ch 3 and 4 Dodson

Chapter 3

In Dodson's words it seems that the Chinese government will do anything to keep their people where they want them. They arrange property transfer in a way that is in no way beneficial to the resident but it works for the government. With Dodson's description of "Hukou" specifically, it is apparent that the government was acting from a place of fear, and that is the fear of failure. Dodson writes that "the central government could keep one of the greatest variables--and therefore risk of failure-- of central planning fixed; that is, the movements of the Chinese population". Dodson goes on to talk about how the planning of towns and cities was intentional in "rebuilding the country in the socialist mold". I responded to this reading in shock especially due to the immense loss of earned opportunities that Dodson described. People were taken away from their homes, work and schooling. I cannot imagine someone coming in and removing me from the life that I have worked towards. What if the government had the power to strip me of the education my Mother and I have strived for me to have? In these times, the uncertainty that the Chinese people have to live with undoubtedly adds to the stress the experience, as explored by Dodson in earlier chapters.

Chapter 4

Aside from the mention of "cancer villages" where family is the core value in surviving, I found the mention of "mass hysteria" to be uniquely compelling. it was compelling to me in how overtly twisted it was. Twelve hundred employees had all fallen extremely ill, having convulsions and vomiting but "public health experts from Beijing agreed with the doctors, business executives, and local government officials that staff reactions were the result of mass hysteria". Dodson also writes that medical tests did not show any poisoning to occur. I wonder how doctors, people who are supposed to be truthful and healing were manipulated into blatantly lying to patients. It makes you wonder how deep the corruption really runs in China, and really anywhere in the world. It seems that business and money rule everything, even down to a persons health and safety. The employee described at the "Connell operations" took her job back or else she would not have had continued medical treatment. I wonder if the twelve hundred employees who fell ill in any way really believed that their situation was "mass hysteria" when they were obviously physically ill. The fact that they did not really have the opportunity to take a serious stand against the conditions they work in is I feel what sets China apart from say, the U.S. If what happened in the Connell operations happened in the states it would have caused a major uproar and I think that fact is what is the most compelling to me. We are all human and we all become ill at times, we all fight to live. What makes our lives in America any more valuable that the billions of lives in China?