I remember the case of a journalism student at a major university in the United States, who was given an assignment to attend a city council meeting and write a story about it. Upon his arrival, notebook in hand, he discovered there had been a fire at the city hall, and the meeting was cancelled. In a panic, the student called his professor and said, "there's been a fire, and there's no meeting tonight. Now what do I do?" The professor, dumbfounded, told the earnest young student, "find out what happened and write about the FIRE! That's your STORY!"
I am convinced the same kind of thing happens a lot in mainland China. When a taxi driver in Beijing is confronted with finding an alternate route to get around a traffic jam, he always scratches his head. As a rider, this is when you know you are in real trouble. The problem of getting from point A to point B is just too much for the driver to handle, and hopeless confusion is setting in. It is at this point that I usually dive out of the cab and start looking for the subway.
Maybe it is the result of the 50-year challenge of trying to quickly educate millions and millions of children in ramshackle schools, but problem-solving is not a Chinese strength. Some writers say the political system has stifled innovation and critical thinking, and that's why China will lead the world in making things for sale at Wal-Mart, instead of inventing things like Facebook.
This in a country where a guy came up with a way to produce hybrid rice, preventing starvation and famine, and where launching satellites around the earth has become almost routine. Workers are building the world's biggest dam to counter flooding along the Yangtze. The contradictions are staggering.
"With our grand population, there is no reason why we cannot be world leaders in 21st century scientific research," someone said on one of the many television talk shows extolling the virtues of the Mainland's education system. "Everyone knows this."
I've noticed people from all walks of Chinese life struggle with finding creative solutions to all sorts of issues. On the other hand, I've watched a man pile a hundred plastic jugs aboard a hopelessly-overloaded motorized wheelbarrow and take off down the freeway, disappearing into the smoggy Beijing traffic.
Maybe in China, folks know they can indeed overcome bad situations without suffering panic and confusion. They just haven't figured out how.
