Nutritional Transition in China

The concept of the nutritional transition, roughly defined as the shift away from traditional diets to one of modern, "Western" foods high in sugar and fat, occurring in the world today is an extremely relevant and urgent issue. Having traveled in China during this past summer, I can personally attest to the changes in the country’s eating habits and culture, especially to the change in the diets of the younger generation versus the older generations.

One important factor to bring up is the Chinese cultural mentality and history with food, which creates a food environment that can be dangerous in conjunction with the modern “Western” diet. Historically, Chinese people have always been worried about getting enough to eat. Rice crops were dependent on weather conditions and the river levels. Specifically in the past century, China has experienced much political and economic turmoil that has also caused famines and malnourishment. Therefore, the older generations prize food and place great emphasis on eating well and being well-nourished, especially for their children.

People that verged near starvation in their past will not be willing to deny any type of food to their children and grandchildren, and may even be food-pushers. They also emphasize the importance of not wasting any food.

In the past, this cultural mentality worked well because the traditional Chinese diet was extremely nutritious and consisted mostly of rice and vegetables. People spent a lot of time either farming their own crops or going to open markets. Meat was expensive and an occasional treat. People drank mostly tea and water. However, with the opening of the Chinese economy, the “Western diet” has become increasingly accessible. In every city, there are multiple fast food places and convenience stores. There is more availability of cheap meat and snack foods. In every supermarket, there are American brands such as Dove chocolates, Pringles chips, and Coca-cola.

Many children prefer these novel American goodies to the traditional diet. The current generation of parents usually does not have as much time to cook and prepare food as their parents did, so they also utilize the convenience of supermarkets and fast food places. The older generations, the grandparents, are the majority in traditional open markets where one can pick out the freshest vegetables and fruits. These open markets are disappearing as the concrete jungles of the cities spread, and farms become located increasingly more distant from the population centers.

Below is a photo of a plot of land that my grandparents use to grow vegetables. They are the only ones in my family that still grow their own food. However, because of the increase in land used for industrial/residential purposes (as seen in the background), their plot of land is confined to one of those tiny squares.

The obesity rate is increasing rapidly. Because the centuries old cultural dietary mentality, not to mention biological propensity, was developed through times of food scarcity, I believe it is very difficult now for Chinese people to adapt to the current environment with its abundance of unhealthy and nontraditional foods. However, if the government does take action, it should not ignore the other portion of the Chinese population, especially in certain rural areas, that still does experience food shortages and malnutrition.

If you want to learn more about the role food plays in Chinese culture, read this post!

"Guanxi"

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lags between posts - it's been pretty busy around here. Anyways, a reader recently asked me to write on the topic of "guanxi," which roughly translates to "relations." Basically, it's a system of connections and networks between individuals that the Chinese society really emphasizes. Though I'm not by any means an expert on Chinese society, I will try my best to explain using my observations and experiences.

With a population of over 1 billion, China is a difficult place to get anything done without guanxi. The system has its good and bad aspects. At the worst extreme, guanxi can seem like nothing more than bribery, schmoozing, and taking advantage of knowing the right people in the right field. However, guanxi also promotes maintaining and fostering good relationships with old friends and others you meet in life. It emphasizes the ability to create strong personal bonds and fulfill obligations towards others.

In the states, we like to separate personal life from business, and we do not like to mix business with pleasure. Therefore, it may be hard for people to understand the guanxi system, but I will do my best to explain by providing a few examples.

Chinese people do business over dinner. If you want a favor or a deal, your best bet is to invite the person out for a meal and a drink, preferably at a nice restaurant, or at home if you know them a bit more personally. During the meal, there would probably be lots of flattery, drinking, maybe smoking, and possibly a fight over who pays the check at the end. Hopefully at the conclusion the favor would be asked for and granted, or a business deal would be made.

My uncle is the chief editor of a university scientific journal, and he gets invited out to meals all the time, either by people hoping to have their article accepted to the publication, or people whose articles have been published and want to thank him. Likewise, he sometimes hosts colleagues from other universities with whom his department wants to create connections. A friend who is a doctor at a hospital receives invitations from families who want her to take on a relative as a patient, or from pharmaceutical companies who want their products in the hospital. Sometimes people also send gifts as a sign of goodwill.

All of this occurs because there are just too many people and not enough opportunities, whether for medical care, education, or employment. You have to know the right people and cultivate good relationships with them in order to skip through the bureaucratic red tape. It's much easier to know the physician personally and receive care than to wait in line for hours or possibly days in a city hospital.

It is true - sometimes an extreme form of guanxi can start to look like corruption, such as when you have a great connection with the police or judge. However, guanxi is how China operates, and most people accept it, though I think there have been reforms to remove some of its worst aspects. It exists at some level in the U.S. as well - we have all known someone who got where they are because of the right connections. Is it wrong, or is it just good luck?

Battle Hymm of the Mother Tiger?

I'm sure most of you have heard of Yale Law School Professor Amy Chua's controversial new book, Battle Hymm of the Mother Tiger, and her article on the Wall Street Journal on Why Chinese Mothers are Superior. Here is an excerpt of her book on the New York Times.

