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Souzhou - China by haegar52002
Back in Shanghai
heyyyy followers! (imagine reading that in Buster's voice, if any of you have ever watched Arrested Development, and god help you if you haven't jk it's ok if you haven't but you should seriously think about your life choices if you haven't wow this is a really long interjection, if this was an English essay it would definitely get an F for run-on sentences.)
Ok so me and my roommie are back in Shanghai. And for those of you lovely people reading this who are new followers, I'll fill you in on what we've been up to!
Ok, so after working in Weifang, in Shandong province (north east of China) for about four months straight, we were so ready for a nice break from it all. We left on January 22nd, leaving just two nights following the start of our six week holiday from work for the Chinese New Year. You may be wondering why we get such a long time off. It's because we work at a university so students get a much longer break there than in the lower school levels in the summer and winter.
We bought train tickets straight from Weifang to Nanjing, which cost about 344 yuan, which were a bit pricey but we decided it was worth it to get the G trains down there because it's so far. About 5 hours or so. So comfortable though! We stayed at a hostel in Nanjing for 6 days and it is my favourite city by far (so far) compared to all the other ones I've seen (I've been to Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Weifang). It's my favourite city for a few reasons:
It's size. Not too big of a city but certainly large by my small sized Vancouver standards. The place is beautiful at night, filled with lights and dazzling megamalls, shopping centres, and blocks upon city blocks of boutiques and restaurants, all interesting to walk through.
The people. Everyone is super friendly there. There are tons of westerners, which means people don't stare at you and point or call you "laowei", and also there are more places to eat western foods. We enjoyed dinner on several occasions at Australian establishments, often enjoying steaks or italian pasta for affordable prices. We even happened to find a really gripping magazine called The Nanjing Expat, a publication in English, of course, with really interesting news articles of concern about the expat community in Nanjing and general China news.
The sites. Nanjing is known as a key historical city, critical for understanding Chinese history, both modern and ancient. Once known as Nanking, the city was one of China's former ancient capitals (Beijing=capital of the north, Xi'an= capital of the west, and Nanjing= capital of the south). Zhonghuamen or The Gate of China (Zhonghua= the Chinese translation of China which literally means "centre country" and men= entrance or gate) is also found near the middle of the city. The gate is absolutely stunning. Really more of a part of a large section of the wall that once surrounded the city 700 years ago to protect it, and the country, from invaders. Today, a canal borders the old part of the city and modern roads support traffic inside and out of the walls, an interesting metaphor for the "opening up" of China in the contemporary period. We walked up a few sets of stairs to stand atop the city walls and boy what a sight it was! We also visited Confucius Temple inside the old city and took a guided boat ride around the city canals. We also visited Purple Mountain and went on top of the seven story Pagoda that overlooks half of the city, walked around the historical sites there, and finally visited the honourable Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's mausoleum. Additionally, we visited the Nanjing Massacre Museum, the memorial for the hundreds of thousands of victims from the Japanese invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s and 40s, now known to most as "the rape of Nanking." Understanding what happened then is essential for gaining a more nuanced perspective on current Asian international relations and Japanese-Chinese relations today.
The memorial was very well done. It moved my roommate to the point of actual tears by the end. It did a very good job of depicting the tragedies of the time and the cruelty of the Japanese toward the Chinese. It also finally gave me a good understanding of why many Chinese do not trust foreign powers, particularly colonizers like the British, French, and Americans, but most specifically the Japanese.
At the end of the day, we could not figure out how to exit the darned museum and we had to climb over a gate since closing time was already over. Not letting go of the metal fence like I should have, I tore some muscle tissue in the palm of my right hand. It was bleeding internally and by the end of the day I had to tear open the uppermost layer of skin to prevent my skin from blistering. Painful! Thankfully, my hand has healed nicely since. How amazing the human body is.
As wonderful as Nanjing was, we had to move on. I was certainly sad to go. My roommate got sick by this point and he really had a tough time getting up that morning but we had to catch the train to Shanghai. As we sat on the train, we listened to our favourite tunes together and that certainly cheered us both up quite a bit. That is certainly a memory I will cherish.
A short hour train ride later, we were in Shanghai. Taking the (super expensive!) taxi from the train station to our hostel in the middle of the city was another mood elevator. The ginormous buildings and sunshine and the radio all combined got us very excited for what was to come. We didn't know much about Shanghai, as with all cities on arrival.
