China

It was truly a different world in China. We spent most of the time we had in China in and around the area of Beijing. As American citizens we had to obtain an expensive Chinese Visa to be able to travel to China.  We were very restricted to the areas that our tour guide took us to and the tour was careful to not allow us to see the undesirable parts of the country. We were told not to wear anything that showed our loyalty to the United States.

We visited the 

Forbidden city, Tian'anmen Square, a Chinese Circus show, the Great Wall of China, The Summer Palace  and we were presented several opportunities to shop at the Pearl Market and some other markets.

This boat is made of solid rock and is not meant for floating.  It is perched on the dock near the summer palace.  There were real boats in this water too.  This stone boat was quite unique.

There was a huge distinction between the "Haves' and the 'Have Nots' in China.  As is usually the case with Communist societies, the government holds all of wealth and the people are poor and in submission to the Ruling Class.  The tour guide told us that a household in China lives on $600 a month and the universal poverty was very evident.  Since we were taken to the best kept parts of China, I was naturally curious about how the people in the hidden areas really live.

These elderly women were fighting over a water bottle that each had hoped to pick up and recycle.  I saw the woman with the cane, shooing the other woman away with her cane so that she could claim the prize. If they see you drinking from a water bottle, they will follow you around until you finish. There is not a pension program or any help for the elderly so if they did not have a child or the one child that they were allowed to have is not able to support them, they are on their own to beg, sell or recycle to survive.

Those begging are VERY persistent.  We had a mother in our tour group that we very upset because her child had been traumatized by seeing a severely deformed begger who ran up to them with a disfigured face and body and wanted money.  Evidently if you get in an accident with a chemical spill or have a severe birth defect, there is no help available to help you live a normal life.  The woman above is not the severely deformed individual.  She was a begger that would not take no for an answer.

There is some Western influence in China but mostly in the form of billboard advertising.  It was interesting to see some of America's most famous stars modeling things and advertising for ads in China.  It seems that it is below the dignity of a star to sell goods in the US like this, but they are selling quite a few foreign goods in many other countries. The internet is not allowed in China or is controlled very strictly to prevent any information from entering the country and being an influence to the people.  The propaganda is controlled strictly by the communist leadership so that the people believe what the government wants them to believe.

We had a special dinner of Peking Duck.  It was a ceremony type of meal.  I am a big fan of Chinese food and you can usually talk me into going to a Chinese restaurant very easily, but I discovered that there is a big difference between American Chinese food and Chinese Chinese food.  I prefer the American version.  The Peking Duck meal was the best one we experienced.




There were 3 things that I found overwhelming during our time in China. 
#1 The amount of Bicycles...EVERYWHERE.  They also loved motorbikes.  There were 3 wheeled bikes with little platforms on them for hauling things and people loved to hitch a ride on the back.  Bikes Galore!!

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#2  How dirty the city was.  Remember this was the best face shown to guests but the bathrooms were horrendous.  Just a hole in the floor and no toilet tissue.  I took around a fanny pack with kleenex in it for these moments but this truly reinforced my fear of public restrooms.  I was very happy to have wet wipes in little packets with us on this trip.  Everything was dirty, dirty.  It was evident that local people did not like to use the public restrooms either because you could smell urine in the streets and at the Great Wall of China.

#3 Was the general attitude of the people.  They were clearly out for themselves and were accustomed to pushing their way through life.  I realize that China is a crowded country, but I had not experienced this type of self serving competition before. While we were navigating the busy great wall of China, I was separated from my husband and group and I could not get out of the little alcove I was stuck in.  The people were too thick and they would not let me pass.  I said" Excuse me" and begged their pardon but it wasn't until I physically pushed my way through the crowd that I could catch up to the group.  No one seemed offended by the pushing, they all did it.

When I asked the tour guide about how to deal with situations like this, she said that saying "excuse me" or "I'm sorry" are not appropriate in China.  She said that to apologize brings shame upon your clan and so it is not done.  I told her that if my children did not say they that they were sorry, that is was a problem in America.  This was a big difference.

 People had a generally empty, hollow look about them.  I remember seeing this girl above from a distance at one of the markets. She had a light about her and it was noticeably different from everyone else.  When we made our way to her booth, we found that she was selling some Christian materials and that she was also a Christian.  Since Communism does not allow for the worship of anything other than the government or the leaders of the government. this girl was pretty brave to admit her convictions. 

We visited the Olympic park and saw the beautiful things that China did to prepare to host the Olympics.

The shopping in China was amazing but if you go be cautious.  The vendors will barter with you and usually offer items at twice the price that they actually expect.  If you barter withthe vendors and they don't accept your price and you walk away from their booth they will follow you and say "hey lady" until  you continue to barter with them.
The clothing was made with cheap materials and the electronics we bought lasted about 2 hours.  We thought that we were getting killer deals on Rolex watches etc. but for a one-time-use product, we were of course disappointed.  If you are the type of person who likes to show off a rolex and don't really care if it works, you will love the prices in China.  We learned that the way that China is able to make these copycat (knock off) items is that they allow a company to come and make things in China with their cheap labor and when the have established supply chains, the government takes over the company and kicks out the owners of the company with a law or ordinance and then they take over the company and highjack the brand and sell the items at a huge discount.  They use the name but cheapen the quality of the product to make it more affordable.

One thing that we found that was a genuine value were pearls at the pearl market.  There are many colors of pearls and vendors making jewelry in many booths.  There were even pearls on the floor that were so inexpensive that the vendors didn't bother to pick them up.  We bought real pearl necklaces for our daughters that have lasted for years for only $10.  The quality was great on the pearls and I even bought some jewelry later through the mail to sell in my store.
There is also a silk market where you can buy scarves.  

China is a true communist country where everyone is poor, except for the Government officials.  Everyone is expected to work and contribute and they are given just enough to subsist and stay in need of an all powerful government.  If you go against the government, you are eliminated in a variety of ways and everyone has learned to submit and accept what the way of life they have.  I worry about America and the Socialist politics that some are thinking are appealing.  Democratic socialism is just another name for Socialism which is the younger version of Communism.  It rarely works in a way that the people expect. Yes, there may be more economic equality because everyone is equally poor. 

Above this picture of my cute nephew, Jared, shows me how long ago we actually visited China and Korea.  Jared is now engaged to be married.  Below our Daughter Alisa models the traditional outfit we bought for her in China.

Recently our daughter in law was choosing where to go on her graduation trip that we gave to her.  She wanted to go to a place that had a Disneyland in a foreign country.  Shanghai was on the list.  My husband and I were not excited to return to China.  Luckily, she chose to go to Paris instead and we were able to miss the outbreak of Covid-19 in China in the fall of 2019.  China is a unique and eye opening experience.  Communism has limited the potential of this large and could be prosperous country.