I have left mainland China and arrived in Hong Kong, the bastion of commerce and liberalism in China. It is on the other side of the "Great Firewall of China" so I am able to post what I wrote a few days ago in Chengdu. The formatting is a bit screwy, but I don't really want to deal with it right now.
is my most ranty entry to date, enjoy!
I don't know when I will be able to post this on my actual blogbecause as of right now, blogger is blocked in China. The government,in their infinate wisdom has seen it fit to not only prevent peoplefrom reading blogs, as was already the case with the blocking ofblogspot, but also writing them for foreign consumption. This only adds to my intense distaste for the Chinese government developed overthese last two and a half months.
After we left the rather pleasant city of Shaoxing we took a plane toChengdu in Sichuan where we were met by the personal driver of Rae'sroommate's father. Three and a half comfortable hours later we werein the city of Yibin. This is where the fun began.
We were dropped off by the driver and met at the front door of astandard-looking Chinese hotel by Ark's (Rae's roommate) parents andthe manager of the hotel. They explained to us in heavily accentedChinese that the hotel was owned by the work unit that Ark's motherworked for... the police department. Our room was the master suit ofthe hotel with a large living room, two bathrooms and a queen sizedbed in the bedroom. Before we could settle in to our room, we wereoff to dinner.
I, being the token foreigner in the backwater town ofonly 1 million people, was the guest of honour. Everyone toasted meand Rae and they were especially delighted to hear Rae say that theChinese name I had chosen (Ma Jianguo) literally means "build the country". I, of course was not so delighted as I had only chosen thename in gest and never intended to be refered to in that way. I spentdinner eating good Chinese food (without spice, as Rae can not stand it), drinking crappy Chinese red wine, and being lectured about how in20 years Chinese will be the most important language in the world andChina will be the most developed, most powerful etc... In short, it was a normal dinner.
The next morning we got up bright and early to go on a two hour driveover progressively worse roads to see the "sea of bamboo". This wasquite nice for me as I had been craving a bit of nature after stayingin China\'s poluted cities for two months. Rae and I spent the morningvisiting two scenic areas and taking a gondola ride through the sea ofbamboo.For lunch, we stopped at a little restaurant in the bamboo park.
There, we were met by a similar assortment of small town Chinesecharacters, most of whom I can not recall distinctly. Like the nightbefore, I was the guest of honour and everyone toasted me. However,this time we were drinking Chinese white spirits that was 42% alcohol. Everyone seemed to cherish the chance to drink with the foreigner sothey all seperately gave me three ganbei\'s, that is three bottom\'s upsfor shots of that baijiu. This, combined with the communal toasts andthe obligatory toast to Ark\'s father for being the host made me notmind the guy next to me, the police chief of the local county,continuing to spout the same bullshit about China that I had heard thenight before and nearly every time I speak to a Chinese person. Atthe end of lunch, they saw fit to toast me goodbye which made me quitedrunk. Luckily, this restaurant was also an inn and the waitress ledRae and I up to a room to sleep it off.
