Is China changing? Yes, constantly… the way a child grows, the way a forest gradually recovers after a fire – in both cases there is both continual evolution and underlying continuity, a persistent identity. China is still China and I still love being there.

Notwithstanding, any change I would detect after only sixteen months would have to be very subtle and confined to Beijing (the only Chinese city I have seen more than once). Perhaps the question should be “Is China STILL changing as fast, or faster?” My street-level perception was of continued progress and that any dramatic change would be an accident or due to forces beyond the control of the Central Committee… and in modern China that control is still very important.

For example you can now see any number of books, movies and TV documentaries describing the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, but it could not be regarded as a balanced assessment – Mao is dead, the Gang of Four lost long ago (and the victors are writing the history). Only when I see a similar dissection of (or better still an open debate about) the events that culminated in Tian’anmen, 1989, do I think we can talk about dramatic change rather than gradual progress.

What HAS changed dramatically since my last visit is the media perception of China in the West. Rather than continuing to pretend it wasn’t there, China is suddenly being perceived as a THREAT. All the old Cold War rhetoric has reappeared although almost immediately it seemed a little absurd – if China is the evil empire how come our shops are full of Chinese goods?

Recently, after a gap of many decades, I met an old friend from school and university days – the Tasmanian born Chinese Helene Chung. After graduating with Honours in History from my university she had joined the ABC to eventually be their first female correspondent in Beijing. This was in the 80’s and I vividly remember her blood-curdling accounts of mass executions and alleged civil rights abuses. Helene was no friend of the Chinese government. On this particular day she leaned confidentially across my desk to conspiratorially explain that the real reason democracy was going down the toilet in the West was because everyone was afraid of China.

In reality the threat from China is not military but economic: on the 22nd May, 2005, Tasmanian-born Jonathan West, Co-Director of the Life Scientist project at Harvard University delivered the Alfred Deakin Innovation Lecture; Designing the Future, or Tempting Fate? Debunking Australia’s perception of China as simply a huge market he pointed out that “ The key to China’s growth is not cheap, unskilled labour, it is cheap skilled labour. That makes a world of difference. China currently graduates 500,000 engineers every year, and it’s increasing the number of engineers that it graduates. An engineer that would be paid $150,000 a year in the United States earns $120 to $150 a month. A month. And in the factories I visited, the plant managers, most of them American, or many of them American, told me that they thought the Chinese engineers were better, more productive and as smart and much harder-working than the American engineers.”

“What this means is that China has a cost-structural advantage that is so great it is difficult to think of any product that can be made and transported that China won’t have a structural competitive advantage in. So what we’re seeing is not just that China is emerging as a great new market, but it’s emerging as a great new competitor in a wide range of products that are taking us by surprise.”

China has already swamped the Australian garlic industry with garlic grown at one-tenth of the cost that our garlic growers can produce the product. China has a burgeoning wine industry because over about five years “they came to Australia and they hired Australian wine and viticulture consultants who flew up to China and showed them how.”

Jonathan West relates how, when the Chinese wine delegation came to my home state of Tasmania they were so impressed by the Governors residence, Government House. They asked for a copy of the plans and built a full-scale replica in one of their vineyards. Australia sells $519,000 a year worth of vegetables to China and imports $41.5 million worth of vegetables FROM China. Even New Zealand saw its kiwifruit industry swamped by Chinese exports of kiwifruit (which they call “Chinese Gooseberry”).

On the other hand media coverage during my visit certainly gave the impression that the “Taiwan problem” was rapidly solving itself. Partly because of the deliberate distraction provided by the anti-Japanese riots throughout China in early 2005. However we also had two-way China/Taiwan visits by students, an official visit to Taiwan by mainland Taoists, and perhaps most importantly – increased cross-straits trade accompanied by a plethora of measures to reduce tariffs, improve communications and generally reduce charges on Taiwanese goods which were keeping them out of Chinese markets. A friend once joked that China should stop worrying about Taiwan’s “independence” movement because if they waited long enough they could BUY Taiwan.

