Note to the reader: since its composition I have questioned the anger of this letter. Is it justified? In answer it is sufficient to say while traveling China I never learned to speak any dialect over and above a few simple words and phrases, leaving me unable to penetrate Chinese culture and custom to a substantial depth. This, in turn, was mirrored by the Chinese as many individuals could not speak my native language of English beyond a few simple words and phrases. Unable to communicate with one another, continuous superficial interaction bred frustration on my part.

While I do think some of the anger contained herein is justified, I want to state for the record the reader of this text ought to keep such criticism and hyperbole in perspective: the Chinese have impressed me significantly more than they have dismayed me. After eighteen months of travel within China I continue to greatly respect this culture today. (January 2001)

I am in Chongqing at the moment; an excellent city. It is at the junction of two rivers -- the Jialing and Yangtze. The city is built along the rising slopes of the mountains. Twisting stairways, winding alleys and streets, and lots of sky-scraping construction. It is a beautiful playground. As our dorm-room looks out at the city center one French gent a few beds over said, "If this is communism, I like it." Now if only we could see past the wall of haze and smog which limits our vision to 3/4 of a km.

What have I been doing with my time? For the first four months (April to July), not a hell of a lot. Yes, I did tour but I made the mistake of traveling with hardly any literature and subsequently was bored out of my tree for a lot of the time.

However, my China tour has given me more of a proper perspective of this country. It was after an additional three months (on top of my four months in 1995) of touring that I at last downgraded China to a third world country from a (personalized view of a) second world country.

On that note I still do not -- and never will -- equate the third world Muslims and Hindus with the civilized Chinese. The Chinese are so damn superior in fiber to the other two it's not funny, even with its own degree of nerve-grinding ignorance. I am also convinced China is resuming her role in East Asia as the centerpiece nation, as she was for the last couple millennia before her decline, with all other surrounding nations as her tributaries.

One thing I have become quite conscious of during my travels is the lasting impression of Europe's colonialism. Though the European powers fell from 'grace' after two world wars and no longer physically occupy many Asian countries, Europe -- along with America -- sure have 'stamped' such countries with their ideas.

For instance, here in China while Europe and America are never spoken of as superior in terms of a moral-philosophy, everybody and their dog wears a Titanic T-shirt, wants a pair of Nike or Adidas, carries around a cell phone, and has the picture of a bountiful Euro-American breakfast hanging on their wall -- cantaloupe, grapes, bananas, toast, butter and jams, a couple hard boiled or sunny-side-up eggs, orange and/or apple juice, maybe a glass of wine on the side, peacefully set on sparkling dishes and shining silverware, on an elegant tablecloth.

When I go touring the eastern coastline what do I find? Many of the most glamorous aspects of which China sells as tourist draws are foreign buildings, foreign churches, foreign shopping centers, foreign products. For example, a big draw in Shanghai are the collection of Bund buildings all nicely lit up at night. The Chinese come here in the millions to take their picture on the Bund, as if Greco-Roman and gothic architecture is a glorious remnant of their past, complete with the red flag of Communist China flying on top of each building.

The most successful and modern cities? The old colonial ports -- be they English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, what have you. Movies? Hollywood. Icons? Many of them western. Ideal emigration? The West. The former colonies have a bad case of denial in which they, of course, are superior in mind and tell you this, then immediately run off to buy a Coca-Cola and the latest in Paris fashion (the cheap $2 imitation, naturally).

One student I met on the train said the Chinese people are the most intelligent people on earth. I noted this and later thought to myself sarcastically "Well, that must be the reason China is a third world country."

While few people in the world will tell you in voice Euro-America has the most intelligent collection of thinkers, they say it again and again with their actions. When I ask why America is the most powerful nation on the planet I get responses like: "Because of their military" or "Because of their technology" or "Because of their science" ... which really irk me. Can we make the connection between thought and philosophy to individual rights, government, marketplace, science, technology, and military? For the most part, no. Not on their own anyway.