In the afternoon, after being awoken on only one and a half hourssleep we were taken off to see a set of caves full of Bhuddistscuptures. There, I accomplished a long cherished goal of mine, I wascarried in a sedan chair. The statue its self was nice, but the restof the cave, and cliff face was only carved in 1997 and the distictlyFaschist style used did not go well with the whole Budhist atmosphereof the place. Regardless, I was happy to stumble through (the sedan",1]
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was a normal dinner.The next morning we got up bright and early to go on a two hour driveover progressively worse roads to see the "sea of bamboo". This wasquite nice for me as I had been craving a bit of nature after stayingin China's poluted cities for two months. Rae and I spent the morningvisiting two scenic areas and taking a gondola ride through the sea ofbamboo.For lunch, we stopped at a little restaurant in the bamboo park.There, we were met by a similar assortment of small town Chinesecharacters, most of whom I can not recall distinctly. Like the nightbefore, I was the guest of honour and everyone toasted me. However,this time we were drinking Chinese white spirits that was 42% alcohol. Everyone seemed to cherish the chance to drink with the foreigner sothey all seperately gave me three ganbei's, that is three bottom's upsfor shots of that baijiu. This, combined with the communal toasts andthe obligatory toast to Ark's father for being the host made me notmind the guy next to me, the police chief of the local county,continuing to spout the same bullshit about China that I had heard thenight before and nearly every time I speak to a Chinese person. Atthe end of lunch, they saw fit to toast me goodbye which made me quitedrunk. Luckily, this restaurant was also an inn and the waitress ledRae and I up to a room to sleep it off.In the afternoon, after being awoken on only one and a half hourssleep we were taken off to see a set of caves full of Bhuddistscuptures. There, I accomplished a long cherished goal of mine, I wascarried in a sedan chair. The statue its self was nice, but the restof the cave, and cliff face was only carved in 1997 and the distictlyFaschist style used did not go well with the whole Budhist atmosphereof the place. Regardless, I was happy to stumble through (the sedan
and happier still to get back in the car and go back to the hotel.Again, at the hotel I slept for a short time before being roused to gofor another dinner.The dinner was the same style again. A nice restaurant, a privateroom, good food, and idiots, albeit well connected ones, at the table. Thankfully, we were not talking about China\'s greatness with thechief of police, but about retarded kids with a local doctor.However, despite being a doctor, the tone of the conversation wasrather less scientific than it was derogatory and joking. Luckily,between the delicious seafood, the delicious Wulianyi baijiu and thelanguage barrier, I was able to ignore most of it. Like the lunchthat day, everyone was keen to drink with me and by the end I wasquite drunk. After dinner, I went home and fell asleep almostimmediately.The next day we were up early again to see the Wulianyi factory.Wuliangyi is the local alcohol which is actually quite good and issold throughout China for around RMB 350/bottle (C$55). It is sogood, and more importanly so famous, that it sells quite well despitebeing almost 100 times more expensive than the cheapest alcohol of thesame strength sold for human consumption (erguotou). The factory itsself is not very interesting, the best part was the big building theydevoted to the pictues of Zhangzimin\'s visit in 1995.This time, lunch was on a riverboat with Ark\'s cousins as guests.This was much more agreeable as they were closer to our age and wecould find topics of conversation other than the glory of China. Wedrank Moutai (a competing and perhaps better alcohol) and ate delicousfish hotpot including one course of river dolphin (which I think ishighly endangered... but quite tasty).That afternoon we finally saw something historic, a Song dynasty",1]
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chair only did the stair parts, not the cave or the cliff face :(and happier still to get back in the car and go back to the hotel.Again, at the hotel I slept for a short time before being roused to gofor another dinner.The dinner was the same style again. A nice restaurant, a privateroom, good food, and idiots, albeit well connected ones, at the table. Thankfully, we were not talking about China's greatness with thechief of police, but about retarded kids with a local doctor.However, despite being a doctor, the tone of the conversation wasrather less scientific than it was derogatory and joking. Luckily,between the delicious seafood, the delicious Wulianyi baijiu and thelanguage barrier, I was able to ignore most of it. Like the lunchthat day, everyone was keen to drink with me and by the end I wasquite drunk. After dinner, I went home and fell asleep almostimmediately.The next day we were up early again to see the Wulianyi factory.Wuliangyi is the local