October 1999 Nanjing, China Letter

OCTOBER 1999 NANJING, CHINA LETTER

Itinerary & Introduction
Hong Kong to Guangzhou
Shantou & Xiamen
A Friend In Fuzhou
Huangshan to PuTuoShan
Shanghai
Dalian to Harbin
Mohe to Manzhouli
Shaoshan & Changsa
Yueyang to Chongqing
Chengdu & Lamusi
Beijing & Nanjing
Growing Pains
The Infrastructure Boom
The Confucian Ideal
Travelers' Opinions
Other China Likes & Dislikes

Itinerary & Introduction
From China comes the second summary of my travels. I will begin with a recap of my itinerary, including those places visited in 1995 --
1995 (108 nights): Zhangmu (3), Tingri (3), Passum (1), Rombuk (Mount Everest Base Camp)(2), Passum (1), Shegar (1), Lhtzse (3), Shigatze (2), Gyantse (1), Lhasa (8), Golmud (2), Xining (4), Baotou (1), Dongsheng (3), Beijing (15), Tai'an (3), Qufu (2), Zhengzhou (1), Luoyang (3), Xi'an (4), Chengdu (5), Dazu (2), Zigong (1), Leshan (2), Ya'an (1), Lijiang (8), Dali (6), Kaili (3), Leishan (1), Rongjiang (2), Conjiang (3), Zhaoxing (1), Sangjiang (1), Yangshuo (7), Hong Kong (UK)(8)
1999: Hong Kong (11), Guangzhou (3), Shantou (4), Xiamen (5), Fuzhou (10), Huangshan (5), Jiuhuashan (1), Hangzhou (3), Shaoxing (5), Putuoshan (4), Shanghai (16), Qingdao (6), Yantai (1), Dalian (7), Shenyang (3), Beihe (5), Dunhua (1), Tumen (2), Chunhua (1), Suifenhe (2), Harbin (5), Jiamusi (1), Tongjiang (1), Suihua (1), Heihe (3), Huma (2), Heihe (1), Jagdaqi (3), Mohe (3), Hailar (1), Manzhouli (2), Beijing (9), Simitai Great Wall (1), Beijing (2), Hong Kong (8), Shaoshan (5), Yueyang (1), Yangtze River Cruise (4), Chongqing (8), Chengdu (2), Songpan (2), Zoige (1), Lamusi (5), Xiahe (3), Lanzhou (6), Beijing (10), Nanjing …
My re-introduction to Hong Kong in Apr-99 is remembered as a time of indecision. In early 1994, the beginning of my first overseas trip, this same feeling plagued me but in a more acute way due to a lack of travel experience and my state of mind then.
As one never divorces the past when traveling I felt my mind was elsewhere during the initial months of the China tour. Most notably, trying to grasp what took place in Yellowknife from Oct-95 to Mar-99.
At the end of my first overseas trip in Oct-95 I gave myself a 'Mission.' To return to Canada for three years, build a nice savings account, then use this money to leave North America to continue writing "Paper II," my worldview. Come Apr-99 "Paper II" had been so radically altered by preceding events I wondered what I was here to travel for.
I had -- and still have -- to break out of a 'tunnel vision'. While a strict sense of purpose and discipline has led to the accomplishment of certain goals, 'My Mission' needs to be re-thought, re-written, extended beyond the three year clause clung to so tenaciously since 1995. (In my first e-mail summary, formulated in Chongqing, there is a glimpse of this process.)
Finally, the simple task of constructing a travel itinerary -- though I had three years to do one -- was totally unwritten and unthought of until my arrival in Hong Kong. Up till then it was simply "China". When I departed Hong Kong I left with the objective of highlighting modern China and the reform process. More specifically, the eastern coastline.

Hong Kong to Guangzhou
In picture nothing has surpassed my sit at The Peak in Hong Kong. It remains a classic in my books (in addition to the Himalayas picture in late 1994). Unfortunately I have spoiled a lot of pictures since then by trying to imitate it, to recapture the same thing in a different setting. Still, in the future expect to see it blown up on my apartment wall three times the size of life.
From Hong Kong I took to mainland China and the 'war zone' city of Guangzhou (Canton). I had seen many of China's big cities up to this point but never one like this (and still haven't come across an equal). As I am revising 'My Mission' so too is China. And there are few other places in the country where it is so evident as in the massive construction site of Guangzhou.
It is amazing! Like every other Chinese city across the country if you hold your camera up to the skyline -- no matter which way you look -- you'll see no less than ten to twenty construction cranes perched on top of rising buildings. Like in Shanghai -- if one walks the streets -- you'll come across entire neighborhoods razed to the ground, with pipes sticking out of the ground still spurting tap water, huge piles of brick, concrete, twisted metal ready to be trucked off, or just carted away by local 'recyclers'.
In Guangzhou it is more 'in your face'. One can see entire neighborhoods (5-6 stories high) covered by plastic tarp being demolished. Hundreds of men with sledgehammers noisily and continuously pounding away at the buildings, no bulldozers, dust everywhere.
China, unlike the Europeans who I consider to live in 'city museums', has such a 'no-holds barred' approach to progress it is spectacular in its aggressiveness and passion. And while Guangzhou isn't exactly a striking synthesis of natural and man-made beauty, it is a fiery and perfect example of the Chinese desire to 'catch up' and enter the 21st century with the more advanced nations.
In Guangzhou I took to a few sights, one being the famous Qingping market housing all types of critters -- land, sea and air -- destined for human digestion. One of the cooler images, watching shoppers pick out a bowl full of scorpions with chopsticks. And the medicinal remedies on sale; the Chinese market, I'm sure, is the only one to parallel in scope the shyster sales of the United States (oh yes, you wouldn't believe how many 'breast enlargement' schemes there are for sale here). For my hair alone, the girls in this market were trying to sell me dried sea horses, stretched dried lizards on a stick and a few other tidbits. As for how these items were supposed to compete with Pantene I'm not sure, as I couldn't ask them outright.
Outside the marketplace, one could get together at a nearby restaurant with a group of travelers and eat some ass, if they wanted, for about $100-150 US if I remember the price correctly. The ass (i.e., donkey) stood in a showcase window at the entrance to the restaurant, along with cages filled with poultry, rabbits and other creatures. I passed on the ass and stuck to the octopus instead; but it was an interesting play on "I'm so hungry I could eat a --- ".
Other than taking in a Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) tomb and museum, Liuhua park, a Pearl River-side walk, I stayed only three days in Guangzhou, eager to move on and see a couple of the four original SEZ, or Special Economic Zones, opened up by China in the early 1980's at the beginning of the country's 'open door' policy.

