Eric's Beijing Diary

Sorry I'm late. Just had to climb 14 stories because the elevator was out of commission. Don't know why...I guess it turns into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight. Well, I am not usually this late, but there have been occasions (like New Year's eve) when I came in after midnight and the elevator operators were still on duty. Maybe they decided to give the elevator a rest tonight. When elevators first started to become common in China twenty years ago, they used to do that. They would let all the elevators "rest" for an hour a day. Too bad for you if you were on the fourteenth floor and you had to be somewhere.

Another thing. There is a rule in China that buildings that don't have more than six floors don't need an elevator. I knew about that rule before I came to China. What I didn't know was that any office of any consequence is always on the fifth or sixth floor. So I have been getting a lot of exercise running up and down stairways. Well, OK, not exactly running, but you know what I mean.

It was the English Corner that caused it. I thought I had a plan that would work. Instead of going early, I decided to go later so that I didn't need to worry about how to get away without being rude. It doesn't work. They just stay later. They would have stayed all night if I hadn't excused myself shortly after midnight. Lots of questions again. There was considerable discussion about the current economic boom in China, and just how "real" it was. One man mentioned that there is still a lot of unemployment in China. Well, he is right. In Shenyang, for example, state owned enterprises were ordered to become profitable. When they complained that they couldn't make a profit because of too many workers, the government told them to lay off as many as they needed to put them in the black. This problem was outlined not too long ago in a PBS documentary called "China in the Red."

Many, many times, as I am talking with students, the question of corruption comes up. I have often felt that China is a society in transition between two belief systems, and there tends to be quite ready agreement with this among the individuals I talk to. There is much questioning about values today in China. At least by some people. Others have simply given themselves over to making money and trying to cash in on the prosperity. But there really are a lot of young people asking very sincere questions.

At one point in our conversation, we were interrupted by a young lady. She said, "This conversation is very heavy. Can I ask you a lighter question?" I said, "Sure." She said, "Will you cut your beard when it gets hot?" I like people like her. They remind me of my daughter. Melissa would love her.