Drops of water

October 5, 2018 12:23 AM

‘Human impulses run riot’: China’s shocking pace of change Thirty years ago, politics was paramount. Now, only money counts. China’s leading novelist examines a nation that has transformed in a single lifetime
posted by fearfulsymmetry (11 comments total)

I had a conversation six months ago with some Chinese colleagues. I asked them about the changes that they've seen in their (short) lifetimes, and what they said to me was that their biggest fear was losing the wealth that they've recently acquired.

I'm off to Beijing week after next, I have more things to talk to them about. Thanks for posting.
posted by daveje at 5:47 AM on October 5, 2018

Can I be the first to recommend Michael Meyer’s books about old Beijing and rural Manchuria if this subject is of interest. Part travelogue, part memoir, part history they are lovely books written by an American with strong ties and experience in China.
I was in Beijing last year, and could see massive changes compared to the book he wrote a decade previously.
I think it is the biggest part of history happening right now.
posted by bystander at 5:48 AM on October 5, 2018

CW: The article takes a detailed and graphic detour into suicide almost immediately.
posted by schmod at 6:40 AM on October 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

those abandoned dogs, all skin and bones, faithfully continue to perform sentry duty, now rushing from one end of the property to the other, standing on a high point and gazing off into the distance, their eyes burning with hope, longing for the past to return

This guy is good at his craft. Excellent read, thanks.


the biggest part of history happening right now

2nd'd
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 6:55 AM on October 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Great article; thanks for posting it.

How he wished he could be one of those workers, he said, for though their work was hard and their pay was low, they didn’t have to live in a state of such high anxiety.

Ah, the comfortable fantasy of the rich, that the poor are content and have no anxieties.
posted by clawsoon at 7:21 AM on October 5, 2018 [34 favorites]

Ah, the comfortable fantasy of the rich, that the poor are content and have no anxieties.

Mo money mo problems?
posted by panama joe at 7:50 AM on October 5, 2018

Mo money mo problems?

Exactly. Or, as the Bible put it, "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep."

Yeah, sure, going to sleep on an empty stomach is totally relaxing.
posted by clawsoon at 7:57 AM on October 5, 2018 [21 favorites]

“Poor food and water for dinner, a bent arm for a pillow – that is where joy resides. For me, wealth and renown without honor are nothing but drifting clouds.”
― Confucius, The Analects
posted by FJT at 8:47 AM on October 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

> Ah, the comfortable fantasy of the rich, that the poor are content and have no anxieties.

The chief cause of anxieties among poor people is rich people. The chief cause of anxieties among rich people is rich people.

I'm not sure, but I think I can see a solution to all of our problems.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:49 AM on October 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

The Master said, “When Chi traveled to Qi, he rode a sleek horse and wore a fine fur jacket. I have heard it said, ‘The junzi attends to the needy; he does not enrich the wealthy.’”
posted by FJT at 9:21 AM on October 5, 2018

Very good find, fearfulsymmetry.

So many fascinating echoes elsewhere in the world, and so much that's China.
posted by doctornemo at 10:47 AM on October 5, 2018