The financial part of Beijing and Xi'an China and a few more thoughts.
We had a great 16 days in Beijing and Xi’an China. Both cities are modern with great infrastructure. The people are friendly and the police are unobtrusive. I heard stories through the media of the watchful eye of China. I did see a higher number of cameras on the streets then I was accustomed too. I did see an extremely large number of young cadet like police officers. There was also a through monitoring of security in the metro stations. Every entrance of every station had a baggage scanner and a person with a wand checking as you entered. On average 3-6 people worked each entrance. I had also heard about the beginnings of a “social credit system” that the government is considering. Every citizen will be given a social credit score based upon their political, social, commercial and legal credit. The hope is to promote a trustworthy citizenship. However, if you are “not” considered a trustworthy citizen you may lose your rights to travel, receive loans or other freedoms. My understanding is the government will offer rewards and punishments to its citizens based on their trustworthy behavior. A doctor who is unprofessional will get a poorer rating. A model citizen will get a higher rating. It sounds good for ½ second until you think of the different ways this can go wrong and all the liberties it violates.
China was a great place to visit but as of now, I would only ever want to visit. For me, it will be interesting to follow the communist government and the future social issues. Following is what we spent for our 16 days in Beijing and Xi’an China. Thank you for following our adventure around the world. Beth H.
