Journal Entry 2

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This is what I submitted for my second journal entry. It's kind of schoolish and has no flow, but it gets some points across. Enjoy!

Based on the readings assigned thus far, it appears that a major concern in China right now is the growing income gap between the rich and the poor, as well as between the coastal cities and the inland cities.

I feel that, as a foreigner to China who will spend most of her time visiting touristy places and staying around the Tsinghua campus, this disparity in income will not be very obvious. Therefore, I have decided to actively seek out examples of this income gap. Some examples already stick out in my mind. For instance, I know that millions of people in China consider themselves part of the floating population. Many of these people come from villages where there is not enough money to survive, so they migrate to the cities to get jobs. I have seen these people working at Tsinghua, hanging outside of businesses down the street from the hotel after work hours and I have probably seen them multiple other times without realizing who they are.

Moreover, I can also see the disparity in incomes between the young, rich Chinese people sitting in the same restaurant as me during dinner and the Chinese people selling illegal black market items outside of the restaurant.

Perhaps what interests me most is that many of the articles discussing the growing income gap in China come from U.S. newspapers. What these articles fail to mention is that the income gap in the U.S. is also increasing as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Though the U.S. may not have a floating population the way that China does, it does have a population of people that have moved certain places because that is where the jobs are. It seems hypocritical for the U.S. to criticize China when it has a similar problem of its own.

During the rest of my time in China, I'd like to talk to Chinese people in Beijing about the growing income gap and see what their opinions are on the subject. Do they think the income gap really exists? If so, what should be done to remedy the problem? Do they think it is fair for the U.S. to criticize China for this problem when the U.S. has the same problem? Because I will live in Beijing, most of my answers will probably come from people of a higher income level, which could affect the responses I receive, but I will try to talk to people who are from the rural areas of China as well.

Another topic I would like to discuss is slightly less educational than my previous topic. After being in China I have noticed that the people here, especially the men, like to spit, and they like to spit a lot. Though people do spit in the U.S., it doesn't happen nearly as often as I see it happen here. I'm not quite sure why, but for some reason, spitting has always grossed me out a little, and even makes me feel a bit sick. Perhaps this is because the sound people make before they spit reminds me of the sound I make when I'm sick and I have a lot of phlegm in my chest. It is possible that Chinese people spit a lot because the pollution in China affects the phlegm in their chest, but I think people have been spitting here long before there was pollution. Thus, I guess I will just have to chalk up the spitting to cultural differences. In some cultures it's okay to spit and in others it's not. The spitting is just something I'm going to have to get used to. However, I do have one question about the spitting. Is it commonplace for all Chinese people to spit, or do only people of a certain age or from a certain region spit? I think I will pay closer attention to spitting people in the future so that I can answer this question.

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Comments

[Alejandro Ruiz]

"What these articles fail to mention is that the income gap in the U.S. s also increasing as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Not true, theres plenty of articles I've stumbled upon that hit upon this issue. From the NY Times, to the economist, the trib, the la times, even our own Chicago Reader. People just don't pay attention "Though the U.S. may not have a floating population the way that China does, it does have a population of people that have moved certain places because that is where the jobs are." Actually, Sarah...have you forgotten the illegal immigrants? What are they, if not a "floating population"? From what I know, they're in in a very similar situation, since they both can face difficulty when it comes to health care, job rights, minimum wage and you know...basically they're very easy to abuse by various unscrupulous types due to their clandestine nature. "It seems hypocritical for the U.S. to criticize China when it has a similar problem of its own." It really depends, for example...since the United States is still dominated by a large middle-class. You know since the end of the depression until now, but yeah the income gap in increasing but more at the top than anything. The fear is that it could get worse and it could get to the point where the classes in the United States are more stratified and less fluid. But it's interesting to note...seriously...get this.....it seems the problems are not unrelated...ironically, a big part of the lost of income in the working-class has a HUGE part to do with the lost of well paying Union factory jobs that were plentiful up until a generation. When those jobs were "outsourced" it was devastating blow to the American blue-collar worker. Now, a lot of the same jobs and factories have made their way to China. Creating a market for advertising execs, lawyers, accountants and etc. You gotta love the world works sometimes. I'm not saying, blame Chinca...because it's not their fault...I just think that the problems are related...and we're just noticing the fallout. But honestly, I feel it is more hypocritical of China and the communist party to oversee this huge gap in classes (Here I go sarah, about to get this site banned). The United States wasn't founded on the idea of a complete egalitarian state...no...in fact it only guarantees "equal opportunity" and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Now, I'm not expert of communism...but I'm assuming that socialists tenets lay at the heart. Workers are supposed to be equal, they're supposed to be protected, but frankly they're not....in a supposedly socialist state. That's where I think, China's hypocrisy lies. Basically, their country has sold the Chinese proletariat out so they can line their own politically well connected pockets and those in access in power and cronyism stand the most to gain in the the embrace of capitalism. In fact, China right now resembles Mexico's PRI more than anything else I can think of. The "Partido Revolucionario Institucional" which is an oxymoron. How can one institute revolution? Same way...how can one be socialistic and capitalistic. But anyway, the PRI was characterized the worlds "perfect dictatorship" because above all, it's goal was to maintain their own power and corruption. Even if it lay against the best interests of the people they governed. If you actually read this....then wow....hopefully you can sorta use this to get some answers. Because I'm honestly curious to what a Chinese persons viewpoint might be.