Shantou & Xiamen
Off to Shantou I went. Riding around in a bicycle rickshaw at four am to find the cheapest hotel (that would accept a foreigner) at $18 was my introduction to this city of growing wealth. Not a heavily traveled destination by us foreign devils, I rarely saw a Western face in the streets. The only man I did talk to was a Chinese Australian who asked outright upon seeing me - "What are you doing here?!"
While on one of my 'aimless' wanderings around the city, I came across a small and unguarded industrial complex (most of them have gates and guards). (Industry and home in China are much more scattered about and intermixed than most Western cities; e.g., you'll find a huge smokestack pumping out thick black unfiltered fumes right next door to an apartment building which more than likely houses the employees).
In an old collection of moist and moldy halls (or tunnels) called a building, I stumbled across a hodge podge of activity. I believe most of it was a metal and machine orientation; with people arranged in rooms, at crickety wooden desks, in bad lighting, hammering away at some task. In a larger warehouse type room, I could barely tolerate the overwhelming smell of some chemical (and this was standing at the door), and wondered how the men could do so without any sort of breathing apparatus. They wore nothing to protect them as they moved about; it was 'normal'. Also, as proof of China's rising creativity, one of the more intriguing architectural designs I found in Shantou -- a shiny five star hotel, designed by a man from Guangzhou, which housed a huge 'golden dragon ball' in a giant atrium.
Staying only a couple days in Shantou, I jumped into my second SEZ city soon after, that of Xiamen. Though the highly praised Gulangyu Island was indeed pretty and relaxing to stroll around (an international foreign settlement at the turn of the century, with colonial villas and atmosphere still intact), what stole the show for me was stumbling upon miles and miles of empty beach. After several hours and several kilometers of walking I eventually had to turn around because night was approaching, so I never did find out if the beaches ended or just kept getting bigger and more beautiful. No doubt this area will be prime resort material for future development.
I found it peculiar the whole time I traveled the eastern coastline to find beaches in China. Sitting on the sand, soaking up the sun on these gorgeous beaches -- it's not something you regularly associate with the word 'China'. Also, being the Special Economic Zone set up across from the island of Taiwan, Xiamen displayed more of the glitz, glam, and business boom that China is encouraging. Simply sitting on the sidewalk and saturating myself with imagery and sound was and is nightly entertainment, and a source of continuing study.

A Friend In Fuzhou
From Xiamen to Fuzhou via a little fortress town called Chongwu. Fuzhou was where I consolidated a few China approaches, met an English speaking Chinese youth and toured quite extensively. Still unsure at the time how I was going to approach China in terms of a lifetime interaction, I decided I needed something to introduce myself in the meanwhile. I did up what I termed a 'stats sheet', a collection of phrases and words extracted from my language dictionary and Mandarin phrasebook. Updated a few times since Fuzhou, whenever some one expresses an interest in my presence I hand them this 'stats sheet' to read. It handles the basic information - my name, nationality, age, education, ancestry, family, interests and hobbies, including what cities I've toured in China and what countries I've visited in the world.
Also, to make my traveling and accommodation easier, I took to memorizing a few basic questions and phrases, including Chinese numbers and being able to tell the time. And finally, I compiled a double-sided travel sheet to assist me further in daily travel and living, in Mandarin and English, not forgetting to include the term for 'milkshake' or 'atheist'.
The night I arrived in Fuzhou I met Shan, a native of Jingdezhen city, who two months earlier had left home for the first time in her life and relocated here. In the ten days of my stay we had some excellent talks, with me gaining some insight into a youth's mind. She had, quite courageously, quit college and left home, saying goodbye to mother and father in the expectation of meeting up with a friend in Fuzhou. The friend never materialized, which left Shan up in the air.
Within two days, however, a man who ran a little shop in front of the rail station said he needed an employee, the terms were agreed upon and she gained a wage plus an apartment to live in. Her hours were quite long, at fourteen per day, seven days a week. Her wages were about 700-800 yuan a month, or the approximate equivalent of $136 CAD. Breakfast and lunch taken care of by her boss; supper she purchased on her own. Her apartment, if I remember correctly, was 200 yuan, roughly $35 a month.
Despite her frequent self-description of being a poor student she spoke good English, and often surprised me with her terminology. Because of her daring (all this at age 17-18; very rare for a Chinese youth) and my travels we got along quite well. A mutual respect evolved in the course of our conversations as we exchanged and shared lifestyle and cultural ideas.
The city of Fuzhou itself certainly was not what my Lonely Planet guide book wrote as "an industrial hinterland, choked with concrete dust and shorn of interest -- an overnight pit stop for travelers en route to Xiamen or Quanzhou, but offers few diversions." It was probably one of the more interesting Chinese cities I've stomped around in. From watching Chinese theater (stage performances) deep in the suburbs, to attending a central square dance, to gazing at the always rising skyline, to strolling markets and riversides -- there was lots to see and do.

