China-American ties through my eyes

(Eating a fine American dinner with my friends on Sunday).

Thanks to Him, I'm finally starting to feel quite a bit better! Thanks also to you for your many thoughts! This past weekend was amazingly blessed with great studies of the Word and meals with students. I as starting to feel more like my chipper old self as I interact with my friends and students.

It's a fascinating time to be living in China as an outsider looking in. China is growing and developing at breakneck speed. Even in what the BBC calls "poor, inland" Jiangxi province (where we happen to live), life changes faster than you can blink. One day there is a street full of rickety old brick houses; the next day the street is rubble; the next month there are brand new concrete buildings. One day there is a farm on the outskirts of the city; the next day the farm is all plowed up; the next month there are 15 story apartment high-rises in its place.

It's also interesting to live in China when Americans make waves in the news here (about Google, defense weapons sales, currency appreciation etc). Do you want to know China's attitude toward America right now? It's "take the plank out of your own eye, before you criticize us." I try to avoid controversial statements on my blog, but America honestly isn't going to have any sway with China anymore. In fact, it is becoming the other way around. I respect and treasure America's freedoms and sense of justice. However, American leaders can't pretend that it can continue to lecture China. China holds much of America's economic future in its hands, especially with America's huge deficit (which just went $1 trillion deeper due to the new U.S. health care system). America literally owes China a ton of money, and it's fast losing its credibility and clout.

China and its people are losing patience, especially as it quickly develops into a world power that no one can ignore. Just because China is opening up and changing rapidly doesn't mean it will necessarily play by Western rules. In fact, it seems like they want to do the opposite. They are rightfully proud, and don't really want to head down the West's path. Whereas the key words in America tend to be "freedom," "openness," "individuality," and "rights," China functions quite well with its own key words of "harmony," "unity," and "stability."

So there's a little snapshot of how I view U.S.-China relations as a teacher in the middle of "poor, inland" China. Now I'm going to go search on Google, before it is permanently shut down here. :)