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By Hicks Posted on History
When I scheduled my first trip to China, it was with little anticipation - just another country to see. With the language problem I could not imagine it would be an exciting trip. How wrong I was.The most charming thing I remember about China is the beautiful smiles of the people, particularly the women. Knowing as many Americans do that the Chinese government was faceless and smile-less, my first impression was a delightful surprise. Immediately I wondered how I could get to know these people. As our tour bus took us around Beijing, I noticed a lot of families in the parks so in my free time, I looked for parks where I could meet some of the locals. Fortunately, I had brought a hundred or so miniature U.S. flag pins with me to give away (all of our clients now get these as part of the package). I would bow to the man or woman in a group and show them that I wanted to give a flag to each child. The man would bow back with a huge smile nod ‘yes’ and so our non-verbal friendship would begin. In most cases, the Chinese had a camera and wanted a picture of me with their family. The father would then take my camera and photograph me with the kids. More bows and hand-shaking and our meeting was over. Multiply this scenario many times and you can see how I got to love the Chinese people.
Americans traveling to China will also want to see all the tourist sites such as The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Xian with The Terra Cotta Warriors, Yangtze and Li Rivers, The New Dam, and the many other beautiful places on these tours. The Great Wall traverses almost 4,000 miles but visitors can see enough of it to visualize the rest and learn the history of how these walls, built for defensive protection around cities, were all eventually connected as different dynasties arose.The Terra Cotta Warriors story is one that visitors will read about when they reach Xian, but a highlight is to meet the farmer who discovered the figures in his field. Now painstakingly restored, the figures were broken up by a conquering dynasty and buried many years ago. The fact that not one animal or human figure is the same, each has a different expression, and there are hundreds of them with more being unearthed every year, makes this find one of the great cultural events in Chinese history.
In the last 15 years or so, growing numbers of tourists and China’s burgeoning population has forced the Chinese to build many new office buildings and high rise apartments, so each large city could easily be mistaken for Chicago or New York. One interesting story concerns the people who have been moved to these new apartments. Those in their teens and up to their 50’s could hardly wait for their new homes, but grandpa and grandma would not leave even though the area was now a ghetto. Their friends were there and they put up such a big fight that the government was forced to clean up the area. It is now an interesting tourist attraction called Houtoung where visitors are transported around by Pedi cab and have an opportunity to have tea with the local Chinese families.Because the Chinese cities are similar to those in the USA, returning travelers often comment that they would like to go back to see Old China. Seeing old historic cities where many locals still wear their native dress makes an interesting trip. If you go, you should see Lijiang, Kunnming, Urumqi, Dunhaung, and The Tibet Road. I highly recommend this second tour. There are mostly older hotels here that are 3* with some 4*, but with clean and private facilities. See China like it was 100 years ago.I hope this bit of information gets you excited about China. The government may have many faults, but most Chinese people are just great and again, look for those smiles.
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