Beijing 5.18.07

I just got back from a month-long tour and wanted to share some of my experiences with you. To briefly summarize the trip, I was part of a group of 17 students from Mizzou along with a bilingual professor of finance. We visited Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu (Sichuan Province), and Hong Kong. After the China tour several of us also stopped in Tokyo for 4 days where I had the chance to see my Uncle Ken. We visited 7 companies in the 4 Chinese cities and saw many of the biggest tourist attractions. In Chengdu, we stayed at an independent college (for 2 weeks) where we took 3 hours of class and spent a lot of time with Chinese students.


While there was no one thing in China that blew my mind away, the economic progress of the country on a whole was incredible. Moreover, a sense of cultural pride was evident among Chinese of all ages. We started our trip in Beijing where we saw preparations for the ’08 Olympics everywhere. We also made our way to the Ming Tombs, Great Wall, Summer Palace, and Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square. Hopefully the pictures can do the city justice.


100 or more workers filled a 2-block stretch of downtown Beijing. In preparation for the Olympics all of the old tile on the streets was being torn up and replaced by nicer looking stone. In downtown Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu alike all of the streets downtown were made with stone. Apparently quarries are in abundant supply, making for cheap stone to accompany the cheap labor for the government. The speed at which things get done in China is impressive as well. If the government wants something done there is no red tape to crawl through, no lawsuits or unions to worry about, it just gets done.


In the cities however, the GDP per capita now stands around US$7,000, pushing the standard of living higher and widening the income gap between city dwellers and farmers. With 60% of the Chinese population living in rural areas, this gap is a constant concern for the Chinese government. Although peaceful protests have recently been facilitated through the spread of wireless communication devices, social uprising are not the primary concern for the central government when it comes to dealing with the rural population. First, uprisings would be directed against local governments, not the central government, thus the initial responsibility to quell instability would not fall on the central government. Second, the government has admittedly devoted most of its resources to the economic development of the coastal cities over the past several decades of economic prosperity, but it had good reason to do so. It was in China’s national interest to develop its coastal cities as the growth of the cities and increase in international trade facilitated through commerce in the cities has helped China achieve double digital growth each year for the past 26 years. Of course as the coastal cities continue to develop, the appeal to migrate to the cities has also developed at alarming rates. This is where the government has recently run into problems.


Rural Chinese have begun migrating to the coastal cities in larger numbers as jobs are plentiful and the standard of living is much higher. Consequently, many social services have been strained and the government is having trouble keeping up. For instance, traffic has worsened despite the constant construction of new roads and the education system cannot support the number of new students despite an increase in the number of teachers. Thus, to slow the migration of people into the cities, the Chinese government has more of an incentive to keep the rural population happy than it has over the past couple decades.


Several apartment complexes built within the past 5 years. Dozens of similarly large buildings could be seen within the confines of just a couple blocks when driving through Beijing (and Shanghai). The number of new apartments housed by high rises was startling, speaking to the density of the population in the cities.


Moving outside the city center, we did see some famous sites around Beijing, the first of which being the Great Wall the day after we landed. The views from the Wall were breathtaking. There are currently 3-4 sections of the Wall open to tourists. We chose to climb the steeper, less visited section, which was harder than I expected. None of the stairs are the same height or width. Needless to say I am glad we made the climb at the beginning of the trip before I lost what muscle I had (15 pounds) from lack of exercise the rest of the trip.


A view from the bottom of the Wall with 3 other students from Mizzou. The short shorts got a lot of use as we were instructed to pack light. Little did I know they were a big hit among my companions as several (in the center of the picture) liked to crack jokes at them. Of course, I thought they were comfy, and that’s all that matters!


Another interesting site to see were the many puddles of fresh urine in the towers of the Great Wall. Public restrooms (and trash cans) were uncommon in China so Chinese tourists found ways to improvise. Take a look at the photo below. There must have been 8 or 10 corners in this particular tower that had all had been showered with blessings.


Interestingly enough, peeing in public was not uncommon in the city center in Beijing either. In four days I must have seen five or six mothers hold their children out in front of them over the sidewalk to do their business.


The Summer Palace was one of my favorite day trips. On a hill overlooking a lake with Beijing in the distance there were several palaces that have been built over the past 2000 years. They were used as summer getaways for emperors. If you ever make it to Beijing the Summer Palace is must-see in my opinion.


Unsure of what the copper pots outside one of the palaces were used for I decided to take a look inside to find out. This Chinese woman and her family sitting nearby thought it was so funny that I would get inside a pot for a photo that she insisted on taking one with me.


On one of the days we visited the Ming tombs, which are located below temples built on various mountains. We only visited one of the 15 and I wasn’t too impressed but I did find it amusing how fascinated the Chinese tourists were with some of the simplest things. We saw a huge crowd of maybe 50 Chinese people all nudging each other out of the way (quite common throughout China) for a closer look at this fascinating part of the tour. What was it…?
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A metal grate over what I assumed used to be a well. Although judging by the sloped pavement around the mystery hole, I wouldn’t be surprised if all the commotion could be attributed a sewer drain. Amazing what people will pay to see.


On our final day in Beijing we visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The picture on the wall in front of the Forbidden City is of Mao Tse-Tsung. Everyone in China that I spoke to loved Chairman Mao, as some of his greater qualities were apparently taught in school while the government suppressed the truth about the brutality of his regime in the media.


Of course the many cultural sites in Beijing were interesting to see but the most memorable part of the city may well be the excitement about the ’08 Olympics, as I briefly mentioned at the beginning of the email. When our group visited Lenovo to learn about the Chinese way of business this countdown until the games begin was standing by the door, along with a small showroom about the history of the Olympics. Interestingly, Lenovo is the first Chinese company to ever sponsor the Olympics, as the company has invested heavily in an array of sports advertising in an effort to gain name recognition among consumers internationally.


Beijing was a city worth seeing simply for its history as the political center of the country. The traditional Chinese sites were impressive and the development of the city was eye opening as well. Of course, the development of Beijing was nowhere near the magnitude of that of Shanghai, where we visited next.