A Journey to Well Known Places

I had fajitas and mango margaritas for dinner last night. I convinced six of my fellow travellers that Chinese Tex Mex would be a cultural experience. It was great. The food was marvelous and true to form. The mango margaritas were made from real mangos and did not skimp on the Cuervo. I ate for two and it was great. Today I am going to explore the downtown area, Peoples Park, and eat snacks from street vendors all day. I say all day, but it is approaching noon and I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.

Being in a committed relationship and travelling has enabled me to learn much more about the world around me than I would have otherwise. As an example, if I didn’t already have a girlfriend I would have spent last night chatting up the many western girls at the bar we went to after dinner. Instead I talked to a German photographer that has lived in Shanghai for four years about what it is like to live in China. That was pretty interesting. His take on China was alot different than mine. From my point of very China is more developed than developing. There are sky scrapers, the roads are clogged with cars, and Gucci and Cartier retailers abound. He pointed out that while those things do exist, they are only for a very small upper class. He pointed out that the way China controls traffic problems in their cities is by limiting the number of license plates sold. In Shanghai a license plate costs you $10000. Then you have to buy the car. As a Chinese citizen you have to get permission to travel outside of your province and in order to get that permission you need connections or a good reason. If someone in Cheng Du wanted to visit Beijing they would need to ask the govt permission and wait for it to be approved. They couldn’t just jump on a train and go. Also, only people that can prove they are ethnic Han Chinese, by law, are eligible for a Chinese passport. The ethnic minorities in China need permission to travel around China and cannot leave the country. The exception to this, of course, are those with lots of money and connections. The average Chinese is rather stuck though. I was wondering how the Party was balancing such a huge disparity of income in a supposedly communist country and I’ll bet that plays a big part of it. It is one thing to live in the far west on $6 a month and hear about the prosperity of the east coast. It is a completely different thing to see it first hand. So, they just don’t let them.

In Shanghai salaries for average Chinese are skyrocketting. They are around 6 rmb and hour (there are 7.6 rmb to a dollar now). In the west that figure goes down to 3 rmb an hour. A full days work gets you about 24 rmb before taxes. I spent 120 rmb on my Tex Mex last night and I have seen more than a few $60000 plus autos on the road here.

Also, I found out that the central party does not have quite the tight control that everyone thinks it does. Much of Chinese society works on the basis of interpersonal relationships. The regional governers often have quite a bit of local power and influence due to family, personal, and business connections. It is like one big good ol’boys club. As long as they don’t step too far out of line, it is easier for Beijing to work with them than replace them. That is one of the reasons why human rights is so difficult for China to address. The central govt may set down a policy, but a particulary powerful and somewhat corrupt regional governor may turn a blind eye for a kick back. It would be so difficult for Beijing to punish and replace them that they have to let it slide. It is rather like voting for a candidate that you agree with 70%. You take the other 30% because they are better than the alternative. Well, off to do pictures and the park.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 12:16 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.