Did you know?

With my visit to India and then to China, I found myself returning to the "Did you know" presentation on You Tube. I've got somewhat slow access to the Internet today in the "medium sized city" of Hangzhou so I've not watched this update of the first one that provided amazing stats about the US compared to China and India.

By the way, a medium-sized city has just 6 million people, while the large cities (Shanghai and Beijing) have over 15 million!

My head is swimming with thoughts about China. For example, prior to Mao, China had just 400 million people. Under Chairman Mao, who believed that the country could dominate with more people, the country quickly doubled to 800 million. But then, with the cultural revolution a "one family/one child" policy was initiated. If the first child is a girl, then 4-5 years later, the family can try again. If the child is a boy, that's all the family can have.

The implications of this population growth: 1) all children are tremendously spoiled. One of our guides told us that children are both spoiled and unprepared to share or collaborate unless taught this in university; 2) girls are spoiled too, but they are somewhat "2nd class," 3) there will not be enough children to earn/pay for the larger population that preceded them. Systems thinking would have helped in this case, eh?

But what a wonderfully dynamic, while steeped in history, place China is. Stay tuned for blogs on construction, food, and culture.