China 6

I thought you might be interested in why I think the Party is neededto control these glorious citizens of China for a long time -- or they can import the PAP from Singapore to fix the social attitudes  here.  I am not talking about the academics I hang around; they are an unusual lot and hardly matter in the large scheme of things. There were interesting experiments done years ago with mice and the effects of over-crowding.  Previously nice mice became selfish aggressive arseholes when the level of crowding exceeded a certain level.  Now, while one should always be very careful not to extrapolate mouse behavior to humans (Koestler parodied this as the "ratomorphic view of mankind"), I am convinced the over-population in China and the consequent struggle for simple resources has to be a big factor on why people here have so little civic consciousness of any kind, and so little regard for public hygiene.  Here are examples. The intrepid Mr Liu whom I told you about yesterday, the dare-devil driver, kept tossing litter out of the car as he drove -- used tissues, advertising leaflets, used lunch boxes, etc.  In our hotel, guests have found yet another use for the cigarette extinguishers I mentioned (the other function being spitoons) --they are now litter bins too, with people being too lazy to use the hole on the side. Guests leave their room doors wide open and turn on the TV loud.  If I am waiting at the reception desk to ask something, people constantly jump the queue -- until today I got fed up and became rude, not in Putonghua which I cannot speak but loudly in Cantonese.  This startled them.  I thought, "Goodie, I bet they think I am some gangster from Hong Kong".  In the streets, the "rule of law" would be a concept completely foreign to these folks.  The game they play here is intimidation.  If you have a big 4-wheeler, you own the road.  If you are a brave pedestrian, you just walk nonchalently into traffic, daring car drivers to kill you.  People treat waiters and waitresses, and service people in general, very rudely.  The notion seems to be if you pay for a service, you need have no consideration for thefeelings of the people who serve you. We sometimes dread going to breakfast in the morning after we see a bunch of the nouveau riche check in, as their behavior is so inconsiderate that I am tempted to swear at them in Cantonese.  Eg, they dirty the tables unnecessarily, take more food than they can possibly finish (there is no limit on the number of times one can go back for more, so I cannot understand the waste!), shout, smoke (prohibited, but do they care?), and this is the limit -- some come in their pajamas and bedroom slippers.  We are convinced some of these people flush all manners of things down the loo, as this is the second time the hotel staff had to unblock our toilet.

For years, the Party tried to change attitudes, but I think it has given up.  It hopes that the new capitalism will bring enough wealth quickly so that people will simply become better as the economic pressures on them reduce.  Not impossible, but I think highly improbable. Today we saw the ultimate blasphemy.  Belowhe gigantic statue of Chaiman Mao in the main park is a huge Wal Mart (underground!).  Wal Mart is infamous for its poor treatment of workers in the U.S., but here it has found paradise.  90% of all non-food goods Wal Mart sells in the U.S. is made in China, so I have been told (Pinky, Annie, correct me if I heard wrong). Chairman pins out of control in his mausoleum :-).