Eric's Beijing Diary

Rob Gifford, former Beijing correspondent for NPR, showed up at the Bookworm this evening for a book talk and book signing. Although I have not read the book, I was familiar with the content, because I listened to his series called "On the Road in China," upon which his new book is based.

Mr. Gifford made a couple comments that I thought were interesting. He mentioned a recent conversation he had in the States with a young student from China. When he asked her about her impressions of America, she said, "Chabudou (about the same)." I sense a certain measure of practiced indifference in that comment. Nevertheless, the point well taken is that the gap between a prosperous country like America, and the urban communities of China, such as Beijing and Shanghai, is getting narrower. When I first got to China, I made the observation that the difference between Beijing and the countryside of China was greater than the difference between Arizona and Beijing. I should probably qualify that statement, because I grew up in Asia, so many of the things that an American with no Asian experience would react to quite sharply, would only be worth a shrug of the shoulders to me. Still, I think the comparison is still apt, since, if someone who has never been to Asia would experience greater culture shock than I did coming to Beijing, they would react ever so much more strongly to some of the poor areas of the countryside.

The other comment Mr. Gifford made was that he would rather be a peasant in China than a peasant in India. This is a fair statement. When examining the plight of the very poor in any society, I often refer to what I call the "economic virtue" of that society. The economic virtue would be the extent to which very poor people are able to improve themselves economically through hard work and ingenuity. The economic virtue of China is significantly higher than that of India. I hesitate to make this point too lightly, because there are still 800 million people in China who live on a dollar a day or less. But Deng Xiao-ping's economic reforms provided a way out for literally hundreds of millions of people. And many more want to follow. It's pretty tough for people who are poor, but it's much easier in China than in India. The problem in China, as I see it, is that the pathway to prosperity leads to the big cities, which are getting bigger and bigger. For 25 years, people have streamed from all over China to the Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen. From an inconsequential fishing village, Shenzhen grew to be a metropolis of 12 million people. It is an absolutely astounding phenomenon. You really have to see it to believe it. A city with no history. No "old town." No historical markers or buildings. I should qualify that, because, after all, in China, a twenty-five year old high rise doesn't exactly have a new look to it. But there is just no comparison between Shenzhen and the other cities of China, which have so much history. And how many of those 800 million people can either Shenzhen or the other large and wealthy cities on Eastern China absorb?