-Of course, the changes in China are profound since I was last here 24 years ago. Cars now dominate where before the sound of traffic was the tinkle of thousands of bike bells. Now, like in any urban area anywhere in the developed world cyclists put their lives on the line to ride on the streets.
-The Chinese do have the most interesting street signs I have ever seen. A truck with an elephant in the back with the universal "do not" symbol( a circle with a diagonal line through it) means, do not exceed the weight limit. If there is a giraffe in the back, do not exceed the height limit. A driver with martini glasses circling his head, do not drink and drive. Our favorite, which remains a mystery, is an exploding car. We have seen it on the highways, as well as, more quiet side streets. It may mean if you park here, we will blow up your car. Maybe, it is an area of frequent terrorist activity. All we have been able to determine is that means some kind of danger.
-The National bird of China must be the construction crane. There are buildings going up everywhere. Many complain that much traditional architecture has been destroyed. Particularly the hutongs of Beijing. A hutong is a narrow street or ally way in Beijing where traditional Chinese homes are located. In 1900, there were about 2000 of them in Beijing. The number grew to near 9000 before 1984. Now they are back down to 2000. Some of the hutongs have very attractive courtyard areas. Most of them now have electricity. Few of them have indoor plumbing. The people go to communal toilets, which are modern. If you consider, squat toilets modern. You can identify the communal toilets long before you can see them.
-The Chinese are building small planned cities in the countryside where none existed before.
-Much of the modern architecture is very interesting and quite beautiful.
- The people of China are very warm and friendly. My first day in the hotel. I said "sheh sheh", which is thank you in Chinese to a young girl. She looked at me and said,"You speak Chinese very well. Do you mind if I sit and talk with you?" The girl is 10. She introduced herself as Lucie. She was her regions winner for an English speaking competition, which were just ending in Beijing. She got top scores in speech, but did not do as well with written English, but she was competing against 12 and 13 year olds. So, I am sure she will win some day. After our hour long chat, meeting her family and friends, she gave me her name card, which is like a business card. Her card said "Lucy, a very nice, young Chinese girl'. She certainly is that. But, she did confide in me that she also studies kung fu and she sometimes practices against boys, who are "devils", who mistreat her friends.
-Every day when you are out on the streets, you hear,"Where you from?" and, "Do you speak English?", from people who want to practice. English study is compulsory here. Unfortunately, we have learned that many also use it to scam travelers. We have encountered the taxi scam, the tea ceremony scam, the hutong tour scam, the art student scam and others. We fell for the tea ceremony scam, which was expensive, but so far the bill has not come through. The sad part of the scams is that there are many very nice people here who do want to practice their language skills and have a chance to learn about other cultures. In time, some travelers will become wary of them.
-Like many countries where the government is often opposed to ours, many of the people love America and would like to go there.
- The other day, while driving through a small village, a slightly demented young man jumped in front of our car. He refused to move until we paid him a sufficient toll. Our driver told us the same guy does this when ever a car, not from his village, passes though. It is his source of income. I fear that some day soon a car will not stop and put him out of business.
-In The Forbidden City in Beijing, which was the home of the Emperors of China for nearly 500 years, there are many palaces and temples. In one area, there are 3 temples; Two larger ones at each end of a courtyard about 100 yards apart and one smaller in between the two. The smaller temple was for the Emperor to stop and rest during the long 100 yard walk between the two bigger palaces. That the Emperor was burdened with responsibility there is no doubt. "Heavy weighs the crown", and all that, but you would think that he could make it 100 yards with out resting. My esteem for the fitness of the Emperor declines even further when I learned that outside of his own palace, it was not permitted for him to walk. He was carried everywhere in a sedan chair. We think that too many of our people are couch potatoes!
-It is likely that the rate of divorce for the Emperors was low. The Empress was permitted to live in the palace of the Emperor for only 3 days then she had to find her own dwelling in The Forbidden City. The Emperor had a harem of 100s of concubines to consol him for the early absence of his bride.
