CHINA TRAVEL DIARY

A Short Trip to Tianjin 天津

tomitaf7 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:10:58 +0900

I took a train of the CRH (China Railway High-speed) in Beijin for a short trip to Tianjin on the 17th September. After a 30-minute ride on it, I was in Tianjin Station. Tianjin, today a leading trading port and industrial area located east of Beijin, formerly acted as one of the most successful commerce points between the West and the East. Even now, some streets are lined with old, stately buildings of those days, as shown in the pictures below. I spent most of my time strolling along Jiefang Beilu Street in the central district and looking in at stores on Hebeilu Street, one of the busiest shopping areas in the city.

天津

Expo 2010 Shanghai 上海

tomitaf7 — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:46:15 +0900

Swiss Pavilion

Shanghai Culture Center Pavilion

Sri Lanka Pavilion
A scene of a craftsman cutting raw ores into gemstones

Chinese Main Pavilion

The funnel-shaped tower in front of the entrance gate to the Asian Zone

Spanish Pavilion

Growing Foreign Investments in the Chinese Economy

     On September 21, 2010, I visited the Shanghai Expo. Although it was a day in autumn, Shanghai was still under a scorching sun. Walking on the streets early in the morning made me feel tired. Fortunately, the Expo site was close to the subway station. As I was going into the site through the gate of the Asian Zone, a huge funnel-shaped iron tower appeared in front of me. I also saw an oriental-style, red building just across the street; it was the Chinese main pavilion. The scale of the site was great, but not very surprising to me because I occasionally saw its pictures on TV in Japan. As broadcasted by the media, there were a really great number of visitors forming a long line toward the entrance of every popular pavilion.
     What was most impressive to me was not just the number of visitors but a global atmosphere being felt throughout the Expo site. It was like a competition of economic cultures and advanced technologies by 246 participating countries and world organizations. I stayed there almost half a day, trying to get inside of popular pavilions, but often I had to abandon it when I heard the length of time to stand in the waiting line.
     Such an extraordinary interest in the Expo among people indicates a growing existence of foreign businesses in the Chinese economy. Official statistics about the world economy on the Internet show that in 2009 foreign capitals occupied 55.9% and 54.2% in the Chinese export and import values respectively.  This means that about one half of the economy is supported by foreign companies.
     The Chinese government seems to welcome foreign capitals, keeping the market open to foreign investments. A newpaper in Japan reported recently about a Japanese company having tried to get approval for establishing a plant in Shanghai. In an interview with a governmnet official, the company representative was asked questions like "Are you OK if your technology were made known in China?" and "Would it be acceptable for you if local employees might leave you someday and begin their own business competing with you?" The application, the newpaper says, was accepted at once when they responded in the affirmative.

An enjoyable time of the people

tomitaf7 — Mon, 17 May 2010 23:25:50 +0900

In Yuan Ming Yuan Park
An entertaning parade in the folk costume of olden days

    Late in April, I took a 4-day trip to Beijing. What I was anxious about before leaving Japan was the yellow sand known for making the region unhappy around this season. But it was an unnecessary worry. The breeze was cool and dry, making the walking outside rather comfortable. It was my fifth visit to China, so I was a bit self-confident that I had some understanding about their lifestyle, but this trip renewed my knowledge again, as in the previous travels. What drew my attention was their eating custom, which I found is rather different from that of the Japanese.
    There is a restaurant called “ Azabu Juban” (or “ Ma Bu Shi Hao” in the Chinese pronunciation) in the basement of a department store located in Wan Fu Jin District, the main commercial part of town. I got interested in the name because it was the same as that of a well-known district in Tokyo. I entered the inside. Feeling familiar with their rice-related dish menus, I ordered a plate of fried rice and a vegetable salad selecting from the pictures on the menu. I was expecting to have a Japanese-style, modest-volume rice bowl.
    Some time later, a young cheerful waitress carried my orders. I got upset when I saw the plates being heaped with so much rice and salad. It was like the ones in volume for three persons in Japan. I wondered whether one person really eats such a lot of food at one time in China, and looked around in the restaurant. Almost all the tables were occupied with guests; there was no table with only one person sitting at, except mine. They were grouped with "fellows" (perhaps, friends or families), sharing dishes from the same plates. I understood why my dishes were so big ones. It is a custom in this country to share foods with other people when eating outside.
    I heard later from an acquaintance that the Chinese usually do not go out alone for eating or drinking. With no companion coming together, they would rather stay and eat at home. There is also little difference with coffee shops such as McDonal's and Starbucks. You may rarely find someone drinking by oneself at cafes on weekdays as well as holidays.