Huangshan to PuTuoShan
From Fuzhou I took to the famous mountain scenery of Huangshan, a delicious body-exhausting workout on a giant playground combined with fantastic views. I stayed overnight at the peak allowing me to view the 5am sunrise the next morning with hundreds of other Chinese tourists. This was by far the most exhilarating climb of a famous China-mountain I've had to date. Memories include: many tourists asking me for my picture ("Can my wife have her picture with you?"), girls with huge platform boots and high heels doing the leg-numbing ten hour circuit side by side with dedicated seniors doing the very same route (one section consisting of 1000+ stairs, straight up).
To Jiuhuashan, one of the famous Buddhist mountains. I bailed from here after one day. After years of temple visiting and a prolonged study of religious fundamentals, it's becoming increasingly hard for me to 'appreciate' any sort of religious manifestation. With Buddhism I am more tolerant than the monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam, but many of the same evils are present in a different recipe and symbolism. Temples, temples, temples, it's all the same thing: non-man, non-ego, non-mind.
One of the more interesting twists though, up to this time I'd never had a monk offer me a local woman -- i.e., a prostitute -- before. In the course of our conversation he brought it up three times. (To give one an idea of the pervasiveness of this 'industry' in China, girls were also presented to me in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shantou, Xiamen, and Fuzhou to this point in 1999).
To Hangzhou, one of the big 'beauty' environments spoken of so highly in Chinese tourism. I thought it was a dump; with the smallest and most common lake in Canada being superior in beauty to this place. Something about it all rubbed me negatively, and I jumped ship after only three days. Three days too long.
To Shaoxing, a mini-Venice of the east. Some great picture moments in this town, wandering the canals and parks. Visited the tomb of King Yu, founder of a dynasty stretching from the 21st to 16th centuries BC. I stayed in this cheap Chinese wooden hotel for $3 a night in the midst of a wholesale warehousing zone. This was where I missed the opportunity to photograph grandma and her bicycle-wagon, with baby sitting in a "MADE IN CHINA" cardboard box.
From Shaoxing I took the train to Ningbo and then boarded a ferry to the island of PuTuoShan. Little did I realize it too was a Buddhist mountain, but it was still a pleasant stay, jumping from peak to beach, scampering along the shoreline, splashing in the East China Sea. I did that for three days, then decided to board another ferry for the city of Shanghai. Pulling out from the island, I caught glimpses of Chinese submarines rising and diving as well as Navy gunboats.

Shanghai
It's approximately 5am, the ferry horn is blasting and I race to the top deck to see the view. Industry everywhere for miles and miles along both sides of the Huangpu River. Huge international freighters anchored, with little tugs and sampans chugging all about. And then there it is, the famous scenery of the Bund along with the rising skyscrapers of Pudong across from it. The developing industrial and financial powerhouse of China's interior -- and it shows from the first moment you set your eyes on it.
I would spend sixteen days here in Shanghai -- and then, the only reason I left is because of the non-stop rain of June, which began at the start of my second week and didn't let up once. Due to this shortened stay I swore I would return before I left China. As I am now in Nanjing, three hours away from Shanghai, I am going to keep this promise.
Every night after dinner I would have a sit on the Bund for an hour or two watching all the people admire the buildings, the neon lights, the array of boats. The streets, which feel like they are stuffed shoulder to shoulder with people, are overflowing with goods of all kinds - electronics, clothing and accessories, books, furniture, etc. Neighborhoods disappear; and in their place rise office buildings, hotels, and multi-story apartment complexes. Shopping centers, in glittering Hong Kong design, are stamped around the city. The Jin Mao building, in Pudong district, 88 stories of skyscraper, with the Grand Hyatt boasting its status as the highest hotel in the world - its lobby on the 54th floor (and what a view!).
English corner, on Sunday, being assaulted by a thousand million questions from individuals ranging 10-60 years old. The Bund on weekends, filled with the Chinese gay and lesbian population of Shanghai, stunning and perplexing many foreigners. Nightclubs thumping out the latest in Western and Eastern pop & dance music, sometimes twice as expensive as Canadian equivalents. Girls everywhere, with raging pigtails, platform boots, mini-miniskirts, and 'dripping with cosmetics'. And me, finding English publications, ads with local people's e-mails, and arranging get-togethers. I look forward to more Shanghai wandering in the weeks to follow.
Qingdao - home of the (world) famous Chinese beer (German originated). Colonial villas, catholic churches, beaches, parks, popsicles, and spicy-hot squid on a stick. Stayed here six days, then jumped ship for Dalian via Yantai.

