I've mused about how much more patient the people I met in China were when dealing with my terrible grasp of Mandarin. While it is most probable that their command of the Chinese language is better than Singaporeans and thus would find my pathetic attempts at conversing in Mandarin a joke, it is also possible that:

1. Their expectations of my ability to speak Chinese, as a non-native, are already very low. Every time I successfully string a coherent sentence together could be a pleasant surprise.
   
   
2. They are just purely patient, or not elitist. This is quite possible as the interactions I'm referring to here are those with the villagers I met and stayed with when in rural Guizhou. Given that I'm not dealing with urbanites who might have an inflated sense of self (like Singaporeans), perhaps it's dispositional - they were being kind, respectful, patronizing, whatever you might want to call it. Giving me a handicap.
   
   
3. There is no alternative besides Mandarin. In Singapore, it is easy to label someone a non-fluent speaker because there are other language channels that might be more useful (dude, stop being a poser!). Over there, we'd give each other double the time and attention because there's just no choice.

Political Science Study Mission In Guizhou

So it's been about a month since I came back from Guizhou, the second poorest province (on official records) in China.

I think the month-long delay before putting my thoughts down isn't bad at all, because time erodes the memories that weren't really worth fussing over.

For three weeks, a good 20-or-so of us stayed at the border between the inner village and the rural town area, setting off, on foot, on journeys that took us deep into the history, politics and culture of agricultural China.

I do not speak for the others on the trip, but it was personally an extremely enriching experience.

For one, it's comforting to know that some of my speculations are true. You do not need to be 'materially' rich to be happy. You do not need to be wealthy, you do not need to be popular, and you do not need to top your school with fantastic grades. If anything, the villagers I met, interacted with and lived with provided that alternate reality. Here was another paradise altogether in a far more profound way than most people can imagine.

Sure, it is always easy to skeptically say, "but seriously if they had the chance to be rich, they'd want to be." On the contrary, I met people who were self-reliant, had rich and enduring relationships with their community and had virtues that are often lost in living in a modern city setting.

For a start, one can immediately see it in the way services are provided. A meal bought from a hawker store was always prepared with lots of heart, because the cook believes he has a part to play in society by providing his food service. When I'd asked them about the desire to make more money (as part of my research), I'd always be met with bemused responses saying that it's sufficient to just earn enough to send the kids to school.

A strong sense of self-sufficiency breeds self-reliance, as these people know the value of being able to hold one's own through hard work and gaining skills. It is indeed a pity that the fast-paced economic reforms of China since 1978 has resulted in a drastic rich-poor divide that has marginalized these people such that their financial insecurities have denied them the chance to get proper educations. Less than perfect village governance has also led to poor infrastructure, such as the lack of roads. Taken together, the vast potential of the village population is undermined.

At the same time, my travels have given me the impression that, for these people, home is still where the heart is (not money). Being a good person and not being greedy and exploitative is not just a norm to obey - it is a norm to be upheld, simply because it's good. No rational calculations are needed to justify this. There are so many more virtues present that I simply cannot list them all, and many of them are sorely lacking in modern capitalist states.

Part of the comfort also comes from knowing that here was a place my inner village-boy could go to if I ever get rejected by the current society I live in with my idealism. There were countless times I was sure that, if I had no responsibilities or ties back in Singapore, I could just settle down in a place like Guizhou. A common criticism to that assertion, whenever I was ever prompted to articulate it, is that I'd either get bored out of my skin or I'd be letting myself down because I'm not fulfilling my potential. But I think that only happens when you're well-aware and constantly reminded that you have to 'fulfill those potentials'.

What are those potentials anyway? Earning more money? Buying a bigger house? Having a respectable job? Those are standards imposed by being in a place that has given far too much weight to realist glories - such as being economically rich, attaining a high social status, having a swanky position in a corporation and constantly having to seek social proof and validation.

Take a step back. Look at the world. Those achievements only serve to fulfill social and material desires in limited fashion within Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs. There are a whole range of other things we will fail to fulfill when we get trapped in a competitive lurch, and I'm strongly of the opinion that those other things are far more important and noble. (Of course, I do not mean to say that all people who strive for material wants lack self-actualization. I just believe that the tendency arises.)

