On China

Comparing China and India is a silly exercise, but insightful. On virtually any measure of development, China exceeds India: infrastructure, infant mortality, life expectancy, income, literacy, etc. In short, China has flushing toilets and Indians are still defecating in the street. But to make up for it, India is perhaps the richest cultural reservoir in the world, a place where traditional life thrives despite globalization and colonial history. Indian culture is unique and authentic, while China, tragically, has abandoned its ancient culture altogether. In China's headlong pursuit of modern greatness, creative thinking has been displaced by a generation of technicians trained not to question their ways. During my trip, this is the mainstream China that I've come to discover.

From the perspective of a tourist, 21st century China can be a rather sterile experience, and few places I've visited offer clues of its 5,000-year history, yet all embody the fervor of economic upheaval. The scope of transition in China is evident in its dazzling array of infrastructure, which has conquered even the country's most remote backwaters. What limited traditional culture remains, exists among its marginalized ethnic minorities, often in theme park fashion, showcased as artifacts of the past: STAND ON THE WHITE BOX, AND TAKE A PICTURE OF OUR CHINESE CULTURE.

China today, as in its imperial history, is a vast and diverse empire held in solution by an unchecked central government. In some respects, little has changed in China's modern political landscape. For much of China's recent history, its best and brightest have been harvested for service in the Communist Party, making it the most robust instrument of society. The Party's most devastating reign was during the Mao era, which oversaw the institutional demolition of China's cultural heritage and intellectual community. But while Mao's failed political campaigns, inspired by the illusion of communist utopia, were orchestrated by the Party, they were fortified by the Chinese masses, who provided the momentum for their own self-destruction.

China's Communist Party was elevated to fruition on the shoulders of the peasants, but today's peasants are growing largely disenfranchised by divergent socio-economics. Afterall, China's capitalist economic policies don't constitute a "free" market economy, but rather a two-tiered market economy, with the State having ownership, control, or otherwise material influence in every important industry. The central government's fixation on economic progress has made an afterthought of the basic social services it owes to its lower classes, who empowered the Party in the first place. If any potential exists for revolutionary political change in China, it lies in rural discontent, not in urban prosperity.

And finally, in fairness, I'll have to admit that the Han Chinese often remind me of my Western brethren  - in their warm nature, their quest for prosperity, their dreams of a better life, and their mistakes along the way. Family, work, house, car…