Two weeks in the People's Republic
Published:Sunday | July 4, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Beijing itself is a study in creativity and control. Its historic and cultural sites, like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, are well-preserved. Its buildings are modern marvels of architecture, its streets pristine, and the city is full of green spaces.
There is, however, the odd impatient taxi driver and the perennial tooting of bike horns from riders seeking passage, but speeding seems absent from their psyche.
The latter impression would disappear four days later, however, when the fifth High-Level Media Survey Group entered the mountains in another province during its two-week introduction to China.
Ancient China is said to date back more than 4,700 years. But the modern People's Republic is just 60, dating back to October 1949, post-World War II, when Mao Zedung set out to create a controlled society, doing so through repression.
The People's Republic remained closed to the world for much of its current six decades, but in the past three, starting with Zeng Diaping, the Communist Party has been slowly rolling out a system of market reforms that has propelled China to the number three slot in the line-up of the world's largest economies, behind the United States and Japan.
The group's next stop at Chengdu and adjoining Leshan would cover stops that highlight the rich ancient history, interspersed with modern industry, village reform, tourist attractions and cultural relics, including an extensive tour of the five-level Jin Sha Museum in Chengdu that begins with a view of an archaeological dig designated a protected site.
A day later, June 4, we travel to Leshan by bus and are taken upriver to view the humongous image of Buddha, sculpted into a mountain.
Buddha's domain
On June 5, we set off for Mount E'mei to Buddha's domain. To hike that trail would take about three days, we are told. Instead, we travel by bus, at full rollicking speed, to the furthest point accessible by road; then travel by cable car to another stop, where we now must walk up a mountain of steps to the Buddhist temples.
It is so cold our breath freezes, but the winter gear that we are bundled into before the cable car ride wards off the chill. It is rainy and a fog blankets the area, so we are denied the fantastic view into the valleys below.
There is another temple halfway down the mountain. We head there, again at full throttle. Mount E'mei, apparently, is where the Chinese give full reign to their inner need for speed, be it straight road or treacherous corners.
A Brazilian member of the media party demands that the driver slow down - that we wish to arrive at our destination unhurt - just as he careens around a corner while overtaking a car on a bend.
Beijing is a world away.
Cultural spots
On June 6, we visit with the Pandas at the Chengdu breeding centre. It's the 'aaahh' moment of the trip. The deceptively gentle, but oh so cute, creatures sleep and eat most of the time, and hardly ever exercise. They live for about 20-25 years, and hate having sex, hence the danger of their extinction and the need to breed them in captivity.
The red pandas, which look like raccoons, are just not as engaging.
China is full of cultural spots, protected heritage sites, historic attractions, and quaint villages that contrast with its shift towards modernity, and create a diverse landscape that can be enthralling to visitors.
China appears to be banking on that effect to pull tourists to spots beyond places like the Olympic Village, the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.
So on June 4, we set out for Suzhou, home of industrial research and development and the protected Pingjiang historical neighbourhood, before finally bussing it to Shanghai on June 9.
This city of 18-19 million people, seven million of whom are considered migrant, has been called China's New York. The six-month Shanghai World Expo adds to the town's congestion. It is the most 'familiar' of the sites visited, with a fairly substantial foreign population, numerous shops and shoppers and touts, Western food establishments, streets filled with people, and noise — lots of it, day and night.
We trek - make that crawl — in traffic to the World Expo site, where hundreds of thousands of people are lined up outside different country pavilions to view their shows and displays. Between 300,000 to 500,000 people visit the expo daily.
VIP treatment
As guests of the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipality, the media group is afforded VIP treatment, with immediate access to selected pavilions - Germany, Spain, Brazil, Caribbean, and Mexico.
Just as breathtaking as the expo was the visit to the top of the Shanghai World Financial Centre, which, until Dubai bested it this year with the 828-metre Burj Khalifa, was the world's tallest building at 101 floors and 492 metres. Shanghai now touts the building as the world's highest observatory point. The 100th floor has glass flooring built in, allowing views of the city streets far, far below.
Shanghai is said to be developing another skyscraper of about 600 metres, with plans to link it with the financial centre via an annex, according to our guide, Zhang Jun, so as not to deny the current building its sightseeing revenue.
The tour of China concludes Thursday, June 10, with a formal dinner, hosted by Yang Zhenwu, minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Shanghai Committee.
A final aside: Throughout the two-week trip, whether imbibing exotic shark fin soup in Beijing, the spicy foods of Chengdu, snake, raccoon, sushi or frog legs at some stops and duck at every location, the eating utensils are chiefly chopsticks. But on the final night, the Chinese hosts choose to eat with knife and fork, apparently to make the group comfortable, but most of us have progressed from klutz to slightly awkward, so we automatically choose the chopsticks.