where the hell is Li Ping?

By 9am tomorrow, I would have been out of Xi'an for 60 hours including:
-23 hours on overnight trains
-11 hours on truly spectacular (and truly bumpy) buses into the mountains
-9 hours sleeping in the only hotel in the mountains (I'm the first foreigner to visit in 2006!!)
-4 hours on local buses visiting a lake mostly without water and an old path along a spectacular gorge (now re-built in 'wood' -i.e. concrete painted like wood)
-3 hours jogging/walking in the mountains (6am-9am!) seeing wonderful mountains, gorges and villages
-2 hours at the lake and 2 hours at the gorge
-1 hour being stared at in 1 of the mountain villages whilst an alternative bus (i.e. crappy chinese minivan with 9 people stuffed on 6 seats) was sought, since the public bus was cancelled (I was the only one that wanted to know why... -must be normal)
...and another 7 hours eating dinner cooked on an open fire, waiting at more bus stops, trying to buy slippers (my feet are too big for china), buying train tickets (such a performance, as always) and writing in my blog :-)

I feel very privileged to have been to such a beautiful place that no-one has heard of. I am sure that it will be different in 5 years either from an influx of tourists or continued droughts! One of my favourite quotes -in fact, probably THE favourite quote- is "life is about the journey, not the destination". It is something i think sums me up very well, and this trip has broken all records (that were already pretty high) for time spent travelling vs time spent doing something else -but the 11 hours on those buses and minibuses into the mountains were spectacular.

Over the journeys it was so clear that the crappy shops selling mobile phones, bric-a-brac, hairdressers that are all over China -started to disappear. Then there were less brick buildings with garish white tiles on them. The road became a track. The motorcyclists disappeared, then the cyclists disappeared. Then the houses were made of brick coated in mud, the few people on the road were over 60 with bags on their backs full of vegetables (most people were still in the fields working); then the bridges became broken fords.

All this happened as the scenery started changing. From small towns along the road to villages where they dry their grains on the road to vegtables growing along the river plain, to terraces in the hills to mountains of just trees and occasional dwellings along the river. It was a combination of all that i saw in southern yunnan (border of Burma) and in Guilin (towards hong kong); but somehow, what was different was that not too much was changing. In southern yunnan they are building roads because of the growing trade with burma (mostly in drugs, illegal timber, people etc!), and in guilin there are tourists everywhere. Both places are beautiful -more so than lowly Li Ping National Forest Park on the border of Shaanxi and Sichuan, but all that was changing was more natural. As people got a bit more money, they were improving their houses; buying minivans etc.

Even in remote China, its almost unheard of! There is so much to be said for pointing at a map that has a mountain marked nearby and just turning up! There is always some kind of lowly tousim available, someone to take you somewhere cheaply and somewhere to stay. We did it last weekend by picking a mountain no one had heard of to go to -instead of 1 of the big 5. The difference? Less people, less steps and more footpaths, lower admission fees :-). I have though decided that I have to go to the remote mountains of scotland hiking. Something I have not done yet, and something I really should do -at least there will be signposts in English!

And to top it all off... I had no mobile phone signal for 2 whole days.

Change in China

There is an opinion that China is going to change for the better -those who went to study abroad in the 80s are now rising up the ladder in government and business. You can see the change in many well-run and internationally successful private Chinese businesses, but you annot yet see teh change in the government. Hopefully, soon, it will happen -and the returned scholars can bring with the best knowledge from overseas to combine it with the chinese situation/culture and create a dynamic, fair, successful China.

However this still seems a long way off. Chinese students sill learn absolutely zero about the rest of the World in their education system: unless they study something like languages or international trade at university or pick it up in the media (which most young people rarely bother to read since its generally useless. If they do read it then they are checking out the business sections, entertainment etc. The international news is awful. People talk about Bush having to know about the World since USA impacts the world, but what about China? China's current and future global impact is tremendous -its leaders, and its people, need to have SOME understanding of the rest of the World!

