by Anil K Rajvanshi
1. There is frenzied activity of putting new buildings in
Beijing because of 2008 Olympic Games.?All over the place
high-rise buildings are being erected.?This sometimes snarls
the traffic and there are frequent traffic jams in
Beijing.?Surprisingly there was little air pollution even
during the cold month of November.
2. I had gone to Beijing at the invitation of UNDP and Office of
National Energy Leading Group (ONELG) – a group under the
leadership of Prime Minister Wen Jiabo. ONELG has been charged with
developing the Energy policy of China. A one day conference between
Chinese rural energy and foreign experts was organized by ONELG.
The Vice Chairman of ONELG Mr. Xu Dingming who is the energy czar
of China was the chief guest during closing ceremony of the
conference. After the conference he gave us a 100-course dinner in
an exclusive restaurant attached to his ministerial
office.?All major Government ministries in Beijing have these
5-star restaurants in their buildings for official
dinners.?Every time we finished the food our plate would be
whisked away by efficient bearers and a fresh plate of finest
gold-plated China would be put in its place. Very thoughtfully,
some of us who were not adapt at wielding chopsticks, were provided
forks and knives.
3. The venue of the conference was Diaoyutai State Guesthouse
situated in the beautiful and picturesque Yuyuantan Park. It has 11
villas surrounded by beautiful lake and manicured lawns. Almost all
the major Government meetings and conferences take place in this
guesthouse. The first meeting of Chairman Mao and President Nixon
took place in this guesthouse and many American Presidents have
stayed here.
4. During this trip we were also interviewed by the China
Internet Information Center which has a 7-10 million readership.
After a sumptuous lunch hosted by them in a 23rd storey revolving
restaurant, we were shown the state of the art facilities of the
news agency. The interview is at this site.
5. Chinese men are fascinated by full-face beards. This is
because at best they can have only a goatee! Thus the bellboy at
the downtown hotel where I was staying could not help but ask my
permission to touch and admire my beard!
6. China is a gourmet’s delight.?Even the roadside food
vendors dish out delicious fare, though one should be careful about
what to eat since choices range from snakes, eels, strange-looking
sea creatures etc. Language is a major problem. However since
everything is displayed one can safely opt for chicken, beef or
mutton dishes by pointing them out. The place on Wangfujing Road in
downtown Beijing resembles eateries on chowpatty in Mumbai. In
small, neat and well-lighted small shacks one can get all sorts of
delicious food at one fifth the price of that in fancy
restaurants.
7. Changing money at Bank of China was worst than getting
dollars in any Nationalized Bank in India in 1980s. The rest of
China has changed, but Bank of China is still operating in Mao’s
times. So after wasting half an hour for my turn (the lady teller
had gone for a cup of tea and to chat with her colleagues), I just
went to an ATM in a private bank and got the money by using my
Credit Card!
8. Language is the biggest barrier in China. Though Olympic
Games are barely 7-8 months away, hardly any Beijing taxi driver
can speak or understand English. Hence the best thing is either to
get the hotel staff to write down the address for you in Chinese or
to ask you friend or host to speak on a cell phone to the taxi
wallah for directions! Because of the language problem I was double
charged on my credit card by the hotel staff. I still have to
recover that money though the staff admitted to their mistake.
9. Getting a local SIM card for your cell phone is a
must.?Because of language problem the prices of the cards can
vary widely. It is better to get a local person to bargain for it.
Bargaining for all goods is just like in India and normally one can
bring down the cost by one fourth of what is initially asked
for.
10. The cycles are in abundance all over China, though in
Beijing they are being rapidly replaced by electric bikes and cars.
With increase in vehicular pollution many cycle riders cover their
noses with a surgeon’s mask. The taxi drivers drive rashly and very
often encroach into the cycle lanes thus inconveniencing the
cyclists. Almost all the cycle rickshaws are now off the road. One
is lucky if one can see one or two old and tattered ones being
pedaled around.