I was rather disappointed in our hostel. We had to share a bed. The internet was rather shoddy. Showering was nearly impossible the first two days due to a lack of hot (or warm, for that matter) water. Worst of all, the roommate was miserably sick. We believe he must have been reacting to some food he ate in Nanjing. It's possible it was made with dirty water or the chemical makeup of food in China can be different for westerners (or so we heard, anyway) which can irritate the poor bowels. He fought through it like a champion, though! He dealt with it in a much more mature and calm manner than I certainly could have done. The poor guy was incredibly frustrated by the fourth day in, though.
We did manage to see some sites in Shanghai, despite his sorry condition. We walked around the area around our hostel, near People's Square and East Nanjing Road, and we even managed to walk all the way to the bund, taking really interesting and stunning photos along the way. His Chinese is superb, compared to mine, which is really pretty much nonexistent with the exception of some essential words and phrases, so he managed to chat with some locals along the way.
By the time we got to the bund, he was rather beat. We took the 2 kuai ferry ride across to the Pudong side of the river and walked to the Oriental Pearl. We checked out the mall nearby and ate Subway sandwiches for lunch (we are so foreign!) He wasn't interested in paying the steep prices to go up the tower and look at the view, which is understandable, but I will want to go before we leave this city. Instead, we walked through the Shanghai history museum at the base of the tower, something I actually enjoyed immensely. The museum helped to explain the history of colonialism in China and Shanghai especially, which again helped me to empathize with the Chinese experience of embarrassment and bitterness toward forward powers who forced China into, at least through the eyes of the Chinese, unfair negotiations and treaties regarding control over key territories and cities for long periods of time through history.
When we found ourselves at a loss over things to do in Shanghai, I went on some adventures of my own (Grindr to the rescue) and met some locals, while the roommate rested and recovered in bed from his illness. It so happened that while I was out and about, he managed to recover enough to go outside the hostel and explore new areas. He ended up discovering one of the most wonderful book stores I have ever been to in my entire life. Near the South Shaanxi Road station on the metro, the place is located in one of the more quiet, tree-lined streets of Shanghai among some of the more alternative but important upcoming clothes designer stores in the world. This area is home to some of the most interesting (not to mention pricey) shopping and dining areas of the city. I really liked this area of town. It actually reminded me of Vancouver and, strangely enough, Qingdao, especially when it snowed.
I ended up buying two books there and also reading half of Perks of Being a Wallflower in one sitting today, something I had not read before but had been meaning to, most notably from Tumblr recommendations. I'll have to head back there tomorrow to finish it because I'm not spending any more money on books there (they're pretty expensive!)
One of the books I bought is called "How China's Leaders Think", written by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a respected American economist and trusted advisor to the Communist Party of China, with emphasis on mergers and acquisitions during the opening up of China's economy in the 90s. Already almost halfway through, this rather thick book explains in very simple language how Chinese leaders think by explaining (directed to a mostly western audience) through history and culture of China, why leaders act the way they do.
"I am not a Chinese scholar", the author explains, "and I am not writing this book to try to advance my own interests or the interests of the government of China. I believe that a growing distance between Chinese and western thought is reaching a critical point and I must do everything in my power to try to facilitate mutual understanding, as it is needed today more than ever. It is my hope that this book will be read by numerous international audiences."
One of the most interesting comments the author also makes, included in his thesis statement is that "many westerners believe that China's leaders are dictators who repress their people. This is not so. Dictators are leaders who do not listen to their people and only seek to serve their own interests. This could not be further from the truth in the case of China. I have met many of China's leaders and I can assure you that they are not dictators. They are trying to guide their people into freedom and prosperity smoothly while respecting and expanding their freedoms and rights as much as possible."
This book has been legally printed and distributed in China in English as well as Mandarin, with some slight modifications to the Mandarin version, something I was pleasantly surprised to read. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about China.
The second book I bought is called "When China Rules the World", also written by a foreigner who came to China in the late 80s or 90s and explains his own political, cultural, and social perspectives of the country. Also a very clearly and concisely written book. I cannot wait to rip through it.
On our fourth and final planned night in Shanghai, the roommate, all cured and rested and happy and I sat in the common area, talking to a friendly Canadian man from Quebec. We had booked our next two nights in Suzhou, a town about 45 minutes away from here by bullet train (more on that city in just a moment). As we were talking, one of the two Irish lassies sitting at the table to my left emitted a loud shivering noise which startled me and then we all burst out laughing.
