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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Can the average Joe/Wang do anything to change China?
e.g. improve food safety etc.
I would say an easy win would be to stop buying bad products, but there is no way of getting the message out. Social media posts getting more than 500 reads gets removed. TV is state controlled and I am pretty sure food safety is high on the list of things the gubbermint doesn't want people discussing.
I have an easy fix. I can go back home where anything can be eaten after a quick rinse, where tap-water is 8C and free of anything but naturally occurring minerals, where I can suck air straight from a city bus and get cleaner air than I do if I stick my head out the window in China.
I did have the idea of painting a sign and go sit in front of a major supermarket. I don't mind the "crazy foreigner label" Lack of information is the biggest danger to safety.
It always seems impossible until it's done.
10 years 16 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
China been around 5000 years (or so)
Foreigners being in China just a blink of the eye
Englteachted:
Haha, like I tell my students, it is ok to ask questions if you don't understand the question. English is a second language for you, no one expects you to understand everything.
DrMonkey:
Sure. They never ever been split in different kingdom with different languages. China as we know it now have same boundaries and the same culture across 5000 years. Not a single discontinuity during all 50 centuries, nope. Ho, wait...
No individual can change a society. If I ever tried, I stopped long ago.
Live by you own standards and by what you consider good, and hope people get inspired. Seen that happen, this is very satisfying.
Scandinavian:
My own standard is to think that everyone needs clean water. I actually may not give a flying fork about the people I pass on the street, but I sure care about the next generation. Without everyone having a safe environment now, how can my future offspring have a safe life?
TMaster:
Well, people here have been given a choice in the past and obviously decided at some point that tomorrow wouldn't matter as much as today's revenues, and that elementary elements of comfort in life such as drinking good water, eating edible food and breathing clean air were going to only to be enjoyed by those who are willing to pay a lot for it. And I don't think you can do much to change that, we don't have any legitimacy as foreigners to tell the Chinese how to see their society. We can judge, we can refuse, but we can not act and impose, just like I wouldn't accept Chinese nationals to impose anything on me in my own land. The peaceful way to go is to live your own life and hope people get to agree with you. By chance, this is also the most efficient way.
Never forget that China and some other parts of the world have served as garbage disposal for sustaining the lifestyle demand of many western countries. It's never simple.
try to lead by example. maybe/hopefully some people with an open mind and common sense will follow suit. as for an average Wang changing the Chinese society, i hope and wish it is possible. but for now, i think i will heed TMaster's advice.
of course you know improving food safety also includes boycotting mcdonalds, kfc, coca cola, and starbucks. how long until "expats" start crying foul?
Scandinavian:
I am aware English is not your native language. So let me try to explain this
McDonalds produces crap food with lots of fat that will cause people to die early.
Chinese farmers produce low quality ingredients that can then be bought by places like McDonalds.
Eating at McDonalds is a choice anyone can make. Buying safe ingredients for cooking at home, no one can because the products are simply not there.
Englteachted:
Starbucks food is actually very healthy. So clearly you are a mouth piece.
IrvineWelsh:
Starbucks is a terrible company that rakes in vast profits by serving third rate filth.
I mean does anyone actually enjoy the coffee from that place,I certainly don't.
It also is well known for tax avoidance and therefore having a negative effect on the countries in which it operates.
But for me the worst part about starbucks is that it has destroyed the enjoyment of a generation from enjoying Moby Dick without thinking of their prepacked tripe.
This can happen only at the school. I remember that scene, 2 weeks ago. An old man walk with his grand-kid, who wasn't more than 4 years old. The old man look for his cigarette, find the pack, pick the last cigarette from it, and drop the pack on the walkway, blissfully guiltless. Then, his grand-kid suddenly look uncomfortable, and show with his finger the cigarette pack on the floor. The old man just shrug and tell the kid that they should keep going. But the kid insist "we should not throw things on the floor, it should go in the garbage can". And the kid points at the garbage can just 2 meters away.
I think teachers are the one who can move things in one direction, slowly. If people start to be a bit rational and see beyond their small circle, things can get better. By "better", I don't mean a copy of some other part of the world. I mean, people have some trust on each other, breathing, drinking or eating being much less hazardous as they are now, kids having time to be kids, better balanced people, etc.
Epilogue
The old man just insisted and moved away, the kid looked confused. I took the pack, made an angry look at the old man, and I threw the pack in the garbage. The old man made his "You can't touch me" face.
Paulberger:
i used an entire class period at my university lecturing to the students why they shouldn't just leave their trash in the class, but rather use the trash can on the way out. i took pictures the day before of the cleaning lady sweeping mountains of trash out of a classroom. i went desk by desk and made the students stand up that were throwing trash in the desk and floor during class. they lost face. now, i have the cleanest class in the school. my next goal, preaching about why they shouldn't throw their cigarettes in the urinal... the cleaning lady uses her hand to get those out...
DrMonkey:
That's a great thing you did there. Did not have the balls to do it while I was teaching. Here at my company, I consider campaining for dropping used tissues *in* the garbage, not *around* the garbage. They got Masters in biochemistry, can't use a garbage properly >_<