Journeys through Asia: Spring Time in Beijing and Xi'an

I was thoroughly impressed with the city of Beijing. Coming to the capital of mainland, I wasn't expecting much. With the constant prejudice of Macau and HK people against the mainland, I was expecting a dirty and polluted city filled with rude and uncivilized people. In addition, I wasn't sure what historical remnants were left after the destruction of Mao's cultural revolution. Yet what I found was a vibrant and cultured city filled with 2000 years of Chinese history and the comfortable luxuries of modernity resulting from the Olympics and China's growing economy.

I feel Beijing has come a long way from the days of Mao's overbearing dictatorship of the 1950s and 60s. Looking around Beijing, its hard for me to believe that this was once the epitome of the torture and social upheaval known as the Cultural Revolution. Coming to Macau, I knew nothing of the cultural revolution, but now its very clear what the revolution stood for - Maoism. Mao is god and you don't question god. Anything or anyone who would take away from the power of Mao was immediately destroyed. His policies during his reign have killed tens of millions of innocent Chinese people, and in addition millions more were exposed to the torture that he ensued on those that countered Maoism. Yet despite history, the devotion to Mao is thriving to this day. In Tienanmen Square, thousands of people line up for hours to see the embalmed figure of Mao. To many peasants, Mao is like a father who attempted to protect them against the greedy landlords, and in turn you must love your father. As an outsider, its easy for us to see the horrendous acts that Mao insisted on his people. You want to shake all those people and tell them they were brainwashed by the communist propaganda but really who are we to judge. We are only bringing our own biased foreigner views upon the mainland Chinese people. To them, the propaganda is the only 'truth' they've ever known. As you stand in Tienanmen Square, you see the massive portrait of the Chairman on the gate to Forbidden City...and you wonder the irony of how Mao wanted to destroy the Forbidden City during the revolution yet now his face is forever idolized on the most famous landmark of Chinese imperial history.

Portrait of Chairman Mao on the Forbidden City. Thousands of mainland tourists crowd into to Tinanmen Square to take a photo with their revered communist leader.

When I think about it, Beijing is actually filled with a number of ironies. You can't deny the hustle of bustle of the city. Streets are normally 8-12 lanes wide and packed with people, bikers, cars and buses. You must carefully cross the street at any given intersection because you may get run over by a number of different modes of transportation. In some instances, you need run through the intersection because its so wide and you won't make the light otherwise. Jay walking in Beijing is like a suicide attempt for most foreigners, but its seems to be like a natural part of everyday life. Especially coming from little Macau, Beijing feels like an enormous city and its difficult to find your bearings at first. With all the hurried traffic and people comes the glitz and glamour of the big city. The newly built skyscrapers and Olympic venues are testament to the rapid economic growth of China, yet not everyone in Beijing has reaped the rewards of this growth. Staying in a hutong in Beijing was one of the most truly local experiences I've ever had. We were definitely NOT in the holiday inn. The hutong in Chinese literally translates to narrow street or alley that are lined with shieyans, which are traditional Chinese courtyard residences. Once inside the hutongs, an immediate peace and serenity envelopes you. The massive crowds of people and traffic disappear and you have the feeling that your leaving in a rural village. There is truly a sense of community, which is often lost in the big city. Those who live in the hutong often have very minimal living standards. People must share a public toilet and shower because most residences do not have running water or hot water. I couldn't imagine having to wake up every morning, especially in the brutally cold winter, and walk five minutes outside just to use the bathroom. Of course in such close living situations, like it or not you will become close with your neighbors and develop relationships with them. Often generations of families live in one small shieyan. As I've seen in many poverty stricken areas, the simpleness of their life brings the community together.

The neverending traffic of Beijing

Entrance into our hutong

Our hostel - Sitting on the City Walls

Our 'houh local' hostel complete with traditional courtyard famous in the hutongs of Beijing

