China
In the years since the Communist Revolution, the public face of China has been very difficult to read. Politically and economically, it has appeared at once uniform and homogenous, standing by a staunch Maoist line and keeping all non-oldguard ideas at bay, as well as open and curious about western capitalist opportunities, modernism, diversity, and cooperation. In the west, China has been viewed as somewhat of an enigma: suppressing freedom of expression and communication (the Chinese government is infamous for extreme censorship of any and all media), openly violating globally accepted standards of human rights while claiming ignorance or slander, and military posturing that is meant to discourage nations such as the United States from looking too closely at what goes on behind their closed doors; all the while urban Chinese are quickly embracing modern technoloy and communication methods such as the Internet, cities have turned into boomtowns where everything is for sale, and the Chinese government has made efforts to draw in western industry and capitalize on business and growth that would send them in a direction opposite the Communist ideals of Chairman Mao and his Cultural Revolution.
For many thousands of years, the Chinese culture has been one of walls. Finished in the earliest days of unified China–during the Qin dynasty–the Great Wall literally surrounds much of the nation. This is more symbolic than functional, but the years since its completion have seen many more political and cultural barriers built, intended as much to keep Chinese pride and culture in as they are to keep the western world out.
The age of colonialism came early for China, as armies swept across much of Southeast Asia conquering lands for their emperors. But as of the sixteenth century, westerners began knocking on China’s doors in droves–beginning with the Portuguese, in 1516, and soon followed by the British, French, Americans, Germans, Russians, and more. So many outside 
nations wanted a part of China that they literally divided up the country among themselves into “spheres of influence.” This was the beginning of the economic pillaging and a cultural oppression that eventually led to such calamities as the Opium Wars, America’s “Open Door” policy, the Boxer Rebellion and China’s civil war, and finally to the Chinese Communist Revolution itself.
A smaller nation than before (although, at roughly 1 million square miles, still huge by any account), with a much larger population, weaker economy, and rash of environmental and other problems to face, China is now making some efforts to align itself with western policies, without totally abandoning the Communist foundations upon which modern Chinese culture is based.
As China tip-toes into new-world economics, and as the voices of dissent begin to grow too loud to ignore, it will be very interesting to see if this ancient and great culture evolves from being defined by walls, to being identified with its openness and eagerness to join the modern world.
Traveling in China
Visas are required by all foreigners to enter mainland China, with the exception of a 24-hour reprieve for anyone with a ticket for a connecting flight out of the country. Visas can be gotten from Chinese consulates and embassies in most countries. Currently, a visa is not required for western nationals to enter either Hong Kong or Macau.
The environment in China is varied–from the soaring and snowy Himalayas to the flat plains of the Yangzi River valley and the Inner Mongolia Plateau. The most dramatic region of China, from a geologic point of view, is arguably the Yunnan-Guizhbou Plateau in the southwest. Here, the limestone bedrock has been carved away by the elements, creating jaw-dropping waterfalls, underground caverns, and gorge rapids to make the most expert river runner nervous. Unfortunately, because of over-population, pollution, and the effects of stripping the land for agriculture, many of China’s indigenous species are either endangered or extinct. The few that remain, however, include some of the world’s most appreciated–including the panda, snow leopard, yak, and elephant. Plant life has suffered as well, though not quite as much as fauna; the northern subarctic region is home to China’s largest forest, and the steamier south has more diverse plant life in its rainforests. The bottom line is, this is a country of more than a billion people; under the pressure of such a huge population, and without the govenmental or economic support needed to encourage conservation, much of China’s potential for ecological wealth has been destroyed.
Health risks include rabies, bilharzia, dengue fever, malaria and cholera. Immunization against cholera, hepatitis A and B, Japanese encephalitis, polio, rabies, and typhoid is necessary before going to China.
Weather in China
Weather is China varies greatly, as expected in a country of its size. Most people visit in the spring (March through April) and fall (September through October), when average daytime temperatures range from the mid-60s to the mid-80s (in degrees Fahrenheit). This is, however, the hottest time of year in the south, and coincides with typhoon season along the southern coast. It’s best to do your research according to where you’ll be and when. Otherwise, it is very difficult to try to predict weather for the entire country.