Dalian to Harbin
Dalian! Green grass! Chocolate sundaes! What an excellent city to kick back and soak in. I even found a couple of architectural designs that caught my eye. (A green lawn is a very, very rare occurrence in China, especially lawns open to individuals to walk or lay on). It was hard trying to find a cheap hotel here at first; but, as a final resort, I slapped down a shwack of cash on a desk and finally managed to convince one fellow to take in a pesky foreigner (for $10 a night). I'm glad he did, as Dalian was definitely one of the nicer cities I've had the pleasure of seeing in China.
Dalian was my entranceway into the north of China, an area that sees hardly any Westerners but a lot of Russians. Thus, it was the first time I had ever come into contact with - or simply the chance to observe - China's northern neighbors. Such contact, I must admit - after months of thought - has sparked some interest in these creatures.
The city of Shenyang came first, then the smaller towns of Beihe, Dunhua, Tumen (where I curiously looked over into North Korea), Chunhua (watching Russian semi-trucks throttle through the town of Hunchun, with its three-language street signs - Chinese, Russian, and English), and Suifenhe. The latter, Suifenhe, was where Russian influence picked up with all storefronts in Russian signage and Chinese employees speaking Russian. Everybody here, of course, thought I was Russian and would speak to me in that language. It was weird listening to a Chinese individual speaking something other than English, especially the 'harsh' sounding Russian.
And peculiar to see 'non-Western whites' so numerous in the streets, carted around by the busload, in a Chinese environment. Russian men and women alike, coming over the border to shop, carried around these massive plastic shopping bags, some of them hiring two or three Chinese helpers as well. It was obviously a 'status thing' to do so, to be able to come to China, shop and blow money.
ith me in my blue Chinese-peasant Mao ZeDong hat and shirt, one Russian woman in the center of town looked at me in disbelief, rolled her eyes and shook her head (most likely thought I was a Russian citizen). I had to break out laughing, for I desperately wanted to say "You're in Suifenhe-China, lady! Not Fifth Avenue New York!" This is also the town where I saw the machine-gunned Russian vehicle, which noticeably had a spray of bullet holes across its side, and contributed to much laughter, but I did not take a picture as there was a man sitting in the car.
Following Suifenhe, to the city of Harbin for a visa extension and more street wandering. On the perimeter of Harbin I visited what little remains of the 'Japanese Germ Warfare Experimental Base - 731 Division' of WWII, where some 4000 people were 'medically' experimented on and killed in Nazi-like manner.

Mohe to Manzhouli
What followed in the next couple weeks was a dash around northern China -- to Jiamusi, Tongjiang, Suihua, Heihe, Huma, Jagdaqi, Hailar, and Manzhouli. Tongjiang was a dump; Jiamusi and Suihua I only spent the night. Heihe was excellent, which was situated across the river from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk. In the middle of the Heilong River were situated two small gunboats, one Russian, one Chinese, staring at one another - as Chinese tour ferries floated by. Upstream from the town, as it was a blistering day, I jumped into the river for a while along with all the locals. Markets were fun to survey carrying all sorts of Russian goodies, like animal furs, binoculars, knives, paper money and coins, even Penthouse and Blondie bubble gums with girlie pictures inside (instead of the more common bubble-gum comics found in the West).
One of the weirdest foods I've seen in China was in the form of a brown-ringed-soft shell. When poked, it twirled around a few times, then resumed its stationary position. I wanted to buy one and open it up, but the girl did not understand my intentions. I can only presume it was some sort of larvae, but of what kind of creature I'm not sure.
It was strange to think of myself looking into Siberia from across the river and see civilization, cars and people moving about, factory chimneys smoking, sun-seekers on the beach. One pre-conceives -- due to rumor, story and movie -- that Siberia is simply a place synonymous with Lenin and Stalin-esque gulag despair and desolation. I was later to learn that Siberia -- which is 75% of Russia -- has a population of only thirty-three million people (out of Russia's 150 million total), a statistic which stunned me considering how big the place is.
Farther north, the town of Huma was equally as colorful but smaller. Still on the Heilong River (and Chinese-Russian border), I could look over into a wilder picture of Siberia. I felt sorry for the Russian border guards - for all I could see of their quarters was a lone tower, with no major town around for miles on their side of the river. When both Chinese and Russian soldiers spotted me, and when the Russians did a series of flashes, man, you should have seen the Chinese whip those binoculars around to keep an eye on me and to stay alert for any potential response! I swear there was a Chinese prison on the outskirts of town too, but I didn't confirm it. Gravesites were peculiar in the area; most likely due to the presence of a small minority in the area.
In Jagdaqi I lodged with a couple for a few days, as I had to wait till a Monday to get a permit to be able to travel to China's most northern town, Mohe. As nice, accommodating and helpful as they were it was funny to have the place filled with gamblers throughout the day, with her enticing me to try the fruits of some 'local female talent'.
My introduction to Mohe was being finked on by a local hotel-er, with the PSB (local police) dragging my angry butt to a "tourist hotel". I wasn't impressed; especially since I had saved myself a few dollars with the first place. But in my two or three day stay there emerged a picture of me that remains a favorite -- sitting in the huge wood-yards of the rail station, decked out in a blue Mao ZeDong costume, complete with sunglasses.
In Manzhouli, another border town with Russia, I stripped down and sat in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia -- and thoroughly enjoyed the openness of it all under the big blue sky, complete with puffy white clouds. My mood, however, took a swing when I 'walked too close to the border' during my second day, and was escorted by soldiers for a couple hours of interrogation. Had it been up to one stone-faced communist-boy I would have been anal-probed on the spot.
Fortunately, there were others in a higher position that I had to meet. Once I had met a few 'two and three star' officials and proved to them my simple tourist intentions I was allowed to go. The event to seal my release was I handed them my photocopied Chinese menu, as they wanted to know the contents of my capitalist pockets, and said "shifen", or "eat", and we all laughed. Oh, but the opportunity of seeing the initial stone-faced communist boy melt into a sweaty, nervous and childish tone of official ass-kissing was well worth it all.
From Manzhouli, with my visa time again running out, I took to Beijing for a week plus. Scaling the Simitai Great Wall was brilliant -- by far the most dramatic section of Great Wall I have jumped around to date. Spent the night in one of the wall towers with my pigeon and bat friends; the number of stars that filled the sky was gorgeous, rivaling that of Egypt's Dahab and Pakistan's Kalash Valleys.
Outside of Beijing I walked the "Marco Polo Bridge", an item mentioned in the travel chronicles of the famous Italian adventurer. It was also the site of the outbreak of the Sino-Japenese war, "considered by many as China's entry into WWII" - July 7, 1937. Other highlights during my second visit to Beijing included visiting the People's Hall, which many a time I've seen on television (often shown when it comes to political meetings and party policy making).

