The World: What They Saw--and Didn't See

THE first rush of impressions brought or cabled home to the U.S. from China last week evoked an image of a society unusually unified and content within itself. The Chinese people seemed genuinely enthusiastic about their condition. With an almost disconcerting unanimity, they answered questions with an appropriate quotation from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The image was undoubtedly too simple, though roughly true as far as it went. Still, it must be remembered that the travelers were shown mostly showcase spots that are on the itinerary of nearly every foreign visitor. As fascinating as those sights were, they hardly gave a full view of Chinese society. A somewhat more accurate picture emerges in comparing the American visitors' impressions with those of earlier travelers and China watchers able to point out what the visitors did not see.

Poor Man's Paradise. The secret of Mao's China can perhaps be summed up in an old Chinese saying: "The contented man, though poor, is happy; the discontented man, though rich, is sad." One reason why the average Chinese appears happy is that the wide disparities of wealth that lasted into the 1950s have disappeared. Wong Bing-wong, TIME'S veteran China watcher in Hong Kong, summed it up this way: "Mao's promise is nothing more than an experiment to make China the poor man's paradise. But first of all, he has to make it a virtue to be poor, which is exactly what he is trying to do."

Salaries begin at around 24.5 yuan or $10 a month for a peasant on a commune—an amount that varies by a system of "work points" awarded according to the work he does, his political zeal, and the harvest. The upper range is around $100 a month for a young army general or experienced technician. But rents are low, from $1 to $3 for a typical one-or two-room apartment. Vegetables in season cost only 1½¢ to 2¢ per lb., rice 7¢ per lb., and meat from 20¢ to 40¢ per lb. Milk is higher, at 10¢ a quart, and so are eggs, at 30¢ a dozen. Cereals and cooking oils are rationed, as is China's chief export item, cotton cloth (each person is allowed six yards a year).

Status Symbols. The absence of materialism noted by the visitors is not quite as real as meets the eye. In areas of southern China, remittances from abroad make a considerable difference. Those who get them lunch on meat or fish; those who do not, most frequently lunch on corn dumplings and salt soup (made by boiling water with a few vegetable leaves). Peasants are allowed to own small plots and to sell the produce on a limited free market. City workers spend about one-third of their income on food and are still concerned with the things money can buy: bicycles, radios, cameras and wristwatches, their status symbols. Most Chinese would have to save for two years to buy a bicycle, which costs $35 to $45. They work eight hours a day, six days a week (overtime is unpaid but acknowledged in valuable political merit points). Leisure time is spent picnicking, swimming, hiking—in emulation of Mao Tse-tung's "long march" to the Yenan caves in the '30s—or reading the Chairman's thoughts. But the drabness of the austere blue, gray or green uniforms that all Chinese wear on the streets is not entirely a true picture. Many Chinese like to dress up in bright-colored clothes at home.