I tend to do a good bit of complaining on this blog. It's primarily for two reasons. The first is that there's a tendency in the expat zeitgeist here to fee slighted. Very few of us actually speak the language. Between that, how differently things work and the developing nature of the country it leaves the community feeling isolated and quite marginalized. A lot of what circulates around in English has to do with this and it at times gives my opinions what might or might not be an unfairly negative predisposition. At the same time, the blog is just an attractive way to vent. For what it's worth there's a lot China has going for itself. If the place was all bad I wouldn't have come back, right? So it seemed prudent to go ahead and take the time to put the big compliment out there.
On my recent trip to Dandong there was a sharp juxtaposition between the Chinese and North Korean sides of the Yalu. Dandong is in many ways a very nice little place. It's clean, lively and most importantly people seem to be generally happy there. For lack of a better term, the city has a nice vibe to it. My first day there was characterized by drenching rain and a trip to a museum that was dedicated to bashing my country. Obviously that would start the trip off on the wrong foot. The second day though was a beautifully clear Saturday. Along the river front people were walking their dogs, enjoying a stroll with their families, having wedding pictures taken. Everything seemed to have a genuinely artistic flare to it as well. Not just the statues, but things like the light poles were jovially different. Later that night I accidentally happened upon a giant public park which had thousands of people dancing and playing a Chinese version of hacky sack beside neon lit buddhist pavilions. The city appeared to be having such a good time it seemed to me almost like China was trying to make the North Koreans jealous!
One of the big attractions in Dandong is the Yalu river Broken Bridge. It was one of the few surviving bridges of the Korean war. Though mostly rebuilt, at a later point the North Koreans tore down their half (at an even later point a second bridge was erected next to the original). Tourists can walk out to the end of the bridge halfway across the river to check out both the bridge's battle wounds and scope out the other side of the river through some high powered binoculars. The most interesting part was when I heard a train coming across the other bridge from North Korea into China. The conductor was blowing the horn like crazy, leaning out the window waving at us, grinning from ear to ear. All the while the engine was pulling literally one car of the open top variety which was either not that full or was empty. To the guy driving that train engine Dandong must be a glittering modern metropolis, the ultimate playground and a bastion of freedom.
Pretty much the whole point of the trip was to be able to look at North Korea, so I took full advantage of my 5 kuai and spent as much time on the binoculars as possible. The first thing one notices on the other side of the river is a very old and extremely spartan looking ferris wheel... which wasn't moving on a Saturday afternoon. It had two small construction cranes... which were empty (though it lulls late at night construction goes on 24/7 in China). There were plenty of park benches... on which nobody was sitting. The thing is that it's not like people were forbidden from going to the riverside. Some people were hanging out along the river some of whom were just hanging out, others of which looked to be mildly busy with some sort of labor. Visible buildings were badly dilapidated. Older apartment buildings in China will be similarly dilapidated at times, but river front property? Hardly! Of the handful of smoke stacks on the horizon only one was emitting something.
Which brings me to my big compliment for China. If nothing else China “makes moves”. There's something happening here, something big. It's happening everywhere I've been. The rate at which the country is modernizing is astounding. More important though is the scope of it, which is mind boggling. After driving all across the US I know firsthand that it's a tremendous amount of land. China is similarly large. The difference is that the amount of people in any given place far exceeds that at home. The population density is just silly. Yet everywhere you go, this thing, this monumental creation going on, it sort of pervades everyone's existence. My personal opinion is that there's something awry and there has to be a drawback or a catch or something involved. But even if that's the case to consider that this has been going on at this pace for fifteen years, and to realize that when I was born China was like that terrible land across the Yalu river... it's incredible.
One of my philosophies in life is that people (and by extension nations) are neither good nor evil, it is their actions which can be judged good or evil. For whatever faults there may be in the system here, the people who are building this country are doing something truly special. It's something I don't understand, probably very few people in the world understand and even fewer in the west understand. Excluding the more nefarious goals, I hope that it works out. Hopefully 100 years from now the Chinese will remember this generation of their countrymen for their achievements. The man that's on the money here isn't among those who deserve to there. The names of those people will be borne through time but whoever they are, they're alive right now*.