In addition, China is trying hard to enforce its excellent laws -its tough in a big country where so much has changed so fast and so many people don't want to give up power, or lose their jobs. Slowly though environmental enforcement and labour rights are being enforced..slowly. But all this is pointless if the law is abused, and the courts useless. If we dis-regard the human rights issues for the moment, this story is typical. A blind lawyer brings to the national government's attention (and only because he got the international media's attention first which forced the local media to report on it, and the national government to do something) forced abortions (local officials need to keep the birth rate low to meet targets and stick to the 1 child policy). Many were violent and disturbing, some as late as 8 months into pregnancy. What happens? a few lowly officials get punished and the lawyer gets detained for a year and finally imprisioned for 4 years for 'theft'! How is China supposed to develop when this happens so often? How is it going to encourage other people to come forward about abuses?

Sometimes China's achievements are impressive (even more so after I read more of Mao's destruction of the country), but so often the future can seem bleak. I am hoping to tell the outisde World that China is not just about the successes (economic) and the failures (environmental), but there are normal people too -something that is not 'news', of course. Unfortunately the challenges are still so great...

Some photos from the last month

All of them are uploaded on the imagestation site, in particular in these folders: China-Xi'an-nanwutai , China-Maijijshan, China-BJ&Hainan holiday , China-Xi'an and some older photos: China-BJTourist-zoo, UK-New Year Party, UK-Xmas, China-BJexcursions-fishing ...,
Here are select few (from left-right, top row first): Maijishan caves/buddhas with walkways, Day trip to top of Nan Wu Tai Mountain, Montain Temple's interior, Xi'an City walls, Xi'an modern offices, Xi'an Ancient Mosque, Our hotel in Hainan, Swimming in waterfall in rainforest in Hainan, Lake in Rainforest, Hotel's beach in Hainan

Maijishan

One of the oldest set of grottoes (sculptures carved into the rock related to Buddhism) on the Silk Road) is Maijishan. They are impressive since its half way up a sheer cliff. Having said that, the more recent efforts to put walkways outside are almost just as impressive (now i know where the steep entrance fee went). Unfortunately you have to pay extra to see some of the best caves.. and all the caves are 'protected' by some wire grills.. meaning you have to peer through the wire -ruins the effect. Must be another way to protect them!

Nearby is a cave. What makes it interesting is that its high up a mountain and is pitch-black (though i had a pocket torch) and full of bats. It is weird sitting in a cave, turning the torch off and just hearing bats flying nearby and hearing their 'voices' (or possible their sonar -if i remember my biology). I was very proud that i actually turned around after 50m, realising how foolish it would be continue with a useless torch and no idea where the cave was going, how bats would react to me getting even closer or what the path was like (was already scrambling lots!)

I then walked over the peak to the exit of the cave (presuming its the same one that goes all the way through the mountain) and worked out using fancy GPS device that the cave must be at least 200m in a straight line. that is a LONG way going 1 step at a time in the dark. Glad i didn't attempt it alone. After lunch I wemt on one of the best short hikes ever. It would have been perfect had i not been typically Adam and decided the path was too easy and to explore the cross-country route. Oops. Anyway, back on the path was a fantastic village with cows and chickens and signs from the government (advertising in China in the countryside involves painting massive signs on building's walls) about new initiatives about birth control, taxes or whatever (i think!); later on was some more (smaller) grottoes and a great path back down a ridge through overgrown paths to another village. Thankfully there was a stream to clean all the leaves, branches and blood of my legs!

Physically the trip was great. What made it fantastic was the people involved.

-ticket collector. Only spoke to her for a few minutes but found out she is paid way below minimum wage. 300 rmb (30 euros) for 1 month. working from 6am-8pm 7 days a week. Typical in China

-Hou Family. daughter and parents. Spoke to them, realised they lived in the town nearby (that i was not planning on seeing, apart from the train station). Didn't want to disappoint them so invited myself round for dinner the following night before my train. Awesome dinner, stuffed me silly, piled me up with more fruit for the journey. She's a police woman, he's a bit of a market trader in White goods. Didn't understand half of what we talked about for 3 hours, though understood the daughter more.. and she'll show me around Wuhan (where she studies) when i wander off there! Chinese apartments for a typical city family are all the same. 1 bedroom for parents, 1 for child, 1 small kitchen, 1 small bathroom, 1 balconny of sorts and a living room. 80-100 m squared. Bought cheaply off their 'danwei' (local residents association who gave out accommodation during socialist times) or by their state owned employer. Owns a motorbike. These families are the majority. They don't own cars, they don't even want to. They have dead-end jobs but its enough to eat out sometimes and support child in education, and have a computer etc. Just in case you thought everyone has a fancy air conditioned apartment, car and a child studying overseas -if all 400m urban residents were in that situation...