Returning to Helene Chung’s point concerning the decline of democracy in the West, I would suggest this can simply be attributed to conservative governments in the US and it’s client states (Britain, Japan and Australia) using the excuse of the phoney “War on Terrorism” to lock up their political opponents and suppress free speech in order to keep themselves in power forever. If the US administration truly sees China as a serious rival they are being uncharacteristically quiet about it.

Whatever may be the current state of civil rights in China, I believe that there is a case to be made that it is the only large nation where things are actually getting better for the bulk of its citizens.

There is now a tangible sense of nationalism and national pride in China. Part of this must result from the extensive celebrations and discussions associated with the 60th anniversary of the victory over Japan (the “Liberation”) and part from a growing sense of anticipation regarding the 2008 Olympics. So while China’s love affair with American culture continues apace, the media and the retail industry all reflect a growing pride in Chinese culture (which appears to be at least in part a result of government policy).

As a trivial example, last year (amid lots of slogans in sometimes dodgy English) I was unable to buy a t-shirt with Chinese characters on it. This year the shops were bulging with them because, as CCTV told me, "Chinese calligraphy is beautiful". And everyone was furiously proud of China’s giant NBA basketball player in what was being called “The Year of the Yao”. The 229-centimetre Yao Ming was selected for America’s NBA in 2005. You can buy his DVD everywhere and see him on television advertising cell phones. Both his parents had successful basketball careers; he is very loyal in returning home to play for his country and is one of China’s great hopes for the 2008 Games.

Five years ago who would have thought China’s national hero would be a sportsman rather than a star factory worker or a senior bureaucrat!

So far this time I have only seen Beijing and spent a few days in Shanghai, mostly staying in the same hotel as on my last two visits. The traffic is just as insane and anarchic, the noisy clearing of throats and spitting in the street is still repulsively evident (to western ears anyway). I am not a good traveller and I can tell you that on the morning after my overnight train journey to Shanghai a chorus of Chinese persons coughing, retching and spitting was not calculated to settle a queasy stomach.

Of course this is purely a cultural phenomena and I certainly found myself repeatedly clearing my throat throughout my stay in Beijing – a minor infection or maybe an allergic reaction to Beijing air? Perhaps to the Chinese it is a case of “better out than in”? I’m afraid President Hu Jintao will have to get back to me on a solution for that one.

Air quality actually got a mention in an official government statement while I was in Beijing and thermal power stations copped a fair bit of the blame. There ARE a lot of them; I saw three on a three-hour train ride to the seaside resort Beidahe – each with three or four of those huge, squat chimneys belching smoke into the sky. There was a lot of talk about renewables (hydro, wind, solar) but coal is comparatively cheap to obtain in China and the only viable alternative seems to be nuclear. It’s hard not to think in broad sweeps when you have a population of 1.3 billion.

There are many building cranes in the sky and rows of buildings being demolished for redevelopment, including some old residential areas known as hutong. However, the authorities make much of the preservation and/or restoration of these historic hutong (narrow streets through groups of old single-storey courtyard houses or siheyuan) and tourists are encouraged to take guided tours through them. It is the classic dilemma being experienced in cities throughout the world. Many of the old laneways and tiny courtyard houses of Beijing could be dismissed as slums with no historic or architectural value, but to demolish them and relocate the residents to modern tower blocks is to destroy a community and a lifestyle.

Of course if you want to witness frenzied redevelopment you go to Shanghai – but more of that later.

This was my first Beijing Summer and while the heat is tough for a Tasmanian, I really appreciated the many parks and trees lining the streets. The cicadas and bird songs in Beijing are beautiful! To escape the heat you stay indoors; everything enclosed is air-conditioned. You can even see people dozing in their cars with the motor running and the air-conditioner on.

Some things have not changed – in fact they have remained the same to an astonishing extent. One Monday I returned to Tian’anmen Square after first visiting it in 2002. I wanted to go to a big bookshop in the same street as the square. The cab took me there for 25 RMB, I spent up big on books about Chinese movies and contemporary Chinese art.

