Entries: China places & sights

China: A Look Back

As the eldest student on the Destination China adventure, I didn’t anticipate the trip would have the significant impact on me that it did.  Sure, I expected to see and experience many things--new food, new culture, architecture, history.  I didn’t realize that I’d feel so differently about my perspective on China.  In fact to me, the bottom line of this adventure and course has been that most Americans don’t see China for what it really is--a growing, vibrant and historic country with interesting people and places that is definitely finding its way in the new world. 

I fear China is underappreciated.  Far too many Americans see it as backward, communist supressed-nation with a Great Wall and slow economy.  Indeed, there is a Great Wall and communist leaders still rule, but there is little evidence of that regime to a visitor.  The economy is definitely not slow and the people are not as backward or slow as many might think.  China may be considered a developing nation and economy, but it is finding its way quickly. 

Like most of us on the trip, we were anxious to return to Illinois to our families and friends and more familiar food and faces.  However, I think we’d also agree China has a great many stories to tell to the world.  During our two week visit, we saw just a tiny part of this gigantic, heavily populated country.  Parts of all of us wanted to stay in Shanghai and Beijing to explore the big cities more, to meet more people, to tell more stories. 

Three places I visited had a great impact on me:  The Bund in Shanghai and its magnificent view of the Pudong district; the Great Wall of course; and journalstically, the NBC News Bureau in Beijing. 

Busy producers and researchers at the NBC News bureau in Beijing, China

Great Wall

The group and I, in our convoy of taxis, traveled to one of the more remote entrances to the Great Wall, Mutianyu.  Our negotiated location was a place where tourists and curious Chinese travel to fulfill their pilgrimage, sans loud tour and travel groups.  We were greeted by a typical market scene, filled with it’s share of pushy shop owners and other interesting characters. However, within twenty minutes of our arrival we were making our up to the Wall, some via funicular, some by foot (myself taking the funicular).

I can’t be entirely sure of the typical person’s perception of the Great Wall before climbing it, but I certaintly wasn’t sure what to expect.
In each direction, the miles of brick cling to the every curve and dip of the northern China mountains. The paths and stairs of the Wall are interrupted by castle-like watchtowers, that now serve as shelters for the sun-exhausted. Our group scattered into three groups, each respective one maintaining it’s own pace and choosing it’s own direction.

The unofficial finishing line for our fraction of the Great Wall was drawn by what seemed to be 1,500 stairs at a 50º angle… a challenge we were more than determined to meet.  I would be bluffing if I said that I enjoyed that climb, but the view that followed was unrivaled. 
Rather than descend by way of open ski lift or stone walkway, Liz Reising, Ted Land, Sam Unger, and myself decided to take a path less traveled.  A few American families that we had shared a few laughs with along our walk on the Wall, spoke of a metal chute that adventurous tourists could travel down by toboggan.  It was a steel luge of sorts, and the engineering was questionable, but wow.. what an experience in its own right.  In hindsight, it seemed like an unusual thing to find, next to what is hailed as the oldest and most incredible work of masonry in the history of the world.
Overall, it was just an incredibly rewarding experience, as I am sure most of the group didn’t know entirely what they were getting themselves into.  Several hours of walking up and down the wall, meetings foreigners, and getting to know one another a little better all made for a great time.  It was hard to believe that the most touristy location in China was as peaceful as it was.

A Brief on the History:
The Wall, one of the largest construction ventures ever completed, began over 2,000 years ago by Qin Shi Haungdi, the first emperor of China during the Qin Dynasty. After conquering and uniting China from seven warring states, the emperor connected and extended four, old fortification walls along the north of China that originated from about 700 B.C. (over 2500 years ago). Armies were stationed along the wall as a first line of defense against the invading nomadic Hsiung Nu tribes from the north of China (today known as the Huns).  The wall, comprised of brick, rock and packed-earth, was enlarged to it’s current length during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The specific length has been widely debated; conservative estimates of 1,500 to upwards of 4,000 miles.
Historical Information borrowed from http://www.enchantedlearning.com

The Awesome Great Wall

We walked the Great Wall of China Sunday and it was awesome.  We traveled, by taxi, about an hour and a half north of Beijing to Mutianyu, where we saw the wall high atop a mountain.  Everyone agreed it was an unforgettable experience.  Several students took cable cars up the side of the mountain to get to the wall and a few walked up to reach the Great Wall.  Most of the students walked the length of the restored section of the Wall at Mutianyu, where you could see for miles, on a warm May day.  Walking along the stone Wall, gazing at the countryside below and talking to other visitors from around the world, was impressive.
The experience of being on the wall is perhaps reflected by the ancient history of the structure.  Some of the oldest sections of the 1,500 mile long Great Wall were built in 200 or 300 BC.  It was during the short Qin Dynasty that the emperor wanted a defensive wall to protect China from Mongolia and Manchuria.  Much of the Wall we see today was built during the Ming Dynasty in the 14th and 16th centuries...to protect China from raids by Mongol or Turkic tribes.  Not all of the Wall is intact. 
The Great Wall of China is often considered to be among the Seven Wonders of the World.  The internet refutes myths that the Wall can be seen from space.  Even some astronauts on recent space shuttle missions say the Wall is not completely visible from just a few hundred miles above Earth.

Four members of a UIUC journalism class prepare to walk the Wall. L-R: Sam Unger, Ted Land, Liz Reising, John Paul

Dengfeng

I’m back in Beijing after spending a day and change in Dengfeng, in central China’s Henan province.  As I mentioned in my first post, Dengfeng is the epicenter of Shaolin martial arts, and I visited Urbana martial arts instructor Demitri Daniels as he went to China for more training.  Nearby is Shaolin Temple, which has its own school.  This one and several back in the city of Dengfeng are like giant military academies—while Daniels’ school has only about a half-dozen foreigners and a couple hundred Chinese students, the many of the largest schools number well past a thousand.  It was a fascinating trip to see the schools and get a taste of China outside the most-heavily visited tourist sites—even though Shaolin Temple has been developed by the government into a tourist attraction (some purists would call it a full-blown tourist trap), we never saw a Westerner there, and many Dengfeng residents seemed tickled to see non-Asian faces in their town.

Today it’s the Great Wall, and then I sit down to write my story.  You should hear it on Morning Edition in the next few days. 

Kung fu students! Thousands of 'em!:
Click to experience this media file | Right-click to download

A Visit To Tsinghua University

Today I checked out Tsinghua University to interview athletes and students. Toby, my guide, biked around the University with me riding on the back of his bike, which was quite the adventure. I got the chance to interview two Olympic hopefuls, including a member of the Chinese National Shooting Team. I even went to a shooting range today...but I’ll save that for my story. The University, one of the most prestigious in all of China, as Toby explained, is quite large, with numerous athletic facilities where athletes can train. Numerous classes were outside today, because the weather was so temperate. That includes the martial arts class, hopefully which you can see in the video below.

Students practice Martial Arts at Tsinghua University: