Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Wrote a post yesterday but somehow got erased! Can't figure out these computers. Just returned from China. I was surprised that I was not stopped by any customs agents. I thought that they would be stopping all physicians since the UK terrorists attack was blamed on physicians. Also my son Michael was stopped a couple of times because he had cut his hair and didn't look like his passport picture. My passport picture is the worst mug shot in history so I was offended that the agents didn't even take a second look at me. This means that I might actually be ugly! There are many things I want to write about the trip. I will start with the positive things I saw in China. Over the next few days I will write about the negatives and the situation in HK and how this relate to the world we live in.

By the time I got into Bejing airport I noticed that besides structural improvements there are many changes. Ten years ago there were PLA soldiers all over the place. The custom agents were soldiers. Now all the staff are civilians or ordinary policemen. There are many more shops and a lot more advertising. The propaganda posters were all but gone. This was true on the streets as well where communist slogans were gone and replaced by Walmart or KFC signs. Despite the pollution the air seem cleaner as less coal was being used. While there are still lots of bicycles, the numbers are much lower. There are more and higher quality cars owned apparently by middle class people. There is no question that economically China has made great strides in the last 10 years. Overall the people are friendlier, dressed better and smiled more. In 97 when I visited, I thought Bejing was about where HK was in 67. Now I don't think Bejing is 30 years behind anymore although HK is still way ahead.

The first morning we got into Bejing we were on our own to explore the city. So we walked around the area near the hotel. People were pouring into factories, offices and schools at 7 a.m. It was unbelievably crowded. Somehow we wandered into a park. This green oasis in the middle of madness. We found old people doing tai chi and kicking this thing I think is called something like hackysac? All of a sudden someone turned on a boom box and Chinese music with western instrumental filled the air. Bunch of old people started ballroom dancing! These people are my in-laws generation. I have heard them talked about learning ballroom dancing when they visited Russia when they were young. I guess the communists eventually stopped this practice as being a decadent western act. Now these old folks are able to practice this art once again, in the middle of this communist capital. How cool is that?