Visit to the earthquake affected area

Before we left Tagong, where we had seen beautiful villages, we
watched a basketball match in the town that was well attended, despite
the rain. Part of a town cup sponsored by China Mobile, 95% of those
watching were focused on the men's match, rather than the adjacent
women's match. The police beat the government team 66-56 in what was
actually a decent match. Not too surprising I suppose, since
basketball is easily China's favorite sport, mostly because of a
Chinese player whos is one of the best in the NBA. There are another
couple of Chinese players in the NBA but Yao Min is the 7 foot
something giant that has brought the NBA to a billion people. If he is
really injured so badly that his career might be over, the NBA will be
in trouble. None-the-less, basketball's smaller court size and greater
flexibility means it should continue to rule. The closest (but
different) competitors might be table tennis, or pool/snooker.

A driver finally took us back to Chengdu and thanks to a mammoth
series of tunnels that have been built to replace the roads that will
be flooded for a new hydroelectric dam, we almost made it in 9 hours.
Until we ran into two traffic jams that added 3 more hours to the
journey. I expect we might still have beaten the bus that left 24 hrs
before us with some friends on it, who wanted to save some money, as a
bridge collapsed blocking their road. Although, even before that, the
bus station man would not be willing to guess when the bus would
arrive. He just said at least 15 hrs, be.ause of the landslides and
floods!

The last two days were spent at a town that was badly affected by the
earthquake, where I was doing some work. The town and the villages are
now a massive construction site and moany people's new houses are
almost completed (with money and also loans from the government),
though until they are completed there are still thousands (that we
saw, and maybe millions overall) still living in temporary buildings
made of the same material as portable toilets. Each family has 1 room
to squueze their bed, fridge, tv and belongings into.. and live there
for a year or more. Not great, but in true Chinese style these areas
were well organised with a police station, medical centre, running
water, decent toilets etc. It must have been tough for the first few
months though, when there were only tents.

The area we were was not the poorest so many locals were able to
afford the extra needed in addition to the government grants and
loans... some even had built two storey houses or had flat screen tvs
(these were the people who had earned money in the cities as migrant
workers). We saw one village that had been destryoed by the earthquake
and not yet cleared, as some people had made temporary wooden homes
there whilst their new places were being built (preferring such wooden
contraptions to the tents) and it was almost totally rubble. The new
houses are supposed to be built with some poles every few metres that
will absorb the shock from any future quakes. They worked fine when
there was a 5.6 quake last month, but I am not convinced they would
withstand another 8.0 -hopefully such a quake will not happen for a
long time, and the weight of the water behind the 3 Gorges Dam (where
Dad is off to in a couple of days) and other dams was not behind this
quake (as rumours have it, and thus further quakes could happen as
more dams are built).

We also met some volunteers; a girl who was just finishing up 2 months
working in a village library/culture center looking after kids and a
guy who teaches local people how to raise (and sell as meat) rabbits.
It was great to meet them, though it seemed clear that the young
people affected by the earthquake really should be able to do some of
this kind of work instead of relying on volunteers from the other side
of China. The adults (especially the women) were busy building, and
the elderly were helping; the kids were running around having fun
(including in the local swimming pool) but I'm not sure where the
youth were... plenty seemed camped out in the internet cafe, though
some may have gone elsewhere looking for work.

Unusual events at high altitude

The eclipse came and went, but was mostly behind cloud so we did not
see the famed corona of the sun peeking around the moon, despite
hiking up a hill early in the morning -well the extra 200m closer to
the sun was never likely to help much. Though the 9 or so of us
created some kind of group atmosphere during the eclipse, in the town
the locals set off fireworks when it went dark and probably had more
fun!

Tagong, the small Tibetan town where we watched the eclipse, 3,000m in
altitude and surrounded by grasslands, had a minimal police presence.
With so few Han Chinese there I suppose there was not much tension.
The other towns and cities with a higher mixture of ethnicities were
different though, with police cars cruising around or parked in
prominent places, after the unrest of last year that spread from Lhasa
to these areas. Sensibly the police kept their distance when a living
buddha, a lama (not the dalai lama of course), came to visit and there
was a procession through town.

