I’m in Shanghai for work. This is the view from my hotel room window. These boats and barges just float by all day, all night. It’s really pretty, actually. I don’t have much time to see the city. I’m sure I’ll come back. After all, China is booming.
Which is really exciting given that China has a population of 1.3 billion people and three-quarters of them still live at the poverty level.
Remember the definition of poverty? It’s living on less than a dollar a day. I reflected on this after a rather upsetting incident on the way to my focus groups. To get to the groups, I had to leave my fancy hotel, the Shangri-La (de-da), and take a taxi across town.
About 15 mins into the drive we got stalled in traffic. I noticed a young boy who was maybe 11 years old walking through the jam of cars shaking a cup. He was cute. Clean. Seemingly healthy. And yet, desperate.
We made eye contact. And then it was over. He made a beeline for my car and started shaking his cup profusely, groaning and whining in a horrible rant – all Chinese, so I have no idea what he was saying -- sort of like Rosie-O’Donnell Chinese without all the references to Danny Devito. He got on his knees in the street, so all I could see was the top of his head and all I could hear was the shaking of the cup and loud, whining, droning pleas.
No. I did not roll down my window and give him money. I did not have change, only bills. I was afraid that as soon as I started to fart around with my wallet in traffic, I risked getting it stolen, or putting the boy in danger if the light changed and I wasn’t quick enough to give him something. I pictured him running barefoot in traffic after my taxi. Plus, I risked making myself a target for the few other beggars who were working the cars. And then there’s reason X. And reason Y. And reason Z.
But to be totally truthful, I did nothing because I felt like it wasn’t entirely my responsibility. It was a choice. 1.) Give. 2.) Don’t Give. In my opinion, the act of giving or not giving doesn’t make you a good or bad person. It’s all consciousness. I didn’t beat myself up about it. But later, I reflected on what was happening in my head.
I noticed I felt invisible. I felt invisible to this boy who looked in my eyes five inches from my face with nothing between us but a window pane. I was protected in my locked taxi, impervious, safe, somehow disconnected from it all.
The only way I know how to stop this feeling of being disconnected and not being able to make a difference is to keep plugging away on my Raising Malawi project. I don’t propose to end poverty by “being nice” -- giving money to every Tom, Dick and Harry in need. Of course, money helps them individually (and sometimes I do give), but we can never end poverty that way.
We have to go to the source. In this poor boy’s case, he lives in a Communist country. But chin up. Times are changing. Chairman Mao died in 1976. Deng Xiaoping stepped in with major the economic reforms of 1978. Everything got turned on its head. Money (and status) is the new Holy Grail. For better or for worse, the economy is booming.
Adweek gave an overview of this “Emerging China” on its cover issue last week. (1/1/07). It’s the first of a three part series. Basically, there’s this big emerging middle class, here. I’m talking about tier-one cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Adweek explains this generation is living a lifestyle unimaginable as recently as 10 years ago. They own their own cars and homes, use credit, travel outside of China and are fast adapters of consumer electronics and personal technology.
About their homes: The government owned everything just 20 years ago. Now 70 percent is private, which is major progress and big news for the Home Depots of the world. I can’t get that “Movin’ On Up” song out of my head. From the street, these urban homes look like those skyrise apts. from the Jeffersons. And I noticed everyone seems to hang their laundry outside on their decks. Driving past, all I could think about was all the pollution from traffic getting on those clean clothes. I just read that Chinese don’t own driers because they believe the sun sanitizes. They obviously are new to this whole big city-life thing.
It feels like USA1978 to me. Maybe because I was a kid growing up with the same exciting things -- fast food and new technology. My dad constantly reminds me that he shelled out $999 for our VHS player back then. What better way to honor the TV god, whom we devoutly worshiped in my house. My ex-husband’s family bought BETA because the quality was better. Remember that debate? BETA never took off. But it was so exciting to experience new technology and be the first ones on the block to get it. I just set up TiVo this past Christmas. It very much feels like the VHS frenzy.
Back to China. People are not saving here. They spend to assert their status. It’s all about big name brands and getting out and being seen with luxury goods, i.e., sitting in a Starbucks says you have clout. Plus, they believe spending is helping China’s economy. And it is. Materialism and consumerism are taking off big time.
Which is really exciting given that China has a population of 1.3 billion people and three-quarters of them still live at the poverty level.
Remember the definition of poverty? It’s living on less than a dollar a day. I reflected on this after a rather upsetting incident on the way to my focus groups. To get to the groups, I had to leave my fancy hotel, the Shangri-La (de-da), and take a taxi across town.
About 15 mins into the drive we got stalled in traffic. I noticed a young boy who was maybe 11 years old walking through the jam of cars shaking a cup. He was cute. Clean. Seemingly healthy. And yet, desperate.
We made eye contact. And then it was over. He made a beeline for my car and started shaking his cup profusely, groaning and whining in a horrible rant – all Chinese, so I have no idea what he was saying -- sort of like Rosie-O’Donnell Chinese without all the references to Danny Devito. He got on his knees in the street, so all I could see was the top of his head and all I could hear was the shaking of the cup and loud, whining, droning pleas.
