My China Kanfa.....China on My Mind

I ran across an article the other day where it had said that Xi Jinping has ordered that Senior govt officials will be forbidden from drinking maotai.  So what? What's the definition of a senior official?  County level? Of course not. The military officers can't stay in nice hotels either.  That's a good start. I think the USA could learn from that one.  Seems the guys at the top of the food chain want to improve the reputation of their leaders in the eyes of  their people.  Better late than never. May I offer some further suggestions to help the process along? Why not ban all leaders from driving imports?  In future, govt leaders can only be seen driving China made cars.   Goodbye BMW 7 series and Audi A7's....Hello Honda.   It's an economic trade off I know.  The gov't loses all that tariff income, but at least this way local car production will increase, right?  Need to serve the people.   No more fi...

I'm a bit disappointed in a way to see travel becoming so fast in China.  Is that fair to say? Am I being too reminiscent of the "good old days" when trains were so slow? I hate to say this.....but yeah, maybe I am.  And I am hypocritical as hell. I'm not talking about all the money this costs to do, and how it would be much better spent improving the train infrastructure...you know the trains the masses take, that they can actually afford tickets to ride.   You see....taking the trains in China is probably the best way to learn Chinese.  Getting a ticket for a hard sleeper on a slow moving train was the best way for a serious student(or even a good natured tourist) to communicate with the masses.   People literally had nothing else to do but talk! And gawk! The first train I took in China was from Guangzhou to Kunming and back.  One way was 56 hrs! I'm not bragging....but I am trying to illustrate how impractical it would be for a lao...