i'm searching with j spence

I don’t understand what to make of things like eunuchs and elaborate bureaucracies. What is so great about all this structure and all this rule?
Europe used to oppress people. Now things have changed and many many more can enjoy the fruits of that continent. Yet plenty, mainly recent immigrants, don’t today.
And China with all its rules cares about processing things and being moral and correct. At the end of the day, where does that take you? Where do all my “interesting” discussions of morality and art and beauty and love and sex and fakeness and spice and change and calm and care and discipline lead either? Are they fundamentally different? No! Not at all; they’re great and they’re just as discussed according to this dude. All the fucking bigwigs were doing it.
What do I think will be missing in China? Philosophy? They’ve had philosophy for so long…art? Patience? Eye contact?
I want to sit around and have an intellectual – in the sense of the word that puts it in the best light possible – conversation with someone as often as I can.
Listening to two of my relatives discuss China, I heard about the amazing change, about the smells and sights, about the place cleaning up, and I didn’t hear anything about the art or about the things that I know those particular people really care about. One’s an actor what did he think of the depth of theatre in China? At least one actor friend of mine seems to think it’s pretty decent, even (or perhaps especially?) in Shanghai.
And of course there’s the question of how much time and energy I can really give this search (or even the search of what it is the search is for).