Tidbits

The weather in Beijing has turned grey, colder and rainy. More of what I expected and I think more of what is normal. The last few days we have trimmed our schedule and taken it a bit easier. Both Elle and Liam had dark circles under their eyes and Justin remarked that I had us on the "Amazing Race". It was definitely time to slow down. Luckily, we really love our Beijing home. Our apartment is modern and beautiful and within the building there is a children's playroom, a gorgeous indoor pool, and they offer a very nice morning breakfast. We've played games and watched movies and rested. And still we've managed to get out a few hours a day and see some sites.

Yesterday, for lunch, our guides took us to an Indian restaurant that was pretty good, and then because it was raining we decided to visit the Beijing Zoo to see the Giant Panda's and then call it a day. I am not a big fan of zoo's in general, unless they are very well done for the animal's sake, and the Beijing Zoo is notoriously just about the most dismal zoo you can imagine. I had no desire to see the sad animals living in squalid conditions, so we made a beeline for the panda's. There were two panda areas, the original facility and the new one that the government built for the Olympics. The original facility was first and the although the panda's were adorable, the conditions made me very sad. They looked depressed and both panda's, at times, sat by the gated doors and just stared outside-- almost like "let me out, please."

We moved on to the newer facility and it was much bigger and nicer, but still it was not up to US standards by any means. It was raining outside and the water was leaking into their enclosure. Most of the space was very bare, but the panda's here did seem a bit happier. The panda's are adorable and Liam especially was enamoured of them. We stayed for about 30 minutes and then promptly left the zoo and returned home. Hosting the Olympics in 2008 changed the face of this city and many of the sites benefited greatly, I'm not so sure the zoo did.

The day before we visited the Ming Tombs, against every word of advice we've been given by fellow travellers and guide books. Alex, our guide, though insisted that the Ming Tombs was a MUST see. And so, we allowed ourselves to be driven to the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs are the best preserved Imperial tombs in China, and 13 emperors are buried there. Only one tomb has been excavated, and that is the one we visited. In retrospect, it absolutely could've been skipped. Perhaps a serious Chinese history buff would be interested in the empty burial chambers, but for us although impressive in their size, it just seemed like a large empty basement. The museum was a bit more interesting, we got to see a few of the artifacts that were exhumed, but many of them were reproductions as much was destroyed during the cultural revolution.

On the way up we stopped at another section of The Great Wall. We decided not to climb though, as it was very cold and this part of the wall had not been restored and was a bit dangerous to ascend. It did offer a great reminder though that The Great Wall is not one wall, it is many walls all over the country and they are not all connected. This section was built in a circle and it is possible to hike off in one direction and circle back to the starting point. Apparently it sits just south of another wall and offered a second wall of protection.

Some of the more interesting parts of our last few days have been our conversations with Alex and Liu Pei and our general observations of life in Beijing and China, in general.

I asked Alex if the one child policy was helping to slow China's population growth and she said, yes, absolutely. She then went on to tell me about how it is still creating such a problem for girl babies, especially in the countryside. Girls are often abandoned anywhere and everywhere or are victims of infanticide. I asked if many Chinese couples find out the sex and choose abortion if the sonogram shows a female. She said, yes, and as such, the government has made it illegal for dr's to tell couples the babies sex before birth. However, corruption here is rampant and Alex says if the dr is offered a "little red envelope" the sex will be disclosed. Often abortion, which is legal, is the result. Liu Pei has a 3 year old daughter and he tells us that in the cities having a girl is not quite as devastating as it is in the country, so instances of abortion, abandonment or infanticide are much less. However, Alex says that her father is still angry that he had 2 girls. (as a minority Manchurian, they were "allowed" to have 2 children)

On the drive to Ming Tombs we passed a partially constructed and abandoned "Disney World". It seems that several years back a group of businessmen decided that they would build a copycat DisneyWorld and make a lot of money. You can clearly see Cinderella's castle and the Epcot globe amongst other recognizable Disney constructions. When Disney caught wind of this, they shut down the construction and now this half built copycat park stands empty on the outskirts of Beijing.

I asked Alex about something I read regarding toilet training children in China. I read that parents put their children in pants with a split down the crotch seam and that children are allowed/encouraged to do their business anywhere they would like, at any time. Alex said, yes, yes, very normal. She once saw a child defecate right in the middle of the Forbidden City. In front of the Temple of Harmony, she said. And the remains, remained.

I asked her, "do you want children?" And she replied, no, "Chinese babies are ugly". In general, we get the feeling that although she clearly loves Beijing, she longs for Western things. She only likes western babies, because they are cute (her words), she doesn't like Chinese music, she likes Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, she loves McDonalds and KFC (hugely popular here), and she's insatiably curious about American courting rituals.

For example, one day she asked, "In American, does the girl chase the boy or does the boy chase the girl?". The next day it was "So yesterday, I asked who chased who in America, and I was thinking, Justin did you chase Brandi?" The next day it was, "So I was thinking, when you chase Brandi, did you chase her hard?" And the next day it was "So, another thing, when you chase her really hard, did you call her a lot?" And on and on it goes. It's amusing and tiring and a bit sad at the same time.

She asked us if it's true that in America we tell our spouses that we love them often. I said "yes", every day. She and Liu Pei were shocked. It is almost never said here. She said they show love, but never talk about love. They never, ever tell their children that they love them. Elle quietly said, "I don't want to live in China."

Another reason she wouldn't want to live in China, the homework and schoolwork inflicted upon children is just as intensive as we've always heard.. It is not uncommon for children 12 and older to be in school from 8am until 10pm every day. And then have homework on top of that! Even elementary children are in school until at least 4 and then have homework. There are so many people and spots at University are so limited that parents and teachers are ruthless in pushing kids academically.

I have noted that many of the playgrounds in China are not full of play equipment like we have in the US. They have mini-replicas of treadmills, stairclimbers, rowing machines and other exercise equipment. It's very strange to see!

One thing is for sure though, Beijing is a city on the move. Alongside the restored historical monuments are newly built 6 lane highways and interesting modern architecture. Business is booming everywhere, Beijing is on the cutting edge on many fronts and it seems a pretty good place to live these days. A reflection of this are the housing prices, apartment prices have more than doubled in the past 5 years, and many workers can not find affordable housing. Many speak of a housing bubble here in China. We learned from Liu Pei and Alex though, that lending practices are much stricter here than in the US. For example, one must put 40% down in order to buy a house. The government clearly hopes that these practices will help shield them from a catastrophe similar to the one in the US.