That's my big compliment to China.
*aside for one notable trailblazer, of course
On my recent trip to Dandong there was a sharp juxtaposition between the Chinese and North Korean sides of the Yalu. Dandong is in many ways a very nice little place. It's clean, lively and most importantly people seem to be generally happy there. For lack of a better term, the city has a nice vibe to it. My first day there was characterized by drenching rain and a trip to a museum that was dedicated to bashing my country. Obviously that would start the trip off on the wrong foot. The second day though was a beautifully clear Saturday. Along the river front people were walking their dogs, enjoying a stroll with their families, having wedding pictures taken. Everything seemed to have a genuinely artistic flare to it as well. Not just the statues, but things like the light poles were jovially different. Later that night I accidentally happened upon a giant public park which had thousands of people dancing and playing a Chinese version of hacky sack beside neon lit buddhist pavilions. The city appeared to be having such a good time it seemed to me almost like China was trying to make the North Koreans jealous!
One of the big attractions in Dandong is the Yalu river Broken Bridge. It was one of the few surviving bridges of the Korean war. Though mostly rebuilt, at a later point the North Koreans tore down their half (at an even later point a second bridge was erected next to the original). Tourists can walk out to the end of the bridge halfway across the river to check out both the bridge's battle wounds and scope out the other side of the river through some high powered binoculars. The most interesting part was when I heard a train coming across the other bridge from North Korea into China. The conductor was blowing the horn like crazy, leaning out the window waving at us, grinning from ear to ear. All the while the engine was pulling literally one car of the open top variety which was either not that full or was empty. To the guy driving that train engine Dandong must be a glittering modern metropolis, the ultimate playground and a bastion of freedom.
Pretty much the whole point of the trip was to be able to look at North Korea, so I took full advantage of my 5 kuai and spent as much time on the binoculars as possible. The first thing one notices on the other side of the river is a very old and extremely spartan looking ferris wheel... which wasn't moving on a Saturday afternoon. It had two small construction cranes... which were empty (though it lulls late at night construction goes on 24/7 in China). There were plenty of park benches... on which nobody was sitting. The thing is that it's not like people were forbidden from going to the riverside. Some people were hanging out along the river some of whom were just hanging out, others of which looked to be mildly busy with some sort of labor. Visible buildings were badly dilapidated. Older apartment buildings in China will be similarly dilapidated at times, but river front property? Hardly! Of the handful of smoke stacks on the horizon only one was emitting something.
Which brings me to my big compliment for China. If nothing else China “makes moves”. There's something happening here, something big. It's happening everywhere I've been. The rate at which the country is modernizing is astounding. More important though is the scope of it, which is mind boggling. After driving all across the US I know firsthand that it's a tremendous amount of land. China is similarly large. The difference is that the amount of people in any given place far exceeds that at home. The population density is just silly. Yet everywhere you go, this thing, this monumental creation going on, it sort of pervades everyone's existence. My personal opinion is that there's something awry and there has to be a drawback or a catch or something involved. But even if that's the case to consider that this has been going on at this pace for fifteen years, and to realize that when I was born China was like that terrible land across the Yalu river... it's incredible.
One of my philosophies in life is that people (and by extension nations) are neither good nor evil, it is their actions which can be judged good or evil. For whatever faults there may be in the system here, the people who are building this country are doing something truly special. It's something I don't understand, probably very few people in the world understand and even fewer in the west understand. Excluding the more nefarious goals, I hope that it works out. Hopefully 100 years from now the Chinese will remember this generation of their countrymen for their achievements. The man that's on the money here isn't among those who deserve to there. The names of those people will be borne through time but whoever they are, they're alive right now*.
That's my big compliment to China.
*aside for one notable trailblazer, of course
This is North Korea:
Meanwhile in Dandong...
This is the entrance to the park. The pictures of the festivities inside didn't come out to well. Notice the neon pavilion in the upper left hand corner.
The bridge into North Korea by night. It changes colors too! Notice pitch black on the other side. Dandong is lit up like a Christmas tree at night, there's even a laser.
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