The more they stay the same. Sorry for the huge delay in updates, but the Chinese Communist Party decided that my blog was too dangerous for Chinese eyes – so I was unable to access it while in China! You can read all about it in my rant at www.stuffnobodylikes.com. This morning I safelt arrived in Osaka, Japan – the last country on my journey. It feels great to be here. In this post, I’ll give you a quick rundown of what I did in China, and how it’s changed.
And my, how it has changed!! I briefly visited China a few times back in 2004 and 2005. I could see a lot of construction going on, and it was obvious that the country was on the move… but it’s still fascinating to see the changes firsthand. Economically, China has been growing so fast that the average standard of living doubles in less than a decade. So, 5 years is a lot of change here. In my earlier trips, I visited Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Dalian. This time, I briefly visited HK, Macau, and Shenzhen. Then I rode a bike through the gorgeous limestone karst landscape of Yangshuo for a few days. From there, I went up to Chongqing and floated down the Yangtze River for 3 days through the Three Gorges to Wuhan. Finally, I spent a few days in Xi’an and Shanghai.
Below are 13 big changes I’ve noticed between 2005 and 2009. Some differences may be because my earlier trips were only to big cities on the East Coast, but these observations include Shenzhen and Shanghai, which I visited before. Of course, some things are expected, like China is noticeably more expensive (thanks falling dollar), but many of these surprised me.
1. Holy urban development, Batman!!
Pudong
Travelling through Chinese cities is like shuttling from construction site to construction site. Every city of any size (and you gotta be well over a million people to even get on a map in China!) is absolutely filled with highrises under construction. Landscapes filled with enormous new buildings and developments stretch for miles and miles and miles. There are also huge new roads, trainstations, and flyovers (so many flyovers!) that walking down the same street can change fundamentally several times in a year. I’ve always known about this development, but still, to see it firsthand in places like Chingqing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai is really staggering. Where once there were few shops, then scuzzy arcades in 2004, there are now super-flashy air-conditioned shopping malls and department stores. Where there used to be narrow alleys, huge boulevards. Where there used to be cramped train stations filled with pandemonium, there are now amazingly spacious ordered terminals. Two of the most impressive examples are in Shanghai. The old fashioned riverside, called The Bund, has a great promenade. This is now currently a construction site. You cannot stroll on it at all. They’re building yet another freeway or something. Meanwhile, to paraphrase my old buddy AJ, “Pudong is HUGE”. Pudong is the “other side” of the river in Shanghai. 20 years ago, it was empty. 4 years ago, it was a mess of rubble and a few new buildings – including the Jin Mao Tower, which was just being built. The Jin Mao was to be the tallest building in the world at the time. Well, there is now a taller building RIGHT NEXT TO IT. Amazing. Of course, this has caused some loss of character, but it’s still an amazing sight.
2. I ask him, you speakah my language?
No vegemite sandwiches here, but yes, they now speak my language. 4 years ago, they didn’t. Getting around China was really hard then – even in the big cities. There were almost no signs in Romanized script (and I only know a few characters!. Mearly nobody spoke ANY English. Getting something as simple as a meal could be extremely intimidating – let alone a place to sleep! Because of the language barrier, I expected China to be one of the toughest countries on my trip. All that has changed. There are tons of English signs, including on almost every street even in towns way out west. Lots of people can speak some English too. Hooray!
3. Spitting
Ask anyone who has been to China what they dislike the most, and spitting is likely way up at the top of the list. Just 4 years ago, it seemed like the entire nation of 1.3 billion people would collectively cough up a lung every morning in the most vile pools of spitumen. The worst part is that they would spit everywhere, on trains, in restaurants, on the street. It was awful. Today, there is still rather more spitting in public than one would see in the West, but it is greatly reduced. Instead of hearing the deep chortling sound, followed by a spit about 4 times every hour (usually accompanied by some sniffling and snorting), I only saw it about once or twice a day. I suppose that with all the public health campaigns after SARS, bird flu, and swince flu, things have gotten a little less mucousy in China.
