Faces of China

I hear somethin’ sayin’
hooh! aah! hooh! aah!
hooh! aah! hooh! aah!

Well, don’t you know
That’s the sound of the men working on the chain gang
(Sam Cooke, Chain Gang)

Living in Beijing in the Olympic year of 2008, I find myself trying to grasp what the current events are all about. Apart from the economic aspect, what is actually going on here? Right in front of me is the rise of a nation, a process which eventually could (and probably will) lead to a world very different from the one we know. Through our studies of the Chinese language, we seek a better and more accurate understanding of what China really is and what it will become. The Chinese economy is growing at full speed, but what lies underneath all this?

Like in most big cities around the world, the contrasts are easy to find in Beijing. A few fortunate ones drive around in their brand new Mercedes, enjoying the taste of sophisticated French wine for lunch and go home by the end of the day to sleep at their million dollar mansion, whilst most people work all day long trying to make ends meet. At first you are overwhelmed by this inequality, but as time passes you get used to it. The taxi driver who says that he’s been working for fifteen hours, probably not earning more than a student in Norway would do from working one hour at a grocery store, and the waiter at your local restaurant whose eyes are so red that you wonder if she ever sleeps, they all become a natural part of your everyday life, just another tired Chinese person with no future. It’s not that you stop caring; you just move it to the background, avoiding insanity.

All day long they work so hard
Till the sun is goin’ down
Working on the highways and byways
And wearing, wearing a frown
You hear them moanin’ their lives away

However, from time to time you meet people whose life is no different from the average Joe, but there’s still something about their fate that you can’t stop thinking about. I’ve figured out that the situations which put me in a highly emotional state of mind all have strong visual impressions, an image that really makes you shiver and which stays with you for a long time. Like when I a couple of weeks ago ran into something which made me sad and at the same time furious. I was walking around in the backyard where I live, a place situated in the north-west part of Beijing where spoiled exchange students as myself and upper middleclass Chinese families live. For some reason I decided to take the stairs which leads to the underground parking lot. I had never been there before; I don’t drive so I never had a reason to. After walking no more than ten meters a little shop selling everything from cigarettes to soap suddenly appeared, and further down the hallway I heard people talking. Driven by curiosity I walked towards the sound and ended up in a large, dark room with only a TV and a dining table with four Chinese having supper. At first they didn’t notice me; TV is after all more interesting than a random foreigner, even in China where they sometimes and for no reason show great interest in every person whose skin is a bit more pale than their own. From the signs on the wall it became clear to me that this was some kind restaurant selling simple Chinese food. The walls which once were white were now covered in dirt and the place smelled of stale tobacco smoke. It seemed like these four Chinese were the restaurant workers having dinner together after finishing today’s work. My first thought was to ask them if they ever had time to see the light of day, but out of politeness I decided not to. After standing there with a stunned expression for what seemed like forever, one of them became aware of my presence and asked me in what clearly was a weird southern Chinese version of Mandarin what I wanted. Unable to think of something sensible to say, I said that I wanted to buy some beer. The man got up, took me to the store I had spotted earlier, we said a couple of trivial phrases, and I paid and went back to my apartment.

It was surely a feeling of people being abandoned. In search of a more prosperous life, large masses are moving towards the urban areas, just like Europe experienced during the industrial revolution. The last 20 years 300 million people have moved from the countryside to the urban areas. Of course, very few of the ones who in frustration leave their families behind are able to fulfill their dreams. The Chinese economic development is, like the American once was and still is, driven by an underpaid and hard working labor force. China’s estimated employed labor force in 2005 totaled 791.4 million persons, about 60% of the total population. While USA has its illegal immigrants from various countries, the labor force in the urban areas of China mainly consist of immigrants from rural areas, who because of strict legislation often are both living and working illegally. Mainly as a result of the size of the Chinese population, steady work with a decent pay is very rare for the common man; if you don’t put up with your work, well, then there are plenty of people who would. Complaining about working environment is likely to lead to unemployment rather than improved conditions.

Can’t ya hear them singin’
Mm, I’m goin’ home one of these days
I’m goin’ home see my woman
Whom I love so dear
But meanwhile I got to work right here

One could argue that it never have been easy to be working class. What strikes me is how competitive the Chinese society is in general. Walking around at my university campus, by a Chinese friend once described as a mix of Harvard and Cambridge with students who possess supernatural powers, I feel ashamed for not taking my studies as serious as my fellow Chinese students. On the other hand I have never considered ending my life because of the working load at the university. The word on the street is that every month another student jumps. The work is not done when you enter the gates of the university, that’s just the beginning. Whether you are a student, waiter or steel worker, you still have to put up with a pressure unknown to most westerners.

Sitting in my apartment on a lazy afternoon with a cold beer in my hand watching a billboard on the other side of the road with the Olympic slogan “One World – One Dream” printed in large characters and letters, I find it hard to accept that the majority of the people making Beijing able to host the Olympics will be shipped out before the games even start. Surely, people in China have various dreams, but the world they live in isn’t quite ready for them yet.