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China 1988 *****This is as written in 1988. China is a different country now. Please keep ths in mind as you read ***** From July 16, 1988 to August 16, 1988, Dick and Kay McDowell went on their China Adventure. This trip was arranged through the International Educational Exchange and Fellowship Grant Program co-sponsored by: Xiamen University, China International Travel Service, and American Scholastic Associations. The first half of the trip was spent at Xiamen. There we attended classes at Xiamen University, went on university sponsored field trips, and just went out doing things on our own. The last half was spent touring China. This gave us the best of both travel worlds, the chance to get to know an area well, and to get a look at the chief tourist areas of China. We carried a tape recorder to record some of our impressions. Notes were taken and have been retained. Of course we also took a few pictures. This China Adventure dialogue is meant to summarize our impressions and activities. Other references include a list of the participants, maps and tour handouts from many of the areas, post cards, slides, and various other odds and ends. One nice thing about this trip happened again and again. Many times something would happen that could have reduced our enjoyment, rain, high winds, delays in transit, rude people, and hotel changes, almost anything you can imagine. In almost every case everything worked out fine. What was thought to be a problem really made the trip better, or at worst we seemed to break even. We realized this very early, a small few of our group never did. Getting to Hong Kong At 1:40 pm we left Wadsworth, Ohio for the Cleveland airport. Our car was left at the Park Place parking lot for Kay's brother Al to pick up when he and Donna returned from their vacation. The car was left in a mammoth parking lot. We hoped that Al would be able to find it when he and Donna returned. Finding the car after dark will not be an easy job. We flew from Cleveland to New York, JFK, arriving about 4:30pm. We were due to depart from JFK at 11:50 pm. We checked our luggage in a locker and wandered around the airport until 8:00 pm, the earliest time we could check in on Korean Air flight #27. There was already a long line. We eventually did get checked in, but it was a very slow process. We wondered how all 420 people would get processed before flight time. They didn't. At departure time, about 150 people were still in line. The plane was ready for boarding about 2 hours later than scheduled. Except for the lack of interesting things to do at JFK., the delay was not bad, as we had a scheduled three hour layover in Seoul, Korea. Our flight is going to take the same route to Seoul, Korea as the flight that was recently shot down 'over Russia' , thus security is very strict. The boarding process was interesting as they really looked us over. They carefully compared us with our passport pictures. They made the woman ahead of us take off her glasses and pose from the front and both sides. Going through the security check, they made everyone surrender all batteries. This included all loose batteries and the batteries in the camera, tape recorder, etc. We were told that we could pick them up in Hong Kong.  We did not understand why they took the batteries. Even worse we did not think of them until after we passed through Hong Kong customs. Then it was too late to retrieve them. After everyone was aboard, we sat on the ground for a long time, 15 minutes or more. We then noticed a large group of people standing about 15 rows ahead of us. We could hear a loud discussion taking place. We think it involved that woman ahead of us in the boarding line. After a while we saw her being carried from the plane. Was she ill? Was she a spy? Was it all a comedy of errors? We will never know. We had wondered how we were going to fly from New York to Seoul non-stop. As it turned out we were scheduled for a one hour refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. This idea greatly pleased Kay, as she had always said that someday we would be in Alaska on our anniversary, now we were scheduled to be there only one day after The flight to Seoul was very nice. We ate a lot, starting with a full dinner at 3:00 am. We also got a lunch and breakfast on the way. Korean airlines, on the New York to Seoul trip, schedules meals and movies depending on the time after departure, not on the time of day. The service on the entire flight was very good. We had our first experience with wet wash cloths used as napkins. We were to discover that wet wash cloths are the rule in the Orient. In Korea they were hot, in China they seldom were. The hour in Anchorage was spent uneventfully in the international airport. We did go outside at the observation deck. We were outside in Alaska for the first time. Kay had made me promise that someday we would take a vacation in Alaska. I wonder if this counts. We got to Seoul, Korea about an hour and a half late so we still had about an hour and a half there. It is a beautiful new international airport. There was almost no one there except our flight and sales people. There was a snack bar but it was not needed. They had complimentary rolls and juice!! We took full advantage of the good free food. HONG KONG The flight to Hong Kong was a pleasant three hour flight, with food. I, not Kay, wondered about our luggage that we had not seen since JFK, and if anyone would meet us. She said 'never fear'. Anyway our luggage was on the plane, and after going through customs we were met by a woman holding up a sign saying 'Welcome McDowell and Fields'. Nancy Fields was on the plane, but we did not know it until after we got to Hong Kong. We were ushered by Carmen, our friendly guide, to a beautiful hotel, the Marco Polo. This was about noon. It was interesting to note that our watches were still correct as it was also 12:00 in Wadsworth. Only there it was midnight the day before. We were experiencing our first non 24 hour day. We reset out watches, to the correct day, and decided to see the town. We walked through the streets amazed at the number of shops and signs. No, just saying signs does not do it justice. We had never seen such a maze of signs of so many types. They would be 4, 5, even 6 high from one side of the street to the other. It was truly an amazing sight. I bought a silk tie for $1.25. It is a little skimpy, but I liked the color and design. We also bought a few other very minor items including replacing our batteries. Everyone in Hong Kong wanted to sell us clothing. You were stopped on the street frequently with great, impossible to refuse, offers. They would come to the hotel to measure you, etc. Since we both need new clothes, we were tempted. Alas, our stay was to be so short that we were forced to decline all offers. We took the ferry to Hong Kong Island for $.08 each. This was first class. We could have spent .05 but I have always wanted to travel first class. There is a maze of shops there also. At this time we did not understand why there were 'no spitting' signs, in English and Chinese, all around the ferry area. During our vacation we found out that spitting on the ground is a Chinese custom. Then, the reason for the signs became clear. It was interesting on the island but we did not stray too far from the ferry. We thought, wrongly, that we might have a chance to return the next day. Hong Kong and Hong Kong Island were a maze of people. They were dressed from formal to very poorly. We passed up many chances for a rickshaw ride from elderly men. That evening we ate at McDonalds. Perhaps we should have eaten at a better restaurant in our last western city for a long time, but we had so much food on the planes a snack was all we wanted. The restaurant was jammed. We had our first experience of asking for water to drink and just getting a blank stare in return. A friendly woman with a child made room for us to sit. The offer was appreciated and accepted. In Hong Kong, there was much more Chinese spoken that English. Somehow I expected English to be the predominate language. About 8:30 that evening we got a phone call. A change of plans was in the offing. We would not be going to Xiamen by cruise ship the next afternoon. Why, typhoon Warren was due to hit in 36 hours. All cruise ships were canceled. We were to take a bus to Xiamen. Not quite like a cruise ship, we supposed. The next morning we got up and had a deluxe breakfast buffet. We then met the rest of our group for the first time. There were 27 on the trip, including one other couple and 9 students. The schedule was, leave the hotel at 9:00 by bus, take a train to the border, and a bus to Xiamen. Guides At all times we had one or two guides. We had a national guide, Lui Li - called Lewis - all the way from Xiamen to Guangzhou. He was to supply continuity and to help with major problems.  A guide who lived in the area we were visiting showed us the sights. This arrangement worked out well if for no other reason than there were two people to ask for help or information. Usually one of them was willing or able to help. Getting to Xiamen: We took a bus to the train station and boarded the train for the 30 minute ride to China. The train ride was uneventful other than two or three casual conversations with other passengers. The entry into China was not without its problems. Since going by train was an unexpected turn of events, there were no porters available. We had to carry our much too heavy luggage about 1/2 mile in 95 degree weather over very rough,  up, down, over the train tracks and walkways. We passed through quarantine, customs, and were officially in China. Shenzhen was our first China city. My first purchase was a couple colas with Hong Kong dollars. With the heat and after carrying the luggage the cold drinks tasted great. We also bought a four pound bag of New Zealand apples. We did not know it then, but the apples would be appreciated in the forth coming bus ride. We then got on the bus for the journey to Xiamen. Before we got out of Shenzhen, we ate lunch at the Bamboo Garden Hotel. It was a great restaurant. It was great because it served the style of Chinese food that is normally served in the US. Lunch was $3.25 including hot damp towels for napkins, eight delicious courses, and ice cold pop. We would not see that same type of food very often in the next 30 days, although we did not know that then. This area is one of the five special economic zones in China designed to promote industry and exporting goods. Being next to Hong Kong made it a natural choice. Xiamen is also an economic zone due to its great harbor. This entire zone is fenced off with barbed wire to keep unauthorized Chinese from getting the benefits of the economic zone. This was but one of many things we saw that showed that the people were not free to move about. As far as we know, there are no speed limits in China. At least we know that they were not needed in the areas we traveled. The roads are very narrow and rough. At any speed over about 35 mph, I am sure that we would have been shaken to pieces. We were destined, throughout our stay, to ride on air-conditioned busses. I saw no busses with air conditioning except tourist busses. One type of vehicle was very common during this trip, in fact in all of rural China. It is a industrial type engine mounted on an axle. A handle of anywhere from 2 to 10 feet extended back to a seat over the rear axle. The driver then operated the vehicle from there. It is used as anything from a truck, a car, to a bus, it seems the all purpose farm vehicle. After a few hours we stopped at a gas station rest room. Rest rooms in China are an experience. Most consisted of holes in the floor instead of toilets, no paper, no water but lots of smell. This picture may give you some idea of the toilet.  