Chapter 2

Please respond to what Dodson is saying about anxiety in the Chinese people in this chapter. First summarize his main points and then react to them.  Do you think the Chinese have any reason to be more anxious than Americans? Why or why not? 

Dodson talks about the limitations of the middle class in China as stresses for the people as a whole. First, he talks about the middle class's lack of power. They do not have power to move, or even hold onto belongings or jobs with any amount of certainty. Furthermore, the Chinese people are not allowed to move up from poor to middle class to upper middle class with any ease. The changes are difficult and frowned upon by the government. This creates a tension in the homes and the economy at all times.

Next, Dodson talks about the education system. First of all, with education costs growing, most are not able to attend even a small school, much less a university. The education system leaves students in a constant battle with their peers for the highest seat in the class. After that, the students are required to take an obscenely rigorous exam. This exam then allows them to enter a college, but they are usually restricted by area – with the best schools being in certain cities, which may or may not be where the student is from. Never the less, the students are still stuck where they started out – this could make them less likely to find a job later.

Next, Dodson talks about the lack of jobs available to students. After completing their time at the university, students might not even be able to find a job after they graduate. With the lack of jobs, students are left over qualified for work and not able to repay their families who had to sent them through school. This leaves the next working class jobless and unable to support anyone at all.

Finally, Dodson talks about healthcare. He says that usually officials are paid off to serve the people, and if you have no money, then you will not be helped. This means that one broken bone might take food off the table for a week or a month. This leaves the Chinese people who come down with a real illness unable to find or pay for treatment. If they die, then they will also leave their families unable to support themselves in the dead loved ones absence.

All in all, I think that Chinese people are much more anxious that Americans. The things being limited by their government are rights here in the United States and we might argue about them, but we do not have to fight our government for them on a daily basis. Our system of economic flow makes it much easier to succeed though hard work, rather than the Chinese system which makes people work hard and stay suppressed. I feel that Chinese people have every right to be anxious as they have no recourse and no solutions that they can manage on their own.