Privacy and self preservation

Beijing is home to the second largest population of any city in the world. Another Chinese city, Shanghai, occupies the top spot on that list. In part, the sheer number of people influences the way people view privacy and space allowed for others. Last week, as I traveled within Beijing and visited businesses and government institutions, I observed people and their behavior. This led me to think about the idea of privacy contrasted with the reality of privacy. In the U.S., we think of having a “right to privacy.” In China, this exists in ways that don’t really align with the restrictions imposed by the government. It’s an interesting paradox.

Because my Mandarin is severely deficient, my observation skills are in high alert status as I move through the city. Generally, I’m communicating through nonverbal cues and am hyper-vigilant about noticing them. Part of my travels this week involved visiting a government operated bank to open an account. While at the bank, I noticed that private information was communicated largely through the completion of various forms which were then distributed to the people assisting the customer who belonged with the forms. People were assigned numbers and directed to wait in chairs available in the lobby. As numbers were called, I noted a coding system of some sort. People with this type of question were assigned one series of numbers, those with another type were assigned a different series. When it was my turn, I visited with a person at a window remarkably more secure than any bank I’ve visited in the U.S. This was accomplished through the use of dividers and other security-focused devices. When it was time to complete paperwork functions or to choose a password for my account, all of this was done on a pin pad which was shielded in multiple ways. In fact, the contraptions around the pin pad made it nearly impossible for me to use with my larger-than-your-average-Chinese-person hands. Later, when visiting an ATM machine, I noted the same type of set up on the machines.

In a city and a country where citizens and visitors know to expect almost no privacy, these gestures aimed at privacy made no sense to me. The Chinese government is savvy in meeting just enough requirements to continue business with foreign countries and foreigners. So, I wondered if these privacy functions in the financial sector are intended to meet the requirements of foreign entities. It would be unusual to offer these types of protections to individual citizens.

Contrasting, and perhaps complimenting, this apparent concern for the privacy of financial information, individuals are presented as nearly interchangeable. The infamous ID cards required to come and go on campus are handed around to be used by whoever needs them. Rather than arranging for me to have my own card, it was suggested that I simply borrow a Chinese student’s card. As I watched people on the subway, I noticed that they are all carefully encased in themselves. They push and shove to enter the train car and find a seat. This is done without regard for anything except the goal of finding a seat or a preferred standing spot. It is the disregard for all but the self that strikes me about this. I will not apply a label to the behavior from my own cultural background, but instead marvel at the sense of self preservation that these actions seem to require. To me, the behavior seems at odds with the general understanding that people in Beijing, and perhaps the entire country, are identical pegs in a game board that can be swapped out whenever and wherever.  

The citizens of Beijing are not interchangeable. Although I’m viewing all of this through my lifetime as a U.S. citizen, it seems to me that attempts at self preservation are a way to gain privacy and to have a unique sense of self. I wonder if this is a change brought on by globalization or if this is part of our basic humanity. In the U.S., we view privacy as a right. I wonder if humans need it to survive.