Across the street was a building with people walking in and out. I went over there to see what it was. Eventually I decided that it was a small restaurant. It was not like any restaurant that I had ever seen. They were multitudes of flies. Food was just sitting out on a table waiting for someone to pick it out. Many, many of these restaurants exist all over. The quality of the small rural restaurant varied from place to place. Many were better than this, few were as bad. Restaurants seem to be much more common that they are in the US. Workers must not normally return home for lunch even though they normally live only a short distance away. The trip was peaceful until the promised typhoon Warren hit. After that we were riding on narrow, rough, at times muddy roads, with very strong winds and very heavy rains. All along the road trees were planted at the very edge of the road. The road was very narrow with no shoulders. There were very few places to pull off the road. It was not long until the trees were lying across the road. When this would happen everyone would try to pass and soon traffic would be two or three abreast on this two lane road. Also there were two or three abreast in the other direction. After the trees were removed it would take ages for the traffic to get straightened out. This sequence of events was due to occur maybe 15 times during the journey. We estimate four to five hours of this trip were spent sitting out tree delays. In the middle of the night, about 2:00 am, during one of those tree traffic jams, a truck hit the back of our bus while doing one of those worthless passes. How do you solve an accident in the middle of nowhere at 2:00 am in a typhoon? The two drivers settle it between themselves. It took about 1 1/2 of yelling and screaming to reach an agreement. then payment was made in cash and cigarettes. During this time at least two of the women on the bus war: invited into a home along the road to use the rest room. The rest used the ground, as did the men. A few hours later we passed through a small town where we could see dozens of trees had been sawed and removed from the road. After that it was clear sailing. Parts of this bus trip were very interesting. The trip was too long, but it did have advantages over the cruise ship. We saw many small villages. We observed rural life up close. We saw water buffalo pulling a plow, being ridden and just standing around. Bicycles were everywhere. Sometimes being used for transportation, , other times as a truck. We saw farmers with their families working the fields. Many of these areas were seldom seen by other American tourists.   During this trip, and later, we saw bamboo used in a multitude of ways. It was used as poles. Ar. scaffolds during building construction, and as food. Bamboo is the all purpose, miracle crop. We saw many other crops, rice, bananas, etc. Traffic was very heavy. Even though  there are 'no' private cars in China, the busses, cabs, trucks and cars owned by work units more than keep the roads full. It doesn't help that there was never any part of this 480 miles where there was anything but a narrow, two lane, curvy, hilly road. We frequently passed bikes and walkers in both rural and urban areas. To warn them, the bus driver honks at each one. This meant  at times almost continous horn honking. After many hours we stopped very abruptly, on a steep hill to help a van in trouble. We wondered why, since we had not even slowed down for anyone before. It was the van that carried our luggage. The van had brake trouble and a flat tire. While the driver and guide were talking to the van driver we all visited with farmers and families in the area. A local Chinese woman was leaving, on foot, to sell her banana supply for the day. One of the women on the bus bought all 50 or so of them. The farmer's wife was amazed and happy. It was 7:00 am and her sales were made for the day. The children acted as if they had seen few Americans. They were willing to pose for pictures. All of  the luggage was then placed on board our bus for the rest of the journey. It was now rather crowded. The aisle was almost filled with luggage. The bus was going to check on the van on the return trip. It seems the van driver ad helper had friends in this town so they were happy to stay there. And it saved the transporting company money. It was interesting watching the farm activities. Very early in the morning, almost before daylight, the people were up and about. They were picking up the wood debris from the wind. Did they need the wood or were they cleaning up? We also drove through many small, medium and large towns. We had a good, close view of China cities. We got into Xiamen and ate before going to our hotel. We all thought the food was bad even though we had not eaten in many hours. Maybe it was the food, maybe out attitudes, as we ate there several more times when the food was only poor. We ate three times on the journey, at the start, half way, and in Xiamen. Xiamen is on an island connected to the mainland by several wide 1/2 mile causeways. It is easy to forget that it is an island. We left the restaurant and headed for the hotel on Gulangyu Island, a half mile or so off Xiamen island. We took a ferry as there are no bridges. Everyone got rooms in the one hotel building except Kay and me. There was no room at the inn. The 30 hour trip from hotel to hotel was over. We were all tired and some were not in the best of spirits. All in all Kay and I enjoyed seeing and experiencing the trip events. At 10:30 the next night we moved into the same building as the others. We moved with no help from the hotel or the guides. This was fun in the dark with the again too heavy, now partially unpacked luggage. I would have refused to move without help if it had been an American hotel. I did not want to be the Ugly American. And besides we did not want to be separated from our fellow travelers. Descriptions and Impressions Now begins a description of what we did and saw in each city or area. The description will be broken down to general impressions, sight seeing, and anything else that comes up. A final general impression of China and the trip will be made at the end. It is important to remember that the comments do not imply criticism. They are mentioned because of differences from what we were used to. This is true of facilities, manners, food, habits and almost anything else you can think of. Virtually everything became 'normal' in a surprisingly short time. Money There are two kinds of money used in China. Federal Exchange Certificates (FEC) and Remninbi (rem). FEC is the only money that can be used on the international market. The typical resident cannot easily obtain it. FEC can be used to purchase many things that cannot be bought with Remninbi. This makes it desirable for locals to get their hands on it. Even though the currencies are officially equal in value, you can trade FEC for Remninbi on the black market for anywhere from a 1.5 to 1.8 ratio. We did not do enough of this. Two factors slowed our trading, it is illegal, and you cannot trade Rem back for American dollars, since it is illegal to have any in the first place. Of course most places will give you Remninbi in change for FEC unless you holler loud and clear. In fact they usually will anyway. Xiamen, July 20-August 2 We stayed at the Viewing Sea Hotel. An old, non first class, hotel on Gulangyu island. There are many buildings in the complex. Only a few are in good enough condition to be used as a hotel. During our stay here we attended classes at Xiamen University and went on field trips under the direction of the university. This was, by far, our longest stay in one place in China. It was an opportunity to get to know an area, rather than just pass through it. Walking around Gulangyu island was interesting. There was always plenty of people, shops, interesting buildings and sights. This is a small area that does not need US tourists for its economy. The people were courteous and helpful. The classes were directed by Zhou Shi-xiong, the Deputy Director of the International Education Center. Deb Warner, an American working on her Doctorate on Tourism in Fujian Province, helped with class selection, translation, and general guidance. Her assistance was a major help during our stay. General Impressions Xiamen is a tourist city on the Straights of Formosa. There are 3,000,000 tourists a year. Only 10,000 are American or European, however. The rest are Chinese, overseas Chinese, Japanese, etc. Americans are a novelty. Many people will stop you on the street to practice their English. 1,000,000 people live in the metropolitan area. It is very crowded. The streets range from narrow to narrower. Many bikes ply their way. Bikes are used to transport people and goods. We saw bikes with platforms carrying 14 cases of beer, or two couches, a refrigerator, or a large load of sand, in other words almost anything. Traffic laws don't seen to mean a lot. The center line on the roads is mainly for decoration. Bikes and vehicles drive where they feel like. The bus drives down the street with constant horn honking, the bikes or smaller vehicles better get out of the way. How do they keep from having accidents? They don't. The accident rate and death rate is very high. We saw many bikes that had been hit by cars. Sanitation is poor to nonexistent. People spit on the ground constantly. Garbage is thrown into the street to be picked up when and if someone wants to do it. We saw garbage thrown out of windows onto the street. In Xiamen it was not uncommon to see young boys, urinating in the street.    