The procession involved smoke, some humans dressed up as animals, over
50 horsemen and some 4x4s for the lama and his party. In fact one of
the cars in the party was a sports car (not sure how it fared on the
awful local tracks) and the lead 4x4 carried a monk who jumped out
early to film it all. We looked on, impressed, especially with the
horsemen with their white and gold outfits and swords. We also went
into the monastery where the whole town gathered to sit in the
courtyard to eat and take turns in going into the prayer hall. After
getting sunburnt in the courtyard, enjoying the atmosphere and peaking
into the prayer hall we left and went for a walk.

It had been an interesting experience and more was to come the next
day when we rode a horse to another monastery where the monks were all
kneeling amongst flowers in a square under a tent praying, and it
looked stunning. In fact the morning ride was better than expected: we
trotted a fair bit and even broke into a brief canter to escape a mean
dog who left the tent on the hills with his tibetan nomadic owners to
attack us. Life up there seemed pretty bad and a mean dog seemed as
important to the tibetans as their herd of yak (seems like even the
tibetans have to deal with criminals)... but it was fascinating to
see.

Another 4 hours on a rough road took us to our last destination,
Danba. The roads were all under construction and suffered from the
rain, but the scenery was incredible over the last week or so.
Particularly as we went over 4,000m and past the second-highest
airport in the world that looked out-of-place surrounded by yaks and
grass. We've had to hire minivans often due to a lack of buses, roads
too bad for buses, and the recent decision not to sell bus tickets to
foreigners to go to certain places. We've got to know some fellow
travellers fairly well in these journeys and over meals of yak, and
i've been speaking plenty of chinese whilst struggling to understand
the local dialect when we've found someone who spoke putonghua, rather
than tibetan.

We met some wonderful people running hostels and restaurants in these
small villages; none of whom could speak English so I am not sure how
they manage . 1 restaurant owner was an inspiring woman, who had come
here to find work, alone; her kid and husband in other, separate,
places; she ran the little restaurant all alone doing the ordering,
cooking, cleaning and even providing tourist advice at the same time.

We spent the last 2 days admiring some of the most beautiful villages
in China set in the hills, made of stone and surrounded by 800 year
old 30m high watchtowers that the locals had built all over the area.
In the most beautiful village (according to Chinese National
Geographic in 2005) we found a wonderful hotel with a bar. Inside was
a drunk policeman.(presumably off-duty) with a gun and bullets
attached to the holster... it was 4pm. We left quickly and quietly to
continue admiring the magnificent and massive buildings.

Unfortunately when we arrived back at one hotel at 11.30pm after
dinner, we were told we had to leave before the police came, as we
weren't in a hotel that had a license for foreigners to stay in.
Furious at the hotel manager we had to move, I gave her an earful as
it seemed clear she did this all the time, trying to take in
foreigners illegaly. 2 days later we were angry again when the bus
ticket office told us there might not be a bus leaving the day we
wanted to go and even the bus leaving the day before was likely to
take several hours longer than normal due to the roads which were
affected by rain. It was the "might" that was frustrating. In the end
we decided to hire a taxi for the 9 hour trip only to be told by the
driver he was unable to take us, but his brother would. Then his
brother said the same, so now his friend will take us.... hopefully.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

In Tibetan/Western Sichuan

Tonight I am sleeping in a Tibetan guest house having just tucked into
bed after gazing at the stars that are everywhere, for in a small town
in the middle of the grasslands, at 3,400m hight, the stars shine
bright. The dogs, kept by the Tibetans bark in the night, whilst
preparations are all set for the eclipse in the morning.

On saturday, my dad and I spent 8 hours climbing up (with some descent
unfortunately in the middle which required more ascent!) Mt Emei, a
holy, famous and very tall mountain in south-west China. We spent the
night in a Monastery/guesthouse and the next morning, after another 3
hours reached the top... more than 40km walked and 75,000 steps.. to
3,065m. It was the highest mountain I'd climbed, and the toughest. It
was also the first time I was jumped by wild monkeys who live in the
area and lay-in-wait, literally, for tourists on the paths, to grab
their food. The first time the monkey grabbed a bottle of juice from
my backpack pocket with me barely noticing. The second time 3 monkeys
jumped on me from the fence as i quickly threw them the other bottle,
which they quickly pierced and drank from. I realised the monkeys like
drink as well as food!

