White Tiger Path 2.0 - hello, this morning from today’s tonight - October 2019
When I wrote last, I was just starting to settle into life here in Shanghai. It was new, it was exciting, it was unexplored. I find myself, having been here for a while, still thinking all those same things. This is all so new, there is so much left to explore, what will be next?
I have settled into my classes nicely at this point, and specifically with my Global Issues class, I have learned and discussed a fair amount regarding Sino-American Relations, Sino-Soviet Relations, and the internal Chinese political and economic developments that have happened since the 1940’s. The emphasis and pride in their great leaders and what they have accomplished has been a constant topic within my class so far. The more I learn about the leaders after Mao, the more I see their importance and the more appreciation I have for why China does things the way they do.
As a country, they are so pragmatic, and specifically with Deng Xiaoping, there was such unbelievable vision. A one-party system doesn’t always rub westerners the right way, but it does allow for a lot of continuity over time and a lack of fighting between two parties where the rhetoric is always “I’m right and you’re wrong”, two criticisms I have of our current governments in both Canada and the USA. Deng foresaw the need to reach out to Japan, the USA, and even Singapore for support and access to different technologies. He started planning for this early and completely; this is just one example of how he demonstrated his vision and presented an idea that would have been an unfathomable idea to the previous leader. He has quickly become my favourite leader of all time from any country. I would want him leading me and the country I live in.
The Canadians, the eight of us who traveled to China as part of Canada World Youth, have taken to a couple trips so far, and by far the biggest was our extended trip to Beijing during our Golden Week. The Golden Week here in China celebrates the anniversary of The People’s Republic of China coming into power. This year happened to be the 70th anniversary of the formation of the PRC, and so celebrations were a little bigger than in years previous. With this in mind, a group of us thought it would be a good idea to take in the festivities in the nation’s capital, so we hopped on the bullet train that raced over 300 km/hr and traveled a distance of over 1000km into the “centre” of China.
Before enjoying the festivities in Beijing, we decided to go hiking at The Great Wall of China. The Great Wall took over 2000 years to build over multiple dynasties reings; it is not one long continuous wall, but a series of sometimes overlapping walls spread out over old borders of China to protect themselves from enemies, particularly the Mongolians. It is being repaired, slowly but surely by the government here, one section at a time.
We travelled about 1.5 hours by chartered bus to a less frequently visited part of the Wall called Jinshanling, but still, we were expecting crowds. We were therefore pleasantly surprised by how few people were there. Every time I heard anything about The Great Wall of China it was always centred around two things: 1) it is completely awesome and 2) it will be busy as hell, so get ready to endure that. The reality of our situation was very few people and an unparalleled way to experience the Great Wall of China. The lack of people only added to the overwhelming feeling of greatness of the day. It was one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever seen in my life and is certainly the most fantastic man-made structure I have ever seen in my life. To loosely adapt a quote from one of my all-time favourite movies, if you have the means to get to the Great Wall of China, I highly recommended taking that opportunity.
I don’t have the words to do justice to what I witnessed while walking through history, but hopefully a couple of the pictures I snapped can give you an idea.
The day after our Great Wall adventures was the Big Day of the Golden Week. The PRC and their leaders gathered in Tiananmen Square to celebrate. You needed a special invitation, and foreigners were not on the list of people to receive such a privilege. I’ve heard reports that tourists near the Square were locked in their hotel rooms, that tourists had their window curtains permanently drawn, and generally that tourists were not allowed to be a part of the official festivities.
We resolved to watch the largest military parade I’ve ever seen from an apartment that we rented in the Beijing “suburbs” (it was in fact a collection of high rises) and then ventured downtown after to walk around and be with the people. People were friendly, carried flags, laughed, shopped and were warm to each other and us. They also came out in swarms, which was to be expected. They love their country, and they loved showing it that week.
A trip to all the important temples, the Forbidden City (where past emperors of the great dynasty’s lived), and finally the obligatory trip to Tiananmen Square were also on the docket for the following days. The temples were peaceful oases in a chaotic city, and the Lama Temple (practicing Tibetan Buddhism) was given the highest honours; gold roofs and lots of figurines on the corner of the roofs, 9 door knobs and yellow bricks, a classic symbol of importance in traditional Chinese culture. This is because the temple was, at one point during its history, a residence for an emperor who died and whose remains remain in the temple. This emperor had an affinity for Tibetan Buddhists and let them occupy half of the original space before taking over the whole post death.
