My Life in China, Part 19- Once and future travels

Over the years, I’ve had the great opportunity to travel over large swaths of China. More importantly, I often traveled like a local and had experiences I would have missed if I traveled as a tourist. Crazy crowds, tasty and exotic food, quiet and remote villages, less than par hotels, uncomfortable seats, harrowing rides, awesome people, beautiful vistas, and just a wealth of history. Were the experiences always comfortable? No, but having the chance to immerse into the Chinese way of life cast the culture and its people in a different light than what you would read about or see on TV in the states.

Since my first excursion to the Middle Kingdom almost 20 years ago, I have had the chance to visit many places. Some of these include: Shanghai, the largest city in the word; the old capital Xi’an with its city wall, the terracotta soldiers, and the tomb of the first emperor; Beijing, with the Forbidden City, Great Wall, and Tiananmen Square; Tianjin and its bustling Harbor; Baoding, my old home; Shijiazhuang, where I got married; Wafangdian, my wife’s hometown; Dalian, a great sea-side city; Bingyugou, and its beautiful mountain vistas; Dandong, and its proximity to North Korea; Shenyang, the summer capital of the Qing Dynasty; Guangzhou and its Dim Sum; Harbin with its beer and ice sculpting festival (and the coldest place I’ve ever been); Hong Kong with its culture, food, and life; and Macao with its car racing and casinos. I’ve taken slow trains from Xi’an to Beijing (15 hours), Bejing to Dalian (8 hours), Dalian to Harbin (6 hours), and, by far the longest, Beijing to Guangzhou (a 30-hour train ride). I spent hours staring out the window taking in the country’s varied landscapes and dreaming of the possibilities and adventures it has to offer. I’ve traveled by plane, train (high speed and slow), car, bus, and boat.

It may seem like a lot, but I’ve only scratched the surface of the country. There are huge areas I’ve yet to explore. By my estimates, I’ve seen less than 15% of the country. Many people don’t realize the sheer size of China. By area, it is only 2% smaller than the US. To give you a sense of this, the trip I mentioned above from Beijing to Guangzhou is roughly equivalent to the distance from Boston to Miami (see map above). The landscape is just as varied: deserts, mountains, grassland, tundra, forests, jungles, wetlands, etc. It is a beautiful country.

What do I have left to see? The list is incredibly long, but for starters, there is Sichuan Province and its capital, Chengdu. If you like spicy food (which I do), this is the place to go. Nearby Chongqing is in Hubei Province, but it’s on my list as well. Mysterious Yunnan Province and its capital, Kunming is known for its varied landscape, from mountains to rice terraces. In Guanxi, you will find the towering karst formations you so often see in Chinese paintings, draped in mist. Hainan is China’s Hawaii, so we can’t miss that either. If you travel up the coast, there is the temperate city of Xiamen, an old colonial hub for Europeans with representations of their various architectural styles still present. Directly across the strait is Taiwan. Politics aside, it still shares much of Chinese culture, and in many ways, you can see what the culture was like before Chairman Mao sterilized it during the Cultural Revolution. Next to bustling Shanghai, there is the lazy Hangzhou with its beautiful gardens, canals, and Song Dynasty architecture. As I have written a book dealing with the Mongol invasion of Europe, the sweeping steppe of Inner Mongolia is a must-see for me, too. I love lamb, so the spiced Muslim cuisine of Xinjiang is also on the list. Tibet would be an adventure, but after a rough patch I had on Hawaii’s Haleakala Volcano, it seems I don’t do particularly well at high altitudes, which is a shame as I researched its history heavily for one of my books. There are also many places in-between I hope I can see, areas outside of the cities where the “real” China lives. Equivalents to the Baodings and the Wafandians that I’ve grown to love so much!

As you can see, there is a lot left to experience. The majority of my travels have been in the country’s northeast, an area that has become very familiar. But other than a few brief excursions, much of the country is still unknown to me. It is like visiting the US and only seeing New England. How can I say I know China without experiencing the south or the west? Simple, I can’t.

Are there areas I don’t want to see? No, not really, but some areas would be difficult to experience. Tibet is one, not only because of the altitude mentioned above, but as you can imagine, it is a sensitive area requiring permission to visit. China’s poor areas, the northwest and the south’s Anhui and Jiangxi provinces would be other difficult places. Infrastructure is an issue, and as tourism virtually doesn’t exist, it would generally be difficult to get around. I’ve visited Guangdong Province but have no interest in returning. It is the one part of China I did not enjoy. Being in the deep south, it was the absolute hottest and steamiest place I have ever experienced. We were there in April, but it was already in the ’90s, and because it was monsoon season, the humidity was 100%. Mold was everywhere, and you couldn’t walk more than a few feet before you were drenched, either in sweat or one of the pop-up showers. As a quick aside, we were there because the US consulate in Guangzhou, the capital, handles all US Green Card interviews for the entire country. We didn’t get to choose when we visited, we couldn’t plan any sightseeing (not that I would want to in the heat), and it was generally a stressful trip. The experience forever tainted the city for me, unfortunately.

Hopefully, this pandemic ends sooner rather than later. As you can see from above, we have many travel plans, and this is just in China! There also seems to be a rush to visit these places before some significant change. This is what happened to us in Hong Kong. As I mentioned in my previous post, my last trip to China was to visit Hong Kong (in November 2019). I went both to see the city and accompany my wife, who was attending a conference. I did so because, if you recall, Hong Kong was going through some drastic and traumatic changes at the time (you don’t see it as much on the news, but it still is), and I feared for my wife’s safety. It proved to be the right decision as the situation exploded while we were there. You may recall seeing a police officer shooting a protester on TV. We were just a few blocks from that (and getting a foot massage at the time), and the images you saw of students barricading the streets and clashing with police at Hong Kong University were right next to our hotel. We saw all the action from our window and the day after we left (which we almost couldn’t), the lobby of our hotel was tear-gassed. When I think back to that trip, this is what I recall: Protests, great food, riot gear, beautiful vistas, the smell of tear gas, friendly people, smashed and burning storefronts, long nightly walks, hateful graffiti, boat trips on the harbor, anger, love, hopelessness, hope. It’s a mix of destruction, tensions, and vacation. It is bizarre, but I also count myself lucky because I got to see Hong Kong the way it was, just before it all changed forever. I wish I could say this was a fluke, but I don’t think so. The Chinese Communist Party is getting harsher, and relations between China and the US are getting tenser. There is undoubtedly a feeling in the air that everything could change.

I hate to end a post with this grim tone, but it is our reality these days. I hope that things get better this year and that this does not become yet another “new normal” because, frankly, this “new normal” sucks! Like most, I just want to experience and enjoy life. I want to travel again and have adventures. I don’t want to worry about not being able to see my in-laws, getting COVID while grocery shopping, protesters storming the capital, or the other seemingly countless worries that have appeared in this world.

Here is to the New Year (virtual glass raised)! Let us hope that it is better than the last.

Cheers!