¶ … Cultures
As a Chinese farmer today, I live a life quite similar to what one might have read about in a Pearl S. Buck novel. I live in the same village in which I was born, in the small house in which I was raised, on a small property adjacent to that of my uncle. I work this land as they do, and as my grandparents did, and their grandparents before me. This is not to say that the life I live is entirely identical to that of my ancestors. My parents now have a television and I own a motorcycle to go into the nearest town.
Life here is hard. I am an only son, and in this village there are very few girls my age, so I am lonely (Duflo, 2008). There are no opportunities for people like me. Some of my friends have moved south to Guangzhou. I see them when they return for Chinese National Day, and they have a lot of money, but many of them are not happy either. They live in dormitories and work long hours, and they do not receive help from the government, but they are hopeful. I dream about joining them. I live just above subsistence level, and I try not to think of it as poverty, even when the images on the television tell me otherwise (Tobin, 2011). I always read about how China is prospering, which excellent economic growth, but here in the country we do not see this wealth because there is a significant income gap (Roberts, 2011).
I live in Sichuan province. Chengdu city is three hours away by bus, which is not that far. I have thought about moving there, but I love the mountains here. The air is fresh. In the city, there is no fresh air. I visited there once, and it was the only time I left here. My father used to work there, and left my mother alone with me. When he got sick, he had to come back. He bought the motorcycle so he could get our extra produce, when we have any, to the town to sell. Now he is too sick to ride it. We cannot afford to see a doctor, and the nearest government doctor is over one hour away.
The only thing that sustains me is that the land here is rich. We are near the mountains, and this area is very fertile. There are also a lot of villages here, and a lot of people. I hope that before I am too old I can meet a girl here, but I am not hopeful because there are not very many. But with the good land I will always be able to feed myself. The village also has a strong culture still, among those who have not left. We feel a lot of pride in being able to survive on our own. We eat feasts during harvest times, and we seldom have the famines that my parents said used to occur, especially in other parts of China.
I am not sure how outsiders would view us. We had a man from Shanghai pass through here once with the local Party leaders. I could hardly understand what he was saying, his Putonghua was so bad. It was almost as bad as mine. For now, I will stay here. My family needs me, and I have a strong loyalty to them. The family farm will one day be mine, and that might be the greatest wealth that I ever achieve. I fear, though, that I will be forced to work this land alone, with no wife, and no children. This is my greatest worry. My family name will die with me, and I will be forced to face this hard life without companionship or the happiness that comes from being a husband or father. If I were to get sick like my father, I would have no help at all, and I would just die in great suffering. That is not the progress that was promised to us, is it?
Fifty years ago, I wrote about my life in my village. I feared for a lot of things, but life has changed significantly since then. At the time I wrote, my father was sick and it was not long before he passed away. We think it was cancer, but to tell you the truth we never really knew. That was an important life change for me. I would go on long walks, even when...
This rationale may prove correct to some degree, but only in those areas where the villagers have no means of communication between villages and thus no way of exchanging opinions and finding out about irregularities and breaking of the law. Kolhammer is pointing out that the declared official role of the organic law of Village Committees is only going to be put in practice after the villagers will be
Chinese History The Shang dynasty marked one of the earliest recorded periods of history in ancient China, for which substantial archeological evidence exists. Although Chinese culture did not necessarily flourish during the Shang, a system of writing was first developed, its characters etched on the so-called oracle bones. The Shang dynasty was a bronze-based society that extended from 1700 to 1027 BCE. The form of government practiced during the Shang was
Ancient Chinese Contributions (1) Identify eight to ten of these useful inventions or contributions. Cultivation of millet: millet was discovered in Northern China, with valid evidence from places like Jiahu, Peiligang, and Cishan. In Cishan, archeological remains were found which included storage pits of about 300 in number, other 80 that contained millet remains, and the storage capacity for millet gave an estimation of about 100,000 grains. In 4000 BC, the areas
Hawaiian Ethnic Cultures When people think about Hawaii, they tend to think in terms of its island people. Polynesian or Asian perceptions often come to mind because of our familiarity with the influence of the Japanese, Chinese and Filipino peoples. But the fact is that Hawaii is very much flavored by other national and ethnic influences too, including the those of two distinct Hispanic groups, the Puerto Ricans and the Portuguese,
One of those buildings was the International Foreign Trade Center -- Shenzhen's first skyscraper and the tallest building in China (36). Hong Kong is commonly referred to as a place where "East meets West" because of its hybrid nature. That is, there is a culture mix occurring that is part traditional Chinese as well part British due to its colonization by the British. Hong Kong is quite a modern place,
The Balinese seem to be coping with the tourist invasion as well as they have coped with others, that is they are taking what they want, but they are not allowing themselves to be any the less Balinese. This appears to have been the story throughout Bali's history, outside cultures came, perhaps as conquerors, perhaps only as visitors and traders, but Balinese society and culture have remained distinctive, accepting
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