Yuan Ming Yuan Park

tomitaf7 — Mon, 17 May 2010 23:11:56 +0900

円明園
The European Buildings Area in Yuan Ming Yuan Park keeps the ruins from destruction in the Second Opium War in 1859.

Book Review

tomitaf7 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:29:57 +0900

Yang Yi’s Prize-winning Japanese Novel
“The Morning was in the Mist of Time” (Translated from the original title)

     Ms. Yang Yi, a Chinese lady residing in Japan, has been recently awarded the “Akutagawa Sho”, the most honorable literature prize leading to a literary career in Japan. She is the first writer with foreign nationality to win the prize. The work honored by the prize is one of her recent novels titled “The Morning was in the Mist of Time” or in Chinese, “Zaochen shaowei xia shijian de wu le” (Both are my quick translations from the Japanese original title). Her prize winning was taken with a big surprise in Japan, because this kind of top-class prize is generally thought impossible to obtain for people other than a really professional native writer. She came to Japan in 1987 as a student and has since been staying in this country. Although Japanese is a foreign language for her, the novel is written in a flowing, natural style. The winning of the prize demonstrates her outstanding linguistic abilities.
     The story, set in both China and Japan, covers ten years from the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s. In a press interview after being awarded the prize, Yang Yi said that she wanted to make some notes about the Tiananmen Square Incident; however, no reference is made to political ideologies or propagandas in the book. She puts a spotlight mainly on two boys as the heros in the novel, and the story develops mostly in a provincial town in China. Those two hero students, after entering the same university with an earnest desire to contribute to the nation, gradually get involved in student activisms aspiring to national political reforms. They become interested in American democracy as well. But their aspiration is finally frustrated in the political situations of those days, and they are expelled from the campus. The author depicts the situations in an objective, restricted-tone approach without bringing in her personal feelings.
     One of the heroes later lives in Japan and, leading the social life with his countrymen, continues to be involved in democratization activities. Amid daily hard work and raising his own children, however, he gradually loses interest in politics. Some of the characters in the novel decide to move back for nostalgia at the risk of being blamed in their homeland. The title of this book indicates their parting early in the morning at the international airport near Tokyo. At the end of the story, the hero is impressed by a murmur of his Japanese boss at a printing factory saying that democracy would be achieved in China someday in the future only if its economy would continue to grow at the present pace.
     Readers of this work are divided in their evaluation of it. In fact, according to a press report, it was at the second voting in the Prize Selection Committee that Yang Yi’s awarding was approved among the members 5 to 3. One of the members commented later that although she was certainly a good writer, this work left less after-reading impressions in mind than her last one. The lifestyle on campus in China, vividly described in the novel, might have served as one of the factors in the divided evaluations in that it is not very familiar to the Japanese readers. It is rare to find academic communities in Japan where students and teachers live together within the same campus.
     In the second half of the story, the stage shifts from China to Japan, creating a possible expectation of Japanese readers that they could learn something about the hero’s personal experience in Japan. But the author, keeping her looks detached, talks very little about the hero’s personal communications with local people. It might be due to shortage of the work volume (completed with only 150 pages in total) or due to her skillfully plotted story-telling strategies. Anyway, this book is interesting, and would certainly draw attention of Chinese readers if it would become available in the translated version.

