Had an interesting conversation the other day. Turned on my ICQ, and like always I'm hit up by a bunch of people and often by Chinese women looking to practice English, so sometimes I chat. And what amazed me by the last few I talked to was the national pride.
What's weird is they don't want to leave, unlike many poor women in lots of third world countries that want to do anything to get out, the Chinese like it there.
Imagine someone in China, not wealthy, a poor uneducated worker in a city trying to get ahead, who knows about the Canadian health care system, isn't concerned about how it's paid for, but looks at it as inferior to what's available in China even though she knows the Canadian system is technologically better and fairer to everyone.
Imagine the same person looking at Canada with disgust in how we treat our retired people. OK, I can see it from someone misinformed, but she wasn't. She was educated, when asked questions she knew Canadian seniors get government pensions, can get government housing and can free health care, and STILL saw this as inferior to what they do in China. AND all she could offer to compare in China was how families take care of their elderly - the infrastructure did not compare for health at all.
That's what China is doing right. It's not about what we give our people, but how our people treat each other.
And that's a concept America missed totally, but even Canada falls short on when compared to how ordinary people in China view themselves as a country and a people.
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