Vaibhavi Mohan

Dr. Chau

HON 394

12 May 2017

An Analysis of Disparity

After reading all ten essays, I believe that Disparity is most effective in conveying Yu
Huas message. I think what is most effective about this essay is the stark contrast that Hua
creates in the beginning and middle sections of the essay. After his introductory anecdote, he
recounts the days in which China had no modern infrastructure like high rises and skyscrapers
but were living in a world of rations and constant regimentation where private profit was
considered a crime. It is interesting to see Huas progression from a young boy who derives
pleasure from preying on those weaker than him to a man who sees that he was actively denying
people the chance to create a livelihood by turning them into the authorities. What I enjoyed
most about this essay was the phrase socialist weed and capitalist seed (153). The Chinese
economy as we know it now is very confusing because they still call themselves a socialist
regime operating on socialist principles. But when their economic structure is closely scrutinized,
we can see that due to globalization the Chinese economy has morphed into a pseudo-socialist,
pseudo-capitalist amalgam. Hua addresses this in his essay and says that the shift in economic
strategy is one of the main reasons that disparity has moved from being a word used in the
cultural revolution to promote Chinese values to an actual manifestation in the society that has
increased tensions between people dramatically. I saw his description of the hawker stabbing the
official reflected in disparities we see here in America but reversed. Police brutality has made
racial disparity in this country all the more apparent and although Hua does not describe racial
problems in Chinese society, economic disparity has created an equally apparent tension. What
confused me about this essay was the anecdote at the beginning. The description of the boy
touching the young girls breast and then bragging about it was not only off putting, but I also
felt that it was irrelevant to the point Hua was trying to make. Maybe it requires deeper analysis
or more time to process but the introductory anecdote did not make sense to me in the grand arc
of the essay. What I wish was included in the essay was how the various tragic suicides he
describes were perceived by other people who were not destitute. How did the media report it or
was it even reported? I know that a very similar string of suicides happened with farmers in
drought stricken parts of India and that epidemic had massive media coverage and government
responses. I am curious to find out if these tragedies had a similar government response or if they
were quietly taken care of. Overall I really connected with this essay because even though I
come from an upper middle class background, everytime I go back to India I am forced to face
poverty on a massive scale. India and China are very similar in that there is a very small number
of people controlling the majority of the nations wealth and millions of people cannot afford
basic living expenses. I think that Yu Hua captured the desperation and hopelessness very well
and this essay made me reflect on what I have done so far to aide poverty stricken communities.
I understand that what I do as an individual will never be enough unless change in instituted on a
higher level. It pains me to know that right now I do not have the power to make those kinds of
changes.