In front of me I see the incredible Forbidden City, the imperial complex of 9999 rooms and the expanse of the seemingly never-ending Beijing skyline. I have both gorgeous music and dark thoughts in my head.
“E’ la principessa…”
Giacomo Puccini’s famous aria “Nessun Dorma” (No one sleeps) from Turandot rings in my head. I recall seeing a clip from a production of my favorite aria at the Forbidden City. This piece of music takes place at almost the end of the opera when the entire Chinese imperial capital is waiting for the mean princess, Turandot, to confuse her suitors with rhymes. If they properly unravel the rhymes, they will marry her. If they can’t, they’ll be killed. She doesn’t want to get married. However, Calaf solves the last puzzle. The answer to which was the word “love”. Turandot, is like a woman of ice. She sees that Calaf truly wanted to be with her and he risked his life to be with her. She understands love.
With the refrain of Nessun Dorma resounding in my head, I am having a hard time imagining how 1.3 billion people can live in China. Beijing already seems crowded and the city just keeps on growing. How will all these millions of Beijing residents and peasant migrants survive in this city?
Other countries have more densely populated cities than Beijing, but China’s cities are chaotic, smelly, unhygienic, stressful, dirty, and ever changing and growing. The people don’t know how to live with each other.
For example:
HYGIENE: Described in my earlier post, “Spitting in front of Mao”. http://susannazaraysky.blogspot.com/2008/04/spitting-in-front-of-mao.html
DRIVING = POSSIBLE DEATH
The drivers are just killers on wheels. People don’t obey traffic signals or rules. It’s a no man’s land on the roads of China. It’s scary to cross the street.
MONEY:
The rift between rich and poor is widening quickly. Expensive cars and shopping malls full of Gucci and Burberry stores abound in the big cities, catering to the many super rich. But the majority of the country is poor. With food prices rising rapidly, the poor rural populations could revolt. They are not getting to eat the pie of the rich. They will soon have trouble buying rice. (With commodity prices going up worldwide, several Asian countries are halting or limiting rice exports in order to feed their internal populations.)
LACK OF RESPECT:
People cut in line all the time. They don’t know how to stand in line and let people take their turns. “Lines” for bathrooms don’t exist. People just run to whatever stall they think will open first. It’s a free-for-all and mass mayhem.
People get into fights on the street.
They’re often yelling at each other, even in public areas. Commuters loudly scream into their mobile phones will riding the subway, not caring that everyone else is stuck listening to their banter at high volumes.
I find the Chinese to be super friendly and nice to me as I am a foreigner. They are very patient and extremely helpful, trying their best to communicate with me even if they speak little or no English. But I don’t see the same behavior to each other. I realize I am lucky.
As sad as this sounds, I think China will soon experience a calamity of huge proportions. Either their will be a war, epidemic or some intense social unrest. China will implode. The population can’t continue growing if people can barely stand each other now. China’s history, like that of most countries, includes famines, war, and struggles for power. When China endures a major epidemic, deadly political repression, famines, or wars, millions of people are displaced, killed or injured. Just like the country is huge, so are its changes. Over one million people were recently displaced for the Three Gorges Dam project.
Looking at the Forbidden City, I have forbidden thoughts. I question my own desire to be politically active. (Ok, the idea of contemplating political activism near Tianammen Square — the site of the massacre of democracy activists by army tanks in 1989 — is not ideal for objectivity, but it does make me look at world history in perspective.) We are always in conflicts. Is there a way to coexist peacefully without tension? Does it makes sense to even try to make policies to curb situations? Should we even try to improve our societies if eventually something will go wrong and there will be armed conflicts, government repression, droughts, famine, ethnic cleansing or some other horrible event?
I wonder if my work as an election observer or in economic development makes a positive and tangible difference. But if I just give into being apathetic, then I have no purpose in this world. I definitely wasn’t born to shop all the time. Despite the inevitable reality of never-ending adversity, I still think it’s worth it to work towards positive change in society. I am going with my gut, not with my brain. As Turandot learned at the end of the opera, life is about love.
Post script:
As I leave the pagoda in the park overlooking the Forbidden City, I still have Puccini’s verses playing in my head. I find a Chinese man singing in a small pavilion with great acoustics. I think he is singing Chinese opera. I sit and admire his great voice. He motions for me to sing. Though I can’t sing Peking Opera, I sing Summertime from Porgy and Bess, my voice resonating clearly off the walls.