The People
   
 

China is a country with a population of roughly 1.3 billion people. With this many people living in one country, there are bound to be interesting facts about how the Chinese live their lives.

Below you will find discussions between students from various schools in Calgary and McLean Masuch, an MT student from the University of Calgary.

Please select from one of the conversations.

  1. Why do people use chopsticks?
  2. Is there a lot of homeless people and what does the government do about it?
  3. Is there a large or small difference between the Canadian and Chinese government?
  4. How are the people like in the city of Changsha?
  5. Can you tell us what 100 Yuan can buy in China? Is it alot of money?
  6. Can you tell us anything you know about Chinese languages and their tones?
  7. Are there "smaller communities" within the larger ones?
  8. Is there a rodeo community in China?
  9. Can you describe briefly what the market community is like?

Q: Hi McLean, I have a few questions on food for you! For my first question, I am wondering: Why do people in China eat with chopsticks instead of a knife, fork and spoon? If you could send me an answer soon, that would be great!

A: I think that most people use chopsticks instead of forks, spoons and knives because that is the way that food is traditionally eaten. It is much less expensive to make chopsticks than utensils made with metal. They can use them for everything, and children as young as three can use them better than I can. Look at the photo galleries and you will see one picture of a person even feeding his dog with chopsticks! When you order food here it comes out in little dishes similar to the ones that you would find in restaurants in Calgary. Therefore it does not come out whole, as in a whole pig that you would have to eat. The exception is fish. That usually comes out as one piece and you just pick away at it. Some food is pickled so it can be preserved more easily. They drink tea during meals because it is traditional and they do not drink milk very much because it is so hard to keep things cold here. There are not a lot of refrigerators so the milk would not be very good.
 
 

Q: Ok I want to know about homelessness in China. Is there lots of homeless people if there is does the government do anything about it?
 
A: Your question about homeless people is of particular interest to me. In China, they have people who beg for money, just like we have in Canada. But what is particularly upsetting is the number of children who are forced to beg by their parents. This is a problem that I see a lot of here in Changsha. A parent who has forced their children to beg will often see foreigners as a real source of money. They send their children over to us, and the kids will hang on to us at all costs, thinking that if they do not let go we will give them money to get rid of them. I have often been walking down the street and have had children dragging themselves behind me, refusing to let go of my legs. What is most upsetting is that I will call the parents over to me to get their children off of me and then the parents get mad at the kids, pretending that they did not have any responsibility for their children begging in the first place. This always upsets my Chinese friends. They ask me if there are beggars in Canada, and I say yes, but I always explain that if children were ever forced to beg, they would be taken away from their parents in the blink of an eye.
The Chinese government asks the general public not to give to beggars. They often accuse them of being professional beggars. I am not sure how many of them do it as a job because they want to, but they do seem very organized in their methods sometimes. At any rate, the government does not support the idea of people supporting beggars.

About the homeless problem. Supposedly the government provides housing to people in need, but just like in Canada, people don't always take advantage of the services that the government provides to them. I have not personally seen any slums in China, but I have also been kept away from those types of areas. In contrast, I worked in India for 3 months in 2001 and I was exposed to many different slums. I think that it would be the same in China, if I knew where to look for them. The problems of poverty exist here, just as they do in India. so many people leave the countryside, hoping for a better life in the City, only to find that without an education it is very difficult to make a living.
I hope that helps you out a bit.
 
 
Q: I wondering if there is a large or small difference between Canadian and Chinese government?
 
A: The answer to your question is Yes, there is a huge difference between the governments of Canada and China but, to be fair, we do have to point out the fact that there are many similarities. The Canadian government could be classified as a democratic socialist government. There is a strong desire within Canada to achieve a certain degree of equality, and there are many programs that work to achieve that goal, such as universal health care and universal education until grade 12. We do not have to pay for these services and everyone is guaranteed the right to have access to these programs. In that sense, Canada is more socialist than China. The biggest difference is that the Canadian government is run in a more capitalist manner, with limited interference from the government. In a truly capitalist society, the government does not interfere with the economy at all. We call that "laissez fair," or "hands off." In China, the government has been heavily involved with the economy. This is especially true with the Communist Party at its beginning stages. There were a number of disastrous planned economical projects that brought starvation to millions of people and caused huge environmental damage. The government has been loosening its grip on the economy in the past few years and is allowing a far greater degree of economic freedom. The results has been a booming economy that shows no signs of slowing down.
The biggest difference between the two governments is that Canada is democratic and China is authoritarian. That means that the Chinese government rules through its power. It does not allow protests, disagreement with the government, criticism, or elections. This is a very difficult thing to achieve. You cannot always rule through the end of a gun. You have to essentially lie to your people to get them to follow you. They use propaganda to achieve this. They also limit the access that people have to information. For example, whenever a website, such as the Globe & Mail, says something bad about the Chinese government, the website with be blocked. They employ over 30,000 people who work full time to block websites that the government would find offensive and a challenge to its power. You never see any criticism of the government on TV You would never see a protest in Hong Kong, for example, even though they sometimes have rallies of more than 500,000 people. If that many people protested in Calgary, everyone in Canada would know about it.

