Okay, I'm going to try something new today. Let me don my serious attire.

Right then.

As Yllen reminded me, today officially marks my two month anniversary in China. I think that after two months,  I can have one serious blog post about my thoughts on China, specifically the Chinese people.

Now keep in mind this is from a very limited perspective of a very ignorant person in one city. But for me, it's easy to see why China is on the rise on the national stage. Simply put, their people are not subject to the "pride" we feel at home. I'm not saying they're not proud. I mean that most jobs most people back home would scoff at, the Chinese embrace them.

Near the lowest end of the totem pole, let me tell you about the cardboard lady. The cardboard lady rides her bike with trailer around the housing complex here, singing some Chinese chant. The Monty Python fan in me would like to think she is shouting "Bring out your dead!" But essentially what she does is she goes through the trash, picks out recyclable material, and recycles it. That's it. That's her job, to recycle my beer cans. And here's the thing - she has competition. There are other people trying to do the same thing. She's not homeless though. I'm sure she's not living at the Holiday Inn, but she always looks presentable and healthy enough.

Or, the street beggars. You'd think that these people are the lowest of the low, people really down on their luck who have resorted to begging for change. I'm sure for some that is the case. But there are also some beggars who are more, shall we say, energetic, that will follow foreigners or other rich looking people and pester them for some change. I have been told by locals with me these individuals are part of a sort of "beggars union", where their job is to go out, beg for money, and they all live in a shared living arrangement. I take this with a grain of salt, but they certainly do look more fit than the others.

Back in the west we judge success on the car you drive, and how big of a house you have. The car thing is becoming more apparent here, but the Chinese roll differently. They measure success on how well you can provide for your family, because family is all they have. I told one of my coworkers that I moved out in my late teens because I needed to be on my own. In fact, anyone in their mid to late 20s that still lives at home has a bit of a stigma attached. There is a stigma here, but for different reasons. Say you're a 25 year old woman. You need to have a child that will be able to work to support the family. So your daughter grows up, works, has her own kid at 25. You're now 50. That mother still has 25 years of work left in her, so you, at 50, get to go retire and raise your granddaughter/grandson. For boys, they don't have that child rearing responsibility. So they can work until they're 60, 70? That's more money that can be brought into the family. And remember due to the one child policy, you only get one shot at that.

That turned out to be longer than I thought, so I'm going to end that with a "to be continued..." note. Next time, further thoughts on Chinese pride and the consequences of the one child policy.