Once again, I'm waiting for the plane to take off at the airport. Shenzhen is the last stop of this journey. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. After the New Year's Eve dinner, I will leave for the United States.

This trip back to China lasted longer than the trip six months ago, and I naturally visited more cities. Unlike the last time I was a novice on the road, this time I was more familiar with the roads, and naturally the experience was more profound. Six months ago, while traveling south, I wrote an essay: "Journey to the South", this time simply titled it "Travel Notes to the Country". Because I moved around too much in February, I never had time to meditate and digest (because the high-speed train is too fast and the plane is too inconvenient). It is difficult for people to have the thoughts to write when they are tired. Therefore, this article is presented in the form of intermittent conversations. Each paragraph has no coherence. You can choose to taste it.

Shenzhen is the best Again, it varies greatly from place to place

Shenzhen is the last stop of this trip. I didn’t have time to arrange it, but I still flew there the day before New Year’s Eve. Shenzhen is an immigrant city. During the Spring Festival, most people go out. It is also located at the southernmost point of the mainland. Unlike other places in the Yangtze River Delta, high-speed rail does not account for a large part of the passenger flow. Most of the traffic pressure is at the airport. This time on the plane to Shenzhen, the most profound thing I experienced was: young people, almost all of them were young people, and surprisingly they were not impatient, not impatient, and polite. The couple sitting next to me read a book on the plane... This made me, a person who claims to be a hero, a little ashamed.

This time I went to almost all big cities in China (Disclaimer: It does not mean that those who have not been to are not big cities. If you stay in China for a long time, you will have to take care of some mentally fragile people. Sometimes the pace of these people will make you unable to speak),Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shandong. Since I have been to both the north and the south, I have a deep understanding of the differences between the north and the south, the differences between cities, and the differences in culture.

I have a ranking of cities suitable for living, but I have been hesitant to list them. Finally, I decided to list the top three, which only represents my own point of view:

Shenzhen>Shanghai>Hangzhou>Others

The reason why I don’t list others is because I feel that I only like these three cities for the time being. Needless to say, Shenzhen has already been explained in the previous travel note, and this experience has deepened my good impression. Winter is so warm! ! ! In fact, Shanghai and Hangzhou are about the same to me. The hard conditions are definitely Shanghai is better, but Shanghai feels that there is too much finance and too little Internet. If there is more finance, it will make people feel that the whole city is flying in the sky, and every sentence can blow up the earth. Shanghai is a big city that accommodates all kinds of people. Naturally, it is a mixed bag, but it mainly depends on the circle of life. Hangzhou has always been a small city to me, although it is really not that small now. Hangzhou still feels casual and comfortable to live in. As a central city in the Internet industry, it feels like everyone is on the same platform and there are no barriers to communication. Moreover, Hangzhou has entered the stage where one mobile phone dominates the world. The Internet penetrates into all walks of life, and almost all you need is a mobile phone to do everything. This makes Shanghai lagging too far behind.

I would like to mention Beijing here. I have never experienced Beijing before, but this experience was particularly profound. There are too many people in Beijing! ! ! However, this is understandable due to China's political situation, but it's really uncomfortable to live there. There are traffic jams almost everywhere, around the clock, and there are a lot of people on the subway. In addition, some local old Beijingers have a detached sense of self-identity that others cannot explain. Every time I go to a city, I like to chat with different people about their experiences in the city, some good and some bad. But only in Beijing you can't say bad things... they will just slap you back, and they are unwilling to trace the root cause to find the reasons and communicate. I think this is the degree of openness of a city and the degree of acceptance of opinions. After all, everyone has different experiences and opinions. Whether it is good or bad, we can look at it from both sides.

Another difference between the north and the south is reflected in the heating. I have never walked between the north and the south like this in the coldest season. As soon as I walked around, I found that the heating was so comfortable! From south to north, you can feel that the city is getting older and older, but it is getting warmer and warmer. Well, this warmth has no other meaning.

