Goodbye China

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Last day in Beijing today, and we’ve spent it at the Summer Palace, north of the city. The palace was built in 1750, although it was destroyed by Allied Forces twice, in 1860 and in 1900 (both times reconstructed). It has 2 main parts: the Longevity Hill and the lake (which occupies 75 % of the palace’s total 300 hectares). Walking around the lake was one of the nicest things. It was foggy today, which gave the lake an air of mysticism. Boats crossing from one side to the other, bridges, buildings in the distance and many beautiful trees with my favourite autumn colours – we encountered several temples on our way up to the enormous main central temple (The Fragrance of Buddha – what a fantastic name!!). The views from here are very impressive. Inside the temple, there is an old statue of Buddha: with 12 faces and 24 hands, over a lotus flower with 9 rings and 999 petals in total. I especially enjoy crossing the ‘Bridge of Banana Plant’ next to which lay a pond full of giant water lilies. That is always a magical vision. Not sure if these names are a faithful translation of their Chinese meaning! Let me mention the one time I went into a toilet at the airport, and saw the following sign on the disabled WC: ‘Deformed Man End Place’. What this translation means is beyond me!!! ????!!!!
I leave you with M now, and his reflection on our time in China:

It’s certainly been an extraordinary 3.5 weeks in China. We started in Shanghai and have ended in Beijing. In between these two intriguing cities we have visited Hong Kong, Macau, Ya’an and the nearby Panda Conservation Centre. For me, the best part of the trip has definitely been Beijing and Macau. Ironically, none of these two cities were planned in our itinerary; they have both been an added bonus due to unforeseen circumstances.
It may seem like a bizarre statement to make, but I’ve found that, wherever I have travelled in the world, you can kind of get a general idea of how the people are; just by the way they drive. For example; in the UK, I find that people are quite courteous, polite and orderly when they drive. They are normally this way out of their cars, with the exception of a few bad apples, normally boy drivers. Out of their cars it’s normally youngsters who are disrespectful in society. See what I mean?
In China, the road driving is quite unpredictable. Most drivers will not respect red lights. They never stop at zebra crossings, even when the traffic lights are red they will go through and are quite selfish and inconsiderate when they drive. They will overtake you on the wrong side of the road and don’t care if you’re in the way. If you get in the way they will run you over. Do they have the same mentality out of their cars?
To cite an example, you’ve probably heard about a 3 year old girl who recently was run over in China by a van driver. He ran over her, stopped his vehicle, looked out at her from his window and then decided to go over her again with the rear wheels. We also hear stories of this type in the UK, of hit and run drivers. But it’s not this part that is so immoral or disturbing...
The story doesn’t end there. Another lorry also drove over her. Worse still, 18 passer-by’s walked past this poor child while she was severely injured on the road. Every single one of them looked at her and walked by without lending assistance of any kind. How heartless and immoral.
The little girl is currently in hospital. Its touch and go for her and it is most certainly probable that she is now brain damaged. It gets even madder. An old lady, who finally stopped to help her, has been criticised by the public as “attention seeking”. Can you believe that? She’s become part of a campaign of hate for helping.
The question of morality is indeed a difficult one, in any country or continent. Where do we draw the line? In the UK, we often walk past homeless people in the street who are begging for money and intentionally ignore them. We don’t want to help them. However, if we saw someone that needed medical help, we would immediately lend assistance. In China, it seems the line of morality is indeed short, when no one will assist you when you are dying in the street and people will hate you or criticise you for doing it, how extraordinary!
But even with these strange immoral mishaps and terrible driving, China is a truly wondrous country. It has come a long way in a short time and one can only express surprise at the speed and extent of China as a world power. They have done some remarkable things and continue to improve in everyway. I can’t help but think of Spain 30 years ago and the Spain we have now. The same is happening with China. The only difference is they are doing it without anyone’s help. Spain had Europe to help her, but China is doing it all on her own. It has come far but still has much to improve.
On a last note, I wanted to mention Beijing’s subway. I’ll keep it short and sweet. In London, we pay £5 for an underground train journey. In Madrid we pay 1 Euro. In Beijing you pay only £0.20! One can’t help but think, we’re getting ripped off. We’re paying 4800% more in London, for a train journey which is a fraction in length and quality, to Beijing. The trains here are super modern, spacious, and clean, have air conditioning, and get you to your destination on time and fast. How on earth they can justify those prices on the London Underground is beyond me!
Thanks for reading our blog and we’ll speak soon from Thailand. The land of happy smiles!
M & B

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