China Part 1 (The great social experiment 社会战争)

The Peoples Republic of China , a billion people strong and growing has been a closed society to much of the world.

Except for 5000 miles of trade routes called the " Silk Road" in the beast and buggy era, individual cultural exchange has been limited until the recent internet age. Exchange at this level ultimately expands economies, ideologies and culture. The introduction of search engines (i.e., Yahoo, Google) and VoiP ( Voice over internet Protocol i.e.,Skype)  has made the world a bit more flat from far east to west. The Chinese Foreign Ministry I'm sure will read and flag this if it were to filter through to the dissident population. China's 21st century is an experiment with new social, economic and political systems. Thus "China Part 1" and my experience with the Chinese citizenry.

I recently purchased a Skype phone for my computer, with hopes of having live video conversations with other users so I could eventually get my family involved and offer a unique way for us to keep in touch. I'm not one who spends much time in chat rooms or even seeks to fill my buddy list with endless entries of creative (I'm being nice) screen names. So my quest began with the usual; seeking anyone-with-a-pulse mode ( gotta make sure it works). Then I queried a real human being. She was from Germany. We had intelligent discussions, shared music, uploaded pictures of each other (she was cute), I had my climax; beta testing was over. In between our trans-Atlantic liaison a flurry of introductions  from mainly Chinese users, some personal, others wanting to sell services and products they manufactured started to consume my bandwidth.
 

I responded to inquires, viewed product lists, and helped some young Chinese college student who was eager to learn English; major in international business and generate clients. The more I Skyped, the more I saw of China's citizenry.  I shared this new weapon of mass communication with my older brother (a real techno-phile and phone jockey) He has single-handedly taken U.S.- China relations to a new plateau. Then I stepped back and looked at the macro view. China is not an open society, their media is tightly controlled, information filtered, and they have severe restrictions on free speech. Such as the case with journalist Shi Tao and the Internet writer Wang Xiaoning. They received 10-year sentences after being identified with the help of information from Jerry Yang, Yahoo Inc.'s CEO (pooh-pooh on you Jerry).

Thus some of the pros and cons of China's experiment with changes in the structure of their society. We are at war America not just against terrorism; but for the ideals of our society, our culture/multi-culture and our wealth.  Every smiling face cut-and-pasted on the web is not a free-thinking individual, some are willingly and/or unwittingly used to further geo-political ideologies. I am not trying rant about the unseen forces of the dark-side; just taking a broad view of the world beyond my life, the Oakland Raiders (retire Al, I love you; but it's time) and what's for dinner. Mindless (Godless) living, oblivious to an overt attack can be devastating and has repeatedly conquered many thriving, vibrant societies throughout history. We (America) are at the pinnacle; loved and hated in the same breath.

The Patriot,

Bycha Buxton
buxtonbycha@aol.com