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Marietta's China Visit - Week Seven, 8/24/2002 Weeks 8 & 9 (can you believe the is the condensed version)
Sorry I did not get to writing about week 8 and 9 sooner, but Kathleen and I were travelling most of that time. I am now back in my old place on Armitage and have extended my lease until November 1st.
Sunday the 25th was the start of week 8. Kat and I headed off to Tiannamen Square. Generally people just gather there and hang out or fly kites on the weekends. Kite flying is taken seriously and is not limited to children. Then we headed off to buy souvenirs at the Friendship store. A couple interesting things happened there. First ran into Darrel Hanna getting all upset over not getting a box in the kite department. Depending on whether she is in her 40s or 50s (couldn't remember) she either looks really bad or really good for her age.
Then I found the ultimate hat for my collection. It is this somewhat African looking hat made entirely out of silver. I just had to have it! I have since discovered that it is from one of the Chinese minority groups the Miao. Miao women make this elaborate outfit over several years to demonstrate their skills to potential suitors. The hat/headdress is the last thing made and the father helps with it. It is something of a crown with flowers growing out of it and bells hanging down - all in silver. The Miao are one of the 56 minority groups that compose 5% of China! 's population. The rest, 95%, is all Han Chinese.
Also discovered that in addition to Alpaca wool, Cashmere is very cheap in China. I am not entirely sure why, but one person suggested to me that this is all imported from Russia. Kat almost bought a cashmere coat for $300 US.
Monday I finally made it to the Forbidden City. However, it was so hot that at one point we almost lost the desire to live. It is really amazing and I am having trouble doing it justice on in writing. All the roofs are yellow as that is the color only the emperor can use. It was off limits for 500 years. Part of the grounds is still out of bounds as the current communist party leaders live there. Also at the palace, as with almost anywhere in China, you get hit up by art students trying to sell you their work. They study for years to be able to produce those stylised s! crolls that I associate with cheep Chinese food.
Wednesday we headed off for Shanghai. My friend Martha had suggested we stay at the Peace Hotel. It is one of the old hotels built in the colonial era and quite grand. I was so shocked upon hitting Shanghai. I did not realize quite how deprived I had been in Beijing. I would start to speak (broken) Chinese to people and they would come back in perfect English. Also it is not dusty there, they landscape, women wear make up, the cars are nicer, the cars to not use the horn every 2 mins., and there are a lot less police in uniform.
The first night in Shanghai we went to the acrobatic show. I know this tours the US occasionally but it really is quite amazing - their balance and strength. However, I was a little concerned over the last act which was a young girl who spent about 10 minutes upside down supporting her whole weight by one hand while doing contortions upside down. Surly that cannot be healthy? Then we hit the jazz club in the peace hotel "famous since 1980"? The acoustics were horrible and we were shocked that they hit us with a 100RMB cover charge. That is unheard of in Beijing.
Thursday we first went to the Shanghai museum. The most interesting part was the currency exhibit. They have had minted currency since the 16th century BC. Also the first things they minted were shaped like spades since that is what they used to use for barter. Puts a whole new spin on "a spade is a spade." We then went to the Old Town of Shanghai. It has very exaggerated Chinese style architecture and is quite beautiful. Then we headed home to discover that the hotel has a wonderful view from the rooftop. It is right on the water (the Bund).
Friday we took a boat trip out on the harbour, then went to Sun Yat Sen's house, the French concession and to see the Shaolin Warriors who happened to be in town. The Shaolin Warriors are Buddhist priests who practice and have developed a certain type of kung fu based on the movements of animals. Originally, they developed this to protect themselves as the religion does not allow weapons and they often carried a lot of money when they travelled. One big stunt was where a monk was laying on swords, while they placed a board with nails on both sides on top of him with another monk on top of that, finally a third monk was on top of the board of nails with a stone slab placed upon him. Then they broke the stone slab with a hammer. There were certain similarities to the acrobats - but the contrast of doing this for religion really stuck out. The crowd (4/5 Chinese) was really into the show and there were ticket scalpers outside. I was interviewed at the break for some Shanghai TV station.
Saturday we took a tour to two towns outside Shanghai. First we went to Suzhou and then the Zhou Zuang. Suzhou is famous for its private formal gardens. The area is similar to Venice in that there are canals all throughout the towns. Zhou Zuang is a big tourist attraction for the Chinese. It is quite beautiful but overcrowded. We took a boat ride on one of the canals. One interesting story is that Zhou, who the town is named after, was at one point wealthier than the emperor. He made his money in trading but was banished by the! emperor to a far away province.
