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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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China
Tour by Celia Talbot It was with a thrill of excitement that I first saw the ad for a ten day China tour. On account of domestic problems, I cannot get away for too long so the idea was born. Eventually, a friend and I left Heathrow early on Saturday 24 July. The flight was tedious and the seven hour time difference created adjustment and sleep problems. But, when we arrived at the Friendship Hotel in Beijing, we were pleasantly surprised by the high standard of our hotel, with all Western creature comforts, elegance and artistic, stylish furnishings in Chinese fashion. Our local guide Mr Wang (who equated his name with King) worked hard to keep us informed about the history of his country, ancient and modern. The Cultural Revolution appeared to have left scars in the hearts and minds of all who lived through it. The few Chinese with whom I had the opportunity to talk recorded some bitter memories, but they usually expressed satisfaction with the improving state of their society, including the population control policy. The first two or three days in Beijing were very full and quite tiring. There seemed to be a permanent heat haze and high humidity and pollution also took its toll. This was despite our privileged travel in air-conditioned coaches. We visited the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace as well as attending a folklore show. I began to realise the vast size of these places, for which the film The Last Emperor should have prepared me. In the Summer Palace, a covered walkway through the gardens is about haIf a mile long and each partition is decorated with art and ornamented with sculptures and statues - both of animals, temples and human figures and of plants and flowers. Even the path itself was ornately designed in many different patterns formed from minute black, white and green pebbles - millions of man hours of labour. At the terminus of this walkway is a most beautifully carved emerald boat by the landing stage. We gladly paid 30 yuan to be taken back across the lake by dragon boat to our waiting coach. On Sunday morning, we went to Tian an Men Square, where a group photograph was taken. Youngsters approached us with their cameras, so I eventually gathered them into a group to be recorded with mine. They all seemed happy and friendly and the Squares a leisure time place. We bought souvenirs from pedlars, having been carefully briefed by our guide about the bartering process. At one stage, we were examining kites for our grandchildren when the vendors vanished (they'd seen a police car). They reappeared five minutes later, grinning, to collect their payment. I cast a half thought to my responsibility for turning them into law-breakers. The guide's explanation that they see us as wealthy foreigners amused me but by comparison, one can understand this. On visiting a cloisonne factory, where skilled work was being done in fairly primitive conditions with acid flying around and polishing wheels whining, while workers only had protective finger-guards, our guide told us the average wage would be 1500 - 2000 yuan (£15-20 or US$25-40). Where bartering was the practice, the traders seemed to enjoy it. I'm not too good at it as I feel I'm grinding the faces of the poor and have been on the receiving end of that. They laughed heartily when we showed we'd been warned of their sleight of hand palming currency notes - quicker than any Magic Circle conjuror. Another highlight was our visit to the Great Wall. It was a little disappointing as the haze never lifted, so we had better views from the coach than from the Wail. There is not enough available to challenge the skills of a mountaineer but, even so, it was taxing and I did not tackle the fill distance. In places, it was almost vertical and steps with risers at least 15'' - 20" high. I decided that discretion is the better part of valour, so I'd save the heart attack / stroke of which my doctors warn me until I was within range of a British hospital. Chinese people are usually fairly short and I queried whether the armies formerly patrolling the Wall finished up with problem knees. We then flew to Shanghai, whose name means 'go fishing' from the origins of the city as an 11th century fishing village. We stayed only 48 hours but we were impressed by the glittering Crystal Tower and the opulent waterfront. We walked along the Bund and had a boat trip along the Fung Pu river (a tributary of the Yangtse) and under what was described as the longest bridge in the world. We visited the temple of the Jade Buddha and the Vu Yuan Gardens where stone structures and artefacts are as important as plants, vegetation, pleasant pools and water features. Another memorable occasion was a visit to the Children's Palace. There, talented children are given education in music and the arts. Lovely, gifted children sang to us in English and Chinese. In the next room, they danced for us, I had a surprise