Eric's Beijing Diary

Water Buffalo. Beast of burden in Southeast Asia. These docile creatures just sorta amble through life seeming not to mind whether they are pulling a load, or just hangin' out. Something we could all learn from them, I suppose. I took this picture of a cow and her calf this morning in a field just down the road from the gate of the University where I am teaching.

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Actually, it seems strange to say, "Southeast Asia," because I am in Southwest China. But Southwest China is in Southeast Asia, if that makes sense. And the water buffalo is the workhorse of Southeast Asia. Living in a city like Beijing, it is easy to forget that in spite of all the many, many changes, China remains very much a peasant culture once you get out of the cities. It is hard to believe that there are still 800 million people in this country who live on a dollar a day or less. There is a tremendous influx of capital, of course, but the distribution of that wealth is not even. Most of the money goes to the cities. In fact, many of the beggars in cities like Beijing and Shanghai are actually farmers from the countryside who have discovered that they can make more money begging than they can farming. The tremendous income disparity in this country has produced considerable unrest. It is hard to get complete information about this, because of China's controlled media, but it is widely believed that there have been widespread protests throughout the country by the nation's rural poor, who have often been left behind in the current rush to prosperity.