4. Wait… people stand in line here?
When did that start? I remember one of the toughest cultural changes my first time in China was the utter lack of queuing. There was no “line”, and you really couldn’t get incensed about “cutting”. Say you were in a convenience store or a train station ticket office. There was just one huge mass of people elbowing each other to get to the window. There was utterly no order, and it was very stressful. Several times in 2009, though, I saw people waiting patiently in lines… how did that change?
5. Ou est Le Metro?
Subways are being built in a big way in China right now. In Beijing in 2005, there were only 2 subway lines – and it was obvious they were built entirely for show sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. They didn’t go anywhere that you wanted to go. There was one line straight across the middle of town, and a sort of useless loop line. Everything was dingy and old. Shanghai had only just completed its second line, and it was so over capacity that you didn’t need to try to stand up – all the bodies around you held you up! Beijing now apparently has 8 lines. Shanghai has 9, and they’re roomy, fast, and clean. Wuhan is building a Metro. So is Xi’an. And Yichang. And Chongqing. I mean, just about every city is in the process of opening one now.
6. Cooofffeee!!!
Getting coffee in China used to be difficult. China is a tea country, and the tea there is absolutely wonderful – but I still like a good cup ‘a Joe in the morning. The only coffee I could find in 2005 was at McDonald’s or KFC, with the very occaisional Starbucks. As a result, I have probably spent more mornings in Chinese KFC’s and McD’s than in those establishments in all other countries combined. Thank God this has changed. And how! Coffee, especially sweeted Italain mixes and local beans from Yunnan province, has become a fashionable drink (as it has worldwide). There are now cafes everywhere. They range from Starbucks to Starbucks knockoffs, to Japanese kissaten style places (a very comfortable home-like cafe with apolstered furniture, soft lighting, and special bean blends). I even had what is likely one of the ten best cups of coffee ever in a youth hostel in Wuhan – a town known for factories and train yards, NOT cosmopolitanism.
7. The Death of Cafeterias
Back in 2004, I couldn’t read any signs or speak any Chinese. Still can’t, really. But I can point and gesture!! That made cafeterias great places to eat. There used to be tons of them near train stations, mostly full of people on their way to and from work. You go in, there’s a steam table, you point at some stuff, grab a coke, and it all costs about $1. Perfect. I had no idea what I was eating, but Chinese food is tasty, so it didn’t matter much. And the atmosphere was great! These Dining Halls of the Proletariat had simple metal tables, neon lighting, and grizzled factory workers. It was awesome. These handy places seem to have disappeared. In 3 weeks in China, in over 7 major cities, I only saw one. Of course, there are now a lot more shopping mall food courts (which are quite good) and English menus then there used to be, so life is a little easier, but I miss the atmosphere of the cafeterias. Shopping mall food courts are so bourgeois…
8. Fancy a Drink?
Drinking in China didn’t use to mean much. Most people crowded into smoky late-night restaurants, gathered around a table and kicked back a few bottles of the local bland beer – or the vile rotgut known as bai-jo. In the summer, there were some nice outdoor places to, but they were sort of an ad hoc collection of picnic tables and a guy with a portable fridge. There were very few, if any, “bars” per se, and those were mostly in the expat neighborhoods. That has changed. A lot. There are now heaps of very nice and impressively decorated bars, with great atmosphere and a drink selection all over China. Many of them have ridiculous laser-lights flashing everywhere, making you almost blind, but some are extremely pleasant and pub-like. I still like the picnic tables on a hot evening, but I’m impressed with the change.
