Across This Great Nation

I am back and rested from the 2 week sojourn across China! Leaving the day after our history final, this trip was designed to introduce us to some of the very diverse regions of China and give us the opportunity to actually see and touch we had been intensely studying for the whole first part of the semester. The two weeks were spent in three places- Shanghai (上海) , Beijing （北京）, and Xi'an (西安）.

The first stop was a just a short flight to the modern economic capital of Shanghai. Twice the size of NYC, this massive metropolis earned it the name among the team as "Asia's Gotham City." I remember writing about the incredible size of Hong Kong--this city dwarfed Hong Kong on every level. It took a good 30 minutes to reach our hotel from the airport and as we drove along the urban sprawl never thinned and the skyscrapers only increased. Although Shanghai is the richest and most modern of all Chinese cities, it has almost no history (according to Chinese standards, of course.) For this reason, we only spend 1 night and 2 days in Shanghai. The first night we went to see the famoust Chinese acrobats preform, which was abosolutely incredible. I can't even explain half of the stuff they were able to do with their bodies, but one of the coolest things was fitting 9 people on one regular sized bike and successfully riding it around. You remember the Ocean's 11 movies? The little flexible Chinese thief (the actor) started his career in the same troup that we saw preform.
One thing of historical significance that we did manage to see was Sun Yatsen's old house. Sun Yatsen was the Christian architect of the revolution that eventually toppled the last Chinese dynasty. This man was a very wise leader who is still respected by all political persuasions as "One of Chinese greatest sons." Sun Yasten died before the fighting began between the Nationalists and Communists. The last thing we enjoyed in Shanghai was going to the building where the People's Republic of China was born and the Communist Consitution was signed. It was awesome...

Going to Beijing was an incredible experience. There is some reflections that I have from this time but I will save that for the next post. It was awesome to be in the capital of this great nation- where so much has happened for so many centuries. We stayed here for 4 days and did a lot!

• Summer Palace
• Forbidden City
• Great Wall
• Temple of Heaven
• Tian'amen Square
• Mao's Mausoleum
  
• The Bird's Nest and Water Cube (more modern history)

It is almost impossible to explain and describe the beauty/magnitude of most of what we saw in Beijing. Forbidden City was my favorite thing we actually went to in the city- labelled as the largest museum in the world, this massive ancient complex lies in the middle of the modern city. This was the western equivalent of a "palace" where all royal issues were handled and where the royal family lived. It was extra special for me because I was able to go to the location where my favorite emperor was born and see the actual throne he ruled from! (Kangxi is the man! Qing Dynasty) Some of the funnest parts of Beijing where just walking around and experiencing the very different northern culture (my school is in south china.) Food on the treck was also very important--Beijing was where I first tried sweet and sour...DOG. Yeah, you heard it right.



A lot of people maybe have never heard of "Xi'an." All i need to tell you is that this is the place where the terra-cotta army is. Xi'an was by far my favorite city in China. The northern climate was a great break from the constant warmth recieved in Xiamen! I was so happy to just see my breath again! This is an incredibly ancient city- almost beyond anything we as Americans can fathom. The first imperial dynasty of China had it's dynasty here...in 221 B.C.! Do the math--that's a long time ago. Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di united the empire in this year and at the same time began the construction of his massive grave. Just think about that for a second- while our ancestors were running around in stone-age tribes covered in blue paint, the Chinese were standardizing the weights, currency, and measurments of their empire. Not to mention they were raising impressive armies and beggining the construction of the Great Wall...
It's like how a Chinese friend once responded to Western belittling of China: "While your ancestors were sitting in trees mine were discussing philosophy!"
Besides the Qin dynasty, Xi'an was the capital of 5 other Chinese dynasties acting as home to centuries and centuries of important and fascinating history. This city is one of the last cities with the entire city wall still intact--complete with a moat! The wall stretches 9 square miles around the original city, but the modern Xi'an has long since grown past this ancient confinements. This city was a unique and incredible fusion of the ancient and the modern. Walking on top of a 700 year old wall you could spot out a taxi to take or a starbucks for a quick coffee break. When the ancient silk road first opened linking China to Jerusalem, mainly arabian merchants made their way to Xi'an to trade and life, settling in what is now known as "The Muslim District." This district is now comprised mainly of the Hui ethnic minority who have their own set of customs and religious belief but still speak Mandarin. Our group was almost always mysteriously drawn to the Muslim Quarter. Perhaps this had to do with the awesome street food, cheap shopping, and overall frenetic-yet-stree-free atmosphere. It's hard to explain, but it was sweet! This area of the city soon starting getting other names like, "Hui-town," "Muslim-ville," "Muslim-town," and "Uyger-ville." It was hear where we would eagerly scarf down on "Muslim-treats."

Speaking of religions, Christianity first came to China at the height of the Tang dynasty in 635 A.D. Consequently, the capital at this time was Xi'an. Our group had the great opportunity to visit the (assumed) site of the first church planted in China by Persian Nestorians. It was hear where we got to see a plaque dating back to the 600's that celebrates, "The arrival of the religion of light from the West." Very cool.

The obvious awesome thing we did was to visit the grave of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi that was once home to over 8000 life-sized terra-cotta soldiers fully prepared to conquer and fight in the afterlife. The process of restoration has been very tedious and we were able to see how the international team of archieologists were uncovering and piecing back together the incredible figures. It's hard to explain the historical significance you feel in such a place. Let's just say i felt small.



The last thing we did on the trip was to go to a small town on the outskirts of Xi'an county named Lan Tian (blue jade.) For three days we served a county high school by "teaching english" to the classes of 50-60 students. Although at first seemingly overwhelming, this turned out to be a really fun opportunity for us to see what real life in China is life. Besides just teaching English (and playing pick-up ping pong games), we ate our meals with the students in their homes. It was great to go to normal Chinese homes and enjoy time with whole families--we have missed out on this some being on a University campus. One of the meals I went alone. I was a little nervous about communication at first, but these couple of hours turned out to be some of the most memorable I have had in China. My Mandarin (although broken) seemed to flow ok, and the two girl's english (although broken) flowed ok as well. We ate together while their mother periodicaly came in and gave me scoops of more food yelling, "Chi, chi, chi!" (eat, eat, eat!)


This trip, although brief and limited gave me a better understanding of the geographical immensity and diversity present in China. While it is an easy temptation for us to view China as very uniform, it are far from that. Each province differs in food, language, customs, and culture--the areas of the province differ further. In the next couple of days I will probably reflecting on a little deeper level on some of the things I saw/learned while travelling.

Oh i almost forgot... we took 2 seperate overnight trains to our destinations. I don't know about you, but as an American completely dependent on the automobile this was a mysterious and captivating event. I kept waiting for someone to get murdered, and then we would all have to figure out who did it...perhaps with the help of a travelling Belgium sleuth. You see that's the problem with expectations. Nothing that cool happened, but we did get some sweet Chinese Chess games in and made some tea. It dosen't sound cool, but it really was...