I am writing this post before I travel during the National Holiday. For those of you who don’t know what that is, the National Holiday is an annual government-sanctioned holiday that occurs every October. Usually the holiday lasts seven days, but the dates aren’t ever clear until about a month before, and this year the government surprised everyone by giving nine days off, not seven. The number of days off supposedly corresponds with how well the government feels the economy is doing, though I have no method of verifying this.
I’m just happy that I get the chance to travel. My roommate invited me to go with her friends to Shenyang, which is northeast of Beijing. After Shenyang, the group will travel to Dandong, a city on the border of China and North Korea. Apparently Americans now have the chance to visit inside North Korea—as of January 2010. An application must be sent to the Korean Embassy at the United Nations in New York, and since I am too late for that, visiting North Korea is a no-go.
But I will have my fun. The town of Dandong provides the chance of a visual encounter with a country that until recently was completely closed off. I heard that North Korean culture has crept into the Chinese city of Dandong, though I won’t be certain how this is so until after I visit. There is also the famous sight at night of the bridge that links Dandong with the North Korean city of Sinuiji. The Chinese side of the bridge glows with lights, while the North Korean side is totally black.
I’m very honored that my roommate invited me to travel with her. Her friends are excited that I decided to go with them, which further backs up my theory of a mutual fascination between Chinese and Americans. I’ve had several hours-long conversations with the Chinese students here and their questions revel to me a constant comparison in the minds of the Chinese between China and America. (We are also guilty…Tiger Mom, anyone?)
The Chinese people, at least the ones of my generation, see the success of America and want to emulate it. They are envious of the personal freedoms that Americans experience, and view America with a somewhat of a rose-colored lens. This viewpoint was somewhat surprising for me since I regularly follow American news, and if you do this then you start to feel as if America’s problems are too numerous to solve.
The question of individual rights is a heavy one though on the minds of my Chinese peers. The documentary, “Up the Yangzte,” presents a peasant-side view of the forced relocations of people living close to the Yangzte River. The river flooded after the completion of the Three Gorges Dam project. Compensation for the destroyed homes often went missing. One man, choked up with emotion said, “It’s hard being a human, but being a common person in China is even more difficult.” He added, “China is too hard for common people.”
It is too hard for these peasants who experience the corruption firsthand, but a popular phrase in Chinese goes, “meiyoubanfa,”—“no way out.” The individual is too powerless against the machine of the Party that it can feel overwhelming when confronted with these “kunnan”—“difficult situations.” Most Chinese opt to lower their heads and attempt to pass by unnoticed by the Powers that Be. Of course, that is impossible when “the Hand” paints its marker of destruction on your hutong. But among the numerous peasants I’ve had the opportunity to converse with, the number one important thing for them is earning money. Bow your head, earn your fare, and don’t make too much trouble.
The Chinese millennials are unsatisfied though. My theory for why this is, in part, stems from the fact that this generation has no living memory of the violent methods the government will implement to reassert its authority. The Cultural Revolution seems ages ago, and Tiananmen Square is strategically omitted from history textbooks. My generation experienced the benefits of Deng Xiaopeng’s liberal economic policy, and this increasing prosperity has encouraged them to question the status of individual rights and government behavior.
Ask anyone—Chinese, foreigner, newcomer, expert—no one knows what China will look like in 50 years. One Chinese student analyzed the Party as a system run by those benefiting only those on the inside—in other words, a self-sustaining system. As evidence of corruption piles up, this student hopes that those in his generation who join the Party will change things, as the older generation relinquishes power. Whether or not this hope is realized, the world will await with baited breath.