Overconsumption of China

Everyone knows that China's labor force is abundant and cheap. Due to the household registration and first-to-get-rich systems, various classes have been widely divided. In this case, it can greatly stimulate the enthusiasm of the lower class people to work, which is also a source of abundant labor force. I didn’t have such a deep experience when I came back before, but this time I found that it was a bit excessive, especially in coastal cities such as Hangzhou and Shanghai.

The most obvious one is in the restaurant. Under the leadership of Haidilao in the past few years, the service in major restaurants has been so good that it is outrageous. Why do I say it is outrageous? Sometimes some services make people feel like they are taking off their pants and farting. In addition, the popular restaurants are different every year (it seems to be updated very quickly). Put together, it makes people think that the competition in this industry is fierce, from the competition of dish taste to the detailed competition of service.

This is a typical example of excess. As consumption upgrades, labor costs will also rise. These industries that are highly dependent on consumption will usher in a reshuffle. Now ordering in Hangzhou is done by scanning QR codes. This is a direction to save labor costs. It not only facilitates people at a table to order food together, but also reduces the cost of restaurant waiters and menu updates. Unmanned supermarkets, honeycombs, etc., all use technology to replace people. This is the future. Many Internet projects in the United States cannot be launched not only because the proportion of Internet users here is small, but also because labor costs are too high. China will also usher in this stage in the near future.

In fact, it is not only the above-mentioned overconsumption, but also the overconsumption of the middle class represented by programmers. Nowadays, the performance of many companies is based on unlimited overtime, especially those engaged in the Internet. Since the threshold is not high, competition is mainly focused on production speed. Whoever comes out first will have the upper hand. As a result, everyone is working overtime. This vicious competition will only intensify. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Internet is hollowing out China. Think about it, we are laughing at the cragilist in the United States all day long. The UI is almost 30 years ago, but isn’t it quite practical? As long as the tool can be used, excessive packaging and UI can only reflect the shortcomings of the practicality of the tool itself. Of course, in China, the competition is too fierce.

I hope this vicious consumption can end as soon as possible.

The profound malice brought about by the information age

(Written just after returning to China)

I have lived in this city for 22 years and have only been abroad for 5 years, but I feel ridiculed by the entire city.

I went back to the city from Xiasha today and went to a store to change a few coins in order to take the bus. The clerk spoke with an accent I don’t know where and asked, "Young man, don’t you have a mobile phone? Why do you need coins?" Well... As an IT person, how could I tell him that I don’t know how to use Momo’s coins and leave after changing them. When I was looking for guides on the Internet, the bus came and I had to open Alipay and get on. Fortunately, I still had the foundation and found the bus card at once, but... I never expected... I couldn't find the place to swipe it... The bus driver pointed at a camera impatiently... Well...

After returning to the city, I went to Wumart to buy some food... When I got to the third floor, I was dumbfounded. Why was the shopping cart locked? I couldn't take it out, so I had to pick up a small basket from the side. Alas... I saw the aunt next door pushing the shopping cart away with a "bi" sound...

I am very used to scanning the QR code to pay, but I am still a novice when it comes to scanning the QR code to order food. Nowadays, domestic restaurants no longer have menus. After a few people sat down, they started ordering together with a few clicks of "bi bi bi". The first time I was a little confused, but the second time I started to find it fun. I studied how it was implemented and what bugs there were. People are... used to staying in the countryside, so naturally there is something new everywhere.

How tired are the comrades in China?

Milk tea is 23 yuan a cup, beef noodles are 48 yuan, Shaxian pig's trotter rice is 18 yuan, buffet is 188 yuan per person...I made a surprising discovery!

If this price were placed in a city center or a high-end shopping mall, I would still be able to accept it, but if it were just the price in an ordinary place, it would shock me. And I found that this is the norm in Hangzhou and Shanghai. Suddenly, I finally discovered the suffering of the Chinese people!

Prices and house prices are comparable to those in the United States, but wages are still in RMB and taxes are extremely high. Let’s talk about prices first. The price of a Starbucks in the United States is only 3 knives (20 yuan). A normal meal is 8-12 knives (52-78 renminbi). If you go to a restaurant to eat, it will only cost 20-30 knives (130-195 yuan). Are the prices similar? Let’s talk about housing prices. The price around the urban area in Hangzhou is 40,000-60,000 per square meter, and 100 square meters is about 4 million-6 million. In the United States, the same apartment in the middle of the city costs about 400,000 to 700,000 US dollars (2.6 million to 4.5 million), and due to the developed transportation, most people live in villas around the city. The prices are similar, but the houses are several times larger. ...Well...I fell into deep thinking.

