One mountain, One river, & One saint

If you speak to a person in the south, they will claim 'a myriad of mountains, rivers, and geniuses'. I climbed one of these myriads of mountains last week, a mountain that overlooks Guangzhou called Baiyuanshan (White Cloud Mountain). It took me two hours to reach the top from the midway point, walking on a widely paved two lane road. I caught the top of the mountain just in time to view part of the sunset (see the first two pictures on the right) and then descend all the way down the mountain in the dark, getting bitten all the way. The view from the top was amazing, the jury is still out, though, on if it was worth all the mosquito bites.

But if you ask someone in Shandong province they will smugly say that Shandong has 'one mountain, one river, and one saint.' Needlessly implying that they have the last word in China on each: Taishan, the Yellow River, and Confucius.

Taishan is one of the most revered peaks in Chinese consciousness. The story of Taishan's creation dates back to the creation myth of the earth itself, and because of this, Taishan is thoroughly intertwined in Chinese history. At the beginning of time, when all was in chaos and heaven and earth were swirling all together Pan Gu was born. He promptly set about separating the earth from the heavens and with each day that passed he grew taller and taller, the sky grew higher and higher and the ground grew thicker and thicker. Finally after 18,000 years the two were finally separated and Pan Gu died of exhaustion. His body disintegrated and his eyes became the sun and moon, his blood filled the land and transformed into rivers, his sweat fell as rain and his head and limbs became the Taoists 5 most sacred peaks. Taishan formed from Pan Gu's head.

Whether because it formed from Pan Gu's head or because it is situated in the east, which is representative of spring and birth in the Chinese culture, Taishan is the most revered of peaks in Taoism, but is also revered in Buddhism and Confucianism as well. Further, it is believed that heaven would not allow an unworthy ruler to ascend to the summit of the mountain, so a successful climb denoted divine approval. In China's 3,000 years of history many emperors and rulers have attempted to climb the mountain adding to its rich historical legacy. 5 emperors were successful in their climbs, and during the Qing dynasty 17th century to 1911, hundreds of thousands have climbed the 1545 meters to the top. But these numbers pale in its modern popularity, on the May long-weekend in 2006, it is said 190,000 people climbed the mountains 6,666 steps (see third picture on right).


In the paths of all who came before me, I too set out on this gruelling climb, fortunate enough to meet up with several American's and their English speaking host. Heidi and Nora were both middle school teachers visiting a school in Jining. They were in China for just under a month and were sadly leaving the next day for Beijing. I must say the climb was much more enjoyable because I climbed with them (see group picture on the right, we were at the start of the climb).

The day began at the Dai Temple, where many emperors stayed prior to their pilgrimage. Then we proceeded to the mountain, where we slowly set out on our climb. We reached the top about two hours later, while highly commercialized at the top (there is even a hotel) we walked around briefly before electing to eat dinner. We greatly enjoyed the cable car ride down the mountain, though the trip would not have been nearly as fulfilling if we had elected to take the cable car up. Take a look at the man carrying boxes down the mountain, these men get paid 10 yuan per trip! I can only imagine!



In the evening I wandered the local night market with a junior named Phoebe, who was majoring in English at the Tai'an Agricultural University. I had some sort of fish on a stick, as well as kettle corn. Both were surprisingly good. I was amazed at the different wares for sale, Phoebe said that Night Markets are common throughout many Chinese cities. Think of them as farmers markets taking place at night and selling everything from books, to pots and pans, food, electrical lights, shoes, and everything else in between. There was even a man with a monkey performing tricks!

The next morning I took the 9:13 train out of town. I was greatly impressed with the Chinese peoples' ability to Que, a large improvement from my stay in Beijing 2 years ago. However, when the train doors did not line up correctly with the pre-formed rows waiting on the platform all hope was lost and people went running and crowded the doors.

While I don't have any stories yet for the One River, I do however have many for the One Saint, but I will leave those for my next post. As well as a post on Chinese lifestyle and Chinese hospitality. More in good time, tomorrow looks like it will be a down day in the morning, so I will try as I know that the blog went dry for most of the week.

Love to all back in the states. Dad, Mom, Nate, love you all!

NOTE to old friends, new friends, and family: I know someone out in the great wide blog-o-sphere has been reading my blog since I have had over 50 posts since I last checked. I would love to hear from you (even if it is just you mom and dad), simply click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of the post and leave a couple of words.