People’s Republic of China Informaton
Population: 1.25 billion
Government: Communist republic
Square Miles: 9,596,960 sq km (mainland)
Capitol: Beijing (pop 13.8 million)
Official Language: Putonghua (Beijing Mandarin dialect), Cantonese
People: Han Chinese (93%), plus 55 ethnic minorities
Religion: Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism (no stats available); Muslim (14 million), Christian (7 million)
Major products/industries: Iron, steel, coal, machinery, textiles
Posted: March 27th, 2003 under Asia.
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Not much to talk about today other than work, which continues to be busy. We have landed a couple of new project that require us to hire some new people (always a challenging task, especially here). Daily life is what continues to fascinate me. I got back my first load of laundry last week. Although my mother at an early age did a good job with laundry and my old roommate would sometimes fold my clothes, I have to say I enjoy the service here.
I have come to terms with the general idea that nothing is the same in Bombay as in the rest of the world. Saturday was the day I had been looking forward to. Getting out on the water, having a couple of races, drinking some beer and enjoying time away from the office. Although I enjoyed the day immensely, it was not the same as a day back at Fishing Bay. The best way to explain the differences is to just go step by step through the day.
Looking out over the city we saw very little going on. We had expected to see mass water and color fights, drinking, basically I wanted to see the Mumbai version of Mardi Gras. Getting back to work, we figured we had escaped Holi. We had not…
When I arrived in Mumbai Sunday at 2 A.M., the only way the guys from my office found me was to look for “the guy who looked the most lost”–that was me. After a nine-hour flight from London with a horrible hangover, sitting next to a smelly Frenchman who knew nothing about arm rest etiquette, I was ready to be anywhere but on that plane.
In 2001 my boyfriend and I traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to visit a friend who had been working there since 2000. Realizing an opportunity to tour this unique Arab nation with someone who knew his way around the place wouldn’t come again soon, we began the tedious process of obtaining visas and invitations from what would be our host country for a few weeks that winter.We arrived in Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the UAE, after stopping in Zurich and Saudi Arabia. What we found was a city that seemed to grow even in the short time we were there. Dubai is an emerging tourist destination and apparent refuge for expats in the heart of the Middle East. At its core, it is a symbiotic blend of opposites: camel races occur every Friday, women are veiled, the ruling Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum has six wives (but only five palaces), and drinking alcohol is forbidden if you are Muslim; yet cell-phone-talking, sports-car-driving nationals proliferate in this city where some of the most daring and original examples of modern architecture–including the Burj al Arab, the ambitiously tall hotel that towers over every other hotel in the world–stretch skyward in defiance of old ways. Presumably the significant expatriate population, combined with Dubai’s openness to visitors makes it a city with a consistently malleable personality.
When I woke up the first morning, groggy and out of sync with the inordinate amount of sunlight streaming into my room, I was immediately awed by how well tradition merged with an unceasing desire to be modern. At first I was jarred–though, eventually calmed–by the sound of a nearby bell ringing. I looked out the window and identified the source of this sound: a beautiful, tall mosque with delicate minarets perched atop round foundations. A moment later, I witnessed a Ferrari racing past our building. It took a few days, but I quickly grew accustomed to this juxtaposition. Dubai has built an aggressively modern city while clinging to important traditions. Religion, predictably, has a prevailing influence. The call to prayer is itself meditative, as bells chime men and women throughout the city toward their religion five times daily. Since non-Muslims are not allowed inside places of worship, I could only peer in after the devout dozens unbuckled their sandals and entered to pray. Perhaps the mosques retain their mystery that way–I am unable to imagine what exactly draws the majority of a country inside to prayer and meditation each day, and while the answer may not be found within those hallowed walls, admittedly, I found myself curious for a look.
Though the mosque was off limits, I could explore the rest of the city freely. Dubai expands along both banks of a long and famous creek, and its central business district is divided into two parts: Deira on the northern side of the creek, and Bur Dubai to the south. Each side is full of mosques and busy souks (markets), impressive buildings, shopping malls, hotels, schools, and residences. Outside this center, the city extends to the neighboring mercantile emirate of Sharjah to the north, and south and west along the Gulf, through the more conservative emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Umm All Quwain, Fujairah, and Ras Al Khaimah. Each emirate has a distinct personality, and Dubai is the most westernized and open to tourists.
