China visit 2004

By GERRY WARNER
Staff Writer, Cranbrook Daily Townsman
It first hit me when we were speeding along the expressway into Beijing from the airport and I was gaping in awe at the wall of high-rise buildings that seemed to roll on forever. Surely this isn't a communist country, I thought to myself. With growth like this, was this ever a communist country?
I guess the blood spilled in Tiananmen Square in 1989 answers my rhetorical question, but oh how things have changed since then. Our ever-obliging tour guide put a quick end to my speculation. Communism in China today is not an ideology, he said. Communism is a "brand."A brand? Karl Marx and Chairman Mao must be rotating in their graves at such revisionist capitalist heresy. But let's get something straight right now. If you go to China today expecting to see communism, you will be sorely disappointed. What you will see is the fastest growing economy in the world with the People's Congress debating how to deal with "over-investment," hyper-inflation and how to reduce growth to manageable levels. Most politicians in the West would kill to have "problems" like this.
But don't kid yourself. China is still a one-party government and that party is communist. China is a demand economy; not a free market. According to Premier Wen Jiabo, the Middle Kingdom is bent on building "socialism with Chinese characteristics." One of those characteristics appears to be using communism as an engine of economic growth. Trust the inscrutable Chinese to pull off a trick like that. However, one shouldn't confuse an economic free market with a free market of ideas. Now the stereotypical communism of yore starts to rear its ugly head.
Reading the March 15 edition of the English language China Daily, I see a reference on page two to the "incident in 1989," which, of course, is code for the bloody Tiananmen Square uprising. And when we visited Tiananmen Square ourselves, I asked our guide if there were any protocols to follow. Well don't give any speeches or lectures, she told me. And you know what? Your politically incorrect correspondent did something he normally never does. He kept his mouth shut. Mind you with the grim visage of Chairman Mao starring down at me from the gates of the Forbidden City and those deadly serious soldiers of the Chinese Liberation Army marching around, it wasn't difficult to keep my lips sealed. And the sight of thousands of Chinese lined up to view Mao's mausoleum, cast a certain pall on the atmosphere there.
But again don't get the wrong impression. The great majority of people in that vast square seemed to be there just to enjoy an afternoon in the sunshine -- the fact the sun no longer appears to shine in China is another matter -- and the mood for the most part was relaxed and friendly. I even had a young Chinese businessman approach me in the notorious square to practice his English one me. We even exchanged e-mail addresses.
And it was like this everywhere we went in China. Friendly, open, curious people, eager to know more about the West. As well, a certain dignity that's hard to define. One thing is for sure -- they don't regard us as foreign devils anymore and at the same time you can feel a certain pride in them about the dynamic growth of their country and how the Middle Kingdom, which has always regarded itself as the centre of the civilized world, is now making that belief a reality. And considering the imperialist machinations of the current regime to the South, having another super-power to balance the American Empire doesn't seem like a bad idea.
Oh yes, the sun. There's a downside to the unbridled growth China is experiencing now -- unbridled pollution. The water is undrinkable and the smog is simply appalling. There's no other word for it. I can honestly tell you that in two solid weeks we never saw anything close to a blue sky even on days that were clear. A few times we saw the sun, an orange, brown orb, trying to shine through the leaden skies filled with automobile exhaust and smoke from the thousands of coal-burning factories. But it was a weak, anemic sun, nothing like the grand ol' sol of home. And the water? What can I say other then to tell you that they told us not to drink the water or even brush your teeth in it even when staying in five-star hotels. A glittering five-star hotel and you have to drink bottled water! The paradox of today's China.
But oh the temples, the pagodas, the Great Wall, the Beijing Opera, the Shanghai Museum, the theatre shows, the Terra Cotta Warriors, the misty mountains of the Three Gorges -- but most of all -- the engaging and dynamic Chinese people. This is a land that is a dream to visit and an experience never to be forgotten.And all of this for a base price of less than $3,000 for two weeks and in the company of a wonderful group of diverse Canadians that seemed to enjoy the trip as much as I did. (Call for more info.) But most of all, think of visiting China some day.
It might change your life.
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