China: the (not so) dark side

A false skyline in Hong Kong for tourists (Source: petapixle.com)

Yesterday I posted the perks of going to Shanghai and experiencing the thrills of Chinese lifestyle. Not it is time to spend a few words on the bitter side of the story, on why China is going towards self-destruction. I joked about pollution, but it has become a more and more serious issue, from irresponsibility or just lack of control over industrial activities which are literally overtaking natural resources.

A worker trying clean up from dead fish (Source: avaxnews.net)

I bumped into a post showing a list of pictures witnessing the pollution. A sea of dead fishes, lakes invaded by algae, red rivers (or brown or yellow): the price of industrialisation and modernisation. The question is, is that a fair price? Fair to people experiencing it in villages nearby, fair to children who are deprived of the right of growing in a safe and healthy environment?

Industrial discharge (Source: avaxnews.net)

Of course, to citizens, it is fair. Of course they think it’s not, given the bad air quality, but it’s compensated by the rapid development of cities. People are dying of cancer. Is THAT a fair price? Lung cancer has increased by more than 55% in Beijing in the last 10 years, according to local report. Main reason is attributed to the blanket of smog over the city and its environs.

A woman wearing a mask walk through a street covered by dense smog in Harbin, northern China, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013. Visibility shrank to less than half a football field and small-particle pollution soared to a record 40 times higher than an international safety standard in one northern Chinese city as the region entered its high-smog season. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

But there seems to be a fair light of hope in this as China seems to be moving towards sustainable growth in the in the last years: renewables accounted for 9.3% of the energy mix in 2013, and according to the US-China agreement announced in November, Xi Jinping promised to double that percentage by 2030.

But that’s not enough! A policy of responsabilization combined with a believable sanctions policy has to be applied to industry, to regulate emissions and reduce pollution. It’s not enough by merely adopting renewables, the main problem is industrials’ opportunism and their couldn’t-give-a-damn attitude.

EJL.

Why overseas Chinese are easy to discriminate (and feel discriminated)

Hey there. From my Chineseness, I’ll try to explain why Chinese people overseas feel they are easy object to discrimination. Oh, a brief remark: I say we but I don’t recognise myself in the descriptions!

1. We tend to make a mess everywhere we go. Come on people is not that difficult not to fill the airplane with garbage or not to talk loudly in museums or at conferences!
2. We do luxury shopping but we behave as tuhao. What is tuhao? Is that category of rich people who aren’t educated not polite. They shout at sales assistants. They push other customers. They don’t know how to queue. So on and so forth.
3. We spit on the ground. No need to explain this.
4. We want to show off. With luxury items and fake luxury items. No one would see the difference!….ehr, they do.
5. We are a bunch of followers. One starts and the rest follows.
6. We believe in everything it’s said on weibo, or we chat, or huarenjie.com. Please reason with your own mind!
7. We feel we are the victims, always. And we always blame others for our faults. I speak loudly in the store, and it’s discrimination if people stare at me.
8. We blame everything on discrimination. People, if it’s your fault then IT’S YOUR FAULT! It has nothing to do with discrimination! If I rob a jewellery store and I got arrested, police is not discriminating me cause I’m a Chinese girl! They arrest me cause I’m a criminal Chinese girl!

So, before blaming all on discrimination and excessing in patriotism, try to figure out the reasons. I love my country, I love China, but cannot stand this attitude anymore. We can really do something to fight discrimination, by trying to accept the rules of the country we are living in and by starting to improve ourselves.

EJL.