-----Original Message-----
From: Joe R. Golowka <joeG at ieee.org>
>Not everyone does. There have been numerous news reports stating that
China
>is experiencing unrest on a regular basis. For example, see
>http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/chin-j15.shtml and
>http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/may2001/chin-m25.shtml
Good. I'm not surprised that there is a lot of unreported unrest.
Shanghai and Beijing were pretty good cities in most ways. They come close to offering the kind of life available in major developed Asian cities. They seemed wealthier than Bangkok. Even inland cities like Xian, Chengdu and Kunming were pretty good compared to Saigon or Vientiane, and were positively paradise compared to Indonesia. Guangxi looked better than some poor parts of the US. But rural China was pretty bad. I didn't get to see a real tertiary centre in China - most such places aren't set up for tourism - but they can't be much better than the countryside. In Beijing and Shanghai, you can just about believe you're in a country on the verge of becoming a first world country, but when you see the rest of the country, you realise that Beijing and Shanghai are Potemkin villages. In rural Sichuan, it feels like you're in a poorer place than rural Laos. China has limited internal freedom of movement, and all the propaganda about how good things are has to be wearing away at the less privileged parts of the country.
It would be ironic if the first socialist revolution of the 21st century took place in ostensibly socialist China. I'd like to think there is a lot of hidden anger that I just couldn't see as a Western tourist, but I can't claim that I saw any sign of it.
Scott Martens