China # 4 // the great wall

I apologize for the lack of entries.  This time, there is no overbearing government to blame, only myself. I just got back from a trip to Shanghai (shout-out to Katy!), and before that, I was horseback riding on the mountains of Inner Mongolia. But one at a time.  (As you can see, my blogs are extremely backed-up.  They'll be up eventually.) 

First, the Great Wall. A requisite trip for every traveler's itinerary, today's Great Wall of China spans 4,000 miles, making it one of the largest feats of mankind in the history of the world.  It was originally built around 200 BC by Shi Huangdi of the Chin Dynasty to keep out nomadic tribes.  200 BC -- that's 200 years before Christ. 

It's said that at the time of its construction, there were 1 million inhabitants of the nascent nation-state.  Estimates stipulate that 250,000 people, or, a quarter of the population worked on the Great Wall.  Now, according to my sketchy mathematics and questionable analysis, there is a 25% chance that your ancestor (if you're Chinese) worked on the Great Wall.  This notion of ancestry resonated within me throughout the trip.

I had been to the Great Wall once before in my life. It was eight years ago, and that time, vendors, children, tourists littered the wall. This time it was completely different.  Our program director described the visit as a 10k hike to a part of the wall that rarely had visitors. 10k is long, I thought, but it's the Great Wall -- lots of tourists, we'll go slow, it'll be flat, it'll  be OK! I was completely wrong. The hike was grueling, exhausting, punishing: at times regrettable but at times incredible. 10 k is fine, but the Wall kept going up and up and up. 

It was like climbing crumbling collapsing stairs for 10 kilometers.  

 

We were dropped off by bus, to the section of the wall tourists usually do not venture. The section of the Wall we hiked, known as Jinghanling, was prohibited to the general public because of the large number of accidents foreign tourists were receiving. (That day, in fact, a tourist fell and broke his leg and had to be carried away on a stretcher by hired peasants that farmed corn near the wall.) 

But thanks to a new law that prohibits people from suing for accidents originating in China's national historic landmarks, the dangerous portion of the Wall had reopened.  

The 2,000 year old wall was crumbling, broken, and awash in lost memories and forgone pasts.

 Some parts were stolen by peasants that needed to build homes and some parts were stolen by the passages of time. But the Great Wall is so much more than the sum of its parts.

There were other peasants that kept trying to offer to carry our bags or sell us water.

Suffice it to say, the 10k hike was extremely dangerous with absolutely no protection to protect an unassuming traveler from a 20 ft. drop and a swift break to the neck. 

But it was this pure, unadulterated, untainted, unforgiving quality of the wall that made this experience so incredible.  

For miles around, we were the only people to be seen. No obnoxious tour groups, no loud guides, it was complete silence except for the sounds of nature and our tiresome pants. To know that my view may have been the same view of my ancestors, that these mountains were the same ones that occupied this landscape thousands of years ago, that the very brick my feet stood on was laid by my ancestors ... It was surreal. 

China # 3 // lions, tigers, and (panda) bears. oh my!

This entry is specifically geared towards those who are less inclined at reading passages of text, ahem, jiyeh aka jane.

So one of the things that is so great about Beijing is that it is incredibly cheap. That being said, one ticket to the zoo cost 20 kuai, or, about $3. As a point of comparison, the standard ticket price at the Bronx Zoo is $15 -- and that they don't even have pandas.

There's about 30 people in the program here in Beijing. We're all really close, but here's a picture of the group I hang out with most. From L to R, it's a picture of us in the zoo: tommy, bryan, stine, me, esther, mackenzie. It goes without saying that Beijing is gorgeous.


But entering the zoo, we started to see why exactly the ticket was so cheap. Economically speaking, a cheap admission ticket translates to low overhead costs, which translates into not-so-great environments for the animals.

The lions, especially, had it rough. They were kept in these small cages, only a few feet across, resulting in these huge felines pacing the cage, around and around and around.


The tigers had it better, being in a semi-natural environment surrounded by a huge moat.


There were also leopards.

Elephants too!

The best part of the zoo though, were the PANDAS. I've never seen pandas in my life. They are often described as looking like people in panda suits. They are incredibly incredibly cute, but more incredibly lazy. When we were at the panda reserve, all the pandas were laying around, in a semi-conscious state of stupor. Once in a while, one would lift an arm and arouse great attention and excitement from on-lookers.

They like to sleep.

I especially enjoy the above picture. I like to think that the panda started to roll over, then got tired, and was like, "screw it. i'm sleepy," and fell asleep.

There's an unfortunate reason for their lethargic nature. For the past 50 years, the panda population has been rapidly declining. Because of their obscenely small number, their present population is the result of years of in-breeding: cousins with cousins, sisters with brothers. Ergo, they are presently some of the dumbest animals on Earth. Mother pandas have lost all instinctual knowledge on giving birth. When she gives birth, there must be handlers present to whisk the baby away, lest the unknowing, semi-retarded mother sees the object coming out of her as some sort of threat and injures it.

Nevertheless, they are THE cutest animals on earth. And though they may be lazy, they respond, like all animals on the face of this planet, to food. I was taking pictures of the sleeping pandas when a metal door opened. Out came a woman with a bucket, and like Pavlov's dogs, the pandas perked up and slowly charged towards the food.

They sat in a line, like they were in class, waiting for their handler to feed them.

They like to eat bamboo.

Note: some people asked for pictures of the party/clubbing scene here. I assure you, it goes well, and I have many stories. They'll be up later; if you really want them now, ask me online. I think I'm going to just make one entry dedicated solely to that.

Also on its way, stories/pictures of the Great Wall!

Also, I want to give an update on the censorship here. Youtube has stopped working entirely, but google images is now open. Uploading videos is still impossible. But I want to highlight Shawn's comment on China #2.

"china, like every country in the world, has more than its share of problems and too many things it wants to simply sweep under the rug. but at the same time, look at where this country was even just 20 years ago, it has come a long way. it has grown from a legit 3rd world country to one that will be hosting the olympics and one of the superpowers of the world. perhaps i'm being naive, or that i'm biased because of my ties to my motherland, but i believe that things will keep getting better in the future. as a nation becomes a greater power, it becomes more visible on the world stage, and things such as political repression and other unfortunate things that would gone unnoticed years ago will not anymore."

And he's totally right. While China does have many problems, it has come an incredibly long way. Running a country of 1.3 billion people is not an easy feat. Each great empire has its fair share of mistakes, miscalculations, and misplaced judgment. China is no different; America is no different. It's part of the evolutionary process that so defines society: we learn from mistakes and move on; and we are better for it. I am proud of how far China has come, and I hope, I sincerely hope that they continue to progress in the right direction economically and politically.

Though I was born in America, hold an American passport, and by all means am extremely proud of my country and what it stands for, I am Chinese by blood. China, this magnanimous, mysterious, brooding country is the land of my ancestors. The Chinese culture and its history is incredibly beautiful and complex and awe-inspiring. But that topic deserves a blog all for itself.