In Canada we enjoy a lot of freedoms that the Chinese people do not have. We are free to associate with whomever we want. We are allowed to follow what ever religion we choose. This is not the same in China and many horrible things have happened as a result of these prejudices. Freedom of speech does not exist here. There is a great fear of saying anything negative against the government, a sentiment that is left over after the fear that was created during the Cultural Revolution.
The Cultural Revolution was a period of time during the 60's and 70's in which many people were killed, many books were destroyed, many pieces of art and buildings were destroyed forever. Tibet will never look the same. Many of the countries intellectuals fled the country, never to return again. The populace is now always afraid to say anything negative.

The government also does a good job using propaganda to limit amount of dissidence in the country. The used to make people very excited about Communism, but they have now shifted towards Nationalism. They have created a feeling amongst the nation that has led everyone to believe that it is the greatest country in the world. It is a great thing to be proud, but if you are blind to your faults you can never improve, right? I am very proud to be Canadian, but I am reluctant to never think that there are things that we could do to make our country a better place to live.

Another big difference is the fact that the Chinese government has so much power, both within its own borders, and in the world as a whole. Everything that happens in the country essentially is decided in Beijing. And in the world, China holds a place on the permanent members of the security council board. It is also a nuclear power with the largest standing army in the world. That gives it incredible power. As well, it has a huge population of over 1.3 billion people, representing one of the largest consumer markets in the world. In the future, as the Chinese economy grows, they will be able to wield more and more power in the world because of the strength of their economy. That is why the U.S. is so powerful right now. Their economy is the strongest.

So while there are some similarities, the differences are huge. I am really proud and happy to come from Canada, where we can all have different opinions and that will be fine. How we can all believe in what ever religion that we want. Where we can access any information that we want. We are very lucky to have these freedoms in Canada, so please respect them.
 
Q: How are the people like in the city of Changsha?
 
A: I have arrived in Changsha. The city is quite surprising. It is very big and very busy. I will be very amazed in a few days because everyone will be returning to school. They are currently visiting relatives because they have been celebrating the Chinese New Year. It is now the Year of the Monkey. Their New Year is different from ours because we go by a solar calendar and they follow a Lunar calendar. As few days ago was the lantern festival. It is the last big party day of the New Year and it falls on the first full moon. There were so many fireworks, coming from all the different communities around the city. At one point I counted fireworks coming from 15 different places. Quite a sight! What is really surprising is the age of some of the children lighting fire-crackers. They are sometimes as young as 4-5 and they do this unsupervised. Very interesting. Changsha is colder than Hong Kong but warmer than Calgary. The big difference though is that there is no central heating. So even if it is 5 degrees Celsius outside, which is not very cold, it will feel very cold when you are in your apartment and that is the temperature in the room that you are trying to watch TV in. I tell people that it is colder in Canada but at least we can go somewhere to warm up!
 
 
Q: Can you tell us what 100 Yuan can buy in China? Is it a lot of money?
 
A: The conversion rate for Chinese RMB is about 6.5 RMB for one Canadian dollar. Prices are relatively cheap here in China. I paid 70 yuan (RMB and yuan are the same thing) for a three person room in Yangshuo. I paid 97 yuan for my train ticket down there, on a hard sleeper. My meals sometimes cost as little as 3 yuan. A coke is about 2 yuan. But if i go out for western food, like Pizza Hut, it will cost around 90 yuan for a pizza and a pop. I hope that gives you a bit of an idea about prices.
 
