Italy China and the US
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
18
24
Trip End
Jul 05, 2008
Dalian,
China
Friday, March 28, 2008
It would not be easy to characterize the people in any of these countries. The populations are diverse, multi-cultural and multi-national, and the range of life is evident in each. But there are vivid distinctions in the histories and activities of the countries. The US has power and money. Italy is the world's art storehouse. China has people and potential. Likewise, the US has crime, Italy is lazy, and China has lousy internet service (the part that's not censored).
A few statistics:
USA Italy China
Population (July 2007 est.) 301,139,947 58,147,733 1,321,851,888
Median age: 36.6 years 42.5 years 33.2 years
Population growth rate: (2007 est.) 0.894% 0.01% 0.606%
Life expectancy at birth: 78 years 79.94 years 72.88 years
Area, sq km: 9,826,630 301,230 9,596,960
China and the US are almost the same area
Beijing Forbidden City
. Italy is a bit larger than Arizona.Literacy: age 15 can read and write 99% 98.4% 90.9%
GDP, trillion $ (2007 est.): $13.79 $2.068 $7.043
GDP - real growth rate: 2.2% 1.9% 11.4%
GDP - per capita (PPP): $46,000 $31,000 $5,300
Budget, revenue, trillion $: $2.568 $0.976 $ 0.640
expenditures: trillion (2007 est.) $2.731 $1.029 $ 0.634
Unemployment rate: (2007 est.) 4.6% 6.7% 4% (urban)
Electricity - trillion kwh (2005): 3.816 .3071 2.859 (2007 est.)
Oil - million bbl/day (2005 est.) 20.8 1.732 6.93 (2007 est.)
Natural gas billion cm (2005 est.) : 604 82.64 55.6 (2006 est.)
Telephones - million (2006): 172 25.049 368
Telephones - cellular, million (2006): 233 71.5 461.1
Internet users, millions (2006): 208 28.855 162
Easy to find distinctions here - the US energy use, Italian growth rate, China's illiteracy rate.
Beyond the numbers, Art and Architecture define many of the attributes of these countries. Italy takes the prize here
Tiananmen
. The UN has estimated that 60% of the world's heritage art is in Italy. The level of craft in Italy at the individual level has never been challenged by any other civilization. There is no Sistine chapel ceiling in Egypt, Greece, or Japan. Bernini sculpture, Caravaggio painting, Leonardo precision have never been seriously contested, except among themselves. This sense of style is geographic with the "boot" as well as the beauty of its beaches, valleys and mountains. Italy's architecture is still driven by the fact that successful building techniques are evident everywhere. It's only a matter of a look around to see what lasts 2000 years, and has meaning for the population. And most of the cities are at least 1000 years old, so almost everything that didn't work for the common good has been replaced. Mussolini is still well regarded in Italy because of 2 things: He got the trains to run on time (which they still do), and he insisted that Hitler stay away from Italy's greatest cities and art treaures (which, for the most part, he did). Italians are city lovers, they put a lot of heart and commitment into their communities. Building is a serious privilege in Italy, and China too for that matter, rather than the cheap act of desperation that it has become in the US. Part of the sobering consideration is the cost, of course, but the bureaucratic and neighborhood challenges are real and considerable, and it is a definitive measure of succes to overcome those issues.
Another unavoidable quality of Italy is the food
Temple of Heaven
. The climate supports all edible flora - bananas and kiwi to potatos and onions. The coastline is greater than any other country of its size, so seafood is abundant in all locations and several locations support superior levels of hairy vertebrates like pigs and buffalo. Prosciutto and mozarella cheese are just the start of the variety and quality of the food alternatives in Italy. The fruit stands in places like Bologna or Naples are menageries of the most perfect products imaginable. In order to get bad food in a place like Rome, you have to got to something inspired by an American chain. In unbelievable contrast, China's food is about as attractive as mattress stuffing. It's indescribable how uniniviting the food is here. I saw something in the market this week that looked like ground up shoelaces. I only hoped it was a vegetable. The animal products are visceral, almost vivsectionist. And the livestock from the ocean can't even be categorized. If it wasn't for rice and fruit, a person could starve here as a better alternative to dining. One thing I do like though, are the chopsticks. There's no enjoyment in the food, but the delivery is entertaining.
China too has a great history of art and architecture. Their Iron and Bronze ages stimulated the world. The items from that period are stunning artisitc and techincal acheivements. But their best efforts such as the Forbidden City and the Qing Ming Shanghe Tu, the great scroll painting, just don't measure up to the Coloseum and Botticelli's Venus on the Half Shell
Bell Tower
. Of course, that's just one opinion. An area of unique expression in China is what they call opera. It's more artificial than a Gucci handbag, but it's serious, traditional, ceremonial, and endearing. The productions are meticulous, costumes are exquisite, the acrobatics are vibrant, and the music is unearthly.
China does have some profound development advantages in the 21st century, starting with their manpower. Mao exploited the numbers to take China from a door mat to a world player in a period of about 30 years. But let's not do that again. Chinese know their history and they have not forgotten that China led the world in industry, exploration, trade, and commerce at various times over the past 3000 years. They are very intent about that. They expect the cycle to come again, they are planning for it in a progressive manner, and they intend to be ready for it. In today's economy, China is at a point where any labor intensive industry plays to their advantage - shipbuilding, agriculture, software, manufacturing in every form. They are poised and prepared for a future.
