Media control

One of the most painful things for me living here is seeing the control of the media by the government. I again ran into this when I tried to access articles on the Internet about the Chinese leader, Mr. Hu, and his visit to the US. Many articles that I wanted to access would often show a blank screen with a message "Error, Can not be displayed" while articles on most other things such as NBA basketball I had no problem accessing. I know this error message often means it has been screened by government censors. I suppose these articles about Mr. Hu’s visit to the US had politically sensitive material and the government would prefer Chinese people to only get its view of the visit rather than hear what US media was saying about it.

My belief is that a free press plays a part in maintaining fairness and eliminating corruption in our society, but that is not always necessarily the belief here. Some Chinese have told me they believe a free press could cause instability and distribution of false information.

Based on my discussions with many Chinese (dozens and dozens, at least over a hundred) over the past years, I think most Chinese have little interest in democracy. They see economic opportunities and becoming rich as the most important. They seem to believe that in this society, connections, power and money are all important. Democracy does not necessarily lead to a higher quality of life. They point to the higher crime rates, divorce rates and other of the US ills as reason why individuality may not necessarily lead to higher levels of happiness and quality of life. Most seem to be happy with the amount of freedom they currently enjoy in today’s Chinese society. They also have a high level of pride in their country and being Chinese. They prefer to work within the bounds of their society, a kind of team spirit, rather than emphasizing their individuality. However, as far a making money and capitalism is concerned, the Chinese are going all out. From starting Internet businesses, to getting MBAs, to intense study of English, Chinese have seen a direct relation to having money and higher quality of life and are going to milk it until its dry. Maybe at some point they will start to see diminishing returns on money and happiness, and pursue more lofty ideals, but for now I think they are chasing after money like a charging bull.

I think their history of being attacked and abused by western countries and Japan in the last two centuries as well as more recent extreme economic and cultural experiments (such as having a command economy and the Cultural Revolution) that resulted increased problems only acted like pulling a string on a bow, giving them more power towards their new aim of economic development.

Finally, I participated in athletic event Thursday afternoon. In order to allow more people to participate, I was in only one event, the shot-put. Having no experience, I had to ask around to get ideas on what technique is necessary. I learned about using your legs, twisting your waist, keeping the ball near your body and pushing it out at the last moment to get the maximum power.

I made it to the final round after throwing a 7.5 Kilogram steel ball 9.75 meters. But my arm was already spent and I never was able to throw it any farther. I came in 8th out of 40 participants.