 
Q: We did a mobile on Chinese language, but apparently we did not have enough info, do you know how long Chinese language has been around and when did it start? Can you tell us anything you know about Chinese languages. And we know about the tones
 
A: The Chinese language has been around for a long, long time. There are four tones; rising, falling, rising/falling, and even.
 
 
Q: I would like to introduce a class of 2/3 students from Millarville Community School just south of Calgary. They are about to begin an inquiry by looking at "Smaller Communities within a larger Community" hoping to identify why these smaller communities are formed, are there similarities in the reasons for the formation of smaller communities when you look at different countries and why some communities are stronger than others. Right now they are beginning to identify the smaller communities that make up the Millarville Community where they live. Their beginning list so far includes the school community, rodeo community, market community and sports community. Their question for you at this point would be if you are seeing any smaller Communities within the larger Community where you are staying in China and if so are any of them the same as Millarville. Looking forward to hearing from you. The students are also enjoying the pictures and will have some questions tomorrow.
 
A: Hello to Millarville 2/3 class. Nice of you to join us. It is especially nice because I think that Millarville is such a nice area. Last year my father sponsored a Chuck at the Chuckwagon races, and I think that it will become an annual tradition. You were asking about smaller communities within the larger community...I live in one of the communities within the larger community, that being the University. It is not a smaller community in a Canadian sense because there are over forty thousand students here. But it is a smaller community because it is made up almost entirely of young people. I really notice a big difference in the street life as soon as I cross over the river. (The University is on one side of the river, the rest of the city is on the other.) When we go downtown, we see more older people, and we get more stares because they are not used to seeing foreigners. There are also community divisions based upon your employment. People who work in the restaurant business seem to hang out with people in the same business. People who work in the market socialize with people who have a similar employment. people who work at the University spend most of their time with other people from the University. I have not had many opportunities to travel around China yet, but I do know that when I get that chance I will probably see alot of different communities living within the larger community. China has so many minority groups, all of which live under the larger Han Chinese community. I have a question for you now. Did your school make a website showing the different communities in Millarville last year?
 
 
Q: We can see that you are having trouble finding information about the rodeo community in China and so we are thinking that it might be because there is not a ranching culture as part of China. Would this be correct? We are now wondering about the sports/games community in China. We are looking to compare the sports community in Millarville where the kids play the following soccer, baseball and hockey and they are on teams and coached by dad volunteers. This is not part of the school. Is there anything like this in China?
 
A: Sorry that there is not much of a ranching/rodeo community here in China. There are a lot of sports that people play here though. The most popular by far are basketball and football (soccer). Everyday at the university we could see hundreds of people involved in these games. As well, Ping Pong is extremely popular. So is badminton. I am not sure if parent volunteers make up the majority of the coaches and support personnel for these sports. I am traveling right now so I am away from all that sort of action.
 
 
Q: We are now at the point where we have some more questions about the markets in China. We have a good idea of what the food looks like and enjoyed your fish tales and now we are on to some different questions where we need your help. Could you send us some pictures of the people and the crowding in the markets. We have talked about this and think that the markets must be crowded but any pictures that we see there are very few people. What is it really like? We are also wondering if they are open daily or are they weekend markets like ours in MIllarville. Could you take some pictures of the supermarkets. You mentioned in your email that they were crowded we are trying to get a picture of exactly what you mean by 'crowded'. We have parking problems with so many cars coming to our markets, we know that the people in China travel on bikes and wonder if parking bikes is a problem?
 
A: It is hard to take pictures of the supermarket when it is crowded for a couple of reasons. 1) I try to avoid it at times like that. 2) They do not allow you to take pictures in the super market. So I am not sure if I can get you that shot. When I will be in Beijing the country will be on vacation. I have been warned about how busy it will be so I am sure that I will have some chances to show you how busy things can get. Expect pictures of that by the 10th. The markets are open daily. The food that is sold there is straight from the farm and it is organic, therefore it is better for you. It is the farmers primary means of support. There are also a few people who rent out stalls regularly to sell the vegetables and fruit that they buy from the markets. Check out "Local Safeway" for the things that you can find at the supermarket. I am going to create a folder today that will show life in an outdoor farmers market. I went there around noon on a Tuesday so it was not busy. The crowded pictures will have to wait. But that is the thing about China. Even though there are over 1.3 billion people living here, it is possible to get away from the crowds, if you can time it right.
 
 



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