Life and Travel in China

Did you know that in China, the beginning of primary school is basically the end of childhood? We wanted to buy a toy as a gift for our friend's son, and she said, "No, don't buy it! We've already put all the toys away, he's going to school this year." Brother - 7 years old and you have no toys! You get books, notebooks, exercises, and a whole load of extracurricular activities. A baby like that has no life left. Another Chinese friend told me that children already in primary school have a lot of homework. They are at school practically from morning to evening, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Of course, during this time they have a lunch break. Some are in boarding schools, others return home for dinner and overnight stays. Apart from that, everything revolves around school. Doing homework at night! Would you like that? I'm not really a fan of giving children too much freedom, because then they come up with all sorts of stupid ideas, but... you can't go overboard either. 7 years and no more toys? There are many toys that teach and develop. For example, modeling, Lego Technic, interactive toys, robots, remote-controlled toys, etc. The problem is also the lack of proper direction of play. Most often, grandparents take care of their grandchildren in China. My grandparents had absolutely no toys during their childhood. So how should they instruct the young generation - how to have fun, what to play with, how to learn through play. This is what is missing in China. Many parents simply spend exorbitant amounts of money on extracurricular activities because they don't have time or have no idea what to do with their children. So, when school starts in China, adult life begins - responsibilities, schedule, no time for rest. I don't envy them!

I noticed some time ago that Chinese censorship has reached technological heights. They used to have to look for their opponents, people who criticized the government - often anonymously, on the Internet. Now they basically have them on their hands. Every website, every messenger, every portal, every forum now requires registration with a Chinese phone number (and sometimes also with an ID). The numbers are, of course, registered on the basis of ID cards, and in the case of foreigners, on the basis of passports. If we add all types of payments by phone, communication and cashless operations via WeChat, maps and locations, we basically know where who is, when they moved, where they were, what they bought, what they ate... in addition, an ID card is required when purchasing train or bus tickets, at the entrances to famous tourist attractions, etc. This makes it difficult to hide from the authorities. Now no secret policeman has to follow anyone, he doesn't have to go anywhere, because they know everything - all you need is a computer and appropriate software. On the one hand, it's good because you can easily track down a criminal, a pedophile, etc. On the other hand, people who fight for democracy in China, for human rights and for freedom don't have it easy. Everything they say, write, add a link, video, photo - everything is immediately assigned to them. No privacy and full monitoring of every citizen.

It appears that the protests in Hong Kong will have the opposite effect than intended. If they had not happened, Hong Kong would have lost its autonomy and been slowly 'absorbed' by mainland China, but it would have been a gradual process. Thanks to this, the inhabitants of Hong Kong could continue to enjoy relative freedom and democracy for the next few, maybe a dozen or so years. The protests of students, who first started behaving quite aggressively towards the police and towards other residents, resulted in Beijing getting the green light to enter Hong Kong more aggressively. It's a simple pattern - can't you cope? Is your system not working? Is there a mess on the streets? We will help, we will remedy this, we will introduce our system, our rules! While I understand the ideas of fighting for democracy and freedom, I do not understand the methods of people from Hong Kong at all: destroying property, demolishing shops, banks, city infrastructure, beating people with different views, racist behavior, etc. Most of the protesters were young people, students. I must admit that they never had a bad time in Hong Kong. This city-state was modern, developed, gave them enormous opportunities, and additionally, as citizens of Hong Kong, they could travel to various countries without the restrictions that citizens of the People's Republic of China have. I think there were three main drivers behind the protests. For poorer people who were less fortunate, whose parents worked hard for little wages and found it difficult to make a living in Hong Kong, for them the reason to fight was simply frustration. Others who were doing quite well, had a prosperous life, were simply bored and looking for excitement. In one of the interviews, a young boy compared their protest to the game GTA, that it was like Grand Theft Auto in real life. It's better to 'play' something than to sit at a desk and study. The third driving force behind these protests was, of course, anarchy and the desire to destabilize the country. In Hong Kong, for years, people have been taught obedience, following the rules, standing in queues for the bus, giving up seats to the elderly, etc. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this, but apparently they have become tired of this obedience. Now the protesters are losing to the police, the police have stopped dealing with them because Beijing gave them an ultimatum. The Chinese government can now implement its reforms in Hong Kong more aggressively and quickly. China is a strong economy and can easily take over Hong Kong.

As usual, China welcomes 2020 without any major events, perhaps Hong Kong is an exception. In the Middle Kingdom, the Chinese New Year is important - this year on January 25. The saddest thing, however, is that there is a total ban on the use of fireworks! On the one hand, it makes sense because it is safer, they do not scare small children or animals, but on the other hand, the Chinese tradition is disappearing. After all, fireworks come from the Middle Kingdom. I guess that the authorities banned them to make it safer, but maybe they are also afraid that such products and raw materials could be used for attacks or criminal activities. This way it is controlled, there is no access. It appears that most Chinese fireworks are mainly exported to Europe and the Americas. Of course, the exception are smaller firecrackers, which are used on the wedding day or the opening of a shop - their noise is supposed to scare away evil spirits and bring good luck. Fireworks will also be visible on a larger scale during official events. For ordinary Chinese, what remains are... memories of the past years. I also remember that many years ago, these firecrackers and explosions lasted practically for 2-3 weeks during the Chinese New Year period and it was an exaggeration, but it's sad that it wasn't colorful on one night.

The threat of the Wuhan virus is starting to look serious, but the media is also largely trying to scare people - all these photos of people in suits, videos from hospitals in Wuhan, people who have lost consciousness. All this affects our subconscious (we associate it with films about pandemics, zombies, etc.). This can be interpreted in various ways, but most of these people came out of fear to check whether they were infected. In many cases, it may be a simple flu, you know what season it is now. Maybe those people who fainted do not have this virus at all, they could have been weakened, and besides, standing in a crowd for hours is also exhausting. We cannot allow ourselves to be manipulated by the media. You should follow current information from various sources. For China, with such a large population, this is really not a critical situation. In the Middle Kingdom, they deal with even flu or tonsillitis very quickly and effectively. They have temperature scanners everywhere - they use them even without a real epidemic. 10,000 doctors, many experts, as well as the army and the police are involved in the fight against the virus. They should be able to cope, I believe in their commitment and effectiveness. They will fight it, but of course it will take, like SARS, several months, maybe a year - of course it will affect the economy. Today I was amused by a comment under a column about this virus from O2.pl: Author: Spoko, "In Poland, even the Chinese virus will die if the virus dies." ;-)