Life and Travel in China

I heard from a Chinese friend that there were serious anti-Japanese protests and riots in Xi'an. There are reportedly fatalities. Of course, the authorities quickly removed all information about it from the Internet. Various anti-Japan protests were also organized in Shenzhen today. Of course, many Chinese do not get caught up in these political games and ignore such initiatives. Some people are also aware that the authorities are 'rekindling' this hatred towards the Japanese to divert attention from the current internal problems of the Middle Kingdom. I saw for myself how a sushi restaurant closed its business for its own safety, covered its logo and put up a banner saying they support the Chinese. They did it more out of fear for their own premises than out of conviction. Another friend now has to be careful where he parks his Toyota. This conflict is strange, supposedly anti-Japanese, but the Chinese are arguing among themselves.

Nothing happens in China without the knowledge and consent of the Communist Party. If anyone thinks that the anti-Japanese protests are spontaneous, organized by young Chinese, they are wrong. All this is perfectly controlled. My wife and I came to the conclusion that the authorities were planning it all perfectly. There are constantly reports on TV about Japan stealing the islands. There are appeals on Internet forums, encouraging anti-Japanese protests. After all, the Internet and all media are completely controlled by the authorities. They actually decide what information is available and what is hidden/blocked. In addition, there are text messages, I received one myself, something like: "The patriotic spirit is important, but let's remember about safety and good behavior during protests." Moreover, when such a protest takes place - it is an excellent training for the army, police and all uniformed services. They know their tasks, their locations, they control a crowd of thousands, they know what procedures to launch if a protest gets out of control. If the same or different people stand shoulder to shoulder against the Chinese government, do they stand a chance? Probably not, because the services will handle it very well. I have the impression that China is such a big balloon of hatred, frustration, disappointment and human suffering. Such small protests allow groups and individuals to go wild, make noise, and destroy Japanese cars, shops and restaurants. In this way, the authorities release some pressure from this balloon, but for how long? The group of intelligent and aware people is also becoming larger, and they know that it is not about Japan, but about China's internal problems. What will they do with them? Will there be a revolution?

Recently, I've changed my mind a bit about Chinese healthcare. I found myself in a situation where I really needed the help of a doctor and I was very grateful to them. In a completely different town, my wife asked a bellhop to take me to a doctor. With his help and my knowledge of Chinese, I somehow managed to communicate with the doctor. My throat hurt and my fever was already 39 degrees. They quickly prescribed antibiotics and put me on a drip as usual. I already felt mentally relieved, and the young doctor personally checked my condition and explained to me what to do next. I didn't pay much for the help, but I had the impression that they really took care of me and showed concern. Probably because I'm a foreigner. Fortunately, this hospital was not crowded and the emergency room worked very efficiently. In Shenzhen, we sometimes had to wait 30-40 minutes for an initial appointment. After more than two hours, I felt better. Unfortunately, the temperature returned at night and the next day I spent almost three hours on drips again. That day, everyone was concerned about my condition, from several nurses to two doctors. As you can see, there are also many decent people in China who work in health care by vocation and want to help others.

As I see, the whole world has become interested in the elections of the communist authorities in China. Just 10-20 years ago, such information was presented as a curiosity, and the serious faces of Chinese delegates surrounded by national symbols could make people smile, because it was mass propaganda like in North Korea. Now, however, everyone takes China into account and is waiting for the final decisions and the election of the most important leaders of the Middle Kingdom. There should be no surprises, the vice-presidents will take over the positions of president and prime minister, and those leaving will, as usual, supervise everything anyway. Average Chinese are somehow interested in this, but they have no influence on these elections, it is decided by the Communist Party, or rather its close circle of VIPs. In my opinion, nothing will change in China. The idea of communism will remain, only the names will change. Hu Jintao has already announced that the party must be faithful to its ideals: Marxism, the theories of Mao Tse-tung and Deng Xiao Ping. In practice, this means: a greater division of rich and poor, perfect life for party members, an ocean of corruption, huge injustice, censorship, feeding people with propaganda pulp by the media and simple exploitation. The party program certainly doesn't provide for all this, but that's how it is.

My Chinese friend has two apartments and she tried to rent this old apartment for quite a long time. Someone offered her 4,200 RMB (approximately PLN 2,100), but she insisted on 4,500 RMB, a difference of PLN 150. Ultimately, she didn't agree and probably couldn't rent it to anyone else for 3-4 months. Recently, a family came across willing to rent this place. It turned out that they were very rich people, they drove fancy cars worth millions. They had their own apartment and even a villa (for China this is an exceptional luxury), and they were also supposedly owners of a factory. They wanted to rent my friend's apartment only because their child went to a private school nearby. They rented it, paid a deposit and after a few days they suddenly disappeared. As it turned out, many people are looking for them for debts. It seems that their lives and well-being depend on many loans and credits. It is possible that a few years ago the factory was doing very well and they took money for further investments, development, their own pleasures, real estate and vehicles... Ultimately, the crisis or smaller orders caused Eldorado to end. I know similar stories from other provinces in China. Factories were either going bankrupt or were operating at a minimum. All it takes is for a large customer to cancel orders, for material prices to increase, or for the supplier to change. In China, mega bankrupts appear just as quickly as fortunes are created.