No time to write something huge today, since I just got back yesterday, and as usual, a million things are going on and wanting to get done.
Spoiler Alert! Don’t read more if you’re still trying to figure out where I went.
So, I was there for less than a week, couldn’t really talk to any of the locals, and have only had brief exposure to a limited number of historical sources, but here is my initial impression: China is a beautiful country, full of beautiful people, with the absolute worst luck of governments throughout history. Whether the economic system is pseudo-socialism or pseudo-capitalism, there always seems to be a few people at the top of the system that fuck it up for the majority. Some may mount a comparison between Chinese and US repression, but at least the US has not (yet) had to deal with its government persecuting and jailing (over half a million) political dissidents, directly causing millions of (its own) people to starve, or killing millions of (its own) people (if the Native Americans don’t count as “its own” people). Hmm… Until next time, I’ll be looking for a shovel to dig myself out of this hole…