Where I stayed for three weeks, none of this mattered. If I lived there, I owned my own vegetable patch, raised my own cattle and had close-knit relationships that aren't tinged with social networking. Of course, there are perhaps downsides to living a farmer's life. As the song reminds us, "planting rice is never fun, bend from morn til set of sun." But why are those things unpleasant? I think that's usually because we're city-bred wussies. I participated in farming and helped to dig roads with the farmers, and I can safely say, you don't wanna fuck around with these guys. Here's a society where people drink and smoke all day, and still live up til healthy ripe ages and, even at the age of 80, can wield digging tools and ploughing equipment better than me.

And if anything, many of the difficulties that farmers face now are precisely because China's capitalistic rush to establish itself as a global economic superpower has made it even more tough to lead a life as a farmer. Farm inputs are getting more expensive, and agricultural produce is increasingly controlled by corporate politics such that grain prices are low. Your worth is increasingly measured with wealth because it is a urban-imposed yardstick, and that's not even the farmer's typical way of measuring worth. There are so many injustices, and suffice to say I observed and felt many of them when I visited households along the mountainside. And perhaps I feel them because I'm quite aware that in a twist of fate, it could be me in their shoes any other time.

I felt comforted because I can't really say that anything I saw or experienced was shocking or surprising; in my day-to-day musings I do consider quite a number of things and many of which that would usually be met with skepticism in Singapore were confirmed by the life I experienced in the village.

So don't stop questioning, and always leave room for surprises or change. Maintain a healthy wonder of the world. Think beyond your immediate circumstances and reality. There is more than meets the eye.

This post has turned out to be somewhat more edgy and emotional than I thought, but I think I wouldn't have it any other way. Ultimately, I really enjoyed myself there and would yearn to return in future. The great people I met there have convinced me that I'm very welcome to visit again - such was their amazing hospitality and the sensation that they would give everything of themselves when developing friendships.

Here's a pictorial rerun of my trip, somewhat biased towards myself. :]

The Necessary Departure Post

I'm all prepped to go for my PSSM finally, which will be 3 weeks in Guizhou, one of the poorest places in China.

Honestly, the mood's a little jaded. It's been over a week since the exams ended and I've yet to have a breather, having spent most of the time continuing my work on my research and then going for a pre-trip bonding camp that was required of YEP - the organization that is funding us. For the most part, I really can't wait to finally just slack a little and enjoy the holidays.

But at the same time, I'm really keen on meeting the ethnic minorities in Guizhou and finding out about their cultures and ways of life. Culture can teach us so much and better understanding can bridge the stubborn differences between people. Learning about other cultures can teach you how small you are. I'm thirsty for that. It's just the official work to do that's a burden, and when I get back there'll still be final essay write-ups and presentations to complete.

While the pre-trip camp has mostly served to strangle me further in all the rushing I've had to do, I've gotten to know my classmates better. We roughed it out at a kampung house in Pulau Ubin for a night and it's often when you're stripped down to the rural nature of being far away from civilization that people connect on a deeper level. I found out quite a bit about their lives and also engaged in lengthy discussions about all sorts of things. Perhaps, in the first place, talking about deeper stuff is already a social science enthusiast's thing to do (and PSSM obviously does select for a more passionate bunch).


Part of the pre-trip busyness has also been due to my incessant chasing of professors for teaching assistantships in the next academic year and research assistantships over the summer. As I'm hoping for greater work flexibility (and a decent pay out at $8+ an hour) during the holidays, I've decided to fill up my schedule with work from different professors rather than take up a full time job or internship.

Additionally, with the only A+ I ever got in my entire SMU life so far coming from my just-ended evolutionary psychology module, I've finally been guaranteed qualification to embark on the senior thesis programme. I've been trying to secure my renowned evolutionary psychology professor's supervision for my senior thesis. It has been difficult because of his busy schedule but, gratefully for all sorts of (rather lucky) breaks and reasons, I managed to get his agreement and signature just two days ago. It was particularly important to secure the signature now because he was leaving for the States next week until the end of the summer, and the deadline to bid for senior thesis is in the middle of June.