Traditions, Modernity, and Shamian

Shamian Island is a sheltered place, its name means "sandy surface" in Cantonese and that is just what it is. In the concessions that followed in the wake of the Opium Wars, half of the island was given to the British and the other half was given to the French. A fence was built along the canal separating the island and kept the rift raft that lived outside the city walls from entering the island. For inside was a sheltered world, in fact, it was the only area in all of Canton that foreigners were allowed to set up their trading posts.

Today the now decaying colonial architecture remains. The restored Catholic church sits perched along the main boulevard, the American consulate resides at one end and the White Swan hotel (probably the most famous hotel in Guangzhou if not Guangdong) rises above the .3 sq km island. Two one-way roads, which really are more like pedestrian avenues are flanked by trees and run down the center of the island on either side of playgrounds, gardens, and walkways.

Bronze statues depicting the island's history stand motionless in front of historical buildings in various states of upkeep and amongst the activity that is many Chinese people playing badminton in the park and foreigners pushing their adopted Chinese babies in strollers. Only the occasional neon sign glowing from the cross-streets, alert the traveler that it is the 20th century and not the 18th. Today Shamian Island remains much like it was one-hundred and fifty years ago, a sequestration from Guangzhou. It remains a sleepy southern town in the middle of a growing dragon.

But Guangzhou is not the completely modernized city that the Chinese government would have you believe it is. Yes, walking off the island you are immediately met with a six lane highway, but if the dilapidation of the island shows times past, than the ordure of decreption on the other side of the freeway will make you wonder is indoor plumping was ever really invented.

I first ventured into this area on Sunday, when the island's pharmacy was closed and I was minutes from tearing my legs off due to the 40 or so bug bites that covered my calves. Today, I walked through this area again and this time I really looked as I walked. I wondered about these people's lives, I wondered if the earthquake had hit Guangzhou instead of Chendgu would these building still be standing. I wondered about the filth and grim, the fact that there were children not wearing shoes, and windows with no glass. I wondered if this was really poverty, and then I realized that this was not as bad as it gets in China.

Guangzhou can quite easily be classified as the economic center of the Pearl River Delta and combined with Shenzhen creates the heart of China's leading commercial and manufacturing region. The 2007 GDP was over $100 billion US dollars and per capita with approx. 6 million urban dwellers this factors out to bt the sixth highest (among 695 cities) in China at about $12,00/year. This success is attributed to the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, who came to power in the late 1970s, which led to rapid economic growth due to the city's close proximity to Hong Kong and access to the Pearl River. If this is "rough" here (and I do believe that other places in the city have it worse) then I wonder how it is in cities and towns who have not experienced as much economic growth.

To be honest, these sights have shocked me and I have found myself not wanting to leave the security of Shamian. Instead I find myself reading Three Kingdoms at Starbucks and watching Chinese in the park. I have found myself without words for posting to this blog. I don't think I have ever had an idealistic view of China, but something about the raw pain of this country has struck me over the last couple of days while staying in Guangzhou.

A week ago I set out to see the "real China" and for me, I thought that meant seeing the "traditional China," which hadn't yet been touched by the modernity of the west. But today I am conscious that maybe "traditional" isn't all that it is cracked up to be after all. Just maybe I am starting to see the arguements about modernity differently.

Getting To & Staying in Guangzhou

Well I made it to Guangdong. Today I have felt the contradictions of pride in little successes and frustration in minute failures. This day has left me simply exhausted, but at the end of it, I got where I wanted to go and that was all that mattered. I had done it and the obstacles along the way, were just that obstacles. Someone once said, God puts brickwalls up in our paths so we must prove how bad we want it.

The bus took off from Wen Chai district's China Travel Services' office on Hennsey Street in Hong Kong. The ticket was only 100 HKD! The bus picked up at a couple other stops and then we headed to the China Border. After taking my carry-on bag off the bus with me at immigration I became worried that my backpack stored under the bus would not meet me on the other side of immigration. But the worry went away for the briefest of moments when they stamped the departing stamp into my passport. I felt like I was walking on air in the make shift space between two countries.

Then reality stepped in and I realized that all I could remember about the bus I had been on was that it was blue, the problem was there were multiple blue buses! But then, a chinese man started waving to me, I pointed to myself and lifted my eyebrow and he nodded his head and motioned for me to come. As I finally sat on the bus, I realized that when I had first boarded the bus in Hong Kong they had stuck a bright orange circle on my shirt. I had thought it was tacky when they had done it and quickly dismissed it, but now I was so extremely grateful for that little orange round circle.

