Global Adventure Series, Part IX
BEIJING
When people of a “certain age” hear about Beijing, they think about Peking.
When those same people hear of Mao Zedong, they think about Mao Tse Tung.
When they hear of Peking Duck, they think of Peking Duck!
Wait a minute. What an enigma.
They change the name of the capital city. They change the name of the great leader. But the duck stays the same. This is a matter for serious scientific study. I recommend those scientists in North Korea put the missiles aside for a while and ponder this conundrum. Why, exactly, does the duck get to stay the same?
I think I know the answer.
Beijing is not the Peking of the past. Peking was militant, closed to new ideas, and not very friendly (especially to missionaries).
Mao Tse Tung was he of the Long March, the Red Brigades, the Cultural Revolution. Mao Zedong is remembered for the massive changes he brought to China over a lengthy reign. Mao Tse Tung was to be feared. Mao Zedong is to be revered.
The Peking Duck, well, it remains one of the most delicious of the food offerings in China. Why mess with a good thing?
As I walk around Tiananmen Square and look up at the big gray mausoleum, I have memories of my childhood. On top of that massive wall, on my television set, stood Chairman Mao, he of the Little Red Book! His henchmen stood by his side and they always reviewed missiles, tanks, high stepping soldiers, and a massive demonstration of the country’s military might.
No bands, clowns, or parading elephants for these guys. Their parades were more like dirges.
I remember thinking parades were supposed to be colorful. And these Mao parades were anything but. They had only one color. Red! Everybody was dressed alike and they all had a little red star on their fur hats. The only flags in evidence were red.
In recent history, except for the occasional tank rolling over a protesting student, the square is open to visitors. Nobody watches parades from the dull compound wall anymore. As I mentioned in a previous article, all the Mao successors are sunning themselves at their villas in Dalian.
When you think of China, you probably think of the Great Wall. It is one of the most amazing tourist sites anywhere in the world. It is some distance from downtown Beijing but well worth the trip.
I would like to bring a few representatives of the U.S. government to the Wall. You see, the Wall was built to keep out the hordes of pillagers that wanted to attack China. Thousands of people gave their lives building the wall. It was not too long, in historical terms, before the Wall was useless for anything except as a tourist attraction.
When the Wall presented a problem, the enemy simply came up with ways around it, like ladders, or airplanes. The older Chinese seemed to believe that “if you build it they will not come!”
Wrong.
So all those folks who are busy building a wall along our border with Mexico, and spending billions in the process, might as well take a break for a “brewsky” because it is not going to make any difference if they get finished. I send those workers two messages:
(1) tunnels, and (2) airplanes.
Enough said?
On a more serious note, China is the world power of the future, in my view. I don’t know if that means domination in any sense but business, but business domination it shall acquire.
The aggressive, dedicated, determined and ambitious Chinese people are focused on the goal and there is every sign when one travels through the major cities that they will be successful.
Who buys up American debt? China
Who owns a huge portion of many American corporations? China
Who is the Secretary of State courting to invest more in America? China.
Who has a labor force that can be employed at manageable salaries, like $4000 U.S. per year? China
Who has enough people to do all the jobs that need to be done? China
In addition to a hard-nosed approach to business development, the Chinese are a people with an ideology. They are committed and focused as a people. They are enormously friendly to visitors, unequalled as hosts, and eager to learn more about the wider world.
Chinese students studying in America arrive at a very young age. They are ambitious beyond imagination. They have been studying English since the first grade in China. Their parents are prepared to spend any amount of money and make any sacrifice to prepare their children for the good life.
I have a friend in China who has a son who is three. When we were having dinner, he asked if his son could come to America next summer for a month or two.
I asked him if he would not miss his son. His response is that he would accept any hardship to provide for his son’s advancement. As hard as it may be for one to realize that a three-year-old boy could be seen as a slate on which it was not too early to write, this friend was very sincere. While I am determined to convince him 3 years of age is too young, I will accommodate him if he continues in this thinking and my wife and I will accept his son as a summer visitor, to be exposed to American culture and learn some English. I use this story only to underscore the depth and breadth of the Chinese people’s commitment to their future.
