Introducing China through its cities
Nov. 1st, 2010 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudo(Note to self: need a cutesy Shanghai Expo icon to match the Beijing Olympics one...)
Usually, when I travel to China, it's to visit relatives and maybe do a bit of shopping on the side. Thus, I usually only see Shanghai overnight, and then only the inside of shops, before I take the train to Nanjing and basically spend most of my time indoors at home. On this trip, however, I traveled with my aunt and uncle, who are very fond of bombarding our tour guides and any fellow tour-goers who are unfortunate enough to fall into conversation with them with millions of questions about the state of...everything. Thus, I am left with a much more detailed and wide perspective of my motherland.
Beijing:
Let's start with Beijing, the city that I am in right now. The last time I was here must have been at least ten years ago, back when I was still in high school. I remember the place through a thick fog of smog and flu-induced fever, as a rather drab and officious place with a couple of pompous old buildings from the imperial days that were the stereotypical tourist traps and not much else of note.
Boy was I surprised on this visit. Firstly, we could see the sky! All week we were here! Blue sky is not just seen on photoshopped postcards, it seems. All the hard effort that the government must have spent on trying to clean up the capital for the Olympics must have had some long term effect on the city, because the air was cleaner than I could ever imagine China being. It also left the city with an abundance of greenery and fairly new buildings. Most of these have large windows or are completely glass-covered, which gives the city a very impressive view during the day when driving around town (and indeed, there is a lot of town to drive around...)
The city itself has also grown in size, boasting 19 million and more. That's about the population of New York (the whole state). There are, however, rather less people on the streets compared to the streets of Nanjing that I remember. There were definitely more cars on the streets, but the overall traffic is probably the most..."tame" of the four cities I've seen this trip. Well, tame in the sense that it was the least likely to give me heart attacks from the back seat.
Of course, some things hadn't changed - I still think the tourist traps of Beijing are overall over-inflated for their value. Except for the Great Wall, there are many other places in China that have much grander history or are more awesome than the Ming/Qing buildings. Let's face it, while some of the engineering of the buildings were cool, the Ming/Qing had some very fashion-blind designers when it came to color scheme.
There were still some other quirks to the city that haven't been completely "modernized", as well. Spitting in public, sadly, has not been completely cured from the habits of ordinary folk, and smoking in public is just as rampant as ever (even near the no-smoking signs). Toilets, for one, are still dominated by the squatting type with very few western-style toilets in most places. Streetlights also seem to be conspicuous by their absence in many a dark alleyway/hutong at night.
However, it is interesting that most people had no fear of being out at night despite the poorly lit streets. The concierge and our tour guide assured us that the streets were perfectly safe unless we step out alone after 10 or so. Well, I guess with our hotel being so close to Tiananmen Square, I can believe that any criminals who would brave the area would probably be more of the terrorist type than the mugger type. My uncle, though, noted that the general feel of it was rather much like the US in the 20s-50s, where the streets were generally safer and the prisons not bursting full all the time. Now, why that is would be an interesting topic for social scientists, but it wouldn't be covered in this post.
Overall, however, Beijing now has a very modern and very elegant public appearance that seems to say to the world (or well, the first world countries anyway), we are a peer of your class; we can talk the talk and we can walk the walk. You put the city next to any major US megapolis - NYC, LA, SFO - and it will not look out of place at all. Not coincidentally, that is also the general feeling that seems to pervade the public consciousness of most Chinese nowadays as well. We might not be the one civilized power among barbarians that we used to be, but we are certainly a peer among equals.
Shanghai:
Right next to Beijing, the other "Pearl of the East" is certainly Shanghai, and what a gem it is. Even though I've visited the city as recent as two years ago, the transformation that took place in preparation for the Expo could not have been any less than Beijing's for the Olympics. However, the message behind the transformation here is different.
Simply, Shanghai dazzles. There are skyscrapers right in your face whichever way you look (rather than being more or less spaced out in Beijing). At night, they are completely lit up with light displays that range from brilliantly spectacular to overwhelmingly gaudy. Bill-boards? Pfft. Those are sooo last millennia. No, Shanghai has giant skyscrapers whose entire side doubles as a giant LED screen that performs animated commercials of products such as Coca-Cola or Canon. Highway street lamps? Pfft. Shanghai lights up the highway (and its underside, and the bridges...) with a rainbow array of florescence and neon.
