Rodrigo Cortez
Changes
China has had some changes, which have brought Chinese citizens advantages and disadvantages. China has been changing the last decades after the events of 1989. These changes have two points of view. Some people say that China is doing a great job solving its problems while others think that it has some serious problems related to inequalities and freedom of speech. These changes are present in three matters: the consumer boom, Chinese peace, and government interferences.
First, there is a consumer boom in China that has benefits for some Chinese citizens. Now people can find any product they want. For instance, we went to a Mall two blocks away from the university, which has more international stores than the Oaks Mall in Gainesville. According to Gifford in his book China Road, “anything you can buy in the West can also be bought in a Chinese city such as Shanghai.” I think this consumer boom is possible because Chinese government allows international companies to have their factories in China and sell their products in the country. In spite of all these advantages that consumer boom brings with it, most of the people in China do not have access to it. For example, in the hotel neighborhood there were people that clearly could not afford the high prices that we saw in the Mall. I also realize that any of the BUU students have the possibilities to travel abroad because the money exchange was weak and their families’ incomes were not enough to afford expensive airplane tickets. A consumer boom helps the country economy to grow up, but it does not benefit everybody.
Secondly, Chinese had lived in war since the dynasties exits. In every tour or museum our tour guide told us that between each dynasty there were wars and violent conflicts. Rob Gifford shows up that, “peace seemed finally to arrive with the Communist takeover, in 1949.” After Mao Zedong rose to power, the chaos in China was over. I experience that peace; I did not see any signs of conflicts in Beijing or Xian. I think people are obsessed and devoted to Mao Zedong because he brought momentarily peace and prosperity to China. One of the students in Beijing explained to me that older people respected and liked Mao more than younger because they faced the changes by themselves. Although at first sight China is in peace, in some places the intimidation using brute force still exist. As Gifford mentions in his book, “China keeps Tibet and its Muslim northwest from seceding only through sheer brute force.” For instance, two days before going to Xian, a minority made a terrorist attack near Xian. I noticed that when we arrived to Xian’s train station, policemen were patrolling the station for possible terrorist attacks from Tibetans or Muslims. On one hand, some parts of China enjoyed the peace brought by the Communist party; on the other hand, minorities such as Tibetans or the island of Taiwan have lived oppressed by the government.
Third, the government does not impose much interferences and prohibitions against the citizens as they did before. The movie ‘To Live’ exposes the reality that Chinese people faced when Mao Zedong was alive. Chinese people received equal food portions for everybody, and the government controlled all the country economy. Nowadays, there is more freedom from the government toward Chinese citizens. According to Gifford, the government told Chinese “stay out of politics, and you can do anything you want.” Common Chinese citizens never get involved with government issues because they want the ‘freedom to do whatever they want.” Although China has more freedom and less interference from the government, according to Gifford, “Beijing still runs a system of labor camps, to which any member of society can be sent, at any time.” I did not see any kind of violence from the government to the citizens; however, I always perceived fear from the BUU students when we were talking about government’s issues. They preferred to let them and live their lives with some freedom.
Some people think that China is doing a great job with these changes while others think that Chinese government abuses Chinese citizens with its power. These changes have made China stronger in some aspects but exposed its weakness in others. In conclusion I think it is as Gifford explained, “one day China is going to take over the world, and the next day it will all seem built on sand and I expect it all to come tumbling down around us.”