Many things in China are fascinating to watch as they change: economy, environment, internal politics, international affairs etc. As China becomes more important and develops all of these are changing, but possibly the most fascinating of all it to see how China's culture changes, or at least deals with, all these other changes.
As you may know the Chinese are rather proud of their 5,000 year old culture entailing all kinds of elements: from education to ethics or religion (in a sense) to guanxi (relationships) and of course language! The best thing about having a tutor is the chance to discuss and often argue about all these kinds of topics and really get to understand different views on China.
Today we argued about whether Chinese culture is fundamentally changing -she denies it; though i did manage to convince her that at least there will be some impact on culture from all these changes and that it will be interesting to see what happens. What is most interesting is that she recognises the changes to everyone's lives due to economic changes and does not think it is due to cultural changes; though i disagree. However, we both agreed that irrelevant of the cause, there will be impacts.
A few examples include that the massive internal migration that leads to parents separating from each other, and/or from their kids and/or their grandparents which is a massive change for China and impacts on education and the role of the family unit. Another might be the increasing number of divorces -brought on according to my tutor not because of people leaving others to find something better (which it is in the West apparently), but just because of economic change, jobs and communication issues; so what will happen to the single parents kids and the grand parents; and how does the 1 child policy affect this (you can normally work it out to have 1 child per marriage).
Finally consider the impact of the drive to emulate Western culture and values, closely aligned with the drive for (Western) economic growth and quality of life leading to people becoming fatter, but becoming more obsessed with being thing; going clubbing and dating more; living with partners before marriage and so on. In theory a strong traditional Chinese culture can help China develop and avoid some of the problems of the West, like 'anti-social' or 'disrepectful' youth for example. But then it may make things worse; since it is relatively common for men to visit other women on business trips, which are becoming more and more frequent nowadays!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
rain
In Hong Kong it was raining, but the rain was coming from my body due the humidity (and not from the sky). Even at night, on the 38th floor with the window open, and without moving, i started to sweat. Yikes, though HK is a great place, i dislike having to sleep with air conditioning on, or carrying around 3 spare shirts... (though the taxis are nice and cold).
In Xi'an there was rain for about 4 hours combined out of the week i was there. Well, it's a start. In Beijing there was also some rain, though it was the day before I arrived there, so that meant the few days I was there were nice and cool. In Shanghai it has been drizzling non-stop. Drizzle is great cause you don't get soaked or drowned in puddles. The only problem is, along with the rain, come the Mosquitos :(
The week in Xi'an was quiet. The 4 days in Beijing a bit hectic. The week in Shanghai totally hectic. Just the way I like it. It is not that Xi'an is so bad, or that I struggle to work effectively there (how to set-up and manage corporate partnerships when there are no corporations there?), but that I am just not that busy there... the only things to do are eat, drink, work, study or escape the pollution. Having said that, the cycle to the mountains-climb the mountain-cycle back was fantastic and the ride is much more enjoyable than Beijing; where it takes an hour to get out of the city and another 30 minutes to escape off the highways.
I am staying in a Hostel in Shanghai as it is in a very central location with wireless internet -perfect for in between meeting times (plus there are 3 crazy kittens running all over which adds some life compared to staying in friend's empty apartments during the daytime). You'd think hostels are full of travellers. Not Shanghai's -they are full of opportunity-seekers. People live here whilst job hunting, whilst working (it is cheaper than trying to rent an appartment, if you are happy sharing a room with 5 others and a good way to make friends) and whilst planning their new business venture. Walk into the hostel and not only do you find the 2 computers permanently in use, you find several people with laptops...Typical Shanghai.
In Xi'an there was rain for about 4 hours combined out of the week i was there. Well, it's a start. In Beijing there was also some rain, though it was the day before I arrived there, so that meant the few days I was there were nice and cool. In Shanghai it has been drizzling non-stop. Drizzle is great cause you don't get soaked or drowned in puddles. The only problem is, along with the rain, come the Mosquitos :(
The week in Xi'an was quiet. The 4 days in Beijing a bit hectic. The week in Shanghai totally hectic. Just the way I like it. It is not that Xi'an is so bad, or that I struggle to work effectively there (how to set-up and manage corporate partnerships when there are no corporations there?), but that I am just not that busy there... the only things to do are eat, drink, work, study or escape the pollution. Having said that, the cycle to the mountains-climb the mountain-cycle back was fantastic and the ride is much more enjoyable than Beijing; where it takes an hour to get out of the city and another 30 minutes to escape off the highways.
I am staying in a Hostel in Shanghai as it is in a very central location with wireless internet -perfect for in between meeting times (plus there are 3 crazy kittens running all over which adds some life compared to staying in friend's empty apartments during the daytime). You'd think hostels are full of travellers. Not Shanghai's -they are full of opportunity-seekers. People live here whilst job hunting, whilst working (it is cheaper than trying to rent an appartment, if you are happy sharing a room with 5 others and a good way to make friends) and whilst planning their new business venture. Walk into the hostel and not only do you find the 2 computers permanently in use, you find several people with laptops...Typical Shanghai.
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