Visiting Beijing: The Pre-olympic Flame?Ever since I returned from teaching in China in 2001, I have made a point of returning every two years to keep in touch with the numerous close friends I had established there, by means of these frequent visits. Seven years ago, my closest friend had commented that although I had already visited China probably 15 times previously; only now would I really discover and understand Chinese culture in depth. I suppose she was referring to the act of total immersion into their society on a 24/7 basis. But for me, it became far more than that. The immersion penetrates the blood in the veins: In many ways, even though I am always on the perimeter, I feel I have lost sight of all our previous differences. We have become one. So many times we have heard of certain Chinese being described as bananas based on their integration into the Western culture: Yellow on the outside but white on the inside. We who originate in the west cannot truly escape a similar transformation: Perhaps even a reverse banana? But it would be arrogant for me to assume that barriers are removed: The primary one being caused by my own negligence, namely failure to try and learn the language; be it Patonggua (hanyu Pinyin) or Cantonese.
However, after a while, each return journey by anyone strengthens the cultural dye and penetrates the blood itself. We sense no separation: We are even colour, culture, and creed blind. We become family and members of each family of our friends. We neither see nor sense any separation. And as the global community expands; the feelings expand mutually and wonderfully if we will only allow it to happen.
The itinerary I had generated had several purposes: The primary idea was to return to visit old friends and to witness even further, the incredible changes that have taken place in Asia since my first visit in 1988. And this was to be my 20th visit depending on how you count them. Equally importantly, quite a number of close friends in Canada had indicated over the last year that they would love to visit China again, hopefully taking different paths from those walked by first-time visitors. (Even second or third time visitors too.) China, like Canada, is a vast country. More than that, China’s focus changed drastically in 1976, credited primarily to the vision of that genius, Deng Xiao Ping. There is no one word or phrase to describe the scope of that evolution-revolution that he called ‘Market Economy’: It took the vision, energy, imagination, risk enterprise and patience of 25% of the world’s population to make it happen. And it did! A small corner of that transformation, I am hoping to reveal, possibly next May, on a brief visit with friends from this side of the northern hemisphere. This recent journey over five weeks, started in Beijing, then went to Jinan, Rizhao, back to Jinan, then to Shang he (Ji yang), back again to Jinan, return to Beijing, fly to Shanghai, then fly to Shenzhen, ferry to Macau, and finally ferry to Hong Kong, then return to Toronto. I will try to tell you about China today from my viewpoint. It is very personal: It involves my friends on the streets, not the pictures in the media, nor the Government in Beijing. Therefore it will include cameo descriptions of my friends: Some I met almost 20 years ago; I have watched them get older and develop their own families as they reach their late 30s and early 40s. I have been involved as they have transformed from one type of lifestyle to a totally advanced one; a lifestyle that has become global. There are few borders now.
My story began on Sunday, September 9th 2007: Let me describe it slowly by sharing my daily diary notes. (And let me hope that the description can capture the depth of many of the emotional highlights I experienced because they changed my memory of the past and vision of the future.)
It was great to be delivered to Toronto’s new Terminal 1 by Sharon and Janice. This new terminal reminded me a little of the New Hong Kong engineering miracle, ‘an airport floating on new land, reclaimed from the Ocean off Lantau Island. This first visit to the new Toronto terminal would give me a baseline for comparison, later on in my journey. Here in Mississauga, with its very long pier; extensive moving sidewalks; plus its mushroom array of gates; I was experiencing competition with HK’s facility in terms of departure. Even the Check-in was organized well with a choice of 16 check-in counters. Some were specially assigned to other functions. A check-in coordinator with Air Canada even confided that a large number of passengers for my flight had already checked in for the 2:30 pm flight to Beijing when I arrived 2-1/2 hours prior to departure. It seemed from the Fast-Food restaurants that many had elected to lunch there before boarding. This is really a good idea; the crowds are really large now with the new multi-decked giant planes; and enough struggle and stress to share around. And my departure gate was 177. How far is that?
I met Huang Wei and her team just before boarding. Let me tell you about Wei! My friendship with Wei and her husband, Lin, started about 17 years ago when we organized that first group tour to China. After that, Lin and I worked on other tours; but he was an incredible help and active support in numerous marketing ventures I undertook during the next ten years. Over the years, Wei has become a major player for the China National Film Board; talented in many ways; not the least of which is her mastery of English in all its forms. She is one of the few I know who can do comprehensive simultaneous translations of both Chinese languages into fluent English and with a perfectly delightful accent. A short while before I was to leave, I had told Wei of my pending journey. At the last minute, she had emailed to say that she could not meet me in Beijing …………. because she was coming to Toronto to attend the TIFF. I had met on her arrival here. Then three days later, as you can guess, we were booked on the same plane to Beijing. It was then that she asked me to try and change my itinerary so that I might return to Beijing a second time to attend Beijing’s annual international screening. And I did: Things worked out just fine; my trains, planes, and hotels were rebooked. But that comes later.
