ybc, yes, I spent several months traveling in China last year. I went all the way to Kashgar. If you have time, just pack a bag; get a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide then go. I traveled by bus, coach train, luxury train. I saw how poor folks and how rich folks live. China is perfectly safe for solo travel and you can always find hotels (from nice to budget) along the way so you don’t have to make advance reservations or be on a schedule. Now, there’s even a new train through the mountains into Tibet. I’d like to go back and take that new train.
I’m happy I was able to appreciate China for the amazing diverse country that it is rather than a bunch of worker bees trying to steal American jobs. There are blue-eyed people in Western China! Some people are very beautiful with European features and Mongolian eyes (not to say that Han Chinese or other ethnicities are not beautiful).
What struck me most is how friendly people are. I don’t speak the language but I was always able to find help.
The way China approaches its minorities is not much different than how we do things in America. They have affirmative action programs for students from the autonomous regions; and while university admission is extremely competitive, they will find spots for bright students. I have a Uyghur friend who got a full scholarship to Beijing University and now works for the Foreign Ministry. He looks Hispanic with brown hair but he’s Uyghur Chinese.
The reason minorities in China feel oppressed is because they don’t speak Mandarin and they are neither part of, nor do they understand the establishment. But I can tell you that most of them are thankful for the jobs, the roads and the infrastructure and the consumer goods that the Han Chinese brought. There’s a big boom in Western China and Tibet now and local city folks are becoming wealthy on real estate appreciation. The most destitute people in China are the rural migrant workers, regardless of ethnicity, who have neither permanent jobs nor homes. They stream into the cities looking for work.
BTW, the real estate bubbles in Beijing and Shanghai are so much bigger than San Diego. Shanghai is reaching Manhattan levels but the median income there is relatively low.
As far as Iraq is concerned, now that we’re already there, I say, tighten our belts, make real sacrifices, send 1 million troops and really fix the problem, or get out. The current half measures of holding Baghdad while insurgents run amok everywhere simply aren’t working. Some have said that invading Iraq was America’s greatest gift to Iran.
