A Interesting Dinner

Today I ate dinner at the cafeteria with one of my language partners and her boyfriend. Just thought I'd give you some parts of the conversation I had.

I talked to him about the Chinese system of government. I knew most of the things that he told me, such as how the "voting" system works, how party members are selected, and how officials are put in office. What was different is how he explained it.

First, when I asked why people vote if the votes aren't used for anything, he answered "It is because it is tradition to vote. It may have at one time meant something, but now it is meaningless to vote."

Second, he described the difficulty to gain access into the Communist Party. He said that because it takes a few years and a lot of writing, people who are members (about 6 percent of China) get hired for jobs more easily and are considered more reliable and trustworthy business people.

He said that he would like to have a different system of official selection, but "Change is dangerous, and the American system is wrought with difficulties also."

Most Chinese refuse to say negative things to me about their government. This may be because they don't want to be labelled as trouble makers, or it could be because they are too proud to criticize themselves in front of a foreigner. Whatever the reason, I found this conversation fascinating because it is the first one that I've had with a local that shed a negative light on the government.

Worth noting, however, is that every time he made a negative comment about the Chinese government or the Communist Party, his girlfriend would hurridly say to him in Chinese "Don't tell him bad things!!"