In conversations with the Chinese people, they often ask us why we came to China. Usually they are genuinely curious, sometimes they are merely trying to make polite conversation, and sometimes, I’m sure, they are puzzled as to why someone would choose to leave America and live in a developing country. Mr. Liao is an old teacher who was educated during the 1950’s. He often asks me pointed questions or advances his own explanations for our behavior. For example, once he told me that he guessed I was not able to keep a good job in the USA, so I came to China to make more money. Another of his gambits is that I didn’t want to work hard, so I came here to have an easy and comfortable life.
We usually give our standard, optimistic response to such questions, but many of the Chinese seem to doubt our sincerity. They find it hard to believe that our main reasons for living in China are not self-centered or materialistic. So, to the world in general, now and for all time, I categorically declare that I am not a spy, a proselytizer, a dirty old man, a hedonist, a lazy layabout, an aimless drifter, a fugitive from justice, a victim of bankruptcy, a money-grubbing capitalist, a political extremist, a habitual liar, suffering from a midlife crisis, or dangerously naive. In addition, in preparing to enter China, we had to swear on our physical-examination form that we do not suffer from toxicomania (whatever that is), mental confusion, manic psychosis, paranoid psychosis, or hallucinatory psychosis. (I hope I wasn’t mentally confused when I made that statement.) Also, for the record, our doctor found no symptoms of plague, VD, AIDS, or leprosy. Furthermore, we don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, or gamble. In short, our intentions are honorable: we have no skeletons in our closet, and we harbor no ambitions to subvert the values of society.
A few years ago, there was a saying in China that 90 percent of the people have become capitalists, and the other 10 percent were preparing to become capitalists. Most of the people we meet have been seduced by ideas of affluence, consumer goods, glamour, and prestige. Advertisements on TV, in magazines, and in shop windows portray a lifestyle that is far beyond the reach of the average Chinese person. The consumer-oriented middle class is growing rapidly, but the large majority of Chinese have little or no chance to achieve such a level. About three-fourths of the total population live on poor farms in the countryside. They have achieved a degree of self-sufficiency, but are stymied by many factors from reaching higher. Much of the urban population is employed as factory workers or laborers or in other low-paying jobs. All over China, many factory workers have lost their jobs in recent years, as State-owned enterprises have shut down or modernized their operations. In our city alone, at least 100,000 people have lost their factory jobs in the last three years, and their prospects for finding good work are small. (There are no official statistics, of course; the number may be larger.) People can no longer depend on the State’s socialist programs to look after their welfare. For many people, life is harder now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. I don’t know what these people think when they see the slick advertisements or look at the price tags in the shop windows. Maybe I can imagine what life is like for poor farmers in the countryside, but I can’t imagine life for an unemployed factory worker. I don’t know where they live, or what they eat, or how they manage to survive. I watch the construction laborers at their backbreaking chores. They work long hours into the night, every day, for perhaps $50 per month in wages. Sometimes they are housed in drafty, unheated communal sheds that are built on-site. Those might be the lucky ones. I can’t ask them what they think; they speak no English. In general, I talk only with professionals, officials, teachers, and college students. It would be easy to form my opinions of China by my daily discussions or by what I see on the TV, but I would be ignoring at least 80 percent of the population.
Why did I launch into that analysis of the changing class structure in Chinese society? These are important issues, and the solutions (or consequences) will create huge and possibly unimagined changes. We’re concerned with the development of human potential for all the Chinese, not only for the rich who are getting richer. When we travel in China, we aren’t very interested in the life of the big cities, and we don’t spend much time in the standard tourist locations. We seem to prefer to experience the life of the normal Chinese people. This is our interest. We don’t consider ourselves tourists, but rather semi-permanent residents who share in the task of building a better future for China.
We didn’t move to China to become rich or to have an easy life, but to help improve society. Of course, we gain some personal benefits from our experience, but those are mostly intangible, and they are not more important than our desire to serve the Chinese people.
From a personal perspective, we enjoy traveling. We like to see new places and experience new ideas and cultures. More than that, however, we consider ourselves world citizens. While we always will remain citizens of our home country, we feel a higher responsibility to humanity as a whole. I don’t want to spend all my life in one country, limited by the concepts and viewpoints of one culture. We want our children to experience different lifestyles as they grow. We want them to speak more than one language as a native. We want them to think of all nationalities as true brothers. We want them to grow up in an environment where they can appreciate the meaning of the phrase unity in diversity. We also want them to experience life in third-world or developing countries, where life can be difficult and people suffer and sacrifice every day. We hope this will encourage them to learn compassion, strengthen their characters, and give them a sense of purpose.
The world is rapidly becoming unified in many ways -- communications, economics, and so on. Yet, at a national or local scale, many people still consider outsiders as enemies or rivals or competitors. People still have deep-seated prejudices against those who are not like them. The best way to overcome such prejudices is to develop face-to-face relationships. By living here, raising our children here, and becoming part of their lives, we build bridges of friendship and take down the walls of prejudice and isolation. Regardless of satellite TV and McDonalds, this is still the only way to permanently remove the barriers of "us versus them."
