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Chinese Banquet
by James Allen

We have a friend who comes from China and who has given us an insight into modern China. We asked if she wanted us to take anything out to her friends or family. We also asked if we might meet with some of her friends or family. She agreed to find people to help us when we arrived - to show us around and show us the real China away from the tourist spots. The holiday was booked so we would be on some tours and some free time, but would have transport arranged at each location so to take the worries away. We didn't know what to expect. Would it be like Russia 20 years ago, all grey and worn, would there be lots of bicycles and smog? We were keen to go...

Our first sight of China was from 10,000 metres or over 30,000 feet, from the aeroplane window. This was of the Gobi desert and initially we could see no human evidence. Slowly roads and villages appeared and, as we passed over the mountains, before the fog of Beijing we saw many villages and terraced hillsides - evidence of intense cultivation.

Beijing was foggy when we arrived (and was to stay this way for most of the days we were there), and we found the terminals to be very modern. The access to the country was easy and quick, very different from the USA! After luggage collection we headed out to the concourse. Like any airport it was crowded and noisy, but there was the first of many drivers we would meet holding up a name card, unfailingly cheerful and polite: these guys were always a welcome sight. The first thing we noticed other than the poor driving was the amount of construction going on, and not just for the 2008 Olympics.

We arrived at our Hotel - The Kerry Centre, which opened up into a vast 5 star centre, with its own shopping mall and 5 restaurants. The hotel was big, luxurious and (comparatively) cheap. Indeed we found later that it was one of the top hotels in Beijing. During the following few days we made much use of the pool, sauna and hot tubs as well as having a massage. However the following day was the first tour.

We started off the tour in a way that was to become familiar to us over the next 2 weeks:-

1. The coach picked people up at different hotels, thus we never had the same tour guide or people on the tour who were the same.
2. We watched in amazement everybody's bad driving!
3. We always went to a restaurant for lunch, which served western Chinese food.
4. We always went to a factory (i.e. shop) that showed how 'it' was made/carved, then taken into a large shop with a shop assistant each to buy the item we had just seen made/carved etc.
5. At each stop there would be many sellers of 'lolex' or bags, but who when told boo yow (I don't want) would move away.
6. Chinglish signs - almost all signs (subway, traffic, etc) had English translations that were often funny - one of the best being the 'losting found' at Shanghai Railway Station.

We started off heading out to the Ming Tombs, only one of which had survived the Cultural Revolution intact (because Mao had once visited and enjoyed this particular tomb). There is a small temple structure and various other buildings. Finally we realised that the hill behind the temple was the earth covering the tomb!

At this point we began to understand that, in China, labour has always been very cheap. We noticed that by western standards hotels and restaurants were highly over-manned, but we always had unfailing good, attentive service. This also goes for the manpower needed to create these tombs and the Great Wall.

We then went to the jade factory which, while trying to get money from us, was actually quite interesting. Following lunch we headed for the Great Wall. Over 6000 kilometres long, the Wall is within 70 km of Beijing and there are a number of sections that are open to the public and restored to be able to walk on. The location we went to is the official one where people like Nixon etc were/are taken. The wall itself is generally over 7m high and approx 5m wide, and follows the hills, so it can be very steep, often without steps. On arrival we went to have our photos taken at the spot where Nixon visited, then went left, up the steeper side of the valley. This proved a task - very steep and slippery in places, with various 'lolex' sellers in the way, but the peak was something to behold. Across the mountain range for the next 10 - 15 kms, the wall snaked across the landscape.

The following day we arrived in Tiananmen Square, the largest square in the world, capable of holding over a million people. It was also the site for Mao's mausoleum and the size of the square made the queue look small, but it was a 40 minute wait. We then entered through many gates the Forbidden City, home of the last dynasty's Emperors. This walled city within a city contains all the functional buildings of worship and State and lodgings. There are over 600 buildings and 10,000 rooms in the complex, of which we saw only a fraction.

From here we were driven round to the Temple of Heaven, basically the Emperors’ official temple outside the Forbidden City. Much was made of the fact that the masses could now walk where only Emperors could walk before.

Lunch and the pearl factory followed, then on to the Summer Palace. This was where the court visited to avoid the heat of the summer, and was basically a palace around a manmade lake. This is a stunning location.

We now had the first of our days on our own, and we headed back to the Forbidden City to take our time and go through the museums and courtyards ourselves at our own rate. This was wonderful, and we negotiated the subway and ticket buying without too many problems. The Forbidden City was so large that we didn't even see all the rest! Later in the afternoon, we entered the park behind the city and walked to the upper temple to look over the whole city.

That evening, we met the first of the friends of our friends. We were taken to a famous Peking Duck restaurant. Here we met Fu Wong, Emma and Alison. Emma and Alison are the English names, which many Chinese people take to make working with Westerners easier. We enjoyed a great evening. We tried duck tongue, feet and various other parts, all the while becoming great friends with the three ladies.

The following day we met up with Fu Wong for the day and walked through the Bei Hei park area of temples to the hutongs (older areas of housing that have survived in areas for over 200 years) where we got a bike tour around the area. We met with the others and went to the night market and we looked in amazement at the array of food on a stick including starfish, grasshoppers, scorpions etc. Then we went for a Sichuan meal i.e. hot and spicy. The fantastic meal was in a more modern restaurant. Here we had frog!

The next day we met Alison and Emma for a trip to the Temple. On walking out of the subway, we were overwhelmed by the smell of incense. We took the subway here and our friends reported the conversations that some soldiers on the subway had about us ‘foreigners’. They believed that we must be able to speak Chinese because we were using the subway system!