-14 year old kids who i was talking to at the first 'farmer's cottage' i went to stay in. nothing too exciting, but helped me find further accommodation once i was forced to move.

-50 year old drunk local man (Fred, asked me how i do 17 times, forced me to drink 22 times). Was on the verge of getting scary, dangerous, me drunk. Kids advised me to leave. So I did. Damn Baijiu (cheap vodka like, disgusting spirit). Typical country man.. spend their time drinking and talking lots. Take 'hospitatity' too far.

-66 year old man who was friends of the owner of the 2nd farmer's cottage i went to (after evacuating 1st one). rarely understood what he was on about (accent, slurred speach) but charming guy for 2 hrs. Something about weather, beijing, Da Shan (Canadian who speaks fluent Chinese and teaches foreigners chinese on China's TV stations), Thames River... must have been something more in 2 hours of a monologue....

The joys of talking to anyone and everyone, seeing out-the-way touristy places, and wondering without any worries. Another 6 months of more weekend (or longer, since i am only work part-time) trips. It might help me get fit. Chinese lessons should start next week. Apartment is sorted. Corporate Partnerships strategy almost finished.. delivering training soon and then checking out our programme areas in the poor parts of the country -then talking to companies about partnerships. AND.. the premiership is almost back!

the clever chinese

"Unless we change direction, we are likely to end up where we are going "- chinese proverb. China changed direction (to economic growth).. a few times...slowly. But sucessfully. It has now set a new direction (harmonius development and environmental sustainability). How long will it take to move the ship around? And the same goes for the Developed World, which is even slower at turning the ship.. maybe the ship has got used to going in its old direction!

and another relevant quote:
"He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough" - Lao Tzu

Truths about China

China is the center of the World and is always right
Maybe it is a requirement to be a Super Power (in waiting!). China's education system is geared to tell people about China. I ask what students learned about the rest of the World at school... and officially they don't learn much -although there seem to be a number of individual professors who realise the education system's curriculum is antiquated and teach people about others stuff, e.g. Tiananmen Square

Chinese babies' clothes are 'special'
Since China is still a land of squat toilets (cleaner than putting your bum somewhere somewhere else has) and will most likely remain so, since Chinese people don't mind them and don't seem to see it as a mark of civilsation (though us Westerners do), then to make life easier for babies, all their trousers (and they don't wear underwear) have slits in them, so to go to the toilet you just hold open the slit. Quite amusing for foreigners to see, but you get used to it. Would shoot my mum if i was ever given anything like that when i was 3. Actually Xi'an seems to have gone 1 step further and taken away the trousers altogether. More than 1/3rd of all the children i see are only wearing a top, and I've seen at least 3 walking around just wearing sandles!

China never has enough seats on a train
Actually, I lie, it does sometimes have enough expensive soft seats. And it NEVER has any normal beds available (though for the 4 routes in the country with soft beds that cost almost the same as flying do have availability if you really have to leave and don't care about cost). Thus of the 4 classes you have soft seats and soft beds, which are both expensive and rare -but do have space, sometimes. There is little difference (apart from price) between them and normal seats and beds (known as hard). The difference of course is that hard beds for overnight journeys are ALWAYS sold out before they even go on sale, and the hard seats are sold out within 5 minutes of going on sale (if you are lucky). Planning a ourney is tough. You need to buy tickets 4 days in advance and you won't get a choice in which of those 4 options will be available. If you are lucky there will be some standing tickets available (for the same price as a seat though!). China's train capacity is still ridiculously low (for freight too). A rumour is that its intentional by the government to stop too MUCH migration (or travelling to Beijing to protest to the government), just like the ridiculously high flight prices (no competition, regulated market etc -though the service is getting quite good if you ignore that the planes cannot take off or land with a hint of pollution, sand or rain -the first 2 being a problem in many cities in the north, and the last being a problem for many in the south)

They are the nicest people
But they seem the meanest. Once you talk to someone and make some (any) kind of contact then people are wonderful, but until you make any contact, they are just plain mean. Shoving and pushing in lines (for an english gentleman like me this is a capital offence!) and doing all kinds of things that foreigners would say is offensive eg. spitting, staring, ignoring, refusing to serve you etc. I've realised most of this stuff is just the Chinese/Asian/Developing/Foreign country norm -and hence apart from the pushing and shoving, all the evidence is that Chinese people are lovely. Stories abound of being invited into random people's houses for dinner, being bought gifts and all sorts of fantastic generosity -especially from the elders (though they have been through all sorts of hell in their lifetime!)