Walking down a side street you might see an adult wearing shorts taking a bath in a wash tub. So as not to waste good hot water, the bathing frequently was done in water that had previously been used to wash dishes. The babies, except for unusual circumstances, do not wear diapers. They wear shorts with the rear cut out. If they have to go, they just do, wherever. The women were very nicely dressed. Almost all wore dresses or skirts and blouses. The skirts were full and colorful. The full skirts came in handy for privacy in the restrooms and made bike riding more modest. Tee shirts, with writing on them, are almost non-existent. I had expected table tennis to be common here. We only saw one table. It was in the building where we had our classes. Only once did I see any players, and there was no chance for me to play. What sports did we see? In all the parks and along the city streets we saw pool tables. It was my first experience with outdoor pool. The tables were always busy, except during the rain. These tables were built by individuals and put up as a business. It was an example of Chinese free enterprise. A fairly good living can be made from the fees on a few pool tables. Our Xiamen schedule: The schedule followed a pattern. Breakfast was at the hotel at 8:00 am, ferry to Xiamen at 9:00. Take a bus or two mini vans to Xiamen University. Classes were until noon. Then we had a break for lunch, shopping, etc. until 3:30. Classes or field trip lasted until supper somewhere in Xiamen. Then we took the ferry back to Gulangyu at 8 or 9:00 pm. sometimes, depending on the class or field trip, the schedule could be revised. These will be long hard days. We thought that we were on vacation. When will we swim in the nice warm water? Many bomb shelters were built for protection during shelling periods. These are now used as a hotel, shops, and even a long tunnel that we sometimes used when leaving the university. We frequently had lunch or dinner at a local park. In the park itself there were almost no other westerners. There were pool tables and many people practicing martial arts. Restaurants are common in Chinese parks. The meals varied widely. Some were very good, others were not. None was more interesting, interesting I said, not better, than supper on July 27th. That night we ate at the Shanghai Cafe. We ate there three or four times altogether. This restaurant was about the only place in Xiamen that made much of an effort to make the food look appealing. It was a nice place with good Chinese food. This night we were promised a 'traditional western meal'. Not American, western. This would be a western dinner planned and served by Chinese. There are restaurants in Xiamen that specialize in western food but this was not one of them. They seated us in rows of square tables. This was the only time in China that we did not eat at circular tables. We had table cloths, napkins, silverware, the whole works. The Chinese meals we had in Xiamen were all 8-11 courses. So was this western meal. The meal lasted two hours. The courses will be detailed as well as can be remembered. 1.    Rolls and jam. The only time in China, at least for dinner. Some western breakfasts had rolls and apple butter. 2.    Cream of chicken soup with white asparagus and two quail eggs served in large flat soup bowls with soup spoons. 3.    Shrimp cocktail mixed in a sauce with an orange segment on the side. 4.    Two pieces of deep fried shrimp in a good sauce. 5.    Cleaver carved chicken with sauce served in individual long microwave type bowls. 6.    Cold drinks including beer, Coke, and Sprite. Note the word cold. 7.    On a pie plate sized dish two sunny side up eggs were served on a small steak. Small peas and thin sliced fried       potatoes were included in this course. 8.    Spinach, or at least a member of the family. 9.    Fried rice with ham and pineapple. 10.    Bananas 11.    Coffee served in a very nice coffee cup with lots of sugar already in it. Iced tea was also a choice. --- Several of the group was not overly fond of Chinese food. None, however, preferred the 'traditional western meal' . The chefs and waitresses outdid themselves: The food was beautifully served, the waitresses were dressed in western like clothes, and they did everything to please us. The food was poor at best. The food selection was strange. Everyone there was nothing but polite to the restaurant group. Our group clapped at the dinner, shook hands with all, was in every way very gracious. There were no Ugly Americans there. The chef and waitresses tried so hard and worked so long to please, we had to appreciate it. Outside this restaurant was an example of the sanitation. When we had left here the day before, there had been a pile of garbage in the street 4-5 feet high. Neighbors were bringing garbage and piling it up. Two people were shoveling it into a garbage truck. When we left there this night, the pile was still 2-3 feet high with no activity around it. Trucks and busses had to drive around the pile to get down the street. We had an interesting ride on a city bus. We left the group and set out on our own to eat and return to the hotel. The bus was almost full so Kay and I could not sit together. I got a seat near the middle. A nice young man moved to give me more room. I thanked him by hitting him on the head with what I was carrying. I apologized as best I could. Two Chinese came up and spoke to me in good English. They were very surprised that we were not with a tour guide. They wanted to be sure that we were not lost. I assured them that we knew where we were and thanked them for their concern. Kay had more fun getting a seat. The first seat she came to was a window seat. A woman was sitting in the aisle seat. She would not let Kay by even though the people sitting behind her asked her to. Kay found another seat. At the next stop a Chinese man got on and also went to that seat. The woman would not make way for him either. He took a different approach. Instead of going to an empty seat, he just crawled over her lap and sat down. The woman did not react at all to this and everyone was happy at the result. After eating, we took the public ferry back to the island. This was our first trip on the public ferry. When the ferry gets near to the dock it is announced by playing Jingle Bells over the loud speaker. Jingle Bells is frequently played in China for things like that. At least one hotel door bell played songs. When it was held it first played Jingle Bells then continued on to other songs the names of which we do not remember. The ferry was a real mad house. Everyone was rushing to get on. We liked it. This ferry docks in town rather than near to the hotel. Since we had never been downtown I stopped to look at my Chinese map. A Chinese man carrying a large sack of rice came by and asked where we were going. I showed him on the map. He said follow me. It turns out that he lives and works at the hotel. I am sure we would have found our way but it was nice of him to help. By the way almost all of this conversation was in sign language. The English he did know he learned from listening to TV and the Voice of America. We went swimming that evening. We met an English translator from Xiamen University on the beach and had a nice chat. After swimming we met a young college coed who wanted to practice her English. We talked to her for quite a while. The translator then came by and we all talked together in English. The two Chinese could talk to us easily but had trouble talking to each other. All the Chinese we talked to said Americans were easier to understand than Englishmen. It turned out that we, and the whole group, would talk to the young woman many times during our Xiamen stay. Classes: Introduction to Xiamen University: 7/21/ Zhou Shixiong, Deputy Director of International Education Center. This was a brief, less that an hour, presentation welcoming us to Xi amen University. This was followed by a trip upstairs to the roof where we had a good view of the university and surrounding area. From this vantage point we found out the Quemoy and Matsu islands are very close to Xiamen. From some points in town Quemoy is visible. The close proximity of these islands delayed until recently the development of Xiamen. There was shelling back and forth and this slowed construction. Since a group picture was taken using each person's camera we know we will have at least one picture of everyone. A campus tour was next on the schedule. It did not happen  Everyone instead stopped at a makeshift booth that sold stamps and knickknacks. We then went to lunch at the LuJian hotel, a place we were to frequent throughout our stay in Xiamen. The hotel is right near the ferry docks. A major store that had one of the few escalators around was next door. Most days we would be dropped here after lunch, wherever we ate, for our 2 1/2 hour shopping etc. period. This first day we changed money into FEC at a local bank. Martial Arts lecture and demonstration: 7/21 Liu Jianhua, the varsity coach, and a student. We had about an hour and a half lecture on the types, uses, philosophy and history of Chinese martial arts. After the lecture we had a demonstration of each type of martial arts that had been described. The demonstrators were very good and it was entertaining. Most of the group then participated in a short demonstration class. Introduction to Study in China: 7/22  Deb Warner, PHD student in Tourism in Xiamen. She is an exchange student from Cornell. Her lecture covered a great variety of subjects. The goal was to familiarize us with local and university customs and to give us information that would help and interest us during our stay. There are 8-9,000 students at Xiamen University. All students and faculty live on campus. This includes foreign and Chinese students. The students eat at a mess hall. They take their mess kit to the hall, eat, wash the mess kit and return to the dorm. At some schools, we are not sure about Xiamen, we were told the common meal is 1/2 # of rice and one other dish. This is twice a day. Showers are an extra cost luxury. Students can shower only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7-9 pm. There are three kinds of foreign students, 2/3 pay their way, and two kinds of exchange students, 1/2 government to government, US does not participate, 1/2 university to university. Several US colleges do participate. The foreign students all stay in foreign student dorms. There is no dorm mixing of foreign and Chinese students. If a Chinese student wishes to visit a student in a foreign dorm, he must sign in at the desk and state who he is visiting. He also must sign out when leaving. A foreign student does not have to sign in at a Chinese dorm, but it is noticed if visits become frequent. Chinese college students don't date or pair off very much. Courtship is 4-5 years. Marriage age is about 25 for men, 22 for women. Until this week, airfare for Chinese was about 1/2 the fare for foreigners. Now it is the same. People are not sure if the change was made to raise money or to reduce Chinese travel. Most Chinese have very little discretionary money to spend. Maybe 5% of high school graduates go to college. Teaching is very rigid with very little chance for the students to speak or ask questions. They are there to memorize, not think. Some major efforts are being made to change this, but progress is slow. Helpful hints. Don't drink tap water, peel fruit before eating, stay away from street food vendors etc. Chinese colds are tough to get over. The hours for public and private buildings were given. Food varies from place to place. Dorm food is a far cry from good hotel food. Public restrooms are worse than hotel restrooms. When it is quiet during the day, at times it is possible to see rats walk out of a class room building and wander around. We did not experience this. We frequently did see rats, of course, at the ferry dock. For safety swimming should be done within two hours of high tide. To figure high tide, first determine the lunar day of the month. Today was the lunar June 9. Multiply 9 * 8 = 72. High tide is 7.2 am and pm. Easy enough. Money description was next, counting followed. A map of the area was drawn on the board so we could orient ourselves. The location of all important places was pointed out, banks, ferry, hotel, post office etc. Xiamen University Computer Center: 7/22  Chen Ming Tang, Director of the Computer Center. I had a private one hour tour of the Computer Center. Upon entering the computer center I had to remove my shoes and put on much too small slippers. The students used normal JCL and were programming in Pascal. The commands and file names were in English. There were no people