Along with my admiration and applause for what I think are China's virtues is a hard criticism and sarcasm for what I find are China's shortcomings. Combined with the lack of privacy a foreigner has here and the constant finger pointing and badgering one receives in the street from the infinite hell-legions of "staring squads", I along with other foreigners can get pretty bitchy.

At the height of my criticism I even did a "GJW's Top Ten List on China's Superiority". It runs like this ... (some of which I've already mentioned) ...

10. Why don't you read that book instead of using it to wipe your ass?
9. If you had a brain, you'd eat it.
8. You say hello, I say goodbye.
7. China irrefutably has the most intelligent people on earth; that is why it is a third world country.
6. Chinese women are irrefutably the most beautiful women on earth; they never enter puberty -- and the men like it that way.
5. Chinese Communist superiority consists in building a seven story, twenty thousand foot warehouse to install a bandsaw and then declare bankruptcy. Glory to the worker's revolution!
4. Chinese IQ's are measured by VCD and karaoke machines; the more songs one can imitate the more intelligent you are.
3. No, Chairman Mao did not invent the cell phone.
2. Most Chinese have been trained by the government to have attention spans not longer than 2-3 seconds. Some, however, do slip through the cracks and self-educate themselves from monkey status ... and, well ... that's what prisons are for.
1. If you're so #*%@ superior, why are you wearing a Titanic T-shirt and a Chicago Bulls cap, you #*%@ moron!

To quote the Chinese author, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, who expressed a similar sort of criticism in his writing at the turn of the twentieth century, of which this is a fragment --

"If we take a number of 50 year periods in our history to compare with the 50 years just past, great progress has indeed been made in this last half century. If, however, we take our last 50 years and compare them with the last 50 years in other countries, we shall be utterly ashamed. Let us take a look: what has the United States done in 50 years? Japan? Germany? ... Although politically their successes and failures are not the same, and their suffering and happiness are not equal, yet as to their academic and thinking elements, all may be considered to have advanced a thousand li a day. Even England, France, and other old nations -- which one is not running forward as if flying? We have been talking noisily of new education for several decades. Let us ask our scientists, do we have one or two things which may be considered inventions of world importance? Ask our artists, do we have one or two productions which can be offered for world appreciation? And in our publication circles, do we have one or two books which are important works of the world? Alas, we had better wait until (the future) to see what it may bring ..."

To offset this frustration of mine, I have also come across a few examples of written acknowledgment in my readings giving thanks where thanks is due. One is from Hu Shih, on the Chinese Renaissance, i.e., the sweeping changes that occurred in the first two decades of the twentieth century --

"The conscious element in this movement is the result of long contact with the people and civilization of the West. It is only through contact and comparison that the relative value or worthlessness of the various cultural elements can be clearly and critically seen and understood. ... Contact with strange civilizations bring new standards of value with which the native culture is re-examined and re-evaluated, and conscious reformation and regeneration are the natural outcome of such transvaluation of values. Without the benefit of an intimate contact with the civilization of the West, there could not be the Chinese Renaissance."

To find even a historical "thank you" when it comes to Western ideas and their actualization is like music to my ears, and restores my confidence in an intellectual China. Having said this, I look forward to the future -- as countries open their doors to the free-flow of ideas and trade, to immigration and emigration -- to world history being properly re-written, with the role of each country properly integrated into such an account. In this line of thought, of progressively pursuing an open door policy to integrate with the rest of mankind, go China!!

This has all played into the resolution of my China question, i.e., how much of my life's energies do I want to direct towards China? And the answer is: other than being a tourist and thinker I don't want to live in the pressure cooker of public-property China. I don't want to learn the Chinese language at present. I don't want to be a part of China's growing pains. And I don't envy the incredibly massive job that China's political leaders, like Zhu Rongji, have ahead of them, to overcome such massive ignorance. I don't want to help 'break in' China for the rest of future mankind to interact with; too tiresome, too exhausting, too concrete.

I had the idea of being a bridge between two empires, or civilizations, at one time. Well, not anymore. I like being a part of Western civilization too much. I want to play on the 'cutting edge' all my life; romping with the Creators and Gods in the ultimate playground on earth, North America, the powerhouse of the entire globe, stamping the world in its image, with China right in the middle of that stamp.

