(I didn't realize my digital cam could take such great photos! Futuristic Chinese city of Shanghai; photo by AD)
I had the extraordinary opportunity to visit China from September 7-18. I toured the country, visiting Beijing, Suzhou, Tongli, Hangzhou and Shanghai. The Chinese people were friendlier than they are given credit for, though there are some unsettling cultural differences: Chinese people have no concept of waiting on line and they'll cut right in front of you without so much as a second thought. And many of them had the terrible habit of coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths/noses and spitting all over the damn place; it's easy to see why the bird flu spread so quickly there.
Overall, it was a remarkable learning experience.
Five Things I Learned During My Time in China
5. Beijing has 21 million residents and is the cleanest city I've ever seen. There wasn't so much as a piece of tissue on the ground. The same was true of the subway in Shanghai. I asked the tour guide if this was a result of strict rules and/or punishment regarding littering. He said that there weren't really any harsh rules concerning litter (yeah right), but culturally, the government does strongly encourages its citizens not to litter. New York's eight million residents should take lessons. (The air pollution in Shanghai, however, was overwhelming for me.)
4. In the U.S., citizens distrust their government. In China, the government distrusts its citizens. Chinese citizens aren't able to move as freely throughout their country as we are through ours. They are subject to random searches and arrests. Anti-government sentiment isn't permitted. They're presumed guilty until proven innocent. In other words, being a Chinese person in China is like being a black person in America, only worse.
3. China has 56 distinct ethnicities. Their concept of race doesn't explicitly include skin color (though I imagine the the darker you are the lower you are in the caste), but does include geography, history and religion.
2. Abortion is perfectly legal in China.
1. Chinese people are utterly fascinated by black people--particularly black Americans. I was treated like a celebrity when I was there. People handed me their babies and took photographs of me. It was both flattering and unsettling. Flattering because it's better than the kind of attention I'd receive as a black person in America. Unsettling because my skin color still marks me as alien. Although, I had no problem catching a cab in China. So there's that.