Pigs, Pigs, Pigs!
Apologies to those who were eating while reading this post (or, you know, were ever planning on eating or drinking ever again). Alas, it's better to face the truth head on rather than avoid it: there are dead pigs in the Huangpu River, which not only meanders through downtown Shanghai, creating the coastline that forms the famous Bund, but also provides for the vast preponderance of Shanghai's water supply. Now, it's not like any of us were drinking the water to begin with. It's gross, and even the natives don't really mess around with the water too much if they can avoid it. But it does make you wonder about, say, cooking food with the water. My roommate, Serge, uses bottled water to cook with, which always made me raise my eyebrows in environmental sanctimony. He used to work in the clean water industry, and isn't shy about citing the arsenic content in Shanghai's water, which never actually evaporates, even when the water is boiled (Dad, if you're reading this, please don't fret. You will survive your trip to China. I promise.). I've always been happy to use the tap water when I cook (arsenic, shmarsenic, I always say!), but now....well, I dunno. The government, bless them, says the water is safe again, now that 6,000 of Porky's cousins were fished (pigged?) out of the Huangpu over the past few days. I'm not sure I buy it.
I must admit that I'm not sure which is more disturbing -- the fact that the Huangpu is hogtied with pig carcasses, or my reaction to hearing of the news. I was pretty unmoved by it. I believe my first response was "Oh. Well, that probably shouldn't be the case." But it certainly wasn't surprise. Or outrage. It was more like, "Yup. That sure sounds like China!" In just over six months of living here, I've already become quite desensitized to the seemingly endless parade of "China is gross" examples. It just doesn't make me raise my eyebrows anymore. And part of the reason why is because I know I won't be living here permanently. Tolerating things like swine in the drinking water is just something I'm trading in exchange for an adventure -- not something I have to live with forever.
This is kind of a problem, isn't it? China is acutely aware of and concerned by the slowing down of its economy. While the absurd levels of growth that it enjoyed for the last decade or so certainly weren't sustainable in the long run, the maintenance of world-power status is priority number one for the newly inducted regime in Beijing. But I'm not so sure the economy is the biggest issue that China must address. Rather, I wonder whether it's more about maintaining the country's appeal to the rest of the world.
China can make it as hard for its own citizens to leave as it wants. But as long as expats view the country as merely a temporary stomping grounds to have some fun, make some money, and wait out the economic troubles in the West, China's position as a major player in the world stage is at risk. And as it stands, there are serious environmental and lifestyle barriers that predispose foreigners to write China off as unworthy of planting firm roots. There are exceptions, to be sure. My friend Tom, the Horde's guitarist, has been living here for over 5 years, has a Chinese girlfriend with whom he lives, and has no plans of leaving any time soon. But when we were discussing the pigs-in-the-river kerfuffle this morning, his response was, "Yeah, I just assume I'm going to die from a really awful form of cancer at some point" thanks to living here for so long.
China can't really afford to cultivate that sort of outlook in its foreign residents. I met a middle-aged teacher last month named Sean, who loves China. He's been living here for 12 years, before Shanghai was Shanghai, back when there were only 3 Metro lines (there are 16 now) and Western food was very hard to come by. He doesn't really travel abroad -- he spends the bulk of his free time exploring China itself, making his way through the endless countryside, villages, and "small" towns. He has no interest in leaving. But he has a five year old daughter now, who he was content raising in Shanghai until the pollution became too much of an issue for him to ignore. The notion of his child growing up breathing air that equates to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day is too bitter a pill for him to swallow. After seeing two colleagues die of esophageal cancer, which he says is the most prevalent form of cancer in China, Sean is moving his family to Moscow at the end of the school year. "You think I want to go to fucking Moscow?!" I recall him shrieking at me. But go he must, after building what he had assumed was a permanent home in China.
The River of Pigs incident will, surely, soon yield to another aspect of life in China that is abhorrent to Western temperaments. And people like me, and Sean, and Tom will probably just shrug our shoulders and say "That's China for ya." Until the proverbial "that" is no longer "China for you", China will have a hard time holding onto its already-tenuous position as a serious actor on the global stage.
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