TIME OUT
Fast track to the future
LAKSHMI DEVNATH
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From the Great Wall to the MagLev, China presents an interesting mix of tradition and modernity.
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The MagLev train flies a few inches above the tracks at speeds above 400 kmph...
ENGINEERING MARVEL: The must-see on every itinerary. PHOTO: AP
"HI, I'm Peter, your guide. My Chinese name, Zhang." A cheerful voice greeted us at the Beijing airport. If the two-name concept was our first byte of knowledge about "things Chinese", the second was rather traumatic. English speaking Chinese guides speak English, no doubt, but only as words. Soon, we discover that our proper English language would not be our main communication tool. It would be "Dumb Charades" to the rescue.
En route to the hotel, Peter began, "China is the third largest country in the world... " We noticed separate lanes for bicycles on either side of the six-lane roads. A Chinese acrobatic show was scheduled for that evening and what a treat that turned out to be. But later that evening, the "wows" turned into "Ohs" as one gazed dismally at the "special" Chinese vegetarian dinner — boiled vegetables in hot water (passed off as gravy) along with plain noodles and plainer rice!
The Wall beckons
Top on our packed itinerary for the following morning was the Great Wall of China. A precipitous serpentine structure that progressively increases in height and stretches for miles beyond our vision, "The Wall" is today hailed as an engineering marvel. History relates that the Qin dynasty commenced the construction in 221 BC as a defence against nomadic incursions. Other dynasties, including the Ming Dynasty of the 14th century, subsequently extended the "Wall". Several watchtowers and beacon towers dot the structure. At the first landing I decided to do an about turn. The sheer vertical drop was more daunting than the climb up.
Our next stop was the largest city square in the world, the Tiananmen Square. This historical place also brought forth not-so-pleasant memories. Adjacent to the Square is the Forbidden City, the grand palace complex of the Ming and Qing dynasties. These regal residences with their vast grounds were out of bounds for the common people and therefore the name. Adding mystique to this mysteriousness are the tales of the Forbidden City. The emperor fancied himself the Son of Heaven and considered everything above the earth and below the heaven as his. The dragon was a symbol of his power, blue, representative of the sky, his favourite colour and nine his lucky number. He had concubines by the thousands and for them it was a one-way ticket into the precincts of the palace.
If the attempts at climbing "The Wall" and the vastness of the "City" helped me shed half a pound off my girth, Chinese adroitness relieved my wallet of several pounds (read dollars). Be it their jade wares or jewellery, enamel work (Cloissone) or silk, paper-cutting or exquisite two-sided embroidery, fresh-water pearls or fresher tea, one must ungrudgingly grant that their craftsmen are masters of the arts. And adding further value to their artistry is their marketing ingenuity.
Art of making tea
Tea-making stops being a chore in China, for, the Chinese seem to have perfected this mundane, everyday task into a fine art. At a "Tea House" pretty young girls expound on how tea is made from a variety of flowers as well as the most exotic of fruits. The Puer tea leaves, the most medicinal of them all, come not from a shrub but from a 30 metre tall tea tree! Animatedly revealing interesting bits of information, they brew the concoction and pour them into dainty cups. These are then offered to potential customers with repeated assurances that tasting does not entail buying. But either tempted by the tea or compelled by pangs of conscience at having gulped down samples by the score one ends up doing exactly that. Bargaining, even at government outlets, is part of the Chinese ethos. Unfortunately that knowledge also came to us at a price.
The excavation sites at the city of Xian that unearthed an army of seven thousand terracotta soldiers and horses are ranked the eighth wonder of the world. The warriors, life-sized and lifelike were part of the tomb of Qinshihuang, the first Emperor of China and were placed there to provide armed security to their Emperor in the other world. It was a farmer who had accidentally spotted a "warrior" during the digging of a well. Adding attraction to antiquity is the housing of the "sites" in air-conditioned exhibition halls and a three-dimensional audio-visual show on the "story of the discovery".
Guillin and Kunming, naturally beautiful, diverted our attention from history. Hordes of beautiful hillocks and lakes dotted the long journey to the Silver caves at Guillin. The caves depict fascinating stalactites and stalagmites. The colourful floodlights at regular intervals, meant to enhance nature's beauty, unfortunately flashed artificiality on it. The stunning beauty of the "Stone Forests" of Kunming, described as the city of eternal spring, can thaw even the most obdurate of viewers. The natural stone formations in various shapes and sizes, 450 million years old, cover acres of land and sturdily compete with the bewitching flora of Kunming.
The old and the new
At Shanghai, the city from where we bid goodbye to China, the MagLev train, flying a few inches above the tracks at a speed of 432 kmph dropped us at the airport in a record time of seven minutes. The blending of tradition and modernity is characteristic of China today. Traditional medicines in contemporary packaging, a martial arts programme presented with the glamour of a New York show, Buddhist chants and contemporary pop, Arhats (Buddhist saints) and communism, China's plunge into the future is fired both by her hardworking population and her rich hoary past.
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