I don't want to live 50 years, 100 years, or 1000 years in the past. In the future I think the Chinese will come into their own. However, today is not that day. And while there are times I catch a glimpse of my inner-self in today's China, like right here in Chongqing, it is a lot rarer than I'd like to see. I, like China's foreign policy when it comes to the rest of the world, will take what I want from China and leave the rest behind.

Part of this policy-decision, naturally, stems from the direction of my travel. In 1995 I came into China after 1.5 years of Muslim-Hindu study and was astounded by the degree of construction and human-earthly attention. In 1999, after residing 3.5 years in first world Canada along with some radical changes in my worldview, I returned to China and have been gaining a proper perspective of matters, sometimes bitterly.

From a Creator's standpoint, while I see the seeds that will lead China to resume her East-Asian centerpiece role and a major world power, those seeds are just breaking the soil in growth and extension after years of isolated internal consolidation and basic self-strengthening. There is still so much that must be learned here by so many, and I still have so much to see and do on my own. In sum, China's present greatness is in her mass, not her individuality. Not yet anyway.

So with 'touring saturation' my China ideas have matured. Especially now that I have China history books providing me with a chronology of significant events, some older events but mostly circa 1800 leading to the present. It is amazing! It will be interesting someday to extend my studies in depth, now that I have toured as extensively as I have in all corners of China.

So that's one aspect of my China-tour in brief. Another would be the continuing process of Precedents and Laissez-Faire Capitalism, and how these new idea-compilations are factoring into and influencing my future. While I've left Precedents I in Canada I continue to think about it.

I increasingly find myself trying to summarize the years 1995-96-97-98-99. It is strange because I tend to superficially view these years, in light of all the bruises and bumps, as a period of decline, especially the 96-97-98 period. I am asking myself why I 'feel' this way when it has been the one of the most productive and colorful periods of my life. As a result I am highlighting what I have done, as opposed to the 'mistakes' and 'miscalculations' made, during these years. What I have to break is a built-up case of 'three-year Yellowknife tunnel vision' and the negative aspects of a self-imposed solitaire before I can get to see my accomplishments, realizations and discoveries in true light.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism, an attempt to summarize my political ideas, after the introductory seven pages consists more of fragments and journal scribbles than a formally integrated paper. But the format is slowly coming along as well as my argumentation. A big change in my writing format lately, and I attribute this to Precedents , is the presentation of my ideas in a holistic manner; in terms of my life's experiences and education, rather than the typical Internet junk where individuals re-hash other author's materials to present their personal philosophy (devoid of any personal experience).

I suppose I want to make the historical connections as to why I think a certain way, rather than simply accepting an idea, or a philosophy, as true, without asking myself how it relates to me. As the whole objective of writing such materials is interpersonal communication, I want to personalize my projects, i.e., "this is me", not be some pretzel-philosopher who thinks he can pull the wool over people's eyes by manipulating big bullshit words when even he doesn't have a clue what he is talking or writing about.

Talking with the Frenchman the other day he noted that the two oldest living cultures/peoples on the planet are the Chinese and the Hebrews. He didn't make the connection but I certainly did. Though the idea has been smeared in Judaism, it's still a permeating idea in Jewish philosophy and living, that of body=soul.

And in Chinese philosophy, while Confucianism has taken a back seat lately, the dominant idea of concentrating on man -- instead of spirits and other worlds -- is very strong in the Chinese mentality today. It's no accident that the two oldest cultures/peoples on the planet have survived because they are the most earth-orientated philosophies of the ancient world. Compare ancient Egypt which believed in dying more than living; the remnants of her civilization amounting to a colossal graveyard.

And then there are little quips that I've been coming up with that I'm bound to incorporate in one of my compilations; such as -- "We were a third world planet until Western civilization decided to secularize; make the connection to religion people!"