when one little girl pulled me onto the floor for the dance. I felt like an elephant in a fairies' ring. One lovely girl, a budding Shirley Temple, exuded such joie de vivre that she made each of us feel she was performing specially for that person. In another room, children played their instruments. There was a group playing a stringed instrument called a pipa. The players had talon shaped plectra on the fingers on the dominant hand - the instrument had many strings and a warmer tone than most stringed instruments of my experience. A little girl called Sansui (I think), who was aged 7, played a solo on a long instrument called a sehr - her fingers had a problem in spanning the width of it. It was very moving, but she was so engrossed that she seemed surprised at the tumultuous applause. In the lobby, a young man called Roy came up to practise his English while chatting with me. He spoke confidently and with great assurance, asking about my country and explaining that he was 13, still undecided about career plans and interested in the arts. He hoped to go to university. Then he surprised me by asking about my visit to Paris. I started to tell him, hut then realised he was asking for my impressions of the Children's Palace! A very involved and convoluted sentence resulted, which I hope he will not use as a model for speaking English. It was a two hour flight to Xian and the Terracotta Army. This appeared much less Westernised, more typically Chinese. It is a walled city with a drum tower, but the walls are as wide as a thoroughfare with galleries and shops along them. At night, there are open markets and stalls and much street life going on until after midnight. Of course, the most memorable experience here was the visit to the Terracotta warriors. A vast area is covered, the two main pits being at least as large as two football fields joined together. The soldiers stand in formations of five, a dozen rows altogether, with six foot blocks between each rank and alongside glass cases displaying and explaining artefacts. The second pit is still mainly a heap of rubble as little work has been done on it vet. There is the Chariot Room showing the Emperor's burial chariot (reconstructed) and then a Control Room pit where officers and senior staff and cavalry were more in evidence. Other visits were to a carpet factory and to a jade factory. Jade was on view in purple, grey, white and other shades as well as all the shades of green. Very skilled workers who live on what we felt to be a pittance were busily engaged in creative tasks. The jade looked like a heap of mocks in its original state and, it seems, they take a piece and decide what beautiful image lies hidden within it rather than creating standardised pieces. I still could not afford any of the loveliest pieces which I coveted. Entertainments included an acrobatic show and a Chinese theatre with subtitles, as well as some interesting shopping visits. We were taken to good restaurants for meals, which were served on round tables for ten, with a large lazy Susan which we swivelled to one another. Dish after dish was brought. Most of the group coped well with the chopsticks; when soup and melon arrived, one knew the meal was about to end. While we eventually got a little tired of rice, I felt pleased that, for one with a very suspect constitution, I suffered no collywobbles, gnat bites or other problems. Being diabetic, sugar-free drinks were a problem as I did not like the bottled water. So, for the first time in my life, I survived on beer, much thinner than Western beer but quite refreshing. I have not continued the habit on return. l am glad I did this tour. Banished for good is the stereotyped image of the lampshade-lidded coolie up to his or her ankles in rice paddy fields. Replacing it are many memories of smiling, cheerful personal encounters with real people. The book Wild Swans which made such an impact in the West with its harrowing images of the miseries and suffering of all the Chinese people during the Cultural Revolution has now been overlaid for me with many pleasant memories of personal encounters with smiling faces. During our tour, we were subject many times to very intense close personal scrutiny, but never in a rude or menacing manner and always concluding with a warm smile or grin. Tipping did not seem to be generally expected, but was received with great pleasure. When I offered our chambermaid her gratuity, she refused, saying "It is my duty" - but took it when it was left in the room. There appears to be little obesity in China - the only large people we saw were Europeans or Americans. All the Chinese appeared neat, clean, well turned out and polite. Even in very crowded places such as the zoo or airports, there was no rowdyism or pushing and they would step aside or wait politely until one had obtained the desired photograph. It seemed no time before we were back at Heathrow with the feeling that ten days was just the right length of trip and then down to earth - but that's another story. First published in VISA issue 33 (summer 1999). |