Now, let's go back to August 14th, the day of my departure from Beijing and the last effort I have at blog posting, right before my flight was called...
My summer in Beijing ended with a severity that I hadn't expected. One minute it was business as usual studying for the next big test, the next minute our rooms were stripped, our bags were packed, and we were hustled onto the next flight faster than you can say 再见 zaijian (goodbye). I will say this: my last night in Beijing was perhaps one of the most enjoyable nights of the entire summer. There were such events as The Apple Pie Incident, excessive watermelon consumption, enlightening emails, losing electricity, leaving cell phones in taxis, 2 AM burgers and 4 AM coffee. It was, all in all, epic. I didn’t sleep that night, just systematically packed for my return to the United States.
Now I'm sitting here in the Seattle Airport killing time until my next flight in Minneapolis. I bought the loosely-related prequel to The Shadow of the Wind, called The Angel's Game, but I want to save it for the flight. So I figure now is as good a time as ever for some reflection.
If there is anything to be said about my experience in China, it is that I've come to realize that China vis-a-vis the USA is 天壤之别 tianrangzhibie, which, in terms of idiomatic Chinese, means that China and the US are as completely different as can be. Our languages, our cultures, our education systems, our thought processes, our values, our manners, our perceptions of the world and the people in it, our approaches to governance, all are 完全不一样 wanquan bu yiyang (completely different). Anyone from the West who wants to spend time in China needs to understand that first.
First, I need to correct one of the biggest misconceptions I held before going to China, and that is that Chinese people, on the whole, are very content with their lives. Here I was imagining a nation full of people living in fear, or at least mild apprehension, of their government and its many restrictive policies, but those people were nowhere to be found. Instead, I found a population happy to have progressed to the point of development that they are at, and hungry for more.
From what I've seen and heard, I think it boils down to this: the Chinese still painfully remember the years of the Cultural Revolution and afterward, when their entire societal fabric was ripped apart. They remember when the country was unbalanced, and there was no development, technological or otherwise, to speak of. Now, people live in order. They can earn money for themselves. They can afford to buy televisions, bicycles, and even cell phones. Now, the luxuries of the West are all available to them. China as a country has risen to the top of global consideration, and its citizens are feeling the benefits. So yes, you cannot access Facebook or YouTube, you can only have one child, you can only have certain public opinions, but to the Chinese, those restrictions are easily followed, and definitely worth the sacrifice.
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That's as far as I got at the airport. For the next two weeks, I unwound at home, having almost nothing to do for the first time in years. I'm a little proud, and a little embarrassed, to say that I totally defeated Super Mario World on Super Nintendo. THAT'S what I did with my two weeks home. That, and enjoy the company of family, friends, and my new "brother," Ricardo, who will be living with my family for the school year as an exchange student from Spain. The day of my departure we managed to make it to Henry Doorly Zoo :) Miss you guys already!!
That's such a key, key insight. So glad you're heading back for more!
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