The Great Wall

Korean Adventure (February 21, 2003 Chautauqua)

My trip to see the Great Wall was a full day trip outside the city of Beijing that took in two other sites, the Ming Tombs and Long Qing Gorge.
The road system was fairly up-to-date. The gas stations are something to see. They combine the usual amenities with a circus tent-like appearance, to attract customers, I imagine. One of the things that amused me was seeing a road sign forbidding horse and buggy traffic on certain parts of the highway.

The Ming Tomb

The Ming Tombs lie in a valley where 13 of their emperors are buried. There are also six other tombs for imperial concubines and one for the princes. On the way leading to the tombs is a stone archway, a great red gate, a stele pavilion, a sacred path flanked by stone statues of generals and ministers, and a dragon and phoenix archway. The tomb precincts are covered with ancient pines and cypresses.

The stele at the Ming Tomb

As for the Great Wall, there are three sections within range of the city that are open to tourists. The farthest afield is at a place called Jinshanling, near Gubeikou, where you have the wall more or less all to yourself.
The second site is at Mutianyu, and is rarely visited by tourists, too. It has a cable car and offers spectacular views similar to that of the most popular site, at Badaling (where our tour was scheduled to visit). Badaling has been much built up, and could be termed overly touristy. The highway makes it the most convenient site to visit.

Cable car up to the wall

There are endless pay toilets, souvenir stands, peddlers, tourist buses and a cable car, but the view from the top is striking. The wall and the strategically placed towers climb and swoop along the crests of the mountains that has to be seen to be believed.

The entrance to the stairs up to the top of the wall

It is amazing when you consider the fact that the wall was built more than 2,700 years ago, to protect Chinese territory. These walls had a total length of 50,000 kilometres, which ran across an area as large as 16 of today's provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. You can see it from space.

After getting off the cable car you come down to a rest area where they sell refreshments and souveneirs before climbing up to the top

After being carried to the wall by the cable car, there is a short walk to the entrance. This is a fairly small door leading to the stairs up to the top. It's a little crowded. Once you are up top, there is a variety of places to go to take in the views.

View from the top

Getting from one place to another is the trick, though, as the wall gives new meaning to the word steep. An appreciation for what mountain goats must go through is instilled in everyone.
Care must be taken to avoid becoming part of someone's picture. The wait for the pose to be captured on film makes for a welcome break from climbing. There are towers, as I have said, but these are not accessible to the public, except to go through to the next section. You can walk back down, but there was no time allowed for our group.

One of the dams at Long Qing Gorge

Before we knew it, we were back on the bus, headed for Long Qing Gorge. It was a bit of a ways from the wall, and the group took the opportunity to commandeer the tour guide's microphone for some karaoke. Each singer introduced himself, and sang what I guessed was some traditional Korean song. They were nice enough to invite me up, and I gave them a few verses of the Beatles' "In My Life."

A typical boat - very snug!

Long Qing Gorge is the site of a lake, created by a dam, upon which "dragon boat" tours carry approxiamately 100 or so people up to a recreation facility and back. There are pretty spectacular cliffsides on view. There is also an escalator, that carries you up to the boats, built inside a giant plastic dragon (below).


This was the impression that I brought back from China with me. There was some very ancient, undeniably spectacular scenery, surrounded by the modern day trappings (both good and bad) of garish capitalism.

... that's very steep

Sometimes it was hard to appreciate what I was seeing, the tour moved so fast. But I think my background in history gave me enough insight to put things in their proper context. I hope these stories have been entertaining, informative, and shown just a little bit of what the world has to offer.
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I took this tour in October 2002, just after Korea's amazing performance in the World Cup of soccer. We heard a chant from that time, "Daehan Minguk!" from one of the other boats on the lake. The trippers in my boat were so pleased with this that they yelled it at every other boat we passed. Some of them responded, and some of them just stared back blankly.
Being part of a package tour has its advantages, in that you cram a lot of stuff into a short time. But if you're not pressed, it's better to find your own way to these places.

Shopping

Korean Adventure (February 7, 2003 Chautauqua)

My trip to China was an equal measure of sightseeing and shopping. The tour was organized by Koreans for Koreans. I had to shift for myself when it came to information about the various sites. This was no great hardship. I can say, without any false modesty, that I probably could have conducted the tour myself.
The shopping would present no problems for anyone. A salesman looks and talks the same in any language. If you are familiar with Ron Popeil, you can pretty much "fill in the blanks" to discover what they are saying. It all boils down to: "Give me your money."

