Beijing taxi drivers tell the same story. They get up early and drive their state-owned cabs until overwhelmed by sleep: 12-18 hour work-days. On a good month, they can gross 7000 yuan (roughly 870 dollars...the exchange rate is around 8 yuan to a dollar). Good month or bad month, they must pay the Chinese government 5000 yuan! Given that the drivers themselves must pay for gas and maintenance, one wonders where that 5000 goes. The workers argue that it ends up in the pockets of fat-cat Communist Party bosses running the taxi commission.
Of course, the drivers are angry as hell about the situation. All of the many with whom I spoke want to go on strike. Taxis are affordable (1.20 yuan/km) for tourists and the Chinese middle/upper classes and are highly used by these. If the 60,000+ Beijing cabbies were to go on strike, the city would be immediately crippled. Organizing such a strike is problematic. There is no trade union and long work-hours make orchestrating a walkout nearly impossible. Some are afraid that a failed strike would mean forfeiting the 40,000 yuan cab deposit(the life-savings for many of these folks).
Many of the taxi-drivers come from the capital-poor, devastated countryside. They are, as one cabbie put it, "slaves to the Communist Party", forced by conditions to sell their labor so cheaply.
In the pre-dengist era, a common saying about Beijing cultural life was, "Visit temples by day, go to sleep at night". Indeed, during the day about the only diversion would be to tour the several important temples and palaces in the city, and at night there wasn't even that to do. That's all changed now. Beijing is a dynamic metropolis with lots of art shows, plays and fine restaurants. Oh yeah, and then there are the shops. Beijing shopping centers have a greater quality and variety of commodities than most American malls. Wealthy Chinese are clad in the latest designer fashions.
You will not find the taxi drivers or, for that matter, any of the working class purchasing items at those kinds of shops. Too expensive. You may find some over at the Mao mausoleum buying flowers-the artificial kind at that- to lay at the foot of the former Chairman’s mummified body. On any given day, throngs of the Chinese poor can be found lined up, awaiting a brief glimpse of their deceased hero. A peasant family, making the pilgrimage from a distant province, had never before seen a real “lao wei” and would like me to have a photo taken with them….something to show the folks back home.
After about an hour, I finally reach the tomb of the great leader. He is well presevered and, to my relief, looks just like the “China Reconstructs” photos :) The company about me is solemn. Three women bow rapidly and with great reverence. Despite the ironic religiosity of this setting, despite the many horror stories about the “Proleterian Cultural Revolution” recounted to me by the urban intelligentsia, I cannot blame the wretched for this display of piety. After all, “In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia, even the guillotine”, writes Kundera. To be fair though, at least during the Mao era the workers and peasants were given some dignity and there was not the disparity of wealth that now humiliates them.
On Christmas Day, I am invited to lunch by a high-ranking Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) General, whom I shall call “Liu Mo”. The restaurant is plush, the food exquisite. We first speak of the continuity of Chinese architecture through the various dynasties and then about my passion, Bejing Opera which, despite its age, appears to be inspired by a thoroughly modern aesthetic. The conversation then turns to politics. I admit my dismay at the plight of the taxi drivers and other workers in China. There seems to be little or no safety net. “The Communist Party of China does not care at all about the poor and working class in China.”. My host appears shocked and uneasy by my statement.
Why should he care? Liu Mo, the son of one of the founding fathers of the PLA, leads a comfortable life: drives a nice car, lives in a beautiful home, eats good food, travels abroad and belongs to one of the exclusive Beijing golf clubs. He finally blurts out that he would like to see “China continue to progress”.
Indeed, there is progress in China. It is now a much more open society: people can publicly discuss ideas other than state sanctioned ones, there is communication with the outside world through television, books, travel and, of course, the Internet. This makes me slightly optimistic amid the poverty and exploitation that I see. On the way back to my apartment, I pass by Tiananmen and imagine the future struggles that will take place there. The large, famous depiction of Chairman Mao overlooks the square and it occurs to me that ironically his words best express my thoughts: “Tien Xia Da Luan Xing Shi Da Hao. There is great disorder under the heavens and the situation is excellent".
-Thomas Seay
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