Written September 18, 2010
So I’ve been in China for exactly a week today, and what a week it has been. I feel like I’ve been here for months. I’ve strolled along paths lined with willows and lotus ponds, passed by elderly couples dancing the Chinese waltz in the park, climbed the knee-length steps of the Great Wall, wandered through the palaces of the Forbidden City, walked the longest corridor in the world, tried my hand at Chinese calligraphy, navigated the crowded Beijing subway and bus system, eaten five types of dumplings and Beijing Kaoya (roast duck), peed in seatless toilets, and bargained with the vendors in the silk street market. Every day is new and exciting. In fact, because each day varies so much from the day before and is so different from what I’m used to, I have no field of reference, making it nearly impossible for me to form a solid opinion about the country and my experience here so far.
I will write more about daily life later. Let’s talk about the name of this entry for a second: Made in China. Most things that you buy in America are made in China. You go into a store and buy a washcloth or a pair of headphones and you don’t think twice about where they come from, that someone--who probably makes less than a dollar a day and lives in a run-down room in the outskirts of a small town, perhaps close to the Great Wall, halfway around the world, with no clean water and breathing air containing the amount of tar equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day--made that object available for you to buy. That one washcloth is that person's sole means of survival. He or she can’t afford it but can make it for someone else.
Most things that you buy or use in China are also made in China. Except these things are different. China is known for cheap prices but items of often poor quality. You can probably buy that exact same pair of headphones in China, but rather than producing high quality sound, they might turn fuzzy after a day or two, or one of the ear pieces might fall off. These items are often the rejects: the ones with defects that weren’t deemed good enough to be exported. Why is it that the country that makes the items doesn’t even get to have the first pick of them?
Chinese products are full of irony. For example, one thinks the purpose of a shower is to clean. Well, your shower head might be functional, but instead of spreading the water out in a flow that easily washes shampoo and soap off of you, it might let the water flow in a trickle that isn’t really strong enough to clean off any bath products, even if the water pressure in your bathroom is generally relatively strong. The object itself works, but not in such a way that fulfills its intended purpose.
Someone said to me that the Chinese just have lower expectations for what they buy and that Americans expect more quality for their dollar. Do we as Americans expect too much? If you buy a lamp and it works but it doesn’t illuminate your desk enough to read, is that okay?
In a way, both societies are materialistic. The common saying repeated here is that Americans work and live to acquire objects, and the Chinese make objects to work and live.
Maybe its better not to put so much importance on having things that work. If your bed breaks, maybe it shouldn’t be such a big deal. At least you were lucky enough to have that bed. Or maybe the bed isn’t important at all.
Next time you buy something or use something, look at where it was made. Think about it.
So I’ve been in China for exactly a week today, and what a week it has been. I feel like I’ve been here for months. I’ve strolled along paths lined with willows and lotus ponds, passed by elderly couples dancing the Chinese waltz in the park, climbed the knee-length steps of the Great Wall, wandered through the palaces of the Forbidden City, walked the longest corridor in the world, tried my hand at Chinese calligraphy, navigated the crowded Beijing subway and bus system, eaten five types of dumplings and Beijing Kaoya (roast duck), peed in seatless toilets, and bargained with the vendors in the silk street market. Every day is new and exciting. In fact, because each day varies so much from the day before and is so different from what I’m used to, I have no field of reference, making it nearly impossible for me to form a solid opinion about the country and my experience here so far.
I will write more about daily life later. Let’s talk about the name of this entry for a second: Made in China. Most things that you buy in America are made in China. You go into a store and buy a washcloth or a pair of headphones and you don’t think twice about where they come from, that someone--who probably makes less than a dollar a day and lives in a run-down room in the outskirts of a small town, perhaps close to the Great Wall, halfway around the world, with no clean water and breathing air containing the amount of tar equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day--made that object available for you to buy. That one washcloth is that person's sole means of survival. He or she can’t afford it but can make it for someone else.
Most things that you buy or use in China are also made in China. Except these things are different. China is known for cheap prices but items of often poor quality. You can probably buy that exact same pair of headphones in China, but rather than producing high quality sound, they might turn fuzzy after a day or two, or one of the ear pieces might fall off. These items are often the rejects: the ones with defects that weren’t deemed good enough to be exported. Why is it that the country that makes the items doesn’t even get to have the first pick of them?
Chinese products are full of irony. For example, one thinks the purpose of a shower is to clean. Well, your shower head might be functional, but instead of spreading the water out in a flow that easily washes shampoo and soap off of you, it might let the water flow in a trickle that isn’t really strong enough to clean off any bath products, even if the water pressure in your bathroom is generally relatively strong. The object itself works, but not in such a way that fulfills its intended purpose.
Someone said to me that the Chinese just have lower expectations for what they buy and that Americans expect more quality for their dollar. Do we as Americans expect too much? If you buy a lamp and it works but it doesn’t illuminate your desk enough to read, is that okay?
In a way, both societies are materialistic. The common saying repeated here is that Americans work and live to acquire objects, and the Chinese make objects to work and live.
Maybe its better not to put so much importance on having things that work. If your bed breaks, maybe it shouldn’t be such a big deal. At least you were lucky enough to have that bed. Or maybe the bed isn’t important at all.
Next time you buy something or use something, look at where it was made. Think about it.
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