, and the educational system certainly isn't either. I can't think of many things more dangerous than a nation with lots of economic and political power but very little education. China is full of crises: of population, environment, ethnic conflict. The gender imbalance borne out of the One Child Policy is creating a national surplus of young men, which could be put to convenient use if the political tension between China and Taiwan ever came to a head...war is one solution to a population problem, right? China has so many issues, but I love it in spite of its flaws. Chinese people en masse can be rude and annoying, but individuals are rarely anything but pleasant. It's a fascinating place, the food is delicious, and the shopping is insanely cheap. So of course I'm going back...it's just a matter of when. Hen hao.