China - September 2006
We were in China the same time as our friend, Dave Barrington. We were camera-toting tourists of Shanghai and Beijing and he was hiking the alpine tundra of a peak on the eastern fringe of the Himalaya. I think our pictures are going to be different.
Shanghai was a wonderful mix of old and new. The pre-WWII Shanghai was a product of European colonialism, with the Chinese living in the section that is today called Old Town. Cousins Yuan and Helen and Yuan’s parents gave us a grand tour. The buildings ooze history and culture with Yu Yun Garden being an oasis of greenery and scenery. Fireworks exploded just as we walked along the scenic Bund, overlooking the Huangpu River and a modern financial district that couldn’t have been more of a contrast to Old Town.
I fell in love with Shanghai just because of its sheer personality- it has grit and flash and loves to show off. The skyscrapers sported party-hat type peaks -- some looked like space ships, others just marvels of engineering with waves and wild twists. Spending too much time looking up is dangerous because of the careening stream of bicycles and cabs. Yuan’s mother had an iron grip on Eric every time we crossed the street.
We took an overnight sleeper train to Beijing and it was great to see the countryside along the way, with lots of farms, villages and folks simply walking their dogs.
Beijing is in the throes of preparing for the 2008 Olympics. These games are the raison d’etre for the day/night construction and new obedience laws – reduce spitting in the streets and ticket anyone ignoring traffic signals (how un-Shanghai-like). The city’s layout is perfectly organized, set up like a grid and recalls a China that believed the shape of the earth was square (not flat) and the universe was round. The buildings, for the most part, are low and squat, and seemed rather uptight after the gaiety of Shanghai. I guess that’s appropriate for the center of government.
Our Beijing guide, Anna, took us to Tiananmen Square, which looked unremarkable until the scale of it all hit us. Designed to accommodate a million people, it wasn’t until we compared the buildings to a car or a group or people that we appreciated the enormity of it. The Tiananmen Gate is on the north side of the square. On one side is a portrait of Mao and the other is the entrance to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City gave us another lesson in size and is a stunning homage to the imperial dynasties.
A highlight of our trip was visiting a hutong. This is a traditional but dying way for several generations to live together. A hutong is a building with several rooms clustered around a central courtyard, with each branch of the family living in one room, a combination bedroom, living and dining room. The shared kitchen was in a separate room. We were given a tour and the matriarch of the group served us a vast variety of dishes for lunch.
Squeezed into our tour we watched a Chinese acrobat show, took a rickshaw ride, enjoyed tea house selections and ate a Peking Duck dinner-- it’s touristy, but heck; it’s fun.
Everywhere we went we were pursued by vendors yelling “Hey lady, lady, I have a special price for you!” Some things were incredible inexpensive and some were not, but the Chinese expect bartering. My bid-low method didn’t work when the kids started to argue in favor of the seller – “Mom, don’t offer that price, didn’t you hear them???” Bridget soon mastered the don’t-look-interested-when-you’re-interested technique (heck, she’s a teenager), but Eric just couldn’t hide his enthusiasm. It’s not possible to haggle when your kid is drooling over something.
Speaking of drooling, the Great Wall of China is beyond impressive. It was a hazy, humid day but we could still follow the path of the wall as it hugged the ridgeline far into the distance. The Great Wall is actually a series of walls that took on import depending on the era. It was first linked as a single wall about 200 BC with a Ming empire investing 200 years improving it around 1300 AD. We hiked along the wall for a few hours and truly marveled at the wonder of it.
Another overnight sleeper train brought us to back to Shanghai and our last day with Yuan and Helen. They took us to Zhujiajiao, the Venice of China. We took a gondola through the canals and visited a preserved Buddhist temple. A few more spectacular meals later and we were waving good-bye to our cousins and wonderful family.
We’re back to the start of school and all the changes that September brings. Hope you are well and happy,
Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink called 2006-China.
Shanghai was a wonderful mix of old and new. The pre-WWII Shanghai was a product of European colonialism, with the Chinese living in the section that is today called Old Town. Cousins Yuan and Helen and Yuan’s parents gave us a grand tour. The buildings ooze history and culture with Yu Yun Garden being an oasis of greenery and scenery. Fireworks exploded just as we walked along the scenic Bund, overlooking the Huangpu River and a modern financial district that couldn’t have been more of a contrast to Old Town.
I fell in love with Shanghai just because of its sheer personality- it has grit and flash and loves to show off. The skyscrapers sported party-hat type peaks -- some looked like space ships, others just marvels of engineering with waves and wild twists. Spending too much time looking up is dangerous because of the careening stream of bicycles and cabs. Yuan’s mother had an iron grip on Eric every time we crossed the street.
We took an overnight sleeper train to Beijing and it was great to see the countryside along the way, with lots of farms, villages and folks simply walking their dogs.
Beijing is in the throes of preparing for the 2008 Olympics. These games are the raison d’etre for the day/night construction and new obedience laws – reduce spitting in the streets and ticket anyone ignoring traffic signals (how un-Shanghai-like). The city’s layout is perfectly organized, set up like a grid and recalls a China that believed the shape of the earth was square (not flat) and the universe was round. The buildings, for the most part, are low and squat, and seemed rather uptight after the gaiety of Shanghai. I guess that’s appropriate for the center of government.
Our Beijing guide, Anna, took us to Tiananmen Square, which looked unremarkable until the scale of it all hit us. Designed to accommodate a million people, it wasn’t until we compared the buildings to a car or a group or people that we appreciated the enormity of it. The Tiananmen Gate is on the north side of the square. On one side is a portrait of Mao and the other is the entrance to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City gave us another lesson in size and is a stunning homage to the imperial dynasties.
A highlight of our trip was visiting a hutong. This is a traditional but dying way for several generations to live together. A hutong is a building with several rooms clustered around a central courtyard, with each branch of the family living in one room, a combination bedroom, living and dining room. The shared kitchen was in a separate room. We were given a tour and the matriarch of the group served us a vast variety of dishes for lunch.
Squeezed into our tour we watched a Chinese acrobat show, took a rickshaw ride, enjoyed tea house selections and ate a Peking Duck dinner-- it’s touristy, but heck; it’s fun.
Everywhere we went we were pursued by vendors yelling “Hey lady, lady, I have a special price for you!” Some things were incredible inexpensive and some were not, but the Chinese expect bartering. My bid-low method didn’t work when the kids started to argue in favor of the seller – “Mom, don’t offer that price, didn’t you hear them???” Bridget soon mastered the don’t-look-interested-when-you’re-interested technique (heck, she’s a teenager), but Eric just couldn’t hide his enthusiasm. It’s not possible to haggle when your kid is drooling over something.
Speaking of drooling, the Great Wall of China is beyond impressive. It was a hazy, humid day but we could still follow the path of the wall as it hugged the ridgeline far into the distance. The Great Wall is actually a series of walls that took on import depending on the era. It was first linked as a single wall about 200 BC with a Ming empire investing 200 years improving it around 1300 AD. We hiked along the wall for a few hours and truly marveled at the wonder of it.
Another overnight sleeper train brought us to back to Shanghai and our last day with Yuan and Helen. They took us to Zhujiajiao, the Venice of China. We took a gondola through the canals and visited a preserved Buddhist temple. A few more spectacular meals later and we were waving good-bye to our cousins and wonderful family.
We’re back to the start of school and all the changes that September brings. Hope you are well and happy,
Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink called 2006-China.
posted by Barbara Meehan Iverson at 12:05 AM
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