I have much more I could share, but I think I’ll share tonight my experiences in Jianjing (I think this is the name) the place we moved to from the government hotel in Zhangjiakou. On the next post I’ll share a little more about Beijing and my last thoughts.
Every morning there is also the market that is a very busy place. Though not large, it had a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with some fish. There are also multiple places to buy prepared food including pastry like items, stir fry, and noodles. During market and exercise was the only time that I saw garbage on the street. Before seeing this I thought the people were throwing it away though there are very few garbage cans visible. They don’t, the streets are physically swept by people and then the garbage is picked up by push cart. It was amazing how clean the cities were including Beijing.
Life in the province was significantly different than what we saw in Beijing. Zhangjiakou was an established city with some signs of growth, but nowhere near the pace of change in Jianjing. This was a city in complete transformation. Old buildings were being torn down and replaced by new high rises, hotels, and a new business section. In every direction there are multiple cranes visible, more than I have seen in any one place in my life. It is an example of the new China with the roads and power being provided by the government and the private sector financing the new construction. I am told that China recently achieved the distinction of having the second most millionaires per capita after our country. Observing the changes here and in Beijing I can see where some of these millionaires are making their money.
Along with the change there is still the old. Every morning outside my window starting at about 6:00 am hundreds of people came to the town square for morning exercise. The activities included the traditional martial arts, badminton mostly without nets, ballroom dancing, a marching band, hacky sack, and plenty of swords. What was interesting was the age of the participants. There were very few youth even on a non school day with most participants I would say being 30 and older. When I asked some of the kids about this they said their parents participate, but they are too busy and get their exercise in school. It will be interesting to see if this tradition prevails with the many changes currently planned and in place.
Every morning there is also the market that is a very busy place. Though not large, it had a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with some fish. There are also multiple places to buy prepared food including pastry like items, stir fry, and noodles. During market and exercise was the only time that I saw garbage on the street. Before seeing this I thought the people were throwing it away though there are very few garbage cans visible. They don’t, the streets are physically swept by people and then the garbage is picked up by push cart. It was amazing how clean the cities were including Beijing.
I’ll also share a picture of the hotel’s lobby where people smoke freely. It truly is a beautiful place with mahogany paneling throughout. Though new with modern conveniences I did notice two things. The finish work is not to the same standard that we have. This was most visible in molding, the grout work, and the uneven closet doors. This may have been just my room and also because we were the first to use these rooms. The second observation was here and also in Beijing. The standard of cleaning is also not what we see in our country. The room was cleaned, but not as thoroughly as we are used to. I share these because I think it shows some of the differences in our cultures, not to be negative. This was a wonderful place and the people were most gracious and warm. They went out of their way to make us feel like royalty.
I’ll share one last picture. This is a man that I observed from my room at 6:00 am. He is shoveling sand into a cart and then emptying it over a screen to remove the rocks. He then takes the sand over to the cement mixer that I did not see operating. What was most interesting is that he was still doing this when I returned to the room after 6:00 pm and also on the next day.
1 comment:
I have been fascinated by your observations of the culture of such a powerful country I know little about (except that I think you were drinking fermented mare’s milk on your visit to the grasslands:)). The thing that struck me most was around the concept of creativity, or lack thereof, in the learning process. Freedom is the spark to innovation. How can you create more patents if you dare not to dream, to question, to wonder, to disagree with what is, to try? The Chinese people exhibit so much discipline and commitment to succeed, but within the framework of conformity. Such hospitality, such desire to please and be found acceptable. But dreaming takes practice and a safe place to fail.
How to be better than what I am, how to encourage someone else to be all that they can—this seems to be the benefit of interacting with each other, learning from one another, examining our differences and strengths. What a great idea to build a relationship with a Chinese school! I think our strength is indeed in our creativity, our restlessness, curiosity, stubbornness that my way just might be the best way, our distaste of hierarchy (“one ranked above another,” “government by an elite group”). Questioning everything, pursuing some vague idea of something better and knowing that if I can dream it up I have a chance of making it happen—I truly can be the catalyst of something better. So we can be encouraged—to be more disciplined, to work hard, and to bring this level of creativity to everything we do.
Thanks for letting us be a part of your adventure!
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