Late Night Thoughts

Apologies to people expecting a nice, polished blog post, but it's late and I'm doing a lot of reflecting, and I feel the need to pour out my thoughts into the void that is the internet.

With the exception of two brief weeks in August, I have been living and studying in China since the first week of June. The time up to now has given me a lot to think about when it comes to this country, its people and its future. I'm not professing to be an expert after a few months here; in fact, I'm asserting the exact opposite. The more I learn about the whole concept of "China," the more I realize how much I have yet to learn and understand.

What did "China" mean to me before coming here, or even before taking an interest in studying Chinese? Superficially, it was that weird, exotic country out east. It had silk, it had tea, and it had a billion people. Economically, it was where everything was made. And it owned a lot of American dollars. I knew that. Politically, it was the world's biggest conundrum: a successful Communist state? A progressive authoritarian regime? How in the world was it working?
I was curious, and a little scared. As well-travelled as my family has been blessed to be, we've always travelled to relatively familiar, "Western" countries. The most "Eastern" we ever got was Turkey... for two days... as part of two different cruise excursions. Needless to say, we were very insulated from the daily rhythms and rigors of non-Western life.

So I took the plunge. And questioned, hopefully without an agenda. And listened, hopefully without too strong of preconceived notions. And learned, hopefully without prejudice. China is... so much more complex than I ever dreamed possible. We Americans all know we live in a very complicated country, what with our "melting pot" status, but we lay it all out there for everyone to see. China's complexities roil around, pushing and pulling at each other, below this thin veneer of a "harmonious society."

Let's take their minorities, for example. Some people may have already read my conclusions on Xinjiang, where most Uighers are concentrated, so they know China definitely does not have a "harmonious society." It's such a mono-ethnic country, with over 90% of its citizens being Han Chinese. What to do with those non-Han citizens? They speak different languages, have different customs, and tend to live far from the capital in all its power. It would be very natural then, to think that they might want a bit of autonomy, which is what the central government is constantly watching for, and constantly ready to put down. But that's just the problem, isn't it? It's an action-reaction relationship. Step out of line, get forced back into line. Any problem these minorities might have, any need that goes unfulfilled or discrimination that goes unchecked, is kept quiet. It's trapped under that covering of a "harmonious society."

Let's take a smaller sampling of Chinese society: our roommates here at Peking University. After living with them for over a month, I have a much deeper appreciation for just how "harmonious" an image the Chinese expect members of their society to project. In the normal progression of college life, people come into conflict. Not big conflict or anything, but rather small conflict, like cleaning up after oneself, borrowing and paying back money, and the like. In America, if something bothers a college student about his/her roommate, s/he is encouraged to talk it out and find a solution. Confrontation is not bad if handled well. In China, confrontation is about as foreign a concept as they come. It's the mentality that gets me. Confrontation is to be avoided at all cost, no matter the situation. My Chinese counterparts react to my suggestion of confronting any issue like I just told them to go run a naked lap around campus, "Oh no, I would never do something like that. That's just not done. We can't do that. Let's not talk about this." This attitude is one of the fundamental influences of Chinese society. One is never impolite.

Here's the catch: you have to KNOW the person for this behavior to count. If they're absolute strangers, then all bets are off. Random jerks on the subway, mean vendors at the market, angry ticket ladies, they all don't have to subscribe to this whole concept of politeness. It's actually amazing how these dual attitudes are exercised in daily life. It just adds to the overall complicated nature of Chinese society. There is, if not protocol, then certain expectations for most occasions. When you go out for a meal, you must offer to fill everyone's tea cups before you fill yours, even if it means giving the last of the tea to someone else. When formally meeting someone for the first time, an exchange of gifts is absolutely expected. When inviting a person somewhere, you are taking on the responsibility of paying for that person; it's a show of your generosity and good will.

Now on government. Well, I'll probably be writing one of my two senior theses on this, so hopefully you all can stand the wait for more details. But seriously, if anything is confusing about China right now, it's the relationship between the people and the government. How can a government that places so many restrictions on its people simultaneously allow them to be so free? They can actually do a lot of whatever they want, as long as it doesn't threaten the government's control. And the government can really place whatever restrictions it wants on the Chinese, as long as their quality of life doesn't go down. Human rights, democracy, intellectual property, all are not that important compared with making money, gaining prestige, and buying stuff. China is well on its way to being just as materialistic as the United States.

Alright, it's really late now, and I'm running out of steam. My final thoughts are really centering around intellectual property right now. There is an article in the upper-right corner of this blog about "cheating" in China. You see, there is a lot of pressure to get ahead in this country, what with 1.3 billion people to compete against. In order to get ahead, much of Chinese society has given up the concept of original work, if they ever had it at all. There is rampant plagiarism, testing fraud, and of course pirating. In general, people here don't see anything too wrong with taking someone else's work and calling it one's own. After all, the school system in China isn't geared towards producing curious minds; it's geared towards producing minds crammed with "knowledge," state-approved facts about the world in which they live. As China is obviously rising in global prominence, and set to take the lead within the next century, I wonder how in the world will we deal with a country where all its students are taught to do is recite what they have learned from textbooks? Where all they want to do is pass the "right" tests and provide the "right" answers, without any thought to the intrinsic value of the information they learn?

Something, at some point, has got to give. Either the government has to allow thinkers and innovators room to create and inspire (which leaves them vulnerable to critiques and threats to their power), or it will keep such threatening independent thinkers restrained (at an eventual cost to the entire society of China).

We'll see what happens. Good night.