"China Inside Out" Chapter 7

In Chapter 7 of “China Inside Out” by Bill Dodson, the writing style is very similar to the previous chapter, though the subject changes from vacant Chinese towns and real estate to the changing style of services provided in China. Up until recently, China's services have not been very customer oriented, especially for visiting westerners. Despite this, gradual growing influence from the west has begun to change this, and quality hotels, restaurants, and services have sprung up across the country. The previous chapter in Dodson's book maintained a pattern in its writing of going from anecdote to researched information about specific cities. The difference in this chapter is subtle. Dodson still starts many sections with personal writing from his own experiences, such as his trip to a public hospital, where a doctor “scribbled in [his] blue book [and] pushed it over to me: 'You have to pay first, then I can tell you [your treatment]'” (Dodson 142). However, he includes other anecdotes that are not his personal stories. For example, he quotes a China Daily columnist who said he “'saw a doctor conducting a rectal examination... without any curtains drawn for privacy'” (Dodson 141). Again, after his anecdotal evidence, Dodson goes on to give researched facts, but in this chapter, the topics are more general than they were in the previous one. Instead of talking about the development of specific cities, he mentions general concepts, such as China's apathetic nature for services: “In a culture that seems welded to the concept of 'good enough' in its manufacturing processes, 'good enough' and 'cheap' have the upper hand in service requirements” (Dodson 147). The differences are writing are subtle, but noticeable between chapters.