With an armful of books, a shoulder bag and a camera I had a fair load, but I decided to walk the few blocks to the square to see the Imperial Museum and a show at the National Art Gallery of propaganda art from the war of resistance to Japanese occupation.
The instant I stepped on to the square, already hot and tired, I became aware that for the lone foreign visitor Tian’anmen is like a mosquito-infested swamp. You can’t hear yourself think for what are literally hundreds of individual vendors selling bottled water, souvenirs, maps, postcards, “free” health-checks, stamps, and so on… all yelling “Hello! Hello!” which still means, “Come here Long Nose and give me your money!”

Most astonishing for me was that just as in 2002, I was pounced on by two young ladies speaking very good English who feigned great interest in me (“you look like an artist, how long have you been in China? We want you to come and see our art – you don’t have to buy anything… just enjoy”). Oddly enough, apart from being an almost word-for-word repeat of the 2002 scam, one of the ladies commented on my fat stomach while trying to ingratiate herself with me. Her marketing training would seem somewhat lacking in tact.

Of course as in 2002 it wasn’t “their” art but mass-produced Chinese kitsch for tourists so I eventually shook them off. The exhibition of paintings and archival documents WAS interesting but a catalogue with alternate English text would have been nice. Sure we should all be learning Chinese but considering that Americans, most Europeans and most Indians speak English there is a good case for it being the lingua franca of tourism.

The other stunning piece of déjà vu came when I tried to get a taxi back to my hotel. There were plenty of cabs and I had the card with the address in Chinese but as soon as I climbed in and shut the door the driver told me that whatever was on the meter it was going to cost me $150. Exactly what happened in 2002 except the price had doubled.I remembered what I did then and wandered off to find a quiet side street to find a cab that wasn’t looking to fleece a tourist.

The reality is that notwithstanding the soaring new buildings, streets full of shiny new cars and people in suits waving mobile phones; China is still a poor country, most people are still living in poverty and they will do whatever it takes to survive and to support their families – however much it may annoy the comparatively rich tourist with the fat stomach.

There is also a subtext to the taxi problem: in my first month here (July) the price of fuel had increased four times while fares do not seem to have increased much if at all since my first visit. Apparently cab companies are finding it hard to get drivers because the profits are so low. Everyone here accepts that there are effectively two prices for everything and tourists pay the high one unless they shop with a Chinese friend, but with 2008 bearing down on them Chinese authorities need to both control and support the taxi drivers of Beijing.

A day later, while I was standing on a corner not far from my hotel and feeling a little lost and lonely, a smartly dressed young lady who spoke in near-perfect English approached me to ask; “Excuse me, may I help you”? I instantly tensed up; “Here we go! – What does she want?” I thought. I asked if she thought I looked lost and she agreed that I did. Until that moment I had been thinking about using the Bank of China ATM several blocks away where on my last attempt, at a crucial stage I struck an instruction in Chinese and didn’t get any money. I told her that for want of anything else to say and she said, “We will help you” (a very stern-looking gentleman had now joined her).

So we walked several blocks to the bank while he asked me about my impressions of China and she complained about mud on her slacks from the street. He got a bit defensive when I mentioned air pollution and I had to agree it has improved noticeably since 2002. Then the really interesting bit; we charged into the bank, the stern guy produced a swipe card that gave him access to a back office where he asked for a bank employee who spoke English to help me. When she arrived to step me through the withdrawal process they said good-bye and left.

Who WERE those guys? A few days later I met another of these “volunteers” who’s English was a little shaky so I passed on her offer to help (she intervened while I was unsuccessfully quizzing a pirate DVD vendor about a Chinese movie I had been unable to trace).

 

 

Meixin takes me to the steepest part of the accessible Great Wall at Juyongguan. She is as strong as an ox and totally fearless - so the stuff she likes tends to be strenuous and scary. I was exhausted. (Click for link)	In the West, American fast food is regarded as cheap junk food. In China it is actually comparatively expensive but clever promotion has made it desireable conspicuous consumption for the young middleclass. (Click to enlarge)	My favorite fast food - steamed jaozi freshly made and cooked on the spot for a few yuan every day as I returned from checking my email. His shop by day was the doorway to the Happy Bar by night, (Click to enlarge)

 

 

Click below to continue the tour:

Beijing 2004 Page Two: Bei da he   Page Three: Beautiful Girls Page Four: My Shanghai Hutong 2005 Beijing 2006

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