I happened to stay in the InterContinental Hotel Beijing Beichen. I mention this only because this fabulous hotel was constructed right across from the front gate to the Beijing Olympics grounds. Since the end of the Olympics, the hotel has not been very busy but the Chinese have already commenced building a huge Mart right next to the hotel and, in a short time, the hotel will be once again beautifully positioned for business.
In the meantime, anyone wanting to visit the Birds Nest Olympic Stadium or the huge blue swimming cube or any other Olympic venue, would be wise to stay here.
My room consisted of eight floor to ceiling windows, all of which looked out on the Olympic Site. It was an incredible view, for a reasonable price.
During the Olympics it was an incredible view for an unreasonable price. I was told the room went for $10,000US dollars per night, with a week minimum required.
This room looked directly out at the Birds Nest and one could have lounged in the comfort of this room and watched all the people coming and going from the stadiums as well as the immense fireworks display.
Of course, that didn’t happen. Anyone paying this kind of money for the room had front row tickets for the Olympics!
My visits to Chinese cities are complete and my remaining stops are in Thailand and Japan. I hope through my observations you have been able to understand how impressive the Chinese people are in all that they do.
If I were to summarize my observations of the Chinese, I could do so in three words.
Gracious
Disciplined
Focused
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
BESPOKE, CUSTOM MADE, MADE TO MEASURE
Global Adventure Series, Part Eight
Bespoke-Custom Made- Made to Measure
-Jackson Blair
In my earlier comments about visiting Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai I failed to mention a really mysterious situation that exists.
As most travelers know, these Asian cities are known throughout the world for their suits and sport coats. They have the finest silks and cashmeres and wools. In almost every hotel there is a shop that will take multiple measurements and ask for three fitting sessions and produce a fantastic suit of clothing in about three days.
These tailors also operate in all the major department stores and in their own establishments along the street. Their walls are stocked with rolls of the finest fabrics and designs.
What most travelers do not know is that there is a backroom in these establishments where people work 24-7 to put this fine piece of clothing together for you. I don’t know if they work in shifts or work non-stop but I do know that the hand tailoring is exquisite.
In earlier times, these hand made pieces, known as “bespoke” clothing in England, had to be sent inland in China to get the actual work done. In those days, they would ship your finished product to you.
Today, if you have three days in the city, they actually deliver the finished garment to you prior to your departure.
Of even greater interest, they keep your measurements and will send you sample materials from time to time and make your made-to-measure clothing at any time. Many of these tailors make an annual trip to the United States and set up in a local hotel in the large cities and invite their customers to come and order new clothing. I noticed that the tailor I use here comes once a year to Boston. So they are able to keep their clients through mail order or through once a year visits.
Importantly, given that the clients do change in size from year to year, they not only take new measurements when they visit the U.S. but they will hand alter the clothes they made for you previously.
Readers would be interested to know that these garments sell for about 1/3 the cost of a similar “off the rack” suit in the U.S. When you consider the quality of fabric, the hand tailoring, and the individual fit arrived at from multiple measurements and three personal fittings, it is hard to pass up purchasing clothing in this manner.
Of course these tailors also offer custom made shirts. The savings is not quite as great on shirts but for people accustomed to buying shirts and blouses off the rack, made to fit multiple people, the wonderful feel of having a shirt that actually fits you is difficult to describe.
Funnily enough, in these hot and humid climes people rarely wear suits. So these folks live in an area where the best suits are made, with the possible exception of Savile Row in London, and they have little use for them. Accordingly, one would have to label this extensive bespoke business as a tourist industry.
As you walk around these Asian cities you can easily tell the tourists. They are the ones walking around in fabulous suits and sport coats, sweating madly, and the locals are wearing thin cotton shirts, untucked, over their unlined breathable slacks.
