As this will be our last Chinese blog, we've decided to jot down some general (and a little controversial) observations of this fascinating country at the end of the travel-blog below...
After the debacle at the Kazakh border, the friendly 'Ni hao!' from the Chinese immigration official was a soothing balm for our frazzled nerves. We were quickly stamped in and in two ticks we popped out into the hustle and bustle of a Chinese market. Now, the only question on our minds: what to have as our first meal back on Chinese soil??? We found our hotel as quickly as possible and headed straight out to the restaurants...oh, it was good to be back...
Yining, the border town, wasn't particularly interesting - the usual delicious Chinese food notwithstanding - so we opted to head out towards the historically important town of Kashgar. Along the way we stopped off in Aksu where the mood seemed tense with lots of police around; we later found out that there had been a terrorist attack nearby by Uighur separatists who are fighting for Xinjiang to be independent of China. The road we travelled hugged the borders of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with stunning mountain views interspersed with rolling grasslands dotted with nomad homesteads.
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| Road to Kashgar, China |
After a few long bus trips we arrived in legendary Kashgar: the exotic trading bazaar on the Silk Road that has lured travellers for millennia. We were meant to have come through here four months before on our way to Kyrgyzstan but were forced to fly instead due to frustrating visa requirements.
Kashgar has always been the Silk Road gateway to and from China located as it is at the westernmost border of China and Central Asia, Today it remains a vibrant city with a largely Muslim Uighur population who run the largest and most diverse bazaar we've ever seen. The hardware section alone had Dave drooling and the selection of LED light bulbs (for just half a dollar) was incredible!
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| Kashgar Bazaar, China |
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| Kashgar Bazaar, China |
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| Kashgar Bazaar, China |
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| Kashgar Bazaar, China |
As one may expect of a border region town, it has delicious fusion cuisine and large, interesting markets. Every night of the week, the food markets teem with the sizzle, smoke and steam of outdoor stalls offering Central Asian-type plov/pilau, barbecued meats, hand-pulled noodles, an uncountable variety of Chinese rice and noodle dishes, homemade ice-creams for dessert and freshly squeezed pomegranate juice to wash it all down. All at super cheap prices. The bland Central Asian cuisine seemed like a distant bad dream. Yum!
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| Typically bizarre sight in Kashgar, China |
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| Kashgar, China |
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| Kashgar, China |
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| Kashgar, China |
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| Kashgar, China |
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| Making fresh pomegranate juice, Kashgar, China |
On the weekend we went on a confusing journey that finally found us in the region's famous Sunday livestock market. Here all manner of livestock from camels to yaks and sheep, with the fattest bums you've ever seen, are bought and sold by weather-beaten nomadic herders from the plains surrounding Kashgar.
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| Kashgar Sunday Livestock market, China |
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| Kashgar Sunday Livestock market, China |
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| Kashgar Sunday Livestock market, China |
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| Kashgar Sunday Livestock market, China |
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| Kashgar Sunday Livestock market, China |
We very reluctantly left this fascinating town and drew in a deep breathe before boarding a 60 hour train trip (!), to cross this vast country from its Western edge to the capital, Beijing, in the East. Before we boarded, the ultra strict train security discovered our scissors in our backpack which we were forced to leave behind... Security is very tight in this region ever since a large group of Uighur separatist terrorists attacked civilians in Kunming train station and knifed 33 people to death.
After almost three days on our scenic train journey through deserts and then rural farming districts we eventually reached Beijing. Beijing is a rather spread-out city, with no real 'city centre' or downtown area. It is a tourist's dream filled with historical sites of the Imperial era, still-vibrant 13th century hutong neighbourhoods of narrow alleyways, old foreign quarters with Western colonial era buildings, the famous, massive Tienanmen Square, the impressive 2008 Olympic Park, and the tranquil Temple of Heaven. We spent a whole and rather tiring day traipsing through the enormous Forbidden City until one ancient (albeit always beautiful) article of crockery, furniture or clothing from this or that Imperial Dynasty began to look pretty much like another. The 'city' is well preserved and the gardens where the 'Sons of Heaven' emperors frolicked, the temples where they worshipped and the rooms they held court in are impressive.
