Beijing Memories: The People

First off, I want to thank everyone for the comments and emails about my posts and pictures from Beijing.  While my intention here at W&C and with my Flickr account is first and foremost a personal documentation of my life... of course, I am ware there is an "audience" as well... and that's where I struggle.  Over the years of doing this, I have determined that there is a fine line of the true exuberance of sharing my adventures and paranoia that I am coming across as obnoxious about it... so when I get feedback, it certainly helps to quell the latter!

Today I going to take some inspiration from Scot who left on comment on yesterday's post and write about the atmosphere and people of Beijing.  Even after being back in the States nearly a week, my head is still spinning with stories.  In my "real life," I am encouraging people to ask me questions about Beijing and our Olympic experience.  It has been quite challenging when faced with the general "Tell me about your trip" request... that has me rambling on and down some chronological mental list!

Scot noted a "strange difference" in my China pictures and added while there was "great beauty there seems to be a lack of joy."

I have to say I have had a similar reaction while reviewing my pictures as well.  Ok, here I go with the paranoid obnoxious part ... but having been to London, Paris, Amsterdam, and now Beijing within a 6 month period (believe me I know how silly that is!)... it has been a interesting compare and contrast the cities.  London and Amsterdam struck me as very internationally mixed cities a blending of a lot of different people from different places... while that was in evidence in Paris, by far it had the strongest "national identity."  I am sure it will come as surprise to no one that Beijing was off the charts in the "identity" department.   

Part of it was... as a Caucasian, there was absolutely no ability to blend in.  Even being there at a time when they had to be hosting the most foreigners the city has ever seen, there were many, many times we could look around and be the only non-Asians in sight.  While Beijing is amazingly sprawled out (6,000+ square miles!) with high-rises everywhere... it is still people dense... 17 million residents... to put that in perspective, that's about the population of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada combined... or approximately the population of America's 3 biggest cities - NYC, LA, and Chicago... combined!   So there just isn't any comparison to anything we are used to as Americans (or I dare say, Europeans either). 

Then there is that whole Communism/oppressive government thing.  I'll admit it was odd to see military men standing at attention on streets and even highways seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  Every subway station had x-ray machines for bags... and I have been pretty vocal/frustrated by the uber-tight security around the Olympic venues and limited access to even the Olympic Green... so there was definitely a "control freak" kind of mentality in the air... but at the end of the day, I have to say it wasn't necessarily oppressive... just different.

Getting to Scot's second part of the statement (tho thinking I didn't really answer the first part)... while generally pleased with my photos I was noting to Todd just the other night that the pix lacked "pop."  The extremely humid weather conditions combo'd with infamous, but apparently succesfully temporarirly stunted  pollution... I think certainly made it seem more gloomy and lacking "joy."  We could hardly believe our eyes at some of the TV coverage of the second week of Olympic coverage where the skies appeared clear and even blue!   

But I would say there is was a vibrancy to the city... there was an incredible amount of construction and growth going on.  I used to think the amount of construction cranes in Vegas was the most I'd ever see in one place... but again, Beijing is off the charts in that department.  When it come to the numbers, China is just staggering.  And while there is the fight for space and limited resources, I did sense a sense of excitement and happiness in this growth and forward progress... granted there is that flip side, to view (or drive by) the enormous Olympic Green area with its stunning venues and remember that nearly 1 million people were displaced because of it.

And in my now ramblings on... there was always this delicate balance stuff going on. 

We had three local tour guides during our trips... and they were all wonderfully pleasant, happy people... talking about how their city has changed and what opportunities it gave them... certainly many of them never dreamed they would one day be English-speaking tour guides.  There was one particularly plucky guide who gave herself the Western name of "Lucy"... and toted along a Lucille Ball "I Love Lucy" purse... but then on the flip side, on our two trips to Tiananmen Square, both tour guides made very specific pleas to absolutely not ask them about the events of 1989 once we were on the Square.  Though that never was an issue as the Square was closed on one attempt and an abbreviated walk-thru due to a decent amount of rain on the second one.

Likewise, at the badminton venue... we were warmly greeted by rows of smiling volunteers telling us "welcome to our venue" and "enjoy our games"... but then when we headed over to the Olympic store it was absolute chaos as it was every man or woman for himself... with no lines/sense of order in the purchasing process.  It was only thanks ot a Japanese woman who first cut in front of us then yelled at the guy behind the counter to help us next that we ever got our t-shirts.  This was something we experienced time and time again... warm smiles, a true pride in the English they have learned in preparations for the Games, and over-the-top customer service and a truly genuine desire to please and welcome... but then this insane piling in and crowding craziness (let's just say my definition of "crowded" has forever changed after riding on Beijing public transportation).

So as much as Beijing is viewed as a controversial choice as an Olympic city... after being there, I am thrilled for the Chinese people.  During the torch relay protests and whispers of boycotts, I read where someone said "I will not boycott 1.6 billion people"... and that was certainly my belief before going, and definitely my belief after.   There was a great deal of pride in their hosting of the Games and I can't think of anything that makes one feel more happy than being proud of oneself and one's country... and you could sense that among the massive amount of volunteers (who had to compete to volunteer!) and certainly in the spectators in the stands very loudly cheering on their athletes.  The times when there was a Chinese Olympian on the playing field always put a smile on my face. 

Ok, I guess that should be it for now... enough rambling... so much for thinking that I would be more focused when asked a more specific question... but again, I encourage you to ask (or re-ask!) about things and I will surely do my best to reply!

Comments

[Todd]

I have to say I agree with your impressions. I almost commented on Scot's comment earlier because the "joy" in the people was actually one impression that hit me the most while there. While "joy" might be a bit of an overstatement, I had a very definite feeling that the Chinese people we came in contact with (granted, they were nearly all customer-service oriented) were sincerely happy and excited to have us (the collective "us") there. They couldn't wait to try out their newly-learned English and they were always extremely friendly (even the guy behind the counter at the insane Olympics souvenir shop seemed genuinely sorry that it took so long to help us).

I just can't get the picture out of my mind of the one girl at the water polo venue who gave us a full-handed enthusiastic wave and said "bye bye!" as we left. Her happy, friendly attitude was really apparent and kind of represented the attitude of the city in general to me.

I know that much of that might be a result of years of coaching by the government in preparation for the Olympics. And I know there is a certain heavy-handedness from the government felt by everyone there. But that didn't seem to make the people any less "happy." Would definitely be interesting to visit again in a year just to judge how different the Olympic period might have been.

[Gail]

I have to admit that I haven't looked at all your pictures yet, but I never find stories of your adventures obnoxious. I love to hear about where you been and your impressions. I love to travel but haven't been to China. I do have some friends who've had that adventure recently, so it's fun to hear your views as an Olympic visitor, vs. their experiences. One of the things I find in our travels is that people are often the same underneath it all apart from culture and history.