I got back on the bus and we only traveled for about a minute and a half when the bus stopped again. This time for customs INTO China. Everyone stood up immediately and I too followed. I was a little trepidacious and afraid once again that I was going to lose my bag at some point. The driver motioned me around the side and sure enough I needed to pick up the bag. I have no clue why this thought of picking up my bag had weighed so heavily on my heart during the last stop, but I was so glad that it had. I once again entered the building and I stood in the long line for visitors. I passed through without a problem, the customs official took a good long look at my passport photo and then he stamped my passport. I let out the breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding. I had had so many visa issues up until this point that I was worried that something was going to go wrong, but low and behold it did not.

I had tried to go on this trip last summer and it did not happen for reasons outside of my control. I was worried that with so many problems planning my trip this time around that maybe it was not meant to be either. But I have been reaffirmed that this is God's plan and he is in control and not me. I am trying very hard not to plan things to a "T," but going with the flow and relaxing a little. But somehow the confucision of not speaking or understanding Cantonese has brought out the traits in me of needing to be in control.

In Hong Kong, as well as Guangzhou, Cantonese is the common language and while I can get the just of signs I often find it disorientating. For the most part I did not say a word on the bus, until a little boy a couple rows ahead of me, smiled shyly and waved. I asked in Mandarin what was his name and he just looked at me. His mom who was sitting across from me had to tell him I was speaking Putonghua (Mandarin - or the People's Language). We smiled at each other, but the section of our bus once again grew quiet and I didn't speak anymore - a bit disappointed.

Finally after 4 hours we arrived in Guangzhou, rush hour was a bear. As soon as I got off the bus I was accosted by multiple gentleman either A) trying to offer me a hotel room at a "good price," or B) asking if I wanted to exchange money. I wanted to do neither and no matter how hard I told them no (Wo bu yao - I don't want, wo bu xuyao - I don't need, wo yijing you yi ge- I already have one), they still followed. For the first time on this trip I did not want to be the foreigner. I felt lost and I just wanted to slip into the backgound so I could orient myself without the entire world staring.

But at the same time I was elated, here I was in China after so much work to get here. I had read that there was a great cheap guest house of Shamian Island, so I headed toward the Subway. After consulting the map in the guidebook against the subway map, I found a stop that seemed to be nearby. I then went to the ticket machine and bought a ticket for 4 yuan. It spit out a little plastic chip and I was confused with what I was suppose to do with it.

Finally I placed the chip on the magnetic strip and the door opened. The little chips work like smartcards do on the metro in DC, now I felt a bit better. But rather stupid at the same time. It took me a while to orient myself in which direction I needed to be going on what lines, but after consulting the guidebook as a reference map and with the help of an English speaking Chinese student, I made it to my destination, Shamian Island.

The island is a holdover from the French and the British, who each controlled half of the 1/2 mile long island. It is now the home of the US Consulate, but more on the island tomorrow. I checked in to the Guangzhou Youth Hostel after being lost for a bit on this very small island (again feeling disoriented and a little slow intellectually), but finally I had made it!

The hostel is very nice compared to the last two I stayed at. I have a bed in a dormitory room with 10 beds, which feel like they are a piece of wood. I met a guy from somewhere in the states, and we talked a bit aout the legitimacy of the Chinese Government and the potental for the fruition of a democratic government. He shared his Chinese crackers which taste a bit like Ritz and I shared my trail mix. Both were a treat and since I had been starving, it constitued my dinner. I was simply too exhausted to go out at the moment. We talked about going out to a bar later and I told him to let me nap for a couple minutes first. When he finally came back, I said I was going to stay and off the rest of the hostellers went. The room was blessed quiet and I slept for 3 hours. I woke sweaty and decided I really needed a shower! I took one in the small bathroom, but now I was awake if not more comfortable. I pulled out Three Kingdoms which is a Chinese epic novel and started reading I made it 30 pages in, before putting on my iPod and drifting off to sleep. I woke up periodically thoughout the night and at 6:30 said enough, and got up.

I wondered out onto the island and started my day, which I will leave for my post tonight. I hope all is going well in the states. My love and best wishes to you all!