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| Tienanmen Square, Beijing, China |
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| Ornate antique globe, Forbidden City, Beijing, China |
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| Forbidden City, Beijing, China |
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| Bird's Nest Olympic stadium, Beijing, China |
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| Olympic Aquatic Centre, Beijing, China |
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| "Chinglish" sign in our hotel, Beijing, China |
Sightseeing at The Temple of Heaven was more relaxing and beautiful with a long marble approaching walkway gently rising, almost imperceptibly, giving one the feeling of slowly approaching the Heavens. Within the Temple of Heaven complex is the amazing Echo Wall: it is so perfectly round that if you speak quietly at one side of the giant circular wall, your voice can clearly be heard 100m behind you as your voice's waves refract perfectly along the arc of the wall.
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| Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China |
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| Wedding photos, Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China |
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| Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China |
While in Beijing we were fortunate to connect with Rejane's Chinese co-fellows from the Aspen Institute. One of the fellows, Gary Wang, founded Light chaser Animation and had just finished the most ambitious animation movie ever attempted in China: The Little Door Gods in 3D.
See the trailer here:
We were given a tour of his studio where we learnt that 200 programmers work for three days to produce just one second of the movie! We were also lucky to get a sneak preview of the movie due to be released three months later - the first foreigners to see it :) Watch out Pixar, the Chinese are once again doing amazing things at a fraction of the cost!
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| Solar powered toilets, Beijing, China |
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| A tribute to the street sweepers, Beijing, China |
After a few days of the overwhelming sights, sounds and tastes of Beijing we were beat and ready to move on...
Next stop on the brilliant bullet train was the Chinese financial capital Shanghai: very different, but no less impressive. The main financial centre of this megacity is split by a branch of the Yangtze River. Lining one side, in an area called 'The Bund', are the majestic old buildings built at the beginning of the 20th century by the merchant, media and financial trading houses of the UK, USA, France, Russia, Japan and other nations. Facing "The Bund", on the opposite riverbank, is a modern extravaganza of giant, sometimes bizarre, skyscrapers which light up from sunset in a neon extravaganza. A special treat in this city, the bustling financial centre of a country that seems to have invented 'bustling', was meeting up with our old Chinese mates from our earlier jaunts in the Tibetan mountains and at the hilarious water festival at the Buddhist New Year. Amongst other things they showed us how the majority of Chinese pay for everything - from snacks in the local store to meals at restaurants - with smartphone Apps linked to WeChat and Alibaba.No transaction is too small: paying with WeChat to buy a sweet for US$0.10 is totally acceptable. These methods of payment have been used for five years already and what is especially cool is that restaurants often give you up to 20% discount if you pay by their preferred App!
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| A Shangahi reunion with our friend Fiona who joined us on the hike into Tibet |
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| Shanghai, China |
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| Shanghai, China |
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| Shanghai, China |
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| View from the Bund, Shanghai, China |
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| Bullet train station, Shanghai, China |
From Shanghai's giant airport-scale bullet train station we zoomed off at almost 300km/h to Hangzhou, a lovely, cool lake-side city that has been a holiday destination for emperors for thousands of years. With gardens and waterways still preserved and manicured with Chinese efficiency, it continues to offer mere mortals a genteel and picturesque holiday rest that feels like it would still be fit for any Son of Heaven.The beautiful setting makes it a favourite 'Wedding Picture' destination - that uniquely Chinese event in one's life that is completely separate to any actual nuptials. We have friends who have been dating for three years, with no concrete plans to actually get married, but who have nonetheless already had their 'Wedding Picture' day! A Wedding Picture day is an expensive one when the 'bride and groom' dress up in hired wedding clothes, get driven around in fancy cars and have a professional photographer choreograph them in romantic poses and air kisses in various beautiful locations. Hangzhou being a perfect destination for this, we often had three or more Wedding Picture sessions visible at any given time. Another interesting feature of Hangzhou is that all the buses are electric: Chinese company, BYD, is by far the largest producer of electric buses in the world and China is the biggest market for them (they also supply the iconic electric, double-decker, red London buses and thousands of other electric buses around the world). Many cities in China allow only electric scooters and buses which is why China leads the world in electric vehicles.
