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China, which everyday captures the world headlines due to its rapidly growing economy that is pulling thousands of people out of poverty and what many consider the next great superpower, is bursting with pride. We saw this pride in the eyes of many Chinese as we traveled across this vast country. But, there is only one place in China where you can get your full dose of China Power, the home of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing. On the cusp of China’s National Holiday, Erin and I spent seven days in Beijing and everywhere we turned we saw images of “China Power”. After all Beijing is the capital of China and thus the seat of the world’s largest ruling Communist Party. Like most tourists, we quickly made our way to Tiananmen Square to see the “Washington Mall” of China. The large square with huge beautiful gates as bookends and flanked by stately government buildings has a commanding presence by sheer size alone. There were plenty of guards checking bags and patrolling the square, but no more or less than you would see in Washington D.C.. The first thing I noticed was that almost every monument or government building is named “The People’s” this or that. For starters, you have the “Monument to the Peoples Hero’s” and the “Great Hall of the People”. Even the country is called the “Peoples Republic of China”! Well, I guess this place is all about the people. Speaking of people, there are plenty of them, and they were out in full force during the week of their National Holiday. Almost every child in Tiananmen Square was waving the China flag as mom and dad snapped photos. It was a sea of China red flying at about four feet from the ground. Although these photos were definitely cute my personal favorite was a family shooting pictures of their baby urinating on Tiananmen Square. My wife has told you all about the Chinese children with slits in their pants to simplify the peeing and pooping process so I will not go into detail regarding this strange practice here. But as I watched these parents proudly capture their child peeing on China’s most revered monument, I had to wonder if I was secretly witnessing a small protest of the Chinese government unfold before me? I thought watching living people in Tiananmen Square was fun but it appeared most people preferred to view the deceased, or at least one deceased. Yes, just like Lenin you can view the body of the Peoples Republic of China founder, Mao Zedong, in the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall. Some days they have to work on the preservation of his body so you just view the waxed representation. I wonder if you can tell the difference. We missed out on this adventure but we did see the massive portrait of Mao hanging on the Gate of Heavenly Peace.
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A Tiananmen Square monuments for the people. Behind the monument is the building that holds Mao Zedong's body.
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The famous Mao Zedong portrait on the Gate of Heavenly Peace which is located at the north end of Tiananmen square
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The most humorous medium to see “China Power” is through television. One must have goals in life and I think the Chinese government has laid out their goal. Beat the USA! Before you get all worried and build a bomb shelter, please hear me out. I don’t mean the Chinese government wants to destroy us. I simply mean just like a boxer has to beat the current champion to be the best, the Chinese also want to be the best and they believe the USA is the current heavyweight champion. Here are a couple examples we heard during the few minutes we watched television.
• China plans to build the largest national park in the world. Even bigger than the USA’s Yellowstone National Park • It took the USA approximately 70 years to start building energy efficient cars, China will do it within 10 years • China’s Olympic goal is to win more gold medals than the USA
You are probably thinking that we are just weird self-centered Americans (which we might be) but it was actually a UK couple who told us to watch TV because the Chinese compare everything they do to the Americans. Again, please don’t waste your money on a bomb shelter.
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If you are still a little worried, let me explain our favorite thing about China—the people! It all started in the Hangzhou bus station when a lovely and very happy couple from Shenzen approached us. They were enjoying their own vacation and, like us, were waiting for the bus to Wuzhen. Although we could only communicate with a few English words and lots of pantomiming they adopted us for the entire day. They negotiated prices for cycle rickshaws for us and even bought us lunch! After spending a full day with them they made sure we boarded the right bus back to Hangzhou. Then, a couple days later as Erin and I were strolling through Hangzhou’s night market, we bumped into them again. The Hangzhou night market bustles along one main street. The main street is lined down the center
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and sides with small stalls selling all sorts of toys, tea, food, and other Chinese goods. Each stall’s lights luminate the dark sky and add a festive feel to the market. When the wife spotted us she literally started jumping up and down in excitement. Seeing her genuine joy at running into us again was awesome, and made us feel like we were reuniting with old friends at a State Fair rather than people we just met a few days before. We spent a few more hours strolling through the market as they purchased gifts for their baby daughter before we said our final goodbyes. My vision of her jumping in excitement to see us will stay with me for a long time. A few days later in a small town called Qufu we had another great experience with locals as we were exploring the neighborhood. A few gentlemen were playing a lively game of table tennis in front of their small shop. Erin and I stopped to watch and before we knew it they invited us to play. For an hour or so we played ping pong with four or five men from this local shop. Again, we could only communicate with hand and body gestures. After we finished our friendly matches we utilized the brief Mandarin-English language dictionary in our Lonely Planet guidebook to communicate that we would return the following day for some more table tennis. The next day we arrived to find a larger crowd and a table tennis ringer waiting to greet us. This recent college graduate humbly informed us that he was the best table tennis player in all of Qufu. He did not disappoint. After numerous thrashings I finally ended the pain and asked for a few pointers. We had a wonderful time that afternoon. We exchanged emails and finally had to say goodbye to the warm hospitality of Qufu.
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We had several more encounters like these with the Chinese and our last one came on the 47 hour train from Beijing to Lhasa. During that train ride a young couple asked us to join them for dinner. They enjoyed practicing their English and we made a feeble attempt to learn a few more words in Mandarin. After dinner they accompanied us back to our six berth cabin. Two berths were still available so they tried to lobby the conductor to let them sleep in our cabin. The conductor would have none of this so eventually they had to return to their cabin. They stopped back by our cabin several times to visit and practice their English skills with us. We used up everyday of our China visa and saw many displays of China Power. While the Chinese government is focused on building a more prosperous and powerful country and using the USA as a benchmark, the Chinese people seem more intent on creating friendships between the two nations. In the end, we discovered that China really is all about the people.
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