Life and Travel in China

I remember that a few years ago, during a visit to China, several Poles mentioned how they say they work for a bowl of rice. They said that they probably worked, but for a golden bowl of rice. I was just reading about the salary ranking and it turned out that now Poles in the European Union work for the proverbial 'bowl of rice'. Observing wages in China, I come to the same conclusion. In cities, office work, for example salespeople, forwarders, etc., earn a net salary of approximately PLN 3,000-4,000. More experienced employees can confidently count on higher salaries. In factories, more qualified workers also earn about PLN 1,600-2,500 net; it is worth adding that the employer provides food and accommodation. Of course, there are no such burdens on salaries as our ZUS or taxes. So it looks like people in Poland earn less than those doing the same work in China. Sad, right?! We have become cheap labor not only in Europe, but in the world.

I come to the conclusion that if it were not for the tradition of eating together in the Middle Kingdom, families would spend very little time together. Most often, joint dinners are a time that the family spends together, it is a sacred ritual. I remember being in China for the first time in 2003, when a young Chinese woman from Shanghai was very keen for us to get to her parents' house for dinner as quickly as possible. We were late after visiting the factories in Changzhou - the traffic and traffic jams were already taking their toll. We were surprised by the punctuality of meals, but this is a tradition in China. Looking at my Chinese friends aged 30-40, I see how much they work, how often they are away from home - business trips, meetings with clients, fairs in Europe and the USA, customer visits... they spend a lot of time in offices, constant overtime, lots of meetings. However, when they are there, in China, dinner is usually the time they spend with their immediate family. Sometimes parents and children, sometimes also grandparents, uncles and aunts. On weekends, they manage to spend time together over dinner, although they also have various activities: gym, swimming, park, some competitions, tai-ji, dancing, and the children go to school and extra lessons, training. Usually, however, they are able to devote this one or two hours to a shared meal and conversations with their loved ones. This is what's cool about China and I'm afraid that in this crazy, accelerated world we all live in, the Chinese won't have time for it either.

China, the Chinese have everything... educated people have no problems with working in large and medium-sized cities. The job offers great opportunities, because in the Middle Kingdom, large orders, large quantities and large amounts of money are usually involved. They have everything except freedom. Freedom is good for the soul, but bad for the economy. If China were democratic, it would simply cease to exist, various provinces would break away, there would be smaller and larger conflicts, society would be very divided and there would be huge stratification. On the other hand, it's nice to be free, to think and say what you want, to express your opinions, read the opinions of others, and choose your representatives. Although, as recent events in Poland (the tape scandal) show, not every country benefits from freedom and democracy. You may wonder whether it is better to have a free and poor country or to live in a country that has no freedom but is an economic power? Is it better to have the opportunity to speak or to have money to feed your family? It's strange that these two issues are mutually exclusive... although there are of course rich democratic countries. It's a pity that Poland is not among them. What worries me is that salaries in China are starting to be higher than in Poland, it's probably a bad sign.

There is fever in China related to the FIFA World Cup. One of the company owners in Hebei Province cannot meet me because he is busy with the championship. I thought it was about him being sleep-deprived and watching all the matches, but he just flew to Brazil. The football madness affects the work efficiency of the Chinese. Some people simply quit, take vacations or look for various excuses. There are rumors on the Internet that a boy took time off because he had a procedure, when the employer asked what procedure he said he was circumcised. Even our Chinese friends have been seduced by the passion for football and often comment on the players' results and style of play on popular messengers such as WeChat and QQ. As for the Chinese national team, it is of a similar level to Poland and did not make it to the competition in Brazil. It is true that Chinese football is younger, lacks experience, and is also tainted with corruption and dealings. In this respect it also resembles Poland. There are so many similarities with the Middle Kingdom, but it's a pity that neither we nor the Chinese have anything to be proud of. We take solace in our historic victories from years ago that they never had.

I know that the Chinese system is not perfect, people suffer a lot of harm and injustice. Nevertheless, I have the impression that the Chinese authorities are trying to make life easier for ordinary citizens. This is not the case in Poland, because the authorities function for themselves. I don't even remember when the Polish parliament dealt with anything sensible, they mainly deal with spitting on their political opponents. In the Middle Kingdom, censorship and propaganda do their job, but people's lives are made much easier. Just look at hospitals and clinics, there are more and more of them, they are better equipped, they have many specialists, many unusual diseases are treated here - people from all over the world come here, as I once discovered. Additionally, a modern database system, electronic patient cards, and medications ready after visiting a doctor. Of course, everything is paid in cash or as part of insurance - but there is no compulsory ZUS. Transport - excellent and modern highways, new railway stations, fast trains, well-planned infrastructure connecting railway stations, borders, metro stations and bus stations in one place, transfer is very easy. Tax system - small companies, shops, service providers pay little or no taxes at all. Moreover, the authorities consciously turn a blind eye to undocumented income, they allow people to get rich, and they also get rich themselves. In China, the Chinese achieved hundreds of thousands of kilometers of highways, but in Poland they failed - this makes you think. I have been observing the lives of the Chinese for 10 years and I see that their lives are much better and easier. In Poland, things are a little better, but there are issues where things are very bad and we are backward. Many projects in Poland end up drawing more or less money (like highways or fast trains), some group of people gets rich, and ordinary citizens get nothing from it. In China, you can see that these projects are visible, there are investments, there is progress that ordinary Chinese people feel.