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Published: August 26th 2008
KFC the Chinese Way
Do you recognize anything on this board?SUNNY TODAY
Ah, today we finally get to feel the sun on our skin. It feels so good. I’m rather upset that I’ve lost nearly all my tan over here. I’m looking pretty white. What a difference compared to when I was in Belize! While I mourn the lack of sun, when the sun finally comes out the Chinese women do everything they can to cover themselves up. They sell little shirts they can pull over their arms while on their mopeds. And they wear hats or carry umbrellas to keep the sun off their skin.To be as white as possible says that you’re not a peasant and don’t work in the fields. You are higher class.
So much is about perception over here.
BOAT RIDE
I’m ready to hit the water. I can’t go water skiing or tubing over here, but we can take a boat ride. I want to see the majestic Zhonghua Gate, and my guidebook says that boats ply the water there from the Confucius Temple (Fuzi Miao). Jesse can’t argue with my reasoning, and off we go.
We stop for lunch as soon as our taxi drops us off at the market. Today
Menu for Americans
Jesse knew to ask the clerk for the menu they keep behind the counter for Americans. It didn't include all the offerings, but did include the typical American offerings. we’re doing KFC. I’ve got a hankering for french fries. When I step up to the menu board I’m surprised by how little I recognize. They have tons of items here in China that we don’t have at home. They have corn and mashed potatoes, but no biscuits. Sad. Those biscuits are my favorite thing at KFC. I wonder how we’re going to order when the whole menu is in Chinese. Jesse has it covered tho. As we hit the teller, he asks for the English menu they keep behind the counter. Ah. This menu is smaller and only includes the menu items I recognized as being popular in America.
We both get the chicken wraps, but neither of us finish them. They have just too much mayo. Ish. So does the corn, which isn't plain corn with butter. It has other vegetables - and that darn mayo. I’m disappointed with the fries. They just don’t taste the same. Must be a different oil. The ketchup is funny, too. Jesse reminds me I should never expect anything here in China to taste like it does at home. But the DQ ice cream did!
The colorful yellow and red
boats are located in the center of the market on the canal. I pay 110 RMB for two tickets and we hop in. The only other passengers are a father, mother and 19-year-old daughter who speaks some English. They take so many pictures as we float, they put me to shame!
Whitewashed buildings with long, curved peaks line the canal. They’re the type of building I think of when I think of China. So picturesque. We head one way and then turn around and come back. At first I think the trip was a waste of money; it was only 10 minutes long! But then we pass where we began and keep going. Ah, this is the way to Zhonghua Gate. It’s so hard for me to keep my sense of direction here in this big city where the sun almost never shines.
My guidebook made it sound as though we could get out at the gate, but no. We turn around just before we reach the city walls. Darn! We’ll have to take a taxi after all. I shrug apologetically at Jesse. It’s hard to figure things out when you don’t speak the language, that’s for sure.
Jesse dines on chicken
From where we sat, on the corner of two windows, we were quite the object of attention. Everyone walking past stared at us. I think the ride would be best at night. Lanterns and strings of lights lined the entire length of the canal, and all the displays looked like they lit up, as well. I can imagine how beautiful the reflections would be. So when you get to Nanjing, take an evening boat ride out of Fuzi Miao. That’s my recommendation.
IMPRESSIVE WALLS
Although some pieces of the walls are gone, more than 75% remain. That’s pretty impressive considering they’re over 600 years old! The 40-foot-high walls once completely encircled the city of Nanjing, then 20 miles in circumference. Today, the city spills out on all sides, a maze of old and new buildings.
These walls were once the most extensive in the world, protecting what was the capital for 6 dynasties. They were built on the orders of the first Ming emperor, Hongwu. The walls were cemented by a super strong mortar made of glutinous rice. Over 3000 soldiers were stationed at the gate.
The gate is more than just a gate. It is, in fact, a structure that spreads over acres. There are four arched tunnels, each measuring 174 feet. Each of these had a gate
Street sweeper
Check out the cool broom! with massive double doors and a portcullis which blocked passage. The grooves are still visible. There were four gatehouses perched on top of each of the inner walls where armaments and supplies were stored. They also offered a bird’s eye view of the land. At that time, they would have been the tallest man-made structures around for miles. Wide ramps with stairs lead up to the main city wall, making it easy for both soldiers and horses to rise quickly to the top.
I was simply amazed at how wide the city walls are. I swear you could play a football game on the top.
The walls have impressed more than just this one American tourist over the years. No enemy ever attempted to breach the walls via Zhonghua Gate.
TAIPENYAKI MEAL
A group of Emerson folks dine together at a Japanese taipenyaki restaurant on the Walking Street. We sit segregated, us three women on one side and the four men on another. The men do the ordering, which means there are few vegetable dishes and many meat ones. The chef cooks in front of us, just like at Bennihana's in Minnesota.
