After a brief last minute shopping stint through Kowloon I headed to the airport to catch my flight back to NYC.  As I took my seat on the luxurious Cathay Pacific flight amongst Chinese nationals decked out in high heels and freshly applied makeup, I had time to reflect on my new understanding of China.

China is very much like the world portrayed in the popular movie the Matrix.  By-in-large the the cities present the people of the country with a very comfortable life, propelled forward by the capitalist forces that they have elected to harness.  While perceptions do make for comfortable realities, harsh truths are veiled from the citizenry.  Locals do not understand the atrocities of their own history.  Fables about past leaders exclude their evil endeavors, leaving the populace to worship falsely benevolent stories.

However, the truth is seeping into the country.  Students study abroad and freely roam the Internet, study Wikipedia pages about China and speak with Western educated classmates.  As a result, the class structure is increasingly divided by more than wealth; the rich also have more knowledge about the realities of their government.

For the most part, domestic policy reflects the hand of the benevolent dictatorship that moves buildings, relocates people and manages industries - all for the greater good.  This leadership has served the majority well (for the most part), ensuring that the populace enjoys the increasing standards of living that accompany modernization.

However, unlike in America the country is focused on only protecting the majority; those who have divergent political views are dealt with quickly and harshly, creating the human rights violations that rival the worst dictatorships.  The majority of the population is unaware of the nature of these acts, as propaganda is used to hide them.  One of our tour guides told us about the religious freedoms enjoyed by the people of China, except for group such as the Falun Gong.  She explained that the Falun Gong burned themselves and their families in religious ceremonies, a barbaric tradition that resulted in the government outlawing the religion.  According to Wikipedia (a source unavailable to the Chinese populace), the religious group is being tortured and murdered for political reasons.

One of my former professors at Columbia is one of America's foremost experts on China.  While he didn't defend the failings of the current regime, he did emphasize the country's trajectory.  In his view there were two paths that communist/ totalitarian states could take when transforming to capitalist/ democratic governments.  The first was the revolutionary approach (as seen in Russia) where the country is suddenly privatized, sending society into a lawless chaos that empowers Mafia type organizations.  The other was the evolutionary approach where through a 100-year transition institutions are created that increasingly reflect progressive social norms.  The argument for evolution is that it enables the society to make a very difficult cultural transition in lock-step with the updated laws.  According to my professor, China is actively evolving.  This theory appeared supported by the increasingly capitalistic nature that I witnessed in China.

Unfortunately, the down-side of the evolutionary path is that it is much slower process leaving the opportunity for continued human rights violations and the potential for a regime to rise to power that is less focused on the welfare of the people and more concerned with a flawed idealism or personal greed.  While I don't claim to understand what will happen next with this complicated country, I am hopeful that the increasing accessibility of information and ease of travel will spread ideas about the inherent rights of man, giving unstoppable inertia to the progressive evolution of the country.  However, I'm aware that I am inherently an optimist, leaving me with a sense of curious anticipation. 

Despite the uncertainty of the future, one thing is certain - I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit China and better understand the Red Dragon.

Click here to see pictures.