A float in Tian'anmen Square of The Great Wall.

My first experience of Chinese shopping occurred on the very first day of the trip, when we went through the Forbidden City. There was plenty of space reserved for souvenir shops along the way, with cheesy bric-a-brac everywhere.
On the way in or out of any tourist site, I was besieged by aggressive peddlers of every description. If you wanted to bargain, you could get some fairly good looking stuff cheap. One guy was really mad at me for not haggling, though. He didn't have anything I wanted, and dropping the price didn't make it any more attractive.
The real dangerous sales reps were those we were bussed to. On the second day, we were taken to a Chinese hospital, where a doctor took our pulses, made a diagnosis, and offered to prescribe for what ailed us.

I'm sure it must be catchy, whatever it says.

Chinese doctors have an interesting way of taking the pulse. Three fingers on the wrist, subtly manipulated, offer the skilled doctor a look at the various "levels" inside the body. Supposedly they can figure out what is wrong anywhere.
After that, we were offered a foot massage, which I thought might have been fun. What I didn't know about massage is that a lot of it is real hard. The masseurs really dig into your feet; owowowowowowowOW! I was a little tender after that, I can tell you! Not too good when so much of a tourist's day is spent walking.
Our next stop was a pearl shop, offering high priced jewelry. Not too much hard sell here, as the Koreans were only too willing to fork it over.

Just inside the gate to the Forbidden City.

After that, we were bussed down to Liulichang Street, which offers a variety of traditional Chinese articles: robes, rugs, ivory figurines, cards, jewelry, and many other kinds of items.
There was a combination of shop owners and street dealers that shared an eager desire to part you from your funds. I myself got a "chop," which is a stamp made from ivory. It has Chinese characters carved on the end, and it is used to put the seal on official documents.

The garden inside the Forbidden City. Note the flags held by the tour guides, which tourists are supposed to follow or they will become lost, lost for all time.

On our way to the Great Wall, we stopped at another hospital, which offered an Herbal Sticking Plaster and Balm. There was a touch of the showman in this doctor, who rubbed the balm on his hands before grabbing a metal chain fresh out of a bed of glowing coals.

Lucky symbols on a hillside. Or an ad for Burma Shave.


Our last day in the country did not neglect one more attempt to take whatever monies we might have left. I had to give it up here, as we were shown a variety of teas. There were some interesting flavours, and I settled on some dandelion, which (I am told) is good for the liver.
In some aspects, the trip was disappointing. I was turned off by how well the "Reds" have adapted to capitalism. I could not but be awed, however, by the sights of Old China: the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and Tian'anmen Square. All of this: the good and the bad were evident in the final sight of the tour...the Great Wall.

The touristy part of the Great Wall. The Chinese have the same difficulty with English as Koreans. The sign says, " Issue the certificate of the Great Wall."
What the kimchi...er, Peking Duck?

The Temple Of Heaven

Korean Adventure (January 17, 2003 Chautauqua)

My second day in China started with a big western-style breakfast at the hotel before we boarded the bus and drove through Beijing to the Summer Palace. The city used to be almost exclusively a bicycle town, but flirting with capitalism has greatly increased vehicle traffic. It's still about half and half, but the combustion engine looks to be winning.

There is a lot of road work, and there is a good system of express roads to carry traffic around. One of these took us from the central area where our hotel was, out to the northwest quadrant, to the Summer Palace.

Yi He Yuan is actually more of a garden than a palace, and it was the summer residence of the Qing court from around 1860 to 1908, when the Empress Dowager Cixi died. Built in the 18th century (with slave labour) to resemble another of the emperor's retreats, it was destroyed and rebuilt twice.

From the garden on the south side to the north is the Long Corridor, a 728 meter covered walkway. Each and every beam is decorated with colorful pictures, some 8,000 in all. There are beautiful examples of Chinese gardening styles along the way, with the Tibetan Buddhist temple looming at the top of "Longevity Mountain."

Foxiang Tower of Bhuddist Fragrance (above).


Dragon boats (above) carry tourists around the lake, to the central island, where you can see the 17-Arch Bridge (below).