When we boarded at YYZ at 1:30 pm, I was impressed by the large cathedral-like departure gates. The larger plane; one of the new Boeing 777s; has two doors; so boarding passengers split in a forked ramp to facilitate loading and seating the more than 300 passengers. Later I learned that it held 305 economy and 45 business class. The Y (economy) passengers were located in three cabins and seated 3 x 3 x 3 across, with two aisles. I had a starboard side window seat behind the wings; (53A). (The business section had rather weird spiral cutouts with individual seats in each slot somewhat like an office cubicle. The seats could be folded down into single beds.) Because of the baggage quantity, the plane was 15 minutes late leaving the Gate. Taxiing for take-off took another 15 minutes. Take-off occurred at about 3: pm Toronto time; but it was already September 10th at our destination in Beijing; there would be no night on this flight; Sunshine all the way.
This was to be a non-stop flight directly to Beijing which would reduce the flight time by almost 2 hours. Scheduled for 13hrs and 10 min, the flight would be 6,575 miles. Based on my previous experience, I guessed that we would not be Pacific Ocean bound: Instead we would be flying due North near the west of Hudson’s Bay, over the Arctic Circle and quite near the Geographic North Pole, then into Asia across Siberia. On a previous trip, I found this to be exciting even though the entire journey had been above the clouds. What would this journey be like? The other thought that seems to be proven is that by flying in a straight line North, and then south, we enter the China time zone, 12 hours ahead of Toronto’s, but without changing time zones. Is that perhaps the reason why I was not affected with jet-lag?
After take-off there was low dense cloud which prevented much viewing at altitude. I was able to see the shoreline of a lake; possibly Georgian Bay. Nothing was visible going north: Eventually we were informed that we were passing over Frobisher Bay and heading directly for the North Pole. (Unfortunately, the Boeing 777s were not yet completely finished. And animated flight path maps in the seat back displays will be a thing of the future.)
There were several meals during this flight, primarily rice, but we were able to sleep on and off. (Being a diabetic (IDDM) with special meals, mine was served first.) There was always a flow of water and Chinese green tea with lots of refills. I imagine that at 35,000 feet (way above Mt. Everest,) dehydration can be a potential hazard for some. (I will be writing about on-board exercises on another flight when I approached Shenzhen.)
At one point, I was able to see hundreds of lakes and typical tundra. Even though this is not spectacular scenery, the mere immensity is awesome and very powerful and humbling. It was cloudy all of the way; but we flew in constant bright sunshine. It was hard to figure when we had reached the North Pole; but I used a basic half-time plus observation of the sun’s position as a guesstimate. The sun never reached the horizon: but it came within about two diameters before rising rapidly. Now I knew that wherever I was, it was Monday, the 10th.
Over the Arctic Ocean, from our altitude there were incredibly beautiful cloud patterns. (It always reminds me of that old classic; ‘I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now’…..It reminded me a little of wool on a sheep’s back before shearing.)
Monday, Sept 10th 2007: Quite often I could see what seemed to be an incredibly large canyon- shaped opening with shadow defining the walls. The base looked like a huge lake; but as we flew nearer to those hollows, I could see openings in the thick cloud. Then the Arctic Ocean appeared covered with enormous ice flows broken to form a crazy paving pattern. (We were too high to see any icebergs, as you would over the Atlantic; and I saw no polar bears either.) This ice flow pattern was repeated many times with a rippled cloud covering all the way to the horizon.
Much later, after a couple of hours sleep, I could see a similar Tundra pattern over Siberia. This was very exciting too. Then through infrequent cloud breaks, one could see very small towns settled into forests usually with a factory chimney spouting white smoke. Nearer the end of the flight, we crossed a very large lake. My guess was that it could have been Bakal Lake or one of the lakes in Outer Mongolia.
Later we crossed over the large number of familiar parallel ranges of mountains forming North China; across the Great Wall, and into the Capitol Airport in Beijing. It was clear and sunny and it was very close to being on time, Beijing time, at 15: 50. And we were through immigration and customs plus baggage claim within an hour. The Airport and Terminal and environs are also very impressive even while more construction continues in preparation for the 2008 games.
I said good bye to Huang Wei, and confirmed that I would return to Beijing and to see her at the end of the following week at the Film Festival. At the exit I was met by my next old friend, Li Bei Fei. Let me tell you about Bei fei.
