CHINATION REPORT©

At the invitation of a Chinese friend currently living here in Australia, I have now visited China twice. My first visit in July 2007 was to the city of Shenzhen, described as the window of China’s opening up policy. Located adjacent to Hong Kong, Shenzhen offers a great introduction to China. It was established as a Special Economic Zone in 1980, and since that time has grown from a small fishing village into a major and economically significant city. A planned city, it features wide tree-lined boulevards, numerous parks and gardens, and striking architecture. Tourist attractions include fun and educational theme parks, historic sites, beaches and world-class shopping, dining and hotel accommodation. Shenzhen also looks forward to hosting the Universiade Shenzhen 2011 international games http://www.sz2011.org//eng/index.htm.

In Shenzhen I met my friend’s sister and some of her friends and work colleagues, and I was immediately struck by their friendliness. We dined with them at several excellent restaurants, and they gave great advice on shopping, attractions and city services and facilities. In appreciation of the great hospitality I received, I have established the website www.visitshenzhenchina.com (also accessible at www.visitshenzhen.org) to encourage other westerners to start their China experience with a visit to Shenzhen.

On the second trip in February this year I visited Henan province and also returned again to Shenzhen. In Henan we celebrated Lunar New Year in my friend’s home town of Xiangcheng and visited historic sites in Kaifeng and Luoyang. We had almost cancelled the trip because of the snowstorms that had severely impacted China in the previous few weeks, but fortunately we decided to still go ahead.  The weather was cold in Henan (maximums mostly not above 2 degrees Celsius) but we weren’t affected in any way by the snow which still covered the ground in many places.  Major government cleanup operations had ensured that roads and airports were clear and safe for travel.

Xiangcheng Henan is a rural and industrial city with a population of about 1 million people located in the south of Henan province. The city government website is http://www.xiangcheng.gov.cn/ (which can be translated with Google Translate http://translate.google.com/translate_t#). In contrast to Shenzhen, Xiangcheng is only at the start of the journey of opening up, with the city government commencing the modernisation of the city and seeking to attract new business and industry. It’s not currently a tourist city, although it does have some notable historic and cultural sites, and I would be one of the few westerners to have ever visited. While Xiangcheng is somewhat polluted, as is the case with many industrialised cities throughout the world, it is also the friendliest city I have ever visited and I found myself not wanting to leave. I spent many enjoyable hours with my friend’s extended family, who made me feel very welcome as one of the family, and many people I passed in the street who knew some English offered a friendly “hello”. The wellbeing of family and community is clearly very important to Chinese people.

Lunar New Year is part of the annual Spring Festival, which is one of a number of major traditional Chinese Festivals throughout the year (information on Chinese Festivals including the Spring Festival can be found at http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Festivals/78131.htm). Lunar New Year is celebrated in the traditional way in Xiangcheng, with firecrackers and the use of traditional red decorations on homes and in the streets, and it was an incredible experience. The firecrackers are in long strings which are rolled up for sale, and each roll can have up to several thousand firecrackers. Firecrackers were set off across Xiangcheng on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, with the greatest intensity being at midnight to mark the start of the New Year. At this time an amazing cacophony of firecrackers echoed across the town, and also across many other towns and cities around China. Another Lunar New Year tradition is the making of dumplings by the family. I was invited to join in and taught how to make the dumplings, and after a time I had actually managed to make a few that my hosts said were not too bad.

Lunar New Year is only part of the Spring Festival, and I hope to return to China next year to experience more of the 2009 Spring Festival. There are local variations of the celebrations across China, and people are not permitted to let off fireworks in some of the larger cities, where instead there are organised public fireworks displays. It is traditional for Chinese people to travel back to their families for Spring Festival, so anyone planning to visit China for Lunar New Year should book travel and accommodation well in advance.

While in Xiangcheng we travelled to Kaifeng and Luoyang on a 2-day drive to look at historic sites. Kaifeng and Luoyang are in the north of Henan province, located east and west respectively of provincial capital Zhengzhou. The expressways are signposted in both Chinese and English, and numerous brown-and-white tourist feature signs are found on the expressways and also in the towns and cities. From the number of features shown on many signs, months could be spent taking in all of the attractions that Henan has to offer, let alone the rest of China.

In Kaifeng city we visited Xiangguo Temple, the Dragon Pavilion and the Iron Pagoda. In Kaifeng, development is restricted to protect historic streetscapes and buildings and also the ancient city below. Flooding from the Yellow River has repeatedly impacted on Kaifeng, with the original 12th century city now 8-9 metres below ground. Xiangguo Temple was first constructed in 555 AD and has played an important role in the development of Buddhism in China. The temple was rebuilt during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). The Dragon Pavilion is the former imperial palace of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). It was extensively rebuilt in the Ch’ing Dynasty (1616-1911 AD) and is surrounded by two lakes, Pan Lake and Yang Lake, both frozen at the time of our visit. The Iron Pagoda is a Buddhist temple pagoda constructed in 1049 AD. The use of the word “Iron” in the name of the pagoda refers to its colour and not its construction material, the pagoda being built from brick and externally tiled.

In Luoyang we visited White Horse Temple and the Longmen Grottoes. With over 1900 years of history, White Horse Temple is described as the cradle of Buddhism in China. The World Heritage listed Longmen Grottoes were commenced around the year 493 AD when the capital was moved to Luoyang. They were continuously built during the subsequent 400 years until the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 AD). Longmen Grottoes has over 1,300 caves, 2,300 holes and niches, and 100,000 buddhist statues.

My two visits to China have enabled me to experience Chinese traditions and history, to learn about China and the Chinese people, and to witness China’s progressive transformation as it opens up. I have greatly enjoyed my visits and look forward to returning to China again as soon as possible to continue my journey of experience and understanding.

Photographs from both of my China trips can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce_boyes.

Bruce Boyes
www.bruceboyes.net or www.bruceboyes.org