The end of classes

Marsha taught her last class yesterday. My last one is today. The last few days in Guangzhou will disappear in a blur. Tonight we have dinner with Professor Yi, the head of the business school, tomorrow evening with the parents of one of the students planning to come to GSU. Sunday we will have a final lunch with our neighbors and friends, Hans and Mary, who are Canadians from German descent, and will have dinner with Professor Fang, the Director of Foreign Affairs, and David. Monday at 6 AM we leave for the airport, the start of a 18 day whirlwind tour of China.

The following is one person's summary of Guangzhou. I do not want to generalize what we have seen with the rest of China. Guangzhou has a long history of being different from the rest of China.

• Almost no one wears tee shirts with Chinese characters. Almost one in ten wear tee shirts with English words on it. Most of them cannot read the words on the shirts.
• No one wears Mao type peasant clothing.
• It is still a cash dominated society. Only supermarkets, department stores, very high end stores and hotels accept debit cards. Only hotels and their restaurants accept credit cards.
• Smoking is now the exception not the rule. Only twice have I seen people smoking in restaurants. It is also quite rare on the streets.
• The poorest Social Security recipient in the US, can live easily in Guangzhou. The school estimates that students can eat for an average of $2 USD / day. Those are all restaurant meals!
• There is no control over where foreigners go. We have traveled freely by foot, bus, Metro, train and taxi.
• Many elementary school students are studying English. Dozens of times, little children have practised saying "hello" to us. They are surprised when we respond with the same in Chinese.
• Foreigners are still stared at.
• Service in stores is tremendous. Labor is cheap, so clerks are plentiful. I will miss this level of service.
• No one drinks the local water, including the natives. It is okay if it has been boiled.
• The people are friendly.
• You will not know you are in a Communist country when you are doing daily chores. There are an unbelievable number of small stores. There is also a large number of major stores. There is a small, unarmed police presence, less than I see in Chicago. They call it pragmatic Communism. The pragmatic part is visible. Pragmatic seems to mean people work best when they have a stake in the outcome.
• Guangzhou is not third world. It has the highest per capital income in China.
• Legal citizens vs. squatters from the country. Officially you can live in Guangzhou only if you have permission to live in Guangzhou. Most have it because their ancestors lived here, others because of job assignments from other areas and some gain it after military service. BUT there are 3-4 million people in Guangzhou who do not have legal residency in Guangzhou even though they are Chinese!! (Sound familiar?) I am not sure what rights are denied the illegals, but they have limited help from the government. The news last night said 300 retired farmers(i.e. illegals) living in Guangzhou will begin receiving 400 Yuan a month in retirement benefits in July and in 2008 they will also receive medical coverage. Maybe the dam is breaking.
• Health insurance for working people is NOT free. When we asked what happens if someone without insurance gets very sick we were told, "They will probably die."
• Cars are king. Do not expect a car to stop for you! They must use 2-3 horns over the life of a car. The horns are constantly honking, it would make a New Yorker proud. Bicycles are relatively rare. Motor cycles are illegal in the City Center.
• Public transportation is excellent. Buses don't go in straight routes down a single road. Even the natives are constantly checking the routes to make certain they take the correct bus. At one of the bus stops near us, over ten different buses stop. Buses seem to run every 5 to 10 minutes. They are often crowded. The fares are low, 2-3 Yuan. The Metro, subway, continues to grow. It is modern and clean. Fares range from 2-6 Yuan depending on the distance you are traveling. The trains run every 3-4 minutes. Taxis are plentiful and inexpensive. Starting fare is 8 Yuan for the first 2.3 KM.