Forbidden Flag

For some reason I love flags. Here is pictured the UVA flag in Beijing's Forbidden City. By this time the plainclothes policemen had lost interest and I felt safe in proudly swinging this fine emblem of Western pride.

Today we were lectured by a retired UVA professor named John Israel who spoke about China in general, with specific references to disparities between countryside and city. He gave us a slideshow that paired images of this disparity, for example Shanghai advertisements with oxen-powered ploughs in small villages. Apparently Roy Rogers said about the American Depression that it was the first time people drove to the poor house in cars. This is not the case in China, and it will apparently be a long time before these disparities even out.

In addition to the well-known issues of pollution, corruption and education, he told us that China faces a potentially massive AIDS situation as well. Despite the Premier's offer to provide all Chinese with anti-retroviral medications, the Chinese peasants still face bleak medical futures because of the inefficient distribution system and the inconvenience of obtaining these medications. For example, a peasant has to get a full-body checkup before receiving the medication, and the checkup apparently can cost half a year of wages. Furthermore, only 2 months of medication are distributed at a time. A couple of weeks ago we learned that something like 60% of Chinese still live in the countryside. This figure is worrying to the government because the countryside has traditionally been the breeding ground for discontent and the source of revolutionary power.