On Monday we arrived in Kangding, after an 8 hr bus journey, which
passed many hydropowered electricity generating stations along the
main river. The city is growing rapidly, seems under construction, and
presentes an interesting mix of Tibetan and Han Chinese populations
(and a decent museum, surprisingly). A heavy police presence was
visible after last year's ethnic tensions that spilled into this area
from Tibet. We also met up with a number of other tourists planning
their eclipse viewing experience and befriended them.

Kangding is the gateway to Western Sichuan, an incredible province
with immense natural beauty. On Tuesday we witnessed this in going up
to a beautiful (mu ge cuo) lake 3,700m up and then walking down
alongside the gushing river amongst the trees. Raw nature: water,
trees, animals and their sounds can be incredible. A newly, and still
being, developed tourist site, so far it is well done, all things
considered and a great morning. In the afternoon we took a car over
4,300m through the mountains and grasslands to Tagong. The 4 hour ride
went so fast amongst the beatiful greens and yellows, the yaks and
herders, the small villages and tents... and the blue sky.

Tomorrow, the eclipse, a local festival and more nature. I have
already had to recharge my camera battery twice!

The impact of last week's riots and their meaning

Last week was an important week for China, and unexpectedly so, as for the first time an ethnic minority who has never been particularly happy about being a part of China decided to voice their anger. The spark was a scuffle thousands of kilometres away where some Chinese killed some Uighurs based on a rumour that a Uighur had raped a Chinese woman. Once the truth was out, the Uighurs in Xinjiang voiced their anger.

But because there is no such thing as a right to protest in China, any protests become violent and fast -this one was no exception and it was particularly bloody, beyond just the breaking of shop windows. The Uighurs killed over a hundred Chinese; the police killed a number of Uighurs, and then the next day the Chinese retaliated.

So the region where the two groups had lived side-by-side unhappily, now and for the future, is going to be unstable; and memories of last week will not go away. The simmering tensions are no longer underneath the surface. Being a part of China for the last 50 years or so has not been the preferred choice of the Uighurs, who speak a dialect like Turkish and look nothing like Chinese, nor do they eat Chinese food, and they are generally Muslim.

The last twenty of years have brought economic benefits to Xinjiang (although Xinjiang is oil-rich and its resources mostly bring economic benefit back to Beijing, so it is hard to say who wins that one), and Uighurs do get preferential treatment in theory, like less restrictions on children, and jobs -but the political jobs are still dominated by the Chinese, and the Chinese now outnumber the Uighurs. The Chinese entrepreneurialism and hard working ethic seems different from the Uighurs -many of the Chinese just think of the Uighurs as lazy.

The underlying cause of the unrest is simply that the two cultures are very different and can not really coexist side-by-side, but now the Chinese outnumber the Uighurs. As long as that continues I do not see any solution to the ethnic problems -whether the Chinese might end up leaving (if they feel unsafe or for more economic opportunities elsewhere) is unlikely, but that could reduce the tensions. Quite simply, there is not much of a happy future in sight for the region now.

The government cares little about the Uighurs particularly, though of course it fears the minority of them that want Independence. Really, the bigger fear is, as the Economist puts it that:
"Tibetans and Uighurs are only two of the groups which may not accept the growth-for-freedom trade-off that China's government offers. There are the unknown numbers of adherents to the Falung Gong movement; tens of millions of Christians who cannot follow their faith freely but already probably outnumber the 75m members of the Communist Party; farmers who have been victims of local-authority land-grabs; and many young who, unlike their parents, take economic prosperity for granted and are frustrated by the restrictions on their liberty".

The last line might be the most relevant at the moment, where the elderly remember how bad things were -and they were really bad. The young have only known the good times, and when the times are less good... well, thankfully at the moment China has pumped enough money into the economy to keep growth ticking along enough. But enough is only just enough... and with the environmental problems as well as the economic problems, there might be growing social problems.

What country wants growing social problems? Certainly not the Chinese. The country is not likely to split apart any time soon (though the government often pretends it is, as excuses to repress such riots), but whether the country can remain peaceful, stable and thus prosperous is a more tricky issue... if it cannot, and the value of prosperity that gives the government its legitimacy and credibility , will no longer be enough. The government will then only be able to retain control through force -and without alternatives for people to peacefully vote for, or support, more violence is likely to appear.

