Sister Good Does What with a Cow?

Me: Guess what! I’m going to Macau this Friday!
My sister: You’re doing what with a cow?
Me: I’m not doing anything with a cow. I’m going to MACAU. M-A-C-A-U.
My sister: Oh, I see. That’s neat… What’s Macau?

Exactly. What is Macau? Macau is a Special Administrative Region like Hong Kong—it used to be under Portuguese control, but now it’s under the People’s Republic of China and has a few special privileges as an SAR. Margaret and I had the opportunity to visit Macau on Friday with Uncle Norman and his wife. It was quite a day. We took the ferry in the morning and spent the day exploring before coming back that night. Macau is a lovely blend of European and Asian styles, and I really enjoyed our visit. We ate loads of local specialties (including, but not limited to, crab congee [rice soup with an entire crab floating in it…surprisingly good], pork burgers, fish balls, egg custard tarts, and almond cookies), looked at cathedral ruins from the 1500s, and even stepped inside the largest casino in Asia (don’t worry, we didn’t gamble). The Venetian Casino is one of the most opulent places I have ever visited, complete with gambling tables on the main level and luxury stores on the upper levels. You either lose your money at the tables or spend it your earnings in the ridiculously priced stores—either way you are leaving penniless.

Macau is the only place in China with legalized gambling, so many tourists from mainland China come to Macau to gamble. It became such a problem that the Chinese government made a law stating that residents of mainland China could only come to Macau once every two months. Lest you think the Chinese government is benevolently protecting its citizens, let me clarify: the Chinese government instated this law because too many government officials were going to Macau and gambling away the government’s money. This law is actually the Chinese government’s attempt to protect its assets and not lose so much money at the hand of corrupt officials. Corruption runs rampant in China; that’s the nature of a capitalist economy under a communist government. (I actually listened in my capstone class at Jewell—my professors should be proud!) Regardless of the means, China is becoming a giant in the global economy, and it is still rising in prominence. At least half of the goods in your house probably say “made in China” on them. Now let’s put the pieces of the puzzle together. You buy the product; the Chinese company gets a percentage of the profit; the Chinese company uses a part of their profit to pay bribes to government officials so they can remain in business; and the government officials illegally gamble away the already illegal (technically, but not in practice) money in Macau. The casinos make a killer profit, waste money building even more casinos even more opulently, so more people come and gamble. You are paying for government officials to illegally gamble the Chinese government’s money in Macau. I’m not making any statement of moral approbation or disapprobation regarding buying things from China—half of my stuff comes from China too, and when I visit there in a week, I’ll leave laden down with souvenirs. My point is this: you buy your Christmas gifts at superstores in the US and indirectly support Chinese corruption, but the problem is bigger than China’s corruption. The problem is us too. It’s supposedly a small world, but we spend most of our time making it smaller by being caught up in the bubble of our surroundings. Do you know about the social unrest in Thailand? Have you heard about the Christians being slaughtered in India? Do you realize how many people have had their lives upturned by the economic crisis in Hong Kong? Maybe the problem is not just that China is corrupt, but, rather, that we don’t know about it. The problem is not limited to social unrest, poverty, famine, civil strife, or other global ills; the problem is our ignorance too. There are advertisements all over Hong Kong which say “Don’t turn a blind eye to corruption,” but I think that is what we do sometimes when we choose not to involve ourselves in our world. We turn a blind eye to the wrongs occurring around us, to the wrongs occurring in our world, because we do not even know they exist and we may not want to know.

Christmas is the season for giving, which also means that Christmas is the season for spending. Where will you spend your money? Where will I spend my money? I encourage you this season to find something other than Chinese corruption to support. In addition to your gift buying, send a couple of boxes to Samaritan’s purse. Buy a goat for a starving family in Africa, or support a clean water initiative. Give money to a missions offering. The causes are as endless as the need. Stay informed—watch the global news—find something to support. We may not be able to stop corruption in China, but we can give hope to someone who has none by spending our money on something new this year, and we can certainly lift up our world together in prayer. I didn’t have to go to Macau to figure this out; Macau helped crystallize many months (both in Hong Kong and beyond!) of my thought processes and figure out how to share my thoughts with all of you.

Thank you for allowing me to use my blog as my social soap box; next week we should be back to our regularly scheduled program. :-)

Grace and peace!
Sister Good