Progress Marches On

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Arriving at Wuhan International Airport is a familiar experience, this being my 4th arrival here in 5 years. The trip from the airport to HUST , the university I'm teaching at again, though, is always somewhat new. The city's march outward continues, with new residential towers filling what was once, even just 5 years ago, empty lots. Some are finished, but many are under construction. While I would have thought building would have slowed since my last trip here, it looks as if it continues at a furious pace. The joke that the crane is the national bird of China still works.

As I made the trip to campus and saw all the cranes and construction going on almost everywhere, I was reminded of something I came across in Beijing. My hotel had some old travel books in the lounge. A guide for Beijing published in 2004 showed just 2 subway lines in operation. Now, just 10 years later, there are 14. Here in Wuhan, there were no subways in operation when I was here just 2 years ago, now there are 4. This pace seems unimaginable.

It seems progress here is also marked by the ever-expanding and spreading shopping malls. Just off campus is an area called Optics Valley Square (which is actually a circle). In addition to a Ramada Hotel, the square had been surrounded by 5 shopping malls of various sizes. Now Optics Valley Square is the end of Subway 2 and malls are in an aggressive expansion mode. When I was here two years ago, Spanish Style Street mall had opened, with Italian Style Street under construction. Now Italian Style Street has opened and German Style Street is under construction. Soon I'm thinking you'll be able to walk around the world here in Wuhan and never stop shopping. But if you don't want to make an around the world trip, there's always the New World Mall that has just opened right next to Spanish and Italian Style Streets.

I love Italian Style Street, not for the shopping, but for the architecture. There's a cathedral complete with pews. This cathedral, though, is the place to worship retail promotions. The current Sunday sermon is on the World Cup, sponsored by a Chinese soda brand.

Of course, these themed streets don't seem to have any actual Spanish or Italian shops. Instead, stores tend to repeat themselves. You can buy from brand x on Spanish Style Street, on Italian Style Street or at any one of the many malls nearby.

There's "progress" on campus too. The first McDonald's on a Chinese college campus has opened, along with several other Chinese fast food brand locations. What used to be the site of the closest thing to fast food has now been converted to Figaro's Cafe, an "Italian" cafe, complete with pasta, pizza and coffee. Like elsewhere, coffee at Figaro's is a luxury purchase. A small cup here is about $3.00, still a bargain when compared to Starbucks China's about $4.50. Since you can easily buy a pretty good Chinese meal in one of probably 15 campus cafeterias of various quality for less than $5.00, coffee is a real splurge for students here.

Where there isn't much progress is the hotel I've stayed at during every teaching gig. The walls are as dingy as ever, the carpet as dirty, the bathrooms still mildewed. Too bad that in the midst of so much change the things we most want to change don't!

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Comments

[Jack WuHan]

I have read your essay.Your surprise about the city's change is semilar with me.The city of Wuhan,like many other cities in China,develope extremely fast. And I beg when you come to Wuhan again,you will see a totally different city.I hope to see you the next summer camp（of course if you come）O(∩_∩)O~