The latest food scandal that has China in the headlines has exposed information about the political elite of China. It appears that the political elite are served the choicest, safest delicacies. It seems they can get hormone-free beef from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, organic tea from the foothills of Tibet and rice watered by melted mountain snow. This is all supplied by a special government outfit that provides all organic goods from farms working under the strictest guidelines.
This secure food network is in stark contrast to the frustrations of the ordinary people of China who have faced numerous food scandals. While we were living in China, we lived through the honey contamination, moon cakes filled with bacteria-laden filling, eggs colored with industrial dye and fake liquor that caused blindness or death. We were lucky that we were able to pick up imported goods from shops that specialize for expatriates. The cost of groceries was mind blowing for what we paid for a box of cereal from the U.S. I could have purchased cereal produced in China but was often hesitant to do so. I scrutinized where products came from and would often purchase items from anywhere outside of China.
It is absolutely inhumane that the politically elite are offered food that is deemed "Nation A" which stands for "top end, irreplaceable, the best". These food products are offered to senior politicians or government offices and are not released to the general consumer market. The fact that rice is watered by melted snow from Mount Changbai, which straddles the China-North Korea border, fish is brought in from Hubei province- which is known traditionally as the "land of fish and rice" and tea from mountainous Yunnan area abutting Tibet and beef and mutton from the Inner Mongolia steppes. It has been documented that the rice comes from the northeast, grown seeds specially cultivated by experts from the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It has a very small output, doesn't involve any genetic engineering and it tastes very good. Ninety percent of the rice cultivated goes to the Beidaihe Sanitorium which is a seaside resort for retired party cadres. The remainder is sold on the market. The market price for this rice is five times higher than ordinary organic rice and fifteen times more than the price of ordinary rice.
Reminds me of the time when my friend, Ina told me about the rice she saw drying on the highway between the car lanes. The farmers laid out the rice in the middle of the road amidst car exhaust fumes and locals riding their bicycles. Yummy. I always purchased Thai rice that was hermetically sealed from Thailand and never the rice available in the open buckets at Carrefours. We would often find the locals manhandling the rice with their hands. They would never use a scooper to put the rice directly into a bag. The rice was incredibly cheap versus the bags of rice I was buying. Uh, no thanks.
I have previously stated this before and I'll say it again. China has a very long way to go before the world can trust any and all products that come out of the country. The government goes through the exercise of cleaning up their image for the Olympics. The government manipulates and as soon as the Olympics packs up and leaves town, all the scandals come creeping out again. Coincidence? Nope. It's the government controlling the information that creeps out. They manipulated the Olympics by putting the "cuter" kid as the singer at the opening ceremony and dubbed her voice of the kid with the better voice that also happened to not be so cute. Let's see when the real numbers for HIV, AIDS and drug abuse come through. When the Chinese government can really be honest and address these issues, there is hope for the country.