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| Hangzhou, China |
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| Tea plantation, Hangzhou, China |
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| Three wedding photo's in one shot! Hangzhou, China |
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| Hangzhou, China |
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| Hangzhou, China |
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| The elderly socialise daily in a Hangzhou park, China |
After the rest and good food in Hangzhou we were excited to meet up with our good friend, Sonja, from back home in South Africa. We chose to meet up in Dehang which was a halfway-ish point between Beijing (where she was landing) and Hong Kong (where we would be going next). It was a tricky destination to choose since China's vastness can quickly get one into long tiring journeys and we were looking for a place not too far away that was beautiful, had interesting villages and good hiking options. We settled on Dehang, located near the area made famous in the movie Avatar for its awesome karst landscapes. Dehang did not disappoint. Because it is a little way away from the 'Avatar' village, it is much quieter but still beautiful and we enjoyed three days wandering around the villages and exploring the rivers and beautiful waterfalls together. We also got to watch an interesting music and dance performance performed by young people from the local Miao minority in a specially built arena which hosts hundreds of Chinese tourists daily. An added bonus was the very cheap clothing and craft stalls around the village where we found some lovely souvenirs.
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| Dehang, China |
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| Great shopping, Dehang, China |
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| Cultural performance stage, Dehang, China |
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| Cultural performance, Dehang, China |
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| Dehang, China |
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| Dehang, China |
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| Basket-making, Dehang, China |
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| Climbing up to the waterfall, Dehang, China |
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| Dehang, China |
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| Waterfall, Dehang, China |
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| Dehang, China |
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| Dehang, China |
But much too soon, it was time to say a quick farewell to Sonja (who we'd see again shortly) and take another overnight train ride as we left the "Middle Kingdom" and had a brief, happy reunion with our Hong Kong friends.
And then, sadly, it was time to say another farewell to a country that had fed us such a rich feast of amazing experiences, beautiful landscapes and wonderful, friendly people for four months of our journey. China you beauty: we will DEFINITELY be back.
---End of travel blog on China---
-----------Now for some general thoughts and musings on our experiences in China---------------
** Health Warning: this gets controversial and political!!
Our four months traveling in China, saw us crossing the country from the extreme South (near the border with Myanmar) to the Western mountains that surround Tibet and then North West to the remote border with Central Asia. From there we moved on to explore China's political and financial capitals in the East as well as passing through many villages and cities in the centre of the country. This has stimulated lots of debate between the two of us on development, economics, the meaning of "progress" and all things China.
Perhaps the first thing that struck us is the impressive diversity of this vast and complex country. China and her people are often (and erroneously) assumed to be homogeneous in culture, language, and ethnicity. That this is not true is obvious once you've visited the country and spent some time getting to know Chinese people. A quick look at Wikipedia finds that the recognized number of ethnic groups is 56 and the number of distinct languages is a whopping 292. That kind of diversity certainly makes South Africa's tally of 11 official languages look relatively few. Even Chairman Mao, who grew up in a small village in Hunan province, is known not to have spoken Mandarin but rather his local language (some sources say that when he did speak Mandarin it was with difficulty and with a thick accent). This ethnic diversity is today celebrated in many well preserved (though touristy) villages, towns and cities. Despite the extent of this diversity, China decided to choose one official language, Mandarin, which has given the nation a unique sense of being Chinese. This seems to foster a unity within diversity that makes one wonder about the path we chose back home where a united sense of being South African seems to slip out of our hands, however tightly we try to hold onto it. Whatever we could practically take from this lesson today is hard nail down but suffice to say that vast ethnic diversity should not be a hindrance to nation-building and a common and united sense of identity.
