Celebrations are fun, and birthdays are even better (I guess). However, when wallowing in the success of the years gone by, it's equally important to remember the short-comings, failures and challenges overcome, and to speculate as to what needs to be improved, both for yourself and those around you.
This last week, it was China's big "six-o." China has gone from an underdeveloped impoverished and starved society to the world's third largest economy and newly emergent global player. China has overcome a great many challenges and floated among the greatest of successes (booming economy, space travel, the Olympics and on and on and on).
However, in a country of 1.3 to 1.5 billion people (depending on your source) only 258,000 can lay claim to the title of millionaire (almost 100,000 of the 258,000 living in either Hong Kong or Taiwan). That leaves 1.29 to 1.49 billion in rather dire straits - I felt that these number could best depict the economic disparity between rich and poor in China. Further, discussing this and/or anything else that could prove detrimental to the CCP paints nothing less than a large bulls-eye on one's own head...what ever happened to "tank-man?" (Granted, I'll give credit where credit is due, the Government has come a long way since Mao, but there's still so much more to do).
Either way, Happy Birthday China!
For the people who's very backs this country has been built on, may your future be the prosperous and peaceful future you deserve.
Much of this commentary was inspired by my experiences in China (most of all the enduring friendships I made while I was, I've never met more warmer a people than the Chinese), an article that I read by Ai Weiwei in "Time Magazine" (see vid below) and an ever-growing desire for peace and prosperity for all corners of the world.
Peace.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment