Eric's Beijing Diary

What can I say about Beihai? It's been an interesting experience. Living here on a spot of land that was nothing but rice fields a few months ago is a daily reminder of how quickly this country is changing.

I caught this picture of a farmer coming around the corner with his livestock. What is the future for farmers like this? Do they have any hope of retaining the lifestyle that has been theirs for so many generations. Would they want to? Colleges like this are shooting up out of the countryside all over China. The entry requirements are a bit more lenient, so they serve as alternatives for students who don't quite make the grade at more prestigious institutions. But what is this change like for the people whose neighborhoods are so completely transformed by such rapid development.

Beihai College now has 500-600 students--not sure the exact number. Next fall, they are anticipating 2000-2500 new freshman. This may be wishful thinking, but the number will be significant, because there is a huge demand for institutions like this. Generally, I think these new institutions are an asset to their communities, because economic development brings opportunity. But the breakneck speed with which they are popping out of the rice fields may be hard for local people to adjust to.

It's hard to describe, really. A large, modern university, with hundreds of alert, computer savvy kids preparing themselves to live in a global community. And they're good, too. Ironically, these kids actually adapt better, in some ways, to the courses I teach than the students in Beijing. In Beijing, I often encounter students who have been so oriented to theory, that they don't see the importance of practice. But these kids are different. These are the kids who like to play with computers instead of doing their homework. They all buy the book, and they all go to the Oracle web site and download the Oracle software. In sharp contrast, a few yards away from the campus, a peasant farmer works the rows with a one-bottom plow, like my grandfather did a hundred years ago, when he came to America from Norway. How will these country people adapt to such incredibly rapid economic growth? Is it unfortunate that so many of them are losing their simple lifestyle, or is it the best thing that ever happened to them? How does a country accommodate the change inherent in a roaring economy without heartlessly brushing aside the needs of ordinary country people who might have their own ideas about those changes?

But don't assume too quickly that the peasants are going to be a thing of the past. Eight-hundred-million people in this country live on a dollar a day or less. For all it's changes, China is still very much a peasant culture. The government has recently announced new government programs to help farmers--it remains to be seen whether these programs will alleviate some of the concerns of the rural community. As I mentioned previously, I do believe that many of these changes will be good for the rural community. But that can only be true if there is some means to distribute the wealth so that those who are doing so much of the hard work that makes a country run, are getting a piece of the pie.