Lessons From Beijing

Black Bamboo Park

While this blog is about Beijing, and not Tokyo, I still want to share what I learned and experienced during our week in China's capital.  When the plane landed, the sun was high in the sky but it couldn't penetrate the thick gray pollution hovering above Beijing.  The gritty air irritated our nasal passages and throats, and my chest felt like someone was standing on it as I strolled through the park.  Notice the gray skies above Black Bamboo Park near our hotel where dancing, exercising, singing and other activities were underway in every available space. I marveled at the way in which the people kept moving, having a grand time despite the heavy, abrasive air.

If someone trustworthy could have held my valuables, I would have joined right in! I was the only obvious foreigner in the park and dancers delighted in my amazement. Everyone participated to learn and have a good time; it mattered not whether one was a beginner or an accomplished dancer/musician.   The exercise and stress release will surely help China's people live healthier, longer lives but the pollution will ultimately take its toll.  (This is no way to take care of your citizens, CPC!)      

As a way to control the population and pollution problem, one must have a license to live in Beijing.  The city has 20 million legal residents plus countless illegal laborers who migrate from the countryside and whose children are not allowed to attend Beijing schools.  Besides controlling the number of residents (and their use of cooking grills), it remains a mystery to me how the government ultimately plans to get air and water pollution under control.  (Note: Many foreigners are leaving due to the pollution.)

To be fair, China's economy has made tremendous growth in recent decades.  Infrastructure, business, education, health, diet, and cultural opportunities have all improved immensely. China's trains and subway systems are far beyond anything found in the U.S. Their airports are modern and clean.   Twenty years ago most people were on bicycles.  Some still are.  (A load like this nearly collided with me as I crossed the street with the almost-meaningless green pedestrian light.)
 

There is no penalty for twins!

 At the park this little darling (left) was out for a walk with her mother and she looked at me with such curiosity. Her mother spoke only a few words of English but asked, "Do you have TWO children?" Answering "Yes", she then asked, "A BOY and a GIRL??" "Yes," I replied. She said that she also hopes to have a boy. China has eased up on its One-Child-Only policy. Two children are permitted if either parent is an only child. (A third child comes with a whopping fine!) The new policy currently applies to certain regions but will gradually expand to the rest of the country. The one-child-only policy has produced many changes and concerns: spoiled children, an only son or daughter burdened with elder care, and great angst over the child's health and safety.   A friend told me that parents worry about kidnappers snatching their children.  Some parents who cannot have their own child pay exorbitant prices to purchase one, especially a boy.  "We would never find our child," she said, "And even worse, some children are taken for their organs."  

While guns are illegal in China, acts of violence are carried out by knives as happened recently in Tiananmen Square.  The deadly event resulted in today's long lines at security checks whereby anxious mobs are held in disorderly fashion waiting for bodies to be searched and personal items run through scanners.  Doug and I got caught up in one mob.  There were many country people for whom this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the "hollowed Mao square" and Forbidden City.  While they were endlessly fascinated by the tall foreigners in their midst, they were in no mood to wait!! Pushing and shoving, they charged ahead, disregarding police orders to remain behind the barricade. In frustration and fear, one young officer screamed at the crowd and raised his billy club to whack unruly folks on the head.  Fearing that someone would get trampled, he called for back-up and six veteran police came running to quell the crowd.  But old and young alike continued to heave forward.  As we neared the front a short, sun-wrinkled, old lady gave me a great push.  The officer yelled at her but she did not stop until my fellow traveler shoved her back into place.  My advice:  Beware of little old ladies in Beijing. 

Michelle Obama and entourage chose to drop by Beijing during our visit, even stopping at the same historic and tourist sites (Great Wall, Forbidden City...)  They visited the second-ranked high school in the country where Michelle played ping pong, tried calligraphy and wrote four Chinese characters.  Affiliated with Beijing Normal University, High School #2 is the sister school of Washington D.C.'s elite Sidwell Friends School where Malia Obama attends. Given that Facebook, the New York Times, my school email, and this blog were all blocked in China, I was particularly delighted that Michelle's non-political visit included mention in her Peking University address of the importance of freedom of speech, particularly the importance of "hearing all sides." (Note: Despite that claim, the adversarial American press greatly resents its limited access to information about her goodwill tour.)  

While waiting in line at the airport we met Sidwell's traveling middle school group that also visited Beijing and High School #2 during their "minimester." The teacher extolled the incredible facilities and educational opportunities available to the well-connected at High School #2.   My not-well-connected friend told me that she paid enormous bribes so that her own children could be "introduced to the opportunity" of an excellent public school education. (There are only public schools in Beijing.)   Admission to elite middle and high schools involves not only personal connections and bribes paid but also test scores, character references, English-proficiency and talent evaluations.  With such a huge population pool, children experience INTENSE competition and UNRELENTINGLY RIGOROUS daily routines.  My friend said, "I hate being a 'Tiger Mom' but I have no other choice."

We saw some examples of government waste at its finest: money spent on defective equipment and construction projects standing unused.  We heard personal stories of government bureaucrats taking the family's farm land and giving it to cronies to construct a golf resort, thereby destroying livelihoods and providing minimal compensation in return.  (With no remedy in the courts, of course.)  Multiply these personal narratives times millions and you have the very essence of China.  These stories are upsetting to say the least.  And they should also serve as a caution for our own nation.  The rule of law must be upheld.  And citizens must have confidence that their hard-earned taxes are spent justly and discerningly.