Another being an excellent descriptive summary of my philosophy and my vision of future man, is "A Civilization of Messiahs", firmly educated in self and environment (intro and extrospection), in which men trade with one another to mutual advantage, and also have learned to trade with nature in the same manner due to an advanced biological understanding. Further still, to be able to fashion the earth as a cultivated garden because we will have mastered the ability of intricate bio-technologies. To repair and restore the earth-damage we have done in our rise out of ignorance and into intelligence. As an example, to be able to turn sand into freshwater, "ecstasy as flesh, body as my soul, creating liberty in everything I touch." Genesis revisited, indefinitely.

What else have I been doing with my time? I love taking pictures. I must be severely critical of my work because I only come away satisfied with a few of them. But those few -- wow ... I can see them blown up into wall sized editions in the future. From April to September 1999 (6 months) I have used 21 rolls of film. By comparison, from Dec93 to Oct 95 (22 months), I developed 28 rolls of film.

Two of the pictures I wish I had: one was in Suifenhe, where I saw this Russian car with a string of holes across its body, and I knew it had been machine-gunned. I didn't take the picture though because a man was in the car and I wondered if he was Mafia. *smile*

In Shaoxing there was a grandmother who pulled out of her neighborhood with a tricycle-wagon. In the wagon section was a cardboard box, in the box was a baby boy curiously looking about. On the side of the box was stamped in bold English letters "MADE IN CHINA". I kick myself today for not taking that picture.

Pictures that I have developed and like: one is me on the Peak in Hong Kong, sitting on a ledge facing Central's skyscraping heights. That picture has set the pace of every other picture. I absolutely love it. Another is me in Mohe, China's most northern town, sitting in a lumberyard in the midst of two large stacks of (cutdown) trees. Another is in Beijing inside the People's Hall (China's equivalent of US Congress, Canada's Parliament, etc.), built by the Communists in 1959. I'm at a table, amused, drinking a Coca-Cola. I bought the Coca-Cola on purpose at 7am to drink it; in effect, saying -- "Capitalism wins!"

Curious about my costs thus far? I'm averaging about $22.50 Canadian a day in mainland China. That is double the rate of my 1995 touring. However, I am now returning to the cheap west after a four month tour of the 'expensive' eastern coastline. I expect the daily costs to come down somewhat in the months to follow.

Future itinerary? I am going to try to pull off the six continents trip. One of the things that nagged me during the first four months of touring is I had no 'plan', no long range vision, after China. Come my second visit to Hong Kong I purchased a world map to detail where I have been to make it easier for me to determine where I want to go. My mission is to get a good cross-section of each significant piece of humanity.

I have stayed this long in China for a few reasons; being (1) third largest country in the world; (2) 1.3 billion people (over 1/5 of the human population); (3) one of the two oldest living civilizations; (4) the initial Confucian inspiration which drew me here; (5) to try and understand this immense country and culture undergoing such radical reform and change.

After this visa, which should last five months, I will have clocked in 13 months here. A solid experience from a tourist point of view. I am happy with that at present. From here? Taiwan. Maybe the Philippines. Then I'm unsure how to approach it, as I have to research airfares and/or boat routes to/from different countries. But most definitely I'm heading toward Australia. From there I'll loop back up to China, and arrange my transport to Moscow via the Trans-Mongolian railway, entering Europe.

After so much time spent touring the colonial areas of imperialistic Europe I am ready to sink my teeth into Europe's brilliant history, the group of countries which have stamped the whole world in their image. Selecting and touring some 15-20 cities of Europe, I'll then look toward west Africa and enter via Spain-Morocco. How long I stay in Africa, I don't know. Out of all the areas in the world, Africa and South America are the two biggest chunks I know least about. Anyway, I'm contemplating Africa.

And, somehow, after that, pending the cheapest ticket I can find, to South America where I will skirt much of the coastline, climb the Andes, penetrate the Brazilian jungle, float down the Amazon, pop up in Central America, blow through Mexico, and end up on the east coast of The United States of America with New York City as 'my cherry on top' and the place I declare bankruptcy. This will where I will meet a gang of computer geeks who will help me to make a video game of all my travels, causing me to earn an inexhaustible fortune, and you can come to visit me in my capitalist garden and penthouse suite which constitute the top three floors of a re-designed Empire State Building. Yeah, so there you have a small idea of my modest future ambitions.