To this day, I continue to struggle with the political and economic ideologies of mainland China. I find that there are number of ironies in the PRC- People's Republic of China. In essence, the Communist party is still the prominent political party in China. Yet when exploring any part of China, you find vast disparities in social economic status among the one billion people who live in China. Comparing the lifestyle of those who live in the hutongs with no running water with those who live just down the street in the brand new high rises sporting 50 inch plasma TVs and brand new cars, you may struggle to find any similarities. One can argue that China may actually be one of the most capitalistic countries in the world. With Deng Xiao Peng's economic reforms in the 1990s, he has allowed China's economy grow astronomically in a just a short time span. Despite these reforms, the PRC is still ever present. I got some first hand experiences of the controlling policies of the PRC. As an American, the shock and the anger are the first emotions you feel when your freedoms are taken away, and then the waves of indifference fall upon you as you understand that you can't fight 'the man' (AKA the party). When preparing for my job interview in Xi'an, I was looking online to review more information about the company before interviewing. To my disbelief, I found that the company's website was actually blocked by the Chinese government. Angrily, I kept trying to reload the website and after several attempts I realized that my freedom of information has been taken away. That's actually a very surreal experience to know that the government is directly controlling me. As an American, you never even think twice about your freedoms and liberties. You want to know something, you can utilize all the resources in the library and on the Internet to find out anything you want. Our freedoms is what makes our nation so great, but when confronted with a government that is taking away those freedoms, you are left frustrated and debilitated. My second encounter with PRC was when Bingo checked into our hostel. The hostel owner said that Bingo was unable to stay with us in the hostel because he is a mainland citizen. There is an unwritten rule in China that mainlanders and foreigners can not sleep in the same room. I was outraged by the blatant discrimination against my friend who is a taxpaying citizen of China. I couldn't even begin to understand why such a rule could come into place that would inhibit the interactions of foreigners and Chinese people. Luckily, the owners and Bingo were able to figure out a lodging situation for him. Once again nonsensical rules were put in place to control the Chinese people. Maybe the PRC were trying to prevent interracial couples from 'getting together' or maybe they didn't want foreigners to transmit 'revolutionary' ideas to go against the government. For whatever reason, the Party is still attempting to control the lives of the mainland Chinese people despite the PRC saying its no longer 'technically' Communist.

I feel that there are some interesting cultural contrasts between modern day Chinese culture and the traditional conservative culture. I feel that both cultures are ever present in a strange intertwined hybrid. For the most part, I feel that China mainland people have very traditional gender ideas. Women stay at home and care for the children and the household, whereas the man is the breadwinner. Women are expected to be shy and submissive to the men in their life. In this traditional culture, you definitely see actions that counter our American ideas of conservatism. I feel that the number of people and babies peeing on the street is a bit appalling. Babies in china do not use diapers. Instead, babies' pants have a whole ripped into them. When they need to go pee/poo, the parents just let the squat anywhere and do their business. As a baby, the world is your toilet (similar to a dog). What's even more amazing is seeing all these babies' butts exposed to the elements. I also can never get used to the constant hacking of the mainland people. Its amazing how much spit one person can accumulate. For women who are supposed to be demure and polite, I dont understand why they must spit EVERYWHERE - inside the subway, in theaters, on the bus. Once again these are norms that are never even considered as rude to Chinese people, but with our American standards we tend to be appalled by some of their actions.

I also found a stark contrast between the nightlife scenes in Macau/HK and Beijing. Macau and HK have very exclusive party scenes that are expensive and almost solely for expats. I remember my last experience at LKF for rugby 7's. For the hundreds of drunken revelers, you could probably count all the HK locals on your hands. It's kinda sad how segregated the two communities are in HK and Macau. I always accounted this separation to the very traditional views of the local people. Partying and binge drinking are rare occurrences for locals. What surprised me is how well integrated the night life scene is in Beijing. I thought that the separation between the foreigners and the locals would be even more apparent because of the PRC's influence in Beijing, but actually the night scene is very well integrated. We actually went to a club in Stanlitun that was all Chinese locals dancing and drinking it up. It was awesome to see the local people having a good time and not just leaving the embarrassing drunken scenes for the foreigners. Something about the relaxed and easy going atmosphere was so welcoming and much more fun than the pretentious and upscale bar scene of LKF.

Partying it up at Stanlitun for Tat's Bday

I think tat thinks he's a gangsta or something...lol

Though Beijing is filled with a number of ironies, this does come close to taking away from the distinctly Chinese character of Beijing. I feel coming to Beijing is truly one of the most Chinese experiences I've had since I've been living abroad. Though I've already visited a number of cities in Yunnan province, the simple and rural life of the village people of China is very different from those who live in the capital city. The presence of the PRC is strong and therefore people hold a close relationship with the Party and Chairman Mao, more so than those living further from the capital. In addition, I feel living in HK and Macau the culture is a bit watered down because of the foreign influences of colonial rule. Whereas, those living in Beijing have not been conquered by any European country and thus despite the devastation of the cultural revolution they have been able to preserve a culture that is truly 100% Chinese.

Big Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, built in the 6th century

The setting sun's light reflecting on the sidewalk in Xi'an

Awesome Xi'an snack, origins are actually Muslim; bread is torn into small pieces and then covered with noodles, soup and peanut sauce

another awesome street snack; outside of the warriors, the snacks in Xi'an are unforgettable

Xi'an Drum Tower at night

Warrior down! This is where the warriors wait for the remainder of their pieces

Terracotta Warriors were built 2000 years ago by Emperor Qin,
the first emeperor to unite China

Warriors were built as a safeguard for the Emperor when he passed away into the next world

This pit of warriors was discovered by a farmer digging for a well in the 1950s

Summer Palace

Many sites in Beijing, including this one at Summer palace, have been newly repainted because of the olympics; mixed feelings about the 'newness' of the temples, but this must be similar to how the imperial court of the Ching Dynasty original built there lavish buildings