Leaving Shijiazhuang + Generic Westerner at Wall
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2007
1
4
Trip End
Oct 25, 2007
Shijiazhuang + Beijing, China
Monday, October 22, 2007
After passing through the obligatory industrial area with its concomitant pale of grey smog on the north side of Shijiazhuang, we drove through kilometer after kilometer of flat fields divided into 10 cubic meter patches by shallow irrigation ditches. The corn is full grown, though much shorter than the variety one sees in the U.S. In addition, what looked like winter wheat was just beginning to green the brown fields. The fields stretched away to the horizon. Amazingly, we saw very little farm machinery. Dwarfed by the expanse of land and scattered across the landscape were a few farmers - many of them women - hoeing weeds.
As we approached Beijing, military and police roadblocks began to appear. Security was intense as the 17th Peoples' Congress had just begun (more about this later). Restrictions were also in place limiting traffic into the city. Although we saw a number of vehicles being searched and their drivers' papers being checked, we sailed through - due perhaps to the placard on the dashboard announcing that this was university vehicle.
In Beijing, we arrived at the Jingshi Hotel (the Center for International Academic Excellence) on the campus of Beijing Normal University (BNU). BNU sits right in the city, just north of the city center. It has about 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students. We were hosted by Professor Ru-de Liu, a classmate and friend of my colleague Min Li at the UW.
The Jingshi Hotel is new, very modern - a contrast to the our hotel in Shijiazhuang which, while perfectly adequate, could probably use a refurb. (Given the tight budgets for universities, this is unlikely to happen any time soon.) Our room on the 16th floor overlooked a large plaza at the entrance to the University. The plaza, it turns out, was the site of tai chi, fan dance, Chen sword, and various other practices.
In the afternoon, we did out first tourist-ing since our trip to Xibaipo out side of Shijiazhuang. One of Professor Liu's grad students accompanied us to the Prince Gong Palace Gardens - a palace inhabited by the chief counselors to several emperors of the Qing dynasty (the last dynasty). Located in the middle of an urban area, the grounds (maybe a couple fo square kilometers were incredibly peaceful, despite the crush of tourists - Chinese as well as foreign. I was struck here as elsewhere by the huge chasm between the lives lived by the elite and that of ordinary people, a chasm paralleled in Europe at the time of the Qing rulers. (Rather than describe the garden, I'm including photos.) Most curious were the large rocks and boulders artfully arranged throughout the garden. These seemed, to our Northwestern eyes, to volcanic in nature. I don't think this is a volcanic region (I later confirmed this). I told that when the emperor had this place built, the rocks were brought in from, probably, southern China although no one I asked seemed to exactly where in southern China.
Needless to say, Professor Liu treated us to an excellent meal at a Sichuan restaurant. Also at dinner, was Professor Chen who was my colleague Min Li's dissertation director. She has a well-earned reputation for being one of the top cognitive scientists in China and early on (1980s) did research on the effects of using computer technology in the classroom (some of this in collaboration with U.S. researchers). Although she still seems very active, she is now retired, as is her husband who was a professor of modern Chinese history (sorry my lack of Chinese forestalled conversation with him). All three of her daughters have immigrated to the U.S. so she seems to spend as much time there as in China.
There was nothing for it except to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City the next day. I had no idea that last time I visited how luck I was it was a bitterly cold, gray day in December. Very few people and virtually no foreign tourists braved the cold that day. No such luck time. Tiananmen Square was all decked out in red for the historic occasion of the 17th Party Congress and was seething mass of tens of thousands. Again, the police were very much in evidence, stop[ping people to check their parcels, bags, etc. As foreigners, we seemed to be given a pass.
There is little to say about the Forbidden City that hasn't already been said, much better than I could do. Several things were noticeably different. Just outside the main gate is a huge flower sculpture depicting various Olympic events. To say that China is taking their job as Olympic hosts seriously is an major understatement. Virtually any where you go in the city, new flowers have been planted, new streets and pedestrian overapasses have been built, new buildings erected, a new subway line is being added to the existing lines primarily to serve Olympic venues. On the campus of BNU, a huge new building is under construction specifically and exclusively to house the U.S. Olympic team (of course the University will inherit the building after the event). Citizens are being exhorted to mind their manners - no spitting in public, courtesy toward strangers, and perhaps most importantly, no slurping! Beijing taxi drivers have received "courtesy" training as well as English lessons (one of them actually slowed down to about 50 mph as I tried to cross the road!).
The Forbidden City is ground zero for the sprucing up. Several of the main pavilions are shrouded in scaffolding and the ubiquitous green safety netting that seems to cover all buildings under construction. The frescoes on virtually all the buildings are being cleaned and repainted. (So far, the Greeks have resisted the temptation to restore the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis to the gaudy colors with which they were originally festooned - perhaps out of deference to Western reverence [and revenues] for the "austere purity" of white marble.)
Great Wall Moments:
Generic comment: It's really, really big.
Generic Westerner: As Austen & I waited for Robin & our friend Mars to catch up, a young Chinese gentleman with a camera approached us. He said that one of his companions wanted his picture taken with me. I wasn't sure how to respond but could see no harm so agreed. Then, he said that their two females traveling companions also wanted a picture with me. After they left, Austen & I agreed that I just happened to be the "generic Westerner" readily at hand. I thought perhaps I ought to get a sign and join the hundreds of other hawkers on the wall announcing my availability as a pictorial companion for those who wanted a photograph with the "Generic Westerner."
Of course, I couldn't help imagining the explanation in the photographer's living room back home in Fujian Province as he shows his guests the photographs after dinner...