on the platform; the console was in another room. The mainframe was a Japanese IBM 4381 clone. They used PCs that were XTs and XT clones. The tour was interesting; the language barrier was almost insurmountable. The walk across campus to the International Studies building was interesting. It would prove to be the only walking tour of the campus that I would get. In many places construction work had taken place some time ago. The debris was still there. Big broken chunks of concrete were common. Sidewalks were broken up. Trash was common. The buildings were not well painted. There was no successful attempt to beautify the grounds with flowers or nice grass. The campus is in a very beautiful setting on the Straight of Formosa. The buildings are in a hilly wooded area. If the money and time were available, this could truly be a beautiful place. Maybe as nice as the postcards show it. Spoken Chinese: 7/22 Zhang Xinli. I missed 1/2 this class due to the Computer Center tour. The lecturer knew no English. Deb Warner acted as the interpreter. Emphasis was on area names, city, hotel etc. as well as common phrases and words. Counting, how much money is this, where is restroom, thank you, hello, goodbye, etc. The lecture was interesting but one language lecture did not make us proficient in Chinese. We were slow:) Economics and Politics: 7/23 Zhou Shixiong. I am not going to talk much about the lecture. It was a reasonable factual lecture on the highs and lows of Chinese history and culture. It tried to explain when and how China got off the track from a world power to a third world nation. Economics and Politics II 7/25 It was probably a great lecture. I skipped it to go swimming and loafing. Chinese Painting Demonstration 7/26 Hong Huizhen . A lecture was presented on the different types of Chinese painting as well as the media used. There are four types of Chinese painting. Artists very seldom cross from one to another. There are painting landscapes, flowers, shrimp and bamboo. Very few people are painted except in miniature. The media is very absorbent canvas and water colors. The artist then painted two or three pictures. We did not realize how good he was until we later saw many samples of Chinese art in the gift shops. Four or five of our group also did some painting. Some were OK, none approached his ability. Before the painting ended a large thunder and windstorm came up. We were inside, of course, on the top floor of the building. Before the windows and doors could be shut a terrific wind blew through and whipped two of the drawings out the window, never to be seen again. Several teacups were blown to the floor and smashed. Yes indeed, broken china in China. Chinese Acupuncture: 7/27 This was an interesting lecture about the history and theory behind acupuncture. It would have been better for me if I could have seen and heard better. I was not careful and sat in the wrong place. After the lecture there was a 'needles on' demonstration. Seven of our group had needles inserted to attempt to help or cure their problem. Of course, they were told, one treatment would not be enough to cure but it was interesting to watch, and they said it was interesting to do. Educational System 7/29 Zhou Shixiong. We had a long, interesting lecture on the Chinese educational system. School attendance is required through junior high school. In rural areas this is frequently ignored, particularly for girls. In many areas, school for girls is still considered a waste of time. To get into college a national test is taken. This test is given all across the country at the same time. Doing well is necessary if one is to get a good college education. There are two types of tests, one for a scientific education, the other for the balance of the students. The majority of questions are the same on both tests. The specialized questions are the exception. There are three types of colleges. 1.    Key universities funded by the national government These are the elite. They have top teachers and good equipment. There is at least one per province. Beijing and Xiamen Universities are two of the best. 2.    Provincial universities funded by the provinces are next. The middle of the road schools. 3.    Municipal universities bring up the rear. According to the lecturer there is a pronounced difference in each level. A difference in instructor ability, funding and equipment available. It is almost impossible to get a quality education in a provincial university much less in a municipal one. Your test score places you in one of these categories. If you fail the test you can wait two years and retake it. If you pass, and are accepted in a single school.  You cannot transfer to a better school at any time. You cannot change courses after you are accepted. You go to the one that accepts you in the course of study you requested, or you don't go to college at all. This way the government can plan ahead. They know how many graduates in what fields will be available at any given time. They are beginning to permit students to go to another college for graduate study. The government finds and assigns the graduates to their positions. A field and an area can be requested, but the final choice is a government decision. Teachers are poorly paid. A taxi driver gets more that a mathematics professor. Teachers' colleges pay more as there is a teacher shortage. Many graduates are sent to the country for a year or two to encourage education. Chinese History and Geography, 7/30 Zhou Shixiong. This lecture was just what it said. I took no notes but it was interesting to hear history from another viewpoint. Traditional Chinese Music, Zhao Diangshan 7/30 Two excellent musicians performed a mini concert. The 10 year old son of one also participated a little. One musician had reconstructed an instrument from a study of remains in a tomb discovered in 1974. He also wrote music for this instrument, the Xun. It looks like a musical sweet potato. Most of the music was sad but a little was happier. It took several years for him, the instrument, and the music to be accepted in China. His first concert was less than a minute long. Now he is a national treasure. The other was a young woman playing a long stringed instrument a Jung. They both played very well. We have about 45 minutes recorded on our pocket tape recorder. Farewell Tea Party: This was a time to share likes and dislikes of our stay in Xiamen. Most everyone liked what the Xiamen University people did, and did not like the way the New York people represented the trip. All was not as was promised but it more than exceeded our expectations. thus we were not as upset as most. We also got our 'diplomas'. Meeting with Women's Federation, 8/l/1988 This meeting was done in combination with several other groups. The Federation is a municipal group of woman leaders. They covered all fields from child and spouse abuse, education, discrimination, and health. It sounded like a US group but their complaints were more extreme. More like the US a few years ago. An interesting side note: This meeting was the only time, while we were in China, that we saw a group of people that were obviously overweight.  In all other situations the great majority of people were slim and trim. Field Trips: WanShi Botanical Garden: 7/23 Mr. Hong. The park features tropical and subtropical plants. The great bulk of the plants are bamboo. There is a nice lake and many winding trails. It was interesting that almost every bamboo tree that was near a trail had its trunk covered with Chinese writing. I guess that writing on any blank surface is a universal trait. The guides would not read the writing to me. They said it was not important. I wondered if that really was he reason. Walking tour of Gulangyu 7/24 Mr. Hong. The term walking is unnecessary. No vehicles are allowed on the island. This includes bicycles. The island is very interesting. It has been a resort area since the 19th century. It was the home for most of the area Europeans. Each group built their buildings in their homeland's style. This gives the area a great variety of styles. Many of the buildings are still owned by people overseas. This does not have a good effect on the upkeep and many have been abandoned for years. We walked to the top of Sunlight Cliff, at 297 feet the highest point on the island. The last 75 or so feet were on a stairway barely wide enough for one person. People were going up and down at the same time so it was very crowded. It was really hot and the climb was not easy. That was my excuse to stop and buy a Coke on the way down. The salesman started to sell me the Coke but the sales lady shook her head no. I wondered what was going on, a sales person refusing a sale? No, she reached in the cabinet and pulled out an ice cold can of Mango Juice. It was so cold that there was ice in the bottom of the can. It was delicious. Maybe the best single drink that I have ever had. I told the people at the university about it and they had never heard of the drink. I never saw another can anywhere else. I also never walked back up the mountain. About half way up the mountain we visited a Buddhist temple. It was fairly large and interesting. We also saw workers installing an old fashioned tile roof. A lost art, I hear, in the US. We saw many other interesting sights on the walk including the city soccer field. All the storm sewers were above ground 12” trenches. This was also true in Xiamen. Be careful walking at night. We ended the walk downtown and took the public ferry to Xiamen for lunch. On other unrelated walks Kay and I went to look at a huge statue of Koxinga, one of the few heroes to both China and Taiwan. He was the navy leader who liberated Taiwan from the Dutch. We also walked along the beaches, along some of the many concrete walkways near the beaches, the hotel area, and through residential areas. We saw more uniformed men with weapons during this walk than in any similar period during the trip. We have no logical explanation for this. The island has interesting vegetation, houses, shops and is worth several hours just wandering around. We could have done much more exploring here. The hotel grounds alone were worth at least an hour walk. The hotel area is very large with many buildings. Very few of which are in good enough condition to be used. With the need, and plenty of money, a great renovation project could be undertaken. Old Folks Home, 7/25 Lin Tianyi. This is the only city sponsored retirement home in Xiamen. There are other independent homes in the area. This is a nice looking home. Actually, it consists of several buildings. 