What They Saw--and Didn't See

THE first rush of impressions brought or cabled home to the U.S. from China last week evoked an image of a society unusually unified and content within itself. The Chinese people seemed genuinely enthusiastic about their condition. With an almost disconcerting unanimity, they answered questions with an appropriate quotation from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The image was undoubtedly too simple, though roughly true as far as it went. Still, it must be remembered that the travelers were shown mostly showcase spots that are on the itinerary of nearly every foreign visitor. As fascinating as those sights were, they hardly gave a full view of Chinese society. A somewhat more accurate picture emerges in comparing the American visitors' impressions with those of earlier travelers and China watchers able to point out what the visitors did not see.

Poor Man's Paradise. The secret of Mao's China can perhaps be summed up in an old Chinese saying: "The contented man, though poor, is happy; the discontented man, though rich, is sad." One reason why the average Chinese appears happy is that the wide disparities of wealth that lasted into the 1950s have disappeared. Wong Bing-wong, TIME'S veteran China watcher in Hong Kong, summed it up this way: "Mao's promise is nothing more than an experiment to make China the poor man's paradise. But first of all, he has to make it a virtue to be poor, which is exactly what he is trying to do."

Salaries begin at around 24.5 yuan or $10 a month for a peasant on a commune--an amount that varies by a system of "work points" awarded according to the work he does, his political zeal, and the harvest. The upper range is around $100 a month for a young army general or experienced technician. But rents are low, from $1 to $3 for a typical one-or two-room apartment. Vegetables in season cost only 1 1/2-c- to 2-c- per lb., rice 7-c- per lb., and meat from 20-c- to 40-c- per lb. Milk is higher, at 10-c- a quart, and so are eggs, at 30-c- a dozen. Cereals and cooking oils are rationed, as is China's chief export item, cotton cloth (each person is allowed six yards a year).

Status Symbols. The absence of materialism noted by the visitors is not quite as real as meets the eye. In areas of southern China, remittances from abroad make a considerable difference. Those who get them lunch on meat or fish; those who do not, most frequently lunch on corn dumplings and salt soup (made by boiling water with a few vegetable leaves). Peasants are allowed to own small plots and to sell the produce on a limited free market. City workers spend about one-third of their income on food and are still concerned with the things money can buy: bicycles, radios, cameras and wristwatches, their status symbols. Most Chinese would have to save for two years to buy a bicycle, which costs $35 to $45. They work eight hours a day, six days a week (overtime is unpaid but acknowledged in valuable political merit points). Leisure time is spent picnicking, swimming, hiking--in emulation of Mao Tse-tung's "long march" to the Yenan caves in the '30s--or reading the Chairman's thoughts. But the drabness of the austere blue, gray or green uniforms that all Chinese wear on the streets is not entirely a true picture. Many Chinese like to dress up in bright-colored clothes at home.

Probably the deepest sociological change that Mao has brought about is the abolition of the old "extended family"--grandparents, sisters, uncles, cousins and aunts, all under the same roof --that persisted into the 1950s. Mao saw China's traditionally intense family loyalty as interfering with the single-minded devotion he demanded for the revolution. So, starting with the Cultural Revolution, young people were sent away from home to work, and often settled down in their new surroundings. Modern apartments are too small for relatives. Birth control pills are distributed free, and Chinese women interviewed by the visitors unanimously voiced the desire to have no more than two children--who anyway spend most of their time in nurseries while their mothers work.

Home Loudspeakers. Even if the Ping Pong visitors had been allowed to see more, they probably would have found little evidence of a police state, though factories have their "thought propaganda teams." The legions of children seen drilling in military fashion in Peking's Tienanmen Square probably do not refleet militarism so much as the fact that the army is largely running the country and organizing it along familiar lines. No outright repression is apparently needed, since the Chinese give every indication of working voluntarily, even zealously, to the point that one observer felt that they literally had no concept of individuality, only of their own role within the state.

Even so, Big Brother is watching. In the communes, for instance, there is a loudspeaker in every home. The Chinese told their American guests that only 5% of the people disagreed with Mao's policies, and they were being "reeducated" in labor camps. In China, of course, 5% of the populace amounts to 40 million persons. Reports Wong Bing-wong: "The life map of China still has its peaks and valleys. Politically there are areas where people in substantial numbers do not, or at least try not to, have anything to do with the party or Mao Tse-tung."

How do Chinese view Americans? Their impressions seemed no less distorted after 22 years of hostility than American views on China have frequently been. Everyone made a sharp distinction between the American people, whom the Chinese consider universally oppressed, and the Government in Washington.

The Chinese also seemed behind the news on a broad range of topics. A noticeable number of Peking's citizens, for example, are inveterate smokers. When it was suggested to them that smoking might lead to lung cancer, they replied, "Oh, no, you must be wrong." They had also missed the single most dramatic event of the decade. The surprised visitors discovered that no Chinese publication had yet announced that Americans landed on the moon.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.