Basically, she talks about her own pretty extreme parenting techniques, that include not allowing her daughters to attend sleepovers, not permitting anything below an A in school, not allowing them to watch TV, not worrying about their self-esteem, etc. She then criticizes what she sees as the soft American way of parenting and blames this for the reason why Chinese children are more high-achieving than American children.

She claims 3 differences between Chinese and Western parenting. One is that Americans care too much about the self-esteem of their children. Second, Chinese parents believe their children owe them everything. Third, Chinese parents know what is best for the children and therefore can override their preferences.

There have been many editorials written in response to Chua, calling her parenting abusive and harmful in the long term. Readers have written thousands of comments, some of them Asian Americans who believe they were emotionally damaged by their childhood treatment. Others thought the article was written in an ironic tone and meant to criticize the parenting techniques of the Chinese. Chua has even received death threats - which I believe is ridiculous but probably expected considering how much of an attack her article is to their private home realm.

Personally, I take issue with the fact that not all Chinese mothers act this way. There may be some truth to the stereotype, but Chua takes it to the extreme. For example, I do play violin and piano, but this did not result from coercion from my parents. They never dictated my practice routine or criticized my efforts. I did watch TV, albeit with certain limits, but I think limiting TV time is a fairly common practice. I did not really attend sleepovers, but this was due to the overprotective nature of my parents rather than a restriction on playtime or social activity.

Many Chinese and Chinese American parents that I know also deviate from this strict model of parenthood. In fact, many mothers in China overly coddle their one child, leading to somewhat spoiled and egoistical offspring. Most are demanding only in regards to academic achievement; the child can have anything he or she wants as long was he performs well in school. Many mothers bend over backwards to make sure the child does not have to do chores, is always content, and always has the best to eat so he can focus well on schoolwork.

Also, why is it Chinese mothers? In just as many families it is the father who pressures the child more than the mother does. Chua has an interesting dynamic within her family because her husband is American and therefore is stereotypically the "nicer" parent.

Therefore, without even commenting on the legitimacy of Chua's parenting technique, which many experts have already dissected, I can tell you that there are obvious misconceptions in her statement. Regarding her actual practices, I believe that they may be effective for certain children but devastating for others. It is a thin line, and Chua is lucky that her daughters turned out the way they did.

What do you think about Chua's argument?

One-Child Policy Revisited

Today an article on the New York Times discussed a report about the one-child policy in China and it's 30 year anniversary.

The report stated that many human rights abuses continue to occur surrounding this restrictive policy, including forced sterilizations and abortions, and other coercive family planning tactics such as heavy fines and threats of job loss. Most of these abuses take place in the countryside; therefore, they are more "out of the public eye" or at least the eye of the media. Poorer families suffer the most from this policy, not only because they lack the finances to pay the fines or fly their wives overseas to give birth, but also because they would benefit from having the economic support that multiple children could provide.

Authorities claim that they have prevented 400 million births over 30 years, a population 130% the size of the United States. While I agree that those additional individuals probably would have caused overcrowding and economic problems in the country (it is difficult to imagine China with any more people than it already has), it is hard to weigh the consequences against the current situation. I previously wrote about the negative effects in this post.

The Chinese government should change the incentive structures in society if it wants to keep population growth at a minimum in a voluntary and effective manner. Right now, human rights are being violated and there may be many children that are hidden or unregistered. Maybe if there was more public financial support for the elderly, couples would not feel insecure with only one child, and the child would not be too burdened with the care of two parents.

One thing needs to change - the uneven application of the policy in different areas of China and towards people of different social classes. I am not referring to the special cases of ethnic minorities, but the arbitrariness and corruption of local officials. According to the article, the budget from fines collected from the violation of the policy sometimes goes to "feed an entrenched bureaucracy." It will be very politically difficult to change this situation.

How do you feel about the one-child policy?

New Situation on the Peninsula

So I guess I was wrong, at least partly, in my post about 2 months ago about North and South Korea. In that post, I wrote:

"I really don't see any military conflict happening in the near future, thank goodness. I also don't see reunification happening between the Koreas for at least a decade. The succession in North Korea will probably occur smoothly and I doubt the new leader will make any visible changes to foreign policy. Japan and China will get over this incident because they are big trading partners and sometimes economics trumps politics. So, in my opinion the region will remain in this standstill for now."

That's one of the cool things about keeping a blog, is that you can actually see how your perspectives and situations change. If you've read the news, you probably have heard about how North Korea fired shells onto South Korea's territory. It was an unprovoked attack on civilians and has definitely further raised tensions in the region. This action just shows how unpredictable North Korea is. Why are they being belligerent when they depend on their neighbors for so much food aid? Additionally, the North is in a fragile state right now, dealing with their leadership transition.

So does North Korea have some sort of method behind this madness? Or are the leaders just mad, likely in more ways than one? I'm not sure, but China should really try to get a hold of the situation. It seems to be the one remaining anchor that can keep North Korea stable.