No. I did not roll down my window and give him money. I did not have change, only bills. I was afraid that as soon as I started to fart around with my wallet in traffic, I risked getting it stolen, or putting the boy in danger if the light changed and I wasn’t quick enough to give him something. I pictured him running barefoot in traffic after my taxi. Plus, I risked making myself a target for the few other beggars who were working the cars. And then there’s reason X. And reason Y. And reason Z.
But to be totally truthful, I did nothing because I felt like it wasn’t entirely my responsibility. It was a choice. 1.) Give. 2.) Don’t Give. In my opinion, the act of giving or not giving doesn’t make you a good or bad person. It’s all consciousness. I didn’t beat myself up about it. But later, I reflected on what was happening in my head.
I noticed I felt invisible. I felt invisible to this boy who looked in my eyes five inches from my face with nothing between us but a window pane. I was protected in my locked taxi, impervious, safe, somehow disconnected from it all.
The only way I know how to stop this feeling of being disconnected and not being able to make a difference is to keep plugging away on my Raising Malawi project. I don’t propose to end poverty by “being nice” -- giving money to every Tom, Dick and Harry in need. Of course, money helps them individually (and sometimes I do give), but we can never end poverty that way.
We have to go to the source. In this poor boy’s case, he lives in a Communist country. But chin up. Times are changing. Chairman Mao died in 1976. Deng Xiaoping stepped in with major the economic reforms of 1978. Everything got turned on its head. Money (and status) is the new Holy Grail. For better or for worse, the economy is booming.
Adweek gave an overview of this “Emerging China” on its cover issue last week. (1/1/07). It’s the first of a three part series. Basically, there’s this big emerging middle class, here. I’m talking about tier-one cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Adweek explains this generation is living a lifestyle unimaginable as recently as 10 years ago. They own their own cars and homes, use credit, travel outside of China and are fast adapters of consumer electronics and personal technology.
About their homes: The government owned everything just 20 years ago. Now 70 percent is private, which is major progress and big news for the Home Depots of the world. I can’t get that “Movin’ On Up” song out of my head. From the street, these urban homes look like those skyrise apts. from the Jeffersons. And I noticed everyone seems to hang their laundry outside on their decks. Driving past, all I could think about was all the pollution from traffic getting on those clean clothes. I just read that Chinese don’t own driers because they believe the sun sanitizes. They obviously are new to this whole big city-life thing.
It feels like USA1978 to me. Maybe because I was a kid growing up with the same exciting things -- fast food and new technology. My dad constantly reminds me that he shelled out $999 for our VHS player back then. What better way to honor the TV god, whom we devoutly worshiped in my house. My ex-husband’s family bought BETA because the quality was better. Remember that debate? BETA never took off. But it was so exciting to experience new technology and be the first ones on the block to get it. I just set up TiVo this past Christmas. It very much feels like the VHS frenzy.
Back to China. People are not saving here. They spend to assert their status. It’s all about big name brands and getting out and being seen with luxury goods, i.e., sitting in a Starbucks says you have clout. Plus, they believe spending is helping China’s economy. And it is. Materialism and consumerism are taking off big time.
KFC is big here. Even bigger than McDonald’s because consumers prefer chicken. McD’s is responding with more chicken options, but worry not, meat eaters. Beef is a-plenty here, let me tell you. I was talking to my client during groups last night and I put a Chinese sweet in my mouth, which was colorfully wrapped like a hard candy. I had to spit it out the chewed bits two seconds later (very professional!) because, alas -- it was meat! Who eats meat sweets?! Ugh!
You see progress all over Shanghai, China’s most expensive city. And the country is rushing to close the gap between rich and poor by building out/urbanizing the lower tiers so folks can get a foot up on the social ladder. Sentiment here is, the more you have, the happier you feel. And in some ways I think that’s true. I think of it like, the more I have and the more I can share, the happier I feel.
The government has a plan for creating a “financially comfortable society” by 2040. And I think they can do it.
To summarize Jeffrey Sachs (my economist hero), people living at the poverty level need to get a foot on the socio-economic ladder. Help them to the first rung, which they cannot reach without the infrastructure in place, and they will climb. It won’t be easy, but by-God they will climb.
You see progress all over Shanghai, China’s most expensive city. And the country is rushing to close the gap between rich and poor by building out/urbanizing the lower tiers so folks can get a foot up on the social ladder. Sentiment here is, the more you have, the happier you feel. And in some ways I think that’s true. I think of it like, the more I have and the more I can share, the happier I feel.
The government has a plan for creating a “financially comfortable society” by 2040. And I think they can do it.
To summarize Jeffrey Sachs (my economist hero), people living at the poverty level need to get a foot on the socio-economic ladder. Help them to the first rung, which they cannot reach without the infrastructure in place, and they will climb. It won’t be easy, but by-God they will climb.
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