The next thing that hits you straight on is the physical manifestation of all those stratospheric growth figures we've gotten used to hearing about in China for the past 30 years. It is breathtaking just how quickly this behemoth of a country has developed. Many people will be familiar with the '500 million people out of poverty in a generation' statistic but to actually see the tangible evidence of this is overwhelming. The implementation of road infrastructure across the country (even to the smallest Tibetan villages), electricity, water, sanitation, bullet trains, modern housing, internet, renewable energy, etc is awesome to behold. China has catapulted a nation of feudal lords and peasants (in living memory of China's oldest grandparents) into a country that feels almost completely middle class - with the resources to spare to pull up perfectly good pavements in order to add 'braille' paving tiles by which blind people can navigate the city streets. It is quite an experience to pass kilometers of wind turbines generating renewable wind energy while bulleting past smoothly on an electric-powered fast train. In all our travels, we saw not one shanty town, met many young Chinese travellers who could quit their job to travel for months because 'getting a new job is so easy' and chatted to many a villager with children studying towards some or other professional career. Another rarity in China is a young labourer - all the kids are busy studying or working in office jobs, so the construction jobs and manual labour is left to those aged 40 and older.
Of course all this development means fast disappearing traditional village dwellings and customs. While this may be disappointing to tourists, making for less picturesque photos, romantic harking back to the 'old life' would leave people in creaky wooden dwellings without the modern amenities of running water, electricity and sanitation that we all take for granted.
One of the most powerful feelings we have gotten after travelling in both the most remote areas as well as the more famous destinations is just what an incredible, good-news story China's recent history is. What China has achieved by lifting virtually its entire population out of poverty in a few decades is probably the greatest accomplishment achieved by humanity in thousands of years - if not ever! Yet when one reads foreign newspapers and talks to seemingly 'enlightened' people from other countries, all one hears is negativity and snide comments about 'freedom of speech' or 'pollution' or 'inequality' or some other perceived failing of China. The fact that over 500 million people have moved out of a poverty-stricken feudal existence into a modern society where jobs are plentiful, quality of life has improved dramatically by EVERY measure and the population is more optimistic that life will continue to get better than almost any other society we've encountered is ignored. Rather what most Western critics obsess about are what Chinese people regard as trivialities like Facebook and Google being banned (not exactly true), the plight of various political dissidents, and the Tibet issue.
One often unheralded achievement by China is the incredible advances made in gender equality. Chinese women's access to education and opportunities is unparalleled in the developing world. A Chinese (or foreign) woman can travel freely by herself anywhere in the country at any time day or night, while her counterpart, in the other "giga-nation", India, is in genuine danger of sexual harassment, assault and all manner of discrimination. Yet China is seen as the totalitarian "bad guy" while India is the "free democracy". If one important measure of freedom in a country was (as we think it should be) what chance a girl born in a rural village has of achieving her potential, it is clear that China surpasses India and almost all other developing countries.
Of course China is not a perfect society and there are many things that need to improve and change. But the point is that this is a society steadily moving in the right direction with freedoms increasing gradually at a pace that the government feels will not lead to instability. Whenever we ask young Chinese people who have travelled the world about democracy they don't see "democracy" as something that is inherently superior to the Chinese system. They point to the fact that only a minority of democracies in the world can be regarded as successful countries and many of the most recent countries to move from authoritarian governments to democracy have descended into chaos and civil war. They wonder why they should risk everything for a political system that is commonly regarded as corrupted by people, even in the most successful democracies like the USA. Who would dispute Chinese people who say that democracy in the USA looks like a system that claims 'government by the people' but in fact delivers government by corporations and lobby groups and is constantly deadlocked between rival parties thus blocking obvious, crucial reforms and action. What Chinese people are interested in is that stuff gets done and lives are materially and rapidly improved and so far they feel that no political system can match what they currently have. (One French-Chinese friend laughed about French presidents visiting Beijing for 10 years and promising to build a new French school but nothing happens. If the Chinese president promises something like that, government officials ensure that it is completed in months so as to maintain the perception that the Chinese government delivers on its promises. It is inconceivable that the Chinese president would repeatedly promise something as simple as a school for ten years and that it doesn't materialise.)
While Google and Facebook are 'blocked' you can access them for $5 per month via VPNs which are legal and advertised. Most other websites like Yahoo, Bing, BBC, Wikipedia, etc are not blocked and even controversial Wikipedia topics (e.g. Dalai Lama) are accessible from any internet connection. The reality is that Chinese websites are much better suited to Chinese people: Baidu (China's Google) gives far more accurate Chinese search results than any of the western search engines. Similarly China's equivalents for Ebay and Amazon are far larger and more efficient. Taobao (bigger than Amazon and Ebay combined!) delivers
everything from cars to groceries and as a result the average Chinese
person uses online shopping and mobile payments way more than the average American.
