The Strangest Day in China

Why “Shelter-in-Place” works better in China than the U.S.A.

By November 15th, I’d already spent five months in Beijing, China. I was there to open an English Language Institute. Young Chinese college hopefuls could attend the training I’d facilitate and bypass the TOEFL test required by most universities for undergraduate entry.

I’d traveled as far south as Guilin by slow train for a small adventure holiday where I ate snakes and other strange animals I’m too afraid to reveal. I’d seen Shanghai and the reasons for its comparison to New York City. And I had become familiar enough with Beijing to explore its center and outskirts via subway without a map or getting lost.

Culture Shock

I joined a local gym and would frequent it at least an hour a day. A curious sight that held me for a particular while was the habit of almost every man flexing in the mirror after performing a set of exercises.

Behaving like a body-builder was the standard operating procedure for 90% of the men working out whether they looked like a pogo stick or an NFL running back. I half-thought about doing it too after every bicep curl or bench press. I’d blend in a little better. Locals would think my sharp western nose and bright blonde hair was the only difference we shared in appearance.

My second surprise came in the way of babies and their toilet use. Most Chinese infants don’t wear diapers. Instead, parents fit them with slit-bottom pants called kaidangku. The babies are then encouraged and trained to release when held over a toilet or a trash can.

At first, I thought a parent, in a wild moment of frustration, was throwing their baby away. I ran to the trash can in a courageous effort to stop an incident of abuse only to watch a slow slither of chocolaty liquid descend like ketchup on a plate of fries. It took some getting used to seeing young humans defecate over bins and spare parcels of grass. After a few close encounters on the subway, I made sure to keep my distance from a surety of trouble.

The Day the Heat Turns On

At the end of October, the weather began getting uncomfortably cold in the capital city. I rummaged through my apartment in search of a switch or device to initiate the central heating. After two days of falling asleep in jackets and curled up in thin blankets, I visited my Chinese friend across the street to solicit his help.

“You’re so funny, Luke! That’s not the way it works?” “What do you mean? How could it possibly work any other way?”

While containing brevity of amusement, my friend pulled me to a calendar stuck to his fridge by a magnet. He pointed to November 15th, where I saw a big red circle.

“This is the day the government turns on the heat, Luke.” “What?” “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

He seemed startled I’d think it such an oddity that the powers at be would hold control over whether or not I kept warm at night.

“They are the government. They do as they please. They do right by this.”

I walked home as the night slowly fell on me. The streets I’d become so familiar with looked like strangers. I examined signs and windows trapped by height to see if I could find cameras surveying my every move. Suddenly I didn’t trust the Chinese government.

A Contrast of Order

Life as a foreigner in the confines of the U.S.A for the last 17 years has proved to me the vast freedom and spaciousness of thought that is America. I’ve come to appreciate a citizen’s questioning of authority, right to individual liberty, and pursuit of happiness. It’s the most definitive tenant in the U.S.A and arguably sets it apart as the greatest nation in the world.

When the Chinese government asks its citizens to jump, they reply, “How high?” There is little resistance to a flurry of new orders and commands. Utmost respect and fear fall on the suits who sit in high places. Chinese moral duty implies strict adherence to the government order. Whereas in the USA, it’s almost a civic duty to question law, to voice opinion in amongst a barrage of new mandates.

In Walks COVID-19

It didn’t take long for footage to circulate the internet showing Chinese police officers arresting citizens trying to catch a quick breath of fresh air. Now the already laid foundation of fear and respect came with a heavy hand of discipline and punishment. Meanwhile, just a few days ago, a famous preacher, Rodney Howard Boone, was arrested in Florida for continuing with church services to a 4000 member-based community. What followed was considerable debate across multiple streams as to whether freedoms set out in the constitution protected him from arrest. If this church gathering took place in China, bet your life on it, every person in that building would have found a few nights in jail.

A Chain Is Only as Strong as Its Weakest Link

The nature of the contagiousness of COVID-19 is such that a community response is only as successful as its most disobedient member/s. While avoiding commentary on the ethical morality of the two countries at large, a simple observation understands that “Shelter-in-Place” cannot properly exist in a country like the U.S.A. unless a move of extreme government interference takes place.

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

The most important question is, is that what Americans honestly want?

I can only see two options in the current dilemma:

The American government has to overstep its traditional boundaries for this quarantine initiative to work. Citizens should choose for themselves what is and isn’t responsible concerning their movement in society.

The next day, after learning of the preposterous revelation that I am powerless over the temperature of my apartment, I visited the clothing market across the street.

Here I bought two thick blankets and a space heater just to be sure. I covered tightly in a ball of fire for ten days, then sure enough November 15th rolled around, and like clockwork, the Chinese government had given me warmth.