China shatters my preconceived notions

I am a huge fan of figure skating. I havenÂ’t had the chance to watch much since I got married, but I watch when I can. This past Olympics I got the chance to see most of the skaters. The announcers always give you a little spiel about each skater, a little getting to know you, a life story. When then the announcers introduce us to the Chinese skaters I noticed that they usually tell us how much the Olympics means to these skaters. That they had moved away from their family and had given up everything since they were small children just for this chance to skate here today. This gave me a mental picture of life in China. Made me feel that perhaps Chinese people donÂ’t value children as I do. Who would let their tiny child move far away to go to the Olympics? Seems harsh to me.

I have also always been influenced by the mental image of people so desperate to get out of China and move to America that they get into a cargo container and are smuggled into America. That seems pretty desperate. So many people have migrated to America from China, we even had Chinese neighbors while living in Italy. I imagined that China must be a pretty bad place, everyone wants out. I pictured the entire country with their name on a waiting list, waiting for the opportunity to come to our country. Land of the free, home of the brave.

While we were there, all those ideas went up in smoke. What I saw was happy people, who love their country, their culture, their history. They love China as much as I love America. Everywhere I went people seemed relaxed and happy. People were thoughtful toward us, kind and helpful. There I was the stupid American who needed a little help. Where does this idea that the whole world is jealous and just wants to be us come from? Idoes notsnÂ’t really seem to be valid as I travel the world. Very few people want to give up everything they know and move to America. Just like most Americans think I am a little daft to enjoy living overseas.

One of the Chinese customs that I enjoyed watching was lining up to do stretches in the morning. To my American mind that seems a bit stifling, to be forced to line up in the parking lot and do stretches. While we were strolling the streets of Beijing and noticing the people and their ways, one thing that struck me was that while they were all lined up for their stretches they were all happy. People were joking around and having a good time. Ladies would fix each otherÂ’s hair, someone would make a pithy comment and others would chuckle. It seemed very normal and not at all oppressive.

Our tour guide gave us a lot of history and culture lessons. Most of which I did not hear because of Lily. One thing I did hear was that mothers get 6 months of paid maternity leave. After which the motherÂ’s mother usually takes care of the child until the child is two. At two the children begin pre-school. Once a child begins school there are various tests at different ages, at these tests the students who pass go on to the next level of school, those who do not pass, go on to work. All education is completely free to everyone but you must be able to pass the tests to be given the opportunity to continue, even college. Their military is completely volunteer. Which is a very big deal, one of the reasons our military is the best in the world is that it is an all volunteer force. I guess theirs is too. And the biggest thing that I noticed was the women. I saw women in the military and in other professions regularly in the supervisory role. According to our tour guide almost everyone in China works, and from outside appearances it looks like the women have pretty equal opportunity toward advancement.

I have so much more to say about my trip. I hope to get it all out of me before it is lost forever. Now on to my homework.