Huge sacks of spices flank the walls of interconnected open-air markets. I loved this place. Strong smells of coriander and fenugreek wafted through as veiled women negotiated and wide-eyed tourists searched for unique souvenirs. In true Dubai fashion, markets found their opposite across town in huge modern shopping malls, boasting boutiques full of Chanel instead of coriander. Supposedly, the women in Dubai love to shop and wear designer clothes under their traditional dress, and if the sheer availability of designer wear is any hint, in addition to the number of gorgeous heels I saw poking out from beneath drab burqas, this rumor may be true. Compared to its neighbors, the UAE is not as restrictive of its women. Women can drive. They are educated. They sometimes hold jobs and are often not entirely covered. Men typically wear a white, loose-fitting garment that floats to the ankle, called a kandoura, or dishdasha. The women’s robes–or abayahs–are similar, but colored black. Men and women both wear head coverings (for men the gutra, for women, if it also protects the face, the burqa) ostensibly to protect them from the sun. The patterns and colors of the men’s head coverings reveal a man’s homeland, but a woman’s is simply black. Women in Dubai and throughout the UAE wear makeup and jewelry, and sometimes paint themselves with henna, in intricately beautiful patterns. I wish women in my family had such a custom. I grew up in a small town in New England; as a child, I wasn’t even allowed to wear eye shadow, never mind such detailed and artistic patterns in ink, painted all over my hands, arms, and forehead. It’s painstaking work to paint these designs; it takes time and great patience, which seem to translate easily in this special art.
Dubai entered its current period of swift growth in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Much of its current architecture was built only a few decades ago, and just occasionally will you witness one of the old wind towers, an early form of air conditioning in Dubai. This tactile sense of modernity and sudden growth is evident throughout the city, so much so that when I encountered an older building, such as a mosque that had been standing since the nineteenth century, I did not quite know quite what to make of it. Many of these “artifacts” were exciting to me simply because of their rarity. There is one historical and archaeological museum in the city that contains Bedouin-crafted clay pots, the remnants of original buildings, evidence of the pearling industry, and memories of a more nomadic culture. Touring this museum meant leaving the present Dubai behind. The museum chronicled the city’s growth from its early days as a stop-over destination for nomadic Bedouin tribes, to its period under British protection, to its discovery of oil just a short time ago–the majority of the pictures are post-1960s. I had never before seen a museum with such a bereft historical record. There is still, however, the palpable feeling that Dubai did not grow up all at once, but rather out of a tradition. And there are pieces of that tradition and elements of pre-oil Dubai, as a center for trade and fine crafts. Dubai still has some of the most beautiful and heavily traded gold in the world. The neighboring emirate of Sharjah still trades rugs that are handmade by families who have been honing that craft for generations. But Dubai is consistent in its contradictions, as evidenced by the rivaling billboards near where I stayed: one, a picture of Sheikh Maktoum waving and reminding all of his power; the other, an advertisement for the Gap, encouraging individuality through denim and striped scarves.
As a sports spectator, those traveling to or living in Dubai have options. Weekly camel races occur each Friday and last hours. Tiny young boys are recruited from nearby places to ride animals I’d never thought of as speedy. But the camels are fast, and the boys are light, and somehow the hours pass as the humps stream by with little arms and legs keeping hold atop them. After one race, my friends and I talked to a few of the riders and camel trainers. My host, who fortunately speaks Arabic, related the praise one trainer spoke of his animal and about how fortunate the boys are to ride them. According to the trainer, it is very lucky to be chosen as a camel rider because your family is paid well and you achieve social status. Many families, trying to take advantage of this opportunity, move from a less desirable country to live in Dubai. Many of the young jockeys were from Bangladesh and would earn more money in one race than their fathers did in a month of labor. I never decided if I thought this was good or bad. The boys, we learned from our friend, woke early, trained hard, and were forced to live apart from their families for long stretches of time. Very few of them were more than nine years old, and many people view the practice of putting these children through the hardships of this lifestyle as unjust. On the other hand, their quality of life apparently did improve, they were fed well, and it at least appeared that they bonded with their animals. More famous than the camel races is Dubai’s World Cup, one of the most prestigious horse races in the world. An ingenious decision on the part of Sheikh Maktoum to host this race, as well as a tennis open (both of which occur in March of each year) and a fast-growing multinational golf tournament, the World Cup draws tourists and much international attention. The purse is huge, the tourists are wealthy, and everyone congregates to enrich Dubai literally and figuratively. Dubai’s leaders know that the emirate cannot rely on oil forever, nor can it function solely on trade. It has thus invested in international tourism instead.