And this society is positioning to be the new global economic power – by lying, cheating and stealing – how is this ok? Why is everyone clamouring to be a part of this, and enable this? Fascinating. Instructive. Informative. Its lots of things, but it certainly is not right. And it is not limited to Apple – this behaviour and ‘way of thinking’ is pervasive through all likes of material ‘schtuph’ to entire towns. And looking at their appalling environmental management practices and how they manage their resources (air, land and water), this is a morally and socially bankrupt society – demonstrating little to no responsibility in almost any measure.
It may well be that everyone wants to fall over themselves to be a part of - the massive and unstoppable growth in China - the opportunity - the profit. But at what ultimate cost? I'm not interested in liars, cheaters, and stealers.
July 20, 2011 by
BirdAbroad
The Western news media is replete with pithy descriptions of the rapid changes taking place in China: China has the world’s fastest growing economy. China is undergoing remarkable and rapid change. This represents a unique moment for a society changing as quickly as China.
You probably read such things in the paper every day – but if you have never been to China, I’m not sure you know quite what this means on a mundane level. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, in the 2+ years that RP and I have been in our apartment, much of the area around us has been torn down, rebuilt, or gutted and renovated – in some cases, several times over. I had the thought, only half-jokingly, that when we returned from a couple months abroad, we might not be able to recognize our apartment building. Or that it might not be there at all.
As it turns out, my fears were baseless – our scrappy little home remains. The neighborhood, however, has definitely kicked it up a notch or seven. Starbucks has opened not one, but THREE branches (that I encountered) within a 10 minute walk of one another. An H&M has opened across from our apartment building. These are the kinds of major Western brands that were previously only represented in Kunming by fast food chains like McDonald’s and KFC. Our neighborhood has quickly become the swanky shopping center of the city.
So when we strolled down a street a few blocks from our house a couple weeks ago, I was only sort of surprised to see this new place, one that any American of my generation can probably recognize instantaneously:
It’s an Apple store!
Or is it?
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