Welcome to communist China. My observations.

I recently returned from a 13-day adventure into China. I went with my daughter and a dear friend who had introduced us to a missionary family via Facebook. This family has lived and worked in China for 7 years now. I have followed their work with orphans and was excited to get to meet them face to face and work with the orphans I had only seen pictures of.  I didn't set any expectations for the trip, rather I tried to stay open to whatever God wanted to do and teach me.

From the moment we landed in China the whole experience was a shock mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I plan to write about these experiences over the next weeks.
Here are some of my initial thoughts collected from my observances. I hope you gain some insights from them.


The Chinese government seems to enjoy creating chaos. Especially for foreigners. They have multiple lines and duplicate checkpoints to check foreigners. This means a lot of waiting, walking, standing and stress.

Airport Security

Twice they demand your fingerprints not just one, but all fingers! They scan your passport several times and just for good measure there's an actual guard who scrutinizes it too (I smiled at them, but they were not impressed!)

Beijing Checkpoint

They also take your picture not once but repeatedly and they use facial recognition software. It's really unnerving. No one is getting by them!

Beijing Checkpoint

The Chinese government loves their control! There are different driver's license requirements for different parts of China. You can't just drive freely wherever you want. And don't forget those cameras, they are not just for the airport they are everywhere! That's not an exaggeration either. Along the road, you will see white flashes overhead as cameras take pictures of drivers at regular intervals. Cameras on the sidewalks, in shopping areas, everywhere. There are even security guards set up throughout; you don't enter a shopping area or even subdivision without a checkpoint.

Traveling within China from one province to another is a hassle. You can't just travel from one place to another like we do from state to state. There are rules and laws and checkpoints and; seriously you are taking my picture again? Chinese people are not allowed to travel freely from province to province. You have to have a permit that way they can control the population in bigger cities and especially keep the poor in the poor areas.

Driving, walking and just getting around, in general, is a risk. Lanes, traffic lights, lines on the roads are all optional. Turning left? Often there isn't a light, and even if there were, you just get out there and turn when you think you can. It's very terrifying! People walk out in front of you at any time, trucks run on red lights, motorcycles and rickshaws are always whizzing about alongside traffic it's all very overwhelming.

Cleanliness is an issue too. In some ways they take cleanliness serious for instance, the elderly are employed to maintain the roadways by picking up litter, trimming trees and sweeping the roads, but in other ways the Chinese lack common cleaning practices.
The main examples are:
     Bathrooms: Now this I can not understand. I'm sure someone with more knowledge can explain this to me and I admit my ignorance. To me though, it seems common sense to provide soap to wash your hands after using the bathroom. It also makes sense to me to use toilet paper when needed and furthermore to flush the toilet paper so that your bathrooms don't stink so bad! But maybe there's a very good reason for this and I am unaware.
Since we are on the topic of bathrooms, can we please get with the times and raise the toilet up to a proper height for women? I mean, really! Why is it acceptable to make us squat all the way to the floor!
     Hospitals: Granted I did not go into the hospitals myself, but the family we stayed with have lived there for 7 years and, unfortunately, they have had to visit the hospitals more times than they care. For starters, I hope you never need an ambulance. Two things are necessary to use the ambulance, money, and someone to call, unless you are alone and then, hopefully, you have the presence of mind and ability to use your phone to get an ambulance. Even if you manage to get an ambulance, I hope it isn't too critical because good luck having it reach you in time! Traffic does NOT have to yield to an ambulance in China. Now, this I witnessed first hand as the border checkpoint held us up asking dumb questions while an ambulance with it's lights on was behind us!
Ok, so no once you get to the hospital be prepared for a whole lot of chaos! You get to the desk and pay for your visit and everything else, collect your receipts, go and get your own IV supplies and then have a seat. Yep, I said get your own stuff and have a seat. Stretchers, gurneys, private rooms are rare. Most likely you will wait out there with everyone else for hours and the doctor when he/she sees you will see you out there. Oh, and the hospitals are not clean. It is not uncommon to see blood on a wall, or in the sink, or other things. It's not uncommon to have your doctor attend with unwashed hands or to rinse out blood from a rag then proceed to wipe down the table and rinse it out in the same sink and then use that sink to wash your hands (if the doctor decides to even wash). Many of the medical supplies you may need, you will need to go around the hospital to collect yourself.
One of the family members we stayed with told us about a time she ended up in the hospital, She had passed out from a heart condition. She was in the hospital and at one point she needed to be transported to another section of the hospital, this required her family to have to carry her outside, in the rain to the other section. This was just a typical experience in a Chinese hospital!

All of this seems to be a natural extension of the belief held by the Chinese government that human life is not sacred. Don't believe me, do a basic Google search for "sanctity of life China" and see what you come up with. I was only in China a brief time and my friends for only 7 years, but it doesn't take long to see the reality of a communist government that cares nothing for the sacredness of life, but rather sees it only as a means to wealth. The people, in general, do not smile at one another or greet one another. There isn't a concern for the general well being of the people around you. Men abuse women right in public and people just watch or continue on. Fights break out and no one cares. Horrible accidents happen on the road and unless you are able to call for help or you are with someone who cares about you, you may never get the help you need. People will instead gather around to take videos or photos of you as you lay there suffering.

I don't pretend to know everything about China or write this to paint everyone in a bad light. It's my 12-day observance of people living in a communist country. There are, of course, decent people living in China and there are those that even know Christ, thank God. But overall there is a darkness that hovers over china, and as followers of Jesus, we would be wise to not forget about them. We would do well to remember them and pray for them and take every opportunity to bring light and hope to our fellow men, women, and children living in China.