-Hacking spitting, nose picking, nose blowing without benefit of tissues, belching and farting in public are held in high esteem in China.
-The Dowager Empress Cixi, when her country was near bankruptcy and torn with strife, had a palace built to be used only on her birthday. It was unused the rest of the year. To enhance her birthday view, a lake had to be dug, the dirt from the lake was used to construct the hill on which the palace was built and a nine story pagoda was placed on the skyline a few miles away. So she could pretend that she was sailing on her lake, she had a life size boat built of marble. It all seems a little irresponsible to me.
-Almost all of the Chinese who speak English adopt English names, like Lucy, Mike, Tina, Jojo, John, Peter, etc. They think there Chinese names are too complicated for westerners. They are also much enamored with things western. One of our guides has a Chinese name of Shaolu, which I think is a beautiful name, but she goes by Katherine.
-I thought it would be fitting if I chose a Chinese name. Cleverly, I began to tell people that I had adopted a Chinese name. They were quire excited that I had done so. When they asked me what was my Chinese name, I would tell them "Bruce Lee". To my astonishment and dismay, no one has heard of Bruce Lee. Of course, they know him. He is on TV often here. But, they know him by his Chinese name.
-A question I have for Russians traveling on holiday, "What were you thinking when you put on that outfit?" From my observation of younger Russian women traveling in China, there must be a Fredericks of Hollywood Outlet Store in Russia. Paint would cover their bodies as well. Men will wear cargo capri pants with flesh colored socks or stripped sailor shirts with captains hats. Where do the moor their yachts in Beijing?
-The Chinese seem to love Christmas and birthdays. They know little about the holiday of Christmas, but they love the decorations. Many hotels and businesses will have blinking lights, Christmas bulbs and pictures of Santa Claus in strange places. The hotel I am in currently must play the song "happy Birthday" 20 times a day.
-At dinner last night, our waitress, a very young girl named "Lala", told me that I reminded her of her dead grandfather. She meant it to be a complement. The elderly are well regarded in China. While I like to think not, I qualify.
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-The Chinese do have the most interesting street signs I have ever seen. A truck with an elephant in the back with the universal "do not" symbol( a circle with a diagonal line through it) means, do not exceed the weight limit. If there is a giraffe in the back, do not exceed the height limit. A driver with martini glasses circling his head, do not drink and drive. Our favorite, which remains a mystery, is an exploding car. We have seen it on the highways, as well as, more quiet side streets. It may mean if you park here, we will blow up your car. Maybe, it is an area of frequent terrorist activity. All we have been able to determine is that means some kind of danger.
-The National bird of China must be the construction crane. There are buildings going up everywhere. Many complain that much traditional architecture has been destroyed. Particularly the hutongs of Beijing. A hutong is a narrow street or ally way in Beijing where traditional Chinese homes are located. In 1900, there were about 2000 of them in Beijing. The number grew to near 9000 before 1984. Now they are back down to 2000. Some of the hutongs have very attractive courtyard areas. Most of them now have electricity. Few of them have indoor plumbing. The people go to communal toilets, which are modern. If you consider, squat toilets modern. You can identify the communal toilets long before you can see them.
-The Chinese are building small planned cities in the countryside where none existed before.
-Much of the modern architecture is very interesting and quite beautiful.
- The people of China are very warm and friendly. My first day in the hotel. I said "sheh sheh", which is thank you in Chinese to a young girl. She looked at me and said,"You speak Chinese very well. Do you mind if I sit and talk with you?" The girl is 10. She introduced herself as Lucie. She was her regions winner for an English speaking competition, which were just ending in Beijing. She got top scores in speech, but did not do as well with written English, but she was competing against 12 and 13 year olds. So, I am sure she will win some day. After our hour long chat, meeting her family and friends, she gave me her name card, which is like a business card. Her card said "Lucy, a very nice, young Chinese girl'. She certainly is that. But, she did confide in me that she also studies kung fu and she sometimes practices against boys, who are "devils", who mistreat her friends.