In terms of dazzle and light output (and electricity consumption), Shanghai could probably outdo Las Vegas by a landslide. But the difference between these two cities, not counting the population, is what lies behind all the dazzle. In Vegas, the lights are there for entertainment and recreation. For Shanghai, the lights seem to say - Because we can; this is what we are. If Beijing presents the prim and proper metropolis out to the rest of the world, then Shanghai represents the Chinese self-image for the rest of the world come and see. If Beijing could be compared to LA or NYC, then Shanghai would be more alike to Coruscant - a vision of the future that lights up brightly in the imagination...
...But still has to face the cold reality of day. Unfortunately, while Shanghai is bedazzling at night, it is much less so during the day. Oh, the skyscrapers are still there everywhere you look, and they are impressive as a modern megapolis in itself, but the shock of transition from the nigh scene can be jarring. It's like a woman who uses cosmetics heavily suddenly takes them all off at the end of the day.
I don't think the symbolism is intentional, but it is somewhat fitting. The Chinese public has a whole have a generally optimistic view of where their country is going and where government is leading them. They are beginning to assert themselves more and more on the world stage. They have lost the self-consciousness that have previously plagued them when comparing themselves to the western powers. Any feelings of inferiority couldn't have lasted past the Olympics opening (heck, I think trying to follow up on Athens and China has given England something of an inferiority complex there).
On the other, other hand... I do have to say that there is one thing that Shanghai has done very well whether day or night. Bathrooms! Everywhere in tourist traps and at the Expo, despite the overwhelming numbers of people (18 million and counting!) in the city, Shanghai manages to have a large number of western style toilets, and keep them all perfectly clean. :P
Pingyao:
On the other extreme from the two most famous megapoli of China (I can't even say the largest, since that distinction belongs to Chongqing, at 30-something million population), there is the small city on the edge of Taiyuan called Pingyao. Despite the whole city being a giant tourist trap, it still can't help but depict the state of poverty that a large amount of the Chinese population still exists in despite the growth in the big cities.
Although the hotel we stayed in was a four-star, during our visit there, we did get a chance to peek into a room of a more standard hotel there. It was pretty wretched, with plumbing that turned the stomach and hardly any room outside of the bed.
During our drive from Pingyao to the Taiyuan train station, we could see the slow change from rural to city as we entered Taiyuan city. The change was pretty dramatic - from small hovels to giant shiny buildings.
Overall, we only spent two days in Pingyao, because frankly, there just wasn't that much to see. Perhaps, as the area expands (and we already saw signs of such in Taiyuan and near the Wang Family Compound), things will get better for the people there. Meanwhile, China still has a long way to go for the face presented by Beijing and Shanghai to truly speak for the general state of the people.
Xi'an:
Then, there was Xi'an, a city of about 8 million that lies between the two extremes. Indeed, it has the look of a city undergoing the industrial revolution - a "work-in-progress", as it were.
Unlike Shanghai and Beijing, you don't see skyscrapers and grand buildings everywhere you look. Unlike Pingyao, you don't see single and double storied buildings consistently across the city. No, in Xi'an, everywhere you look you see cranes. Many, many, many cranes. Not the animal, though you could joke that the official "bird" of the city is the crane, but the machine. From one of the temples on a hill, you look out in on direction, and you'll see a cluster of half a dozen cranes together building a bunch of stuff. Turn your view about 30 degrees, and you'll see another dozen or more cranes building something else.
And then there is the coal dust in the air. Xi'an has several coal plants providing power and heat to the city, as well as driving the industry. Thus, Xi'an's air is horrible; it's about what I remember Beijing being over a decade ago. Perhaps, in another decade or so, Xi'an will be "finished" and become as "green" as Beijing is now, but in the mean time, it's a perfect example showcasing the transformation that China is undergoing in order to become a first world nation.
