I have a diff perspective of China than many other ppl bc I genuinely know a diff China from most. Starting from where I grew up. Bc my parents were busy working / studying for immigration, I grew up away from them in the countryside w my grandparents. We didn't have anything.

The place I lived in had no stoplights bc there were so few cars. The only dessert available was sugar & egg flavored popsicles, which I ate rarely. A momentous time in my 2nd grade was getting a mechanical pencil. No private showers. No playgrounds, just dirt fields & trees.

No hot water, so by the time I was 6, I was already adept at going to get hot water for the family every night (maybe 1/8 mi walk each way?). No stores except dried goods, so my grandma made all my clothes w a sewing machine. I did have real shoes (vs. cloth ones).

Rats were everywhere & freaked me out a lot. Monthly hauling of coal up the stairs in a bucket for energy. Finally figured out when I moved to US the famed 朱古力 in textbooks is chocolate. I mean, I could go on, but I'm a millennial (1981) & my childhood is many others'.

I didn't even know until I arrived in the US that others in China lived differently, that my peers in BJ / SH played w Transformers toys & watched cartoons, had dolls w hair & battery powered toys (totally foreign concepts to me, w my one doll & who played mostly w rocks).

Point being, I emphasize the divide / difference in rural vs urban China a lot not just bc it's obvious for biz / investmt, but bc it's true to my personal experience, too. And it makes it v easy for me to see that other divides exist. A lot of other divides. Everywhere. Sadly.