"China Inside Out" Chapter 2

According to Bill Dodson in chapter 2 of “China Inside Out”, there are several causes of anxiety in China. One of the primary causes of stress that he mentions is the “escalating cost of owning a home in China” (Dodson 27). Through an anecdote of the very complex he lived in in China, Dodson shows readers that there is much unrest among its residents. After broken promises and slow moving work crews, they had reached their breaking point and supported a young man as he tore a wall down that blocked their access to an area of their complex. A banner on the scene reads “'We would rather die than give up our homes!'” (Dodson 26). This is just one example of the high anxiety that Chinese citizens feel. Another pressure is the school system. According to Dodson, in China, to get into college, students must take a three day college entrance exam. To get into the best schools, students are required to “study u[ to 16 hours a day for at least the year leading up to the examination” (Dodson 32). Literally, it is eat, study, and sleep.

Decent healthcare is impossible to get in China. A major cause of anxiety for Chinese citizens is hospital visits and sickness, primarily because they pay far more out-of-pocket than their insurance companies do. A story Dodson gives as an example is about a man who required constant blood transfusions to keep him alive. He says “Zou's mother finally put their home up for sale... The family rented a much smaller flat... [but] Wang died in the spring of 2005, aged 26” (Dodson 41). Despite the family's best efforts, the man died, and they were left in a worse economic state than before.

I knew that China was a tough place to live in, but I did not expect it to be this bad. I knew the school systems were hard, but 16 hours of studying a day for a year sounds so unbelievably painful that I had to stop for a moment and be grateful that I do not live in China. Even owning a small place in which to live costs a lot, and coming down with an illness is an expense that most cannot afford. In my opinion, the Chinese have every right to be more anxiety-ridden than the U.S. Citizens; for these three reasons alone. Applying to good colleges in the U.S. Involves having good grades and writing an essay or two on an application, but not necessarily devoting two thirds of every day for a year to studying. Homes are not cheap in the U.S., but they are cheaper than places such as China and Canada. In the U.S., healthcare is not completely available, but it does not require as much out-of-pocket as China's does. Money is so much more perilous in China. The future of a family can depend on one three day test, and a serious illness can mean economic disaster.