I have hinted at the differences inherent to the clash of rural and urban mentalities in China in the previous posts a bit already, and therefore decided to take an entire entry to get to the bottom of it, because it is quite fascinating to see just how much the life and mindset of the people differ when traveling from the city center over the outskirts all the way to the countryside.
Let's go step by step then, starting in the very center of urbanity, the core of the city. What we see here is akin to what can be seen in Europe or America, except for the velocity in which it takes place; people are rushing from subway stations through Starbucks to their offices, the traffic is barely moving but honking heavily, everyone is just sort of minding their own business and trying to get from A to B with as little conversation as possible, the people look stressed, angry, and annoyed, and there is close to no communal feeling, it's essentially like any modern-day metropolis you could imagine. But then, in the midst of all this hectic and commotion, there are beautiful gardens and green areas in which a whiff of the traditional Chinese calm is still in the air, and besides the speakers that are installed all over and either mimic nature's noises or play bad music, these places are one of the final bastions of tranquility in the ever-increasing stress that China's approach to the Western way of life is bringing on.
The people living in the city center however have for the most part completely lost sight of the relaxation that life can bring; they're usually stressed out, with a behavior bordering on the arrogant, and have this highly individualized, egomaniac Western approach to all things in life. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for individual fulfillment and freedom, but that should not come at the cost of a communal feeling, that should not come at the cost of decency, it shouldn't come at the cost of generosity and togetherness.
The next step takes us to the outskirts and the countryside, which I am grouping together for convenience. The air is still vibrant with life and the hustling of those trying to get by on day to day basis, but it has a smell of community in it that largely differs from anything you can see in the Big City life. The people are more prone to helping each other out, and I have seen countless examples of shop owners going out of their way to help their neighbors or even complete strangers whose car had broken down in their vicinity. I have been to farms in the middle of the night and got invited to sit down, eat, get drunk, and smoke cigarettes with the farmers living there. I just set up a tent in the middle of nowhere with a friend of mine, and instead of being woken by an angry face complaining about us setting up camp on their field - which we unknowingly did - like it would have happened in Europe, we were greeted by friendly and curious Chinese farmers. And of course the countless times that my electric scooter broke down and complete strangers helped me push it to a store where they would fix it for a small amount of money whilst asking me about my origins and how it happened that I came to China; the atmosphere was always extremely friendly and vibrating with joyous life, and the people there just were not concerned with everyday hectic all too much. Of course they're also busy and worried about making their daily income, but they don't go about it with this insane stress that city folk develop when tackling their daily tasks.
The conundrum here is the reason behind this shift in mentality. I believe that it can be at least partially traced back to the growing Western influence on Chinese metropolises; the economy in China is booming and it is therefore opening itself more and more to the West, which in itself is a good thing, except for the sad fact that our selfish, capitalist culture is being exported to China in the process. The people's mentality in the urban center is slowly drifting towards the excessive, egomaniac individualization that the Western civilization is suffering from. Which is mostly the reason behind this at first rather puzzling difference in way of life between the urban and rural population.
I do not want to say that the trade between China and the West is all negative or anything, but it definitely brings on an ugly shift in mentality in the affected urban centers.
Mark
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