Lost on Planet China

J. Maarten Troost talks a lot about China's government. He starts to talk about Mao, and how everyone worships him even though he has been dead for around 50 years. He even goes to see his tomb, which is a common tourist attraction. He wonders about how much the country is censored, and when his friend gets him a “translator” for a day he figures it out. When Dan hires Meow Meow, he is surprised.

At first, he asked her a series of questions. She replied with answers saying that she didn’t know about the cruelty, or how wrong it was for the government to have that much control of things. When he went out to eat with his friend Dan, he asked them questions about businesses. He was told that when you are a business man, you can’t make the wrong moves, or the government will remove you. This is surprising to hear because China is becoming bigger and bigger, and you would think that more people would know about these issues.

Culture is very different in China then in the United States. They eat different foods, celebrate different holidays, and have a different type of government. When J. Maarten Troost goes out to eat at a restaurant , he finds fried duck. Where can that be found here in the U.S? practically nowhere.

The amount of pollution is unbelievable. Walking down the street, he sees some people to the extent of wearing a gas mask. In places like California, the pollution is bad, but not that bad. The reason for it is because when Mao was in power he thought that by having many factories and buildings that the country’s economy would become ahead of the rest of the world.

He did crazy things like tell everyone to melt steel when it wouldn’t be used, kill all the birds. No person in the United States would ever tolerate the government if this happened here. The people here would stand up for them selves.