Download The Shanghai Free Taxi Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China edition by Frank Langfitt Politics Social Sciences eBooks

Product details Print Length 320 pages Publisher PublicAffairs (June 11, 2019) Publication Date June 11, 2019 Language English ASIN B07J4VPFV6

The Shanghai Free Taxi Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China edition by Frank Langfitt Politics Social Sciences eBooks Reviews

• I truly enjoyed this rambling nonfiction account of Frank Langfitt's trips as a free taxi driver in Shanghai, where he provided gratis rides to passengers all over the city, and often well beyond its limits, into far-flung villages---for weddings, a search for a lost sister, and the like.
  
  His point was to get the normally and understandably frightened and reticent Chinese citizens to open up a little about their experiences, without fear of arrest or government crackdowns, and without fear of discovery by nosy neighbors ("minders" in China are usually little old ladies known as aunties).
  
  What he learned (and so do we, from reading) is that China is a great deal less free than many people assume, and a great deal less driven by capitalism, as well.
  
  Yes, people have the freedom to earn a living as best they can, and to work as many or as few hours as they like, provided they are running their own businesses and have not been pressed into labor as human oxen in the countryside, or forced to work in factories that are as likely as not to go bust and then leave the workers without the last several months pay.
  
  But they do not have free health care. And they have few rights. For example, they have the right, at least theoretically, on paper, to keep their property and need not vacate it or give it to the government without compensation. And they have the right, also theoretically, on paper, to protest in public places.
  
  But everyone in China knows that public protest is a very very bad idea, and can land you in prison, whether officially or in unofficial "black" prisons for a year or even years. In fact it is almost certain to land you in prison.
  
  And some have learned the hard way that if they ever date protest lack of compensation for government seizures of housing, they could also end up in prison for long periods. After all, despite the written rules, the government often does not compensate homeowners for evictions or housing seizures when it wants to make way for new and more modern housing for the "betterment of all" (except the former home owners).
  
  That's the only way to learn, really, since the educational system does not teach actual history. Children known nothing about Tienanmen Square, the genocide in Tibet, or a host of other ugly events orchestrated by the Chinese government against its people and neighboring nations that China invaded and took over.
  
  This book is a good reminder that Communist central governments (or indeed, any central one-party government) is a very very dangerous thing, to be avoided at all costs. No government can be trusted if its citizens can never safely challenge anything.
  
  Culture varies widely between the city and country, as well. In Shanghai, most people will simply not stop to help an old lady across the street, or even to recover an injured pedestrian who has been hit by a car. That's because there are many scams in which wounded pedestrians have taken advantage of "good Samaritans" or vice versa. There is little trust, for good reason. China has lots of scam artists. It's a common practice to scam strangers, especially.
  
  On the other hand, China also has started to see the development of genuine good Samaritans, who like to repay the kindnesses of others who helped them, while they were migrating from country to city, with little or no food, no money and no place to stay. One such young man, who benefited from a man he could never properly thank, has taken to giving haircuts to elderly residents of Shanghai, who are shut in, or no longer have family of their own to look after them.
  
  The author, now based in London, could not possibly use the same techniques to cover the terrorism to which he is currently assigned.
  
  But this book, anyway, is interesting, and provides a good car-seat window into the world of ordinary Chinese men and women.
• I've always been fascinated with modern China. Until reading this book, I had thought China was still on a path to further openness and freedom of speech and information. However, I learned that is not the case---that in many ways, the China of the Cultural Revolution days is feeling closer today. Even so, this book tells of many people who personally are becoming richer, more contented and more fulfilled. Part of the problem, illustrated here, is the basic mistrust many Chinese have of anyone they don't personally know, often for good reason. The stories of those who tried to expose injustice often are sad, like that of Joanna, a human right lawyer. And even among those just trying to get in on the prosperity, like Winnie, the younger sister of Crystal, who found a good life in America. Winnie makes some poor choices, but also just runs into some dark people, and ends up missing and probably dead.
  
  The book talks a lot about the concept of "suzhi", a word that means loosely means character, and how the rapid rise of riches for some seemed to coincide with low suzhi, a lack of concern for those who seem inferior and less privileged.
  
  I'd have been very depressed by the end of this book if it were not for the quite uplifting stores of individual people, like Max, who gives free haircuts to the poor, or Gong, who bravely goes on after the one-child policy deals her a cruel blow. These personal stories made the book for me, but I wish this had been more of the book the title seemed to promise---about the everyday people Frank Langfitt me driving his free taxi. I'd have liked to meet a wider range of people, and hear more about the families and ordinary life, and a little less about economic and policy. I probably would have learned less that way, however, like how the current leader of China, Xi Jinping, is now eligible to be leader for life, after a quietly done ridding of term limits.
  
  There are scary parallels to Xi's China and Trump's USA, and I feel this was an important read for anyone concerned about the direction of the world's superpowers.
• It's almost a cliche for journalists to take the pulse of the place they're visiting by talking to the cab driver on the way from or to the airport. Frank Langfitt turns this cliche on its head by becoming the cab driver in the place he's reporting on - Shanghai. He doesn't charge for the service, at least not in cash. He wants people's stories and opinions. He gets that and more. It's an inside look at Shanghai today, and it seems that everyone has a hustle. Small businesses, informal economies, scams, and entrepreneurial brilliance all show up in the profiles Langfitt paints of Shanghai. Langfitt fits right in. Very original and fun to read, illuminating and surprising.
• The author has been a NPR reporter and also involved with a number of other news organizations. He's a good story teller.
  In this book, he lives in Shanghai and uses the gimmick of a free taxi as a way to meet people. People chat with him, and he learns about thoughts and opinions of people today. He becomes friendly with a number of these people, and we follow their adventures over several years, and several continents.
  
  He had previously been station in Beijing in the late 1990s, and he does a lot of comparison of the Chinese attitudes then and now. He sees a government that is returning to the repressive attitudes of the Mao era. I have followed first person or group accounts of China for many years (Red Scarf Girl, Factory Girls, and many others), and feel this is one of the best of that genre.
  
  If you are interested in China right now, as it truly exists, read this.