Shaoshan & Changsa
From Beijing I made the move to return to Hong Kong to attain another travel visa. Twenty nine hours later I was walking through central Kowloon, pricing out various air-conditioned closets (rooms) for my stay. Stayed a week, spent lots of money in preparation for more interior China-travel, adored the skyscrapers, and purchased a world map to begin planning a worldwide assault.
I then re-entered China to visit the village of Shaoshan, birthplace of Mao ZeDong, the man who gave China back to China. Reading a little history along the way, it's amazing to think that a small village peasant-boy in such a humble setting rose to the position of an 'emperor' in China.
He certainly did understand what so many others didn't -- that organizing the peasants was the way to consolidate power in an internally divided and foreign subjugated China. And in so many incredible twists of events, he led the communists to take power over all of China, isolating the rival China-party Kuomingtang to the island of Taiwan. In light of recent Chinese history, it was interesting to walk through Mao's home and his village to see where it all started for him.
From Shaoshan to Changsa, where I took in the city museum and the first mummy I viewed on Chinese soil. It was well preserved, excavated in 1974; 2100 years old, all the bodily pieces were still intact with brain and guts stored in jars.

Yueyang to Chongqing
From Changsa to Yueyang where I boarded a ferry to do a 3 day / 4 night Yangtze River cruise. It was excellent, something I would consider doing again except with individual ferry tickets from town to town rather than one long journey. Saw the three gorges as well as the giant dam project (at night) outside of Yichang.
The towns along the banks of the Yangtze were like another world in China, probably due to the fact that I have not done much river travel here. Interestingly, there was one city we passed it was completely empty except for construction workers. It was a city being built for the relocation of up-river settlements which are going to be under water once the dam project is completed and in operation. I wondered to myself if such a thing as building a city from scratch has ever been done in history -- with no one living in it until it's completed. Whatever the case my river cruise was wonderful. And little did I suspect that I would stumble across my third favorite city in all of China once I disembarked from the ferry -- Chongqing.
Chongqing -- "petitioning Beijing for increased recognition, apart from the rest of Sichuan province, in 1997 it became the fourth 'special municipality' in China to come under the direct control of the central government, like Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai."
This flowering city is strategically located in southwest China as an industrial and business center. At one end of the Yangtze you have Shanghai, at the other, Chongqing. And I believe these two cities -- at opposite ends -- will lead the way in creating an abundance of wealth and opportunity, with it overflowing the banks of the Yangtze and into all central China. No doubt that's the plan behind it becoming a 'special municipality'.
It is also positioned in a picturesque geographical setting -- at the meeting point of two rivers, the Yangtze and the Jialing. In the center of the city, which is located on a peninsula, rise a magnificent looking collection of skyscrapers -- and construction to build more is continuing at an incredible pace. The central square is dazzling by itself, looking as modern and classy - if not more so - as many other international cities.
The surrounding city-scape, across the river from the peninsula, is composed of winding neighborhood pathways and lanes with suburbs of stone and cement built on rising hills. I never expected to come upon a city like this away from the east coast, and that is probably one reason why it captivated me so forcefully -- it was a very pleasant surprise. Add to that that Chongqing is --- without a bit of doubt -- the breast capital of China … and well, Shanghai has some serious competition in all spheres of beauty, glamour, style, wealth, and just plain good living.
I stayed here for an enjoyable eight days, took the time to type my first e-mail summary (in which I had to purge myself of a lot of negative energy up to that point), bathed in European literature (thus giving my mind something to engage unlike the first four months), ate good food, enjoyed the freedom of letting my hair down, and delighted in romping around this huge playground. Even took in my first China soccer game. A French friend cheered for Chongqing, I cheered for nearby rival Kunming. My team won 2-0.

