Hong Kong

I find myself working in China. My gateway to the People’s Republic is through the city of Hong Kong, where I am spending a 13 hour layover. Hong Kong is a very rich and beautiful city. It is obvious that the money that is flowing through this place is greater than anywhere that I have ever been in my life. It makes me think about the things that I was brought up believing and about the cycles that the global economy takes (and what it means).

I am reading a book on China as I want to know more about this strange place and its people. The book is written about three generations of Chinese women and is written by the third generation (she is an expatriate, currently living in London). In the book, she talks about her parents (both of whom were Communist Officials) and the lies that were promulgated during Mao’s “Great Leap Forward”. One of the things that the Chinese were told at that time was that the children in Capitalist countries were starving (which was actually true in China at the time) and that the Chinese were far better off than the rest of the world. She talked about how real these lies were to her and how surprised she was to see the vibrancy of the west when she finally left China to study in England.

It is a little harder to perpetrate lies in America…the press is independent and largely at odds with the government. Still, we have beliefs (even if they are not official and more often self inflicted) that are inconsistent with the reality that I see around the world. The first is that we live better than people everywhere else…that we are richer and that we are happier. America is very rich, but most people live frantic lives of desperation where their work overshadows their families and the other things that should be the center of their lives. As a result, most Americans are stressed and many are unhappy. Their wealth has not given them the things that bring happiness…that bring peace-of-mind. Still, wealth remains the barometer of happiness in America.

And the world follows…

Economics…economics is not about happiness, but economics is the driver of the world and economics is a race where the leadership changes as the situation changes. It used to take a long time for these changes to take place, but not anymore….now things change at lightning speed. Rome was an economic powerhouse for a millennium, England for centuries, and America…if you say we became the dominant economy in 1945, then I’d say our rule lasted about 60 years. Now comes the dominance of China…

It seems sad that while so many focus on building wealth, the center of wealth keeps moving to somewhere that is more conducive to its maintenance (lower wages for less skilled labor). I think the cycle is inevitable, but it troubles me to know that my children will grow up on the downward side of the wave. I obviously want the best for them, but realize that there will be hard work ahead if they are to maintain the type of life that they have grown up with. I think what troubles me is that I have no way of giving my children the thing that I would most like for them to have….peace and stability.

I’m not sure if I will be there when their trial comes or that I will be able to help them through it. Maybe it is right that I am not there…Ultimately, we must all face the challenges of this world and either overcome them or be swept away by them. I know this, but it is hard to be objective about these trials coming to those you love. I hope that I can convince my children to keep their focus on happiness (and not on wealth). This will be hard as everything around them is telling that they must be richer to be happier. This was not an easy lesson for me to learn…I hope my children get the message more quickly than I did.

Best! Norm.