<p class="ql-block">September 6</p><p class="ql-block">At 6:00AM in the morning, the Yongxing River in early September is 68 degrees Fahrenheit. In Beijing’s calendar, perhaps only these few days feel anything like early autumn in New Jersey—the breeze is cool, and the sun has just climbed above the treetops, filtering its light through the branches and leaves of the poplars and locusts, shattering it into mottled patches on the ground. I walk along the river, watching the reeds and lotus ponds in the wetlands, and the unfamiliar vines climbing the trees on both sides of the wooden boardwalk, blooming with small purple flowers while tiny insects buzz. A few people out for their morning exercise pass by in opposite directions, leisurely enjoying this tranquil slice of nature.</p><p class="ql-block">As I walk, my thoughts suddenly drift to another park on the other side of the ocean.</p><p class="ql-block">Skillman Park in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, is about five or six kilometers by car from the house where I lived for more than ten years. It is a 247-acre ground whose predecessor was a century-old state psychiatric hospital. After it was abandoned, the local residents stubbornly refused to let it become a residential housing development; the county government bought it and turned it into a park. Inside, there are the remains of Sylvan Lake, a stretch of Rock Brook flowing through, and a circular trail of over two miles that takes just about an evening to complete. There are vast lawns, several parking lots, a dedicated dog park where dogs can run wild, as well as picnic tables and a children's playground. On weekends, it is common to see families spreading out blankets for picnics, dogs rolling in the grass, and children riding bikes around the woods. It is not crowded, quiet, and feels like a regular part of this suburb.</p><p class="ql-block">Two parks, one here and one over there, both newly built and precious open spaces snatched away during urban expansion. Yet they are truly very different.</p> <p class="ql-block">Skillman is built around an "area." It is open, flat, and visible at a glance; the lawn is neatly laid, and during the spring and autumn rainy seasons, lawnmowers roll through every other week. The scent of freshly cut grass mixes with the earthy smell, drifting far away. The Yongxing River is built around a "strip." It stretches north and south along the river channel in a long, narrow form consisting of wetlands, mudflats, reed beds, and lotus ponds layered one upon another. You can only walk along the river and turn back when you reach the end. Skillman spends its money on the lawn. The lawn is its function—a place for people to picnic, walk dogs, and run around, so mowing the lawn is its primary duty. The Yongxing River spends its money on water; the river channel must prevent flooding, the wetlands must purify water, the reeds must be harvested whenever they grow wildly, and the mudflat silt must be cleared after the rainy season. These are its true duties. Therefore, in autumn here, the grass is somewhat unruly—not because no one cares for it, but because it never intended to trim itself into a golf course.</p> <p class="ql-block">The towering trees in Skillman Park are sparse and grow naturally, while the trees in Yongxing River Park are dense—especially the white poplars, which are crowded to the point of feeling a bit suffocated!</p><p class="ql-block">I checked some information. The annual maintenance cost for this section of the Yongxing River parkland is over six million RMB, which is not a small sum. Skillman does not publicize a separate budget, but estimating by American industry standards, it is likely around six or seventy thousand US dollars, making the two sides roughly comparable. The difference lies in where the money is spent. One is spent on making people comfortable sitting on the grass; the other is spent on keeping the water clean, the city safe, and the ecology functioning. This is not a matter of superiority, but two different sets of value prioritizations.</p><p class="ql-block">So people always ask me: Is America better, or is China better?</p> <p class="ql-block">Having lived in the United States for over thirty years and having returned to live in Beijing for more than half a year, my answer is: there is no better or worse, they are simply very different. Each has its own emphasis, advantages, and disadvantages; it all depends on what you care about.</p><p class="ql-block">If you care about driving the whole family to a park on the weekend, spreading out a blanket on a large lawn, having your dog run around the picnic table, and watching your children spend the entire afternoon on the swings, then a place like Skillman will make you feel that life ought to be this way. If you care about stepping out the door in the early morning and walking just ten minutes to enter a vast expanse of wetland river scenery, watching the lotus ponds wither and flourish, seeing the reeds turn white, and listening to the calls of birds and insects through the four seasons, then a garden like the Yongxing River is a generous gift from the city to ordinary people.</p> <p class="ql-block">The price of Skillman is that it occupies vast tracts of land, borders natural streams, and tends to a lush green lawn—which is essentially a luxury. The price of the Yongxing River is that it lacks such a lawn, lacks a dog park and a picnic area, and has no sports fields nearby; if you want to play a game of pickleball, you still have to drive half an hour to find a venue.</p><p class="ql-block">The two societies are like this as well. Some place ordinary people's leisure and life in a very high position, paying the price of class stratification, expensive medical care, and social fragmentation; others have completed infrastructure, flood control, and ecological management—which took others a hundred years—in just a few decades, but under high population density, land is tight, and many lifestyle-oriented things have to be pushed back. We do not need to rush to score them. What I prefer to do is stand on this shore and see clearly what "dimensions of life" we can slowly fill in now that we have already grown prosperous—allowing ordinary people to easily step into a sports field after work and on weekends, and giving children a childhood filled with sports, companions, and afternoons that do not have to be spent on rote test preparation.</p><p class="ql-block">A truly strong country possesses both the speed to run forward and the warmth to slow down and embrace life.</p>