With great relief I've managed to achieve both my ideal working plan (with at least five professors in tow which will hopefully be very useful for academic networking in future) and a reputable supervisor for senior thesis.


With that, I've pretty much settled all I have to settle before leaving although it's been nearly nothing but headache. But that's only resulted in loads of satisfaction for having achieved quite a number of my objectives, and I can't wait to get home to continue with the rest of summer and my plans. I'm missing the gf loads too; once I'm back we can finally do all the things we couldn't do because of all sorts of hindrances prior to our travels. Miss you to bits already girl!

One other major worry is Bangkok. The place has been reported to be in a state of chaos at the moment, and it's not really great news that part of the journey to Guizhou involves transiting at Bangkok. I hope and pray that the journey will be a smooth one.

So, if it all goes well, I'll be back on the 14th of May loaded with all sorts of new experiences and fresh perspectives.


I haven't had the time to write much recently, so I'll leave with a (not exact) quote I heard from, if I'm not wrong, a Nobel Prize nominee who recently came down to Singapore to talk.

"Educate a man and you educate an individual. Educate a woman and you educate a community."

The Conflicted Nature Of Rural Development

Six weeks of Political Science Study Mission (PSSM) research, articles, readings and analyses has taken me through the dynasties of China to the founding struggles of modern China to today's contemporary China, which is grappling with being both the country with the fastest economic growth of the world and the country with its rural areas housing some of the world's most impoverished populations.

With regards to poverty and underdevelopment, what has consistently appeared is the trade off between economic development and dedicated social welfare, which I think corroborates at least somewhat with my opinions about charity and poverty.

If one dedicates government budget to public spending, such as health and education, there is a social safety net where minimum levels of welfare are met. However, it rarely stops here, because this is seen as stagnation in the eyes of a country that wants to press forward economically. Welfare eventually has to switch hands from public to private, and before long decentralization, where government transfers the reins of hospitals and schools to the market, leads to social welfare institutions competing on the market for their own resources and capital in order to stay afloat.

In a nutshell, when welfare becomes a privatised issue, the costs are always transfered to the consumers (in accordance with economic math). This is because non-private ventures are at odds with profit-driven aims, which are fundamental to efficient economics of firms in the private sector. Before long, even the smallest social inequalities of the poor in these rural villages are magnified, as the poorest of the lot benefit the least from market reform and economic development because they are too poor to participate.

What has always happened is that those hospitals that once guaranteed health care services become too expensive or inaccessible to the poorest (ironically the ones who need the services the most) whenever those hospitals are forced to fend for themselves on the market.

And I think China is worth giving the benefit of the doubt when it comes to whether or not the government is honest about its efforts to take care of the poor. If we look at, perhaps, Sub-saharan Africa, one can rightfully accuse corrupt governments of conceited efforts towards poverty reduction. But because China's policies are quite possibly an honest attempt at dealing with the issues of its rural poor, the intentions of the government does not confound with this issue of the trade off between economic development and social welfare dedication.

Once again, it appears that any meaningful attempt at targeting poverty should leave the market - the corporations, the economy, the private bank loans - out of the picture. Based on the historical evidence, public/social/welfare doesn't mix well with private endeavours (which I would believe is why even private firms that announce their wish to be socially responsible have to engage in an activity as perverse and convoluted as Corporate Social Responsibility, which still has profits as the bottom-line).

Time Immemorial

On numerous occasions in temples and mountains in China, I'd get into mental states where I could imagine and visualize ancient Chinese people dressed in their slacks and pulling their carts of fruit around me as I walked across paths made up of stone smoothed out by centuries of weathering and human traffic. The alleys and streets would get crowded and I'd practically bump into them, if not for the barrier we call time that separated us from one another.




