Daily life for most Chinese people

[knloregon]

"......and anybody here who thinks they are is delusional...."

[whome?]

If you are really interested google the author and read some of his earlier work regarding his thoughts on China and the USA (the government in particular) and the ROW. Then you will see that, perhaps, some of this long rant is related to his bitter feelings for whatever happened between him and his employer....

 

I finally had time to read this article... I think you totally nailed the author's motivations and baggage. I feel a little sorry for this guy. When he didn¡¯t get the special recognition he thought he deserved at the university, he set off to find the ¡°real¡± China. Through black-and-white reasoning he deluded himself into thinking that, if the well-off people were jerks, then the poor people must be loving natives who want nothing more than to open their homes and hearts to this "laowai yeye" and listen, enthralled, to his humble descriptions of all his amazing travels and academic accomplishments. The way he talks about poor people in China reminds me of Margaret Mead and her portrayal of Samoans, which was also based on the experience of an outsider (in both cases, one who probably made the people feel like they were being scrutinized by an alien) who couldn¡¯t understand most of what was going on.

 

Overall the main point of this article seems to be that the author is such a cool guy -- he sees himself as "going where no laowai has gone before¡± (and from what I can tell this was his other motivation for going there: bragging rights). It is annoying to read his claims that he ¡°lived there¡± or that he really experienced the poverty that surrounded him (e.g., he says something like ¡°I¡¯m poorer than my students!¡±).

 

For this guy the poor people in Henan are a caricature. They¡¯re the selfless and accepting natives he needs to create in his mind to contrast with the privileged and stand-offish well-to-do who ¡°forced him out¡± of China. I feel bad for him if this is the way he needs to understand the complexities of China¡­

I never said that I was in love with the author or agreed with his philosophy on life in China or anywhere else for that matter of fact but what I got out of it was how the people lived and where they and the conditions that they lived in. But it seems as though you are one of those people that are determined to deny that there are poor people in China that live a very meager life. Most of you guys will proclaim that there are a few of them living in caves in very remote mountain area and that there is only two or three hundred of them right. My guess is that you were an english teacher in China straight out of college is that right?

 

Larry

 

But it seems as though you are one of those people that are determined to deny that there are poor people in China that live a very meager life. Most of you guys will proclaim that there are a few of them living in caves in very remote mountain area and that there is only two or three hundred of them right.

 

No no one denies that there are not a lot of poor people in China. But what is the point. You do not think in the last 30 years there have been no improvement for the quality of life in China? Do you think if the Chinese government became a USA democracy the poor people would go ahead overnite? There are almost 40 million people in the USA who are living below the poverty line (13.2% in 2008).

 

My guess is that you were an english teacher in China straight out of college is that right?

 

This is the standard party line when someone has even a slightly different viewpoint of China. Some look at the glass half-full. Others look at it half-empty.

 

I am not an english teacher but I do work in China. Can you explain your reasoning as to why people who donot 100% agree with your viewpoint on China must be english teachers?

 

Your grasp on poverty statistics is weak.

 

While approximately 13% of the US population lives in poverty, poverty in the US is defined as a family of three having an income lower that $18,310 per year. By that standard, probably 90% of China lives in poverty.

 

A common international standard used to define poverty is roughly $1.20 a day. In the US, UN figures put the US at about 2% and China at anywhere from 6 - 20% -- with the higher percentage being likely more accurate.

 

Again, your comparison of poverty in the US with that in China is feeble. Very feeble.

Not feeble...it is just that I am fully aware of something called "cost of living". $1.20 a day goes a lot further in China than it does in the USA. Do you think a family of three can live in decent conditions on a salary of $18,310/year??

 

Here is a quote from the World Bank regarding absolute and relative poverty:

 

That is, even in the wealthiest countries, the poor may not be in absolute poverty (the most basic of provisions may be obtainable for many) or their level of poverty may be a lot higher than those in developing countries, but in terms of their standing in society, their relative poverty can also have serious consequences such as deteriorating social cohesion, increasing crime and violence, and poorer health.

 

I was not interested in comparing absolute poverty, on the $1.25/day standard, in the USA to poverty in China. I was making the point that our "glass house" in the USA is not so clean either. This is exactly how the World Bank describes it.

 

Here is another quote from the World Bank regarding the income gap in the US:

 

The U.S. itself also has the largest gap and inequality between rich and poor compared to all the other industrialized nations. For example, the top 1% receives more money than the bottom 40% and the gap is the widest in 70 years. Furthermore, in the last 20 years while the share of income going to the top 1% has increased, it has decreased for the poorest 40%.

 

Here is another interesting article regarding world poverty for you:

 

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/pov...facts-and-stats

 

A quote from the article:

 

Accounting for the increased population between 1981 and 2005, the poverty rate has, however, fallen by about 25%.

 

While this at least sounds encouraging, it masks regional variations, and perhaps most glaringly the impact of China:

 

China¡¯s poverty rate fell from 85% to 15.9%, or by over 600 million people

China accounts for nearly all the world¡¯s reduction in poverty

Excluding China, poverty fell only by around 10%

 

As a result, the World Bank feels that while China is on target to reach the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty and tackle various other issues, most other countries are not.

 

So it does appear that there has been some improvement over the years in China using the China Model.

Edited October 29, 2009 by whome? (see edit history)

[knloregon]

great research, whome...

[whome?]

He is talking of spending time in 2006 in a poverty section of an older poor Chinese city. You can do the same thing all over the USA.

 

This does not imply that "most" Chinese live in this condition nor that the government does not give a damn.

 

If you are really interested google the author and read some of his earlier work regarding his thoughts on China and the USA (the government in particular) and the ROW. Then you will see that, perhaps, some of this long rant is related to his bitter feelings for whatever happened between him and his employer....

 

 

It's much more than feeble to compare poverty that exists in the US with that you can find in China. -- That is your personal opinion because it appears YOU do not give a damn about the situation or poor in the USA.

 

And it does appear that the government isn't overly concerned about the issues until it threatens the Party's monopoly on power. That said, nobody really knows for sure exactly what actual concern the government does have unless you are privy to the inner workings of the State Council -- and anybody here who thinks they are is delusional. -- I dont see much of a difference between this and the concern over power the two party system exhibts in the USA.