In Queue

Monday, September 22, 2008

I had to go to Beijing last weekend to renew my passport. My students warned me about traveling on the train. They told me to prepare myself for much more pushing and shoving. I enter the Kaifeng train station on Friday night around 9p. The station is filled with people traveling for the weekend. Some are headed home, others are leaving for business. The station spans near 400 meters with four isles lined with seats. Lines form in the aisles and trains leave every twenty minutes. The neighboring city is Zhengzhou, a major transportation hub. It has bus, train, and air stations. Any trains headed north, east or west will pass through Kaifeng as well. It is very convenient for us. If we need to head south we may need to take a bus to Zhengzhou.

There are no seats available in the waiting area so I roam around the station pretending to read the posters or listen to the television. I walk towards the gates to locate the line for my train. There are little signs above each gate with the train number and time. There are electric signs but they do not seem to be working today. I find my gate and heeding my students’ warnings, I decide to get in line now. I do not know if it coincidence or if others noticed the wei guo ren in line, but seconds after I stepped in line another hundred people jumped out of their seats and stood in line behind me or next to me or cut in front of me. It is an interesting mix of people in line and I observe a generation gap in social order.

As I stand in line, the people who cut in front of me were all older or appeared to be non-urban. Their clothes were solid in color and their shoes a little beat up or re-stitched. They appeared as unfamiliar with the process as me. The people directly behind me consisted of families and middle aged urbanites. The two older generation groups are pushing and shoving to get close to the front or at least close enough to see the gate activity. Behind this jumbled mass are students and young wealthy looking adults. They are waiting patiently and appear to not have a care in the world. The forming of this queue represents three distinct demographics in Kaifeng; the poor rural, the elder lower to middle class families, and the prosperous youth. I now understand why Kaifeng is an excellent choice for Beloit’s cities in transition course.

Robert André LaFleur was one of my favorite teachers at Beloit College and possibly my biggest inspiration for coming to China. In his Ethnography and History course I was assigned to write a review essay on a book of my choosing. I selected In One’s Own Shadow: An Ethnographic Account of the Condition of Post-reform Rural China by Xin Liu. He concludes that the “recent past was characterized by a unique combination of elements derived from three main macro sociohistorical sources: the traditional, the revolutionary, and the modern.” I believe the formation of the line may be characterized by these same sociohistorical sources.

I described the morning market in my “Sun Get Up, Mikey Get Up” blog. This traditional setting depicts the chaotic rush to buy, sell, and barter. One does not enter the market for a casual stroll. It is business. Get in, buy or sell, get out. Waiting in line only delays the rest of the days’ activities. The farmers must get back to tend their field and the shopkeepers need to open for business. This was a daily routine for hundreds of years. The conflict ridden nineteen hundreds exerted enormous pressure on the people of China, from civil war pillaging to revolutionary relocation, from famine to class struggle. It transformed the daily activities and routines into acts of survival.

The elder generation (50-70 years old) experienced The Great Leap Forward (1954), The Great Famine of China (1958-1964), and The Cultural Revolution (1965-1968). Personal accounts of this turbulent time in China’s history are found in countless memoirs and journals published through the eighties and nineties. After reading many of these accounts I am left with the impression that many believed their livelihood to be under constant threat. For them, tomorrow is always uncertain. Students may be taken from school and sent to urban areas to work on new industrial projects. A Farmer’s harvest may be taken for redistribution or their pig taken because it represents class separation. A mother, father, or neighbor may be forced to self criticisms or sent to a labor camp because they own a store and are there for a capitalist. Or they are sent to the country side to learn from the peasants. The peasants void of capitalist corruption.

A life experience of such has a lasting impression on the elder generation. Feelings of anxiety may resonate in such mundane acts as waiting in line for a train. Living through constant uncertainty has left people feeling the need to rush to the front of the line or rush to their seat. Like returning home after a long journey, reaching that seat helps subdue anxiety and creates a feeling of security.

The middle generation (30-50 years old) experienced a time period of rebuilding and economic growth. This generation had the freedom to move about the country. They did not experience frequent policy reversals, constant political reorganization, and life threatening famine. Their generation witnessed the implementation of free market policies. Under Dong Xiaoping, China opened its doors to trade and foreign direct investment. The country began its Four Modernizations (1979-1982); agriculture, industry, technology, and defense.

Enjoying the ability to choose which crops they grew, where they lived and worked, and attending schools of their choice leaves the middle generation more patient and more comfortable in daily activities. While waiting in line is fun for no one, this generation does not share the anxieties of the elder generation. They have worked hard to make their place in society. Their families may enjoy the prosperity created by quick modernization and free market enterprise. Visiting the developed urban centers of Beijing, Zhengzhou, and Xi’an I experienced far more social order then in Kaifeng. In the developed urban centers traffic is more orderly, clear lines are formed, and morning markets are a thing of the past. The middle generation is more patient in line. I can see in their eyes that they are calm and collected.

My generation (20-30 years old) is significantly different from their parents and grandparents. I recognize that every generation is different from the one before. However, this generation has a new set of beliefs and values. In the U.S. children share common values with their parents. Now I am generalizing. In China, the children today are exposed to a very different culture then their parents. From the eighties to today western culture has flooded into China. With this culture is an influx of ideas and beliefs. This generation lives globalization in a way their parents have not. They are not content with the lives their parents lived. They dream of travel and being rich. They want to be writers, singers, and Olympic champions. They have ambitious dreams and lofty expectations. The desire for personal identity, the drive to succeed, and the feelings of discontent sounds a lot like my American generation doesn’t it? That is exactly my point.

I remember my first day of U.S. Foreign policy. Beth Dougherty asked us, what is it to be an American? We discussed how the American spirit or American dream separates the U.S. from the rest. The purpose of the question was for the students to understand the American perception, both the perception of ourselves and the world’s perception of America. I have discussed this social phenomenon, the line forming, with some students. The impression I get is that this generation’s perception of themselves differentiates them from the former. Many see development as a good thing and that social order will come as the country continues to develop. They have a desire to grow and compete. They are proud of their own and their country’s accomplishments. They hosted the Olympic Games. They won more gold medals then any other country. China was second overall in total number of medals. This generation’s perception has changed. Their spirit is different. They live the Chinese dream.