alcohol which is actually quite good and issold throughout China for around RMB 350/bottle (C$55). It is sogood, and more importanly so famous, that it sells quite well despitebeing almost 100 times more expensive than the cheapest alcohol of thesame strength sold for human consumption (erguotou). The factory itsself is not very interesting, the best part was the big building theydevoted to the pictues of Zhangzimin's visit in 1995.This time, lunch was on a riverboat with Ark's cousins as guests.This was much more agreeable as they were closer to our age and wecould find topics of conversation other than the glory of China. Wedrank Moutai (a competing and perhaps better alcohol) and ate delicousfish hotpot including one course of river dolphin (which I think ishighly endangered... but quite tasty).That afternoon we finally saw something historic, a Song dynasty
rivers which marks the beginning of the Yanze river (with is commonlycalled the Changjiang, long river, in Chinese) and the city centre onthe other side. After taking a few pictures and hearing that fullyhalf of the city had been built in the last 20 years (this came as asurprise to us as this half of the city was just as run down and uglyas the other half) we headed back for dinner.This time, dinner was an even more formal affair with the mayor as theguest of honour. Also, this time all of the guests were governmentofficials of one kind or another. However, their high status did notstop them from degrading a beautiful meal in a very fancy private roomin a very fancy restaurant. Ark\'s mother continued to spit on thecarpeted floor, almost everyone smoked, and we finished the meal byplaying a drinking game drinking the expensive Wuliangyi alcohol.This meal was also marked by the sharp role divisions among theguests. The mayor had the highest position and was effectivly thehost. He was seated in the seat of honour. As the honoured foreignguest, I was seated to his right. To his left, were other officialsseated in the order of their importance. Finally, were the wives andRae sitting to my left. Everyone first made a toast to the mayor,then to me, then to whoever else they felt was necesary. It came outlater in the meal that half of the people at that table includingArk\'s father and the mayor would be traveling the next day to InnerMongolia and then to Lake Baikal, Russia. The trip, although paid forby the government, would be largely for pleasure. This, of course wasalso not uncommon. Ark\'s father had been to America and WesternEurope on the same sort of trips in the past.The women were largely excluded from this process. Rae, of course was",1]
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pagoda built on top of a mountain overlooking the convergece of tworivers which marks the beginning of the Yanze river (with is commonlycalled the Changjiang, long river, in Chinese) and the city centre onthe other side. After taking a few pictures and hearing that fullyhalf of the city had been built in the last 20 years (this came as asurprise to us as this half of the city was just as run down and uglyas the other half) we headed back for dinner.This time, dinner was an even more formal affair with the mayor as theguest of honour. Also, this time all of the guests were governmentofficials of one kind or another. However, their high status did notstop them from degrading a beautiful meal in a very fancy private roomin a very fancy restaurant. Ark's mother continued to spit on thecarpeted floor, almost everyone smoked, and we finished the meal byplaying a drinking game drinking the expensive Wuliangyi alcohol.This meal was also marked by the sharp role divisions among theguests. The mayor had the highest position and was effectivly thehost. He was seated in the seat of honour. As the honoured foreignguest, I was seated to his right. To his left, were other officialsseated in the order of their importance. Finally, were the wives andRae sitting to my left. Everyone first made a toast to the mayor,then to me, then to whoever else they felt was necesary. It came outlater in the meal that half of the people at that table includingArk's father and the mayor would be traveling the next day to InnerMongolia and then to Lake Baikal, Russia. The trip, although paid forby the government, would be largely for pleasure. This, of course wasalso not uncommon. Ark's father had been to America and WesternEurope on the same sort of trips in the past.The women were largely excluded from this process. Rae, of course was
