China's Liver

When I was 14 or 15 and had just started getting into weights, I met this dude named Ben K. The first time we spoke was next to the bench press when he came up to me and asked me if my liver ever hurt. What the hell was he talking about? Then he said he could sell me 70 cans of tuna for a real cheap price. The next time we met was a few weeks later in the hot tub at my gym. He was sitting by himself with shadows resting over his shoulders. The light, however, was somehow illuminating his square head. He asked me if I would be scared running into him in a dark alley. Then he flexed…and his muscles at least tripled in size. I remember feeling a bit threatened but at the same time thinking this guy was a real marvel. Now looking back it becomes clear that something wasn’t right.

Why has this story come to mind nearly 10 years later? Well, while the parallels are not exact, my impressions over time of Ben K are similar to my impressions of China. When I first arrived in Shanghai in October of 2004, my liver (and entire GI tract for that matter) was hurting. I had recently left military school and beer was definitely on the menu. And everything in China was cheap; I remember buying a full tailor-made suit for less than $50 USD, a fake Rolex (spelled with a ‘q’ instead of an ‘o’) for 5 RMB, and daily meals for about the same. While the deep dark shadows of China’s past were resting heavily on its shoulders (and still are), the dual light of progress and endurance was shining brightly on its face. Its new muscle – seen in hi-speed trains, mammoth shopping centers, and the burgeoning middle-class – was beginning to make the world a bit fearful while also leaving all those who heard or saw about it astonished. But as I grew older and wiser and became more comfortable with Mandarin, I began to recognize this growth as a product of China’s almost unnatural obsession with development. It’s referred to at every level of society, by people of all different ages, in newspapers, and on TV. It’s a broken record of: 用科学发展观指导新农村建设… 科学发展观是加强国防和军队建设的重要指导方针… 科学发展观是我们党对社会主义现代化建设指导思想的新发展. Is this growth too fast for the foundations of society and is it sustainable? I don’t mean to bring up questions that have been asked a million times before with countless books feeling for respective answers, but I just wanted to share my recently new revelation of just how deep this push for development runs in China. Perhaps I should google Ben K and see how he’s doing…

UPDATE: one of my friends just sent me an e-mail about a new sign that went up outside of the supermarket where I used to shop (and he still does) in Beijing. It reads, "营造和谐的消费环境，促进又好又快的经济发展."