We earn our living by teaching English to college students. China wisely has adopted a policy of using English as a second language. In the future, as more people progress through the educational system, this will enable the Chinese to participate more freely in international social and economic development. It also will help to break down the barriers of isolation and prejudice. Like all foreign teachers of English in China, we face many frustrations in our daily interaction with the educational system. However, we truly enjoy the students; they make our work worthwhile.
One might ask why we chose China, out of so many places in the developing world. Perhaps it is because China needs so much help. The social, economic, and attitudinal problems are immense. We have no love for the Communist Party, to be sure, but we did not come here to be political dissidents. So far, we have been able to live within the regulations and guidelines for behavior. The central government (and the mood of the masses) has seen great changes since the "worldwide-violent-revolution" days of the 1950’s and 60’s. For the past 20 years, China has played a much more responsible role in world political and economic affairs, and hopefully this trend will continue. We try to entertain no illusions about the Chinese power structure, and we may disagree with the government on some of its basic policies, but we also recognize that the Chinese people are trying to deal with their problems in their own way. We came to China to serve, not to criticize. No country is perfect, and we try to view national and world affairs within the context of a process of development. China is a major world power now, and in the coming century its influence will become stronger. If China chooses to exercise its power wisely, it will be a good example that the other developing nations can follow. We hope that China will evolve positively, and in some small way we hope to contribute, through our ideas and our example, to an improved model for society.
One consequence of an imposed Communist system is that the country seems to have lost its spiritual foundation. Even today, children are taught that there is no God and that the yearning for religion is simply a psychological defect. Some of the old classrooms still have portraits of Lenin or Marx. Religion is confused with cults and superstition. The teachings of Confucius, which had guided ethical thought and behavior for thousands of years, were criticized and rejected. Ideology alone, however, is insufficient to inspire subsequent generations to honesty and self-sacrifice. Examples of noble Communist martyrs are not enough to awaken and shape the human spirit. In short, man cannot live without religion. The endemic corruption that pervades all levels of society and government bears witness to this failure. The leaders of China seem to realize the nature and magnitude of the problem and, in many small ways, are opening the door for religion. (They sanction religion only within their own conditions, however. Those who refuse to operate within those guidelines are suppressed.) We believe it is very important to teach, by word and by deed, the spiritual principles that society needs. We do this in our classes, not by discussing religion, but by discussing spiritual qualities such as honesty and kindness within the context of improving the individual and society.
We are Baha’is, and the teachings of the Baha’i Faith inspired us to come to China. However, we are not missionaries. Anyone who is interested can learn more by visiting the Baha'i world website or the Baha'i USA website. It is not our place to tell the Chinese what they should do, but rather to widen their perspective, to raise their awareness, and to set a good example by our personal behavior and our service.
So, who are we and what did we leave behind? I’ve already explained the essence of who we really are, but here are some extra details. I (Tim) am an American, born in Maryland. Anne is Canadian, from Alberta. We met in Colorado and got married there many long, very long years ago. At the time, Anne had two small children, who have since grown and begun their own life in America. Anne gave up a career as a rider and trainer of horses and settled down (mostly) to being her kids’ mom. We have lived in Colorado, Kentucky, Nevada, and most recently Florida. We now have two children who live with us in China. Taalan (a son) is almost 12 and Tariqa (a daughter) is 7 (as of October 2001). I left behind a good government job as a geographer (computer mapping specialist). More than two years ago, we sold our nice, new house in a quiet suburban development, where we had planted tropical trees and lots of flowers. We sold our car, sold or gave away all of our furniture and almost everything else we owned, and caught a plane to China, dragging our remaining possessions with us. We arranged our job by e-mail and accepted the first teaching job that was offered to us. We teach English because it was the simplest way to come to China.
We live and work at Xiangtan Polytechnic University, a small college outside of Xiangtan, a small-to-medium-sized city in Hunan province, in south-central China. The college is surrounded by farmland, although the road leading into town is becoming increasingly urbanized. Our college, the city, and in fact all of urban China is changing rapidly. According to old timers, this process has been going on steadily for 20 years or more. Our children attend a local primary school, and all the classes are taught in Chinese. They are quite fluent by now; their hardest task in school is mastering the hundreds of Chinese characters that are taught each year. Anne has tried diligently, but slowly, to learn Chinese and is now able to carry on some simple conversation and recognize many of the characters. I’ve been much lazier and am basically useless at understanding conversation.
In our other journal entries, we have tried to document our interesting and humorous moments during the going-on-three years that we have been in China. Perhaps in another year we will move to the far western part of China. We are attracted to the mountains and deserts and the exotic ways of the ethnic minority groups. If we return to America, it would probably be temporary move related to my mother’s health. If we leave China we hope to serve in another developing country of the world. Peace be with you. -- Tim, Anne, Taalan, and Tariqa Liebermann
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