Caves and Kung Fu

The first thing I have to express is how remarkably clean Luoyang is in contrast to where I wrote from in the last entry. Each city seems to distinguish itself from the last. This one for being the cleanest I have seen in China, the one before for its odd combination of college students and ancient temples, and the one prior to that for everyone seeming to have a pet dog. Some cities are teeming with bikes, while others inexplicably have almost none.

I am really glad I stopped here. Nearby the city are cliffs covered with caves of all sizes; most containing reliefs of Buddhist deities. They are more than a thousand years old.



Notice the tiny people in the front to get a sense of scale...


The other thing I didn't want to miss around here was the Shaolin temple, the birthplace of Kung Fu. At first I felt as though I had been siphoned into another tourist inkwell. We walked past souvenir shops selling all the Kung Fu weaponry and figurines, and after more temples to see, we were prodded into a large auditorium to watch a Kung Fu "performance" that was mildly entertaining.

But the place does have some interesting history and when exploring away from the crowds, its evident. Towards the back of the complex is a woodsy area filled with pagodas for famous monks that date back to 700CE.




And monks do actually live in many of the temples nearby. I caught this scene of the local barbershop:
.

"No, just a little off the top!"

Easily the most exciting part of the day was my unscheduled interception of the students in practice. They entered in mass, just as my tour was ending. Hearing a thousand swords (plastic) slice the air or two thousand feet stamp the ground in unison leaves a lasting impression.







The next stop is Beijing..

Its just a different culture

5-22-2007

I am sitting in a train station (I upload these entries at a "cafe"). The two teenage girls next to me dropped their ice cream sticks and pudding containers on the floor in front of them. I tried to give them a polite yet disappointed look and said something in English I knew they wouldn't understand. They giggled probably thinking I was amused at their carefree indifference to cleanliness. A few seats over, a mother wipes her baby's butt and leaves an orderly pile of soiled tissues beneath her, a bit like the way we sometimes leave the newspaper on the metro for as a gift to the next passenger.

A few days ago, I spent the day with a couple of Americans who had been teaching English outside of Shanghai for the past year. Sadly, I found most of their feelings about Chinese people to be negative, and I fear that their opinions may inform my observations. They described them as simple, provincial, and lacking creativity and intellectual curiosity. For example, one told me that she routinely asks her middle school students, "If you could go anywhere, where would you go?" While western children might say, "The moon!" or perhaps "France" or "Australia", her students always first say,"But I don't have enough money." When she explains that money is not a problem, they respond, "Beijing". She also teaches business people. She says they respond the same way, except that they say that they must work.

It makes sense. Recent communism with a 2000yr old Confuciust backing is not likely to encourage Shakespearean creativity. The classes sizes are very large, and in some English classes, they actually read the dictionary page by page. I have yet to see a Chinese person reading a book (although newspapers are common), and in Internet cafe's the screens are all animated with dancing or battling avatars. I realize now that censored content is not a major concern for these web surfers.

But although they seem to lack certain valued western qualities, they offer a kindness (at least to foreigners) that is almost moving. People routinely try to help me with everything from finding and atm, to logging into a computer with a Chinese interface, to getting train times. Often the aid comes from multiple people who flock to the scene. When one can't understand me(always), they ask a friend who might have a clue, who then asks another. Yesterday, someone went so far as to run to a computer and printout info on the city I was going to and get it to me before I boarded my bus. Its like a collective sympathy for the bewildered foreigner.

The cities I have seen since my last entry have been historically significant or somewhat scenic, but nothing truly memorable. The last I was in was home to Confucius's personal temple and family mansion and also happened to be a college town. The German guy I was with was doing research, so we stayed on the college campus. The campus, like many in China, had a hotel on the premises that stood in contrast to the decrepit, purely utilitarian dorms. Dryers are hard to come by, so clotheslines hang from student's windows. When peering in, I noticed that most students sleep under mosquito nets. They play badminton in free spaces and ping-pong on pock marked, weathered tables. They don't seem particularly girlfriend/boyfriendy as studying is the primary focus in college. Although, the moment they graduate there is a rush to find a spouse (especially for women as they are considered washed up before men).

I will have one or two more stops before I arrive in Beijing for what I anticipate to be the next big chapter in this story

Below are some random shots..



(on my bathroom wall) I never get tired of these. I will have a whole collection when I get home.








A closeup of an impressive wood carving from a pagoda wall









Chinese chess. You see men playing this and other games all over.

The freedom thing

Yangshuo, the town where I had just arrived in my last entry, will probably be remembered as a highlight of this trip. Electric scooters are all over China and I couldn't resist renting one to tour the countryside. Great scenery, well chosen tunes, a quiet ride, and accommodating weather made the scene.

I met a Chinese man who like many was once a farmer but had moved into town when tourism took off. He had taught himself English and was eager to practice. On one evening, his wife joined us for dinner. It is typical for one person to order for the table and for everyone to pick at the dishes which are put in the center. We had eggplant with "various meats", caramelised taro, string beans, and snails. I was particularly attentive to the string beans. I asked him what he thought of Mao and the drives he lead. Like most people here, he is a big Mao fan and sees him as a liberator of sorts, a great leader, and the person who unified China. He couldn't even place a rough number on how many people died during the great leap forward or the cultural revolution. His most vivid memory of the cultural revolution was when at two and a half his parents took him to watch the execution of some "capitalist roaders".

A few days later, I would find myself on a boat heading down the Yangste on a tour of the famous three gorges, having a similar discussion with a Chinese man in his late 70s (his son acting as the interpreter).

