Those Random Ideas That Brew In My Head: Ramblings

I was so excited to go to China because I had been studying it in school for 3 years straight. I felt like I had a good sense of the culture. It was interesting watching a textbook turn into a reality, but I soon learned that textbooks teach you barely anything. That may seem like a rash statement, but it is so unbelievably true. Sure, you read about the history of the rulers of China and the impact they have on the people, but you can only get a proper sense of their situation if you are in it or directly in contact with it. That is just one example.

While I was at The Great Wall in Beijing, I had an unveiling realization. Think of how big that wall is. We are astonished today at how big it is. I mean, it can be seen from space; it is obviously huge. Now put yourself in the Huns shoes back when it was being built. You arrive on horses, preparing to attack China. When you arrive, this wall is in your way. You have never seen anything like it. This wall that spans several thousand kilometres is standing in your way. I think that would be a pretty baffling sight. Since the wall had design flaws in it (e.g. parts easily breakable, breaks in the wall to allow farmers to get to either side) the Huns easily found a way through, but still, imagine this structure that you had no idea about just all of the sudden be plopped there. Mind-boggling, yes?

China thinks big. Everything is in mass. Size, architecture, items, population – everything is bigger. They are so advanced in every way as well. You have probably heard of the theory that ‘China will take over the world’, but there are all the right reasons that they could. For starters: they are a third of the world’s population. How hard could it be to take over the other two thirds? Another big theory that I stirred up in my mind is the intelligence of the people. After years and years of communism ruling China, the generation of children will become the smartest people to walk this world. Being born into communism, these kids learn strict discipline, and they are focused, and not distracted. I feel that us ‘Westerners’ are taught and run in ways that let us get distracted and brought away from our goals. China is so focused that they get what needs to be done, done. They are productive. I remember watching a film called ‘Manufactured Landscapes’ about a photographer that documented the industrial world of China. There was a scene of a girl, probably 15, that was part of the process of putting together a computer. Her job was to simply screw in the chip. They work 18 hour days with limited breaks, and it took her around 4 seconds to complete her step in the process. I did calculations to see how many chips she completed in a day. I took out 600 seconds for breaks, which probably consisted of using the bathroom quickly, and I came up with 16000 chips. 16000 in a day. No complaints, either. They just do as they are told. In Canada or America, there is no possible way that we could have that type of discipline. Back to my original theory, these people will build such productive routines and personalities that they will become geniuses and soon rule the world! It is a simple theory that could be branched out into a million twigs, but I hope you catch my drift.

All in all, China was astonishing. I always had admired China, and finally standing on top of The Great Wall was the time where I thought, “I am so lucky.”

-Davis