Chengdu & Lamusi
After two days in sterile Chengdu (which I have never been fond of), I left for Songpan, beginning of a heavily traveled tourist route that reaches into accessible Tibetan areas. Two days in Songpan, a day in Zoige, leading to gorgeous little Lamusi snuggled in the mountains.
Unknowingly I pulled into Lamusi during a four day Tibetan gathering so the town was packed with colorful characters. Tents set up on town perimeters, cowboy-like nomads and their ragga-muffin families throttling into town on their motorcycles and galloping in on horseback; literally, the 'wild west' of China.
Another surprise for me was finding out that the Tibetans are into Sky Burials. There was a pit on the outside of town where they threw the deceased to be eaten by the birds (like the Zoroastrians of Iran and India). Visiting it was a graphic display in human anatomy, as many corpses and pieces of corpses in various states of fleshy decay littered the grassland.
From Lamusi I took to Xiahe, a large Tibetan Buddhist monastery town. Stayed for three days, bought and watched Star Wars The Phantom Menace on VCD (pirated copy; some individual took a video camera into a theater, recorded the film and marketed it), and chowed on yak meat. From Xiahe to Lanzhou, where I met two local punkers and we hung out for six days.

Beijing & Nanjing
To Beijing for ten days and the 50 year celebration of the People's Republic of China. Some travelers reported being able to get past all the blockades set up later in the day, but I wasn't prepared to get up at five in the morning at the time. Instead, I saw it on television with the rest of Beijing, the rest of China, as such a celebration was officially a closed event, open to those people invited by the government -- a 'cross section' of Chinese society apparently.
The most classic communist moment of the parade was when Jiang Zemin, the current Prime Minister of China, rode in the same sedan as the former leader Deng Xiaoping. He was driven down the central street of Beijing, acknowledging several legions of army, navy and air force troops through loud-speaker. In turn, the troops all bellowed out a solid and disciplined response. Then the military show commenced with tanks, shell and missile launchers, rockets, jet planes, helicopters -- the best of China's military on display.
After a normal parade commenced with a float for every Chinese province. I don't think I have ever seen so many people involved in a single parade. The two best scenes of the parade were the long and colorful dragons whipping about, and hundreds of children releasing balloons into the sky while rushing towards Tiananmen Gate, where Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji were standing.
Lastly, the train from Beijing to Nanjing where I currently am now. In the next few days I will view (1) a mass grave display, result of the 1937 'Rape of Nanjing' by invading Japanese armies -- in which some 300,000 Chinese were killed; (2) Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum (d.1925) -- considered to be the founder of modern China by communists and Kuomingtang alike; (3) Emperor Wu's mausoleum, founder of the Ming Dynasty, which stretched from 1368-1644 AD.

Growing Pains
One of the things I remember developing an early sense of was being able to watch a country convert to an individualist-capitalist -- i.e., freedom -- style of thinking and living. To witness the early stages of the transitional period in all its manifestations. The progresses and glories including the seeming 'drawbacks' and 'malevolent' aspects. The initial 'growing pains' of implementing a new system of thought, but still not in place and properly functioning.
While I have not seen as much as I would like (or have I seen more than enough?), China has been a good self-strengthening ground for my idea-inquiries and their concretization. Here are a few more realities, sights and thoughts I have seen and had while touring China.
Reflected in all Chinese cities (outside the centers) and the countryside in varying degrees, there are not many centralized garbage dumping areas. Garbage is more or less spread out everywhere, which makes for some great touring sensations -- i.e., smells. For many individuals, a place to dump garbage is to be found anywhere outside one's own house, business or yard.
Occasionally I will spot a crew of workers with a truck tackling some of the larger neighborhood organic trash piles, scattered down hillsides, with their shovels. When riding on the trains little garbage actually makes an onboard trash container -- it just goes straight out the window: plastics, styrofoam, beer bottles, cans, paper, watermelons, whatever. China is in serious need of a garbage disposal program, as well as a 'public enlightenment program'.
As for China's sewer, it goes into rivers untreated and makes for some serious stink. If anybody ever fell into these waters I can't imagine surviving, or at least developing serious infection. It is not even water anymore, more a black, chunky, liquified tar -- the kind that can be imported from Pakistan or India. There have been times where I've literally started gagging on the stench when I've been walking about.
Toilets are a real issue for the overseas traveler; and while many virgin travelers are horrified at the sight of some of the toilet facilities, I've seen so much 'horror' now that it's all pretty much normal to me. Most are of the 'squat over a hole in the ground or floor' type.
Some of the better ones -- in the small town of Beihe, I had to balance on a small wooden trail through a spreading sewer pond to getto the toilet. Many of the outhouse toilets (so common in towns and the countryside) -- and this is a great viewing pleasure while relieving one's self -- are completely maggot and bug infested, with a sea of worms squirming at your feet and in the slime pit below you, with the smell nearly overpowering.
Most toilets, in public facilities and hotels, are of the divided kind -- not private booths. Just a small divider wall between each stall, no front door, with one long tiled canal below you running through all stalls. Maybe, if you're lucky, it will be flushed out once a day by attendants. At times Chinese men try to ridiculously hide their curiosity when it comes to 'foreign anatomy', looking at you sideways as they pass your stall.
Air pollutants are some of the worst in the world -- it is a rare day in many cities to view a blue sky, and just as rare to see the stars at night time. For an English teacher in Shanghai, after a starry sky one night, that was the subject for next day's class as all the students took note of it.
As for vehicle exhaust filters, a Shanghai girl said it plainly -- "But Chinese cars have no filters!" No crap. Not as bad as Pakistan, India or Nepal though. Coal, too, as the primary source of China's energy (so heavily subsidized by government decree) is a black and foul pollutant, making me gasp for oxygen more than once.
Noise pollution is extreme in a lot of cities. You would swear Chinese car manufacturers built the horn into the bottom cushion of the seat (when you sit down the horn automatically starts blaring), for drivers never tire of blasting and beeping. At times, to escape the nerve-wracking 'compression' of the city around me, I will retreat to a five star luxury hotel and sit in the lobby or restaurant for a couple of hours to soothe myself.
Yes, when it comes to a developing industry, its long working hours, piddly wages, poor working and sometimes very basic living conditions, environmental poisoning and pollution, ten months of touring China has made its impressions on me.