Whether the government realises that it desperately needs to allow more peaceful means for the public to express themselves is a good question. It has realised that so far the Chinese are expressing themselves through the internet.. and when that gets too much it blocks the internet or censors it. And when the Chinese turn to their mobile phones, they get censored too (or if they are used to organise protests, the mobile signal is cut altogether). Maybe the internet is a peaceful enough outlet, and non-violent outlet. But it is not enough -and not a long-term solution. There are no organizations controlling or massaging the emotions.

Instead the emotions are all individual and sporadic, and increasingly leading to off-line consequences. The 'human flesh search engine' is a uniquely Chinese phenomenon where someone is identified as requiring punishment (either for corruption or for doing something wrong, maybe a government official, but normally just a regular criminal). So-called 'netizens' search out the person's details, expose their private life and abuse them online, destroying their reputation, making-up things and making their life unbearable. But, there are now many cases where beyond just loosing jobs or being arrested by the police for being exposed, such people are being physically attached in the streets -all because of the original online 'human flesh search engines'.

In fact these individuals who have the time and intelligence dig up these details and publish them are the very ones who could do something more serious in the future. Let's hope the government gives them, and the general public, more opportunities to peacefully give voice themselves and choose amongst different options. Otherwise they might create their own options, and that is surely only going to lead one-way. There is no doubt the Chinese government does not want to rule like the current Iranian government -nor will it be able to, in a country this big and diverse.

Some small steps have been taken -there are increasingly open elections within local communist party branches, and there are numerous residential committees that allow free elections for residents of that community (though these committees just manage the compounds, which is nothing political or impactful). Some government officials are starting to listen to the online chatter, and some even listen to offline voices. But more is needed, and quickly. The government can not be as cautious as it has been before. Change too fast and there can be risks, especially if small pilots cannot be trialled first, but if change is too slow, the risks might be even greater.

4 years ago, I used to think the government had 20 years or so to work this out. But with the growth of the internet and mobile phones, with the increasing environmental problems and the recent economic crisis (reminding people that things could go wrong), i think even 10 years is now looking generous. Hopefully things will start changing soon.. small things, like allowing NGOs (who the government can regulate) to campaign on issues and get public support to provide avenues for self-expression, are possible to start implementing now. Some environmental NGOs have started to do something in this area, but they keep their campaigns to energy and animals (so to speak). I'm looking forward to NGOs who provide real options on real issues that matter to the public who are most wanting and needing to express themselves. Maybe other options will evolve, such as consumer associations, for example. Time will tell...

Beijing vs Shanghai

I'm writing this in Shanghai in a jazz bar bar on a Saturday night; packed of course with foreigners who seem to still be packed into Shanghai, and who seem not to speak any Chinese. In Beijing there are so many foreigners there studying Chinese or working but still trying to study. Shanghai is, true to its reputation, more International than Shanghai and its clear more Chinese people here speak English. This is especially true in bars, but then this would be necessary to serve the foreigners!

The city is laid out completely the opposite to Beijing. Whereas Beijing only  has roads going North-south and East-west, as it was planned hundreds of years ago and has been rebuilt in the same way in the last ten years; Shanghai developed in a mess eighty years ago and is still a mess with traffic lights everywhere from zigzagging criss-crossing roads. Shanghai has a couple of highways from the centre out to the suburbs but Beijing's 5 ring roads start just 3 miles from the centre (is diameter) which, when they are not gridlocked make travelling much smoother.

As public transport goes, Shanghai's subway has variable pricing (the longer you go, the more you pay) but Beijing is set at a paltry 25p for any journey. Shanghai auctions off new car registration plates forcing the prices up and trying to reduce car numbers but Beijing only lets 80% of cars on the roads each day.

