Last Day in Beijing

My guide, Rina, said we had seen the whole city… She said if I had stayed another day, that we’d have to go out to the ‘burbs to see how the non-city folks live… We started the morning late since there were only a couple of stops on the itinerary – which was fine by me, as I had packing to do.

We began at the Beijing Underground – which was fascinating, though musty. After all, it’s an underground tunnel. You see, when Japan invaded China they began digging tunnels to connect their most important sites. These tunnels were built in MY lifetime… with construction beginning in 1969 and ending in 1979. Per the guide, China was “very poor” and didn’t have mechanical equipment to build these tunnels – so they were dug by hand, 27 meters underground (around 80 feet). It’s hard to imagine that recent-day China didn’t have the necessary equipment just 30-35 years ago. (Even more amazing to see how far they’ve come since then!) Anyway, these tunnels connect every vantage point in Beijing – and the total length of the tunnels is greater than the length of the Great Wall of China! Under the tunnels was everything from arsenal storage to a hospital and even a silk factory (I’ll get to that in a minute.)

The tunnels are still “operational” and managed by the China Department of Defense… so pictures were not allowed. Our interpreter graciously allowed us to take a single picture – you’ll see below that the image only captured about 15-20 feet of tunnel. It was dark, damp (wet, even), with indoor/outdoor carpet stripped out of the tunnels and crumpled on the ground to walk over. Pictures of Mao and other demonstrations and military parades lined the tunnel halls. The tour through a quarter-mile or so of these cave-like tunnels ended in… yes, SHOPPING! (Whoooooooooeeeeeeeey!) So – here’s the silk story.

Silk is strong – amazingly strong. To this day, the Chinese army still makes flak jackets out of silk. We learned how silk blankets were made, what to look for in counterfeiting, etc. So – how we have down comforters as the higher-end bedding in the States… they do the same with silk. The spun silk fibers are stretched over a (bed-size) form like a big spiderweb, then the next layer is stretched, then the next – and after 100s of layers, you have a silk blanket. Then they wrap it in a gauze cover (leaving the end open so that you can validate that it’s silk and hasn’t been replaced by cotton batting). You then put the blanket inside a pretty duvet cover. I know my description doesn’t do it justice, but I was quite impressed. And yep, I bought one. So, ladies and gentlemen, I’m now a paying supporter of the Red Army. :-) Below is a shot of my tour guide, Rina, and the really nice army interpreter who took us through the tunnels. (By the way, this was Rina's second "first" with me -- I'm the first visitor in three and a half years to want to go to a grocery store, and the first she took to the Beijing Underground. May she have many more "firsts!")

After my silk shopping soiree (and a soiree it was!), we grabbed some lunch at a restaurant specializing in dumplings. We had only a short amount of time, and I wanted to experience the Silk Street Market… so we took a 30-minute stop on the way to the airport. Geeeez…… I could have spent a DAY in there! Shoes, bags, jewelry, clothes… I was just bummed that we hadn’t stopped there earlier. I procured two nice silk scarves on my whirlwind blow-through and away we went to the airport.

Our stop at the Silk Market spurred an interesting dialogue between my guide, my driver, and me. We talked about the Asian focus on “quality” and the different American interpretation of “quality”… You see – China was not (nor was India, for that matter) the “shopper’s paradise” that Ms. Cheap had anticipated. And for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why they’d press and press me to spend $2,500 (that’s USD, ladies and gentlemen) on a pearl necklace and lecture me on quality as if I were a recycle-your-Ziploc-bags cheapskate. From my perspective, I know that $2,500 represents about two months’ salary for the average China tech worker – so in my mind, I can’t fathom who would spend two months’ salary on a necklace they’d wear 4-5x a year.

The difference, it seems, is that we in America have lots and lots of everything. “Us girls” – many of us go through several purses each year. But in China, my guide had been carrying hers for four years and expected a few more. On the pearl front, I’d rather have several different necklaces (different lengths, different sized pearls) – but in China, you only need to have one (but one of very high quality). It’s culturally very different, for example I would never have someone compliment my jewelry and then me start telling them the grade and size of the pearls or diamonds, where they were purchased, etc. But in China, those are active conversations the wearer leads in with! (As in: “Like my new pearls? They’re AAA grade oceanwater – not freshwater – and I paid 36,000 RMB at Ling-Ling.")

In China, they make do with fewer items, but they are items expected to last a long long time. I think the difference (I’m waxing philosophical here toward the end of this journey) is that Americans do have a lot of material things. However, our mindset is very change-oriented – i.e., we like to get NEW stuff. We’re living in a culture a little over 200 years old. Now, contrast this with the Chinese (and my friends in India, as well) who are operating off a mindset of centuries/millennia of heritage. Couple that with the intense focus on the family and the parents often provide everything well into adulthood (until the child marries) and you create a culture where it’s more important to invest in the “really good quality” pearls so that they last through many generations of your family line. That’s my assessment, for what it’s worth.

So I’m typing up my day’s experiences from the airport as I wait on my flight to Dalian. Beautiful modern airport -- light years ahead of those hand-dug tunnels in the 1970s. It’s filled with smoke, as is the expectation here. A fierce headache is setting in – I’m just not used to these smoke-filled corridors. Tonight I meet up with a colleague in Dalian and tomorrow morning I’ll be touring around the city before starting the business-side of my China-tour tomorrow afternoon and Friday. I’m anxious to get back to work – it makes me appreciate the things I enjoy doing most and the really awesome people I get to work with each day. More tomorrow.