Jonathan Xavier Weinert 2008

Nov 1, 2005: The security guard from my dorm, Mr. Zhang, invited me to his home in neighboring Huang Du (the 1000 year old town next to Jiading) for lunch with his wife and 20yr old son. The wife and son both are both general laborers in local plants. None of them speak English. They moved here from a town in Henan province (12 hours train ride away) for a better life and to make more money. Sadly, their youngest son and daughter (still in high school) needed to stay behind to live with their parents (I'm not sure if this is because of the one-child rule in Shanghai). He hopes they will study hard and go to school in America.

He rents his home, a two-bedroom flat on the 2nd floor, overlooking the main street of this small, bustling town of 30,000. His home has no toilet. We walk a few blocks down the road to use the town's public bathroom. He asked me my monthly income (not all that uncommon, surprisingly). He said he, his wife, and his son combined do not make that much in a year. Their mode of travel: bike and bus. Needless to say, I'm getting a much better sense of the level of poverty in China. Despite the poverty however, I've experienced incredible generosity from the Chinese and feel much safer here than in most cities in America (and I just heard about the car-jacking in Davis. Say it ain't so!).