Although I have accumulated a lot of bespoke clothing from previous trips, it is simply impossible to pass on this quality and this price. So I will return to Boston with a suitcase full of new stuff that, at my age, I will not get to use often enough. I have already suggested to the wife that she vacate one of her closets to make room for my new wardrobe.
Her response is not printable in a family newspaper.
Bespoke-Custom Made- Made to Measure
-Jackson Blair
In my earlier comments about visiting Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai I failed to mention a really mysterious situation that exists.
As most travelers know, these Asian cities are known throughout the world for their suits and sport coats. They have the finest silks and cashmeres and wools. In almost every hotel there is a shop that will take multiple measurements and ask for three fitting sessions and produce a fantastic suit of clothing in about three days.
These tailors also operate in all the major department stores and in their own establishments along the street. Their walls are stocked with rolls of the finest fabrics and designs.
What most travelers do not know is that there is a backroom in these establishments where people work 24-7 to put this fine piece of clothing together for you. I don’t know if they work in shifts or work non-stop but I do know that the hand tailoring is exquisite.
In earlier times, these hand made pieces, known as “bespoke” clothing in England, had to be sent inland in China to get the actual work done. In those days, they would ship your finished product to you.
Today, if you have three days in the city, they actually deliver the finished garment to you prior to your departure.
Of even greater interest, they keep your measurements and will send you sample materials from time to time and make your made-to-measure clothing at any time. Many of these tailors make an annual trip to the United States and set up in a local hotel in the large cities and invite their customers to come and order new clothing. I noticed that the tailor I use here comes once a year to Boston. So they are able to keep their clients through mail order or through once a year visits.
Importantly, given that the clients do change in size from year to year, they not only take new measurements when they visit the U.S. but they will hand alter the clothes they made for you previously.
Readers would be interested to know that these garments sell for about 1/3 the cost of a similar “off the rack” suit in the U.S. When you consider the quality of fabric, the hand tailoring, and the individual fit arrived at from multiple measurements and three personal fittings, it is hard to pass up purchasing clothing in this manner.
Of course these tailors also offer custom made shirts. The savings is not quite as great on shirts but for people accustomed to buying shirts and blouses off the rack, made to fit multiple people, the wonderful feel of having a shirt that actually fits you is difficult to describe.
Funnily enough, in these hot and humid climes people rarely wear suits. So these folks live in an area where the best suits are made, with the possible exception of Savile Row in London, and they have little use for them. Accordingly, one would have to label this extensive bespoke business as a tourist industry.
As you walk around these Asian cities you can easily tell the tourists. They are the ones walking around in fabulous suits and sport coats, sweating madly, and the locals are wearing thin cotton shirts, untucked, over their unlined breathable slacks.
Although I have accumulated a lot of bespoke clothing from previous trips, it is simply impossible to pass on this quality and this price. So I will return to Boston with a suitcase full of new stuff that, at my age, I will not get to use often enough. I have already suggested to the wife that she vacate one of her closets to make room for my new wardrobe.
Her response is not printable in a family newspaper.
DALIAN China: Beautiful and Seaside
Global Adventure Series, Part Seven
Dallying in Dalian
The seaside city of Dalian is a nice respite from all the more industrial, commercial and mammoth Chinese cities I have visited on this trip. Lovely Dalian sits beside the sea. The air is clean and fresh and navigating the downtown area is manageable for a western visitor.
On arrival at my hotel I had to go through one hundred and twenty minutes of a seminar on communications starting with the bellman who informed me I could not connect my laptop to the wall or it would explode. He kindly telephoned the reception desk and they indicated help was on the way. Thirty minutes later, and still no help, I contacted the hotel electrical department. They informed me I needed a converter and they would bring one right up. Thirty minutes later I was still without a converter, although the original bellman stopped by to check on my progress and suggested I call housekeeping. I foolishly followed that advice only to be told housekeeping was closed. I am not certain how one can run a hotel and close the housekeeping office at 3 in the afternoon but here in Dalian they have discovered a way to do it.