"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
- Albert Einstein

Audio Candy:
Ludovico Einaudi - Interludio

BSM

I've just returned from my 12-day stay in China, where I visited Xi'an, Kunming and Lijiang. I've missed drinking water straight off the tap. It's been a trip where I've learnt much more than I'd bargained for.

We toured companies and talked to people deep in the action of Xi'an's incredible economic expansion over the past decade or so. Quite a bit of life's philosophies were shared by these people spearheading the up-and-coming force that drives the growth of Xi'an.

China has attained a somewhat positive state of economy where the basis of her capitalism is in service to the people. Many enlightened enterprises understand the important roles they and their competitors play in the business economy, and believe that the goods they produce must firstly be good for their consumers, which is in contrast with the inefficient communist economy and the selfish nature of American capitalism.

The importance of 关系 was also clearly highlighted as I observed its extension to relations with not only competitors and partners, but the government. China's government structure is complicated. If I were to set up a firm in China, I would have to establish good relations with each government department before I can be cleared or directed to the next relevant department. It isn't as straightforward as the system in Singapore.

I've also found that social grace is pretty much lacking in China, and there are reasons for this. I've noticed that if I were driving on a road, it's okay someone to cut my lane (the way we would totally frown upon in Singapore) because it's mutual - later on it will be okay for me to cut someone else's. Traffic is all about give and take. Likewise, it's okay for me to stand in the way or shove someone aside for my own convenience, because someone else will scold me or remind me about it, and nobody feels bad for being reprimanded or being told what to do there. As a result, acts of social awareness and being considerate is very low, as nobody really bears the brunt of failing to think ahead of their actions.

I also suppose we are prone to judging them socially in a negative manner because of the advanced nature of their development. If someone behaved in a socially obnoxious manner in the slums of India or Africa, I wouldn't think so much of it. But in a modern civilisation like China's with so much promise, I can't help but think that there is still quite a bit lacking.

Lijiang is a beautiful town with many plains, farms and mountains that have, quite unfortunately in my opinion, been marred by an expanding and modernising economy fuelled by tourism that is disgustingly milking their culture for money. Aside from the small city area that has clubs blasting Chinese techno with girls dressed in ethnic costumes grinding each other, the villages have extremely scenic views of nature with horses and boats to ride on.

After more than a week of immersing in Chinese culture, I think my English started going down the drain. While my Chinese has definitely improved in leaps and bounds (it's still not fantastic, but this is compared to how incorrigible my Chinese has been in the past), I'm becoming more prone to thinking in terms of Chinese and the translation process in my head sometimes messes up my thought processes because of the language switching. I've even got a couple of Chinese songs irritatingly stuck in my head because of the KTV sessions where nobody sings English songs.

But I think Chinese language is very naturally poetic.

I think I've also learnt the price of self esteem and dignity. There are some pressing things I will need to think through, re-evaluate and deal with, and with urgency, because I don't know how much more of these thoughts circling my mind I can take.

Although the weather here can't compare at all to China's, I'm just glad to be back right now.




Audio Candy:
陈淑桦 - 东方之珠

Eating The Economic Pie

China has recently stated that she intends to encourage spending and increase imports from other countries. When China makes a statement like that, you'd ignore it at your own peril. If she really achieves what she intends to, it could very well signal a global economic shift, which technically might be for the better (since a major big-ass permanent exporter represents a market system glut of sorts in it's blatant one-sidedness).

If all that global visiting going on lately by China leaders and her attendance at the economic forum at Davos doesn't signify China's assertion that she intends to open up and become an active player, I don't know what is. Along with this could come a day when the world has no choice but to turn to China, because they will start calling the shots and we will have no choice but to obey.


I'm getting some dough from the GST offset package. I suppose this means I'm being manipulated within some larger financial scheme that our bigwigs are tweaking the system with, but I guess I'll feel less guilty when I watch my next movie knowing that the money is going to a bigger noble cause and will be used to stimulate the economy which will guarantee more jobs for our fellow men and probably not a pay-raise for some other inconspicuous and smart people. Hurray!




Only two things are certain in this world: Death and taxes.

Audio Candy:
Rob Pattinson - Never Think