The Infrastructure Boom
On a more optimistic note, and as many people know, the first four months of my touring in 1995 literally 'blew me away' after having spent so much time in the less industrious and almost backwards Islamic and Hindu segments of humanity. China, after six more months of touring in 1999, continues to explode upwards in terms of communications and transport modernization, infrastructure re-alignment, building construction, and personal wealth attainment -- just to whip off a few generalities.
Many of the highways I've traveled on connecting major cities are first class. In 1995 I spoke about riding a double-decker high speed train -- it was absolutely gorgeous, surpassing anything I have seen in North America or Europe.
In China cellular phones and pagers are so commonplace it is unreal. Everybody and their pet dragonfly seems to own a cell phone or a beeper. And there are phone lines everywhere, on every street corner (yes, they all appear to work). How China Telecom keeps up with the growing demand of 1.3 billion people, how it managed to get as far as it has, is a stupendous accomplishment. Even the amount of Internet terminals I have come across, some in the most remote of areas, has surprised me.
As for business and residential construction, it is endless, it is infinite. China is practically a non-stop, 24 hour a day, omnipresent construction site. (The cities -- which compose 1/4 of China's 1.3 billion population -- are undergoing a more radical change than the countryside at present, leading the path of reform. What this translates to, as I enthusiastically recall some of the highlights of my China tour and my personal opinions of these people, is most of the country remains poor and ignorant.)
I think it's impossible for me to convey the magnitude and scope of it all, except to stand in the midst of it, astonished, for ten months, and just watch these people work. This monstrous ant-hill, swarming with activity, bustling and near bursting with noise and imagery, alive. All this in twenty years. I can barely believe they have done all this in twenty years. That's what I say when I stand in each city center with its concentrated and intense energy levels.
Even personal dress, which I remember scoffing at in 1995, is slick and stylish now in 1999. So long as the Hindus and Muslims remain 'Hindus' and 'Muslims', they will never -- not in a hundred years, not in a thousand years, not in a million years -- attain the same kind of earthly development and individual prosperity that the Chinese are attaining today, never mind what this great people will attain tomorrow.

The Confucian Ideal
While I bitterly fought against downgrading my opinion of China to a third world country (from a personalized opinion of a second world country), ultimately I did so. The 'Confucian ideal', which has lingered persistently in my head since a discovery of the philosophy in 1995, has made a firm impression. And while there is much in Confucianism I do not like there is a lot I do like.
When people ask me what I see in China that has any trace of Confucianism in it, I first tell them that it is impossible to erase the influence of 2500 years of Confucianism as the state-philosophy of China. Yes, the communists have done their best to eradicate Confucianism in name, but so much of it still permeates, even if it is only in a generalized world view (minus the more technical Confucian terms and specifics).
The most impressive aspect of China, so miraculously manifested, is its earthly orientation. The Chinese are earthly orientated human animals. This fact is taken so much for granted here that it is exquisite. Yes, superstition abounds, Buddhism and Taoism exist, and even Islam and Christianity have penetrated to a small extent, but the majority of Chinese are atheists -- and wow, do I love that.
"Through my self do all things become possible" is an ethical creed of mine and the Chinese are reflecting that better, day by day, in a variety of ways. For all the superstition, for all the ignorance, for all the stupidity, I love the Chinese because they are creatures of earth. This one idea, that my body is my soul, consciously discovered by me in 1990, with me in 1995 during my first trip in China, and with me in 1999, has long been a fundamental tenet of my thought, elevated to the central principle of my philosophy several years back.
This is a main emphasis in Confucianism - on man, not God; on an organic and holistically integrated human animal life, not detached soul and heaven. The Chinese, in my eyes, are a living stamp of Confucianism. Though, I guess it doesn't necessarily have to be termed that anymore -- they just see and exist as human animals, as human beings should, but many do not.

