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.
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