August 17, 2000
Dear All,
I am writing this from Chongqing, just before getting on the boat for the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River. I think I have taken enough showers that I don't smell like Tibetan yak butter any more. EVERYTHING in Tibet smells like yak butter, it seems, including the tourists.
China is modernizing rapidly. In the major cities, including Chengdu, you can buy almost any western product. We walked into a department store on the major shopping street and it could have been Cherry Creek Mall -- Christian Dior, Estee Lauder, Esprit, Sony, you name it. It seems that at least some of the people have enough money to be buying as well as looking. (China continues to have real disparities between urban and rural, and between coastal and inland, so rural inland people are seriously disadvantaged economically compared to their cousins.)
But then there are interesting differences that pop up in unexpected places. For example, at a major crossroads in front of our hotel, there are regular traffic lights for the vehicles -- and red and green bicycle lights (instead of walk lights) for the slower traffic. Foot traffic crosses the street with the bicycles but people obviously rank lower.
Music is one of the fascinating cultural incongruities. I'll resist the temptation to do a David Letterman list and go straight to the top -- the strangest was the plane from Lhasa to Chengdu playing the Christmas carol, "Lo how a rose e'er blooming" as the background music on takeoff and landing. The runners up include music from Turandot in the Hong Kong airport, Carmina Burana selections in the night market in Lhasa as people were eating Sichuan hot pot, Simon and Garfunkel in the Hard Yak Cafe in Lhasa (yes, the pun is intended) and various 19th century symphonies in the swimming pool area in the Holiday Inn Chengdu. I assume that western music (actually all things western) seems sophisticated and prestigious.
A funny experience in several of our computer forays -- we log onto the internet and the screen comes up totally in Chinese! In fact, everything appears in exactly the same location on the screen as it does at home -- back, forward, delete, cancel, etc -- so I can operate by feel rather than by words. But you can imagine my surprise the first time I was assaulted by a barrage of characters rather than familiar commands and icons.
I've enjoyed using my Chinese language skills. The lessons over the last year have really paid off even though I can't always pull up the right word on the spot. But even after a few tries I am feeling more comfortable. I love the amazed look I get from people who do not expect Chinese words to be coming out of the mouth of someone who will looks clearly Anglo. One basic phrase "Bu yao" (I don't want it) is very useful for discouraging persistent street vendors. But my best language coup was in the airport when a Chinese man tried to cut in line ahead of me. In my sternest voice I said "Dui bu qui!" (excuse me) He was shocked, and then he slunk back to his place in line.
English is very popular, however, and people in hotels and restaurants speak much better English than I do Chinese. I will have to work hard to use Chinese rather than falling into the easier pattern of letting people speak English to me. I am discovering that people do understand what I am saying when I ask questions in my best Chinese -- the only problem is they then think I can comprehend the barrage of Chinese that comes as the answer. That will be my task for the coming months, to improve my listening comprehension.
Jane commented earlier today that the U.S. has no chance of maintaining its economic and political supremacy forever. She's not making a Paul Kennedy or Francis Fukiyama argument -- she's just looking at the energy and size of China, the determination to get ahead, and the increase in educational attainment of the people. At least in the cities, people will quickly become competitive with other members of the knowledge economy worldwide.
We are off to see the Three Gorges of the Yangtze, my long-time dream. I am eager to see these beautiful locations of poetry and painting before the area is flooded by the Three Gorges dam. Or as some people say, the damn dam. But Mike Lampton, China scholar at Johns Hopkins and CC trustee, provided an interesting explanation of the project. The Chinese have been humiliated and subjugated by western countries for centuries. The building of this dam can been interpreted as an expression of national pride, in addition to any benefits of flood control and hydorelectic power that might ensue. China looks forward to telling the rest of the world that it has built the biggest dam in the world!
Cheers,
Kathryn
