Life and Travel in China

Today is the 60th anniversary of regaining independence in China. Beautiful and huge military parade in Beijing, I guess the city is paralyzed. Main streets closed, baggage checks, abandoned buildings surrounding Tian An Men Square. It is a very important holiday for the Chinese. I had the opportunity to participate (and, of course, take photos) in local celebrations and a performance dedicated to Independence Day. It is not difficult to observe national pride, a sense of unity, patriotism, which are, in a sense, fueled by propaganda, but even without this propaganda, many Chinese love their homeland. Apart from communism, I think we can envy them a little for this sense of community, strength and national pride. Nevertheless, I wish them that the coming years will bring more freedoms, that people will have rights, not only obligations, that they will be aware of the value of their lives and work, that they will not have to sacrifice anything or renounce pleasures. And my greatest wish is that the generation of people in love with Mao and fooled by propaganda will finally be replaced by young, educated and aware Chinese who will change the fate of their nation and I will never be ashamed of this nation. Ps. And that they would finally take down this portrait and grind the banknotes! ZhongGuo WanSui!!!

I'm not very interested in tennis, but right now, at this time, Agnieszka Radwa

And like I said, the Chinese failed this tennis match! They showed some fragments of the decorations when the Chinese competitor was on the podium and giving an interview. Back then, two TV programs broadcast it. How can you not show the semi-finals of an event you organize? Very interesting... I'm not even waiting for the final, let politics and propaganda rule in China, down with sports! If anything, let the Chinese win and let the television present them beautifully as national heroes.

In China, people who work in the so-called "budget", i.e. all officials, military, police, as well as journalists (full control over the media), or employees of the energy industry, engineers, controllers... all these employees are usually not very busy, and they receive very high salaries. I have already met young people several times who had to deal with such a work system: they start work whenever they want, without rushing, they sit - they drink tea, read newspapers, prepare a report or write a few sentences, 90% of the time in the office is free time. People who have at least a bit of ambition run away from such places. They don't want the money, they don't want to sit idly by. My friend escaped from a fuel company to a Japanese corporation, he trades in electronic components, he is ambitious, he works hard, he tries to develop. He may be an exception, but there is a whole army of people who are happy with sitting in state offices, they participate in this system, they are a cog in this big hypocritical machine, and all in all, they are very happy with it. Moreover, they are "untouchable", connections, arrangements and positions allow them to send their children to study abroad, avoid responsibility for crimes or accidents, benefit from many privileges (cars, fuel, hotels, massages, bribes, gifts, insurance, apartments), and even send their enemies to prison, or simply make the lives of other people who stand in their way difficult. I'm just wondering what the percentage of these people is in society as a whole? If this is a large group (and I'm guessing it is), these people will never allow this system to be destroyed or changed.

I witnessed an unusual situation. In a small provincial town in Zhejiang Province. The scene took place in a four-star hotel. We saw about fifteen policemen and one policewoman in the hall. They calmly went to the first floor where there is a karaoke club (for fun and escort girls). After 10 minutes, they left the hotel with four young girls. They talked before entering. Their club matron and some guy showed up, clearly annoyed that they had taken these girls away (the others were still there). They tried to call somewhere and explain something. The girls had indifferent expressions. It turned out that the police finally took them away. Interestingly, they drove in small cars, without license plates. As if the policemen were doing something off duty. And so many of them came to take the girls out by force. There was no officer among them, only constables. It follows that they simply took these girls for some commander or dignitaries who are bored. Maybe the girls were also a bit of a disgrace to someone earlier, but that's unlikely. The police here are definitely above the law. They can rape or kill these girls (this is a worst-case scenario) and basically no one can do anything about it. They can arrest them, send them home, or offer them a one-night stand to some local dignitaries who were looking for excitement. The worst thing is that the police had serious faces and not very good intentions. If they did it officially, they would come with an officer in a police car, a police gang was sent here in Chinese minibuses without any markings. And that's how it is with the authorities in the Middle Kingdom - it's best to stay out of their way.