I’m never too sure
Boat tour guides
I really wanted to go for a boat ride down the canal, past the whitewashed walls and long, upturned eaves. about the meat selections here. Is it beef? Is it dog? I typically stick mostly to vegetables. One item I did recognize: the shrimp. They were large and looked juicy, but still had their skins and their beady black eyeballs. Joann and I both passed. You can tell Susan has been here a year. She munched on everything, and quite enjoyed it all.
I keep waiting for the rice to arrive, but it never does and I leave hungry. Thank goodness I have noodles back at the hotel.
AVOID THE TRAFFIC
To avoid the crush of mopeds, buses and cars, the Chinese have built these wonderful underground walkways at intersections. While it is a bit confusing to me trying to figure out when exit to come up, it’s so nice to not have to worry about being hit in the street. The walkways are a bit like Subway stations, only there is no train. Just steps and an escalator down, a few more steps down, and then repeat up. Billboards dot the walls, but there are no shops. And I’m always amazed by how spotless the walkways are. The streets I find scary, never knowing what that puddle
View from the water
We set off from Fuzi Miao (Confucious Temple) and rode to the Zhonghua Gate. is from. Pee? Wastewater? But the walkways, they are spic and span, even though there are no visible garbage cans inside. I saw a woman come out of a tiny little office the other day with a broom. They must work to clean them full-time. The strange thing about the Chinese is not that they don’t litter. Oh, they do. As they walk or ride, they throw their garbage onto the street without giving it a second thought. But on every street there are workers with brooms and carts collecting the garbage.
They give the same sort of care to the landscape along their expressways. We passed an area of Nanjing the other day where at leave 50 people were working, trimming shrubs, weeding and mowing. The sheer number of man/woman power in China is amazing.
SMOKERS EVERYWHERE
Until we got to China, I never realized just how many places in America people DON’T smoke. Americans don’t smoke on the street. They don’t smoke in stores. They don’t smoke while walking through a park. Americans smoke in restaurants and bars, and then at their homes. Here in China, people smoke everywhere. You can’t walk down the street without
catching a whiff of smoke. And I HATE the smell of smoke. It means instant headache. Vendors set up shop on the street corners selling packs. One of Jesse’s co-workers, Jim Decker, was telling us the other night that every years 1 million Chinese die from smoke-related cancer. But luckily for the tobacco producers, 3 million more Chinese start smoking.
China is now the largest producer and consumer of tobacco in the world. The legal drinking age here for smoking and drinking is age 6. And at the young age, fathers will sit their boys down and teach them how to smoke. Apparently its an entrance into manhood. Here in China, businessmen smoke together to seal deals. And if you refuse to join in, you’ve insulted the people you’re with. How terrible.
STATE GOVERNED LIVES
Jim Decker also told me about a woman he knew who really wanted to move to the Middle East to follow a high-paying job for an oil company. She had gotten the job, no problem. What was holding her back was China. In order to leave, she has to get permission from the government. They initially denied it, and when she told Jim,
Display for the Olympics
No matter where in China we are there are salutes to the Olympics. The entire country really was excited. he asked if she wasn’t upset by it. No, she told him. My country needs me more.
What a foreign attitude to an American. I would never be okay with my country having that sort of power over me, with telling me what I can do for a living and where I can do it.
Here they also regulate where you live. The amount of taxes you pay is determined based on where you live. Those in the city, who pay a higher standard of living, are taxed less. But the government knows where you are at all times and you’re not supposed to move without letting them know. I guess there were a bunch of problems with the Olympic construction workers. When the police were doing security checks (which were increased with the Olympics), they found many workers without the proper papers. They shipped them all out of the city, just like that.
I would also not be okay with my country telling me where I can live. I guess I never realized that the simple act of being able to move around as we please isn’t something we should take for granted in America.
Oh, and the girl? She appealed the decision after all. And it was overturned.
FAMILIES LIVING APART
Here in China it isn’t uncommon for wives and husbands to live apart. One of the top guys at the Emerson plant, Lon Wen, spends his weeks in Nanjing and goes home to his family in Suzhou on weekends. It’s a 1 1/2 hour train ride. Others are separated by half this continent. When it snowed last year just before the Chinese New Year it was such a big deal. People were prevented from going home on their one trip a year. The snow was just so much (five feet) that it shut everything down, and folks don’t have that much vacation.
The extreme control the government exercised over people a few decades ago may have contributed to people being okay with separation today. Thirty years ago, the government dictated where people lived based on the jobs they did and where they were needed. Another co-worker of Jesse’s, Jon, lived without his dad for most of his childhood because he was sent to one place and his mother to another. Today, people endure the separation of their own choice, usually to
Displays along the side
There were displays telling stories on the sides of the canal. The ride would really be beautiful at night. get better paying jobs and to send the money back to their family.
I wouldn’t want to live that way.
And it’s not just the Chinese. Jesse met a few girls from Japan or Korea last time he was here. They lived and worked at the Frasier hotel. Their husbands were far from them in Hong Kong.
I wonder if people stay faithful when they’re apart so long.
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