My
summer holidays
This summer on my way back to Malaysia where my family lives, I decided to
first spend 2 weeks visiting my sister in Shanghai
and take the opportunity to do some further sightseeing in Beijing and Xian.
It’s also partly about reconnecting with the language
and my Chinese heritage and perhaps getting to see how the Chinese live their
daily lives. Are the jokes and stories they tell, the values and wisdoms they
cherish or the customs and traditions they practise, in tune with that of
generations of Chinese who emigrated and now live in southeast Asia?
It has always been a big surprise to me to discover
that China celebrates all the same major festivals as we, Malaysian Chinese do,
such as the Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar Year, QingMing to honour our dead
ancestors, Dumpling festival or Dragon Boat festival and the Mid Autumn
festival, all of which are occasions surrounded by rich legends, folkloric
tales and accompanied by unique features and celebration forms.
I had previously visited Guangdong
and Shanghai
many years ago. This time around, I can see that the skyline of Shanghai has changed
dramatically. The days of opium dens and trading
houses on the Bund have been replaced with a modern, supersized metropolis
whose skyline reaches higher every day.
There are hundreds of new skyscrapers everywhere with
25+ story apartments or office blocks containing new malls, clubs, boutiques,
offices and new ones are sprouting up all the time. It feels like Hong Kong all over, (at least three times more), what
with a population of 23 million people, of whom 90 percent live in officially
defined urban areas. The rising population density makes Shanghai now one of the
most crowded megacities in the world.
The picturesques Bund, Shanghai |
Efforts have been made to protect ancient historical
parts of Shanghai
such as Zhujiajiao, Xintiandi and Tianzifang so as to preserve the charm of the
old city. However the city is generally vast and dense and open, green space is
becoming a premium.
The historic city of Hangzhou , a popular summer residence for emperors, is a popular weekend getaway only 45 minutes
from Shanghai
on the high-speed train. The area near the city’s famous West Lake
was made a Unesco World Heritage site in June.
Escaping the smog and urban
stress of Shanghai ,
we spent a nice and relaxing afternoon there, against the backdrop of a gorgeous lake ringed by lazy willows and bamboos, surrounded by gardens laid
out in imperial grandeur interrupted by shady pavilions and pagodas.
Imperial Gardens, Hangzhou |
Additionally, there is much
public anxiety over food safety and environmental pollution which are chronic
problems in China .
In March, 20,000 dead pigs were found floating in the Huangpu river, a source
of drinking water for Shanghai .
Days later, thousands of dead ducks were washed up on the Nanhe riverbank in Sichuan . Then in May,
authorities arrested 900 people on suspicion of spicing up and selling rat, fox
and mink meat as fake lamb rolls at markets in Shanghai that are frequented by
tourists.
Confucianism
and Communism acted as restraints on commercial dealings in the past and served
as a moral check on people’s behavior. Researchers suggest this has now been
replaced by materialism, a consequence of the Cultural Revolution on the former
and the effects of the Reform Era on the latter. The revival of capitalism
ushered in by Deng Xiao Ping has been driven entirely by the unrelenting
pursuit of wealth and even led to short-term interest in profiteering at the
expense of community welfare. (Never mind, what Geert Hofstede says about China being top
of the list for longterm orientation) This single-minded pursuit of material
interests in the absence of a well-developed regulatory framework and the rule
of law, is now threatening China ’s
moral baseline. In a recent online survey, more than half the respondents said
that they did not think that complying with ethical standards was a necessary
condition for success.
Icons of Chinese civilization,
Beijing
Great Wall Pagodas and courtyard |
A misty morning at the Great Wall, JuYongGuan Pass |
The
Forbidden City with its cluster of ancient
buildings and 10,000 rooms containing priceless furniture and works of art is
another sight to behold, representing the largest and best-preserved imperial
residences of the Ming and Qing dynasties between 1368 – 1911.
Across
from the Forbidden City, we walked over to TianAnMen
Square ,
a vast desert of paving stones at the heart of Beijing and a poignant epitaph to China ’s hapless democracy movement
of 1989.
MaoZeDong Mausoleum at TianAnMen Square |
Terracotta
army, Xian
Stepping 2300 years back in time |
Sights & Sounds of Tang Dynasty |
Given the chance to grab a snapshot amongst these
soldiers dating from the late 3rd Century BC, I could not resist.
The momentary feeling of walking back several centuries in time and imagining
various epic battle scenes, is as overwhelming as viewing the Pyramids of Egypt
or the Valley of the Kings and Queens .
Challenges of urbanization
From Shanghai
to Beijing to Kuala Lumpur
and Penang , our cities are becoming
increasingly urbanized and being transformed to concrete jungles, compared to
20 or 30 years ago.
The rapid process of
urbanization brings with it different ecological, economical and social
problems and risks. These impacts cause challenges for urban policies and urban
planning strategies to manage the development in a sustainable way, when
populations double every 10 to 15 years as in many Asian cities.
Studies predict that by 2025,
our Asian cities which presently house a quarter of the world’s population and
around half its urban population, would contain around a third of the world’s
total population. The increase in the number of automobiles has made the
simplest and shortest of trips by car, a stressful and time-consuming journey
wherever we go, it seems.
Like a lot of people, I
wonder if the mad race to catch up with the rest of the developed world in
terms of economic prosperity and modern lifestyle isn’t exacting a huge price
on our resources, quality of life and our ability to achieve sustainable
growth. Will it be possible to reverse course and favor a saner approach to
planning and growing before it’s too late?
Visit my website: www.cross-culturalsynergies.com
Visit my website: www.cross-culturalsynergies.com
I love the pictures, and you could write a book with the stories you've experienced! Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteDid you see the warriors again when they were visiting Switzerland?