Thoughts on our travels in China...

Written in Hong Kong as we await the time to go to the airport for the flight home.

This last 17 days we have been amazed at what we have seen. I suppose after 77 years of only knowing about China by what we read and see on TV we have a rather fuzzy picture of this country. My thoughts are clearer now, but still fuzzy.

The country is further ahead in regard to modern amenities and technology than I thought. The Chinese seem to crave the latest gadget or technology in regards to transportation, automation of ticketing, access to facilities etc. Some of the hotel rooms are completely automated in regards to lighting, TV, ease of connecting to internet with laptops etc.

There are scads of high-end cars with chauffeured drivers, status is everything here. The big bosses, in business or government flaunt their status and power to a point that it is sickening. They think that rules are made for others, but not them. Bribery and corruption is everywhere, in all levels of class structure.

Hong Kong is not the same as China. Hong Kong has many problems with Beijing, they seem to be much better educated, orderly and better dressed and more westernized than mainland China.

The west and that means America and Europe, are not their biggest concern. They have big issues with other Asian countries like Tibet and Japan is a big time problem. They have massive internal problems to deal with as well.

The USA seems to have an over-exaggerated sense of it's own importance in the world. It is still a very powerful and important power in the world, but it has to be looked at in the total picture of the world today. The world is developing at a rapid rate, likely too fast for the overall good. Europe and America are stalled, so other developing countries are catching up, very rapidly.

The standard of living is rising in the ever enlarging middle class in China. But it is not fast enough for those that are aware of where they are in relation to developed countries. The government seems to dole out their rise in dribs and drabs. I believe those in the know are a somewhat disgruntled lot. Too little, too slowly, particularly when they see the politicians and the newly very-rich, and what they have.

I seem to have a built-in mistrust of the Chinese, sorry to lay out my bias to you. Too may Charlie Chan movies and war movies with sinister Asians I suppose. Somehow I wonder how our guides, drivers, servers etc. would treat us if we were not their clients!

It was interesting to hear a guide tell us that when she was a child playing in the dirt her mother said "Don't dig too deep or you will come to Canada". Mom's are the same everywhere it seems.

We had a long but comfortable day of waiting for our flight that I just found out is a bit delayed. I will post this from the airport lounge as I do not know what shape I will be in when we do get home.

Adios.