70% good, 30% bad
This trip has begun to have a protagonist. The protagonist is not me. The protagonist is Mao Zedong. The title of this post reflects the Party line on Mao's regin as Chairman of the Communist party.
Yesterday we met two women who lived through very different experiences in their relationship with Mao. One of them, the daughter of a friend of his was his english tutor and remembers him as a humorous and considerate man. The other woman's husband was killed during the Cultural Revolution. He was a rocket scientist who was labeled a spy because he studied abroad.
This marks the end of the second day in Beijing and the experience is, every moment, completely overwhelming. This is an enourmous city, laid out on a grid, but so full of pollution that you can't see more than a half-mile in front of you. And then, suddenly, a sixty story high rise will appear through the haze, half-completed, in some wild architectural motif. We heard today from the US Embassy's trade officer that Beijing is doubling its office space by 2008. But it's notin demand.
The streets are full of bicyclists and buicks, mercedes benzes, citroens, green and yellow buses. It's a mish-mash of European and American competition for the Chinese market in the advertising and signage. There are constant images of "globalization" - a thugged out Donald Trump on a Chinese magazine cover. The cars. A Max Mara clothing street. Fast food. It's the evidence of a globalization that makes us think that maybe we're shoving our service industry down their throats - a constant onslaught of leisure time activities and things to buy. That may be true, but somewhere in the country, they're making all of our clothes. The advertising is a sort of superficial sign of China's emerging nouveau riche - the people who make the money from the factories.
Yesterday we saw Tienamen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Today we saw the US Embassy (there's a hilarious picture of Dick Cheney with the smirkiest shit-eating grin in there), the Hutong, and briefly went out to the Summer Palace of the Emperors before it started to pour.
The Hutong are these narrow alleyways which are the roads to the traditional house structures, which used to feature a number of rooms around a central courtyard, housing three generations of a family. The Communists bought them or took them and made them the center of the work unit. Now they are endangered by the same world-wide force that eats away at every neighborhood: the condo!
We ate lunch there, at a family's home. It was delicious. The best food here yet. A lot of the restaurant food is a little overdone. Or creepy looking.
So, there's amazing perks to being on the nerdiest tour imaginable. The things we get to do are great. And the company - well, I did rush to conclusions. Our professor and his wife are very fun. And, yet, there are still many many knobtools. For instance: the pollution is bad here and the air is occasionally thick. But must one buy and wear a SARS mask? Well, one guy thought he should. So he is. Maybe I'm being a jerk and he has terrible asthma. But it's very funny.
I've invented a voice to try to capture some of the ridiculous questions/conversations I've overheard. Remind me to use it at home.
Here's an attempted example: last night at dinner someone spilled a glass of wine.
SPILLER: I'm sorry.
MAN: It's not YOUR fault, it's HIS, for SPINNING the THING SO FASSSSSST.
He was speaking of the lazy susan.
I'm having a good time with my Mom. We agree on many of the knobtoolish behaviors displayed.
I woke up at 4:30am from the jet lag and went for a run down the street. I got some weird looks,and running here slightly resembles what it might feel like to run and smoke, but it was really nice to see a tiny bit of Beijing without so many people.
Tonight is "on our own" so my Mom and I get to go explore. I'm looking forward to it. We're making friends with our tour guide, a young Chinese guy named Michael. He's very accomodating of all the knobby questions.
So far, the trip? Better than Mao.
Yesterday we met two women who lived through very different experiences in their relationship with Mao. One of them, the daughter of a friend of his was his english tutor and remembers him as a humorous and considerate man. The other woman's husband was killed during the Cultural Revolution. He was a rocket scientist who was labeled a spy because he studied abroad.
This marks the end of the second day in Beijing and the experience is, every moment, completely overwhelming. This is an enourmous city, laid out on a grid, but so full of pollution that you can't see more than a half-mile in front of you. And then, suddenly, a sixty story high rise will appear through the haze, half-completed, in some wild architectural motif. We heard today from the US Embassy's trade officer that Beijing is doubling its office space by 2008. But it's notin demand.
The streets are full of bicyclists and buicks, mercedes benzes, citroens, green and yellow buses. It's a mish-mash of European and American competition for the Chinese market in the advertising and signage. There are constant images of "globalization" - a thugged out Donald Trump on a Chinese magazine cover. The cars. A Max Mara clothing street. Fast food. It's the evidence of a globalization that makes us think that maybe we're shoving our service industry down their throats - a constant onslaught of leisure time activities and things to buy. That may be true, but somewhere in the country, they're making all of our clothes. The advertising is a sort of superficial sign of China's emerging nouveau riche - the people who make the money from the factories.
Yesterday we saw Tienamen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Today we saw the US Embassy (there's a hilarious picture of Dick Cheney with the smirkiest shit-eating grin in there), the Hutong, and briefly went out to the Summer Palace of the Emperors before it started to pour.
The Hutong are these narrow alleyways which are the roads to the traditional house structures, which used to feature a number of rooms around a central courtyard, housing three generations of a family. The Communists bought them or took them and made them the center of the work unit. Now they are endangered by the same world-wide force that eats away at every neighborhood: the condo!
We ate lunch there, at a family's home. It was delicious. The best food here yet. A lot of the restaurant food is a little overdone. Or creepy looking.
So, there's amazing perks to being on the nerdiest tour imaginable. The things we get to do are great. And the company - well, I did rush to conclusions. Our professor and his wife are very fun. And, yet, there are still many many knobtools. For instance: the pollution is bad here and the air is occasionally thick. But must one buy and wear a SARS mask? Well, one guy thought he should. So he is. Maybe I'm being a jerk and he has terrible asthma. But it's very funny.
I've invented a voice to try to capture some of the ridiculous questions/conversations I've overheard. Remind me to use it at home.
Here's an attempted example: last night at dinner someone spilled a glass of wine.
SPILLER: I'm sorry.
MAN: It's not YOUR fault, it's HIS, for SPINNING the THING SO FASSSSSST.
He was speaking of the lazy susan.
I'm having a good time with my Mom. We agree on many of the knobtoolish behaviors displayed.
I woke up at 4:30am from the jet lag and went for a run down the street. I got some weird looks,and running here slightly resembles what it might feel like to run and smoke, but it was really nice to see a tiny bit of Beijing without so many people.
Tonight is "on our own" so my Mom and I get to go explore. I'm looking forward to it. We're making friends with our tour guide, a young Chinese guy named Michael. He's very accomodating of all the knobby questions.
So far, the trip? Better than Mao.
posted by The Gadabout at 1:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home