11. The taxi drivers though are courteous and take you to your
destination by the shortest route. I took many times the taxi and
never felt cheated though at one time he took me in a round about
way but this could be because the instructions given to him on the
cell phone by my host were little confusing.
12. Downtown Beijing resembles any modern European or American
city with large number of high-rise buildings and broad roads which
are full of cars and electric buses. The older part of Beijing
though is like any Indian city with scores of small shops,
chockfull of goods spread all over the place, roadside cycle repair
shops, even an occasional cobbler (mochi) and roadside
eateries.
13. Because Beijing authorities want to show the city in good
light to the tourists who will visit during the Olympic Games large
scale modernization of hutongs (old city) is taking place. This
includes broadening the lanes in these hutongs.
14. There has been complete westernization of Beijing. Everybody
wears jeans and shirts. Except for the official function of ONELG
where the hostesses were in traditional Chinese dresses everybody
wears western dresses. Even the official gift shop at the entrance
of Great Wall of China sells tea shirts and mostly western goods.
The background music in the shop was also an American pop song.
15. Almost every street in downtown Beijing has either a
McDonald or Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut. It is really
surprising that with such good Chinese food these eateries still
thrive. They are frequented mostly by young people and children. In
Forbidden City sometime back Starbucks was the only coffee shop
till somebody raised a ruckus and it was removed.
16. As a part to showcase rural development we were taken to a
state of art chicken farm about 100 km north of Beijing. The 400
acres facility which is the largest in China is situated in very
picturesque mountain settings with apple orchards all around it. We
never saw a single chicken on that farm since we were not allowed
inside because of quarantine and safety considerations. Hence we
were given the virtual tour through the real time video cameras.
The farm produces 2 million eggs/day and has a one MW most modern
biogas power plant running on bird droppings. As usual the buffet
lunch in the farm canteen was sumptuous and extremely delicious.
The apples from the orchards, which are fertilized by the manure
from the chicken farm, were simply out of this world. We also
learnt of a novel Chinese concoction of warm Coca Cola with ginger
as a cure for cold and running nose!
17. During our trip to the chicken farm we saw a huge line of
trucks (almost 10-15 km long) standing on the highway and jamming
the traffic. The traffic for the cars was diverted so we could
reach the farm. It seemed there is a serious shortage of diesel
fuel in China and these trucks were lined up to fill their tanks.
Some truck drivers have to stand for almost 10-12 hours in these
lines.
18. The China trip is not complete without a visit to the Great
Wall. We went to Badaling area which has a spectacular view of the
Wall. Our guide kept on insisting that we take the sliding rail.
However I insisted on climbing. So from the parking place to the
highest point was a straight climb of about 3500 ft. The up and
down trip took me about 2.5 hours. The scenery was fabulous and the
climb was good for the circulation. Climbing the Wall reminded me
of pilgrimage to Kedarnath -- Badrinath Temples in Himalayas. So I
prayed at the top of the Wall that China and India should be
partners for the future of the world.
19. There were hardly any fat people to be seen on Beijing
roads. The only fat people I saw in the Great Wall of China were
American and European tourists.?A marching band from North
Ohio State University U.S.A. was being filmed at the first landing
of the Great Wall of China. Almost all these band members were
overweight and hence they could not climb the wall and thus were
being filmed at the first landing.
20. The general cleanliness at almost all the places is amazing.
Though Chinese spit all over the place just like Indians I saw
whole battery of blue clothed cleaning persons pick up papers,
garbage and clean the spits from the roads at all places almost
round the clock. They were backed by mechanized truck road sweepers
and cleaners. The bathrooms in public places like Temple of Heaven
would put to shame even some of the 5-star hotel facilities in
India.?I never found a dirty public toilet anywhere in
Beijing.
21. One cannot leave Beijing without the experience of getting a
foot massage. This massage which is a combination of acupressure
therapy and ayurvedic massage does wonders to the body through the
foot. The one and a half-hour message is very soothing and on the
last day of my Beijing trip after the massage I caught the midnight
flight to Singapore and so slept like a log on the plane. Usually I
am unable to sleep on the planes.