its true. and its true for most of china.
10 plus years ago, a friend of mine was sent by his company to open, what is today, a very large factory. it now manufactures, among other things, a huge number of the shock absorbers for every car on the planet... 50% market share.
he was taken to a restaurant for dinner. the host brought him to the fish tank. in the tank, was one very strange fish. had you not known any differently, this fish was as rare a fish can be. it was in fact the most expensive fish in the tank, and maybe the most expensive fish in the entire city, when it came to live fish that night.
what the host did not know, then, such a fish, was a product of pollution in the waters from which it was harvested. it was not rare, and its uniqueness was a sure sign of eating poison food.
my friend declined, without insulting his hosts.
today in china, such a fish, would never be shown in a tank at any price.
education has its rewards.
but not quite.
i just left the fresh water crab season.
a real treat, and costing some people a month's wages to eat one single crab.
my friend was very proud i could be there for the fresh water crab season.
but i politely asked him, they are harvested from the yangste river right?
yes.
I said, what is the difference between these crab and that fish you told me about.
no matter.
we ate the crab.
and i drank my ass off.
thankfully, jay never offered me fresh water crab. thankfully, because, i would have had to decline. more than two, could not be risked. |