We returned to the centre of Beijing for a lunch meal with Fu Wong in a Muslim hotpot restaurant. This involves a burner in the middle of the table heating water in a ring around the burner. Into this go the makings of a soup - veg and meat - which is then cooked and it becomes the table meal, chopsticks in for the best bits - hot and sweaty, but great fun and absolutely delicious. Finally we went to the 'famous' silk market where we looked around the copies of the famous brands. I admit to picking up an 'Armani' coat - retailing in the UK at over £500 for a little over £11, following some stiff negotiation from the ladies, all in Chinese!

The following morning we were back to the airport for an internal flight to Xian (Shee-anne) to visit the Terracotta Warriors. On arrival we were keen to see the countryside, but the fog (smog really, because it tasted of sulphur) smoothed and blocked out everything. In the 48 hours we were in Xian the fog never lifted and the viewing distance varied from 200m to approx 750m at most. We were told this was normal for the city and it would stay for 4 months a year. We were also told that Xian is a small city with ‘only’ 8 million residents. That's the size of Los Angeles or London. We walked around to the city walls which are very impressive, covering a length of over 13kms and over 7m wide. Bikes were for hire to ride around the walls.

The following morning was a tour and we started at the Wild Goose Pagoda, a 10 storey temple and pagoda. From here we went to the hot springs where the emperors came to take the waters. Then we were taken to a restaurant and finally on to the Warriors.

Where to start? Facts and figures:-

1. There were originally over 8000 life size warriors with arms and armour, set up around the Emperor’s tomb to defend him in the afterlife
3. Found only in 1974, the warriors had been damaged not long after being build after the death of the emperor; most had been damaged to some extent.
4. Approximately 1500 are now standing after being 'put back together'.
5. Many more lie, too broken to repair.
6. Millions of people from China and abroad visit each year.

There are 4 main 'pits' or buildings to see in the complex. Pit 1 is the site of the original find and is where most of the repaired soldiers are. This pit is covered by a railway station-like arch roof and covers an area over twice the size of a football field - so big that the ever persistent fog was in the building! The first thing you see is three ranks of soldiers across the front of the building that you enter. Behind this are the 8 or 10 triple ranks that file backwards. Most of these have been repaired, going back 20 or so deep. Then you notice the horses and the difference between the soldiers. Slowly the immense size of what is missing begins to dawn and you realise that what is standing is a fraction of the total.

Pit 3 is the next visited and is the 'army' HQ. Here there are only some 20 soldiers standing with horses but this gives the opportunity to focus on single men. There are some to the far side that have not been repaired to show how the soldiers were found.

Next is Pit 2. This is small than pit 1 but still covers a large area, and is basically similar to Pit 1, but with far fewer soldiers repaired. Indeed this is more of an area that will be investigated by future teams.

Finally is the exhibition of the Emperor's chariots - or the few remaining bits.

We could have spent much more time here, but like all these tours they were a taster. Before flying off to Shanghai the following morning, we had a chance to visit both the bell tower and drum tower. Both had mini-concerts every hour of bells or drums.

Arriving in Shanghai was a strange experience; the city was more Western than we had thought, but was also more exuberant, livelier than anything that had gone before. We moved into our hotel and watched amazed at the traffic and lights across the city.

The following morning we had a half-day tour of the city, the gardens and tea house in the old town, the Bund with its 1930s European buildings and the new super tall buildings of Pudong across the river. The tour ended at the temple of the Jade Buddha. Here it was a special day and we were crowded in by the worshippers and breathed the incense - far better than the air of Xian. In the afternoon we spent going around the Shanghai Museum, a modern construction housing artefacts from all over China including clay pots going back over 7,000 years, bronzes going back over 6,000 years and jade carving over 4,000 years old.

The following morning we were on a train going to Hanghzou, a cross between a resort and a tourist attraction. We were picked up and taken to the hotel, followed by a tour of the pagoda, the lake and the Dragon Well tea plantation - this was another purchasing opportunity!

That evening we were met by more friends, Edith and Mr Ding, who again took us around the town and to dinner. We were never asked directly political questions - more questions about history and relationships between countries. But the same question was asked by all our new friends - which city have you liked best in China? This seemed quite important to all the questioners, so we became careful and said we had enjoyed each in different ways, but that we had enjoyed them all!

Back on the train the following morning, we arrived at our hotel and met the last friend of a friend. Wang Xu first took us out to the Pudong area to see the massive developments in the area that had occurred in the last 10 years. This was followed by a turn around a shopping mall followed by dinner which featured turtle, which was very nice! We ended the night having a couple of drinks in a rebuilt area of the city. It rained all day!

The final day started brightly so we returned with Wang Xu to Pudong to go to the 88 floor of the Jinmao tower. This took the lift/elevator just 35 seconds to go the 350m to the top. The views over the city were stunning, and yet in the middle of the tower was something incredible, an atrium of the Towers Hotel, from the 53rd floor to the 87th floor. We looked down on the 35 floors, stunned. Photos just don't do this justice...

We then went around some more shopping malls, and ended with a late lunch of noodles, similar to Hotpot, in that the ingredients went in at the diner's choice, at the table.

We returned to the hotel to pack and to take a leisurely evening, preparing for the inevitable rush on the plane. On leaving, we felt a sadness; for the friends that we wouldn't see for a while; for the loss of finding new and different tastes, views and way of living; for the loss of the attentive service in restaurants.

Certainly we saw some fantastic sights, met some wonderful people. Would we go back again - without a doubt, but next time I would be much happier to build the tours myself and make the flight/hotels bookings on my own.

Finally we can lay to rest those two myths - toilets in China and water. Toilets were much better than expected, not all the French style squat; most had paper and most weren't any worse than public toilets in the UK or USA. As for the water - don't drink it, but bottled water was supplied in all the hotels we stayed at, saving us from the Chinaman's churn...

First published in VISA issue 71 (Feb 2007)