Lucky for me, my in-law family has no American cable….Chinese channels only!  Thus, we all sat down to watch China’s 60^th Anniversary Parade.  Like the Olympics, this parade probably had a million people involved, with amazing float after amazing float.  It made Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade look like a garden tea party.

Yet, as we viewed all the beautiful floats, I was experiencing very different sentiments all at the same time.  I was impressed with the dancers, costumes, cute children with balloon bouquets, massive flat screens on the floats, and the exact timing of so many people.  I was very excited to see floats displaying the businesses and industries that have exploded in China such as wind power, solar and geothermal power, agriculture, manufacturing, and more.  I was disappointed when the Tibet province float didn’t proudly show off the Tibetan or Monk culture and arts, just a snowy mountain with a happy hiker.  Costumes and displays that celebrated the early uniformity of communism in China made me uneasy.

China and America continue to butt heads on a number of issues and values.  If our best politicians, philosophers, and business men and their best are struggling to get on the same page and agree to take the right and smart action, it would be arrogant of me to tell them how to solve the many problems we have.  Still, perhaps a bit of insight from a very patriotic American grandfather may be helpful.

Upon returning from a month long educational trip to China, my Grandfather received question after question from the family.  The hottest topic was the One Child policy.  We asked, “Could you see the effects of it?” and, “What do you think about it now?”  Without declaring China right or wrong, he said, “There are so many people, you just cannot fathom how many people they have.  And you cannot count all the problems they are trying to overcome.  Let them solve their own problems.”

My take-away on his observation is if we step back, listen, and assess the real difficulties both countries face, we may just make some progress.  Then hopefully, great and good changes can be made without any violence or economic punishment.  And so, I will continue to stay tuned to the Mandarin news and Cantonese channels (since I can’t watch Married with Children re-runs!) and look for any advancements that come.

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