Life on the Farm

  I remember reading an article in one of the Beijing expat magazines.  This article was about an elderly couple that were making a living in Beijing collecting scrap paper for recycling.  They had previously been farmers in the countryside and now earned about 600 yuan/month (about $70 at the time).  This means that they were living in Beijing on 20 yuan/day.  That they could support two people on this amount is just astonishing.

  I was further surprised when they apparently told the reporter that they loved living in Beijing.  They said it was so easy and they had free time and could even choose to take days off.  This all left me wondering,"What must life have been like in the countryside to make you love living in Beijing on 20 yuan per day (for two people!)?"  In my time in Beijing, I kept thinking about this couple and it reminded of how lucky I am and how little it really takes to keep yourself truly happy.

  This came to mind recently when I read an article about the falling value of recyclable materials in China.  Apparently, the prices have tanked with the economic downturn.  I wonder how this couple is doing.  I hope they have managed to find another source of revenue or somehow continue their life.  I know that they were enjoying their 600 yuan lifestyle but I'm pretty sure there wasn't much leeway in their income.

The Westernisation of Food

The rage around the world these days is to complain about how the "Westernisation" of food has caused people in the developing world to become fat, lazy and dangerously obese. I see this a lot in the Chinese press. This is an interesting viewpoint. Actually, what I mean is that it offends me as both an American (the western evil food pusher) and as an Indian (the poor developing country at the mercy of evil). What do I mean?
As an American, I'm offended by the idea that the idea of being "western" is so wrapped up in the idea of over-eating fatty and fried foods. There are plenty of western nations where this is not true and frankly, people are responsible for what they eat.
As an Indian, I'm offended by the idea that we have to rely on foreigners to figure out how to make those super-tasty, super-bad-for-you foods that everyone loves to eat. Indians already have lots of tasty snacks that are completely home-grown and absolutely guaranteed to increase your weight. We don't need to rely on McDonald's for this type of creativity. And we've got stuff that makes Pork Rinds look like health food.
Basically, I don't like the confusion between "Westernisation" and "Modernisation". Just because your society is modernising, don't give all the creative credit to the West! Just because they became modernised first, don't give them ownership by calling things westernised. All societies that are modernising will have similarities that exist because of increased incomes. Don't allow yourself to become confused with cultural westernisation and economic modernisation.

Taxes - The Government Resorts to Bribery

Like any modern nation, China has to collect taxes from everyone. In particular, there seems to be a VAT tax (kind of like a sales tax) on all retail and commercial purchases. For all of its might and power, the central government in China knows that it, in the end, really donesn't have that much power over people's daily lives. Simple laws stating that you must pay your sales tax fall on deaf ears in a cash-based economy. There's simply no reason to pay if you are paid in cash, pay all of your bills in cash and your reports to the tax authority can't be fact-checked. What to do?
Well, the government tried telling people they had to do it (had about as much effect as it does in Europe). From what I can see, the government signs and slogans about this issue now range from appeals to patriotism ("It's your duty to pay taxes") to outright begging. The next step turned out to be ... bribery and coercion. I'm not sure of the order of things, but here's what's going on.
1) There is a special type of receipt call a Fa Piao. It's an official receipt that indicates all taxes on the amount of money on the receipt have already been paid. Some larger businesses have special printers and paper that create custom receipts with your purchase amount but most businesses have pre-bought papers of varying amounts (1,5,20,50, and 100 yuan). They buy these in bulk from the tax authority for the cost of the tax on that amount of money. For the government, the advantage is that taxes (when they are paid) are now pre-paid. Businesses pay taxes up front to cover the requests by their customers for official receipts.
2) All businesses were told that they couldn't deduct business expenses from their income unless they had a Fa Piao to back it up. Neat, tidy and a great way to coopt the entire business community (myself included) into asking for official Fa Piao's when they have business expenses.
3) To mop up the rest of the population, the government added a "lottery" to each of the Fa Piao's. Each Fa Piao has now become a scratch-off card. :) In the corner of each Fa Piao is a small, silvered rectangular box. When scratched, most of them say "Thanks" but every once in a while, you might win some money (e.g. a few yuan all the way up to 500 yuan). In all my time in Beijing, I've seen one person win one time (20 yuan). I've met one person who says they won 500 yuan.
The upshot is that many people now ask for Fa Piao's just for a free chance to win some money. This annoys the owners to no end since they are actually "losing" money each time a Fa Piao is given out. I don't feel all that sympathetic, though. People should pay their taxes. I've also met quite a few local chinese who feel that it is their duty to ask for a Fa Piao every time they spend money. They are genuinely offended that someone wouldn't pay their taxes (since most of the people I know are professionals who have taxes automatically taken out of their paychecks). Asking for a Fa Piao gives them a quick, painless way to make sure that everyone else out there is also paying their taxes.