China, Ten and Now
In 1986, seven Heidelberg professors spent eight weeks teaching English at Southwestern China Teachers University in Sichuan Province about twenty miles from Chongqing. We entered China through Hong Kong, and then by air to Chongqing. We left China on the Yangtze River, through the three Gorges and on to Wuhan, some 500 miles of river travel.
Mary and I spent a full year at SWCTU in 1989-90. We started that year about a month after the Tiananmen Square massacre, so we have impressions of China only a short 16 years ago and further renewed 12 -13 years ago.
We recently received a four-page letter from Bill and Jeanne Cassell describing in detail their recent trip to China. I will share some of their observations, but first I will highlight China as we saw it 16 years ago.
At SWCTU, no one had private ownership of his or her living quarters. Even the president of the university had no better apartment than the professors had. They were all paid the same (about $30/month). No one had cars. Everyone walked to shop or to the market place. Mary and I rode in a car once the entire year we were there. That was a ride offered to us by a general of the Chinese Army as we walked downtown. Public transportation, which had only a small fee, was always crowded.
The government paid the students at the university about $8/month for support for their food and accessories. There was no tuition or room charge. Most families gave extra support. Those who did poorly in school were sent to teach in remote parts of China. Some were able to select teaching English in factory schools. Most were assigned to specific locations. Some few had political connections (guanshi) and were given choice jobs. The best students might be chosen for graduate study.
Up to the 1980s, the government guaranteed all the people the “Iron Rice Bowl” i.e. some kind of job that would pay enough to buy rice and vegetables. Rice was about 3 cents a pound. Most people had permanent addresses, which could only be changed by permission. If people decided to strike out on their own, for instance, change jobs or address, then they were no longer guaranteed the “Iron Rice Bowl” Up to this time all factories and real estate was owned and controlled by the government.
We saw the beginning of entrepreneurship when we were there. Outside shops appeared along the streets. Items that were found only in government stores could now be bargained for and were sold on the free market. We were able to buy copies of my favorite shirt from a tailor who had been on Mao’s Long March. He was seventy-five years old. He made five copies and the total cost, labor and materials, was $2/shirt.
We also experienced the reawakening of the banking system. We were surprised that most people even under the old system, were saving a lot of capital.
We noticed that people gathered around the occasional television. Computers were rare and not available to most people, not even to the majority of the students. Refrigeration was uncommon, requiring most people to shop every day.
Now, to the changes the Cassells saw. They were picked up at the Beijing Airport by Professor Liang in a college Buick, made in China, and were driven over a modern expressway on a grand tour of the city. They stayed at the University Guest House at Tianjin Normal University in lovely quarters with two rooms, two TVs and a private modern bathroom. The Cassells later had dinner in Vice-president Wang’s private two-bedroom condo with an elevator and a swimming pool. Professor Wang was a chemistry professor who came to Heidelberg to teach for a year.
Beijing is making preparations for the 2008 Olympics with new freeways and parks. Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace are being cleaned and polished. Red propaganda signs are rare. Cranes dot the city landscape. New construction is everywhere.
Chongqing is now an autonomous region of 15 million people. New skyscrapers abound. The old part of the city is being vacated because of the dam on the Yangtze. After the dam is completed (some 300 miles away) ocean-going vessels will reach Chongqing.
The Cassells enjoyed three days on the Yantze. They reported that the Three Gorges and the dam site are awesome, and that the dam is ten times larger than the Hoover Dam. It has two five-step locks for getting around the dam. The Chinese called the project the modern “Great Wall”. Its hydroelectric plants will be the largest in the world. Flooding from the dam will start next year. Millions of people are being relocated like those people near the river in Chongqing.
The Cassells compared Shanghai to New York. The “Bund” is restored, and there are beautiful walkways along the river. There is a beautiful new art museum. At night there is a “myriad of colorful lights, modern shops and hordes of people”. There are 58 McDonalds, Pizza Huts, and Starbucks.
Bill and Jeanne write: “Since we have traveled to China several times before, the major thing to note is the rapid change into a capitalistic society …private ownership of houses and condos. Private cars, private and joint venture businesses, prosperity in most places, and freedom to choose your own job and location of residence, to travel, to worship as you choose… This trip we were free to wander where we chose without a government escort, to speak to people freely, to shop outside the “Friendship Stores”. People were no longer wearing ”Mao suits” or dark peasant clothes, but were in western dress, carrying cell phones, patronizing the numerous internet cafes, and buying DVDs.” Many people now have private cars, television, and refrigerators.
Mary and I feel that China is one of the most exotic places in the world. It is also a place of great contrast, ranging from the modern cities of Shanghai and Beijing to the countryside of oxcarts and extremely harsh conditions – from the gleaming structures of its famous hotels to its polluted rivers and in many places, air that is difficult to breathe. It is a safe place, and its people are beautiful, smart, friendly and ambitious. It is an exciting time for the Chinese people. I hope we never try to make them an enemy. We need to realize that there are 1.3 billion people in a land that has a lot less arable land than we do.
– Percy