Is China turning me into a super-capitalist?
Comments(0) I have to ask myself, as I run around buying yet another pair of
shoes, silly vinyl toys I don’t need, eating in fancier places all the
time as my waistline expands. I mean of course “super-consumer”, my
skepticism about capitalism remains. At a certain point the resources
run out. And all along, someone is on the losing end of the stick:
has to do the shit work, doesn’t have “enough” and can’t afford more.
Since my teenage years I’ve ranted and raved against a culture of
excess. But now here I am, saving money but still with all of this
disposable income.
It’s not as bad as all of that. I haven’t bought an electric bicycle,
as the regular one I was given works fine. Liaocheng is gloriously
flat, a town made for biking and I need the exercise. I’ve also
re-discovered simple youthful cheap thrills like the flying of kites.
And there are no recreation drugs to buy here. Nor records, or books
in English, or movies in English to see in the theaters or things I
would regularly buy back in the States. Beer and liquor are absurdly
cheap, and I’m drinking less anyway. I guess what’s bugging me is the
sorority girlish glee I get when I go off on a weekly buying trip.
Who needs all of this stuff? And I’m just going to have to ship it
home.
I went to Beijing in early March and it was only worse. There is so
much more available there. But ties? Seriously? Why buy more ties -
even if one was a gift. The sales girl was cute and I’m a sucker. A
rich sucker, it’s disgusting. And the street of toy stores – I was
beside myself. But I will vouch for the city – Beijing has only gotten
cooler since I was there in ’06. The 798 arts district is a must see.
And the hutong area east of Houhi as exploded. There is some
“tourist cheesey” factor with Tibetan yogurt shops and fish and chips
places, but some cool bars too and indie crafty type stores that could
only survive in China with the tourist dollar.
How much is it gonna suck to have to go back to being an American poor
person? Hopefully I will have gotten some of this consumption out of
my system by then.