I know you are on pins and needles waiting to hear how you can run a hotel and close housekeeping in the middle of the afternoon. The answer is really quite simple: poorly!
Help finally arrived in the form of two people who could not speak a word of English and the only thing I could be sure of was that they were not from housekeeping. Hands were flying, eyes were darting, and moaning occurred but we finally got to the bottom of the matter.
Simply put, I could plug in my laptop without it exploding. So I did.
Over the next hour I had numerous visitors stopping by to be certain my problem was solved. I gestured with my hands and pointed to the plug and to my laptop. I smiled a lot. They nodded a lot.
They stopped dropping by my room at around 5PM. I suppose I will get a visit from housekeeping in the morning if, in fact, they ever work.
I hope you are admiring my courage here. Obviously, when I did plug in my laptop there was a small doubt rolling around in my brain with the expectation that it might really explode.
Dalian is the home of a wonderful park, right outside my hotel room window. To get to the park, one has to dodge cars and cross six lanes of traffic. There are no crosswalks. I was confronted with this problem in a Chinese city earlier and found that you could go underground and cross the busy thoroughfare. Not here. If you want to walk with the squirrels and see the bushes you have to survive the gauntlet of the six lanes of traffic.
I bit the bullet, and worried about biting the dust, but sprinted across (well, those of you who know me are aware that I wouldn’t be sprinting, so lets just say I walked briskly) six lanes and made it to the other side. I am certain some of my friends are now working on a joke that starts with “why did Jack cross six lanes of traffic to get to the other side?” I cannot wait to hear the answer when I return to the USA.
The parks are beautiful. With the average wage in many of these cities being $4,000 US dollars per year, you can get a lot of posey planters, waterers and weeders. With so many people in China and wages being so low it is easy to see why American companies fed up with their workers’ contract demands simply move their factories here. Over here, instead of picketing and bickering over a shorter work week, outrageous benefits or a lucrative retirement package, the workers just line up, bow a lot, say a great many “thank you’s” and fully expect to work ten or twelve hour days. And if you pay them $5000 they are middle class!
As in the other cities I visited, buildings are going up everywhere. It is hard to imagine that I am not witnessing the construction of the next great empire in world history.
One visual I will never forget. We were driving around the city and out into the suburbs when we came upon the ocean. We got a glimpse of it as we drove past an extensive wire fence, probably electrified. In the distance, by the shoreline, we saw a magnificent home, really more like a palace. Surrounding the home was somewhat smaller but still elegant homes. This compound had a golf course and a large gated entry. I learned it is where the present leader of China vacations. Evidently, when he wishes to escape the intrigue (and pollution) of Beijing, he comes here with a couple hundred of his highest-ranking pals and they settle down by the beautiful sea. As we drove by the large gate, I could see the uniformed Chinese guards. I decided against taking pictures!
Having recently read the latest book on Mao, and understanding both his humble beginnings and his plain ways, I reflected on what this seaside compound really was telling me. It was speaking loudly to me about the Communist Manifesto and the very real examples we have all over the world. You create a Peoples’ State. You tell everyone to share equally. You create communal farms. You isolate or kill the intellectuals or anyone who might come from a dynastic family.
To the extent that you are successful with this for a number of years, the people who run things begin to enjoy some of the better things of life. In each succeeding generation, the leaders become more and more like the people they deposed in the beginning.
It is not obvious that the people they rule begin to enjoy life’s pleasures (not at $4,000 per year) but as I looked at the current governmental elite’s playground by the sea, I realized that these guys are about as far from what Mao had in mind as you could get.
With this visual and the information I have provided in these articles about the expansion, building and economic muscle of China, I think we can retire those books our grade school teachers have that talk about a China of rickshaws, chopsticks, and a daily ration of rice.
Mao was reported to have loved the saying: “Better Red than Dead.” It is entirely possible his heirs prefer the saying: “Better Dead than Red.”