103 residents were there with room for 14 more. There were four children, all orphans with no family to take care of them. Most adults are from families where no one can care for them. A few live there by choice. The latter group must pay, about $26 a month. They get full medical care plus regular activities. There is no air conditioning but the general conditions seemed OK. We have seen much worse nursing homes in the US. It is considered a middle level home in China. Kay wiped an old woman's brow with a small Kleenex and then gave her the rest of the pack. I have never seen anyone happier than the woman was. It was such a small gift to give so much joy. Visit Special Economic Zone, 7/26 Lin Tianyi. We visited a ceramic factory that produced bathroom fixtures, tile, pottery and plates. Some plates and pottery are hand painted, others are machine spray painted. This is a joint economic venture called INTER KILN Houston, Texas. As in all Chinese joint ventures the Chinese retain 60% interest. They are smarter than we are. The factory was built right over the existing factory and all new equipment was shipped in. The joint venture is about 3 years old and is doing very well. Many consider it a model and they get many visits from people attempting to startup a joint venture. Visit to JiMei School Village: 7/27 This trip had a few interesting aspects. The two busses left separately for the first time, and went different ways. We were on streets that were hardly wider than the bus. There was several times the bike riders had to dismount so that we could get through. Some of the riders were not overly happy about that. We were not sure of our destination until we were very close. The other bus was NOT at the university! We showed the bus driver our schedule that said where we were supposed to be. He could not read it, of course. At any rate he took off, drove through the university grounds until he saw a young woman who could read English. He showed her our schedule, gave it back to me and we took off for our correct destination. We had to leave Xiamen island to get to the village. On the way there we saw what looked like a sailing club. There were several small sail boats in the bay. It looked like a typical US small yacht club. I later asked the Xiamen University people about the club but no one seemed to know anything about it. It turned out we arrived not much later than the other bus. They had received a speeding ticket, of all things. Even a cigarette bribe did not help them. When we arrived, our local guide, who is very high strung anyway, made a huge leap and yelled 'thank God'. It was an interesting expression for China. I guess he was in real trouble if something had gone wrong while the busses were separated. The school village was founded by Tan Kah Kee, the founder of Xiamen University. He made a great deal of money in rubber in Malaysia and donated most of it for educational purposes in China. It is a village of many different schools as well as a museum and a monument honoring the founder. The visit to the village was interesting. There was a group of Chinese teachers from all over China there at the same time. They were split into two groups. We got to talk to them at a rest area. This was a regimented group. They wore matching hats with each group wearing a different color. The leader had a huge flag and a whistle. He would toot once and group one would line up. On toot-toot the other group would get in formation behind. Then they would march to the next display. This was by far the most organized, disciplined group we saw in China. Farming Village. Cai Tang: 7/27 This is a small village of about 200 family units. We first met in the town hall meeting place. I asked, and was told, that visitors were very rare here. There were charts on the wall showing progress in the number of TVs, motorcycles etc. year by year. The number of TVs exceeded the number of housing units. None of our guides had been here before. And the people were not accustomed to westerners. The village encouraged, many do not, school attendance. The school had Smurfs on the chalk board, and reading and incentive charts were prominently displayed. As in most villages, industry was very important. The farm income, 500,000 Yuan, was almost the same now as three years ago. The overall village income was seven times as much, however, due to small industries. These included very small, not much larger than room size, steel production, chrome platting etc. They also had their own transportation companies to get goods to market. We then wandered throughout the village. There were no restrictions on who we talked to or what we said. One of our group who was in USSR the previous summer could hardly believe our freedom. He said, in a similar visit to a small USSR village they were hardly allowed out of the bus and were kept away from everyone. They could not even look into any of the houses or factories. Peanuts were one of the products. It must have been harvest time as peanuts were drying everywhere. They were on roof tops, court yards, where ever there was an open hard surface. Many of the houses had pigs in a pen by the entrance. One difference in a small village is housing. Houses were individually occupied. We were in the house of the richest family in town. Three stories of a very nice, very well kept home, western bathroom and all. Going to and from the area was interesting. We saw large construction projects being done with many wheel barrows. Construction litter was everywhere. I guess it is not easy to cleanup using wheel barrows. Fishing village. HeChu 7/28 This visit, in contrast to the farming village, was poorly planned. It would have been nice to have had an introduction to the area like the one we had in Cai Tang. We went into a four story building from which we could see the area, as well as Quemoy Island. We were never sure what we were seeing as no one was around to answer questions. In one of the big rooms in the building, there were remains of a meal. The room was littered with watermelon rinds and seeds. Not a pretty sight. Visit with English teachers, 7/29 This was done on the spur of the moment as I had not planned to attend. I was the lone tour group representative with this particular group of four Chinese English teachers. Two other Americans, their teachers, were there also. The English of this group varied from very good to almost none. We chatted about the differences between the US and China in education, home life, business and anything else that came up. I was glad that I went as it was very informative. The meeting lasted about 2 hours. They said high school education varied widely. From one high school 80% went on to college, from another less than 2%. They have some of the same problems we do. They were interested in how well Chinese students did in the US. Nan Putuo Temple. 7/30 The temple was a very large. It consists of several buildings over a fairly large area. It was crowded. Many people were burning incense or ceremonial money. We walked up a very high hill and got a good view of the temple and nearby city areas. Farewell Banquet, 7/30/evening. zhou Shixiong. This was a very large banquet of 14 courses. Almost all the speakers were there as well as several other invited guests. We sang Chinese and American songs. Why I did not record some of the singing I can't answer. It was a very nice banquet and well done. To Beijing and in Beijing We flew to Beijing in a 737, via Xiamen Airlines (XAL). The flight was 2 1/2 pleasant hours. This was our first flight in China. The service was good and we got lots of gifts, including a nice flight bag and playing cards. Getting gifts, up to 6, was to be common on flights in China. There were now 11 of the 27 people left. The others had gone back to Hong Kong two days earlier. The purpose of the visit was sightseeing. When we got on the bus our local guide, Holly, said it would take an hour to get to the hotel. I had looked up the hotel on the map and knew it was only a 20 minute ride. It turned out they had changed hotels and were going to one in the downtown area. General Impressions The Dongfang hotel was an OK hotel in a poor area. This is a thirty year old hotel but a new building was added a year or so ago. To the left front of the hotel was an area of typical housing. Very small shack type of buildings. The national government is gradually replacing these buildings all over China. During the construction, the residents are usually moved to a temporary housing area in the suburbs until a new high rise is built. Then they are moved back. Several attempts were made to find out how the shop owners were treated in this. No results. Some times the new high rise is built right around the old housing with no one moving. Next to our hotel a large double tower 20+ story building was under construction.  Beijing is large, about 11 million people. Traffic was no worse; in fact we thought better, than in Xiamen. They still did not really go out of their way to obey traffic rules but at least all driving was not done using the  horn. We had heard so much about the hoards of bikes. We thought that the number of bikes, per area of street, was far higher in Xiamen . As in the rural areas, we saw no freeways in Beijing. It is a city that covers a huge area with normal city streets. We were to see this all over China. We understand that there is a freeway under construction from Beijing to the China Sea. We saw no signs of it. Some of the major streets had pedestrian crossings under the street. Rural areas are incorporated into Beijing. Agriculture is a big business within the city. Pool is a big game here also. There were 2 sets of tables within walking distance of the hotel. Both were outside. Kay awakened me one morning at 3:00 am because of noise outside the hotel; we were on the 10th floor. There was a large group of people gathered under a street light. Perhaps 20-25. It was hard to see what they were doing. It looked like they were shooting pool. The next night it started earlier, 12:30 am, when the outside hotel lights were still on. Yes, there was a large group of people shooting pool outside, in the street, under a street light. A sight we have never seen anywhere else. The Beijing food was, in general, the best food that we had in China. That is my impression based on my personal likes. There was more variety, not all seafood. Not as spicy as in Chongqing. The major meal, which we did not like as well as the normal meals, was Peking duck. That meal had 17 courses with 23 different kinds of food. We thought the duck tasted like over cooked turkey. Sightseeing We saw many of the sights of Beijing. Very little description of the sights will follow. This will be mainly our reactions to the sights. The Imperial Palace, the Forbidden City. This covers a large area. Several buildings and many court yards dominate the scene. The Last Emperor was filmed here. The areas shown in the film were really spiffed up. The rest was in the normal China state of repairs. The buildings were almost empty. No access was allowed. The area was crowded with tourists. The Palace itself covered a very large area. It was surrounded by a wall and a moat. Everyone enjoyed this visit and agreed that it was worth spending a long time here. Thia is a must place to see The Temple of Heaven. There are three main buildings in the complex with the usual wall around it. The main building is a very impressive domed temple. There is an echo wall by another of the buildings. Due to the large crowd and noise we could not get the full effect of this. This is another must place to see. The Ming Tombs. We toured the main large 200 foot deep underground tomb. It is very extensive with several artifacts there. The grounds around it have many buildings including one other tomb that can be visited. Other tombs are yet to be excavated. Visit only if you have little else to do that day. The Great Wall: The wall is an hour drive from Beijing. Our guide said it was really the Long Wall. In the morning, before we got there, it was 100+ degrees. And too hot for a pleasant climb on the wall. Not long before we arrived it rained, cooled off 20 degrees, and became