The Forbidden City was something that, we were told, we wouldn’t get into that day or for the next serval days, but upon looking down on it from a park with a high hill right across the way, it felt like something we should at least try to see. We lucked out and found a guide who had reserved a number of tickets for that particular day and who’s group had to cancel earlier, so for a reasonable price, we entered the city armed with the knowledge of Wally, who presented to us with a certain level of intensity and demanded eye contact. It’s an incredible sprawling “city" within a city (it has a larger footprint than the Vatican), where the emperor often wouldn’t leave but for one day a year to go pray at a special temple. Tiananmen Square was also impressive. It was huge, grand and a tribute to Mao, or so it felt.
Our last night in Beijing, we tried to go to a club that proved to have unbreachable doors. Instead of trying to get in, I found a good spot to post up and watch the wealth of China’s young elite arrive fashionably late. Expensive cars wrapped in ugly paint jobs, filled with highly priced call girls and the boys who don’t know what to do with them, made up the bulk of the domestic clientele around 11:30 pm that night. As I expensively people watched I wondered what the story behind this wealth was. Where was this money coming from? Who was making it?
>>> my thoughts were interrupted by two young Russian girls yelling at an African club promoter. the promoter was trying to talk them into entering the club, they clearly didn’t want to go and subsequently, both lighters and punches were thrown until a crystal-clear message had been received by the promoter. who didn’t leave them alone, but pursued them less aggressively.<<<
What will this new wealth’s direction be when their generation leads the country? What’s going to change? What won’t they know that they need to?
In addition to seeing different sights around China, there has been plenty to do and see here in Shanghai. I recently had the opportunity to see some sporting events. I took in a top Chinese soccer match as well as the highly touted (by the players) ATP Masters 1000 series Shanghai (Tennis) Open. They were both excellent, but the tennis was by far a superior display of skill.
A couple of days ago, I saw a dog run through one the busiest intersections close to my campus with what appeared to be zero concern on its smug little face; kitty corner style, while power greens were going on pushing a ton of cars through a chaotic intersection with only a semblance of order. It was a sight to be seen and it gave me a lot of pleasure to pet the heck out of this pup after it made it to my feet on the finishing line corner.
I would also like to partially correct myself from my previous post. I had said that the people here have a muted existence, and that still feels particularly true in dense public spaces, such as the subway. But when space and environment permits, the people here look happy, I see more smiles on people’s faces, there is more laughter, maybe I’m just seeing it more than I was before.
One thing that is a constant here is roadwork. Constant improvements are being made. This must sound all too familiar to lots of you living in Toronto or in other major cities throughout the world. The thing I find particularly impressive in the cases I’ve seen, and in stark contrast to Toronto, is that at least in Shanghai, they will start their road work at night, pick a manageable chunk, complete it by morning, and open up the road again in time for start of business. With the number of people here, it would be disastrous to have major slowdowns constantly.
The time here is flying by extremely quickly, it feels like we all just arrived, but in the same breath, that I met some of the Canadians in the airport years ago. It’s funny how the dynamics of time change while you’re in a new place or travelling. And because of that, it’s tough to appreciate and savour everything and still be in the moment with what you are doing. For me, taking time to reflect has become extremely important and that’s something I hope to continue doing into the future.
In addition to time, the other thing that changes on the road is your relationship to home. Toronto will be home for me until I settle somewhere permanently, but Shanghai is starting to feel home-like, and I think that can be a really good thing.
China will never be Canada, but it doesn’t want to be.
-Bai Hú
Post script: a funny story my professor from Global Issues told me during a break in class was how his son liked America so much better. He said there wasn’t nearly as much homework back in Virginia and that even if he messed up, he would still get his lunch every day. This last comment left me wondering a little bit, so I pressed my prof for further explanation, and he said, “sometimes, if you don’t do well in school here, your teachers will withhold lunch from you as punishment, for kids, under 10”.