Zhao Xuan, A Retired Teacher from Xi’an

Abstract

Even at 82, retired teacher Ms. Zhao Xuan still has more energy than I do. I was excited to hear her story because Xi’an had changed so much since I’d first visited in 1990 for an international management conference. “Can you share how life has changed since your childhood, how you became a teacher — and what accounts for China’s big changes?”

Even at 82, retired teacher Ms. Zhao Xuan still has more energy than I do. I was excited to hear her story because Xi’an had changed so much since I’d first visited in 1990 for an international management conference. “Can you share how life has changed since your childhood, how you became a teacher — and what accounts for China’s big changes?”

Ms. Zhao said, “I was born in 1937, and my family’s situation was good because my father ran a textile factory. We are from Hebei, not Shaanxi but after the Lugou Bridge Incident of 1937, my father moved to Xi’an with his family and everyone in the factory.”

The Lugou Bridge Incident, also known as the Marco Polo Bridge or Double Seven Incident, was a battle between the Chinese and the Japanese troops, considered a landmark event in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Tensions between China and Japan had risen ever since 1931 when Japan invaded northeast China and created the puppet state of “Manchukuo.” (Fig. 8.1)

Fig. 8.1

Photo by Jie Shangfeng

Prof. William Brown interviewing retired teacher Zhao Xuan in Xi’an, Shaanxi on July 13, 2019.

“Our family was in Xingtai, Hebei Province, when the Japanese occupied northeast China. After the Lugou Bridge Incident, the war quickly spread to my hometown, so we moved to Xi’an. I spent half of my youth here in Xi’an, studying in middle school and the Northwestern Polytechnical University. After graduation, I was assigned to Beijing and later went to the Xinjiang Institute of Technology. Later I was transferred back to Xi’an because my father lived here. As I studied mechanical engineering, I first worked at the Shaanxi Institute of Mechanical Engineering, and then the University of Petroleum until I retired. My life is very ordinary. Basically, I’ve just been a teacher all my life.”

“You said your home conditions were good when you were young, but how about the general situation in Xi’an at that time?”

“Xi’an was relatively backward,” she said. “Not very developed. The roads were dirt and gravel. People’s lives were very poor, and the economy was badly off. Even 10 years ago it was not that good but in the last few years Xi’an has developed extremely fast.”

“Why has it developed so fast this past decade?” I asked her.

“Not just Xi’an but the entire country has developed rapidly in the past 10 years. Our national policies are very effective.”

“Even farmers have said that to me,” I said. “Many have told me that China has changed so much during the past decade thanks to the good policies, and also because the government understands their needs. But what has made this one decade so special?”

“The Belt and Road Initiative has helped Xi’an. Busses and other transportation are very good now, it is now very convenient for us to go out. But northwest China will always develop. Although north Shaanxi was very backward, this is where the Chinese revolution was born and the people are resilient to this day. North Shaanxi is now developing very well, with industry developing in the entire Xi’an High-tech Zone. The revenue of the high-tech zone accounts for a big part of Xian’s GDP.”

“My University of Petroleum is a school managed by Shaanxi Province, but in recent years many schools run by Xi’an are developing even better. Xi’an schools’ salaries are even higher than ours because Xi’an’s economy is better than Shaanxi’s, so Xi’an schools are richer. But I think Shaanxi Province should not only manage universities in Xi’an but also help universities in other cities that are even poorer.”

“When you were young, did you see many differences before and after liberation?”

“China was relatively backward before liberation,” Ms. Zhao said. “We didn’t have much. Our situation was fine during the 1950s when China advocated ‘advance through science,’ but it was not good during the Cultural Revolution, when we had our twists and turns. But development has been rapid since reform and opening up.”

“What have been the biggest changes in Xi’an after reform and opening up? Xi’an was completely different when I first came here in 1990.”

“In the early days of reform and opening up, northwest China lagged behind the coastal areas. Coastal cities such as Shenzhen and Xiamen developed relatively well, one of my children went to study at Xiamen University. Although Xi’an had many universities, their conditions were not as good, and it was not easy getting news from the rest of China. But since the establishment of the Xi’an High-tech Zone, development has sped up a lot. Moreover, China has relied on itself to develop, unlike countries that relied on attacking other countries to develop.”

“China was certainly capable of bullying other nations had it wanted to,” I said. “I’m amazed by the advanced weapons invented by China over the past 3,000 years.”

Ms. Zhao agreed that ancient China could have conquered the world had they cared to, “But I think Chinese people are more loyal and honest, and we believe in the golden mean,” she said.

“Yes, I agree. Balance. For example, many people think foreign trade is Xi Jinping’s only goal for the Belt and Road Initiative, but it is also important to help China’s western regions to develop.”

Ms. Zhao smiled. “All our trains now go to Europe. Next time we go to Europe, we don’t need to take a plane. We can go there by train.”

“How long would it take?” I asked.

“Well, it would probably take a long time,” she admitted.

