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Published: October 31st 2013
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And indeed it was
Guangzhou, and many Chinese cities, enter into national competitons for "Civilized City" awards. Consequently, public WCs have proliferated. It has been a busy few weeks, as our presence here becomes known and people from past years make contact. Last week one of my students from five years ago got in touch, she is now a social worker at the
Guangzhou Brain Hospital, the oldest psychiatric hospital in China. I was asked, with two days notice, to come and give a small talk. As I approached the front gate, I was met by my student who escorted me to her office. Entering the rehabilitation area I was greeted by a large red banner on which was written , in beautiful script, “A warm welcome to Stuart Friedman, USA social worker”. After a quick tour of the facilities, I was brought to the lecture hall where about 50 staff (nurses, doctors, psychologists, and social workers) were gathered. After some introductory remarks of about 45 minutes the rest of our three hours was spent in a lively discussion about the practical matters of managing psychiatric illness in a very under-resourced environment. In fact, they are facing much the dilemma faced in the US in the 1970's: How were they to move to a community-based program when the entire system is top heavy with buildings,
Eating on the go
The younger generation has been brought up on sweets, challenging the traditional practice that does not include between meal food. equipment, and permeated with vested interests keen on maintaining the status quo and the financial benefits that come with it.
They are also stuck in a biological orientation to mental illnesst, fostered by the great investment pharmaceutical companies have made here the past 20 years. The limitations of a medication-bound regimen and are becoming apparent and there is an effort to seek more holistic alternatives. It is amazing to see, given the inadequate training many of the professionals have received, how thoughtful their inquiries and palpable their unease with their situation.
I have been having some ongoing challenges with street encounters; it matters little whether I am a pedestrian or on my bike, I seem to be having near collisions daily. I give wide berth to those who make their living on their cycles, carrying hundreds of pounds of water, or construction debris, after all, these are working people in a society that has largely abandoned their interests. Nonetheless I am wrong footed and wrong wheeled regularly. The situation is made worse by the increased numbers of electric bicycles on the streets. Old grannies who used to walk their little darlings to school are now astride these swift
Does this look like making a living?
Refuse recycling goes on in many corners, this guy was stooping on a busy street, people would drop off old wires and the like moving, silent conveyances and it is easy to get clipped if you don't maintain a 360 view of things. That they ride in every direction, on every surface does not help matters; they make Italian drivers look staid and predictable by comparison (no slur on the Italians, they do it with a certain flair that seems dashing and debonair to these Western eyes.).
Pollution has been quite bad these past few weeks, which is a bit of a surprise as these use of air conditioning has dropped with the temperature, reducing the load on the nasty coal burning power plants that predominate. The plan to remediate this environmental horror is to increase the number of nuclear plants form the current 17 to a total of 71 over the next seven years. Similar to other high tech projects here, the government is sourcing these new plants from international firms. The contracts with the foreign companies usually require a handing over of the technology after some initial purchases. For better or worse, this assures that the “developed World's” standard on construction will be met. Maintenance is another matter. As I walk through the campus here and look at 15 year old
Ideas of beauty
China, along with Korea, is a hot bed of comestic surgery and men are getting into the act. The celebrity look is tilted towards the West, epicanthal folds eliminated, noses narrowed, and the like buildings that have tiles falling off, sidewalks that are buckled, and fraying power lines sagging over the walking paths it bodes poorly for the long term safety prospects.
A short
On a busy street
Chinese kids are quite self-sufficient, they wll entertain themselve endlessly with the most basic of appartus. the proper form, did you see the projected number of people, were your offices open the established hours,” rather than substantive, “did anyone benefit from the work”. Our correspondent was somewhat optimistic about the future but in the current atmosphere of repression, that evening, she was alone in that assessment.
The newly installed government here is fully engaged in its “Talk left, act right” approach. While invoking pseudo-Maoist rhetoric to rally the people and using that rhetoric to suppress any dissent from its policies, it is also aggressively privatizing assets, undermining any move on the part of workers to assert their labor rights, and only showcasing some official corruption while allowing the system of self-dealing to persist. Corruption remains widespread and
will give you an idea how bad it is.
From Ellen's vantage, more topics are sensitive and off limits, the official trade union is shutting down any moves that threaten its hegemony, and there is a hunkering down among organizations that cross the boundary into the ever expanding domain of the anti-government activities.
Last weekend, we went to the Guangzhou Art Museum for a showing by four Chinese photographers. We were accompanied by a student
who acted as our docent, translating the labels. One gallery was filled with 5” by 7” photos, four to a frame, with a woman demonstrating various traditional exercise poses, except that she was naked (or is it nude?). As we entered the gallery, our guide suddenly became silent and maintained some distance form us, I assumed she was embarrassed by the photos. We went out for dinner and as things transpired, she and Ellen walked back without me. During their walk she disclosed that she had a friend who had come out to her as bisexual, a status that she found troubling, stating “I wouldn't want my child to be a lesbian.” This from a relatively sophisticated student, she spent 6 months in Los Angeles last year.
Although there has been increased openness about matters sexual, and given the absence of religion in the culture presents no godly obstacles, there remains the problem of producing grandchildren, the main goal of middle-aged parents. The pressure on their children to (re)produce can be intense. The press has been filled with stories of convenience marriages, gay/lesbian marriages to satisfy the parents and artificial insemination to produce the sought after grandchild.
I am out of steam here, can't let the perfect become the enemy of the good,
Diane
non-member comment
Hello from DC
Hi Stuart: Sounds like your stay is mixed with air unbreathable; and roads risky, yet, the social/intellectual connections continue. Be safe and lots of love