Life and Travel in China

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.

In Poland, people have reasons to complain about the lack of public kindergartens and expensive private kindergartens, which cost PLN 800-1,400 per month. It may be hard to imagine, but in 'poor' China, people in large cities pay up to PLN 2,000 a month for private kindergartens. Considering that the costs of maintaining such a facility are half of those in Poland, I wonder how justified it is to send a child to such a kindergarten, or is it maybe snobbery? Some Chinese families are already so rich, they have two apartments and three cars, they don't know where to put the money. Sounds like I'm jealous? In fact, many people in China can be envied because they simply have a large family budget. Of course, the quality of life is different, mainly due to crowds of people, greater competition, constant noise, stress, excess work, a completely different lifestyle than in Poland. But they are used to it. Big cities give them huge opportunities to earn money and various methods of spending this money, for example on expensive kindergartens, private English-speaking schools, luxury cars, branded handbags, etc.

The Chinese have enormous potential to be a healthy nation. However, two issues stood in the way: Western food (KFC, McDonald's, steaks, etc.) and increasing environmental pollution. Little Chinese have a lot of physical activities in schools and kindergartens, and such a thing as "exemption from PE" is unlikely. Plus they have drill! On weekends and afternoons, there are many physical activities: dancing, badminton, ping-pong, martial arts. There is always some will to compete, fight and win. Adults very often go to fitness and gym classes and have easy access to swimming pools. In addition, they can dance, practice tai-ji, kung-fu, run or play football free of charge in parks. Additionally, many companies create football teams, badminton teams, etc. The Chinese focus on movement! Traditional Chinese cuisine is also 'only healthy': fish, shrimps, other seafood, pure protein, low calories... their diet is very diverse: tofu, mutton, beef, poultry, a huge selection of green vegetables, sprouts, groats, rice. Many dishes are steamed and soy sauce is used instead of salt. You can see that the Chinese look healthy and slim, but unfortunately this is slowly changing for the worse. Within a few or a dozen years, the health crisis will certainly deepen due to fatty food and high environmental pollution, as can be seen from the number of newly built hospitals.

In Poland, young people try to separate themselves from their parents. Especially when they start their families, they often do not want their parents to interfere, order, prohibit or teach them. There are usually some tensions and conflicts, especially when they live under one roof. Of course, they are happy to use their grandparents' help in taking care of their children, but there are always some conflict situations. In China it is quite the opposite. Married couples living alone in the city often bring their parents from the countryside to help them. It even happens that parents and parents-in-law take turns helping or they all live together. Someone cooks, someone else takes turns taking care of the child, and the young people simply work and pursue a career. I know cases where young people even bought a second apartment in the same housing estate, so that they would not be too crowded in one, but so that they could still count on the help of their parents, so that they were 'at hand'. I guess there are some differences of opinion, but in the Middle Kingdom young people probably respect their parents more and avoid quarrels. Often they simply have to agree with them, or at least respect their opinion and remain silent about certain issues. I had the opportunity to observe three such families and came to this conclusion.