Closing Thoughts

China is not just a country but a culture quite different than ours. The language barrier is a significant impediment to better understand and learn its complexity and long history. Even though it is said that in modern day China there are more people learning English than the actual number of native English speakers in the US, the language barrier and the Chinese graphic language is the single biggest hurdle for the desired integration they seem to have in mind with the western world.
Beijing is a city of deep contrasts. The biggest and most futuristic buildings that I have seen and that host the world largest enterprises and the most exclusive brands of foreign luxury goods coexist next to the evident poverty of many of the citizens living in the shanties and outskirts of town and the rural interior, even poorer yet. The older people still live in the glorious even if economically deprived past watching a new generation driven by the economy of capitalism, fast paced and in a frenzy of rapid change. Opposite beliefs and values need to blend together to make the social fabric capable of sustaining a smooth transition into the modern world. I get the feeling that their government since the disappearance of Chairman Mao in 1976 had a clear understanding of the need to modernize rapidly while maintaining the strength of that social fabric tying together their complex identity and sense of purpose. I believe that the ways of communism have been abandoned to embrace capitalism as the only way out of poverty and the only hope of being able to maintain their large number of citizens and improve living conditions and welfare. But this is the best kept secret of all! They just can’t come out and openly admit this and confuse the uneducated people and the revered elder that are still today the majority of their constituency. Chairman Mao is still around in the hearts and minds of the people. And just like with Perón in Argentina, Fidel in Cuba and currently Chavez in Venezuela they are revered by the people as their true benefactors even if they were the only ones responsible for their poverty and deprivation. Change has to come without challenging this ingrained belief. And in spite of the rapid pace of change that they can instill in the economic environment, changing the people’s beliefs is a necessary slow process. So China, like Cuba and modern Russia has to make a slow transition of the people’s idiosyncrasy while taking a fast track on the economy to be able to support the change. They seem to be well on the way to accomplishing this. Communism in modern China is just the transitional message to make change palatable while preserving values, identity and pride.
Chinese people have been taught to be extremely polite. They still are. They are superstitious people with strong dependence on symbols and values. As a nation they have lived through very difficult times and many wars. They forgave Mao for his economic failure because he gave them pride, beliefs and identity. They forgave the emperors for failing to do their only real duty that went with their lofty position, praying for the people’s welfare because they understood they were men and thus had limitations and their lives got too complicated running the country to have the time for them (too many wives?). This is exactly the same phenomena that we see today with Fidel and Chavez who are forgiven for all their mistakes and the poverty they bestowed upon their people because they have given the people things that are much more important even if not real: identity, beliefs, values and perhaps a voice.
China is a country deeply conscious of the need to curtail population growth and the environmental footprint. The new generation of marriage age today is a single child family. There are no brothers and sisters in China today. They seem to understand and accept this as the price to pay to keep China viable.
There are no beggars in China. Nobody comes asking for money or favors. Even tipping is not easily accepted. They are proud people even if poor. Coke is king in China (Cocacole), no Pepsi to be seen anywhere. Traditions and superstitions are still strong in everyday life. Their respect for their elders and family values is commendable. A MacDonald’s serves hamburgers not half a block away from a back alley where silkworms, large grasshoppers, even larger scorpions and morsels with origins you would rather not learn are displayed on skewers ready to be savored by patrons. China is the land of contrasts.
Besides the Chinese culture the other very real experience of the visit was found in the Olympic spirit. We were able to see and feel the World at its best. The shared healthy spirit of competition and peaceful coexistence, pride of identity yet willingness to learn and share with others made for a very optimistic message of a future for our small world village. The colorful crowds everywhere, many identified with their national colors and the multitude of languages heard on the streets, shops and cafés, was both a challenge and an encouragement to learn and touch other people, other cultures as a source of enrichment to one’s own. Nobody lost at the games, our World won!
Just a final note of gratitude to our hosts and our group. Thanks for making this unexpected trip possible. It was great to share this experience together. I am a richer person for having met you and can count on a wealth of many new friends who will hopefully keep in touch. Thanks to all!