On the way back to our bus, we were met by a few of Beijing's poor, begging for whatever we could give. There is a lot that is shiny and new in China, but there is also a lot that is still struggling to survive.

From the Summer Palace, our next stop was a hospital, where doctors took our pulse, told us what was wrong with us, and were ready to prescribe the proper medicine (for a modest fee).

After lunch, and a visit to a jewelry shop (specializing in pearls), our next stop was the Temple of Heaven, an impressive group of buildings that was visited by the emperor only three times a year. The Round Altar (below) was for sacrifices at the winter solstice. The story is that if you stand at the centre, your voice can be heard around the world.


The triple-roofed Hall of Prayers for a Good Harvest (which stands on a similar round altar) was where the emperor presided over a sacrificial banquet for the benefit of the agricultural sector.

Qinian Hall Of Prayer For A Good Year.

From one altar to the other is a long walkway, called the Road to Heaven. There are displays outlining the elaborate rituals the emperor had to go through to ensure peace and prosperity for his kingdom. The emperors thought of themselves as divine, so it was natural for them to do great homage.

The gates to the Hall Of Imperial Heavenly Vault.

After dinner, we were taken to a local theatre to enjoy a version of the Beijing circus. There were some very talented gymnasts and performers, doing some juggling, balancing, and feats of physicality. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's trip. The Great Wall.

The Forbidden City

Korean Adventure (January 3, 2003 Chautauqua)

On my first day in China, the sightseeing started right away. After clearing customs and gathering the tour group at the bus, we headed into the city of Beijing. The expressway was very similar to a road back home - even the trees were similar. It made me a little homesick for Calgary.

Our first stop was a hotel in the northeast part of the city for a little lunch. We had been fed on the plane, so I didn't have too much - just enough to notice the difference between Korean and Chinese food. It is greasier.

Some of the Koreans had planned ahead, though, and out came little Tupperware containers of kimchi, seaweed, and other assorted "sides." There were even some juice boxes (that did not have juice, but soju). Very clever.

From there, we went into the centre of the city, which is Tian'anmen Square. It is described as Beijing's "heart, soul, and conscience." In its present dimensions, it is a product of the 1950's. In Imperial times it was an alleyway between the ministries and the palace.

The Monument to the People's Heroes in the centre of the square (above, with the Chinese History Museum behind) was the launching pad for the protests that culminated in the events of June 4, 1989. To the south of that is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (below), where the remains of the "Great Helmsman" lie in state under crystal (unfortunately closed when I was there).



To the east is the Chinese History Museum, and to the west is the Great Hall of the People (above), where the party and government just recently held an historic series of meetings. The old leader, Jiang Zemin, stepped down in favour of the new, Hu Jintao.

We were allowed to meander around a bit before moving on to the northern part of the square. There was a variety of people wandering around. I met a couple of Canadian tourists, and spoke with a few locals eager to try out their English. There were police and military guards liberally placed around the area, as well.

On the northern side of the square is the Tian'anmen Gate (the Gate of Heavenly Peace), the symbol of the People's Republic of China. No doubt everyone has seen it at one time or another, with its huge painting of Mao dominating.

To the left and right are reviewing stands for when the party shows off its military might. You approach from the square via a pedestrian underpass. The gate and the square are separated by one of the few main roads passing through the area.

The gate itself has been rebuilt many times. It was the main southern gate of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. When the Ming Emperor Chengzu, Zhu Di, moved his capital to Beijing in 1420, he had the gate rebuilt, and called it Chengtian ( The Gate That Bears Heaven).

A Chimera, with the head of a lion and the body of a dragon.

Passing through this gate, and the ones that follow, leads to the Forbidden City. As a palace, it served as residence and court for the emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, their eunuchs, wives, and concubines. When the last emperor, Pu Yi (or Xuantong), vacated the palace in 1924, the imperial collection of paintings, bronzes, jade, ceramics, costumes, gold and silver objects were put on display under the name of the Palace Museum.

Talke Hall Of Supreme Harmony.

Some of these objects are now in the Palace Museum in Taipei, carried there when the Nationalist government fled the mainland after the Communist takeover.

Today there are nearly 20 halls filled with works of art, and visiting them all would take two or three visits. Our guides kept us moving along pretty quickly, but I was able to comprehend that at one time, a very few people must have enjoyed a lot of incredible wealth.