Dallying in Dalian
The seaside city of Dalian is a nice respite from all the more industrial, commercial and mammoth Chinese cities I have visited on this trip. Lovely Dalian sits beside the sea. The air is clean and fresh and navigating the downtown area is manageable for a western visitor.
On arrival at my hotel I had to go through one hundred and twenty minutes of a seminar on communications starting with the bellman who informed me I could not connect my laptop to the wall or it would explode. He kindly telephoned the reception desk and they indicated help was on the way. Thirty minutes later, and still no help, I contacted the hotel electrical department. They informed me I needed a converter and they would bring one right up. Thirty minutes later I was still without a converter, although the original bellman stopped by to check on my progress and suggested I call housekeeping. I foolishly followed that advice only to be told housekeeping was closed. I am not certain how one can run a hotel and close the housekeeping office at 3 in the afternoon but here in Dalian they have discovered a way to do it.
I know you are on pins and needles waiting to hear how you can run a hotel and close housekeeping in the middle of the afternoon. The answer is really quite simple: poorly!
Help finally arrived in the form of two people who could not speak a word of English and the only thing I could be sure of was that they were not from housekeeping. Hands were flying, eyes were darting, and moaning occurred but we finally got to the bottom of the matter.
Simply put, I could plug in my laptop without it exploding. So I did.
Over the next hour I had numerous visitors stopping by to be certain my problem was solved. I gestured with my hands and pointed to the plug and to my laptop. I smiled a lot. They nodded a lot.
They stopped dropping by my room at around 5PM. I suppose I will get a visit from housekeeping in the morning if, in fact, they ever work.
I hope you are admiring my courage here. Obviously, when I did plug in my laptop there was a small doubt rolling around in my brain with the expectation that it might really explode.
Dalian is the home of a wonderful park, right outside my hotel room window. To get to the park, one has to dodge cars and cross six lanes of traffic. There are no crosswalks. I was confronted with this problem in a Chinese city earlier and found that you could go underground and cross the busy thoroughfare. Not here. If you want to walk with the squirrels and see the bushes you have to survive the gauntlet of the six lanes of traffic.
I bit the bullet, and worried about biting the dust, but sprinted across (well, those of you who know me are aware that I wouldn’t be sprinting, so lets just say I walked briskly) six lanes and made it to the other side. I am certain some of my friends are now working on a joke that starts with “why did Jack cross six lanes of traffic to get to the other side?” I cannot wait to hear the answer when I return to the USA.
The parks are beautiful. With the average wage in many of these cities being $4,000 US dollars per year, you can get a lot of posey planters, waterers and weeders. With so many people in China and wages being so low it is easy to see why American companies fed up with their workers’ contract demands simply move their factories here. Over here, instead of picketing and bickering over a shorter work week, outrageous benefits or a lucrative retirement package, the workers just line up, bow a lot, say a great many “thank you’s” and fully expect to work ten or twelve hour days. And if you pay them $5000 they are middle class!
As in the other cities I visited, buildings are going up everywhere. It is hard to imagine that I am not witnessing the construction of the next great empire in world history.
One visual I will never forget. We were driving around the city and out into the suburbs when we came upon the ocean. We got a glimpse of it as we drove past an extensive wire fence, probably electrified. In the distance, by the shoreline, we saw a magnificent home, really more like a palace. Surrounding the home was somewhat smaller but still elegant homes. This compound had a golf course and a large gated entry. I learned it is where the present leader of China vacations. Evidently, when he wishes to escape the intrigue (and pollution) of Beijing, he comes here with a couple hundred of his highest-ranking pals and they settle down by the beautiful sea. As we drove by the large gate, I could see the uniformed Chinese guards. I decided against taking pictures!
Having recently read the latest book on Mao, and understanding both his humble beginnings and his plain ways, I reflected on what this seaside compound really was telling me. It was speaking loudly to me about the Communist Manifesto and the very real examples we have all over the world. You create a Peoples’ State. You tell everyone to share equally. You create communal farms. You isolate or kill the intellectuals or anyone who might come from a dynastic family.
