Not So Different

"We aren't at any poor schools," the other volunteer said to me from across the table. Poor schools? By whose standards? When your classrooms are missing chalkboards, there is a funding problem.

"Chinese people don't vote." Another quote testing my patience. The reality is that the Chinese do vote, elections have been taking place for several years. In what capacity they are held is unknown.

"There are no poor schools, only corruption in the government." How is that any different from the United States? This was the question I posed. "Well (we) know that corruption takes place. We vote." Do we really know the corruption that takes place? Yeah, in 2004, the USA was on top of that in the General Election.

"They (the Chinese) do shitty jobs when their government promises them a better life." Doesn't ours do the same?

The American perspective in China is both irritating and needed. However, I have found that the conflict this creates, this quest to hold China to the same standards as America, is unruly and unrealistic. Things operate differently here and the way of life is held to a Chinese standard, not an American one.

First of all, the jobs the Chinese do are done for a reason. Just like back home. Not (just) because some of them may have to do those jobs but because the Chinese have a different attitude towards life. The Chinese seem happy in what appears to Americans as a chaotic, dysfunctional state of last minute decision making and insurmountable bureaucracy.

For all the development, the changing of the guard, the cultural unfamiliarities, China is guided by the same Universal principles as any other people. People want a better life for themselves, for them and their families. The battle for equality is constant. The battle for a better life is constant. Government will always be a skeptical part of any society, unable to please everyone at the same time.

There are stark differences between our two nations. But there are similarities in the way our lives have been shaped by our government that are the same. It may have taken different parties, different regimes and different philosophies to do so but the principles are the same, in many places, the impacts are the same. Americans are not on a pedestal and the person that tells you this needs to realize that life is relative to the situation you are in.

Yes, comparatively, we do have more money and more materials and better transportation and plumbing than China BUT we also have 1/4 of the people. What is desperate to us, is based on our standards and do not readily apply to a nation that could use a good lesson on basic hand washing techniques.

China is a phenomenon. Growing, grumbling, churning and imposing. The things that move it forward are more similar to America during our Industrial Revolution than people know. What is irritating is that all of this perspective is dismissed and many (Americans) judge it solely based on where it is comparatively with the States at this moment.