From south to north, you travel from the Outer Palace to the Inner Court. Each gate once meant another layer of security, until you arrived at the Imperial family, ruling in supreme and splendid isolation from the masses beyond their walls.

To the north of the Inner Court is the Imperial Garden, with a dozen or so pavilions located symmetrically from left to right and front to back. Ancient pines and cypresses grow among various flowers and strange stones. These stones, some as big as houses, look like sponges, and they are so fashioned as to become part of the garden.

Once outside the rear (north) gate of the palace, Jingshan Park (above), with its artificial five-peaked mountain offers a fantastic view of the yellow-glazed tile roofs of the Forbidden City on clear days. It was not clear during my time there. There was a thick haze in the air, almost like a fog. It was a great disappointment to have to deal with this haze.



As you can expect, this part of the tour took most of the day, and we did not even see all we could have. I have only touched lightly on what I was able to see.

Our group went from there to the Fengyutang Theatre and Restaurant. After a delicious meal, we watched a display of kung fu, put on by a group of Shaolin monks (just like Caine from the TV show). Then it was off to our hotel, ending our first day in the city.

Going To China II

Korean Adventure (December 20, 2002 Chautauqua)

I ended my last column at the point where my plane was descending into Beijing's international airport. Just where was I going, anyway? I was lucky enough to find a general information story in the "Korea Herald." It comes from the Associated Press, and I quote it liberally here.
The Chinese have just had an important Party Congress, where the future of the country was decided (for the foreseeable future, anyway). The established leader, Jiang Zemin, began edging towards the exit to make way for the new man, Hu Jintao.
Ever since the fall of communism in Russia, the country with the largest population in the world has been slowly trying to adapt to new circumstances. Equal parts of communism and socialism have been mixed with a liberal dash of capitalism. It makes for an interesting combination. There are trendy, neon-soaked taverns catering to foreigners, that double as local chapters of the Chinese Communist Party.
Less than a generation ago, there was not much evidence of this. The Party controlled everything about the country with a planned economy that told the populace where to work, where to live, what to produce, and how much.

Just a car I saw from the bus on the way into Beijing.

Now there is a great deal of foreign investment, with an accompanying influence on the future of the country. Besides the obvious landmarks such as KFC, Wal-Mart, and Ikea, there is the declaration that entrepreneurs must shepherd China into the 21st century.
In an attempt to control the coming changes, the Party has begun ushering new personalities into the leadership. Hu Jintao, apparently the man selected to sit in the chair once occupied by Mao Zhedong, is still a bit of a mystery. Young, with an undistinguished career, he is described as a colourless technocrat. Collective party decisions will take the place of individual acheivement.
This will, it is hoped, allow the party to remain in control without the need for a repeat of the Tian'anmen Square massacre, when the military crushed pro-democracy protests. Stability - government market, social - is the catchphrase.
And yet, there are signs that all is not well. The reforms that allow some capitalism threaten the livelihoods of the thousands of workers as state-owned industries that offered jobs for life are pared down, restructured, or closed.
Migrant populations are growing, as are the labour protests from those who have been laid off. They demand one thing; return of their jobs - and their benefits.
At the same time, there is a growing class of wealthy young people. Annual growth has topped 7 per cent. Factories and workshops are producing brand-name products for western consumption.

A Beijing street. On the right of any street, taking up half the street, is the bicycle lane.

Narrow streets once crowded with bicycles are becoming even more crowded with new cars. The average monthly salary of 330 yuan ($40) has increased ten times, to 3,300 ($400). The most successful are making millions, and moving into sleek new developments and apartments.
All of this wealth will no doubt put ideas into the heads of some people that the Party would rather not deal with. Staying relevant in a world governed by markets will be their great task.

A gas station.

The language of old - an amalgam of nationalism, ideology, and pep-rally sloganeering feels out of place when you can see women trying on make-up from L'Oreal and men who are wearing Playboy underwear.
How much can the Party's colour change before it is no longer red? When do you take Chairman Mao's body from its display case in Tian'anmen Square? When do you re-evaluate 1989? These are the troubling issues that they must now confront.
As you may becoming aware of, the China I was going to see was going to offer more than just the Great Wall.