-Every day when you are out on the streets, you hear,"Where you from?" and, "Do you speak English?", from people who want to practice. English study is compulsory here. Unfortunately, we have learned that many also use it to scam travelers. We have encountered the taxi scam, the tea ceremony scam, the hutong tour scam, the art student scam and others. We fell for the tea ceremony scam, which was expensive, but so far the bill has not come through. The sad part of the scams is that there are many very nice people here who do want to practice their language skills and have a chance to learn about other cultures. In time, some travelers will become wary of them.
-Like many countries where the government is often opposed to ours, many of the people love America and would like to go there.
- The other day, while driving through a small village, a slightly demented young man jumped in front of our car. He refused to move until we paid him a sufficient toll. Our driver told us the same guy does this when ever a car, not from his village, passes though. It is his source of income. I fear that some day soon a car will not stop and put him out of business.
-In The Forbidden City in Beijing, which was the home of the Emperors of China for nearly 500 years, there are many palaces and temples. In one area, there are 3 temples; Two larger ones at each end of a courtyard about 100 yards apart and one smaller in between the two. The smaller temple was for the Emperor to stop and rest during the long 100 yard walk between the two bigger palaces. That the Emperor was burdened with responsibility there is no doubt. "Heavy weighs the crown", and all that, but you would think that he could make it 100 yards with out resting. My esteem for the fitness of the Emperor declines even further when I learned that outside of his own palace, it was not permitted for him to walk. He was carried everywhere in a sedan chair. We think that too many of our people are couch potatoes!
-It is likely that the rate of divorce for the Emperors was low. The Empress was permitted to live in the palace of the Emperor for only 3 days then she had to find her own dwelling in The Forbidden City. The Emperor had a harem of 100s of concubines to consol him for the early absence of his bride.
-Hacking spitting, nose picking, nose blowing without benefit of tissues, belching and farting in public are held in high esteem in China.
-The Dowager Empress Cixi, when her country was near bankruptcy and torn with strife, had a palace built to be used only on her birthday. It was unused the rest of the year. To enhance her birthday view, a lake had to be dug, the dirt from the lake was used to construct the hill on which the palace was built and a nine story pagoda was placed on the skyline a few miles away. So she could pretend that she was sailing on her lake, she had a life size boat built of marble. It all seems a little irresponsible to me.
-Almost all of the Chinese who speak English adopt English names, like Lucy, Mike, Tina, Jojo, John, Peter, etc. They think there Chinese names are too complicated for westerners. They are also much enamored with things western. One of our guides has a Chinese name of Shaolu, which I think is a beautiful name, but she goes by Katherine.
-I thought it would be fitting if I chose a Chinese name. Cleverly, I began to tell people that I had adopted a Chinese name. They were quire excited that I had done so. When they asked me what was my Chinese name, I would tell them "Bruce Lee". To my astonishment and dismay, no one has heard of Bruce Lee. Of course, they know him. He is on TV often here. But, they know him by his Chinese name.
-A question I have for Russians traveling on holiday, "What were you thinking when you put on that outfit?" From my observation of younger Russian women traveling in China, there must be a Fredericks of Hollywood Outlet Store in Russia. Paint would cover their bodies as well. Men will wear cargo capri pants with flesh colored socks or stripped sailor shirts with captains hats. Where do the moor their yachts in Beijing?
-The Chinese seem to love Christmas and birthdays. They know little about the holiday of Christmas, but they love the decorations. Many hotels and businesses will have blinking lights, Christmas bulbs and pictures of Santa Claus in strange places. The hotel I am in currently must play the song "happy Birthday" 20 times a day.
-At dinner last night, our waitress, a very young girl named "Lala", told me that I reminded her of her dead grandfather. She meant it to be a complement. The elderly are well regarded in China. While I like to think not, I qualify.
MORE ON CHINA SOON
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