To the extent that you are successful with this for a number of years, the people who run things begin to enjoy some of the better things of life. In each succeeding generation, the leaders become more and more like the people they deposed in the beginning.
It is not obvious that the people they rule begin to enjoy life’s pleasures (not at $4,000 per year) but as I looked at the current governmental elite’s playground by the sea, I realized that these guys are about as far from what Mao had in mind as you could get.
With this visual and the information I have provided in these articles about the expansion, building and economic muscle of China, I think we can retire those books our grade school teachers have that talk about a China of rickshaws, chopsticks, and a daily ration of rice.
Mao was reported to have loved the saying: “Better Red than Dead.” It is entirely possible his heirs prefer the saying: “Better Dead than Red.”
SHANGHAI-The World's Next Great City
Global Adventure, Part Six
SHANGHAI
-Jackson Blair
It is hard to grasp the enormity of Shanghai. It is a monstrously large city, the largest in China.
As I drove from the airport to the city and saw the landscape out the car window, it was obvious there is more variety to the architecture here than in Hong Kong. The apartment buildings are very diverse and are much more attractive. That said, it is a continuation of the apartment living I have seen almost everywhere I have visited in the Far East.
One rarely encounters a house.
It took me over 90 minutes to drive from the airport to the city. There is a rapid rail operation that covers the same trip in 8 minutes! Obviously, if I had known this, I would have been on the train. While driving along at a snail’s pace the bullet like train whizzed past me going so fast I hardly saw it. Judging from the thousands of cars ahead of me on the road, many other folk either don’t know about the train or simply prefer having their car with them where they are going.
The Chinese love tall buildings. Shanghai is the home to many of the more famous. The Grand Hyatt hotel was once, and perhaps still is, the tallest hotel in the world. One evening I went with friends to the cocktail lounge on the top floor. We had to take three sets of elevators to reach the top floor. Once we were there, the view was magnificent.
As you looked out the floor to ceiling windows, everything was below you. The tops of all the skyscrapers were further down. It gave me an eerie feeling. But the bright lights of the city and the wide panoramic view simply stole my breath.
One day I went to visit the historic areas of the city, places where trees are 600 years old, some of the flowering bushes are just beginning to bud, and the buildings are so old no one tries to put a date on them. The construction was all done by hand, the imagery and the statuary have weathered the storms of centuries. Traditions and mythology play a big role in these old buildings, with dragons and Foo dogs carved on rooftops or sitting at doorways to keep away evil spirits, or to guarantee happiness or long life.
Paths that wind between these old buildings are paved with little rectangular pieces of stone. Sometimes there is a discernable design. When you are walking along you have to wonder what the person who laid the walk might have been thinking so many hundreds of years ago, and how hard was it to find the little stones, and how long did it take to construct the walk, and was there a sense of pride in the accomplishment?
As I look at the unique buildings, each with so much character and charm, I am painfully aware that modern architecture has in large part erased individual architectural talent as an art form. Individuals carved these forms that are all around me, painstakingly laid the small stones that eventually form a walk, and crafted the animals that sit atop the roofs to provide some promise of safety or health or long life. Given the lack of any sort of efficient tools or equipment, I suppose it took years to complete some of the things I am seeing here.
It is an irony that as I walk through the old portions of Shanghai and look up at the beautiful wooden and ceramic roof tiles, I see towering above in the distance the modern monstrosities our generation has created. We have built really big, functional and effective skyscrapers and there isn’t a one of them between here and our country that can hold its own against just one of these simply carved, hand built buildings that I am seeing.
Now I know none of us would want to go back to getting water from the well, cleaning ourselves in the river, or sitting on hard wooden chairs without the comfort of padding. But there is a romance to the past that cannot be denied. And there is a synergy between these old buildings and the human spirit. And there is a sense of beauty, in form and substance that is greatly lacking in the architecture of the modern world.
