does any good news ever come out of china?

I hate that we still live in a world where a person can be arrested and detained indefinitely for telling the truth ~ particularly for telling the truth about their government ~ for trying to make the world a better or kinder place, or just for having a contrary opinion. Hu Jia is the kind of person this world needs more of. His government disagrees. Now his wife is under house arrest with a young baby while he is locked up following a blog entry they didn't like. It makes me mad.

And I know these things happen in many countries, but what's up with China in general. I'm dismayed by how many stories of injustice, cruelty and screwed up thinking come out of China. It makes me feel ill when various students who stay with me tell me about their normal life in China (a life that would grind me into the ground) and it doesn't seem to get any better when you join the workforce.

I know Chinese people I like, but every one of them that was born there is glad to be somewhere else. Even if they love their country they don't love its government. Some are working very hard to qualify for citizenship so they never have to go back. The way the Chinese government abuses their natural environment is second only to the way they abuse their citizens. I used to think that it would be wonderful to travel to China, but lately the idea holds no appeal. I think going there would make me feel frustrated and depressed.

I sometimes think that if China disappeared off the globe tomorrow, the only thing I would miss is their takeout.