Reality Check

It is my unresearched opinion that Peter Hessler is currently the best writer on modern China. I reviewed his book Water Town in an earlier What We're Reading post, will save you the drudgery of repetition.

With my parents as our guests in China, we enjoyed some touring through our adopted nation. We spent a few days in Beijing, and our now spending our last night outside of Yangshuo, a market city on the Li River. Compared to Shanghai, we are in the countryside. Yangshuo is a quick 15 minute drive from the hotel, in taxis more like a cross between a minibus and the bed of a tractor. Our guidebooks pegs Yangshuo's population at 300,000 - the size of Peoria, Illinois or Omaha, Nebraska. Smaller cities in America, but the countryside in China. Sitting on the front porch of the hotel, we listen to the river tumble past and we see stars in the night sky. The girls walk in the wet grass and wade through the paths to cross the river. We walk past water buffalo moving slowly through the rice paddies, families of ducks or chickens living near the concrete doorways of villager's homes. Dogs with dull coats but sweet dispotions walk with us from one village to the next as we explore the area, until they reach the end of their territory and are firmly sent home by the next dog.

Yangshuo and the resort where we stay are rural China, but they are also heavily invested in the tourist trade. Most people we have approached speak enough English that I rarely have to display my limited Chinese vocabulary. Roads tend to be one-lane and covered with machinery that only barely resembles modern hauling trucks, but they are in good repair. The road leaving the airport in Guilin was so covered in potholes and fallen branches, we joked that the 2 hour drive to the hotel probably only covered a few miles. But after that first mile, the road cleared and became increasingly better as we neared much touristed Yangshuo.

Much like our time in Beijing, China is putting their best face forward for us. As tourists, we are seeing the shiny surface rather than the crude underbelly of life in rural in China. The woman running reception at our hotel suffers from brittle bone syndrome, but is clearly gainfully employed and well cared for. The children in the local school all seemed happy and well fed.

But this evening, Peter Hessler jolted me back to the reality of where I live. A story he published in The New Yorker in 2005 tells about a family he befriend in a rural village north of Beijing. The little boy in the family became quite ill, and he retells a harrowing account of this peasant family's journey through the medical system to save their boy. It becomes quite clear that without the help of Hessler and his connections both in Beijing and in America, the little boy would have died from an illness which would only have kept medicated and home sick for a span of time in America. The disregard for people's lives, especially peasants' lives, I am often reminded of. But I allow myself - possibly will myself to forget the appalling state of healthcare in this country, especially for this unable to pay.

As foreigners with rather exceptional health insurance, we visit the VIP Wards in only the best local hospitals. For any major problem, we are immediately air-lifted to Hong Kong or to Singapore. And still I see doctors who don't wash their hands before examining my sick child. I regularly send questions about local practices to our pediatrician in the states, who regularly replies with shock that we face such poor standards.

Beyond this, our relatively exceptional health insurance does not cover basics like scheduled innoculations, or prescribed breathing treatments. The average family in Shanghai earns 1,500 RMB per month - just over $200. Even though they only raise one child, it still seems unlikely that the masses are receiving the healthcare they need.

China is a striking country. The diversity and uniqueness of its geography amazes me, and the history and power behind its culture can be astounding. I have enjoyed these few weeks seeing China through a tourists' lens. But I thank Peter Hessler for reminding me that the neatly scrubbed China of Beijing's hutongs and Yangshuo's markets is not the reality for most of this country.