38 years before I was born to the day, October 1st, 1987, Mao Zedong declared China a People’s Republic and thus signaling an end to a long raging civil war with Chiang Kai-Shek of the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang. The Kuomintang retreated from mainland China to Taiwan. To this day there is still strong ambiguity where exactly Taiwan falls in terms of sovereignty. The result of the declaration, however, was the birth of an overtly communist China and an annual week long holiday from October 1st to the 7th also called “Golden Week.” With this holiday Joe, Gillian, Anna, and I decided to set out for Beijing and subsequently Qingdao, knowing that we would be up against one of the most powerful and formative forces in the modern world, the Chinese population.
Our first activity on day one in Beijing was touring Tiananmen Square as well as The Forbidden City. Everyone involved knew that this would be tantamount to walking into the lion’s den. Maybe that’s not the right analogy because there are only five or so lions in a pride and the Chinese people aren’t exactly the most physically imposing opposition, but you get the idea. Tiananmen Square, adjacent to the Forbidden City, would be a mad house. They are the two largest tourist attractions in city of Beijing, China’s capital, and it’s their equivalent of July 4th, and it’s a Saturday. If you didn’t get the idea hopefully now you do. When we finally got to the subway exit that empties in between the Forbidden City and Tiananmen it was a packed stairway going up. All I could see were people and blue sky, I had no idea what I was walking into or what to expect at the pinnacle of this stairway. I just took one patient step at a time as it was gifted to me. To sum up these attractions, they were both very crowded but not so much that it detracted from the overall value I took away from them.
I have stated before how China is land of many contrasts. For example, they have the first operating mag-lev trains but use troughs regularly as their toilets. They have one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but it is often bogged down in a hazy smog. This theme could be continued ad nauseam, but I will apply it to the average Chinese person and their desire to both push and shove their way to the front and help you at whatever costs. Example 1 in present tense: After seeing Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City we set out for Jingshan park, a short bus ride away. Eventually, the correct bus is pulling up, and we have positioned ourselves well, though a short sprint in either direction is likely to correct for how far or short of our position the bus, more specifically the bus door, stops from our current position. We and the masses behind us can all see the bus coming. The calm before the storm acquiesces to a murmur then a roar of anticipation. As the bus is still pulling up the man operating the door in the middle of the bus sticks his head out of the window and yells something in Chinese. This is atypical. If I were judging on inflection alone he was saying “save yourselves!!” But the piranhas don’t signal that he has said get the next bus and thus the rush is still on. It finally stops. GOOO! If you are old, young, tired, on the verge of death then that is too bad. You have just died via trample. You should have known better; you shouldn’t have been standing there. Elbows, grabbing, pulling, shoving, it’s all fair game to get on the bus that I can only assume is the last transport off of a doomed planet. In the craze of this moment once I had established myself on the bus I would not have been surprised to see a strange women trying to hand me her baby, so long as I would take it to the next stop, maybe the next stop would offer a better life.
That is all very real, but I will offer its counterpoint. Almost every accurate description of China has a counterpoint. On our last day in Beijing we wanted to go to Hou Hai Lake. On our way there our bearings became unsure so I asked a passerby, “Zai nar hou hai?” (Where is hou hai?). They were not sure so they in turn stopped the next random Asian that walked by and asked them. Again, they were not sure. Before we knew it we were holding a conference in the middle of the street on where exactly Hou Hai lake was and what was the best way to get there. It was too much. They were already into this subject way more than I cared to be. Eventually, we were able to adjourn the committee, but these are the lengths that they will go to help you on an individual level. Just don’t expect them to hold a spot for you in line. They have no concept of a line aside from may the best line cutter win. China, the land of contrasts.
This concludes part one of my Golden Week summary. I will post on Qingdao tomorrow. ..
... The Bird's Nest from the 2008 Olympic Games.
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