Let some goods become rich first, and then wages can catch up? Is that what you mean? Are domestic workers producing less than Americans? Or has the domestic capitalist class taken the majority?

Thoughts on philosophical marriage

I just saw an interesting point of view on Weibo. It was caused by a question from a foreign netizen:

Why are Chinese people so smart?

Why are Chinese people so smart?

China has a long civilization. During millenia, China practiced meritocracy and polygamy, punished criminal ruthlessly.

The net effect is that smart people were able to rise to the top of society and had more children. Dumb people who had to resort to crime to make a living were removed from the general population.

This evolutionary pressure may not be significant for a country with short history, but has a significant impact on a country with long history such as China.

China has a long civilization. For thousands of years, China practiced meritocracy and polygamy, and severely punished criminals.

The net effect is that smart people rise to the top of society and have more children. Those stupid people who have to resort to crime in order to make a living are removed from the general population.

This evolutionary pressure may not be important for a country with a short history, but it has a significant impact on a country with a long history (such as China).

Such similar views have been seen more than once. "Maristism" that tends to be completely egalitarian became popular around the world after World War II. Europe, based on first-mover advantage, entered "communism" early, and the production value of a small number of elites was used to feed the people of the country. As time went by, the disadvantages gradually manifested, and the high-welfare countries in Eastern Europe basically entered recession to varying degrees. Countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany are also stuck in the quagmire of dealing with refugees.

The United States took advantage of the rapid rise of World War I and World War II, and the system is similar. As development becomes more and more egalitarian and protectionist, the strong have to take care of the weak as a matter of course. This is actually very human. After all, the winner needs to share his achievements in order to gain a sufficient sense of personal accomplishment. Otherwise, who knows you are so rich, and who will give you social respect and status?

However, under such a system, the Detroit tragedy also occurred in the United States. Most lazy people coveted the advantages of the system and enjoyed themselves, causing the Motor City to go bankrupt and the land to be worthless. This situation seems to be getting more and more serious now. There is a black area around every city. The black areas are chaotic. Children have changed their outlook on life due to the education they have been exposed to. And this group of people has the highest fertility rate. A low-income family can have many children, because more children will receive more subsidies from the government, but most families cannot afford to raise them, which has become a social problem.

On the other hand, middle-class families, because they need to produce and live a fast-paced life, have no time and energy to worry about having children. They even feel that having children is a drag. After all, they have to give their energy and property to a person who does not exist. On the high-yield side, there are resources to have children, but since there is only one wife, sometimes the wife is also a high-yield or a celebrity, so she may not have many children.

This has formed an inverted society. Low-born children have huge fertility, but they have no conditions to raise them. They even grow up in a bad environment and become a drag on society after they grow up. However, middle- and high-born children have low fertility rates due to various reasons. This has become a huge problem, and governments around the world have tried to solve this problem with maternity subsidies, but with little success. The United States has not yet started such a policy. This is because the United States is an immigrant society with a complex population composition. The comfortable capitalist life in the United States can attract a large number of people to apply for immigration and become the main productive force of society. But what happens after the attractiveness of capital declines?

Let’s go, I’ll write more later.

postscript

While waiting for my flight back to the United States, I hurriedly put together several previous articles. This month has passed in an instant, and a new life will begin after returning to the United States.

I met a lot of people and talked about a lot of things when I returned to China this time. The country is still in a stage of development and there are all kinds of people. However, the type of people who really do things can be identified by just talking. However, due to the chaotic order, not the people who really do things will succeed. This is what I hate very much. But the world is not like this, and those who succeed are often not those who work the hardest.

I have been thinking about whether to return to my country before, but after these two long-term domestic travels, I have gained a new understanding. As I get older, my thinking is not active enough. I have recorded a lot of things and will share them when I have the opportunity.