When I experience any sort of confusion about the past versus the future, I ask myself what the humans one hundred years from now will think when they are looking at what we built and left behind.
On my last day in Shanghai, I enjoyed a dinner with friends in a private room overlooking the Huang Lu River. The river is a busy avenue for barges, tankers, cruise ships, tourist boats, and floating advertisements. The latter were a great surprise to me. I suppose they exist in other cities but I have never seen them.
These sailing advertising boards are four story high electronic billboards that sit atop a barge that is moving along the river from west to east and displaying advertisements on both sides that can be seen on shore. It is an incredibly effective form of advertising but I secretly hope it never catches on in America. It detracts from the beauty of the river.
After our dinner we boarded a ship for a cruise on the river. The ship was beautifully appointed with white leather lounging areas, all with their own window, and an incredible view of the shoreline with all the tall buildings lighted for the night. My friends and I settled for the window view for about ten minutes and then we were out on the deck enjoying the breeze and taking pictures of the fantastic skyline.
“Shanghai Nights” with Jacky Chang was a movie I enjoyed. I thought of it as we floated down the river and the title had new meaning for me.
My host at dinner is a man who had permission to attend The University of North Carolina years ago, he had his I-20 from the U.S. government, but China would not permit him to leave.
Like so many Chinese, he had an entrepreneurial spirit and went on to build a wildly successful pharmaceutical company. Both of his children attended school in the United States. He mentions that he finds the United States to be one of the friendliest nations in the world.
I hear this refrain about our country almost everywhere I travel. It always surprises me because I find the Asian culture to be welcoming and pleasing in every city I visit. Yet the fact that almost every Asian with whom I speak either wants to have a job in The United States or wants his children educated in The United States, seems to support the oft stated view in this part of the world that we, as a country, are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
As I read American papers online during my long trip, and listen to CNN, I cannot help but wonder how long that view of America will continue. It is very important for us to get our house in order and to return to the principles that earned us the reputation we have in the larger world. Anything less is simply not acceptable.
There is a great deal of new construction going on in Shanghai. Buildings are rising everywhere one looks. As I reflect on the cities in China that I have visited, I cannot help but wonder if this nation will not one day soon be the center of commerce. The evidence is very compelling that it may well be.
Shanghai is one of the most impressive cities in the world. I hope you have the chance to visit Shanghai one day. It is an experience you will never forget.
SHANGHAI
-Jackson Blair
It is hard to grasp the enormity of Shanghai. It is a monstrously large city, the largest in China.
As I drove from the airport to the city and saw the landscape out the car window, it was obvious there is more variety to the architecture here than in Hong Kong. The apartment buildings are very diverse and are much more attractive. That said, it is a continuation of the apartment living I have seen almost everywhere I have visited in the Far East.
One rarely encounters a house.
It took me over 90 minutes to drive from the airport to the city. There is a rapid rail operation that covers the same trip in 8 minutes! Obviously, if I had known this, I would have been on the train. While driving along at a snail’s pace the bullet like train whizzed past me going so fast I hardly saw it. Judging from the thousands of cars ahead of me on the road, many other folk either don’t know about the train or simply prefer having their car with them where they are going.
The Chinese love tall buildings. Shanghai is the home to many of the more famous. The Grand Hyatt hotel was once, and perhaps still is, the tallest hotel in the world. One evening I went with friends to the cocktail lounge on the top floor. We had to take three sets of elevators to reach the top floor. Once we were there, the view was magnificent.
As you looked out the floor to ceiling windows, everything was below you. The tops of all the skyscrapers were further down. It gave me an eerie feeling. But the bright lights of the city and the wide panoramic view simply stole my breath.
