| Date: 12th
January 2005 Hey all, Some of you may not even know that I have gone to and come back to China as I have only written Dutch e-mails to my friends and decided not to confront my non-Dutch-speaking friends with Dutch texts. Back home, I do now feel like writing a short story in English about some of my impressions. Many people ask me “so, how was your time in China?”, a question that has no single answers. I enjoyed being with Yiran again, and seeing her home situation for the first time. Not being able to speak Chinese was frustrating to me more than once, and I have been fascinated by the country and the way its society works. I have enjoyed the food and extraordinary service in restaurants, seen the strong ‘I want to earn more money’ spirit that Chinese people currently have and got a taste of the millennia-long Chinese history and how it still affects the way China develops today. I could see most elements of communism are melting down, where some elements are still very alive today. But in a rush of time, my usual answer to “so, how was China?” will be: “I had a nice time, though it was really cold there”. It should be noted that I have only visited two mega-size cities (Beijing and Xi’an), so my impressions are heavily biased, but China is definitely not a developing country in the same way as Ghana is. Every expensive Western brand is selling well in these cities: Audi A8 cars are a common appearance on the streets; Western designer clothes sell at prices much higher than I would be willing or able to afford, but there is a big enough Chinese crowd that is buying them! Then there is the contrast between this modern side and the part of China that is still really a developing country. The bus system is quite efficient, and like in Singapore, buses have flatscreen tv’s featuring news and commercial. On the same bus, the tickets are sold by a conductor lady: 10 eurocents for short distances, 20 cents for the somewhat further destinations. Well, I guess it’s time to get back to reality: finish my studies (which means completing my thesis) and starting my hunt for a job afterwards. My time in China has provided me with fresh energy to make these things happen. You can find some of the pictures I made in China here. The very best, Guus |