Rob Gifford

The Beijing Bookworm hosted a discussion last Friday led by Rob Gifford, the former NPR China Correspondent, author of China Road, and a sometimes self-described "panda hugger." China Road - one of the first books we read before moving to Beijing -- is Mr Gifford's vivid description of his journey along Route 312, China's equivalent of Route 66. Route 312 winds 3,000 miles across China from east to west, starting in Shanghai and ending on the China-Kazakhstan border.

Mr. Gifford described his book as an attempt to put a face on this place. "It's about all the individuals who make up the crazy tableau that is China." But it is also about the mountain of problems currently facing the country - the "fallout of thirty years of double-digit growth." These problems include massive pollution, the widening income gap between the rich and the poor, corrupt officials, peasants angered by land grabs, and harsh family-planning policies. 400 million people have been lifted out of poverty, but at an extreme cost. In short, as Gifford described it, "there are a mountain of problems" and "there must be a crunch coming."

Ultimately, China Road is about what's next. In this regard, Chinese history is both a weight and a portent: throughout recorded history, the story of China is one linked to peasant revolt in the face of corrupt leadership, where "the local official is the curse of the Chinese populace." To Gifford, the present situation is dangerous because of the way the Party resolves problems. Indeed, Gifford believes that people outside of China do not understand just how brittle the situation is. Reform is a must, but when reform truly begins, the Party will release forces that cannot be put back. To the Party, then, reform is dangerous, so they persist in perpetuating "the China Model."

The most interesting thing about the evening, however, may have been the isolation of the audience. As Mr. Gifford said, "China is not Beijing. China is not Shanghai." But the questions asked revealed just how little those in attendance had traveled within the mainland. Indeed, all of us expats in China travel to the major centers, but it's a rare person who has spent time getting to know the rural, inland 中国. As Gifford put it: "there is no one China...oh, wait, of course there is! There is one China, and Taiwan is a part of it!"