One day I went to visit the historic areas of the city, places where trees are 600 years old, some of the flowering bushes are just beginning to bud, and the buildings are so old no one tries to put a date on them. The construction was all done by hand, the imagery and the statuary have weathered the storms of centuries. Traditions and mythology play a big role in these old buildings, with dragons and Foo dogs carved on rooftops or sitting at doorways to keep away evil spirits, or to guarantee happiness or long life.
Paths that wind between these old buildings are paved with little rectangular pieces of stone. Sometimes there is a discernable design. When you are walking along you have to wonder what the person who laid the walk might have been thinking so many hundreds of years ago, and how hard was it to find the little stones, and how long did it take to construct the walk, and was there a sense of pride in the accomplishment?
As I look at the unique buildings, each with so much character and charm, I am painfully aware that modern architecture has in large part erased individual architectural talent as an art form. Individuals carved these forms that are all around me, painstakingly laid the small stones that eventually form a walk, and crafted the animals that sit atop the roofs to provide some promise of safety or health or long life. Given the lack of any sort of efficient tools or equipment, I suppose it took years to complete some of the things I am seeing here.
It is an irony that as I walk through the old portions of Shanghai and look up at the beautiful wooden and ceramic roof tiles, I see towering above in the distance the modern monstrosities our generation has created. We have built really big, functional and effective skyscrapers and there isn’t a one of them between here and our country that can hold its own against just one of these simply carved, hand built buildings that I am seeing.
Now I know none of us would want to go back to getting water from the well, cleaning ourselves in the river, or sitting on hard wooden chairs without the comfort of padding. But there is a romance to the past that cannot be denied. And there is a synergy between these old buildings and the human spirit. And there is a sense of beauty, in form and substance that is greatly lacking in the architecture of the modern world.
When I experience any sort of confusion about the past versus the future, I ask myself what the humans one hundred years from now will think when they are looking at what we built and left behind.
On my last day in Shanghai, I enjoyed a dinner with friends in a private room overlooking the Huang Lu River. The river is a busy avenue for barges, tankers, cruise ships, tourist boats, and floating advertisements. The latter were a great surprise to me. I suppose they exist in other cities but I have never seen them.
These sailing advertising boards are four story high electronic billboards that sit atop a barge that is moving along the river from west to east and displaying advertisements on both sides that can be seen on shore. It is an incredibly effective form of advertising but I secretly hope it never catches on in America. It detracts from the beauty of the river.
After our dinner we boarded a ship for a cruise on the river. The ship was beautifully appointed with white leather lounging areas, all with their own window, and an incredible view of the shoreline with all the tall buildings lighted for the night. My friends and I settled for the window view for about ten minutes and then we were out on the deck enjoying the breeze and taking pictures of the fantastic skyline.
“Shanghai Nights” with Jacky Chang was a movie I enjoyed. I thought of it as we floated down the river and the title had new meaning for me.
My host at dinner is a man who had permission to attend The University of North Carolina years ago, he had his I-20 from the U.S. government, but China would not permit him to leave.
Like so many Chinese, he had an entrepreneurial spirit and went on to build a wildly successful pharmaceutical company. Both of his children attended school in the United States. He mentions that he finds the United States to be one of the friendliest nations in the world.
I hear this refrain about our country almost everywhere I travel. It always surprises me because I find the Asian culture to be welcoming and pleasing in every city I visit. Yet the fact that almost every Asian with whom I speak either wants to have a job in The United States or wants his children educated in The United States, seems to support the oft stated view in this part of the world that we, as a country, are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
As I read American papers online during my long trip, and listen to CNN, I cannot help but wonder how long that view of America will continue. It is very important for us to get our house in order and to return to the principles that earned us the reputation we have in the larger world. Anything less is simply not acceptable.
There is a great deal of new construction going on in Shanghai. Buildings are rising everywhere one looks. As I reflect on the cities in China that I have visited, I cannot help but wonder if this nation will not one day soon be the center of commerce. The evidence is very compelling that it may well be.
Shanghai is one of the most impressive cities in the world. I hope you have the chance to visit Shanghai one day. It is an experience you will never forget.
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