Of course, the Chinese political system relies on one central, tacit agreement: as long as the Communist Party delivers a better life, the people must not challenge its political supremacy. What this means practically is that you can do whatever business or profession you like, you can travel and study in any country and live wherever you like and basically enjoy the same free lifestyle that most other advanced societies enjoy. Government performance is widely and critically discussed in social media using WeChat (a Chinese fusion of Facebook and WhatsApp who's biggest shareholder is a South African company) and Weibo (Twitter) and no-one you meet is nervous to talk about political issues. The government does try to censor social media if it feels that there is a trending issue that could lead to instability but at the same time it makes heavy use of social media and opinion polls to stay abreast of issues that concern the population. At the moment, most public concern is around environmental issues, food quality and inequality and so this has become the major focus of the current five
year plan. And the Chinese generally achieve what they plan. (We have mentioned elsewhere that China is the world leader in renewable energy.)
BUT what you cannot do is start a political or social movement that challenges the Communist Party nor can you advocate for any movement that seeks to split China apart (e.g. Tibet). China sees that as the slippery slope to Syrian/Libyan/USSR/etc chaos and a reversal of all the development gains achieved in the last few decades. Of course all societies evolve and China's political system is evolving too. Many Chinese leaders are fans of the Singaporean political and economic model that began in a very authoritarian manner and gradually liberalised and opened up as the society became wealthier and the risk of civil conflict simultaneously receded.
Often the most powerful, emotional criticism of China surrounds the issue of Tibet. This is a hugely emotive issue where one rarely hears any balanced comment. Ask the average person who chants 'Free Tibet' what the Chinese perspective is and they can only recite the propaganda spouted by the Tibetan Government in Exile. People claim to be passionate about this issue and yet only bother to read one side of the story. People seem satisfied to believe Hollywood's infantalizing Tibetans into some happy little ewok mountain people dwelling for thousands of years free in paradise until without any warning the evil communist Chinese invaded, destroyed all the temples and genocidaly murdered 1.2 million people. Yet when one reads balanced historical accounts, not only are these 'facts' in dispute but some, like the 1.2 million genocide claim, are provably false and yet, despite the Free Tibet movement , themselves admitting that these claims were false, you can still find them printed in their museums and in their propaganda. Just reading the Tibet Wikipedia page would disprove much of the above misinformation.
The reality is that Tibet was a warrior nation that conquered China and later was conquered by China numerous times for over a thousand years. Its links to China are deep and old. Chinese Princess Wencheng married the King of Tibet and she is credited with introducing Buddhism to the Tibetans in the 7th century. She's is revered in Tibet and there are temples built in her honour. For many centuries the Chinese played an important role in selecting the Dalai Lama - an institution similar to the Pope in that it was largely a corrupt process that saw prominent families sharing out this vitally important position in Tibetan Bhuddism (from the 1600's many consecutive Dalai Lamas were assassinated in their youth by competing Tibetan families and other political forces). As the various Chinese dynasties rose and fell, the borders of China varied with Tibet sometimes inside China and at other times outside its control. In the last 200 years all major powers regarded Tibet as under Chinese control which is why travellers who wished to visit Tibet had to get permission first from Peking. There were times that Tibet was truly independent and there were times that it was totally included within the Chinese empire. As a result, the Chinese claim to Tibet goes far back in history and you can argue in both directions.
Tibet was also one of the poorest countries on earth: imagine Liberia placed on an incredibly remote, icy plateau 4000m above sea-level where it often snows in mid-summer and you have vague idea of the geography, then layer on top of this a brutal feudal serfdom practiced by the lamas and regular murderous conflicts between the rival Buddhist sects and then Tibet begins to look a lot less like the Shangri-La it was claimed to be. Life expectancy in Tibet in 1951 was just 35 years (now 68). The infant mortality rate in 1950 was 430 out of every 1000 babies (now just 20, South Africa's current rate is 34). Tibetans get 15 years free education, they pay no tax and have never been covered by the one-child policy.
