China

I have been writing about being on holiday for the past week or so and I can imagine people are getting sick of hearing about it. That doesn't particularly bother me, but I am tired and I wrote and stored a few blogs for just this kind of day. I will more than likely be back tomorrow with some boring observation from Hawaii, but until then...

I have noticed lately that there seem to be more page views from China on this blog. When I started writing, I pretty much thought that only the people who I told about the blog would indeed read it, and then not very much. I appreciate all readers of the blog, but I am suspect of my Canadian stats. They could be friends or family and therefore the possibility exists that they are pity reads. I am not adverse to pity reads, but every now and then it is nice to think that strangers will tune in if only to shake their heads in disgust.

They will after all be shaking their heads in countries that I have only read about. I have been keeping a list and whenever a new country appears I will add it to the list. I am retired and therefore have time to waste doing a lot of things like this. I am not surprised to find people reading from the US, UK, or any of the European countries, but the farther east on the globe is a little startling for me. The countries I mentioned have a more or less common back ground with me and I would assume think very much as I do, laugh at many of the things I do and get to ridicule their governments as I do.

I know, this just points out my ignorance of the eastern countries and their peoples. Yes, I realize that the human race started it's slow climb to civilization in those areas and China and India have been civilized for thousands of years. Years when the European peoples were fighting over the best cave or who was indeed the dirtiest in the village. I have an image in my mind of the far east and I fear that if I were to spend any time there then the image would burst like a soap bubble on the grass.

I like what I have read about China over the years. Well, for my lifetime China has been ruled by a communist government and we are told that communism is a bad thing by our western governments. Maybe so, but to my way of thinking, with all of its faults (I am sure there are plenty) the communist government did manage to feed more of the people than the previous regime. They have also brought the country to the forefront in economics to the point that most thinking people are aware that China owns a good part of the world, directly or indirectly. Having one fifth or one sixth of the population of the world kind of makes that a natural progression. Even in the US, the most anti communist person that believes in democracy would have to agree that majority rules. Okay, that's never going to happen.

I don't agree with everything China does, in fact I'd like them to get out of Tibet. I am sure there are other places they should get out of, but Tibet should be allowed to develop spiritually without any outside interference. What I would like doesn't matter much in the vast scheme of things, but I can say whatever I want to in this blog.

The interesting thing about China and I am not talking about the country but the people here, is that throughout the centuries they have been invaded and conquered over and over again. The rulers change, but in time they eventually become Chinese. The Chinese don't seem to change. Perhaps it is like any large object, it is nearly impossible to affect the direction it is moving, no matter what is done to try and stop it.

To my way of thinking, China is right now in the midst of a change. It is changing from the previous regime into one based on money and industry. You can't keep the people ignorant when they become affluent. Like all people every where they want their kids to have a better life and they want to have a say in their own destiny. China is growing into a world leader, and I hope that they have taken a page from the Tibetans about how important it is to play nice with others.

I am too old to learn Mandarin and I can barely write English legibly, but as long as there is Google translate I should be okay. I don't know if the people reading this blog in China are enjoying it or laughing at it, but thanks for being there.