没事 (Mei Shi) No Problem

Reality Rears Itself

I suppose many people are very curious about the situation in China these days since it is constantly all over the news and no one knows about the reality of the situation here. So, I decided that I should spend some time writing about the situation here. Since this server has been blocked in China for about 6 months, I feel no worries that I cannot express my opinion.

I have been here for more than four years and I have seen Beijing go through a number of situations and cycles. I was not here for the 2001 airplane incident or the 1999 bombing incident. I when the Chinese people were protesting the Japanese shrine visitations and those were totally government manipulated. At that time I was reading the newspaper everyday and every single day there were about 3 articles about Japan. I am sure that the Chinese paper was no different and probably worse...which resulted in a few days of very violent protest...which foreigners were advised to avoid. Did the PLA come in and rip those protesters out of their house and kill them? Of course not, they were doing what they were supposed to do.

In Tibet, the situation was different, they were protesting at the request of someone other than the government.

Most Chinese have not even known that westerners had an opinion about Tibet until now. If you would have engaged in a political debate with a Chinese person about Tibet, they would have not had anything to say..."Of course it is China." Not another word, Taiwan was another issue altogether.

CHINA IS A SCARY PLACE FOLKS

For the past four years, Beijing has been improving its economy, its transport, its all around living conditions. Lots of Chinese are getting rich and having a better life. However, this has led to a certain arrogance and an above the law feeling (and reality) that is a very dangerous situation. For example, a friend of mine, and his friends were beaten by the owner of a bar and his thugs, culminating in a bottle being broken over his head. Just last week, another person had a mug busted in his face while he was eating breakfast at a bar and I have heard about this at a number of different bars.

The Chinese do have a deep resentment of foreigners because we can make a large salary doing less than they do, we can come and go to many countries when we like and they feel their government treats us better than it treats them. Any opportunity to attack foreigners gives them a release of that anger.

So then we have Carrafour, who is alleged to support Tibet, and in minutes the Chinese are at its doors around the country chanting and throwing stuff. The "Imperial Powers" are trying to shit on China they say.  In reality, the reason that China cannot hold a single government for more than 100 years is that no one is more willing to sell China than the Chinese. If it is to a persons benefit here, they will sell their loyalty. The longest standing "dynasty" in recent times was a bunch of Mongols who just kept Han Chinese in high positions, and the Hans were happy with that and kept them around until the Japanese came around and for sure some people sold their loyalty then. No one shits on China more than the Chinese.

So, all of the environmental improvements, all of the promises, now we are seeing that they were all bullshit. Shocking as it may be!

It was said that in 2008, no more construction....still loads of it in the fourth month...now scheduled to be stopped in June.

The train from the airport to the city was supposed to be done in July last year...still not started.

The subway to the national stadium is still not running and the air is getting worse all the time.

Did you know that China did not give out all the Olympic tickets it had promised? They just said, "Sorry, we changed our mind."

Inside info: A week before the Tibetan protests began, the PSB told travel agents not to give any more foreigners passes to go there because they knew it was going to happen, and they just let it go so they could do all of this shit.

For years, there have been drug dealers sitting outside of the police station in San Li Tun selling drugs. They were all Africans and would just push the stuff like nothing was going to happen, then about a year ago...the police came and arrested every black person on the street or in the bars, violently. A couple of weeks back, they went into a bar with TV cameras and shotguns and raided the place. Apparently, they put a lot of 15 and 16 year old kids through the ringer...mostly French. They locked everyone else into the bars they were in while they did this. It is all for show, they have known about these places and these people for years. The biggest drug bar in town, at least previously, was owned by the brother of a high ranking cop and alway had people inside smoking away, and cops in there as well.

When I first arrived, foreigners could not stay in certain hotels, but this changed to fit the rules of the Olympics. This will change back again for sure. I am curious, how far back the rules will shift in September. We will just have to wait and see.