Now contrast this with people of European descent's historical claim on North America, South America, Australia, etc. As the Chinese say 'we will leave Tibet as soon as Americans return the USA to the Native Americans and Australians return their country to the Aborigines!' The concept of every one of the world's 3000 ethnic groups having their own independent country is absurd and no-one would propose that in any other country (South Africa would have to divide into at least 11 countries, *****ia would divide into over 500 countries...).
There haa of course been genuine damage done to Tibet, particularly during the Cultural Revolution, but then many Chinese point out that they too suffered terribly during the same period. This wasn't violence inflicted by the Chinese on Tibetans, this was crazy violence visited on all citizens of China, including Tibet. Perhaps the greatest pain Tibetans currently feel about being part of China is that the Dalai Lama is banned from returning. This is sad, and we wish there was a way he could return to the center of the Tibetan religion. The problem is that the Dalai Lama allowed himself to be used by the USA's CIA during their fanatical anti-communist era in the 50's and 60's (he's admitted receiving funds and military support from the CIA) and he is regarded as an unapologetic separatist. Even though the Dalai Lama has stated for years that he does not seek an independent Tibet, only greater autonomy, the Tibetan Government in Exile continues to demand independence. As a result the Chinese government are afraid that, should the Dalai Lama return, he would instigate an uprising that could lead to civil war and chaos. The Chinese strategy is to not risk all the ******** developmental progress, at all costs - they will just wait for him to die and then ensure the 're-incarnated' Dalai Lama supports Tibet's current status as an autonomous region within China.
The above information, from a Chinese perspective, should at least try to balance the one-eyed view that one hears in the Western world. The Tibet issue is very complex.
Aside from Tibet, other people lament the poaching of rhinos in Africa for their horns, and conveniently ignore that it is the Vietnamese who are buying most of it. The Chinese have taken significant action on the illegal trade in elephant tusks leading to the halving of the blackmarket price paid for ivory due to a lack of demand.
Another criticism, China's "colonization of Africa," is equally absurd. European nations and the USA have been extracting Africa's resources for over a hundred years and continue to do so today with Africa showing little developmental benefit. But when China does the same - and pays for it with tangible infrastructure rather than easily-stolen-cash - then suddenly China is some rapacious destroyer of Africa. Many bewail a "Chinese land-grab" in Africa yet the statistics show that there are five other countries who are more active buyers of African land including Singapore, Canada and Portugal. By far the majority of Chinese investments in Africa are in transportation and energy yet it is common to hear that China is pillaging Africa's resources
Another criticism: China is becoming militarily aggressive and expansionist. China is virtually surrounded by US military basis in Japan (seven!), South Korea, Philippines, Singapore and a defense agreement with Taiwan. Imagine if China opened numerous military bases along the Mexican border with their weapons pointing at Washington! The USA would freak out and call this 'an act of aggression' yet China must sit surrounded by military bases of the most aggressive, military power on earth: the USA has been at war with someone for over 90% of the last 200 years! Yet it is China that is now supposedly aggressive having not been involved in war for many decades.
The vast majority of Chinese people (as in all societies) want to live their lives in safety, send their children to good schools, have secure employment, access to modern amenities and healthcare, parks to socialise in in their old age, and a sense of freedom to go about their daily business. While we would not personally give up our hard-won democratic system back home, it is hard not to envy the gains and daily standard of living that the Chinese people have attained. So much, for so many, in such a short, short time. If we in Africa could achieve but a
fraction...
Now you're probably wondering why you're reading all of the above. What has this got to do with travelling in China and happy things in general? The worry we have, and it is evident among many fellow Chinese travellers, is that Chinese people are beginning to experience all the anti-Chinese propaganda as a form of racism. And this is a type of racism not just spouted by the usual right-wing suspects - this anti-Chinese racism is spouted by people (including some of our friends) from across the political spectrum and by people who would never say anything racist about other people. Yet spouting some disparaging stereotype about Chinese people is regarded as acceptable in polite society. This is wrong and will do long term damage to human society. We do not need more racism in the world, particularly not directed towards what is soon to become the world's most powerful country. China is far from perfect, but it is mostly a good-news-story that we as fellow humans should celebrate. And the Chinese should be accorded the same friendship and respect we give all people.
OK, back to the happy travels :)
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