I just returned from a two week trip in China. The majority of the time we spent in Shanghai and then a few surrounding cities. As an American visiting for the first time, I had a few preconceived notions of what China might be like, but I was wrong.
1) China is communist and capitalism is viewed as evil
In China, I couldn’t believe the entrepreneurial nature of the people. In Shanghai, there were so many shops, street vendors, bars, restaurants, etc. This is not a government excercising control over business. Although communist, China has decided to open up their economic system to some free market controls. The keyword is “some.” They will manipulate their currency and/or duty tariff levels to protect their businesses more than many other countries.
This is the scene inside a clothing wholesale mall. This is where clothes were sold in bulk to be resold in smaller shops. As you can see, the consumer culture lives. It seemed as though every store carried the same style clothing.
Chinese Clothing Wholesale Mall
2) China must be clean because of all the government oversight
Again, wrong. China is a very dirty place. The air, the streets, the insides of buildings. If you are outside for a few hours, you feel filthy.
If I were a global warming protester, I would set up shop in China. The smog is THAT bad.
The level of protection when it comes to food is non-existent. I didn’t dare eat at a street vendor’s stand. I can remember walking down an alley one night after dinner and came across a man going through garbage. I asked our host what he was doing and our host replied, “He is gathering food for his pig.” In the middle of an 8-million person city, livestock is quite common on the streets.
We were going to breakfast at our hotel one morning and out of no where we hear, “Cock a doodle do!” A rooster was preparing to meet his maker back in the kitchen. They like “fresh” food in China. Needless to say, I lost my appetite.
I’ll have more on the trip in future posts.
