I live in China. I was in Beijing, at Beijing U., in 91-92. Hate the place, though I know many people who dream of going back. It sort of infects some people. Maybe the good food and good friends and interesting life ballance out the common rude-ness, the concrete blocky-ness, and the "mist". Maybe its just that you can be surprised there.

I can also understand why some people would hate this letter. Its not regular reporting though...its Gonzo reporting. If personal feeling in reporting bothers you, then don't read it.

This is what I wrote on another post about my current attitude towards China and the Olympics:

I live in China

All these people walking around with "I [Heart] China" T-shirts. I already announced to my office co-workers (my subordinates) if I die and they put a "I [heart] China" t-shirt on me, I will rise from the dead and hunt them down. I already told everyone that "I [heart] China" t-shirts are pathetic. That nationalism is pathetic. That the nationalistic huhah around the games is just sad. No on listens to me.

Only thing I can think is more pathetic than I [Hear] China t-shirts are hypocritical Americans...who's national fucking debt is paid by China...criticizing China for its human rights record and talking about cruelty to animals in China. Barf.

The Olympic torch went by my appartment. It was announced that it would go by at 11AM, but (true to Communist control customs) instead it went by at 7AM. I bunch of fucking tools...thousands of them...wearing "I [Heart] China" T-shirts were lined up on the street to see nothing. I just went by and laughted at all them. They didn't understand.

Yes the government closed down factories in the North... which is good. Yes the government banned driving private cars only every other day IN BEIJING... Which is good. Now they need to extend that policy to all China, make it permanent, and take all the fucking nuevo-rich (the one's that drive like crap and don't respect pedestrians and bicicalists like me) out of their fucking BMWs and send them down to the countryside to do hard labor.

Beijing is a fortress town now. They are checking foreigners to make sure they take travel documents. They closed down the bars, so its even more boring. Thank G_d I don't live in BJ. Although...on the other hand, the food is good there which I miss. And the local Yanjing beer is awesome!

My best friend here in China got deported. As did over a million foreigners. Most of those were English teachers...which is not too bad actually. But now my best friend is not here. My friend's (Chinese) company never changed his visa status and my friend (like an idiot) never checked it. So he got kicked out. They also have denied visas to everyone. Which means two things:

1. All the foreign invested companies in China are hurting because key people cannot come here to make key decisions (like what whore house to visit)

2. All the fucking property investors in Beijing...which means basically the entire population of Beijing... are all hurting now. Hotel occupancy is at 10%(maybe a higher now though).

Just can't wait for this to be over.

BennyBroklyn said: "China's low murder rate may be connected to its culture, but it is definitely related to its repressive policing, frequent executions, and spying on its own civilians... [in another post] ...It is a proven fact that you can drastically lower the crime rate by implementing draconian laws, harsh punishments, and constant surveillance. Police states have low murder rates "

China is authoritarian and not democratic. But it is not a police state. There are very few police people...too few in fact. The state monitors dissedents and it monitors the internet, but it does not spy on common people. There are too few police walking around, so very little police protection on the street and very little trafic law enforcement. There are far more police IN TOTAL and per-capita in US than here. I really really wish there were more police here.

(don't even mention secret police...they are not secret and there are not that many of them)

China has a lot of spectacular crimes...stuff that would dominate a 24 hour news cycle for a week in the US. Cases of people poisoning competitor's restaurants, killing school children, and lots of people backstabbing and conning each other after meeting on the Internet. But VIOLENT street crime is very low compared to the US and many other countries. This is because:

1. Chinese don't have guns. So there is just no gun crime period.

2. Chinese generally think that violence is low-class (no one, including peasants, want others to think they are low-class).

3. China has traditional families and neighborhoods where-in everyone knows each other, so people will recognize strangers.

4. China does not have nearly as big drug-troubles as America.

5. Generally, (except for the migrant labour population, which is big), Chinese don't feel alienated from their society and family because they live with family and they live in densly-populated cities...not in spread-out suburbs.

6. And note that foreigners, despite having a reputation for having lots of money, are rarely the target of robberies because they police will actually work hard to catch the criminal if a foreigner was the victim of a crime; this has to do with the Chinese concept of face, and about viewing foreigners as guests.