Before I left to teach English/politics in Korea I honestly had not ever given thought to Asia. It is my own ignorance. My first time leaving the United States was studying abroad in the UK. I guess at the time Asia seemed irrelevant to me; I didn't know about the present circumstances, the history, and the food. I was younger, and I was set on understanding the American South because that was my home.
Korea became my new home and my "new" southland. I liked seeing the quirks in the culture, I liked being surrounded by unfamiliarity. I learned some of the history; again I wanted to know what kind of place I was in and the players who made it. Along the way as I taught and learned politics, I noticed that my students sort of segmented themselves in two camps: those sympathetic to Japan, and those sympathetic to China. Those feeling more akin to Japan tended to be more friendly ("understanding" is really the better word) to US interests, and those in favor of strengthening relations between Korea and China tended to recall Japanese colonialism and recognize the common bonds between China, North Korea, and the future of reunification. Japan was elitist. China was communist. (we all know how to be wooed by communism in high school!)
Vietnam was another place to dig my feet into - find an apartment, navigate the local market vendors (make "friends" with local vendors), find favorite restaurants, find favorite coffee shop. Still surrounded by a foreign language and a set of customs you don't have much ability to really understand. Again China lingered in the midst: named in development projects, characterized by tour groups, personified in foreign investment, and the South China Sea grab.
To fund at least some of this travel I taught English online to Chinese students, and with that I've entered a new realm of questions about what is China, what does it mean for the US, and what does it mean for the world, the future of population growth, health, and political strife?
I teach kids aged 6-12, so it's hard to believe that I would learn much from them at all let alone about their country. But seeing a 4 year old drinking a bottle of coca-cola while trying to teach English is enough to shake me. And the kid playing with a toy semi-automatic, and the kids being yelled at by their parents to speak "better" English.
Here's this strange, almost dys(u)topian model of on-call English instruction. The child and parents sign up, click an app when it comes time, and enter an online classroom where there's me, or another native English speaker, sitting in my guest room at 6am, ready to tell them things like "apple," "bear," "cat," and "door." It's as easy as 1-2-3! I have to instruct every child who appears before the screen, even if they don't cooperate, are shy, or crying. But most of the children I interact with are eager to learn English and have plenty to say. I think they view the US positively and want to learn more about Western cultures. But I worry that China's development path will similarly follow the US's previous models of development (and that which is the norm around the world): focusing on consumption, urbanization, and technology-driven convenience rather than facing the real problems of overpopulation, environmental degradation, and individual fulfillment/purpose. China's direction will affect the world.
Many services in China are disproportionate, attending to mainly the eastern large cities - namely, here talking about health care. If you live in a large city, you stand a chance to seek treatment. In 2010 China saw a complete overhaul by creating a national health insurance scheme - before all costs were out-of-pocket. If you're in a rural area then it is very different. In TR Reid's The Healing of America I read that many chronically or terminally ill patients will leave the hospital so to spare their families of outrageous medical bills. The quality of clinicians and care in China has been under recent scrutiny. As the average income in China rises, there is more demand for immediate and better quality care - with public services struggling to keep up, and a private services market quickly expanding. But will China follow the same path as the US health care system? Let's hope they change direction sooner rather than later.
China is also facing rising disease problems, namely obesity and diabetes. Again, there's a strong pull toward urbanization, convenience, and Western names (luxury brands, Walmart, McDonald's, KFC). It's strange as the US turns its back on these large multinationals, they start looking to China and southeast Asia. These countries welcome this investment. Will China be a weird counterpoint to the US? Similar to the familiar, old self that the US once was (still kinda is)?
As hundreds of millions of young and adult Chinese continue to learn English, the US was surpassed years ago. I have strong interest in China not with "fear of the enemy," but rather because they are on the path of setting the new world order as they continue investing in fast-developing nations. Charting the way forward and in some ways, copying what the US has already done. Do we really want the mistakes of the US to be repeated on grander scale?
I didn't yet make it to China but hope to change that in the next year. Do you have recommended reading on China, including history and culture? Books preferred, articles are also very much welcomed.