Its big, its beautiful, its advanced, its orderly
No explanation needed. Though one of my favourite quotes goes something like "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away". For anyone wanting to understand China.. this is the phrase to think about!

It's complicated
To explain the economics, geography, history, languages, minorities, culture, religious influences..... is simply impossible!

Exploring

Yesterday was one of those great days, that happens when you motivate yourself to leave the appartment and go exploring to see new areas. I checked out the Mosque (that does not look at all like a Mosque it is so Chinese, but was full of Muslim Chinese praying) and a Pagoda (so calm and relaxing sitting in the surrounding park/temple) and the city walls (old, big, impressive).

Then I ventured out into the Muslim quarter to have lunch (some noodle thing and some cross between jelly, potato and tofu); I spent almost an hour chatting to the family that own the food stall -even talking about Blair, the Queen and Iraq (not that the conversation was very advanced, but they were very good at dumbing down their Chinese and speaking slowly). I felt so bad that the food was only 15p that I paid double to thank them for the Chinese lesson. I'm going to go back next time I am in the area.

In the Mosque there were some girls handing out surveys for foreigners about their tourism experience in Xi'an, which gave me another hour chinese speaking practise and then there were a bunch of Muslim kids running around the Mosque and playing hide-and-seek from me and my camera (its ok, i had already spoken to the Mosque elders before!). Yes, there is a trend of me travelling around alone talking to absolutely everyone who are all so kind and enthralled to hear a foreigner speaking Chinese. People in Beijing are not quite the same. In fact even in the markets, no-one is dragging the tourists into their stall -it is so much more pleasent -maybe its because most of them are religious?

Religion in China used to be banned during the Communists; now it is tolerated, as long you join the official Church (for example). Most Christians in China go to Churches not affiliated to the government (and thus quasi-illegal) although the number of young people becoming Christian seems to be rising (from a VERY small % of the population) -and the Vatican still recognises Taiwan as the real China, since it prefers Churches to pledge their allegiance to God rather than to the Communist Party. Most Muslims pray in their homes -although it seems as though beiing Muslim in China is very different to elsewhere. Especially for the young people I met. Something to explore a bit more I think in the future. Still not many jews, that's for sure!

Next up was the required walk down the touristy areas selling all kinds of crafts and artefacts -totally reminded me of being in Turkey, since most of the women selling things were wearing head coverings of a sort, and one of the bazaars was indoors (see Istanbul's Grand Bazaar). Then through the commerical area (urgh, so many mobile phone shops and girl's fashion shops!) on a detour out East of the City to a park. I've learned a long time ago that Parks are some of the best hidden secrets in China. Sometimes you find a 'Water World', other times its just beautiful flowers, and others are carefully designed ornate chinese rock and water sculptures.

This one included a big lake, pagodas, small temples, thousands of benches with couples sitting on with(out) their kid, pedalos, and international Ice festival, playgrounds and so on. There is also a theme park with more than 15 rides! Shoved into 1 corner are things like a Pirate Ship, Dodgems, Monorail, Water Fluem, Roller Coaster and more. Will have to tell you some other time whether they are worth the pound or so to ride each one.

Other interesting snippets:
-I've found the all important good and cheap place to buy DVDs and an outdoor Pool table complex
-I've found a place to get 20(!) passport photos done to change my visa
-I climbed up a tree to rescue a father-son's shuttlecock that went wayward
-I started listening to a new weekly podcast that is hilarious (the now show, on BBC 4)
-I ventured into some of the slum areas to get lots of stares, and contemplated investigating a 'room for rent' sign but then bottled out!
-Xi'an's hot, but less polluted than Beijing and has less traffic. It's nice and small and is full of street food everywhere that is totally different to Beijng. There are some tourists, but few other foreigners and thus not many bars or Western restaurants.

