And by later...

...I mean now. I'm in the "mood" now so I might "as" well continue "writing."

When tourists come back from Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, or some other major city, the naive, ignorant traveler will inevitably utter something along the lines of "But really, I was so surprised, China is just like New York" or "China is, in fact, not a third world country; the people are so wealthy."

In fact, venture forth in any cardinal direction away from the center of the city and you'll see that Shanghai and Beijing are not at all representative of China as whole. They are anomalies, islands surrounded by a sea of people that by American standards, remain very poor.

All this has put quite an interesting perspective of my environmentalism and my anti-consumerism. I can see why consumer culture is so important in China. For the first time, people know what wealth means because it is tangible and can be easily seen in all the major cities, even though the vast majority do not and most likely cannot experience this wealth. Still, this is enough for most people to make wealthiness and a comfortable life their life goal. It is a driving force, perhaps the single most powerful motivation for 1.6 billion Chinese. Anti-consumerism, without a baseline consumer culture, when most people have never had a taste of a comfortable life, is not a valid philosophy; rather, it is hating the poor.

Take Jiangsu University in Zhenjiang. Jiangsu Province is one of the most rapidly developing areas in China and its average living standards are high above the national average. Zhenjiang lies right along between the famed Shanghai-Nanjing corridor, which has become a shining example for how the rest of the country should develop. As a member of the elite class from an elite nation, I was quite proud of my ability to withstand cold showers for a week, my abstaining from air conditioning, and my expert and intimate knowledge of squat toilets. Extreme, I thought. In fact, this is one of the most developed areas in China. My amenities are above average.

Knowing this, quite frankly, I would never want to live like an average Chinese lives.

In one sense, anti-consumerism is a concept that can only arise after development is complete. Psychological revolt to privilege and the status and wealth it brings is in fact the highest privilege possible. Only the rich and the most privileged can really turn their back on this stuff because they can easily gain it back. As truly the most privileged .0001 % in the entire world, I am of course no exception. Though there are many aspects of consumerism in China that can be tweaked, modified, and improved, consumerism in China is necessary evil, a stage that is needed in order to reach a higher and more enlightened stage of development.