very hazy. There are uncountable gift shops in the area, and in some cases they were even on the wall. We climbed the steps to get onto the wall and walked about 100 feet. We were not impressed. The wall was wide, flat, crowded, and kind of junky. It was so misty that visibility was no more than 200 feet. Then a miracle happened! The mist suddenly faded away. Ahead of us was what Kay called a 'Stairway to Heaven'. We saw the magnificent sight of the wall extending to the sky ahead and behind us. The wall curved enough so that is seemed that miles of it could be seen. We walked about 3/4 of a mile along the wall. This, of course meant a mile and a half of walking. Part of this walk was very difficult. It was very steep and some of the stairs were not easy to handle. We went up into two of the towers. Two of the group went further than we did. They reported a continuation of the great scenery. The sights were great. The walking was difficult but worthwhile. The only minus was we were not there long enough. We needed another two hours to get anywhere near the full benefit of the interesting sights. Maybe we also needed fresher legs for the climb. The Great Wall is a must visit. Allow at least 4 hours there, and take your time walking. We got a certificate as proof that we climbed the Great Wall. The drive back to Beijing was interesting. It had rained harder in this area than where we were. The roads were wet, traffic was heavy, and everyone was in a hurry. Of course, if you watch the traffic rather close your eyes in horror, all drives through rural or urban China are interesting. Bus and truck drivers drive with questionable judgment. We saw one bus overturned in such a position that I don't see how the passengers survived without serious injury or more. There were other close calls along the way. The Summer Palace: This is a very pleasant place. The grounds occupy a vast park of 692 acres .The lake at the park occupies three quarters of the total park area. There also are picnic areas, shops, and several interesting sights. The emperor used this area to get away from the Beijing summer heat. It rained during most of our visit. However, there is a covered walkway between the major sights. We heard it was the longest covered walkway in China. There is an extravagant marble ship moored on the far side of the lake. This ship is a sight to see. It is Ornate and large. Dick wanted to buy the ship for our family room. We took a ferry from the marble ship back to the entrance of the park. A very pleasant ferry ride, I might add. This would be a fine place to spend several relaxing hours. There is not much excitement but it is a very nice park.   Tian'anmen Square: This area is large. The square is in the heart of the city. Groups of over 1,000,000 people have gathered here. It has been the sight of several student demonstrations. Many public buildings surround the square. One has a huge picture of Mao Zedong on the front. We visited the Mao Zedong tomb. It was an impressive sight. Many were lined up to see it, but as foreign tourists we started near the head of the line. Talking inside was forbidden. Armed soldiers stood at attention. We walked over the square area but did not enter any of the other buildings. Many ice bar vendors ply their wares here. As usual we bought ice bars. They taste OK and are cold. two very good reasons. Almost everywhere in China there are vendors selling these ice bars. They keep them in the same type of containers that is used for boiled water. A hand held bell alerts you to their presence. Vendors almost always remove the paper before serving. This helps reduce litter. The Underground City: There are many long tunnels under Beijing. These were built from 1969-1979 as bomb shelters in case the USSR attacked. We were in a section of about 6 by 5 kilometers. This section is under most of the downtown area, the railroad station, Forbidden City, etc. There are 11 sections total. The tunnels were wide and clean. There are gift shops, hotels, old army barracks and almost anything else you can imagine in these tunnels. Chinese Opera evening; We had skipped the afternoon activities, so we were on our own to get to the opera. We took a cab. The driver had never heard of the theater but found someone who told him where it was. The driver knew no English but had a question and answer sheet written in Chinese and English to help us ask questions. We had had the address written in Chinese to show him. We were told by our guide that the cab ride would be 30-45 minutes. Soon after we started, during a left turn, the cab lightly hit a bike. As luck would have it the rider was not hurt. After less than l0 minutes he started driving on a narrow side street. We wondered why he left the main road so early. Very soon thereafter he stopped in the middle of the street and pointed to a building, I shrugged and showed him our tickets. He nodded so we started to get out of the cab. When the door opened an irate bike rider ran into the door. Again no real harm was done. The bike rider could not understand why we stopped in the middle of the road blocking traffic in both directions when if we pulled up 20 feet the road would have been clear. The opera was different from western opera and from what we had expected. Dress was very informal. The star was a renowned woman from a far out province so several dignitaries were there. I am glad I heard that, as I thought it was an amateur production. Since the singing was in a different dialect, sub titles were flashed on a screen so the Chinese could follow the story. The subtitles did not help us. The louder the singer shrieked the louder the applause. The applause was loud but never lasted over 5 - 10 seconds. The one act opera lasted 2 3/4 hours. Everyone came and went as they pleased. This included members of the 10 person orchestra that was sitting on the stage with the singers. They would get up, leave, and later come back to their seats and resume playing. They would sit there fanning themselves during the singing. Not all of them left at once, of course. People in the audience could ALSO come and go as desired. The lead singer took several curtain calls. She wanted to take more but they closed the curtain so she could not get back on stage. The audience loved her. We were delighted that we went. But once was enough.  I was sorry I did not take the tape recorder. I expected taping to ne illegal, but it was not. Other: Near the square there is a Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was maybe the only American fast food place in China. It is a large three story building. The sign on the front of the building is at least two stories high. This must be the prime location in all of China. Three of us went there to eat lunch. In a driving rain storm no less. It was a very interesting place. Almost all the tables were occupied. It was interesting watching some of the Chinese trying to eat drumsticks with chopsticks or plastic silver ware. There is very little food eaten with fingers in China so they need a new, to them, technique. We sat next to a friendly group and talked in sign language. We left the fried chicken place and went to the Beijing Hotel. It was a very large hotel with a huge, beautiful lobby and shopping area. Chinese are not allowed to visit or shop here. We had some fruit and beverages, rested and went to the Friendship Store. Friendship stores are stores that sell to foreigners. Most goods can only be purchased with FEC currency. Since Chinese have little access to FEC, very few are seen there. At the Friendship Store, we rejoined our group and made a few small purchases. I wanted a $70,000 jade ship but Kay would not let me buy it. There is a subway system in Beijing. It follows the old city wall. The wall has long since been taken down. The guide told us that few local people use the subway on a regular basis. Most subway use is by tourists. We saw the subway entrances but never took a ride. To Xian: Most of our flying inside China was on the official Chinese airline, CAAC. Tradition says the initials stand for China Airlines Always Cancels. Before the trip was over we were to find this was partially true. We were due to depart for Xian at 4:00 pm. It was foggy and light rain. We waited in the lobby, restaurant, floor, almost anywhere hoping to get some rest. A group of about 40 men and women from Colorado and Wyoming came through with a great deal of luggage. They were going to attempt a climb of Mt. Everest. They said that they were the first group to ever go there by helicopter. Even though all was cleared before they left the US they were having all kinds of trouble with the arrangements. After about eight hours in the airport, we left for Xian, getting there after midnight. The local guide was not there, as he did not know our arrival plans. We got to the hotel at 2:00 am, tired. Xian: Xian, as a tourist city, is new. As an historical city, it is most ancient and important. The discovery of the burial site of Qin Shi Huangdi in 1974 brought this city into the worldwide limelight. We stayed in a very nice hotel, the Xian Hotel. We thought that this city had much to offer but we had a poor guide. He was good one-on-one but not with a group. He knew the city but it was difficult to get the information from him. He wanted to get through the day, not give us the best of the city. Most guides, even the less ambitious ones, seemed more proud to show off the city than this one did. We started on our tour late the first day. A two am arrival at the hotel slowed things down. While here Kay made the purchase of the trip., genuine feather ties made from mountain bird feathers. We may have almost the entire US collection. The Terra Cotta Warriors: Many expected this to be the highlight of the China trip. Others feared over expectations. This is the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi referred to above as the impetus for tourism in Xian. There was a one hour drive to the area. Xian is an interesting city to drive through with a mixture of sights and city areas. Except for the severe weather, Xian could be a good place to live. We liked what we saw here. Over 100 degree days are common. The winters can be uncomfortably cold. We passed the city power plant. It looked like a US plant of several years past. Great billows of smoke poured from the stacks.  The part of the excavation that is open to tourists in under a metal building. We entered this crowded building. After we stepped up to the railing so that we could see out over the exhibit, there it was. We saw a truly magnificent sight. Even better than we had heard, better that the pictures we saw. Row after row of full size warriors were in front of us. About 2,000 of the warriors have been reconstructed. We wanted at least two hours here. We spent less than an hour in the museum plus an hour outside in other museums and sales areas! The area around the exhibit, as usual, was crowded with flea market type booths. The selling, however, seemed more frantic than most. A sales person, woman or child, would follow you as long as you were there in the hope to sell an item that cost less than a dollar. They would place the items in you hand and walk away, pull on your clothes, stand in front of you and block you, anything to get your attention and money. They were selling replicas, in all sizes, of what we had seen inside. They were so like the originals, including the dirt from the excavation, that some cynics suggested the whole thing was a hoax. If it is, it is still worth it. An absolute must during a trip to China. Hua Qing Hot Springs: An interesting place to visit if only because of 'The Xian incident'. This is where Chiang Kai-shek was held by one of his own generals in a attempt to gain unification of the Chinese forces against the Japanese. Ming Dynasty City Wall: A very interesting wall. It is not near as spectacular as the Great Wall, but impressive still. A large amount of this wall has been restored. You can walk for several blocks. You get the feel of city walls in old China. The wall is very wide on top, 40 feet or so. The moat outside the wall is being restored. This is a nice park area and will get better. