Life and Travel in China

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.

My Chinese friend has two apartments and she tried to rent this old apartment for quite a long time. Someone offered her 4,200 RMB (approximately PLN 2,100), but she insisted on 4,500 RMB, a difference of PLN 150. Ultimately, she didn't agree and probably couldn't rent it to anyone else for 3-4 months. Recently, a family came across willing to rent this place. It turned out that they were very rich people, they drove fancy cars worth millions. They had their own apartment and even a villa (for China this is an exceptional luxury), and they were also supposedly owners of a factory. They wanted to rent my friend's apartment only because their child went to a private school nearby. They rented it, paid a deposit and after a few days they suddenly disappeared. As it turned out, many people are looking for them for debts. It seems that their lives and well-being depend on many loans and credits. It is possible that a few years ago the factory was doing very well and they took money for further investments, development, their own pleasures, real estate and vehicles... Ultimately, the crisis or smaller orders caused Eldorado to end. I know similar stories from other provinces in China. Factories were either going bankrupt or were operating at a minimum. All it takes is for a large customer to cancel orders, for material prices to increase, or for the supplier to change. In China, mega bankrupts appear just as quickly as fortunes are created.

Coming back to the topic of birth control, birth limits in China. My friend told me that now the fine for the second child, a daughter born to him, is ONLY 200 THOUSAND RMB (about PLN 100,000). I don't know if he has already paid the fine, or if he avoids it by not registering his newborn, or if he is looking for some friends, or maybe he has already paid it. It's not that difficult for him, he is the manager of a large company, he earns well and travels a lot. Just envy! He has already visited America, Europe and even Africa. I thought his worldview was more objective, but it wasn't... Despite such punishments for his second child, he said he loved China and the government was fine. He didn't believe my reports from the foreign press about the corruption and fortune of the former Chinese Prime Minister, he said that it was America that wanted to destroy them, and he still liked Wen Jiabao very much. Previously, I wrote about a certain Carla who, like him, likes the Chinese government and sees no problem in anything, there is no censorship, there is no poverty or injustice, everything is perfect... Of course, the point of view depends on where you sit. They are successful, they don't complain. It's a pity that they don't see the fate of other Chinese...

As usual, Christmas decorations can be seen all over China, even though it's not officially Christmas. It is worth going to Hong Kong, where the Christmas atmosphere is more visible due to the large number of Americans and Europeans living permanently in Hong Kong. Many native Hong Kong residents are also Catholic and Protestant. While in China the holidays have only a commercial dimension and are a curiosity from the West, in Hong Kong the holidays have a more traditional dimension. This is probably influenced by the presence of churches, Catholic schools, etc. Of course, the commercial dimension is also huge: promotions in supermarkets, electronics, gifts, packaging, branded jewelry, perfumes. There is also an excellent trading period - from our holidays until the Chinese New Year. During this period, many tourists come to Hong Kong, including neighbors from mainland China, who find it increasingly easier to cross the border.