What constitute civilization? What makes a society pleasant to be part of, or intolerable? What makes you shake your heads, or irate and want to punch someone? What make you thinking of not coming back to this area ever?
Small things. What Rudy Giuliani called “quality of life” factors. In China, they fall into two general categories: inconsideration to others and not picking up after self. These are the new “4 pests” China government want to eradicate before Olympics. And I am 100% behind it. I would like to add the 5th one (and everyone has their favorite 5th one too) of littering.
I am confident that China will become a pleasant place for everyone. The economy is driving it and nothing motivates a Chinese more than growth. As the economy turns more and more consumer oriented, those “one time get rich schemes” will disappear and reputation will prevail as the leading success factor. At business level, this means quality and services. At personal level, this means good social behaviors. I also believe, in general, individual wealth promotes nicer social protocols.
It will be a nice day for me to see someone walking 5 paces, clear his or her phelgm into a tissue, and throw that into a garbage can.