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda: A seven story pagoda. We walked to the top. The view of the city was well worth the hot walk. We saw miles of interesting roof tops as well as large areas of the city. Almost anything could be seen on the various roof tops, including bikes, furniture, anything that needed to be stored. The Great Mosque: A large mosque in a Muslim neighborhood. The neighborhood was very interesting as was the mosque. Renovation was in progress, so many of the mosque areas could be seen, but not entered. We went through a lacquer factory and watched them paint the expensive room dividers. I can now see why they cost so much. We also saw The Small Goose Pagoda, visible from our hotel, the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. All were worthwhile places to see. To Chongqing: When we went to the airport to go to Chongqing, we never even got out of the bus. We got the word that the weather in Chongqing was too bad to land. We went back to the hotel and checked in again. The next morning we ate breakfast at 5:00 am and headed for the airport. We were surprised that the plane was an old two engine propeller plane. It did not raise our confidence. Actually, it turned out to be a very pleasant, smooth flight. When we met our local guide, he said it was too bad that the Xian weather was too bad for us to come the day before. He said it had been clear in Chongqing, Very interesting. This guide was to prove to be the gem of the trip. He had humor, something very hard to do across languages. He knew the city and seemed to love his work. He was not supposed to be our guide. The scheduled one got sick at  the last minute. The hour that we spent waiting at the airport for this guide was an hour well spent. Actually, we did not wait in the airport, we were wandering around in area. One of the' nearby buildings was a military facility of some kind. People were surprised we were there, but did not object. We wondered about the fact that our best guide by far was not scheduled to be with us. He actually prepared us for what we were going to see, traced our trip on a map, did all the things a guide should do. Chongqing: This is one of the furnace cities. It is a very hilly city at the junction of the Yangtze River and a major tributary. We stayed at the Yuzhou Guest House. This is a hotel and VIP stop over place. Kissinger stayed here on his last visit. We visited a very nice small park at the junction of the Yangtze and the tributary. The park is not open to local residents. The river junction was easy to spot with the muddy river joining the muddier river. A huge flood happened on our 1981 wedding anniversary. We purchased a couple of small paintings from a local artist. We stopped along the river where a cable car carries workers across the river to work. A car went over every 10 minutes or so. We visited the local zoo. This is in Giant Panda country so they were featured. They had at least 4 or 5 there. I liked the orange headed monkeys even better. There were also several tigers. There was a large statue of Mao at a university. Statues of Mao are very rare in China. We ate one meal at the Remnin Hotel. This is a huge building, two wings of rooms with a large auditorium between. Renovation was in progress so we could not get into many of the areas. While we visited one of China's infamous free markets we saw bird cages with large, 2” crickets in the cages. They sang very nicely. A boy stood there with a huge one in his hand trying to scare passersby. Another boy would try to scare Americans by pretending to throw eels at them as they walked by. Yangtze River: This part of the trip represented a great unknown. What would a three day, two night cruise be like? We boarded the cruise ship in the morning. It was not a first class ship. This was clear from the start. There was no first class, private bath, cabins. We had an inside cabin. An outside has many advantages including a view and better air circulation. The cabins for, all of our group, were at the front of the ship. There was no air conditioning. It was agreed by all that the food was the poorest on the trip. The meals were served at the very back of the ship. Most of the group did not eat much of any of the meals. The Chinese staying in that area would stand at the windows watching us eat. They really wanted the food as it was more plentiful and better than what they had. There was no way to give it to them without breaking the rules. It was such a waste. A very small amount of food was taken out given, and appreciated, to the other passengers. Many of the other cabins had up to 20 people in bunk beds. Not much privacy. Many passengers put down mats and slept on the floor in hallways, on the deck, almost anywhere. The passenger restrooms had a vile odor. When we filled the sink in our room, it was hard to see the bottom through the brown water. The river is very brown from the soil washed into it during its long journey. The scenery was varied during the trip. Until the third day there were high, steep hills along both sides of the river. These hills looked almost too steep to climb. Too steep, no, most of these were farmed almost to the top. Corn was growing in unbelievable places. The riverside cities were very interesting being built on very rough, steep terrain. Some seemed fairly large. There were some interesting buildings, including pagodas. One building climbed up the side of a hill and above it for a total of about 15 stories. It was very impressive. Near the end of the first day we stopped at a city. We had about an hour on shore to wander around. Another free market where there was liver and other meat parts  out on the counters with the flies. I never want to see another free market the rest of my life. Live chickens were kept in big two layer baskets. These chickens were piled three and four deep. It was 95 degrees. Not a pleasant sight. One of our group gave an elderly woman that was selling 'coral' necklaces a hair clip. This woman was the happiest person around. She hugged the giver and wanted to give her several of the necklaces. After getting back on board we went to an anchorage and spent the night. The idea was to see the three famous gorges in the best light. It was very hot that night, no air movement, and an inside cabin. Better sleeping nights we have seen. The gorges the next day were a very impressive sight. Not as spectacular as hoped but well worth while. After the gorges it was all downhill, pun intended. Many of our group learned to play hearts and several games flourished. Even a few games of whist were played. The only notable sight to come was going through the locks. The drop was about 100 feet It was a new experience for almost all of the group. After the lock the river was very wide, there were no hills, and little to see. During the whole trip almost no small boats of any kind were seen. This was a surprise to all. Whenever a stop was made, local shore vendors did a good of selling food to the passengers. Food would be passed up to the ship and the money collected using a long pole with a basket on the end. Eggs and fruit were common sale items. Somehow, no matter how many times we saw it, the sight of the Chinese flag on the ship was always a surprise. It always brought us back to the reality that we were in another country. In summary, the river cruise was too long. A day or a day and a half would have been long enough. Even so, the cruise was well worthwhile and we were glad it was included..        Wuhan: We arrived in Wuhan in the afternoon. We were scheduled to leave for Guangzhou the next afternoon. The group told the local guide that we did not care to sight see the next morning. There was an interesting group of shops near the hotel. We bought a tea set and some fans there. The owners had an eight month old boy. They bathed him in the middle of the store the evening we were there. A couple small bars of US soap helped with the bargaining on purchases. US soap is in great demand in China. Shopping in this store was a trip highlight. It was fun. We left for the airport in time to be impressed with the large bridge across the Yangtze river. It was designed and built by Chinese. From afar we saw  a large pagoda.       The city is really three cities combined. Each city has its own personality. We drove through all three going from the boat to hotel to airport. One city was industrial, one commercial, and one mixed. The week before we were there it was 115 degrees. That is why it is called a furnace city. It was the normal 95 while we were there. From what we saw, this area could well be worth a longer visit. Conditions were not right at this time, however. Guangzhou: Chen Clan Academy Built by overseas Chinese to honor the Chen family. We expected this to be a waste of time but it was a very good museum. In the craft museum, we saw some of the best sculpture and art that we saw in China. Five Goats Statue:  The symbol of the city and worth a short visit. Sun Yatsen Memorial Hall Built in his honor: It includes a big auditorium that can be used for local functions. A soccer sized field is in front of it and a big statue by the entrance. We enjoyed the visit. Temple of the Six Banyan Trees: Another Buddhist temple and a good one to visit. The White Swan Hotel alone was worth the visit. We ended up on a high note. It was truly a first class hotel. General impressions of China: It is hard to come up with general impressions. Almost everything is different than in the US. That the people seem much the same was no surprise. Public hand holding is common. However, almost all public hand holding takes place between young people of the same sex. Boys with boys, girls with girls. There is very little public affection between the sexes. We had expected a much disciplined society. Instead we found that traffic rules were not followed, littering and spitting were a way of life. Standing in line is a no no. You push and shove to get ahead. When you ask for something, for example, hot water in the shower, don't take the first 5 negatives for an answer. Keep asking and you probably will get it. We were not restricted in what we did. If we stayed with the group, we were kept from easy access to the Chinese people, but if we elected to go out on our own, we could go where we wanted and talk to whomever we wanted. Of course it is not easy to get around on your own due to language problems. The guides had their set itinerary. It was very difficult to change it. They were not interested in our ideas. There was a major exception in Chongqing. We would take a guide like