Chinese Censor Part Two Living in China and the Realizations I had when first arriving
I broke this into two parts, because the second part of the email (this was originally an email I sent to a friend) talked more about what I did and cultural aspects of Living in China and not the censorship part. There is still a lot of information here -Enjoy!
I am amazed at how many people here talk about Harvard and how one day they wish they could study there. I remember in Costa Rica people knew of this college as well. I am amazed at its reputation and can hardly imagine the benefits of being alumni from this school. (It is actually really bad there with the comparison of Chinese Universities to the Universities in the States. People would tell me they go to one University in China and then say the “equal” in the States. The problem was they would always name a top IV league school and if you look at the applicants and the students the levels are not anywhere near each other)
One thing that I am really thinking about as a benefit to the US is customer service. This is because in the US if a customer wants something the employee really tries to figure out a way to give it to them, and in the process usually come up with new ideas for things or ways for doing something. Here it is by the book and that is the end of it, resulting in no free thinking to solve a problem from different angles. (This is one thing that is getting better especially at hotels or places that are visited for foreigners, but local places it is still terrible. There were store where I would have to go to three counters or more just to buy one item.)
I have talked to many foreigners about what they have realized the differences between china and their country. The Russians say that the people here are a lot nicer to others and that they seem to be helpful to people other than themselves. They also think the country is very clean. Everyone else seems to have the opposite view from the Russians.
One thing that is funny is that all Chinese parents seem to want their children to marry a Chinese person and it is said to be “traditional”, but if white parents were to say that they want their children only to marry a white person they would be considered racist. (I want to change this from racist to close minded and white parents to all parents in the states)
I went to a factory area that turned out to have a ton of art galleries. It was called 798. I saw some of the most amazing art work of my life. I even went to see a free Chinese punk concert. It was pretty funny watching the audience because of how controlled it was. If one person tried to start a mosh pit or crowd surf 5 cops would grab them immediately. A Brazilian girl that I went with got on her boyfriend’s shoulders and no one in the place knew what to do. They just stared and the band kept looking over in amazement and the cops just looked befuddled because they clearly didn’t want to cause a disturbance with a foreigner but didn’t want others to do that. (This happened on so many occasions when local police did not know what to do with foreigners. I felt bad because many foreigners took advantage of the hospitality and pushed the limits. The one thing was if they did decide to do something you were basically ****)
I hung out with two Korean girls that told me their point of view of China and it seemed the biggest concern was no one thinks they are ready for the Olympics and all the social problems that are here will be seen throughout the world. I tried this candy that is actually a spicy beef ball that crunches in your mouth. (The beef ball is actually a very popular treat that is given often, I grew to like it, but stopped when a Chinese person told me how many preservatives were in it. For the Olympics, China proved to the world they were ready.)
I really have to stress that people here really do not seem to fight for any type of labor rights or anything. Maybe I could compare it the book “The Jungle” and that time period in the US history with so many immigrants just working, but I would not compare it in any way to present US. I mean you really have to feel it to know. (The longer I was there the more I realize people are just happy to have a job. When I opened my company we would get so many applicants from people that were way too qualified for the job position they were applying for.)
