China, page 7
Here are some impressions from two weeks in China....
The country has made amazing progress in modernizing their cities in the last 20 years. Two members of
our group were there in the 80s and said the changes were amazing. High rise apartment buildings going
up everywhere and in every location we visited. New bridges, roads, office buildings, factories, huge
landscaping projects... everywhere. From our hotel window in Beijing we counted eleven construction
projects. And we were on the outskirts of town. A lot of the bicycles that China is famous for have been
replaced with cars (largely VWs and Buicks), at least in the major cities.
The Three Gorges dam was quite a sight. This type of project, which displaced a couple million people,
could only take place in China. It would be tied up forever in the courts in any western country. The good
(as perceived by the government) of the country is always more important than the individual. Pollution and
ecological considerations are second thoughts. I think the people have experienced so much chaos over
the last 100 years that they support a strong central (i.e., stable) government. Individualism seems to be
less important than in the US. If Seattle was in China, it would have had a fully functional mass transit
system years ago!
The people we met seemed happy and very proud of their country. We saw some really desperate
beggars, but generally, in the cities, people looked to be middle class and doing OK. Lots of smiles on
people on the street, in cars and on buses.
What about religion? One of our guides thought that only about 5% of the population followed an
organized religion... Buddhism being the main one. However, when asked how many believed in an
after-life and a higher being (a God or Gods), he said close to 100%. We have the impression that most
Chinese are very concerned about "luck" and about following traditions that will improve their chances for a
good life. As you see from our photos, we visited a lot of Buddhist sites. It must have been more important
in the past. Mao was against organized religion.
Capitalism is alive and well. Little shops everywhere. We did see one Wal-Mart, but they are really into the
"little box" stores. Bargaining was a kick, but George managed to pay more for everything when
bargaining, at least relative to other members of our tour group. Ask him about his French version of Mao's
Little Red Book!
Traffic and general driving rules of the road, if there are any, were really interesting. Everybody seems to
be very patient and gave way when needed to avoid an accident. Although traffic was often terrible in large
cities, rarely did we see any aggressive driving or even use of a horn. Once our bus just pulled out and
turned right into three lanes of traffic. Everyone just stopped and let it happen. No big deal. Can you
imagine that happening in the US?
From what we saw, children are cherished and well cared for. We saw lots of parents with their child at
many of the sites we visited. Education is a top priority for both the children and the parents. The single-
child system appears to be effective.
People work very hard, but seem to be getting by fairly well, at least in the cities. We didn't get out in the
country much and we understand conditions are much worse there. We did visit one farm family and their
rather primitive house (dirt floor), but noticed that they did have a satellite TV!
Service was excellent wherever we went. We're spoiled!
People looked healthy.... We didn't see a single FAT person in our travels. And, the Chinese airlines have
very attractive flight attendants!
Pollution is still a major problem, but they seem to be making some limited progress. We rarely saw blue
sky, even in relatively remote areas. Most cities were under a constant layer of smog. We saw some
images of the Yangtze river from last August (our neighbor was there on business). "Sewer brown" water
and untreated waste floating down the river were in his pictures. We saw nothing of that our cruise. The
river looked pretty good. They are also planting trees everywhere we traveled... by the millions. Factories
are being moved out of the cities and into the county. They still have a very long way to go. The 2008
Olympics as been a great incentive to clean up their environment, at least where tourists will be visiting.
When the Chinese set their mind to something, there is no stopping them. Someone asked why there were
so few birds on one of our stops, and our guide said that years ago the government told farmers that the
birds were harming the crops... result, no birds. This is a good example of the danger of such an
all-powerful central government.... when they get it wrong, there can be hell to pay.
Finally, it was an interesting place to visit, but we certainly would not like to live there.