Current blog entry is in English, as it contains some thought and ideas, that I wanted to share with some of my english-speaking friends. Please, forgive me for any of my grammar - and other - mistakes :)
It has started in the October last year. As I was walking the streets of Tianjin, I was looking around, trying to find that what anyone expects, when he says “China”. I’ve seen none of it. The street was clean, full of shops, with a lot of people walking around with smiles on their faces. That was something, that wouldn’t be out of place in any city in Europe or US. In fact, if the people around me were Europeans, and the signs were made using latin alphabed, I wouldn’t even notice, I’m in Asia.
It was then, when I was started to think about – what does it really mean? Everyone expects China to be a totalitarian state, with no free press and no consideration for human rights. And they are most probably right. But what I’ve seen there were happy people, and a lot of them. And what is the most important in life – if not trying to reach happiness? And no matter how will your reach that goal – it is the goal that matters here.
Of course I know, that I was partially manipulated – I was invited to China to one of the richest cities in that country. GDP per capita in Tianjin may be as high as twice the GDP per capita in Poland. And there were darker sides of the city. I know, that organizers were trying to impress all the guests. I know we were not supposed to see anything they did not want us to see… but.
But no one tried to keep us confined to the hotels. We were allowed to visit any place in the city. I haven’t seen any additional shadows – and even if there were some, they could not foresee where we were heading. And we could even take any taxi (if taxi drivers were able to understand where we wanted to go – and it was not always the case).
After a visit like that, you start to question yourself – is China really such an oppressive country? It definitely is not a North Korea. And while there still is some censorship (no YouTube, Blogspot and Facebook, I’m afraid - tested) – the changes in that country may go in the right direction. The main question is though – but the question here remains what is the right direction?
To be continued…
I am open to any comments and ideas about the above text. I will try to take them into account while writing the next entry :)
1 komentarz:
heh, communism in europe fall, not because need of freedom, but because need of bread. as long as majority of chinese has something to eat, they will stay loyal to the government. students? heh students protested in poland aswell, in '70. and what happends? nothing. Only when big, strong and brutal heavy workers protest, somebody care. And this "people of steel" asking not for freadom but for bread.
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