After lunch we went to a silk factory. I must admit I had no idea about silk - other than it comes from worms. Well before the worms hatch into months (and break the thread) they boil them to kill the worm. The worm spins one single thread to form its cocoon. Once boiled these women feel around in the water for the end of the cocoon's thread and then feed about 10 cocoon threads into a machine to make one silk thread.
That night we hit a couple of the clubs and discovered that Shanghai has much better nightlife than Beijing. We went to some place called Face and another dance bar nearby. Needless to say Sunday was not the most fun. We did a little shopping but that is about it before our flight back to Beijing. I almost bough a CD of the singer named Jay. He is a Chinese rap star who has lyrics about being a bad *** kung fu guy - just struck me as funny. The flight back was interesting. Since the flight was delayed they served dinner. Then we got clearance to take off and we did - food out and tray tables all down. When we landed they have cameras attached to the front of the airplane so they can show you the landing.
Monday the 2nd we went to the Peking Opera. However, I was hungry and wanted to get something small before the performance. We stopped in a small Chinese restaurant with only a Chinese menu. We thought we ordered jiao zi, which is sort of a dumpling type food. However, when it arrived and we asked what it was they said yiao zi. Then they started cooking it right in front of us on the table and then putting it on our plates. We were rather suspicious but gave it a try. I got food poisoning quite bad and was not thrilled to ! discover the next day that yiao zi is pig kidneys.
Despite being sick all night we headed out early on Tuesday for the Great Wall. Kat had met a tour guide at the summer palace. He offered to take us to one of the less rebuilt and less crowded sections. The tour guide, Juang, said he had a friend with a car who could take us (you can't rent). When the friend arrived it turned out it was the friend and his military driver. Juang's friend's father was a retired general in the People's Liberation Army and thus got a full time driver, maid etc. So we could use the car only with the military driver.
So off the 5 of us set for Jinshanling. This is 2.5 to 3 hours outside Beijing to the northeast. Kat and I decided we wanted to do the walk between Jinshanling and Simitai. She originally thought this would take 30 mins. But then revised it to 3 hours. Despite having been sick, I decided I could handle 3 hours. It turned out it is a 10km walk and took us 5 hours, which is what the Lonely Plant guide says. But I am glad I did not know as I might not have gone and it was truly one of the highlights of the trip.
The part of the wall where you start and where you end has been reconstructed and looks quite nice. However, after a short bit you get to the "wild wall" where it is unreconstructed. I never realized that the wall is not solid brick. It is actually made of 4 layers. The first layer is dirt & rocks that were shaped then compacted. This was then covered with 3 different size layers of brick. The design was to prevent water permeating the 1st layer. Once you understand that it is not solid brick, it easier to understand how it ! has decayed so greatly. The area of wall we walked is 600 years old. The wall was built and rebuilt over many years and by many different people.
As the wall is along the ridge of the mountains, the hike was either climbing up or down the whole time. It is very steep and a little treacherous at times because of the lose stones. However, it is really beautiful. One side is Mongolia (now inner Mongolia as it is part of China) and the other China. Most of the hike we had the entire wall to ourselves. However, a few times we were hit up by local farmers to buy things. Our tour guide Juang, had also never been to this area of the wall. On at least 5 occasions stopped and asked us to take! a photo of him because "this is so special for me."
Thursday we hit the tailor to pick up a few last things then I finished my shopping at a market. That night Kat and I had organized a dinner of six of my friends still in Beijing. It was very nice. Then we headed out to some new bar that a friend of Mark's, Leigh, knew about. Leigh is editor of the Beijing journal, an English language free publication. She is also the one who is friends with the openly gay, Leon, who is a trumpet player in the Peoples' Liberation Army. He is great, but the whole thing just makes me laugh since officially China denies having any gays.
Friday I had lunch with my language partner. She gave me moon cakes. You give people moon cakes for the mid autumn festival on September 21st. I am not entirely sure of the significance but firms give them to clients, friends to friends etc. They are not too tasty and seem a bit like fruitcake. But I was happy to have someone give me some.
After finishing packing that night we headed out for some of the dance clubs in Beijing. It turned into a late night but didn't really matter, as all I had to do was sleep on the plane. Kat fortunately called to warn me from the airport to divide my stuff into extra bags. It costs only 1000RMB for having an extra bag versus 3000RMB for being overweight.
Now I am back in Chicago and trying to figure out a job/career etc. Please pass
along any suggestions! However, I did really like my time in Beijing. It is a
fascinating culture. It is very safe since they just kill people who break the
law. But it is much more like the west than Japan. In Japan people are very
poker faced and do not show expression. Although the Chinese also are obsessed
about saving face, respecting elders, and rank- they still show emotion. I
generally say they are expressive! . They get mad and you know it. If they are
happy you know it. In business they may be a bit more stoic. But in general
they act more like Americans in this sense. |