Life and Travel in China

Hatred towards the Japanese and everything Japanese has been reignited again. All because of the territorial conflict over the Paracel Islands. China has increased its activity in this area - sending fishermen, troops, creating a prefecture, military and administrative structures. Smaller countries in the region presented their claims to these islands. The strongest protest is Japan, which also sent its navy and air force. Now he intends to "buy" one of the islands. The conflict is already affecting the social mood in China: hatred, protests, destruction of Japanese cars, demolition of Japanese restaurants, etc. Even a taxi driver in Hunan province recently asked where I was from and replied: "We like Poles yes, we don't like Japanese." The entire society is anti-Japanese. News on TV and in newspapers constantly raises the atmosphere of tension and inflates the balloon of conflict. Travel agencies refunded the money and canceled all trips to Japan as a matter of principle. People stopped buying Japanese cars and electronics. They direct all their aggression and frustration against Japan. But really, what difference does having such an island change in the life of an ordinary Chinese person? Will it be easier for him, maybe just more fish ;-). Will the apartments be built? Probably not... Won't he have to stay at work until 8 p.m.? Neither... Will his wife be happier? Certainly not... There will be no traffic jams and smog in cities will disappear? Oh, I guess not... This is simply a spiral of Sino-Japanese hatred. Distracting society's attention from China's internal problems. This has happened several times since I've been living in China. The Chinese government should say: "It's good that Japan is there, there is always someone to blame. Thank you!"

I heard from a Chinese friend that there were serious anti-Japanese protests and riots in Xi'an. There are reportedly fatalities. Of course, the authorities quickly removed all information about it from the Internet. Various anti-Japan protests were also organized in Shenzhen today. Of course, many Chinese do not get caught up in these political games and ignore such initiatives. Some people are also aware that the authorities are 'rekindling' this hatred towards the Japanese to divert attention from the current internal problems of the Middle Kingdom. I saw for myself how a sushi restaurant closed its business for its own safety, covered its logo and put up a banner saying they support the Chinese. They did it more out of fear for their own premises than out of conviction. Another friend now has to be careful where he parks his Toyota. This conflict is strange, supposedly anti-Japanese, but the Chinese are arguing among themselves.

Nothing happens in China without the knowledge and consent of the Communist Party. If anyone thinks that the anti-Japanese protests are spontaneous, organized by young Chinese, they are wrong. All this is perfectly controlled. My wife and I came to the conclusion that the authorities were planning it all perfectly. There are constantly reports on TV about Japan stealing the islands. There are appeals on Internet forums, encouraging anti-Japanese protests. After all, the Internet and all media are completely controlled by the authorities. They actually decide what information is available and what is hidden/blocked. In addition, there are text messages, I received one myself, something like: "The patriotic spirit is important, but let's remember about safety and good behavior during protests." Moreover, when such a protest takes place - it is an excellent training for the army, police and all uniformed services. They know their tasks, their locations, they control a crowd of thousands, they know what procedures to launch if a protest gets out of control. If the same or different people stand shoulder to shoulder against the Chinese government, do they stand a chance? Probably not, because the services will handle it very well. I have the impression that China is such a big balloon of hatred, frustration, disappointment and human suffering. Such small protests allow groups and individuals to go wild, make noise, and destroy Japanese cars, shops and restaurants. In this way, the authorities release some pressure from this balloon, but for how long? The group of intelligent and aware people is also becoming larger, and they know that it is not about Japan, but about China's internal problems. What will they do with them? Will there be a revolution?

Recently, I've changed my mind a bit about Chinese healthcare. I found myself in a situation where I really needed the help of a doctor and I was very grateful to them. In a completely different town, my wife asked a bellhop to take me to a doctor. With his help and my knowledge of Chinese, I somehow managed to communicate with the doctor. My throat hurt and my fever was already 39 degrees. They quickly prescribed antibiotics and put me on a drip as usual. I already felt mentally relieved, and the young doctor personally checked my condition and explained to me what to do next. I didn't pay much for the help, but I had the impression that they really took care of me and showed concern. Probably because I'm a foreigner. Fortunately, this hospital was not crowded and the emergency room worked very efficiently. In Shenzhen, we sometimes had to wait 30-40 minutes for an initial appointment. After more than two hours, I felt better. Unfortunately, the temperature returned at night and the next day I spent almost three hours on drips again. That day, everyone was concerned about my condition, from several nurses to two doctors. As you can see, there are also many decent people in China who work in health care by vocation and want to help others.

As I see, the whole world has become interested in the elections of the communist authorities in China. Just 10-20 years ago, such information was presented as a curiosity, and the serious faces of Chinese delegates surrounded by national symbols could make people smile, because it was mass propaganda like in North Korea. Now, however, everyone takes China into account and is waiting for the final decisions and the election of the most important leaders of the Middle Kingdom. There should be no surprises, the vice-presidents will take over the positions of president and prime minister, and those leaving will, as usual, supervise everything anyway. Average Chinese are somehow interested in this, but they have no influence on these elections, it is decided by the Communist Party, or rather its close circle of VIPs. In my opinion, nothing will change in China. The idea of communism will remain, only the names will change. Hu Jintao has already announced that the party must be faithful to its ideals: Marxism, the theories of Mao Tse-tung and Deng Xiao Ping. In practice, this means: a greater division of rich and poor, perfect life for party members, an ocean of corruption, huge injustice, censorship, feeding people with propaganda pulp by the media and simple exploitation. The party program certainly doesn't provide for all this, but that's how it is.