Since the middle of August, I have had the incredible opportunity to fully experience life in China as few people have. I was brought here for the specific purpose of providing an American entrepreneur with wheatgrass and green juice. It has since become so much more
My first few interactions with people here were fascinating, as I wanted to soak up as much culture as possible. Seeing the contrast between the countryside and the “Special Economic Zone” of urban Shenzhen was an unexpected glimpse into what capitalism looks like in China. Gigantic malls housing Gucci, Prada, Apple, McDonald's and Pizza Hut next to new Chinese luxury brands and hot pot restaurants. Skyscrapers and penthouses with views of slums with gardens on any available dirt, with new construction everywhere, built with bamboo scaffoldings. Brand new Mercedes and Maseratis compete in intersections with bicycles and dirt-bike taxis, or old women pushing huge carts of scrap material for recycling. Women sit outside of fancy restaurants nursing small children and selling fruit laid out on a blanket. Young girls wander the streets after the factories close, eating street food meals that cost less than $1 and talking on counterfeit iPhones, carrying counterfeit D&G handbags.
A friend of mine teaches English to Chinese students in the city, and enjoys asking what they want to do with their lives. He said that almost all of the men say they don't care, as long as they have lots of money. The women invariably express their hopes to find a wealthy husband. In a land of people born into Buddhist or Daoist homes, the teachings are completely lost, and many temples are only kept open as tourist attractions rather than their former purpose of creating community and transmitting wisdom to the younger generations. Truly, the new religion is capitalism, and the most profitable ways of their ancestors remain.
China was once a nation of farmers, who Mao Tse-tung revered as the backbone of society. Today, millions are flocking to the cities and modern industrial (chemical) agriculture as taking over. My employer was so shocked at some of the statistics for chemical use in Chinese farming that he decided to keep me on after completing my original project to build an organic PermaCulture farm. In fact, the few sources of organic vegetables are one farm with a very limited output, sold at an overpriced bourgeois grocer akin to Whole Foods and at Walmart. Interestingly, Walmart has invested in nearly 100,000 small farms near the major urban centers to provide more organic produce. Through a friend, I was introduced to a man that does sustainability consulting for Walmart in China, who explained that local, sustainable agriculture is a major priority of the global retailer. Apparently, they decided it's not just good PR, in fact, they rarely talk about it. It's just bottom-line good business, the same reason they handle of the logistics for their suppliers both here and back in the states. By providing the world's largest fleet of trucks for their distribution, they decreased their total fuel consumption 30%, which translates to huge savings. Just imagine, they have more trucks than the big three shipping companies, including the US postal service, combined.
But Walmart isn't the only one pushing for sustainability. The government sees the longterm value of developing better environmental policies, although you wouldn't know it by the pollution that is currently allowed. There is a huge project in the rural surroundings of Beijing to deal with problems in food production brought on by a shrinking farm population and a flood of urban migration. Droughts and a lack of arable land have inspired creativity in urban farming, including a large educational garden and farmers' market in the middle of the city.
So what's this all mean to a PermaYogi left to his own devices in the midst of incredibly rapid development? First of all, it means, that with a little leg-work, I am able to eat almost 100% organic, and even mostly raw (when I'm not lazily indulging in oh-so-delicious Chinese stir-fried-everything). It means that conversation, just as in the western world, inevitably start off with questions about livelihood, and opens up most educated Chinese to the world of health and wellness for which they all feel a void in the urban setting. Traditional Chinese Medicine is quickly being usurped by the usual suspects of global capitalism. Overweight children are seen crying for more french fries and pizza, while seemingly thin, healthy youth struggle with acne, constipation, and halitosis so bad it could kill an elephant. Exposure from westerners like myself allows locals to hear complaints about the lack of variety and healthfulness of their diet. Imagine all of your food choices are either fancy Chinese restaurants or fast-food dives, but with regional spins and your choice of rice or noodles.
The lack of awareness of what is eaten outside of this country is not surprising, but that is slowly changing. Cultural influences from Korea and Taiwan are quite popular, and both are global leaders in health and wellness. Many of the organic products are imported from the two neighbors, including powdered wheatgrass and green juices come from Korea. Although the mystique of American excess is still the prevailing factor in many consumer decisions, the growing popularity of the “green” lifestyle has already caught on in Hong Kong, which tends to set the trends that flow over the boarder onto the mainland.
All of these factors have led my employer to keep me on for further projects in the belief that this is the right time and the right place to be investing in developing China's health and wellness industries. For myself, I have fallen in love with the beautiful mountains in every direction, the wonderfully kind and generous people with a sacred code of respectful service, and their incredible desire for knowledge and wisdom when they hear from an American that all those high-priced consumer goods are no replacement for the beauty of a simple, healthy life shared with those we love. It was so magical to spend an evening with two brothers and their families doing exactly that in a hidden oasis just over 100km outside of Shenzhen. Their children were calm, yet playful, obedient yet curious, and most of all affectionate even with perfect strangers. Their food was vibrant and flavorful without the MSG found everywhere else, and the water was the pure embodiment of the soul of the mountain itself. In the coming years, as China and the US continue to struggle for economic dominance, I believe the most important lessons will be about our common sources of love and happiness, and how they have been obscured by an irrational desire to accumulate each others' junk.
Eric Levinson is a yoga teacher and spiritual philosopher who shares his healthy obsession with sustainability through his blog permayogi.com
