Our lasting impressions of China

When you do something new, or something you've not done in a while, it's hard not to have some level of preconceived ideas or expectations.  So it was with this trip.  It was 15 years since I had been to China (and that was on business) and Nancy had never been.  The information from our tour company kept emphasizing that this was not a "holiday" but an "adventure" and not to expect things to be as organized or run as smoothly or of the quality we're used to in the west.  So what were our overall impressions?

Clck the photos below to enlarge

Some typical apartment blocks

A skyline of cranes - everywhere

Traditional transport with a modern car behind

A free for all between all modes of transport

A cell tower in a remote village along the river Li

• Given all that we'd been advised, our first impression was how well everything is run and organized. Our flight from SFO to Beijing on Air China left early and arrived early.  Check-in was a breeze. The plane was very clean and modern, equipped with the very latest individual entertainment centers.  The seat spacing was great - lots of legroom, equivalent to United's upgraded Economy Plus, with no big box under the seat where your feet go.  Even the food and service were good. Compared to our flight back on United, which was scheduled to leave 2 hours late (plane broke down) then sat at the gate, doors closed for 40 minutes with no explanation, no entertainment centers - just one screen at the front of each section, etc.  Once in China, everything ran to schedule, no hassles, no red tape, just great - and as far as we could tell, no travel restrictions at all.
• The next thing to strike us was the huge number of new buildings and infrastructure, an overwhelming number of high rise apartment blocks and on-going construction everywhere.  Our guide quipped the China National Bird is the Crane!  However, many of these buildings were empty, and although the huge investment in building, transport and communication projects over the last few decades has served China well in terms of employment and providing a long term foundation of infrastructure, one gets the feeling that they're not sure what to do next.
• New and traditional. We considered ourselves lucky to visit China at a time when a lot of the "old" ways are still visible, side by side with the "new".  It was fascinating to see lots of old pedal bike tricycles (often stacked high with goods), regular bicycles "sharing" the road with the latest BMW's and Mercedes.  This was less so in the very modern city of Shanghai.  We we're also impressed by the number of modern electric scooters.  Millions of them!  We rarely saw any petrol driven 2 wheel vehicles anywhere.  Although there are still many places that continue with traditional Chinese customs, food, etc. - much is changing rapidly and many of these "traditions" are retained only for tourists.
• Use of technology. Everywhere we went, even a village that was not accessible only a decade ago had mobile phone coverage and hi-speed internet access.  Even when we were travelling a couple of hours on a bus to remote villages along country roads, our guide would be on her mobile phone for much of the journey.  Even small things like lights in parks and public steps, etc. were all led.  The metros are all using latest technology.  We travelled from one side of Shanghai to the other for just 75c and the train ran completely automatically and inside each car were electronic signs for stations, etc. both in Chinese and English.
• Landscaping.  Every city we visited had lots of parks and all the sides and medians of the streets were beautifully landscaped.  Even in the countryside, landscaping seemed important.  And contrary to popular belief, China is aggressively pursuing pollution control.  Vehicle standards are now the toughest in the world.  At the moment China produces about 1/3rd the amount of greenhouses gases per person as the US. In fact, in the western world, the US continues to be the largest polluter per person by a factor of 2.  China has a lot of old power stations that are big polluters, but all their new stations meet very stringent requirements (see NY Times article here )

So those are a summary of our overall impressions.  We noticed that many prices in restaurants and grocery stores were not really different than here.  Even other goods and services were not that much cheaper than here, though I did think my massages (yes plural) were reasonable, though again not cheap. My son-in law who works for a tire manufacturer, told me that labor costs in their Chinese factories are not that much lower than the US - they just produce better quality tires.

China does have the advantage of being able to build infrastructure where and when it's needed without being stopped by migrating frogs or spotted owls, though there is obviously a price to be paid. However, I think their ability to get things done, use and understanding of technology and extensive and modern infrastructure makes them a certainty as a major player on the world stage.  They seem to be achieving a reasonable balance between the old communist, modern entrepreneurial and environmentally sensitive ways. Quite an achievement for a "non-democratic" state.   I think I may have underestimated just how big a force they are.