9. Barbershops… Are Actual Barbershops.
This may sound strange, but not so long ago (like, less than 4 years ago), barbershops were brothels. I’m sure that many of them were actual barbershops, but there were a lot of barbershops in 2004 that were open REALLY late and filled with girls lazing about. This being China, and me being a foreign man (foreign = rich!) often walking around by myself, every time I walked anywhere near a barbershop I was accosted by a gaggle of prostitutes trying to get me to purchase their services. It got to the point where I would walk on the other side of the street when I saw a barber pole ahead of me in Shanghai in 2005. This time… none. Every barber pole seemed to mark a place where someone was actually cutting another person’s hair! No hassling! I:m sure something must have happened where authorities cracked down or something, and the whores moved, but (ublike 4 years ago) I was not once approached by a prostitute this time around in China. Even in Shenzhen, where they used to roam in gangs.
10. She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy
Yup, imagine my surprise when that was the first song I heard walking into a shopping mall in China (in Shenzhen). Western music is all over China these days, with many places playing all types of rock, blues, hip-hop and country from the States, Europe, and Japan. There are also lots of Chinese acts playing in these sort of international styles, and it seems that heaps of bars have kids strumming guitars now. Even 4 years ago, most music you heard was Chinese, with only the very very top foreign bands getting played. Rock n Roll was basically banned for years because the party deemed it “too rebellious”. Trains were filled with martial anthems about the greatness of New China. Now music there seems rather more like, well, everywhere else.
11. Viva Macau!
Perhaps the most changed city I revisited was Macau. Macau is a small town of half a million just across the bay from Hong Kong. It was a Portuguese colony for over 400 years before returning to China in 1999, and is a “Special Administrative Zone” like Hong Kong. In 2004, Macau was a sleepy, forgotten enclave with some nice old Portuguese style buildings and some stunning Sino-Portuguese type food. The streets were quiet, the buildings were un-flashy, the people were relaxed. The food and old churches are still there… but now so are HUGE casinoes. Macau now has its own versions of Las Vegas’s MGM Grand, Wynn, Venetian, and other casinoes plopped right in the middle of it. There are dazzling lights all night long, and huge floors of punters. In true Vegas style, there are also huge luxury shopping malls designed like ersatz versions of other places. The Venetian allows you to stroll the streets of old Venice on your way to the slots, complete with singing gondoliers and water canals. Of course, these “streets” are all indoors and air-conditioned. And lined with Prada and Bvlgari shops.
12. Doesn’t Anybody Want To Sell Me a Watch?!
One thing that always stood out to me about China was that everybody on the street kept offering me fake Rolexes. I mean everyone. Even construction workers on their way home! And the most annoying part was that they wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Here was a typical such daily conversation from 2004:
Random Chinese Man: “Hello! Rolex watch?”
Me: “No”
RCM: “Cartier watch?”
Me: “No, go away”
RCM: “You want lady?”
Me: “No! F**k Off!”
RCM: (proceeds to make fun of me and eventually go away)
I was only offered a fake watch once in Shanghai this trip. When I said no, the guy offered me hash instead. When I said no, he went away. The rest of the time, nobody bothered me with such crap!
13. Hands Off!
A lot of the above annoyances are typical in developing countries. Perhaps their disappearance can be tied to greater affluence. Maybe it’s because there are so many more tourists than there used to be. Perhaps the government cracked down on such activity with the Olympics. I don’t know. But I do know that one specific China pet-peeve has nearly dissappeared – people grabbing me. In other developing countries people try to beg, sell fake watches, protitutes, etc. But they rarely physically touch you. In China, they used to grab onto your arm and not let go. You had to fight your way out, especially if haggling (there are a lot more fixed price shops than there used to be). The only thing you could do was try to ignore the grabber and continue walking. I’ve dragged begging kids down half a block, I’ve had 4 prostitutes grab onto my arms and shoulders at the same time, I’ve had cripples whack me with stumps. I’ve only ever seen this in China. This time… didn’t happen. Not once. It’s a nice change.
There is much else that has changed in this fast-moving country, and I’ve already spent waaaaaayyy too much time writing. I gotta get out and see Japan! I’m off to Koya-san today, then Nagano in a couple days. I’ll keep you posted. For the East Coast kids, I hit NYC August 7th. I look forward to seeing you all.
Tadhog Goes Walkabout (Part 3) 