One Way in Which China Is Not Like the Rest of Asia

With regard to the Asian countries I’ve visited, I have spent a month or longer in China, South Korea, Thailand, and Myanmar, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan (but we don’t count those as separate countries, now do we?). And at least a week or longer in Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Macau (again, not its own country). The reason I mention this is because I feel that I’ve had enough experience in Asia at least to begin to uncover the divergences and disparities, as well as parallels and harmonies, between people and places.

I was trying to describe my impressions of China to a Chinese friend by saying that this country is raw… alive… full of blood. The translation didn’t really work, but anyway, my point was that China doesn’t share the disinfected feeling you get from visiting Singapore, the order of Korea, or the modernization of Taiwan. Actually, China does have these things in some places and at some times, but more importantly I believe, it has much more. Every time you are out on the street in China (literally - just about every single time), you see something new and crazy. There are far too many examples to put in this one post, so I decided to make this a running piece in my blog. I’ll call it “Only in China.” This is part one. While the photos and stories you will see can occur anywhere - and probably do - it’s just that in China they occur with greater frequency and increased magnitude. Nothing is small or few here.

Earlier today I took a 45 minute stroll through the neighborhood behind my apartment complex and below are a few of the things I saw through my camera’s lens:


Chinese certainly do not keep chickens as pets, so I have no idea what this sleepy chicken is doing tied to a tree.

While the hyper-development that has occurred across China (and continues to take place) has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, and even given many others the opportunity to enjoy celebrity lifestyles, painful inequalities can be seen on every street corner. Take this photo, for example, of a new apartment complex juxtaposed with a crumbling warehouse that still houses some of the city’s poorer residents (I know this because I spoke with them to get permission to photograph their home).

Another example of the disparity between rich and poor can be seen in this photo of tin-roofed homes lining an abandoned railroad track, again with a new apartment complex just a few hundred meters in the background.


I have no idea what is going in this picture, except I saw this young child apparently struggling to breathe under his plastic Power Rangers mask.

To all of my readers living in China, and to those who have visited before, I welcome comments on what you have seen that made you blink twice.