Following the haircut, I taxi to the Second Yangtze River Bridge (above), beside which is a large attractive museum on spacious grounds. The museum is run by municipal authorities and the gross incompetence of the staff shows the reasons for China's need for privatization of the economy.

The gate is manned by four people, one to sell me a ticket, one to accept the ticket and tear off the receipt, a third to allow passage, and a fourth to watch the other three. When I ask to be driven the considerable distance from the gate to the museum, I am told that the driver of the van is not available. I'll have to take a bicycle and leave a deposit of 100 yuan.

After bicycling to the museum, I begin my study of excellent photographs, engineer drawings, and delicate models of this extraordinary bridge and of earlier bridges in China and abroad. I'm pleased to see models of the famous Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge along with other bridges from all over the world.

There are dozens of computer-generated pictures where one may, potentially, see in great detail the construction of bridges. Unfortunately, none of the automated presentations work. I am baffled.

When I see a large screen designed for showing films, I ask an attendant if I may see a film. He says I wouldn't enjoy it and he walks away.

Later I go to another gate where, for a small fee, I may go to an elevator that will carry me to the top of the bridge. One can see from the picture that such a trip will require ascending at an odd angle before reaching the top and gaining a splendid view of the river and of Nanjing. However, I am told that my ticket does not entitle me to enter upon this splendor. I must return to the very first gate and buy another ticket. I offer to pay cash on the spot but am rebuffed. Too weary to go back to square one, I express my displeasure in obscene English and go off on the bicycle to the banks of the Yangtze.

Later, as I prepare to depart for home, I decide to express my unhappiness at an office next to the main gate. Four women staff this office. One woman makes note of my departure and walks over to another woman, carrying my 100 yuan deposit. This second woman puts down the novel she has been reading and accepts the note for 100 yuan; she then goes to a third woman who deducts the 15 yuan charge for the bicycle and hands the 85 yuan change to a fourth woman who has been observing these complex transactions. I ask if the driver of the little van has returned to duty and am told he is still absent. I relieve myself of a few more expletives in a tongue foreign to these officials of the government.

On the one hand, it is hard-working municipal or provincial employees who tend the beautiful gardens and decorative plants that make Nanjing so appealing. They also keep the streets and highways clean. On the other hand, many government employees are obviously superfluous, providing rudeness instead of service to the public. In contrast to employees of private enterprises like the beauty shop where profit depends on pleasing the customers, these idle "workers" are paid to be unemployed! It is enough to nearly persuade me that China's entrance into the World Trade Organization will force great economic improvements in China's production system.