"...and this is Mabel with some Westerner we came across huffing & puffing his way up the Wall. Then Harry got the idea that it might be fun to get a picture with this old geezer. Look closely and you'll see the deep lines etched into his face by the depredations of capitalist over-indulgence and sloth. Notice also his balding pate, undoubtedly the unsightly result of the anxiety caused by the tortured anticipation of the day when our children will be supervising his work and that of his children on the factory floor .... [here the photographer imitates the voice of an unctuously imperious boss] 'Mr. Bill, it seems you have failed to rivet this widget correctly. Unfortunately, we will have to dock your pay - again. Oh - as I check your account on my PDA here, I see that you owe us more money that we owe you! But that is your tradition, yes? Remember that little skirmish in Iraq? And of course the generous tax cuts for the hedge fund managers? Someone has to pay for all that. And you need to set a good example of hard work for your children who can see you from just down the assembly line there...'" [uproarious laughter from guests...].
Footwear: Those of you who have been to the Wall know that it is: (1) very steep in parts and (2) very slippery (centuries of people and animals tramping along it has produced an effect like a rock polisher) and (3) it is often very chilly, being up in the mountains outside of Beijing (Oh - and if I didn't mention this already, it is also VERY BIG). So, I was surprised at the footwear choices of some of the visitors. In addition to sensible athletic shoes, we saw flip-flops, sandals with high heels, spiked heels, "thin-soled, pointy-toed girls' shoes" (to quote the Chenille Sisters) leather-soled men's slippers, fur-lined boots, and what appeared to be open-toed bedroom slippers. You wonder what folks were thinking.....
Visitors: Lots & lots of tourists - both Chinese & foreign. Most of retirement age.
Favorite Hawker: Among the hundreds of peddlers hawking scarves, fur hats, postcards, stone etchings, paintings, food, drink, etc., our hands-down (oops!) favorite was "Pee-pee boy" - a ingeniously simple clay child into which one poured water that then... 'nuf said.
Ming Tombs: On the way back to Beijing, we stopped at the Ming Tombs, final resting place of the emperors and empresses of the Ming dynasty (considered by some to be the high-point of Chinese art and culture). The tombs are large pavilions that are connected to the elaborately painted gates by long walkways shaded over by willow trees and guarded by a phalanx of stone animals (lions, Chinese griffins, elephants), soldiers, and scholars. (See photos). The second tomb we visited is entirely underground and surrounded by a park of cypress and pine trees. The quiet, shaded coolness and relative quiet of the park contrasted with the noise and bustle of the Wall. More evidence that, un China as elsewhere, it was good to be king (or emperor, as the case maybe).
Bullet train to Shanghai: We took the old Beijing subway line for the half-hour trip to the train station. The subway was crowded -- standing room only, of course, but clean. Beijing has already complete one new subway line and the second new line (specifically to serve Olympic venues) is nearly complete.
The "soft seat" ticket lounge at the train station was unexpectedly comfortable with plush arm chairs, potted plants, a bar (a stark contrast with our local Amtrak station). Of course, you could only sit down if you bought a drink. The student with us recoiled in shock when he learned that a cup of tea of coffee cost 8 yuan (a little over a buck) and suggested we stand for the 50 minutes before the train left (as many others were doing). Being Westerners, we bought cups of tea and coffee and sat.
I would suggest that we drop the expression for chaos "like a Chinese fire drill" and replace it with the expression "like boarding a Chinese train." Despite the fact that everyone had assigned seats and overhead baggage storage seemed plentiful, travelers (us included) pushed and shoved and assaulted one another with roll-on bags in the narrow aisles as we boarded the bullet to Shanghai. True to our stereotype as pampered Westerners, we bought "soft seat" berths - sort of "1st class" tickets. The grad student who accompanied us to the station and helped us fend off the human wave washing over us in the aisles mentioned that on the rare occasions when he returned to his home town in the far Northeast of China, he rode in the "hard-seat" compartment for 40 hours.
Despite the fact that every seat was taken, our compartment was about as comfortable as a train car can be on a 10-hour trip (1800 kilometers). An attendant passed out bottled water, swept the floor repeatedly, cleaned up liquid spills and worse (ominously, the first thing she passed out to everyone was air-sickness bags). Although I had been on bullet trains in Europe, I had never been on a bullet train that hit 238 Km/hr and had a tendency to speed up and slow down quickly -- hence, the barf bags. Luckily, we had with us some fresh ginger to make tea (with readily available hot water) to counteract the nausea else I would have kept the attendant very busy.
Turns out that China has just produced it's first made-in-China bullet train that is reputed to be just as fast as the renowned Japanese version, capable of speeds consistently in the mid-200 km/hr (or consistent speed was probably a measly 180 km/hr).
We were met in Shanghai by two grad students from East China Normal University who lead us up to the street-level into the bright lights of downtown Shanghai with its skyscrapers and huge LED billboards on which run continuous advertisements for films, hotels, restaurants, etc. These are sometimes 5 or 6 floors in height and 40 or 50 feet wide.
Finding a taxi was a challenge because several cabbies protested that our hotel was considered too far from the station. We found this ironic because when we arrived in Beijing from Seattle, we were turned down by many cabbies because the airport bus terminus was judged too close to the train station.
(I apologize -- I seem to have fallen into some kind travel narrative mode here that must be dreadfully boring. I think I'll just add some photos & let them speak for themselves. We are now in Nanjing after a day of meetings in Shanghai including some very impressive presentations by Chinese high school students who used system dynamics models and software to investigation the type and amount of fuel required to launch a rocket. I think I'll post this & add more later.)