Travelers' Opinions
When it comes to travelers' comments on the Chinese, there is a variety of opinion. It's weird how a lot of travelers approach China, especially those who tour the West. They come to China to see and highlight the minorities, not the Han Chinese (90% of China's population), who they tend to consciously ignore and evade as best they can. Many foreigners tend to think the Chinese as 'money orientated', 'materialistic', loud and obnoxious, aggressive -- to recall a few descriptions.
Two Polish youths, early in their travels, even termed them as 'Asian Jews' (in a negative sense); little did they know of my great respect for the earthly-orientated Jewish people. (Bite your tongues lads!) When it comes to this money-orientated, 'materialistic' approach to life -- I have no argument there. But unlike others I find it a virtue and not a vice. However, having broken away from the cliché thinking of Christianity and its anti-human, anti-materialism, anti-capitalism sermons, I am of the mindset that there is a beautiful spirituality in earthly-animal living, and to live for myself (while trading with others to mutual advantage) -- to prosper and flourish -- is not a crime.
Yes, I admit a few Chinese are excessive in their pursuit of wealth, but there could be a good explanation for this. Imagine yourself deprived of personal expression, freedom, activity, excitement, money, luxurious sensuality, etc., for many years under a totalitarian regime. Then in the brief span of some twenty years various reforms are undertaken which really begin to flower. How does any one of us deal with a deprived state for a small period of time? If we don't sleep, if we don't eat and drink, if we don't have money, if we don't enjoy ourselves, if we don't get enough adventure or excitement, etc., -- we satiate ourselves, that's how we creature-comforted Westerners react, that's how any normal human being would react. I think many Chinese are acting along the same lines -- it's hard-core saturation time.
As Deng Xiaoping stated in the early 1980's as part of the reform inspiration, "to get rich is glorious". As China is still volatile in its reforms, the communists still in control of China, wouldn't you want to 'get rich' while the going is good? I sure would. If that involves ripping a buck or two, or even ten cents, off a 'rich foreigner' by inflating a price to supplement my $150 a month income, and the foreigner agrees, then so be it. That's voluntary negotiation and agreement; that's business.
To say I don't get absolutely steamed sometimes in negotiation would be an understatement. As a more extreme example I once walked eleven kilometers instead of paying an overinflated, but simple, price tag of $2 for transport.
The 'loud and obnoxious' and 'aggressive' observations I explain as such. The Chinese are a very proud people. Now, more than ever, they are aware of themselves as a people, as a culture, as a force that has the potential to be a world power. In time, a superpower. That is one aspect on a more grand scale. Another, on a more individual scale, is the sheer size of China -- population wise -- and the precarious state of reform and development internally. One doesn't get anywhere in the midst of 1.3 billion people by being passive. With the communist 'iron-rice bowl' -- i.e., state-guaranteed dwelling, income, etc. -- disappearing, families and individuals have to take care of themselves. It's becoming more and more imperative to be self-motivating, self-responsible, self-reliant.
As another reason, I tend to think of the Chinese people as confident in themselves, in their abilities, in their intelligence. And, to a large extent, in the midst of so much 'human rights' badgering by the West, they are a common-sense and just people. Women, who are viewed and can be treated viciously in Muslim and Hindu societies, are active and respected participants of everyday Chinese life. In cultural comparison -- regarding a woman's freedoms and opportunities -- what I have seen to date (important!), I'd say only the West is on an equal footing with China. (Islam and Hindu cultures are still quite primitive in their concept of a human being, never mind discussing a woman's rights.)
In coming years, as more peasant-farmer men-orientated families rise in wealth and gain the increased concrete freedoms and abstract understanding which accompanies wealth, I expect women to rise just as high as men in all regards, in all pursuits, as China's internal development grows and consolidates.
Confidence also stems from accomplishment. On the issue of homeless people in China, I rarely see it. It is incredible considering how many people there are here. Even the amount of beggars is paltry. I'm sure there were more beggars in one small town of India than I've met throughout China. Of those met in China I am sure half are in the Buddhist town of Xiahe, where the 'civilian' beggars beg from the monk beggars, and vice versa.

Other China Likes & Dislikes
Chinese pop music, mostly the love and heartache kind, does have a few catchy tunes in there. The more variety I hear the more I think about buying compact disks to listen to.
Chinese art sucks. Billions of tons of China-landscape and flower pictures -- keeripe! -- can we say 'boring'?! Modern art is, for the most part, pathetic. I usually run, not walk, through a museum's art gallery (if there is one).
Chinese opera -- to coin a Victor Hugo phrase -- "God's Death!" -- the women's voices are torture. I would rather be inserted into a medieval rack for six to ten hours.
Architecture. Ming and Qing dynasty architecture remains uninspiring. I find simple Tibetan housing more colorful and nicer to look at. In the last fifty years common are the square-ish and un-inspiring mass housing projects constructed by the communists. In the last twenty years the Chinese are currently in love with a type of blue glass, seen in many cities in peculiar building designs. Still, in any artistic or abstract endeavor it is going to be awhile until something of great splendor comes along like the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong (designed by a Chinese American architect and my favorite skyscraper in the world; now that is a temple!!).
Chinese women, in spite of my nasty comment in my top ten list (of letter one), are gorgeous. Whew! I tend to think all male travelers are unanimous on this topic.
Chinese babies -- I love them! -- they continue to be one of the most exquisite creatures on the face of this planet for me, with those ultra-expressive 'Tang Dynasty' faces. I am constantly on 'baby-alert' mode everywhere I go.
Food is delicious -- not the North American packaged crap either. As for China's excellence in athletic pursuits, you will have to call mom up in Yellowknife. She is the sports fan in the Yellowknife branch of the family.
So these are some of the experiences and impressions that continue to keep me here as a traveler and thinker. It is even hard for me at present to think about leaving China. Half of me is ready to leave, half of me wants to stay here indefinitely. To imagine Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, etc., have cultures of their own, that there is 'more than China' in east Asia, is something I have not wrapped my head around yet. I am so Sino-orientated when it comes to all of Asia that I have consciously downplayed and overlooked miraculous Japan as a cultural force and idea-center until only recently. It is like -- "What?! In Asia, you mean there is life after and culture outside of China?!"

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