“Today we can take a train from Hong Kong to Beijing in only 10 h,” I said. “But in the mid-1990s the drive from Xiamen to Shenzhen took me 18 exhausting hours, and trucks threw rocks on Shenzhen’s gravel road right through my windshield. Today, expressways connect even the remotest corners of the country.”

“Yes,” Ms. Zhao agreed. “China’s roads are very well maintained.”

“When I drove through Xi’an on my way to Tibet in 1994, many of the roads were still dirt — or mud if it was raining. But today China has the best road and rail networks in the world — which is why Xi’an and other cities are now prospering.”

“I took an American train from Chicago to Los Angeles,” Ms. Zhao said. “When I visited my eldest son and eldest daughter in the US in 2009 and 2015. They bought me a sleeper ticket, but that sleeper was very small and the air-conditioning was very cold. It was freezing cold, and it was hard to breathe because the air was not circulating. That sleeper was very backward compared to Chinese trains.”

“I hope American trains can catch up with China’s someday,” I said.

“The Belt and Road Initiative seems very popular in many countries,” Ms. Zhao said. “When President Xi proposed it, he said that we had One Belt from Xinjiang, China to Europe.”

“I think Xi Jinping got his idea for the Belt and Road Initiative 20 years ago, when he was in Fujian, because he knew Fujian was the ancient start of the maritime silk route.”

Ms. Zhao poured some more tea, then said, “Much has changed over the years, but in reality, my standard of living all along has been okay — though of course conditions are much better now. My retirement salary has been raised 11 times, and though not big, it continues to increase. Given how many people are in our country, it is incredible for everyone to improve even a little.”

“Yes, I agree,” I said. “I saw an elderly man walking on the side of the road this morning. In fact, I saw many retirees out walking. They walked slowly, but they seemed healthy.”

“Medical care is continuing to improve,” Ms. Zhao said. “Not long ago, few Chinese lived past 40 or 50 years old. Nowadays, there are many in their 80 s or 90 s, and even some over 100.”

“Just a last question,” I said. “You said your living conditions have been acceptable, even in the past. But how was it for ordinary people?”

Ms. Zhao shrugged. “I’m not very familiar with this. But in our area, farmers seem quite affluent because they live in the suburbs. I went to get a haircut and met an old lady who was no longer farming, and I asked her how she is doing now. She said that farmers like her were relocated and given new homes, and they easily earn RMB10,000 to RMB20,000 a month in rent — much more than I make! Of course, that’s for the entire family, but even so, farmers in the suburbs are well off now. The rural areas may not be as good but state policies give rural people advantages, because President Xi has insisted that no one be left below certain levels. China’s population is too big — much bigger than the US. But that can also be good. We are not afraid of the US blockade because our domestic market is huge.”

I said, “What really interests me is that China has changed so much over the past few decades but the changes in your own life have not been that big.”

“Actually, my life has changed a lot,” she said. “My salary is much higher. When I just graduated from university, my monthly salary was only RMB48.”

“What do you think the future holds for China?” I asked.

“I think China will be very good in the future,” she said. “Many new things appear, and very quickly — things like WeChat. I can’t understand much of it, or keep up. I’m outdated, because there are so many things on the Internet and smart gadgets that I think are too difficult to use — and not really that useful! Changes are so fast that they are overwhelming. Youth can keep up but not old folks like us! I told a former colleague a few days ago that maybe old folks should just buy self-driving cars because now we don’t even know how to drive and getting around is inconvenient.”

“Actually, I’ve only driven our car about three times in two years,” I said. “And then only for the annual car inspection. It’s much easier to order a Didi car, and I don’t have to worry about finding a parking place.”

Ms. Zhao nodded. “I don’t know what the future holds — but there is hope. We all hope the future will be even better.”

“I agree. Everyone talks about the Chinese Dream, but in fact everyone in the world shares the same dream.”

“Yes, everyone in the world simply wants to live a good life. But Trump said that the life of Chinese is too good. Does he have a brain disease?”

I laughed. “I remember that even Chinese beggars were using mobile phones before American businessmen had started using them. Nowadays, beggars display QR Codes so that you can donate to them with Alipay or WeChat! But in Western countries most people don’t even know what a QR code is.”

“Yes, many foreign countries do not use WeChat payment. In China, even farmers selling vegetables accept pay by WeChat — even for a purchase of only RMB1!”

We had another cup of tea, took some selfies together, and then I bid my host goodbye. Her story was quite different from others I had heard. Even in the old days, life had not been that bad. But even so, like virtually every other person I’ve met in China, she has seen great changes in the nation as a whole, and her own life was much better than 20 years ago. And she was not only well aware of the changes in China but in the rest of the world as well, and was proud of what her homeland had accomplished when so many other countries were even worse off than 30 years ago.

I think Ms. Zhao should come out of retirement and teach the younger generation about the Chinese Dream, because I think many of them really have no idea how fortunate they are to live this day in this country.