His family had been wealthy land owners for generations, but when Mao took power, all land was divided up and given to the peasants. This man was suddenly no better off than anyone else. Despite his misfortune, he believed in the cause and joined the movement. He recognises that mistakes were made along the way (as in millions of needless deaths, but I digress), but he thinks China has come a long way and is optimistic for the future. He asked me what America thought of China and I said it is seen as a rising giant but I added not without its human rights violations and censorship. Our conversation seemed to transition there as his son, who had more than once mentioned that he was a high ranking govt official, felt the need to weigh in.

This man who had been once been a student activist, was educated in Canada and got his masters in polisci. He told me that the west doesn't understand China and is to quick to criticise. The Falun Gong for example is a potentially dangerous group that treats their leader as divine and would die for him. The growth of such a cult could seriously undermine the stability of China. Tibet may have been conquered territory as other countries have conquered neighbouring territories, but it is now part of China and should no more be allowed to secede than Quebec or a state from the union. Not to mention the fact that when the Dalai Lama ruled, there was more poverty, it was feudalistic and slavery based. The conversation went on like this for hours. I had to admit there were angles I wasn't used to hearing. His main point was that what China needs most now is stability, which requires a single party system and censorship of anything that could destabilise the country. He recognized that many of these things were necessary evils that could slowly be dissolved as China moves towards democracy. I expect my opinions to continue to change as I read more and spend more time here.

The gorges were impressive although the nothing amazing and the whole excursion was too heavily soaked in tourism. I spent time hanging out with a couple middle-aged Germans too. One owned a model train shop and the other a shop for windows and doors. We parted ways after seeing the great dam which will soon flood the whole area leaving much of what I saw on my tour underwater.

I am glad to move on though because being in such tight quarters with the Chinese for three day can be trying at times. When not pushing for a better spot in line, they are very nice people who are enchanted by foreign faces. But, there are a bunch of characteristics I have yet to get used to. For one, they like everything loud. I used to think there were arguments all around me, but I soon learned that they just talk loudly and aggressively. They also keep the television loud and have an affinity for bullhorns. Earplugs may have been the best thing I brought on this trip.

They take pleasure in regularly clearing their throat. Not as in "eheem" but as in loudly digging for flem and then projecting it into the environs. My celebrity status is sometimes flattering, like when people ask if they can take their picture with me, but often trying, as in the common"HELLO!"s when walking down the street. It was similar in India, but I never got used to it.

The city I am in now is about serene water scenes dotted with pagodas and bike filled causeways. Outside of the touristy areas, its been a charming place to relax.

1.3 billion people that don't speak English

Well that's not exactly fair, but yesterday night, I was confident I would have asked most of them for directions at some point on this trip to test the theory. I had entered into mainland China and had to find a bus in a big city with various bus stations and people looking puzzled at the ticket I had received in Hong Kong. After at least an hour of bogus directions and shlepping all over with my pack, I found someone who seemed confident she knew where my bus would be. I (politely)insisted she physically walk me there and after transferring me to a couple other people who took me on legs of the journey, I found my bus and a couple Canadians equally exhausted by the ordeal. But I am already ahead of myself. I have to tell you about Hong Kong first.

I don't think I have ever been to such an intense and oxymoronic place as Hong Kong. My hotel was one floor of a bldg squished into an area where most of the others are. My room was about $40/night and roughly 9'x4' (like one of those walk-in closets people always say they could sleep in). The streets team with neon signs in all directions, endless stores, and offers for massages and what not.
Across the river is Hong Kong island which is something like Manhattan (good call Dad). The skyline is fantastic. I think it easily trumps NY's in scale although its a little different because each building has a large lcd sign of a company logo (usually electronics). After taking the ferry over, one is immediately overwhelmed by a continued frenzy of materialism (although more upscale). I have never seen a city so driven by consumerism. You take a required underpass to cross a street, and instead of just popping up on the other side, you end up in another giant shopping mall you must traverse through first. When you take the tram to the top of the famous Victoria Peak, you must first go up like 8 escalators of yet another shopping mall just to get to the lookout spot. Every direction is Prada, Versace, Guchi. That said, after digging a little deeper, I didnt find some local markets selling all variety of animal parts I didn't know were ingestable.

But on my second day I saw a totally different Hong Kong. My book briefly mentioned that HK island actually had a beach. I found the bus that would take me there and I think it must have been the most beautiful 1/2hr bus ride I have ever taken. Beyond all the sky scrapers are towering majestic green hills dotted with sparse houses and high rises. The bus snaked around these hills through a scene that could have been in the Carribean. The people on the beach were a mix of Anglos, Chinese, and biracial families. I could have spent all day there, but eventually I had to head back to embark on the awaiting debacle described above.

I always find the signage interesting when traveling, and Hong Kong didn't dissapoint. Because it was British up until a decade ago, you have the classics:

But the Chinese have definately added their own flavor: "Please Cleaning" (they like to use talking animals)
"Show you have a loving heart. Lets care for others!"

Anyway, I am writing now from a wonderful little town called Yangshuo about 9hrs west of HK. It is surrounded by similar lush green hills, yet skyscrapers are replaced by swampy rice paddies and honking cars by locals on bicycles. My hotel room is large, well appointed, and about $15/night. I rented a bike for the day for a couple bucks and have already seen much of the town. Later there will be caves and mountains to explore. I am thoroughly relaxed yet fully present and enthused.