China also has the least complicated tax, social, business, and government environemnts of the 3 countries. The effect is refreshing. Very little bureaucracy in relative terms, they don't even like traffic signals. It's not that there isn't procedure, they just understand and accept community a lot better than much of the world, and Beijing makes sure that politics is as efficient as it can get - one political party saves a lot on conventions
Rome Forum
. Speaking of savings, it's remarkable what money buys here. The dollar has dropped 15% in the 6 months I've been here, but it's hard to notice. A bus ride that costs $1.50 in Rome or New York costs $.15 here. Food is almost give away - armloads of fruit for $5, and clothes of comparable quality are 1/4 of the cost of US products. The US continues to be the world's pop culture magnet. Italy and China want desperately to be associated with the US cool - at a distance. Berlusconi, who is plotting to win back the Prime Minsiter job, uses English phrases in all his considerable advertising. Kids in China wear clothes with English words. "Monkey looks", "my house", "here's Johnny" are some of the ones I saw on the way home today. Nike logos never looked so worn out. There was a story in the paper about a lady who bought a jacket that said "love here". She didn't know what it meant when she bought it, just though it was "killer" to have english words on her. She was suing the store because it wouldn't take back the used goods, after her friends told her what the implication was.
US movies are big items in both Italy and China. US movie stars on all the newsstands. Sports, too. The biggest sports stars in both countries are ones who have been good enough to compete in the professional leagues in the US.
The US is, of course, the kingpin politically, technologically, and financially. Our economic cycles are the world's and our interests are theirs
Santa Maria Maggiore
. A Chinese friend asked me the other day, "Do Americans really care about money? I mean you have so much - you can spend a billion dollars a day on a war and still maintain a thriving economy." He was serious, completely befuddled by the wealth of the US, even more so than we are about what we should be doing with it. Except for the airlines, neither country is outright about their reliance on US technology, which is endemic and universal. There are many individuals and enterprises making hay with the technology, but the fact that the US controls and insures its success is hardly acknowledged at any public level. Then there's the dark side of these countries, other than the Chinese food, I mean. US crime, for example: 5 times higher than Italy and 100 times higher than China. Our waistlines define us and our insurance policies. US citizens are easy to pick out because in a group of 4, 3 of them are large. In China, I'd guess less than 1% of the population has a weight problem. In Italy where the food is so delicious that you can eat until you are unconscious, the rate of overweight is maybe 5%, mostly older people who don't work it off as easily. And, I think we are the meanest in terms of money. Not in anger necessarily, just stingiest and sleaziest. In China, cab drivers round down the fare and won't accept a tip. In Italy, when the hotel says it cost $80 per night or an ariline says the ticket will cost $200, that's what you pay, and you will probably get a decent meal out of it
China Flag
. There's no chiseling "hotel tax" or charge for water, or movie rentals, or internet charges, or "bag fees", or parking service, you just pay for what they offer. US business has grown tedious because we're all part of an incestuous manipulation. Banks charge for internet checking that costs them less to process. Those assholes. Makes you appreciate shitty fruit from a vendor on a greasy sidewalk.But there's no refuge. Italians are barely ahead of the French when it comes to self importance. Many think they are destined to be Caesar, or his Marc Antony. 50% of workers in Rome are employed by a government, 20% nationwide. It has made Italy the least productive country in the European Union, working the fewest hours. A nation of lazy, fueled by tourism, and they're tired of tourists in the spots you'd like to go. Italy would not necessarily be a fun place to live given the relentless bureaucratic pressure. Spend a day or two getting a permit to have a phone installed, for example. That's not the phone, just the permit. Even buying a plane ticket at the airport can mean visits to 4 different counters - 1 for the reservation, 1 for the purchase, 1 for the ticket itself, and 1 for the seat assignment, and that's if you only have carry-on.
Berlusconi is coming back into power, the wealthiest person in Italy. No other free country in the world would permit the conflicts of ineterest that he carries into this public position. He already has a monopoly on private TV broadcasting, he owns a number of the major newspapers, and when he's prime minister, he has control of the rest of the public television programming
China Map
. He has absolutely intimidated the federal judicial system with a barrage of commercial namecalling and insinuation that got his manipulation convictions delayed and eventually dismissed in the 90's. His tasteless variety shows are the worst possible drivel interrupted by high decibel advertising, and the news reports only what is favored by his center right ideology. But, the guy is rather likeable. He's funny, irreverent, likes his wife and the pope, and gets a few things done in a country where there is a lot of incentive to make things not happen.China is no haven either. The food just can't be underestimated enough. It gives any soup line credibility. Internet censorship is no laughing matter. It's a ball and chain on the capabilities of that medium. And, for whatever good reason, the censorship does not stop there.
Air pollution here makes LA moderate on the scale. It's everywhere, although, fortunately, Dalian has a natural ventilation that dumps their air out to the Yellow Sea. Something like 40% of all sewage in China is untreated. Eastern China has a modern economy, and 20% of China's population, but the other 80% are in a very different world. Education is uncertain - 10% illiteracy - 130 million adults who can't read or write. Many villages continue methods not much different from an 18th century lifestyle, though they probably know who Donald Duck is. Poverty in China is staggering - 60 million people living on less than $125 per year according to CIA information for 2006. That's about what the bank charged me for checking last year. Those assholes.