him anytime anywhere. Was this procedure to keep things from us? We think not, as we saw plenty of unfavorable things. We think that they were just trying to do their jobs the easy way. This is a common human trait. Perhaps this is too harsh. Maybe it is training. If they would use pointers when referring to a map, explain ahead of time what we were going to see and why, and a few other basic rules it would have been better. Maybe training, not indifference is the problem. We saw almost no handshaking. People very seldom wave. We had fun trying to get the children to wave, usually without success. We met several other tour groups from US, Canada, France and other countries. Curiously, almost all of these groups were somehow related to education. The only exception that comes to mind was the forty member group that was going to climb Mt. Everest. Almost any small gift that was given to a Chinese adult was appreciated. The appreciation seemed far greater than the gifts deserved. A small tissue package, a hair clip, and small bars of American soap are examples. The only attempt I saw to give a large gift to a small child was sharply rebuffed by the parents. Maybe this was an effort to stop begging from foreigners at an early age. If you talked to a child and then gave a token gift, such as a small bar of soap, the gift was accepted with appreciation. They seem to treat their children much like in the US. Some parents are very strict with quick physical punishment. Other kids run wild. It is feared that the one child family is causing a decrease in discipline. Paper is very scarce. When we left Xiamen University for the last time, Kay offered the director the half used pad of paper she had with her. He took it with thanks. This might be one of the reasons that toilet paper is seldom seen in restrooms. In an airport lobby, we saw an attendant standing between the entrance to the men's and women's restrooms giving toilet paper to people as they entered. Restrooms in many of the hotels have an attendant furnishing hot damp towels to wash your hands as you leave. You see people out early in the morning exercising. Most of it is very easy concentration type movements, or badminton on the sidewalk. The exercise was not hard. There is very little jogging. Maybe it is the heat, maybe they get enough exercise working reducing the need or desire for hard recreational exercise. The many bikes seemed to be one speed. Riders seemed to ride at a leisurely pace. We saw no sport bike riding. Bikes are used for transportation and carrying goods. Many Chinese speak English. Most have a very limited vocabulary. You must speak only in simple, not compound sentences. The vocabulary must be kept to the speaker's interests. Yes, this is logical and the same the world over. Signs in English are sometimes very strange. It is obvious that the sign maker frequently knows very little about the English language. It is common for words to be broken at the end of a line at any place in the word. For instance you will see a line ending with "a" and the next line starting with "nd". A printed label on a radio said, "turning knob" rather than "tuning knob". One of our buses had this sign in the window, "Pretty of the County". Did they mean "Property of the County"? Or maybe "Pretty is the County". Another sign "Open of the Emergency Exit". Over a hotel registration desk in Xiamen, was this sign: Polite to Guests Smile to Welcome Warmhearted Service The sign gave a good idea of what kind of service to expect. There were numerous other examples in the same or similar vein. Unemployment is solved, at least in part, by hiring far more workers than needed. It is very common to see clerks sleeping behind the counters. They also eat there. It is seldom that you can buy and pay for a item from the same clerk, a least two are usually involved. Is this to furnish an extra job, or to cut down on theft? Table manners are different. Frequently a whole piece of food is put into the mouth and the parts that the eater doesn't want to eat, bones head of shrimp, are then spit onto the table cloth. Traffic, as we have stated several trimes is horrendous. With the big trucks, busses, bikes, pedestrians, and farm vehicls on the road, the accident and death rates are high. It is very difficult to watch the action without flinching.  In many of the cities, at major intersections, large signs display how many accidents and how many were killed. For how many killed, the areas is highlighted by a gruesome picture of a bleeding body on the road.   Driving in rural areas was not any better. The roads are narrow, and the turns sharp. The drivers cheat by going into the other lane so they can maintain their 25-30 mph speed. We probably rode 1,000 miles counting city and rural driving. With only three minor accidents we felt lucky. Police were not greatly in evidence. This was partly because they wore a variety of uniforms. Police and army uniforms were almost identical. Many police wear no uniforms. Smoking is very common. The great majority of the men smoke. Marlboro and Seven Severn, the leading Japanese brand, advertise constantly in every media. Many other companies also advertise of course. The American companies are picking up their lost US sales in China. What a market, 1,100,000,000 people! Preventive maintenance does not seem to be a priority. Some four year old hotels are like they were 25 years old. Many things do not work. Buildings are not painted. Paint is peeling on busses and trucks. Perhaps they use an item until it falls apart and then replace it. People are well dressed. Women wear dresses or a blouse and skirt. The skirts are almost always full. Short skirts and tee shirts with writing on them were seldom seen. Men are also well dressed. The clothes seem clean. It seems like it is necessary that they start taking care of their environment. Sanitation must be improved. The factories must reduce the amount of pollution. If they keep over hiring to eliminate unemployment, will the people rebel if they eventually are asked to actually work hard? If private cars ever become available, roads and traffic enforcement must be improved. In fact this should be done anyway due to the high accident rate. Most city driving, even late at night, was done without headlights. The drivers would sometimes turn them on when another vehicle approached. I don't know how they do it, the pedestrians must be very alert. When traveling between cities, by air, your passport must be shown in order to get a boarding pass. The airlines would not accept any checked suitcases unless there was some way to lock them. Several members had to buy locks at the airport. Even though our tickets were purchased by the China International Travel Service (CITS) we had to go through this procedure. CITS arranges all foreign tourist travel. When checking into each hotel, a form had to be filled out with the passport and visa numbers, what city you came from, what city you were going to, and your length of stay. Very few Chinese flags were seen. They, were on every ship, of course, but seldom seen elsewhere. The China flag has one large star, with 4 smaller stars in about a 120 degree arc to the right, on a red background. I was curious what the stars stood for. I asked about 8 educated Chinese before I found one who knew. The usual reaction was surprise that I wanted to know. Explanation: Large star, communist party; Smaller stars: students, workers, soldiers, and farmers, the groups responsible for the formation of the PRC. There is very little seen or heard about Mao Zedong outside of Beijing. We saw only one statue of him. Small pins about everything are a common item sold by street vendors and store. Mao pins were very scarce outside of Beijing. I expected to see many more references to him. The Chinese artist and musicians that performed for us at Xiamen were asked about their work. When an artist was asked if he were ever unhappy about a particular picture he had painted. His answer was 'every picture I paint is a masterpiece'. The musicians both answered in general, 'I studied from the best musician in my field and I am the best in this part of China, if not in all of China'. These answers surprised us as we were expecting a more moderate response. The responses were interesting even if they were not significant. We had heard so much about Chinese culture and customs. We came away from this trip feeling in many, if not most, instances it was less a matter of custom and more a matter of fitting into the environment. A few examples: Table manners: Do they spit the remains out on the table cloth because they use chopsticks? With chopsticks, food must be bite sized. Often the food is what I call cleaver carved. For example, a chicken or duck leg is just chopped up into pieces, bones and all. There is no way, using chopsticks, to separate the bone from the meat prior to putting the food in your mouth. Children living with their parents: People there were very proud that they lived with, or near their parents, while we did not. Is it because the children cannot move out of town except with national government approval? If they stay in town, they frequently cannot get separate housing without a several year wait Would it be the same if conditions changed? Chinese painting: The artist made a big point that, unlike western art, historical Chinese art did not fill up the canvas. Large white areas are left. He made it sound like a big improvement. Could it be the fact the canvas is very absorbent cotton and the paints are water colors? It is not possible to fill the canvas under these conditions. Long full skirts: Are they worn because they are pretty, or is it to be the best solution to the terrible restrooms and bike riding? Slacks are good bikes poor for restrooms. The trip Home: Now that it was time to leave I was not anxious to go. We really enjoyed the trip. The people and the sights were great to be around. The many differences were accepted as normal very quickly. However, now is the hour. We left the hotel at 7:30 to catch a 9:00 am plane. We were due to get to New York at 9:30 in the evening the same day. Of course the international dateline would help extend the day. The guide dropped three of us off at the airport with almost no instructions. We were on our own. It was fun finding the right line for checking in, going through customs, finding the correct gate and getting on the plane with all signs in Chinese. We wanted to find out if we could check our luggage through to New York but couldn't find anyone to ask. We flew to Hong Kong then had to get checked through to New York. We had to wait 2 hours for someone from Korean Air Lines to help us. We were concerned as we could not get to our luggage. It was beyond customs. We saw it keep going round and round on the rack. Finally a man came and escorted us to the luggage. We then carried it to the KAL counter to check it through. We got our boarding passes and eventually got on the plane to Seoul. The return flight which reversed our outward bound flight was again very pleasant. We arrived at Seoul, Anchorage and New York on schedule. KAL even had hotel reservations at the ticket counter. We took the hotel shuttle and went to sleep. The next morning we ate our free breakfast and headed for Cleveland. We got there on time and were met by Dick Dickey. It was a trip to remember with Joy. To China Home