Beijing has plenty of parks, but Shanghai almost none. However Shanghai has more trees and definitely looks and feels green compared to Beijing's mass of concrete and wide roads. But in the winter shanghai is wet and cold and lacks heating, whilst in the Summer it is hot and humid. Beijing is cold and dry with excellent heating in the winter and, in the summer, hot but rarely humid. But Shanghai is more modern, with old people often doing modern dance or the tango in parks as well as Tai Qi. Shanghai is more forward thinking and better designed with more 'food streets', 'painting streets', 'art dtreets', 'bar streets' etc that are well planned, well designed and useful.s

Shanghai has at least 3 major districts with another 3 smaller ones, and numerous special trade/development areas whereas Beijing's businesses are mostly all concentrated into 1 big area. The one thing they both have in their bars and clubs are generally all within an area of 5sq miles -but Shanghai's are more expensive as with everything else in the city, and there are more trendy bars (that are even more expensive).

There is not much to see as a tourist in Shanghai or much countryside, but some nice towns within an hour or two nearby. Beijing though, is packed with touristy stuff and beautiful countryside but has no nice towns nearby really. On the one hand Beijing is the government, media, NGO and political and thus conference centre of China. On the other hand Shanghai has the edge commercially, although only just. Beijing has many more Unis and thus research centres, but Shanghai has the lion's share of Asia headquarters (and more and more are moving here from Singapore and Hong Kong).

Shanghai gets more of the international musicians on their Asian tours but Beijing has the slightly better local music scene. Shanghai has the Masters Tennis and F1 racing but Beijing has, because of the Olympic stadiums, all the other minor sports that come to China. Beijing is beyond doubt the winner for history, art, culture, theatre and the like -as is often the case for a capital.

Overall it all depends on the kind of person you are and what your job/passion is. For career-minded business people or partying and socialising people head to Shanghai. For those with more interesting, diverse or meaningful (such as media, government or NGOs) jobs, or more interested in culture and history head to Beijing. Then again China is a country where generalisations are impossible, so no matter what you do or like, you can find it, or do it, in either city.

Of course, the battle and competition between Beijing and Shanghai, let alone the debate, is sure to continue...

Successful, and cheap, football

The last two weeks have been hot...very hot sometimes 40 degrees, on average 35 degrees in the day and 25 degrees at night. It is not so bad outside, to be honest. Beijing is dry, without any humidity at all, though still after several minutes walking, a few beads of sweat break out. The problem is being inside. With large windows and wind, air conditioning might not be necessary, but there is not much wind and nowhere really has big windows, so air conditioning it is then!

Last sunday we went playing CS, or Counter Strike, which is basically shooting people with lasers. In the morning we were out in the forest near the Great Wall -fun running around the forest looking for people to shoot, but in the afternoon, for some reason, we could not go and play in the abandoned villas. So we found another company, courtesy of the internet, and drove there for the afternoon. There it was even better (though more expensive) as they had custom made several different scenarios or landscapes. Plenty of barrels, small houses, walls and all sorts to hide behind, and a few different games too. Not sure how i would feel if it was real weapons though, prefer not to think about it!

On Wednesday i gave a presentation at the French Chamber of Commerce about Sustainable Development in China. I spoke in English of course, as my spoken French is non-existent... all that comes out is Chinese when i try to speak French. But a few other presentations were in French and actually i managed to understand a good deal of what was said, which was satisfying... most of it came back to me, though i still could not speak!

In return for the various weekends I have been working, i am taking an extra week off in a couple of weeks, which will be nice. A chance to spend some time outside, hopefully somewhere not too hot. Earlier in the week Hong Kong celebrated their 12th anniversary of independence from Britain -it is generally celebrated with a march for more democracy; as they wait (until 2017 at the earliest, according to Beijing) for direct elections. Currently they can only elect about half of their government. Must be a busy few weeks for Hong Kong and they must really enjoy marching in the heat, as June 4th was also the annual march in memory of tiananmen. I guess there are more unemployed bankers nowadays who are around to march... or maybe they all work extra hard to keep their jobs, so numbers are lower than usual. I wonder...

Last week we finished our monday night football season in an impressive 5th out of 8 teams, much much beter than our 8th place last season... and we beat the best team in the league in our last match. a shame the season is now over for the summer, as we were finally just getting good! I reserved my tickets for the end of July when Tottenham will be out playing in Beijing. You can't see them play for 8 pounds in England that is for sure... and the 8 pounds is for 2 matches!

Anyway, i hope you all enjoy your weekend, and go Wimbledon crazy.