Xi'an and Shaanxi

Xi'an is the 2nd most visited place for tourists to see in China after Beijing. It used to be the capital of China and has impressive tombs, old city walls, pagodas and various other things including several thousand life-size statues of an army -yes every single statue is life-size and every one is different. I've not seena ny of this yet -but I will. Of course there is also 1 of the 5 'holy' mountains nearby too -so i can camp on the top.

In China most of the cities that are really growing are those with big populations of workers or potential consumers, or cities with natural resources or good transport links. Shaanxi province has none of that. Its in the middle of China with only 37 million people, not on the Yangtze river and 80% is mountainous or desert in some way (apparently). Although Xi'an is quite prosperous from tourism (and being the provincial capital) the rest is quite desperately poor.

In the middle agriculture is strong, but the rest its not so easy. As with the rest of China its not food that is generally a problem (though its tough growing things in the desert areas and expensive to transport in from elsewhere), the problem is about the quality of healthcare, education, sanitation, environmental protection etc. NGOs are heavily financed from aid agencies and corporate grants, and individual donations from rich countries to help provide the training to jumpstart these problems in China. China cannot wait a few decades to solve these issues like some other countries did when they developed, because its millions of people who are affected!

I am shocked at how much money it does take though to create this jump-start effect. Requiring lots of people to spend many years working with different partners, travelling to every village and organising various capacity building activities for the villages or for other organisations. The sheer scale is incredible -and the level of work Plan is engaged in is very much standard International Development stuff. Most of the people working at a senior level are all Masters or PhD people and use all these fancy acronyms. I mean I can follow on when they talk about base-line surveys or about the cognitive behaviours of children (flashback to Univeristy Psychology class); but some of the other stuff... Well I have a lot to learn.

I've also realised I am somewhat out of my depth, and will be for a good few weeks. Having not been to the areas we are working in yet, or any real practical knowledge of what is happening, I have loads of ideas about different things.. but probably will have to scrap them and start again soon! Anyway, I'm looking forward to heading out into the PUs as part of my role in the SSIP!

More to come later about my exact job -its being finalised this week as we explore where i can best contribute and what i can most learn.... I'm pleasently surprised about everything.. my colleagues are all fantastic -a great atmosphere in the office and some don't speak chinese.. although since i can barely converse in english about some of these things who knows when my chinese will get that advanced!

The good news is things are cheap here -accommodation is about half of Beijing! Since no companies are really opening many offices or factories here there does not seem to be many tall commercial buildings or many foreigners working here. Though there are loads of Universities.

Globalisation in 2017

SustainAbility, my favourite organisation for insightful, concise and clever thinking is doing a survey on the future of globalisation. I had not really thought about it, but invite you to answer the questions. These are some of my answers.

Q1: In the period to 2017, do you see globalisation:

Accelerating
Slowing down
Stalling
Going into reverse
x Taking a very different direction - and why?

Politically Globalisation will start to regionalise, despite global organisations' wishes. I expect bilateral trade agreements to increase, world trade talks to go into reverse and geopolitics to play an even greater role in trade, wars and general hostilities, sanctions and globalisation.
'people' will start to become protectionist in the face of growing global crises realising that the current global mechanisms for change are not working.
Business wil play an increasing role but will end up fighting against governments. Businesses will become more accountable than governments in the next 10+ years in many cases and citizens will start to trust business more, since business will be the force that is a) thinking long-term and b) responding suitable to the balance between local interests and global needs. Democratic and Undemocratic Governments are unable to do either. Despite globalisation having being let free by political changes, it will now have to break free from politics somehow.

Q7: What needs to happen to generate the political will to create global governance structures?

A change in the role of individuals in society and of national governments in society. An acceptance of the interconnectedness of our decisions, and the desire to try to be less selfish.

This requires a fundamental change in democratically elected governments. Under current elections, governments will only continue to fight each other -for a piece of the pie, rather than work together to make the pie bigger, so to speak.

In this sense we need to create systems that ensure thatincreasing wealth for others is beneficial to ourselves, and then help people understand this.

Governments will need to see their role change and be representatives of a group of people helping those people and contributing to the global good; rather than just doing what is best for that group of people.