Life and Travel in China

I feel most sorry for people who have never been to China, but they keep repeating how poor China is, that the rich are a small percentage in big cities, that everyone works for a bowl of rice, that all goods are cheap and of poor quality. How to say it... a bowl of rice costs PLN 1-2 (converted) in a good restaurant, I don't know anyone who works for that much, because even beggars get more per day. Is it cheap in China? Branded laptops, phones, Chinese shirts (Chinese brand) are often much more expensive than in Poland. Poor quality? Does anyone know that the famous IPod, Nokia phones, Sony Playstation, Nike clothes, Adidas, Samsung products, LG... and much more are produced in the middle country? To whom do we owe the poor quality of products from China on the Polish market? Polish importers who expect the lowest prices because they want to earn a fortune, have a 200% discount, and besides, they cannot supervise production. Someone please think about this too sometime.

I read today in a Polish weekly that Poles use mobile phones mainly for texting, we simply cannot afford to talk. The average Chinese employee talks on a mobile phone 14 minutes a day, and the average Pole talks 4 minutes. Private conversations? How do I know this "Well, I'll be there soon, I'm on the bus, come on, bye!" - a conversation between a Pole who simply can't afford a cell phone, or maybe we love typing on such a small keyboard? Such a national hobby? Recently I was traveling by bus for 20 minutes and one Chinese guy was talking to his friend all the time, and I meet people like that every day. Calls are cheaper here, about 8-12 cents per minute, but many tariffs charge for incoming calls. The Chinese can afford it and don't have time for texting. Maybe in Poland they should introduce a cheaper text messaging system instead of a telephone? A pager with a keyboard.

Interesting facts about Poland from a foreign perspective... The Minister of National Defense said that Poland's rank in NATO has increased (because ours will go to Afghanistan), and a little lower there is information that the physical education exam in the Polish army did poorly. Absurd? Or maybe we have two armies? One which is available in Poland and the other one which is more efficient and which is sent abroad? Besides, Poland is such a rich country that we no longer have anything to spend money on, so we send soldiers in different directions, all over the world.

I have probably already mentioned that in my area most karaoke clubs and 'dual-function' massage parlors were closed, some order from the top and prostitution was combated. Two days ago, a few intersections away, police caught 167 prostitutes and 10 Hong Kong bosses. They even organized a public show of all these people, the police conducted them nicely in front of the gathered audience, and there is no shortage of onlookers in China. I saw these photos and an article about it today, I haven't been there personally.

Ningbo is ugly at first glance. I'm supposed to be in the city center, in a hotel, but there's nothing interesting here. However, in every smaller street there are 'massage parlors' with pink neon signs. In Shenzhen, prostitution takes the form of nicely decorated karaoke clubs (KTV) or massage parlors, but at least they are elegant. Here there are dirty, small massage parlors and not very pretty, neglected country girls. But I guess there is both demand and supply for these services, since there are more of them here than grocery stores on some streets. I'll add some photos later! Tomorrow I continue my journey around Zhejiang.