Shanghai

After a couple of days in Beijing, I took the sleeper train to Shanghai. Beijing station was packed with people when I got there at 9:30pm to catch the 10:15 train. Everyone had to pass through a metal detector just to get in the station, so there was a huge bottleneck at the entrance.

The trip was 14 hours long, and I was able to sleep more than I thought (thank you, iTouch!). There were six beds stacked three high in each doorless compartment. It was fun to travel on the train and to see a slice of "normal" Chinese life. I talked with a student who had a cousin living in Detroit. I noticed that there were many women (young and old) who were traveling solo. Solo on a sleeper train, elbow to elbow with everyone. That would never happen in the U.S. But, on that train in China, everyone seemed to be part of one big family.

So I arrived in Shanghai 14 hours later. After having tea with some young women who were eager to practice their English, I found a hotel room and crashed.


I took the picture above (one of the most famous scenes of the new China, the Pearl TV tower) just a few feet away from my hotel, the Astor House. It was a historical building--my room was two doors down from President Grant's room.


I was able to find where Communism was "born" in China. Below is a picture of the museum where Mao and other revolutionary leaders met to plot the future of China.

As I was making my way through the museum, dozens of new recruits suddenly flooded in for a tour. It felt a bit strange to be an American in the middle of 30 Chinese soldiers in a museum dedicated to promote nationalist feelings. We were all looking at the same artifacts, but I'm sure we were coming to very different conclusions. According to the museum, communism in China was a natural outcome in response to Western imperialism.

Shanghai was a very interesting city, but it too was under construction (for Expo 2010). It was also the most commercialized city--kind of reminded me of New York or something. Even historical sites, like the picture below, were packed with Western products.

Mmm, Chinese KFC...

Japanese and Korean advertising.

My first Starbucks in China. Tasted...the same.


And McDonald's and on and on.

Observations in Beijing

From my journal on my first day in China.

Observations in Beijing:

• Lots of traffic (I'm stuck in a taxi right now).
• Many guys--young and old--pull up their shirts and expose their stomachs while walking down the street (a method of cooling off, I assume).
• People don't seem to pay any attention to me as a foreigner [this proved not to be true--over the next few days several university students came up to me while I was walking down the street and started talking to me in English].
• China reminds me some of how Japan looked when Japan was booming in the 1980s.
• There is an energy here. People seem eager.
• Lots of traffic. And honking. [Rules for honking in China. 1. If the car in front of you is too slow, honk. 2. If the car in front of you is stopped to pay a toll, honk. 3. Basically, if there is a car in front of you, honk.]
• Lots of concrete and grey buildings.
• Some nice cars on the road (Mazda, Volkswagen, Audi). [The nicer ones seem to all have licence plates with 8's and 9's on them.]
• Not as many scooters as I thought. [There were many more in Xi'an. There I often saw women riding side-saddle on the back of scooters without hanging on to anything!]
• Not as many bicycles either. Mainly cars. Lots of cars.
• Lots of new construction around the Forbidden City. Upscale hotels, etc.

Here is a picture of a typical taxi. At 25 yuan ($3.65) for a 20 minute ride, I thought taxis were cheap, until I realized that buses cost 1 yuan.

China seems to have about everything the West has now--yes, even a Hooters. Way to go, China (said loaded with sarcasm).

Forbidden City

Here are some pictures of the Forbidden City.

This is the famous gate where Mao's portrait is hung. (According to my guide, they replace this painting every year.)

Inside the walls:

I won't bore you with more pictures of buildings (there are plenty elsewhere).

My guide took me to a gift shop towards the end of the tour. The shop was curiously absent of any Chinese people (who, interestingly, made up 80% of the tourists in the Forbidden City). I ended up being persuaded to buy some calligraphy from Aisin-Gioro Yuming, a nephew of the last Emperor Puyi. He was just sitting there, waiting for unsuspecting tourists to walk in. What a way to spend the day.

Oh, and that Starbucks that they had inside the Forbidden City? It was closed after public protest and replaced with a Chinese-brand coffee shop.

From the Seattle Times in 2007:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003788623_starbucks14.html

Beijing

Left for China via Tokyo on June 21, 2009. Got to the hotel late--went to bed around 1am China time.

The next day I got up early and headed straight for Tiananmen Square. This is my first glimpse.

I found it interesting everyone had to pass through a security check (metal detector and pat-down) to get into the Square. Besides Mao's body and a couple of monuments, it's just concrete, but obviously since '89 the government is taking no chances. An American I met in Beijing told me that he saw a guy tackled by several policemen the same day I took these pictures. The American thought he saw something like a flag in the guy's hands, but wasn't sure.

This is the gate at the southern end (click for a larger view):

Below is Chairman Mao Memorial Hall where "tens of thousands of visitors from China and abroad have visited...everyday to reverentially pay their respects to and cherish the memory of Chairman Mao. The Memorial Hall is a focus for education in patriotism and the revolutionary tradition, and it is a place that the people of all China's ethnic groups wish to visit." (from a pamphlet I paid 1 yuan for while waiting in line) Well, maybe the Uighurs will pass for a while.

The line of people three deep wrapped around the building, but I got in line anyway. The people in line with me were young and old, male and female, and yes, I did see a group of women dressed in traditional ethnic dress. There were only a handful of Westerners. No backpacks or bags were allowed inside, and no one was allowed to wear sandals or slippers. Entry was free, and a valid I.D. was required. It only took an hour to reach the entrance and, after passing through another metal detector, I was inside. Right at the entrance yellow carnations were being sold for 3 yuan. Many people were buying them and then putting them under a portrait of Mao. Around the corner encased in glass was Mao himself, and he looked, well, dead. With lots of makeup on. And a bit shrivelled up. There were guards flanking Mao who were literally shoving people past Mao to keep the line flowing, so I only got a brief look before I found myself in a souvenir shop* and then back outside.

*A common theme in China. All roads in China seem to lead to a souvenir shop selling jade braclets.