A Visit to Yuan Ming Yuan Park

tomitaf7 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:40:01 +0900

円明園

Yuan Ming Yuan Park is one of the best-known, largest gardens in Beijing, located northwest of the city. On July 21, as arranged yesterday, I met Mrs. Liu at the subway station “ Xi Er Qi “ early in the afternoon, and then she took me by car to Yuan Ming Yuan for a tour inside the park. Mrs. Liu, who is a friend of an acquaintance and teaches Japanology in a college in Beijing, speaks Japanese like me, so I could enjoy the tour without communication barrier.
The park, which is as big as 20 kilometers in circumference, was built as one imperial palace of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century. Reportedly, in its golden ages, over 140 buildings filled the area, forming a dignified appearance, but in 1860 all of them were destroyed by the allied forces of the U.K. and Frances in the second Opium War.
We entered one of the districts in the park. The entrance promenade leads to a large pond, which is covered with the deep green lotus in bloom. In the area in my view nothing remains except the flat, stretching grounds covered with gray bricks and surrounded by thickly growing wild plants. There is almost no sign of public works to rebuild the structures.

Evening rush hours

tomitaf7 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:52:51 +0900

A crossing point of Chong Weng Men Inner Dajie and Jianguo Men Dajie in the evening rush hours, adjacent to the biggest shopping center in the city.

Evening walks

tomitaf7 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:18:29 +0900

Young girls are fond of walking hand in hand. This will be an unspoken expression of friendships.

Summer 2007 in Beijing

tomitaf7 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:20:12 +0900

Learning Chinese at Chinese Language Training Center

     From 16th to 23rd of July, 2007, I stayed in Beijing to take Chinese lessons at Chinese Language Training Center of the Academy of Arts & Design, Qinghua University. As the length of my stay was limited, I was recommended to take one-to-one individual lessons rather than attending class lessons. I followed that advice and registered for the lessons from Wednesday to Saturday.
     My teacher is Ms. Lao, who looks young but is actually in the middle of her 30s, married, and looks like being experienced in teaching. She speaks in a clear voice, and aloud like other ordinary Chinese. I choose a beginner’s textbook mainly composed of pronunciation and pattern drills. Having a very few opportunities to speak in Chinese in Japan, I face a lot of difficulty with oral communications with her. If I don’t understand what she says, she writes it in Chinese characters on a piece of paper, and I review it quickly. The lessons are conducted in serious atmosphere. The textbook includes as much as 242 pages in it. To make it understandable, the explanatory portions in the book are written in English. Due to the patience and enthusiasm of the teacher, after completion of the entire lessons I feel a bit eased in communication at the hotel or on the streets in Chinese.

Preparations for Olympic Games

     There is just one year left until the opening of the Beijing Olympics 2008. Newspapers and magazines at kiosks or signboards in town carry a lot of preliminary publicity for the Olympics. I feel heated atmosphere in media promoting the international event. In major districts in the city, old buildings are being dismantled and new ones are under construction. Some of the subway lines are under repair or construction to cope with expected traffic congestion. A lot of workers are engaged in public works for road construction even near my hotel located in a central area.The outdoor work must be harsh and painful under a scorching sun.
     Reportedly, there are now three million cars in Beijing, and that number is still increasing by 1,000 every day. Main districts smell of heavy car exhaust. During the morning and evening rush hours, many roads are congested with bumper-to-bumper cars. The air pollution is likely to be approaching critical conditions. If the situation is left without taking effective measures, athletes in the Olympics next year might face physical disorders. Some suggestions are made to minimize the stuations; for example, the competent authorities should take actions like prohibiting cars with certain license numbers from driving on certain days of the week or limiting private cars driving into the central areas during a certain time zone.

Beijing Station and its Main Building

tomitaf7 — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:03:59 +0900

Beijing Station and its main building

Summer Palace,Yi He Yuan, Beijing

tomitaf7 — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:24:23 +0900

顎和園

Commemorative facilities facing the lake in the Garden

Entrance to the Garden

tomitaf7 — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:12:54 +0900

Entrance building of the garden

Summer Palace: Main Tower

tomitaf7 — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:08:18 +0900

Main tower of the palace

Summer Palace: Lion Statue

tomitaf7 — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:00:50 +0900

A lion statue welcoming visitors inside of the entrance

Summer Palace: Entrance

tomitaf7 — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 20:54:28 +0900

Entrance gate to the Summer Palace Garden