Reflections on Return to Beijing

Welcome to the city. These are just some of reasons why people prefer it to the beautiful but often dreary countryside. The city is popular throughout the world and has been a favored destination throughout the history of human society. In recent centuries, this preference for urban living has become even more pronounced and in the last two decades, earth has witnessed probably the greatest migration of humans in its history, that of third world peasents to urban areas. People just seem to find it more convenient and more enriching to live in the city, even with all of its defects that include stress, pollution, crowding and loads of pornography. I wish they didn't like it so much. God knows, I'm not happy to have all of these proles bearing down on me.

In this world in which resources are forever prophesied to become more scarce, urban living just seems more efficient. The goal is for the majority of the human race to live in thousands of high-rises on the outskirts of around five-hundred global megacities, and use trains and buses to commute to skyscrapers in the middle of the city, where they will face a computer and (1) program, design or write things that will appear on other computers in other skyscrapers or (2) mastermind the movements of funds that appear on other screens in other skyscrapers or (3) educate the others to properly do the afformentioned tasks. There are others who work as support for this grand undertaking, but these are pretty much the end goals for all of the migrants to the city.

Anyway, I'm back in this city where I have the unusual fortune - nearly unique in all of these rising megacities - to live in a one story courtyard in the center without even having to take a bus to a skyscraper. The trip to three other megacties was a great break but it also reminded that the rest of China, outside of a few blocks in the middles of the two top megacities, is more or less one vast pit. My main advice to the millions and millions of concrete-box dwellers in these places is to act more nouveau-riche. In Hangzhou, after every kind of situation that forced me to leave the confines of the apartment, I found myself wishing that the vulgarian businessmen could at least behave more nouveau-riche. Their behavior suggests they are more proud of their peasent roots than their new money. Nouveau-riche at least implies some degree of pretention and an attempt to pretend that one has some class and culture. Among the various crude money-makers of Zhejiang provinvce, the nouveau-riche are actually a rare breed. The term "bourgeois" could only be used as praise.

Israel

Is there a point in attempting a serious conversation with Americans about Palestine/Israel? Just as you cannot have a reasonable conversation with 99% of PRC nationals about T*iwan/FLG/T*bet/June 4, it is not possible to talk to most Americans about Israel. It is a special case. All those outside America recognize this.Though it may seem that I am picking the Palestinian side, I am not. They really are a bunch of extremists and a huge percentage of them are terrorists. I am simply saying what I recognized growing up in the States and living abroad. On this one question, truth and a free dialogue are not allowed. This control of the discourse in the US comes mainly from the Israeli side. Of course Americans have no choice but to keep with the bias they have chosen. I just wish it was possible to be honest.

Sichuan and Zhejiang

I am on an extended trip through Sichuan and Zhejiang scouting young artists. Sichuan is mainly dreadful, but at least I get to stay on the executive floors of five star hotels, which gives me unfettered access to the executive lounges and their free flow of booze.