Usually, when I travel to China, it's to visit relatives and maybe do a bit of shopping on the side. Thus, I usually only see Shanghai overnight, and then only the inside of shops, before I take the train to Nanjing and basically spend most of my time indoors at home. On this trip, however, I traveled with my aunt and uncle, who are very fond of bombarding our tour guides and any fellow tour-goers who are unfortunate enough to fall into conversation with them with millions of questions about the state of...everything. Thus, I am left with a much more detailed and wide perspective of my motherland.
Beijing:
Let's start with Beijing, the city that I am in right now. The last time I was here must have been at least ten years ago, back when I was still in high school. I remember the place through a thick fog of smog and flu-induced fever, as a rather drab and officious place with a couple of pompous old buildings from the imperial days that were the stereotypical tourist traps and not much else of note.
Boy was I surprised on this visit. Firstly, we could see the sky! All week we were here! Blue sky is not just seen on photoshopped postcards, it seems. All the hard effort that the government must have spent on trying to clean up the capital for the Olympics must have had some long term effect on the city, because the air was cleaner than I could ever imagine China being. It also left the city with an abundance of greenery and fairly new buildings. Most of these have large windows or are completely glass-covered, which gives the city a very impressive view during the day when driving around town (and indeed, there is a lot of town to drive around...)
The city itself has also grown in size, boasting 19 million and more. That's about the population of New York (the whole state). There are, however, rather less people on the streets compared to the streets of Nanjing that I remember. There were definitely more cars on the streets, but the overall traffic is probably the most..."tame" of the four cities I've seen this trip. Well, tame in the sense that it was the least likely to give me heart attacks from the back seat.
Of course, some things hadn't changed - I still think the tourist traps of Beijing are overall over-inflated for their value. Except for the Great Wall, there are many other places in China that have much grander history or are more awesome than the Ming/Qing buildings. Let's face it, while some of the engineering of the buildings were cool, the Ming/Qing had some very fashion-blind designers when it came to color scheme.
There were still some other quirks to the city that haven't been completely "modernized", as well. Spitting in public, sadly, has not been completely cured from the habits of ordinary folk, and smoking in public is just as rampant as ever (even near the no-smoking signs). Toilets, for one, are still dominated by the squatting type with very few western-style toilets in most places. Streetlights also seem to be conspicuous by their absence in many a dark alleyway/hutong at night.
However, it is interesting that most people had no fear of being out at night despite the poorly lit streets. The concierge and our tour guide assured us that the streets were perfectly safe unless we step out alone after 10 or so. Well, I guess with our hotel being so close to Tiananmen Square, I can believe that any criminals who would brave the area would probably be more of the terrorist type than the mugger type. My uncle, though, noted that the general feel of it was rather much like the US in the 20s-50s, where the streets were generally safer and the prisons not bursting full all the time. Now, why that is would be an interesting topic for social scientists, but it wouldn't be covered in this post.
Overall, however, Beijing now has a very modern and very elegant public appearance that seems to say to the world (or well, the first world countries anyway), we are a peer of your class; we can talk the talk and we can walk the walk. You put the city next to any major US megapolis - NYC, LA, SFO - and it will not look out of place at all. Not coincidentally, that is also the general feeling that seems to pervade the public consciousness of most Chinese nowadays as well. We might not be the one civilized power among barbarians that we used to be, but we are certainly a peer among equals.
Shanghai:
Right next to Beijing, the other "Pearl of the East" is certainly Shanghai, and what a gem it is. Even though I've visited the city as recent as two years ago, the transformation that took place in preparation for the Expo could not have been any less than Beijing's for the Olympics. However, the message behind the transformation here is different.
Simply, Shanghai dazzles. There are skyscrapers right in your face whichever way you look (rather than being more or less spaced out in Beijing). At night, they are completely lit up with light displays that range from brilliantly spectacular to overwhelmingly gaudy. Bill-boards? Pfft. Those are sooo last millennia. No, Shanghai has giant skyscrapers whose entire side doubles as a giant LED screen that performs animated commercials of products such as Coca-Cola or Canon. Highway street lamps? Pfft. Shanghai lights up the highway (and its underside, and the bridges...) with a rainbow array of florescence and neon.
