I found this book on MP3 audio at the Lawrence Library. His introductory admission that he is, in no sense, an authority on China nor on any things Chinese, drug me into this book.
While an admitted non-authority, he did offer an honest and perceptive first hand account of his travels in China. Also, his research and journalists eye for detail and social criticism – – combined with a trenchant sense of humor (3/4 reviewers online have called it rollicking) reminded me of my time in the middle kingdom.
His irreverent social criticism – and his multi-national perspective (he’s some sort of Dutch / Czech/ Canadian living mostly in California) should appeal to the traditionally aged students at our school, though he drops the f-bomb a couple times in the first chapter, and the mofo-bomb a couple times in a clever and funny recollection of his meth-addled neighbors in Sacramento. He seems to be a devoted family man – who none-the-less speaks candidly of the unclear roles of, for instance, the student/ “take out girl” or the factory girl “Cinderella.” These moral ambiguities are part of the mystery of the east, he reasons. In his humor, I detect an elusive and indelicate truth.
I’m halfway through the book, but the following comments brought back memories, and reminded me of some of the visceral first impressions I’d forgotten, such as:
Pollution
- “700,000 people per year die just from breathing the air” – the air pollution in China is unimaginably bad. 1/3 of the pollution in California, he asserts, comes originally from China. – and has survived the 4000 miles of ocean.
- 1/3 (or 2/3rds) of all the water in China is unfit for even industrial use. It’s too polluted for even use to make leaded paint.
- Air quality in Beijing is 3 times worse than what the level at which we tell children and the elderly to stay indoors because of unacceptable danger. If that link is correct – he may have understated .
Culture
- “I was finally having an authentic Chinese experience: It was awful.” Here he spoke of a train ride. The second-hand smoke recollections rang a bell.
- Chinese culture has a unique approach to queuing up – or waiting in line. It’s a contact sport more akin to football than anything in the west. It has to be experienced to be understood.
- The interactions with food (including experiences eating sheep brains, frog, and live squid).
- The way the Chinese call out Lao Wai when they see a foreigner – his Chinese language skills aren’t stellar, but he figures out it means something negative. In Taiwan the meaning is much like the n-word here, or the c-word. It may mean something less negative in China – but considering how the attitudes toward human rights differ – I’m not sure we can ever make easy comparisons. That said, I cringe every time he uses the term. It might be his causal honesty, or that refreshing wise but clueless – eyes wide open stance of his that I initially found endearing.
The MP3 lasts 11 hours, and I regret not being able to bookmark pages – but I’m diggin’ it.
- Book review – by someone else.
- Find the book on Amazon
