I snapped this picture while sitting outside a little cafe called "MyCake." I believe MyCake is a bakery and coffee chain. They had beautiful-looking little cakes and the usual hot and cold coffees and slushes.
What you are looking at is a chain restaurant. Like Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald's. Only this place sells noodles.
It always made headlines when McDonald's opened a new restaurant in a formerly communist country. They moved into Vietnam just this past February, for example.
But this guy. Mr. Lee is his name. Look at this benevolent kindly face. I trust this man and if I was in the mood for noodles, I'd definitely give his restaurant a try. It didn't occur to me that communist countries would have their own chain restaurants. Just never thought about it.
You can't see in this picture but I could see as I sat sipping my cold coffee: the trees all along the boulevard rustling in a soft breeze. The fashionable young ladies tottering to and fro in their impudent footwear. We were right next to a mall devoted to selling high end cosmetics and jewelry. And there is another glamour mall across the street.
What you are looking at is a chain restaurant. Like Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald's. Only this place sells noodles.
It always made headlines when McDonald's opened a new restaurant in a formerly communist country. They moved into Vietnam just this past February, for example.
But this guy. Mr. Lee is his name. Look at this benevolent kindly face. I trust this man and if I was in the mood for noodles, I'd definitely give his restaurant a try. It didn't occur to me that communist countries would have their own chain restaurants. Just never thought about it.
You can't see in this picture but I could see as I sat sipping my cold coffee: the trees all along the boulevard rustling in a soft breeze. The fashionable young ladies tottering to and fro in their impudent footwear. We were right next to a mall devoted to selling high end cosmetics and jewelry. And there is another glamour mall across the street.
This was not a picture of complete prosperity, though. My companion and I were accosted by a wizened old lady begging with a tin cup. My companion, a very kind lady, told me that she heard that beggars on the street can make a good living and that we shouldn't encourage the practice by giving her money. But it's hard to turn down somebody who just stepped out of the pages of National Geographic. She got a yuan from me, anyway. And hey, wait a minute. Old peasant women resorting to begging? And there is that guy in an old army uniform down at the market. At home, our panhandlers are young people who hold up signs saying, "Travelling, Broke. Anything helps." They want me to pay for their vacation. But why do these old people need to beg in the streets?
According to the China Economic Review:
Twenty or thirty years ago, most Chinese belonged to a work unit, which took care of their employment, their educational expenses, their medical needs and their retirement. As part of China’s liberalization, most of these benefits were lost.
To be clear, I'm not defending the old communist system. I'm just reporting to you that I don't see any traces of it. I see capitalism bubbling away everywhere and I see people who are catching up but who are not as prosperous as we are. The TINYFCC* series of the blog will be devoted to my search for communism in Communist China. I'm not talking about the lack of voting rights, or the corruption, or the bureaucracy. I'm talking about the workers owning the means of production and "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," and so forth.
According to the China Economic Review:
Twenty or thirty years ago, most Chinese belonged to a work unit, which took care of their employment, their educational expenses, their medical needs and their retirement. As part of China’s liberalization, most of these benefits were lost.
To be clear, I'm not defending the old communist system. I'm just reporting to you that I don't see any traces of it. I see capitalism bubbling away everywhere and I see people who are catching up but who are not as prosperous as we are. The TINYFCC* series of the blog will be devoted to my search for communism in Communist China. I'm not talking about the lack of voting rights, or the corruption, or the bureaucracy. I'm talking about the workers owning the means of production and "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," and so forth.
Update: I did eat at a Mr. Lee's. This is a side dish of beef. It was garnished with sauce and a chopped-up vegetable that made my lips numb. Interesting. [Update: I believe the spice I was enjoying was Szechwan peppers.
"This is not your father's Communist China
"This is not your father's Communist China
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