My China Visit

On the way back to Singapore I look back on my short trip to Chengdu and what my impressions are about the country and its people.

I was blessed with beautiful sunny cool weather while I was here.

Chengdu is a tier 2 city and it is bustling with people, cars and activities. The city is slightly congested in the city center but has lots of parks and open spaces and I saw well trimmed trees and flowers everywhere.

I didn’t see many foreigners here and that may be because it’s not a tier 1 city and so it doesn’t come up on tourist lists.

Smoking appears to be still a problem. I saw people smoking everywhere. Even in toilets in shopping centers you can smell the smoke. Some people are so addicted to smoking that even when the train stops for just 1 minute between stations, they will run out for a short smoke. I would have thought that for health reasons alone, the government would have discouraged smoking and taken greater steps to enforce smoking bans in shopping centers and trains.

Their transport network both within the city and intercity is good. Metro, buses connect within the city. Ride hailing is a breeze and because they have embraced electric vehicles, I got the sense that the streets were quieter and there was less pollution from vehicle emissions. I was really impressed with the ride hailing service when you called for a 6 seater. All brand new cars, fully electric and the drivers were all suited. Seat belts even for rear passengers is a must.

The city and its outskirts appear well planned with lots of parks, open spaces and greenery. There were flowering trees and plants everywhere. Wide roads and didn’t get stuck in any traffic jams whilst I was here.

The people were friendly and helpful at all the shops and restaurants I visited. With very few exceptions, the people generally do not understand or speak English. And because so few foreigners come here to Chengdu, there is no compelling reason for their service staff, with a few exceptions at the hotel, to learn to speak English. I do not think they watch or listen to English movies or songs here either. Is that a good thing when you are cut off from the lingua franca of the rest of the world I wonder? But in China, without Google and Facebook and other apps we are used to on the outside, I guess even if you knew English it wouldn’t help much because what would you read and listen to anyway?

I could see that the people are hardworking. When I entered any shop, they tried very hard to encourage you to try things. Even for restaurants, they would stand outside encouraging you to look at their menu and try their food. I would be happy to have employees like them!

Their local telco shops are everywhere. I can understand why. They have a full range of phones catering to every segment of the market with the top tiers as good as or even better than the Apples and Samsungs. The government also provides a discount for Chinese citizens to buy phones and laptops. It could be to get them to become digitally savvy whilst boosting the economy at the same time.

Toilets in the hotels and top shopping centers are clean and have tissues and paper towels. Not sure how they are outside of these central places. I understand that there are still squatting toilets in use, which Singaporeans won’t be used to at all.

The young people I saw were well dressed but always looking at their phones whilst being on one app or the other. Not sure why the government hasn’t addressed this. Perhaps it feels its best to leave young people alone for now and not antagonize them?

Food everywhere was good and inexpensive. I thought the prices were even cheaper than in KL. I had some very good food here and I would come here again if for nothing else but for the food.

Ultimately, the key function of any government must be to ensure that their people have decent jobs, decent income, a decent standard of living and decent health care and with the opportunity for anyone who is prepared to study and work hard to move up the socioeconomic ladder. Security and housing is vital. People outside China say there is a lack of freedom in China. I can understand that view. But isn’t everything a tradeoff? Are people better with absolute freedom but with no jobs or housing? Is it better to have freedom even if it means they are living in fear of gangs or being robbed?

When I saw people here going about their daily lives, I couldn’t tell that they were oppressed or living in fear. I understand that in the US and UK shoplifting is now so common that police no longer respond to it or investigate it. Pickpocketing and house breaking are common in both the US and Europe and one has to be always on guard when walking around the streets there.

Actually is absolute freedom and rights all that it is made out to be? Where should one draw the line I wonder?