Xi'an
Rain Rain Rain. We went to change money and got so wet that we decided to hide in the hostel for the rest of the day. As we were walking up the stairs of the underpass I saw a little girl about 8 years old. She was skinny and filthy and dressed in rags. There was a baby under 2 years old with her. the girl had a bun in her hand and was shoving pieces in her mouth and the baby starting grabbing it. They were both eating so desperatly, as though they hadn't eaten for awhile and someone might snatch it back at any moment. That fit the image of China I had before I came-- poverty, dirt, illiteracy, the country-side.
I looked up the stairs and saw 2 little girls, maybe 6 and 8 years old. They were clean, nicely dressed in matching pink outfits and holding balloons. This is the image I got of China while in Shanghai-- well-educated, well-dressed, affluent people. A thouroughly developed country.
The girl with the balloon looked down at the other girl with a look of shock, horror, disgust and what appeared to be a light of understanding. That is quickly becoming my new image of China-- the overwhelming gulf between the nouveau riche and the poor. There doesn't seem to be much of a middle class.
I have begun to wonder about the resentment that is building as the poor watch others climb the economic ladder but are unable to change their own impoverished situations. It seems like a slap in the face. It also seems like a betrayal of the communist ideals the people of China supported for so long.
Last night we went to the Bell Tower in Xi'an to take pictures. I saw an older western man give some money to a little girl selling flowers and begging. She ran after the western man and began kissing his hand and the hands of all the people in his group. This took place in front a row of designer shops. The dichotomy between rich and poor is suprisingly vast and very depressing.
Rain Rain Rain. We went to change money and got so wet that we decided to hide in the hostel for the rest of the day. As we were walking up the stairs of the underpass I saw a little girl about 8 years old. She was skinny and filthy and dressed in rags. There was a baby under 2 years old with her. the girl had a bun in her hand and was shoving pieces in her mouth and the baby starting grabbing it. They were both eating so desperatly, as though they hadn't eaten for awhile and someone might snatch it back at any moment. That fit the image of China I had before I came-- poverty, dirt, illiteracy, the country-side.
I looked up the stairs and saw 2 little girls, maybe 6 and 8 years old. They were clean, nicely dressed in matching pink outfits and holding balloons. This is the image I got of China while in Shanghai-- well-educated, well-dressed, affluent people. A thouroughly developed country.
The girl with the balloon looked down at the other girl with a look of shock, horror, disgust and what appeared to be a light of understanding. That is quickly becoming my new image of China-- the overwhelming gulf between the nouveau riche and the poor. There doesn't seem to be much of a middle class.
I have begun to wonder about the resentment that is building as the poor watch others climb the economic ladder but are unable to change their own impoverished situations. It seems like a slap in the face. It also seems like a betrayal of the communist ideals the people of China supported for so long.
Last night we went to the Bell Tower in Xi'an to take pictures. I saw an older western man give some money to a little girl selling flowers and begging. She ran after the western man and began kissing his hand and the hands of all the people in his group. This took place in front a row of designer shops. The dichotomy between rich and poor is suprisingly vast and very depressing.
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