American education delegation visit to Guiyang, 2007 — Mao-Mart: Always Low Prices!

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Mao-Mart: Always Low Prices!

17 July,2007By: David Besozzi

This morning we visited a middle school affiliated with Guizhou Normal University.

We were met at the gate by the school’s principal. The school actually placed a banner in English and Chinese at the gate welcoming us, as well as in the reception room.

The principal mentioned that today was an auspicious day – 17th day, 7th month, of the 7th year – all those sevens, very lucky indeed! The school has a total of 3,000 students and 200 faculty and staff.

At this point, the principals ‘speech was typical of these sort of government sponsored events (very Party like) – he emphasized the similarities and differences between the American and Chinese systems of education – like yin and yang, he said. China emphasizes the group, while America focuses on individual. The principal went onto say that both countries have the opportunity to learn from the strengths of each other. Interestingly, in the middle of his introduction speech, the principal’s cell phone rang and he took the call (a common occurrence at these events). He never lost his place and continued with his speech after finishing the call. He then concluded by stating that the school builds on traditional approaches but also looks forward to the opportunity to meet and learn from educators from abroad. Afterward, we broke out into happy applause (although I was wondering if we would be given any information of substance – it wasnt ‘looking too good).

We then got another welcome from the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Office in Guizhou, Miss Chin – “welcome on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Office,” she said, and then told us she is very busy getting ready to leave for a trip to the United Kingdom later in the day. With that, she got up and left. These introductions were looking very “official” – meaning useless in terms of learning anything of substance.

We then met with Mr. Zhou, the Director of Education for the province of Guizhou. He proceeded to supply us with a variety of statistics on Guizhou schools: by the end of 2006 they had 470 million students (not sure if that is accurate). They also have 40,00 primary schools, 1,500 middle schools, and 482 senior middle (high) schools (Again, these statistical figures are always suspect).

Mr. Zhou stressed that the goal of education in Guizhou is to meet the needs of all students – fairness is the goal. He also emphasized the need for curriculum reform and quality education. Al right, at this point, I am beginning to think that we are being given a very typical Party speech – although not presenting us with all “sunshine and roses,” the speech was less informative than the education related presentations we have heard elsewhere. It isn’t enough to keep repeating the “equality and fairness” phrase over and over. Given what we have learned about migrant families and the plight of “left behind children,” the rhetoric we received today seems a waste of time. I think the old fashioned approach to meeting with foreign educators still practiced in Guizhou reflects the degree to which the province has not met the sophistication level we experienced elsewhere, especially Beijing. They still need to break from the routine of the past and the practice of presenting the rhetorical Party line (Beijing presentations also promoted party policy, but did it in a way that was not always obviously Party rhetoric).

Well, I’m not so sure how useful this meeting was. Nevertheless, they had great snacks! I also had a chance to meet with and talk with a high school student, a miss Xue Shuyu. She had lived in America for a year in Pennsylvania where she went to school and took here classes in English. I was astounded at her level of intelligence and her commitment to her studies.

All of the students that were present seemed to be of a similar character. It made me think that in the United States we are not doing enough – our students will find it difficult to compete with these young people in a global market place. If we don’t reform our education goals, it is potentially possible that we will fall behind. However, Miss. Xue also admitted that the one problem faced by students in China is the overwhelming amount of study and preparation they are required to do for school. She would have preferred some sort of balance between study time and free time. She particularly liked how in America she had some choices and freedom to study topics of her choosing. This is not always an option for students in China. perhaps Miss Xue, and others like her, may build a bridge between our two systems, making it possible for Chinese students to experience the best of both systems (now I’m sounding rhetorically Party like).

Following lunch, we headed towards a section of Guiyang where Professor Belsky had noticed a giant Mao statue. These were common during the Cultural Revolution, but most had been taken down in the years following that controversial period of Chinese history. So, off we went in the bus to check it out. Upon arriving, it was apparent that the statue was very large — it was the largest I have even seen. Interestingly, it now sat in front of a new skyscraper/office building.

Both the building and the Mao statue faced in the direction of the main park located in Guiyang along the water front area of the Nanming River. However, on closer inspection, the park was more than a park. At both ends the park there was a triangular structure composed of glass emerging from the grassy area of the park – they looked very much like the I.M. Pei designed entrance way to the Louvre in Paris, France. However, these two pyramid structures were not entry ways into a museum. No, in fact, they were the entry ways into one of the world’s largest Wal-Mart Supercenters!

If you look closely, at the back left of the glass pyramid, you can see Mao in the background:

The entire structure was underground, essentially the full length of the park itself, the green lawn being located on the roof of the structure.

It was massive and inside one could buy all things one expects to find at a Wal-Mart and more. Chinese tastes for food are different than in the United States. As a result, different varieties of food are available.

However, the Chinese do not differ in the desire to purchase items at an affordable price. Hence the smiley-faced Wal-Mart discount signs everywhere.

The irony of this discovery wasn’t so much that Wal-Mart was taking over China just like it is America, but that the location of the structure is opposite a giant Mao statue. The man must be spinning in his grave – all that revolution and Mao has to stand for eternity staring at a Wal-Mart Supercenter (makes one consider the hypocrisy of kicking Starbucks out of the Forbidden City – no one seems to care about the sanctity of Mao, especially if it means cutting off access to “Always Low Prices!”).

Following our adventure at “Mao-Mart,” We were taken to visit a local industry – a drug manufacturing factory. The name of the company was Li Shuan Gyao Ye and they manufactured a drug that basically acts like a sore throat remedy.

According to the director, the drug is completely made of natural herbs, as opposed to Western medicine, which often uses chemicals (I am not sue that his statement is 100% true, but it reflects the Chinese perception of Western medicine). They even gave us a free sample box to keep.

We were then taken on a tour of the plant, but we had to wear protective clothing on our heads, body and feet. So, we dressed in the appropriate clothing provided and took a tour of the plant,

Sorry, no photo were allowed so I cant show the plant. It was remarkably clean, especially since the part of the city where this factory was located was not. After our tour, we headed back to our bus, but not before passing a company bus with the image of a famous spokesperson (a comedian).

We then took our obligatory group photo.

Some of us jokingly wondered what the chances might be that we would see our picture or a group photo on a bus in Shanghai the following week expressing our love of the product. I imagined it might look like the following:

After the company visit, it was time to head back to the hotel for some well needed rest.

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