the guest and was deserving of some recognition but did not get any.We left that meal, and indeed our stay in Yibin, with a very negativepicture of how government works in China. It is an old boys club witha clear heirarchy. A person must act according to their position bykissing the ass of the guys above him. There is no real focus ongetting things done. Getting drunk at lunch is acceptable and evennecessary as a government official. Wasting the government\'s money ona drinking game that costs more than the monthly salary of a normalworker in that town is also a way of life. This along withinternational travel, private drivers and fancy meals are just some ofthe more visible perks of officialdom, regardless of actualperformance.After the dinner, Rae and I spent our last night in Yibin walkingthrough the old town. To our dissapointment, there was nearly nothingold left in it, only ugly tile buildings and even uglier concrete onesintersperced with night markets selling a wide variety of cheap, lowquality clothing and household items. We got the feeling that Chinahas a much longer way to go than they would like to admit.Today, we traveled with Ark\'s father, the mayor and other people in amotorcade of three black luxury cars to drop them off at the Chengduairport. We were let off downtown and have spent the day exploringthe city.Chengdu is on first glance a quite modern Chinese city. Sure itresembles ugly Beijing, but that is modernity in China. However,after passing the mao statue in the middle of the city (with apopeye\'s chicken directly behind it in the same podium) and the fewnice shopping centres in the central square we stumbled upon the Pandamall. The panda mall is a beautiful mall. It is a full 9 stories",1]
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quite hurt by this. She rightly felt that, as Ark's roommate, she wasthe guest and was deserving of some recognition but did not get any.We left that meal, and indeed our stay in Yibin, with a very negativepicture of how government works in China. It is an old boys club witha clear heirarchy. A person must act according to their position bykissing the ass of the guys above him. There is no real focus ongetting things done. Getting drunk at lunch is acceptable and evennecessary as a government official. Wasting the government's money ona drinking game that costs more than the monthly salary of a normalworker in that town is also a way of life. This along withinternational travel, private drivers and fancy meals are just some ofthe more visible perks of officialdom, regardless of actualperformance.After the dinner, Rae and I spent our last night in Yibin walkingthrough the old town. To our dissapointment, there was nearly nothingold left in it, only ugly tile buildings and even uglier concrete onesintersperced with night markets selling a wide variety of cheap, lowquality clothing and household items. We got the feeling that Chinahas a much longer way to go than they would like to admit.Today, we traveled with Ark's father, the mayor and other people in amotorcade of three black luxury cars to drop them off at the Chengduairport. We were let off downtown and have spent the day exploringthe city.Chengdu is on first glance a quite modern Chinese city. Sure itresembles ugly Beijing, but that is modernity in China. However,after passing the mao statue in the middle of the city (with apopeye's chicken directly behind it in the same podium) and the fewnice shopping centres in the central square we stumbled upon the Pandamall. The panda mall is a beautiful mall. It is a full 9 storieshigh with two tall condo buildings soaring up from the top. It evenhas a large, four story high ball with futuristic elevators in thefront of it. But the outward appearance is decieving. One only hasto walk inside to discover that the mall has been all but abandoned.The planned tall atriums have been capped. The Roman, Chinese, andEuropean architecture lining the interior look like an abandoned themepark-the whole thing is empty. They ran out of money before theycould fininsh building and all that was left was an empty shell.After seeing this we found at least a dozen more large constructionprojects that have been halted midway through that are not procedingat the rate they should, or that are finished but empty. Infact, mostof the fully funcional new tall buildings are ones built forgovernment controled entities like banks, the phone company, and thelocal government. Otherwise, most are international hotels. Truely ashell of a city... a city on display... but not a nice city, andcertainly not the beautiful city of Chinese lore.More later...",1]
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high with two tall condo buildings soaring up from the top. It evenhas a large, four story high ball with futuristic elevators in thefront of it. But the outward appearance is decieving. One only hasto walk inside to discover that the mall has been all but abandoned.The planned tall atriums have been capped. The Roman, Chinese, andEuropean architecture lining the interior look like an abandoned themepark-the whole thing is empty. They ran out of money before theycould fininsh building and all that was left was an empty shell.After seeing this we found at least a dozen more large constructionprojects that have been halted midway through that are not procedingat the rate they should, or that are finished but empty. Infact, mostof the fully funcional new tall buildings are ones built forgovernment controled entities like banks, the phone company, and thelocal government. Otherwise, most are international hotels. Truely ashell of a city... a city on display... but not a nice city, andcertainly not the beautiful city of Chinese lore.More later...Marc
