Into the countryside

Last week i accompanied some volunteers from computing companies to the countryside for a few days along with some academics from Stanford and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The purpose was to understand what computers rural schools have, what they do with them, what software they use/learn from on the computers, what internet connection they have and what they do with the internet if they have it. Sparing all the gory details, the trip re-emphasized that just having computers is not enough, it is much more important what you do with them -- in this case access content or use software that help children learn. And of course, if the internet can be utilized it opens up a larger range of options for content/software, allows for more interactivity, and so on. Anyway, following the trip we'll be working on some project ideas but i won't go into all the details.

What is more interesting, for the average person at least, is the perspective of what it is like going on this kind of trip into the countryside. Firstly there is a lot of traveling required. China has great roads nowadays and increasingly highways. These cut journey times but still we spent on average 5-6 hrs a day for 3 days in the car. Great chance to catch a nap though. Secondly such a trip needs to involve government officials, who are partners in the project and who showed us around and gave us lots of hospitality. And they are quite some characters.Particularly around foreigners. And particularly at meal times.

There are a lot of meals. And they always involve alcohol - specifically Chinese liquor. it's generally insanely awful stuff with an aftertaste that lasts days. I've heard the really expensive stuff is not too bad, but I'm yet to try it. Instead its the insanely cheap stuff that is packaged into a nice bottle and shared around. Most of the time one can try to get out of it by drinking beer or wine, but not all the time. There is always a lot of toasting, in fact it is sort of non-stop and makes a lot of alcohol disappear very fast. It starts off as a bit of fun but does get tiresome after a couple of days and a lot of hard work, especially when all the discussion is in a foreign language.

The food itself is sometimes good. Simple and basic. Though sometimes it's the part of the animals you don't really want to eat, or it's a strange flavor added to some vegetables that mean you can't taste the food, just the sauce. Anyway, there is usually some simple dishes towards the end of the meal to chow down on after the delicacies have come out. Some other interesting things from the trip:
- With the big political conferences taking place, all government officials, and indeed many of the teachers, seem to have been required to write essays on "their thoughts on the political conference" which were put up on noticeboards in public.
- Hosts will spend more effort ensuring you are comfortable and never run out of tea than actually talking to you.
- Chinese people are amazingly good at falling asleep in cars. It means there is not much time for awkward conversations and an easy way to get out of conversations (fall asleep or at least pretend to)
- Telecom companies in rural China are just like those in urban China and those in the rest of the world in that they promise you internet speeds you have no hope in ever achieving, yet are apparently paying for!

Back in Beijing, people keep talking all day long about the pollution. It's not good. It's also not like it was good before. A cool image of the last 14 days shows the variation: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2013-03/18/content_28277548.htm. Not a lot has changed, just a hell of a lot more media coverage and more transparency as to the numbers showing how bad it is. And that is a big deal... the data and the attention - will there be any meaningful response? it does not seem like it. It's mostly excuses and no willingness to sacrifice economic growth or lifestyles or anything else for better environment. At least not yet. But with more and more dis-satisfaction and protests, things might change.