As always, China throws a long shadow. It was obvious we were approaching Shanghai by the change in the color of the ocean water. As Shanghai is near the terminal end of the Yangtze River, it wasn’t a surprise to see the water taking on a brownish tinge. It was more disconcerting to see the odd bits of trash floating by the ship as we made our way to the coast of China and up the river.
But such is the price of progress in today’s world. Especially when a country is moving through the industrial or post-industrial stages that China is firmly wrapped up in. The blend of old and new in China is astonishing and hard to reconcile. From the hutongs in Beijing, where people live in crowded housing units with no running water and communal toilets and showers, to the spot-lit Bund in Shanghai with its Teslas and BMWs, there are obvious signs of the divides that exist in all countries.
The new wealth and prosperity in China make it even more startling. Traveling in China in the late 80’s and early 90’s was to see a country just beginning to gain wealth. There were far more bicycles than cars, and time was the substitute for money. No high speed trains, few domestic flights and even fewer high rise buildings. Now bicycles are relatively rare, and scooters are ubiquitous among the cars. Shanghai and Beijing are filled with electric scooters, which sneak up on you silently when you least expect it. And there are thousands of miles of high speed trains.
While the signs of “progress” are evident in the air quality issues we saw in China, we are bullish on China’s future. Certainly there will be growing pains and at some point there will be missteps, but from an economic perspective China seems to be continuing to takes steps forward. They have recognized some issues and have begun to deal with things like the air quality problems. It remains to be seen how they will handle future shocks like the aging population (a remnant of the one child policy), calls for more open and transparent access to their domestic markets and the challenges of maintaining good relationships within their region.
Luke spent his first day in China attending a field class for his Global Environmental Systems class. So Ryan, Christy and Jay ventured out into Shanghai. After wandering the busy streets for a while, they managed to connect with George, Ryan’s coding teacher who lives in Shanghai. It was great to put a person behind the online teacher he has been working with for several months. George did a great job of picking a lunch spot and then taking us around the old town. There were special displays everywhere to celebrate the Chinese New Year – the Year of the Pig.
After our day in Shanghai, we hopped a flight to Beijing where we spent most of our remaining time. We managed to get checked in and over to Tianannmen Square in time for sunset. Through an enthusiastic travel agent in the Square we booked a Kung Fu show that night and a visit to the Great Wall the next day.
The Kung Fu show was OK but paled in comparison to the acrobat show we saw in Shanghai a few years ago. And the Great Wall trip turned in a disastrous attempt to get to the Wall at Mutianyu. It’s never good when your driver is screaming at someone on his phone while navigating a van load of tourists.
After spending about 90 minutes in the van, we realized that we were further from the Wall than when we started. The reasons we heard for that were varied. Some people had been late for the first pickup, so we were returning to pick them up. Or we were moving to a different van. Whatever the reason, we decided an hour and a half to drive further away from the Wall was enough and we bailed on the tour when we stopped. Instead we enjoyed a day visiting the Temple of Heaven and other sites on our way back up to Tiannanmen Square.
The whole episode worked out very well, since we arranged a different guide the next day. Our new driver/guide, Jenny, was great and drove us all around and explained things. We had a number of conversations about China today and where she saw the country going, as well as discussing history. The Wall at Mutianyu is quite spectacular and lived up to our expectations. Part of the visit there is a chairlift up to the Wall. And then a “sled” coming back down.
As our day with Jenny was coming to a close, she arranged tickets in to the Forbidden City for us. We spent a quick few hours wandering around and joining in with the large crowds. By the time we finished, the crush of people was making it interesting to navigate the final buildings and sights. All in all a successful day.
We did find a couple of really good locations on our China trip. We found a great restaurant that happened to have branches in several cities in China, including Shanghai and Beijing. If you visit either of these cities, we recommend Lost Heaven!
We did get to spend a single day in Hong Kong, where we arrived just in time for Chinese New Year. While it made Hong Kong raucous and crowded, it meant Jay’s brother and our other friends in Hong Kong were all gone for holidays. We did spend a relatively uneventful day shopping and enjoying the food and bustle of Hong Kong, including a dim sum breakfast.
