I am not going to attempt a defense of the central government, but I do want to shed some light on the every day happenings of the average mainlander. This might be an eye-opener, even to well-traveled tourist executives who frequent China.

For most Chinese, the political debate is of no importance. Chinese are much less interested in politics than Westerners. Beijing might be an exception, but even in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing, political discussions are rarely hot items in daily discourse. Fact is, when most Chinese think of politics, they are not thinking about Taiwan, tensions with Japan, the "strategic" alliance between China and India, China's space program, the 2008 Olympics, or anything to do with the United States. What they are thinking about is the social welfare system, the rising cost of health care, outrageous property values, food safety, unemployment and job security, and education for their one child. And guess what? In only slightly modified form, these are the same things that we Westerners think about. We might venture a bit broader, but the fundamentals are the same.
I once told a Chinese guy that I like to chat about politics. His response: "Your life is too easy." And when I told him that I recently had a rather heated discussion with an ultra-nationalist/neo-Fascist CEO of a domestic software firm, his response was pretty much on target: He accused the CEO of being Western educated (even though the CEO is an ultra-nationalist/neo-Fascist), rich (at least by Chinese standards), and living in Beijing. He was right on all three counts. It's the rich, educated, "Western mind" that thinks about politics. Indeed, political debate outside of Beijing is rare, not necessarily due to censorship-although this is clearly a problem -but due to a lack of interest. There's a joke that in Beijing, kids ask each other what rank their father has in the Party; in Shanghai, kids ask each other what kind of car their dad drives. But to the point: Only in Beijing would Party rank matter, if it matters at all. And political discourse only flourishes in Beijing.

I'm not sure anyone noticed this at the AO Summit, but I was hopping along with an injured right foot. When my condition didn't improve upon my return to China, I went to a local hospital in Qingdao, and yesterday I picked up some medicine: two Western drugs and some Chinese medicine. The cost was about RMB 250, which is about $30. The Chinese drug is a liquid which was in lots of bottles, so my cache was a rather large bag of drugs. Curious, some locals asked me how much the medicine cost and were aghast at the amount. And consider that Qingdao is one of the wealthier cities in China. By U.S. standards, it wasn't terribly expensive, but by Chinese standards, it could easily represent two weeks of income. Think about this: If you make $100,000 per year, that's an equivalent of $4,000 for medicine. We're not talking IL-2, for example; we're talking NSAIDs. In this reality, do you really care much about what happens with Taiwan?

Another hot topic: The swine/bird flu-related deaths in Sichuan Province. (At this point, it's not clear if there is a cover-up.) Most locals believe the CCTV reports that it's a problem with pigs, but this then entails a food safety problem. And there have been recent problems with recycled spoiled milk and vaccines that killed infants in a nearby poorer Province. (Local government officials were evidently on the take.) This is the stuff Chinese talk about. This is the stuff that impacts their lives. It's not about Beijing; it's about everyday life. It's about making it from one day to the next.

Life is hard in China. Arguably, life was a lot less stressful during Mao. (This is a loaded statement that needs to be taken in context.) True, far fewer die of starvation in today's China. But today's China is very stressful, much more so than days gone by. I am hardly a Mao fan (although I'm a Deng fan), and I don't find too many Mao fans. Just about all the Mao fans are dead. But many say that life was a lot less stressful and a lot more equitable when basically the entire country was starving. Crime was a lot lower, too. Consider it Kumbaya for peasants. Nobody wants a return to the bad ol' days, but nobody is happy with the tremendous stresses in their lives.

To me, the stresses faced by the average Wang are much worse than those experienced by the average Joe. Think about it: a minimal social net (if any), health care costs that make U.S. health care costs look trivial on a relative basis, contaminated foodstuffs and medicines. If you were an average Wang, would you really care about offshore drilling rights or projection of naval forces? I don't think so. Rich people (in a relative sense) worry about politics; poor people, including most Chinese, are simply doing their best to survive.

There's a saying that Chinese like to talk about three things. The three things do not include Taiwan, Hu Jintao, and George Bush. The three things include family, food, and money. Your mileage may vary, but I don't see these three topics varying much from what most average Americans and Europeans talk about.

Regardless what one may think of the central government, the Chinese people are a great people. They're a hardy, resilient people. Yes, the rising tide of nationalism and Fascism is a potential problem, but among those who talk politics even in Beijing, you're almost as likely to hear the voices of libertarianism. No von Mises or Rothbard quotes, but you get my point.

Family: How my one child is doing, how my grandchild is doing, how my parents are doing. Food: Chinese are the world's most forthright restaurant critics. Dining is very important in Chinese culture. Money: How to make a little more, not for lavish spending purposes, but so a family can save more for a rainy day. This is the life of over 90% of Chinese nationals, perhaps 98% of Chinese nationals. They simply want a better life, just like we all do.

David Scott Lewis is the president of IT E-Strategies, a consultancy focused on IT outsourcing opportunities in China, and the editor of the David on IT Outsourcing in China e-newsletter.