Life and Travel in China

A few weeks ago, my wife told me information from the Chinese media that the government, local governments and local authorities in China are giving up some privileges, of course due to the economic crisis around the world. One of these 'cuts' will be the lack of coupons for free massages! I'm not joking at all, but such privileges are available to people connected with the government, working for the state in various administrative offices. Can you imagine that? In Poland, people would tear apart officials who went for massages for money from the budget. The authorities in the Middle Kingdom are provided with thousands of privileges: free fuel, vehicles for their own use (the latest Mitsubishi, Toyota, BMW - mainly off-road vehicles), apartments, hotels, trips, full board... We can only regret that we were not born as the child of a Chinese minister or some police inspector, ha ha!

I recently read that the city of Shenzhen (mainland China) will receive special vouchers for shopping in Hong Kong. Notice how Hong Kong treats the Chinese? Just ten years ago they considered themselves better, smarter and more cultured than the average Chinese from outside the British colony. A few years ago, they were still afraid of the influx of Chinese beggars, the poor and prostitutes (they now use the services of the latter group very often). When the specter of crisis appears in Hong Kong, tourism revenues drop - then Hong Kong issues visas to everyone and gives vouchers so that people from China can fuel their economy. And with this population, even if someone buys a bottle of water in Hong Kong or grilled octopus, it is also a big profit. What about people who buy phones, cameras, computers? If I were the Chinese, I would be offended at Hong Kong right now, but they are delighted with access to Hong Kong and are creating huge queues at the border.

A girl, a student from Hunan province, told me that she wanted to study abroad. She asked me about different European countries, languages, culture, prices, etc. She told me that it was the cheapest to study in Finland. I asked how much exactly? Converted into Polish zlotys, approximately PLN 40,000! Wow... really cheap. Apparently in the USA she would have to pay over PLN 100,000. The offers include meals and accommodation, but the prices are still amazing. What about poor Chinese families whose children may be very talented? While they can benefit from some assistance and scholarships in China, no one sends them abroad at the state's expense (at least not without knowing them).

The Chinese authorities no longer know what to block on the Internet. There was a period when Wikipedia was not open, now YouTube is blocked altogether. Apparently there was some material compromising the government there. I once watched a material about stealing the organs of people sentenced to death, about prostitution in provincial towns, or about a group lynching of a man. Unfortunately... this is the reality in China, the truth can never be exposed too much. She can be there, but from the side, so that nothing anti-Chinese is presented on TV, in the press or on the Internet.

I had a fun adventure in Ningbo a few days ago. It happened when I was walking from a taxi to a small shop in front of the hotel where I was staying overnight. I heard some quick steps behind me, I turned around and the sight amused and surprised me. It was an old man with a gray beard who was holding his cane in the air and was literally jogging after me! A few seconds earlier he was on the other side of the street, but he ambitiously ran across the road and followed me like an old marathon runner! I just laughed and ran a little faster than him. Grandpa gave up, but he still managed to shout "money, money...". Many sensitive people fall for such beggars, but if you look closely, they are a tool for making money. Often, other people bring them to the place where they beg, even in cars, they pretend to be disabled (and as you can see, they can even run), they have specific areas and in the center they cover every intersection (different groups), they use retarded children to arouse pity, but often they are not even the parents of these children themselves, or they do not care about their fate at all. The more clumsy the beggar is, the more valuable he is to the entire group of mafia beggars. Of course, there are millions of poor people here, but the vast majority of active beggars are insolent, calculating, sometimes even dangerous people.