Friday, October 5, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012: Beijing

The day began on the Silver Shadow where Bruce and Dede joined me on deck for our last shipboard breakfast. Dede described a dramatic dilemma in which she realized, this morning, that she had packed all her underwear in luggage that was collected last night and was now in the ship’s hold. She finally persuaded her butler to find some crew members who led her into the hold where, among several hundred pieces of luggage, she found her suitcase – they are all black these days – and triumphantly produced the bra she needed, to everyone’s amazement, relief and amusement. We said farewell after breakfast and I was sad to see them go their separate way. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed their company.
Leaving the ship was smoothly handled, as always. Our luggage was tagged the night before with a colored tag and we each left when our tag color was called. This also made finding our luggage in the terminal building fairly easy. But luggage now is all black so even with a colored tag, locating it is somewhat complicated.
My bus to Beijing – three hours away from the port of Tinjian – was mostly empty; only eight people had bought the Silver Sea extension.
Our guide, who has lived in the US, was efficient and easy to understand, giving us information about China and Beijing on our way into the city. Because banks do not have attractive instruments for savings, most Chinese buy real estate. An initial investment requires 30% down, the second one, 60% and one cannot buy a third property. There is new construction everywhere, little clusters of apartment buildings – maybe 20 or 30, in an isolated group, containing workers for a newly declared economic zone. Since this Chinese government owns all the land in China, a buyer of real estate only owns the building, and by doing so, rents the land for 70 years. No one knows what happens at the end of that time, which has not yet come. 200-300 square meters costs about two to three million yuan, about $200 to $300 thousand dollars.
October 1 was the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China -  1949 – and so the following week is all national holiday. Chinese like to trave at such a time so the traffic is fierce. In order to buy a car, one must first buy the license plate, for the equivalent of about $10,000. The plate number will indicate the province in which one lives. In order to buy a second car, one registers for a lottery from which about 3% of all entries are selected each year. There are about five million cars in Beijing, for a population of about 23 million – there are about 6.2 million in an additional “floating population,” students and other non-permanent residents – so the roads in China cannot keep up with the burgeoning number of cars. Some cars are permitted to come only as close to Beijing as one of the five ring roads. In this way, the government tries, not very successfully, to control the traffic situation. There are so many cars in Beijing, and the city is so large, that it can take up to 3 ½ hours to travel from one side to the other.
Parking is a distinct problem in Beijing and so we were let off the bus for Tianenman Square many blocks from the location, beginning a 3 ½ hour walk that truly did me in. By the end of it, I could hardly raise my legs high enough to get over the small barrier at each doorway. (The Chinese believe that since ghosts have no feet, this barrier will prevent them from entering a space at night.) The square itself is huge and impressive and reached only by tunnels under the adjacent streets. These tunnels were crammed with people and a little scary. A fall here could mean trampling. And with my balance apparently no longer (or not yet) normal, I had to be very careful. The square is bordered by many government buildings, including a huge mausoleum containing the remains (supposedly) of Chairman Mao. Our guide said only his face is exposed and it’s white and looks like wax. And the guards move onlookers so quickly that it’s hard to tell if the so-called body is real or not. Ugh! We passed.
While the square, filled almost so that it was difficult to walk, and almost impossible to get a camera angle over the many heads around me, I guess we – 8 Americans with a Chinese guide – were something of a novelty. I noticed a Chinese man standing near me and his wife with a camera, obviously about to take his picture so I, too, would be in the frame. I turned to him and just put my arm around his shoulder, for a proper picture. He beamed with delight while his wife took the photograph. Then she wanted him to take one of her with me. It was a nice experience of cross-cultural friendship.
The most prominent feature of Tianenman Square is the gate – structure really – to the Forbidden City with a huge portrait of Chairman Mao over the main entrance. We spent over three hours being guided through the Forbidden City, through many such gates, all with forgettable names: “harmony,” celestial,” etc. and around pavilions and other buildings meant to meet the emperor’s ceremonial and personal needs. The tour was impressive but I lost most of the history while I was trying to both watch my step – the paving stones are old and very uneven; in one courtyard they are 15 layers deep – and try to keep up with our guide – not easy. Taking the kind of photographs I wanted was next to impossible. I just took what I could. The City is huge and covers many acres. That’s why they call it a “City.” The buildings are all attached in some way – by a courtyard if nothing else – and reminiscent of the palace grounds in Bangkok, but more so and not as well maintained. There were many opportunities for photographs of moldy walls, one of my favorite subjects.
The City was largely built in the early 1400’s and occupied by Chinese emperors until 1927, when the last emperor, of the Qung Dynasty, was forced to be a puppet by the occupying Japanese.
By the time our tour was over – we took a detour to see the National Theater, an ovoid building of white glass that looks like a squashed egg – and we walked many blocks to find our bus, I was almost unable to walk. We had to stop several times because of the crowd and I had some trouble getting my legs to start again. My knees ache, but function. But my back hurts so much that I had to sit down at every opportunity. And there weren’t that many.
I was greatly impressed on the drive from Tinjian to Beijing by the roads – straight as an arrow, six lanes wide and lined with poplar trees planted in regimental rows perhaps 6 rows deep. These help shield the roads from some degree of sand dust blown into northern China from the Gobi Desert in the north. They are also very ornamental, all marching along with the road as far as you can see into the distance.
The answer to the question, “How many people can a Beijing bus hold?” is “five more.” Public transportation is very limited and the busses even have people on board whose sole purpose is to push people toward the back so more can get on. And when a bus empties, you’d better be close to your tour guide or you may lose her entirely in the crowd.
There was a little delay at our hotel – much checking and re-checking and re-re-checking the ever present lists – and once I received my key, I went right to my room and collapsed. I revived only long enough to eat a club sandwich – about $15 – wash my face and hands, and go to bed. It was about 6:30!
Tomorrow’s main attraction is the Great Wall, about two hours north, and a visit to a Chinese craft shop (read souvenirs).
Stay tuned.




















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