My friendship with Bei fei started in 1992. It was her very first day as a tour guide, and I was her first customer: A tour of one person. I had gone to see the cities of Yentai and Penglai in Shandong Province. One reason for going was to try to find the old site of the Cheefoo school where the Children of Missionaries had boarded just prior to WWII. This was where eight year old Rev David Michell and his Sister had lived and schooled prior to the Japanese invasion. Their parents were living a long distance away in the west in Henan Province. David wrote a book of his unique experiences, entitled; ‘A Boy’s War’. When we found the site that day, it had been converted into a Chinese Naval Base , and entry was forbidden. But somehow, Bei fei persuaded the guard to let us in and to walk around freely and to take photos. We found several of the original buildings, not far from the Bohai Sea, and we also discovered where someone had made attempts to chisel off the Crosses that decorated the walls. I was able to take photos and provide numerous sets later to David and others who had been prisoners of the Japanese in the Weifeng Internment Camp. (Incidentally, that was the same camp where Eric Liddell was detained (The Olympic athlete depicted in the Oscar Winning Movie, ‘Chariots of Fire’.)) It was incredible what Bei fei had achieved on her first day as a guide because, as several readers who visited Yentai with me later can attest, we were stopped and arrested for trespassing.) Why should I be surprised? Five years later, when no one could get me reservations in Hong Kong for the 1997 Hand-over by Britain to China, Bei fei came through for me again in a big way. Later she went to England and gained her Master’s degree from the Surrey University. She was also baptized there. Bei fei lives in Beijing and is today, a consultant for a large tour company.
It was now late afternoon, Monday, September 10th but in a time zone 12 hours ahead of Toronto (summer time). We took a taxi along the airport highway and into the city at the Second Ring Road. This is always a memory lane for me watching the city expand and change. The first time was in 1988. There really weren’t any ring roads back then. Even the highway was a country lane with two hotels: The Flying Swallow, and a small Holiday Inn with a bowling alley. Today, they are working on the sixth concentric Ring, and planning the seventh; with an ever-growing subway system underneath it. The rings are centered on Tian an men Square and the Forbidden City.
The taxi entered the city at the third ring road and headed snail pace towards Bei fei’s home. Instead of heading straight out to supper we walked over to a nearby Spa for a massage, which cured all the aches of flying 14 hours. That was great! (Incidentally, the massage parlour, and specifically foot massages have become the more recent social event for friends and family. Instead of going out to supper, people gather at a Spa for a pre-reserved foot bathing. These can be quite luxurious places with a row, or room of padded couch chairs. The masseurs work seated at the feet. On the adjacent wall there is one or more wall mounted TV displays and the customer is given a remote control plus a cup of Chinese tea.. The foot soaking and clinical massage usually lasts for one hour. Many imagine this to be a pleasant relaxing procedure. Let me assure you that the agony can be pretty severe: In fact, because of the frequent language barrier I end up teaching them what I mean by a cry of ‘Uncle’. (This is often the stress relieving venue after work rather than having a happy hour beverage. That certainly makes a lot of sense.)
We had supper at the historic ‘Old Peijing Restaurant. (It is not a spelling error.) I had eaten far too much on the flight so we settled for shrimps and eggplant. There is construction everywhere; but it was certainly not a problem trafficwise. (So far, my insulin had worked quite well by simply missing a couple of shots.)
China 2007 Diary: Part 1 (Click on link to view Photo Album Part 1. Beijing)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=150c1up1.4o9vwpu5&Uy=l5xbqk&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1
Tuesday, Sept 11th. Where did this day go? Today has been a big surprise! I had two places and events listed to visit, but things changed. First, Bei fei wanted to take me to her Corporate headquarters to meet some of the staff; primarily her coworkers. But when we arrived, they had plans for me to discuss and critique their new Company website with them. It was in English; presumably to be the basis for a website in several languages. This was an intense session lasting several hours. I criticized or commented on every angle for tourists and customers visiting the website. (It is a good lesson to realize how unrelated any site can become when it is created by people with far too much knowledge of the subject matter.) Then I critiqued a Questionnaire to potential tourists and visitors (browsers) to their website. When it reached 1:30 pm, they stopped and treated me to a wonderful lunch. Some of the group was new to the Company: One, for example, Zhao Xiao wen (or Celia), was a recent student of English: She had studied for three years in an ESL college in Bournemouth which incidentally was the town where I was born. It was even a pleasant surprise to notice that her English reflected many of the tones and highlights of my own dialect. (It sounded much nicer when she spoke it!)
(See you after lunch in Part 2! So let’s hail a cab!)
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