China – Adoption
The other day at Ikea as we were packing up the car, a family was getting out of an SUV parked behind us and another was getting into an SUV parked beside us. Both families had 2 kids, one couple was Chinese with Chinese kids and the other were white with Chinese kids. I kind of wondered what the Chinese couple thought (and what Chinese people think) about all the little adopted Chinese kids (girls) you see around here. If they’re annoyed by it (“Hello we aren’t dolls for your aging selfish yuppies who woke up wanting a family”) or sort of embarrassed by the political realities making such adoption necessary, or if they even notice (“Just because we have similar facial characteristics doesn’t mean we all know each other”).
So, anyway:
The Corner – A commisar’s right to choose
My line on China, the soi-disant colossus of the 21st century, is that it’s been dramatically oversold. China will get old before it gets rich, in part because of its foolish “one-child” policy.
So, we already know that they have no problem sweeping hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes to make way for a glassy swimming pool, so isn’t it entirely possible that rather than bankrupting themselves and undoing all their Glorious Revolutionising by taking care of a billion elderly, they’ll just let them starve to death? Maybe the trend among American do-gooders in the future will be adopting Chinese grandparents?
May 31st, 2007 at 4:53 am
Did one of the two families in the parking lot yell out “SNAP!”?
But, yes, a very good post. At least the Japanese elderly have the prospect of little robot servants to look after them, in the near future. The Chinese won’t be generally rich enough in time to avoid the problem – they’re going to get old before they get rich, as Mark Steyn says.
It is doubly ironic, because it is only the poor in China who are limited by the one-child rule. Rich Chinese can have as many children as they can afford (all bar the first don’t get government health and education rights). So those who will need grandchildren to look after them (as is commonly the case in poorer societies) are the ones who won’t have them.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:45 am
But maybe this is what they’re planning on. I mean, if they wipe out all their billion poor people who can’t do anything more useful than be unrestful about their oppression and occasionally die in some occasion or other that the government would prefer no one found out about, well hey. Make ‘em old, deprive them of any interested relatives…
(“didja hear that nin? someone said it’s a ‘very good post’!” “really?!” “totally!” “yay!”)
May 31st, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Ima learned the you phial! thing, but still I’d don’t understand SNAP, I’ve always been slow language rise.
Perhaps the ‘nMates will enlighten.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Well, Peter went through a short phase of saying “Ooh, snap cat!” It’s an internets thing, apparently, or was. I’m assuming it’s related.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Well, that joke didn’t fly.
Red would know. I’m referring to the children’s card game where each player takes turn in paying cards into a central pile (face up) and the first player to say Snap! when two identical cards are played successively wins the pile. The idea is to win all the cards.
There is a famous incident in British naval history where the battleship Queen Mary and the cruise liner Queen Mary passed within sight of each other on the high seas. One of the Captains had a one word greeting sent to the other ship by Morse lamp: “SNAP”.
June 1st, 2007 at 1:41 am
Good story! I prefer to play Bridge, which is much more cerebral. The rules are basically the same as Snap!, but, when two identical cards turn up, it’s the first player to shout “Bridge!” that wins.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:36 am
That’s not bridge. I refuse to believe it.
That’s hilarious, tho. There’s a game we used to play through grade five out on the lunch benches, Speed. But no Queen Mary stories about it alas.
June 1st, 2007 at 9:20 am
It’s bridge as played by the England rugby XV prop forward Jason “The Funbus” Leonard
June 1st, 2007 at 11:49 am
I think Mr. Red is confusing BRIDGE! with War! a much more sophiticated game. Need a brick wall, a twerp cat, hot dogs and a Summer.