In terms of dazzle and light output (and electricity consumption), Shanghai could probably outdo Las Vegas by a landslide. But the difference between these two cities, not counting the population, is what lies behind all the dazzle. In Vegas, the lights are there for entertainment and recreation. For Shanghai, the lights seem to say - Because we can; this is what we are. If Beijing presents the prim and proper metropolis out to the rest of the world, then Shanghai represents the Chinese self-image for the rest of the world come and see. If Beijing could be compared to LA or NYC, then Shanghai would be more alike to Coruscant - a vision of the future that lights up brightly in the imagination...
...But still has to face the cold reality of day. Unfortunately, while Shanghai is bedazzling at night, it is much less so during the day. Oh, the skyscrapers are still there everywhere you look, and they are impressive as a modern megapolis in itself, but the shock of transition from the nigh scene can be jarring. It's like a woman who uses cosmetics heavily suddenly takes them all off at the end of the day.
I don't think the symbolism is intentional, but it is somewhat fitting. The Chinese public has a whole have a generally optimistic view of where their country is going and where government is leading them. They are beginning to assert themselves more and more on the world stage. They have lost the self-consciousness that have previously plagued them when comparing themselves to the western powers. Any feelings of inferiority couldn't have lasted past the Olympics opening (heck, I think trying to follow up on Athens and China has given England something of an inferiority complex there).
On the other, other hand... I do have to say that there is one thing that Shanghai has done very well whether day or night. Bathrooms! Everywhere in tourist traps and at the Expo, despite the overwhelming numbers of people (18 million and counting!) in the city, Shanghai manages to have a large number of western style toilets, and keep them all perfectly clean. :P
Pingyao:
On the other extreme from the two most famous megapoli of China (I can't even say the largest, since that distinction belongs to Chongqing, at 30-something million population), there is the small city on the edge of Taiyuan called Pingyao. Despite the whole city being a giant tourist trap, it still can't help but depict the state of poverty that a large amount of the Chinese population still exists in despite the growth in the big cities.
Although the hotel we stayed in was a four-star, during our visit there, we did get a chance to peek into a room of a more standard hotel there. It was pretty wretched, with plumbing that turned the stomach and hardly any room outside of the bed.
During our drive from Pingyao to the Taiyuan train station, we could see the slow change from rural to city as we entered Taiyuan city. The change was pretty dramatic - from small hovels to giant shiny buildings.
Overall, we only spent two days in Pingyao, because frankly, there just wasn't that much to see. Perhaps, as the area expands (and we already saw signs of such in Taiyuan and near the Wang Family Compound), things will get better for the people there. Meanwhile, China still has a long way to go for the face presented by Beijing and Shanghai to truly speak for the general state of the people.
Xi'an:
Then, there was Xi'an, a city of about 8 million that lies between the two extremes. Indeed, it has the look of a city undergoing the industrial revolution - a "work-in-progress", as it were.
Unlike Shanghai and Beijing, you don't see skyscrapers and grand buildings everywhere you look. Unlike Pingyao, you don't see single and double storied buildings consistently across the city. No, in Xi'an, everywhere you look you see cranes. Many, many, many cranes. Not the animal, though you could joke that the official "bird" of the city is the crane, but the machine. From one of the temples on a hill, you look out in on direction, and you'll see a cluster of half a dozen cranes together building a bunch of stuff. Turn your view about 30 degrees, and you'll see another dozen or more cranes building something else.
And then there is the coal dust in the air. Xi'an has several coal plants providing power and heat to the city, as well as driving the industry. Thus, Xi'an's air is horrible; it's about what I remember Beijing being over a decade ago. Perhaps, in another decade or so, Xi'an will be "finished" and become as "green" as Beijing is now, but in the mean time, it's a perfect example showcasing the transformation that China is undergoing in order to become a first world nation.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-04 06:53 am (UTC)And yes, rural and city life are like heaven and earth apart. It's pretty sad when you consider that you haven't actually seen the representative "country" life. There are still farmers who can't afford enough food to feed the family and herders who are scalped left and right by the middle men. *sigh* There's still a long way to go before every city will look like Shanghai and Beijing and Chongqing.