Funny thing, the CNN broadcaster called the "government"  "thugs and goons" and the people had it translated as the "people" are  "thugs and goons." Well, if you read the article about what happened to the Duke student and her family in China...what would you call the people? I hope her classmates at Duke were deported. http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080417/ts_csm/ofury

A lot of the normal people here are thugs and goons who will beat your ass for a bit of cash - and they might be your "friends."

But, my family are Chinese and they are good people, they inspire me to be harder working and a better person.

Returning to China by Foot

In 2004 when I was traveling through Southern China, I went to Macau and then walked back to Zhu Hai. It was a trip that was labeled in my Lonely Planet and a friend of mine had done it before. It was a steaming hot summer when I went in 2004 and all that I did was enter town, find a hotel, go to the beach and swim and then go to Guang Zhou the next day. Here are some pictures of my trip in 2004.

This is a picture of me right after I crossed the border back into China...it was steaming hot. Since I was traveling alone, I had to take my own picture.

This is a picture of me at the beach. I was much younger then for sure. Actually, the beach looks really nice and the water too, but don't be fooled, that water had so much junk in it that I had to throw away all of those clothes. I kept washing and brown junk kept coming out, I just left it a;; in the hotel. It was super warm water and a great swim.

Here are a couple of pictures of the sea and beach without me in the middle. The people were looking at me like I was crazy as I took my own picture. HAHA

One funny picture from my hotel in 2004 is this toothpaste which you can use, but it costs a heap. But, look at the name...who would want to use a toothpaste named "Green."

On my night in Zhu Hai in 2004, I was walking on the street and a couple of kids came up to me calling me "Uncle" and asking me for stuff. They just kept following me and so eventually, I gave in and bought them some food. Here is a picture of them after they finished eating.

After I fed them, they got pushier and pushier, asking for phone cards and clothes, so I left them and it gave me sort of a cheating feeling. Here I am, thinking that I am helping humanity by feeding a few poor kids, when actually they are probably from rich land owners and just trying to live on the cheap. Their story was that they had come in from another province to live and work because their parents could not afford them...not sure what is true.

So now to 2007, and the restaurant where those girls got their meal. It has been burned down.

I was more mindful of my trip this time, or maybe it was just more recent.  As we walked across the border, there were hundreds of old Chinese farmer types making the trip. They were totally dirty and less civilized than a city person. Only a few years back, Zhu Hai was just a farming community, now it is developed into high rises and golf courses and the farmers just live in a different scene. SO, as we are walking through customs and the SARS checkpoint, all these farmers are just going through. When we get to the check, the officer says..."Where is your white paper?"

WTF!!!

All these farmers who have been walking around in chicken and pig shit walk right through, and you know they are doing it because they have it on their pants, but we need to give the quarantine form as though we are chicken merchants. Anyway, we walked back to the white paper place, goofed around for a bit and walked back through, giving the guy a blank white paper - just for a gag, and he let us through.

Here is a picture of us having just arrived back in China.

For China, Zhu Hai is a night time city. In the north of China, action stops by ten, but here it just gets started, but the shops all close by 10...Let me explain! Zhu Hai is a city that is built around undercutting the prices of Macau and Hong Kong on vices like booze and prostitution. So, the town is filled with young girls in town to get a rich boyfriend or to make a few extra bucks however they must. We went into a clothing shop and the workers were about to close, but they were not going to go home after that. They had a night out dancing or drinking in mind. They were all about 16 years old and definately not locals. Here is a picture of the shopping area at night. It is much more developed than in 2004.

After our evening out, we came back to our hotel and in the front was a man with a monkey. We gave the monkey one rmb, and he took it straight out of Jiao Jiao's hand. It scared the shit out of her.

We had a drink outside at the bar street, just to have a look at the scene. So, I will give you a rundown before I post the video showing it. Along the street, there are a couple dozen little kiosks which serve beer and peanuts. The waitresses drink with you and play drinking games with you and it seems, can go home with you. But, outside the kiosks, there are other people that would happily keep you company. The people who are the patrons of these mini bars, older Hong Kong or Macau businessmen.

Here is the video.