Impossible not to notice right from the beginning of our stay in Shanghai, these two girls were quite loud, not necessarily in terms of vocal chords but rather their looks and personality. One of them had bright, shocking red hair. She looked scarily like the actress who plays Emily from the UK show Skins (2nd generation). She told me she gets that a lot. The other girl, who turned out to be her older sister, had short bright blond hair, cut almost like a boy, with a severe undercut. She later showed us a picture of herself with a pronounced mohawk, spikes and all, from a few months back.
After introducing ourselves and having a great big laugh, the two girls and I and the roommie ended up going bar hunting. They loved to drink, true to their Irish roots. We couldn't find a bar, though, for the longest time! Finally, we ended up arriving at a district in town by taxi where the faint of heart certainly do not frequent. This particular area must have been a place where young, old, and every kind of man can find any kind of woman he desires- for the right price. The bar we ended up at had white business men in nice business suits getting all buttered up by beautiful women for sale in red or black dresses. The music was loud, the lights dim, and the Irish girls laughing their heads off, the night was certainly something I won't soon forget. (The men would often get taken away by the girls somewhere away from the bar and come back some minutes later looking extra happy.) After a few beers (they got shots without me, I'm a lightweight), we headed to a different place down the street. It was pouring rain and we rushed through the puddles. We stayed there for a while, playing pool and laughing and drinking. We crashed back at the hostel and they made plans to come with us to Suzhou for two days, at which time they would head back to Shanghai to catch a train to Hong Kong. They'd be traveling the world for the next several months, something their mother, who had just passed on, had longed to do.
I awoke several hours later with a hangover I hadn't experienced in years! It was terrible! I couldn't eat or even sit down for most of the morning. The commute to the bloody train station was terrible and the Irish girls were far too happy for my aching head to handle. Told you I was a lightweight. I had to drink a ton of water that morning just to function.
Finally, we arrived in Suzhou. The place was stunning, though the roommie thought it was rather depressing. I couldn't have disagreed more. The city is known as "Venice of the east" for its vast network of canals and waterways. Our hostel was right in the middle of the city, located in the old part of the city. Just minutes by walk away were the Suzhou museum and Administrator's gardens on DongBei Street, two of my favourite sites in all of China, to be honest. I learned that this historic city was once the centre of commerce and the origin of many silk and cashmere fabrics, in addition to other trades such as pottery, calligraphy and other arts, and bamboo products. The city, while incredibly old, is also very large and was difficult for us to navigate. Despite this problem, we were able to find many interesting and affordable souvenirs, such as traditional Chinese flower and jasmine teas and 100% cashmere shawls (for the mother). The city is situated in a rather interesting microclimate of China (or what must have been), for it was extremely damp there, possibly explaining why there are so many canals there. It was the kind of weather that is so bone chillingly cold and wet that it just makes you want to shiver when you look outside. I can understand why my roommate thought it depressing, I on the other hand, however, found it absolutely beautiful and tranquil. It was a nice point of departure from the loud noise and stifling crowds of Shanghai. The canals are also beautifully lit with tasteful green and blue dim lights at night, not to mention the riverside tea houses which have some of my favourite teas and flavours.
We stayed here for five nights before returning to Shanghai just a few days ago. A coworker promised us months ago that we could stay with her on new year's. Not being able to follow through, her family bought us a hotel for two nights when we got back. This may sound ridiculous to a westerner, but Chinese are traditionally very careful with what they promise and they must absolutely stick by their word. The Chinese value honour and "saving face". We tried to reason with them but they already paid the bill. We enjoyed the hotel and now we are staying at their apartment until we leave for Guilin, a city in the south of China, not too far from Hong Kong (but still in the mainland).
This apartment is lovely. Very cosy and not far from the subway. She showed us a place called "Foreigner's street" and good places to go shopping (an area that could only be described as comparable to Diagon Alley in Harry Potter). I bought many nice gifts here as well for family such as sheepskin gloves.
We met up with Olivia, a friendly English girl who is 18 and about to go to Cambridge in the fall. She got early acceptance and is traveling around China before she begins her studies. We met her in Nanjing, just as the roommie started coming down with his illness. The two of us have had many a good time together, I must say. I helped her understand how to get to Purple Mountain back then. We are meeting her tomorrow night for New Year's eve. Will probably go karaoking with her and then find a cool bar to go to. We heard The Apartment is supposed to be the place where all the young folks go.
After Shanghai, we take a 20 hour overnight train to Guilin.
I'm very excited for that part of the adventure.
After less than a week there, it'll be a flight back home to Weifang and then boring work again not too much longer after that!
If you read all that I will be very impressed. If not, that's ok, I just wrote this down mostly so I wouldn't forget it.
