the great white north

Why is it snowing on May 4? This "winter" does not want to end. There are many reasons we live in Canada, the awesome weather is not one of them!

It’s the second day back home. There is laundry to do, groceries to buy and sleep to catch up on. I am thrilled to be able to brush my teeth with running water. Brushing my teeth with bottled water in China did make me aware of how much water I waste brushing my teeth.

China is a fascinating country. The people are very proud and hard working. It is an odd mix of communism and capitalism. One of our guides said if communism is symbolized by red and capitalism by white, China is pink.

As our first guide George put it, China is governed by one party and that is the communist party. Although they don’t call themselves communists. The government owns all the land in the country and they can make you move out of your home if they have other plans for the land. People do not vote in China. The president is chosen by a small group of government officials. The current president/chairman is Xi Jinping and he is trying to clean up all the corruption in the government. This is no small task. The Chinese government was notorious for spending lavishly on restaurants, hotels and celebrations. The hospitality industry has taken a hit since the new president has decided to get rid of the waste. This was to our advantage because high end hotels are now giving tour groups good rates. That’s why we stayed in the amazing Pan Pacific in Suzhou.

The Chinese are hard workers and incredibly industrious. They do not get many holidays and if there is money to be made, they work. Our guide told us the Chinese live to work vs. North Americans and Europeans who work to live. I wonder why? Why make a lot of money if you can’t enjoy it?

There are a lot of people in China! The one child/couple policy for population control is still in place but it has been relaxed a bit. Rural families can have a second child if the first one is a girl or disabled, if the parent was an only child they can have an additional child, twins are OK, foreigners are exempt, etc. The penalty fee for going against the policy is three times your last year's income.

We were told that it is illegal to find out the gender of a baby through an ultrasound, but if you know the right people… Having only one child creates other problems – the singletons are often very spoiled by parents and grandparents causing other social issues and because of the Chinese family structure of supporting generations, one adult child has the pressure to look after two or even three generations of parents/grandparents.

China allows 10 Hollywood movies in to the country/year. Of course all the movies are edited to Chinese standards of decency. Avatar was removed from the theater because the government was afraid it might evoke a revolt. Although the official message was that the movie might stifle the local film economy.

Other things I learned:

• The Chinese are still upset with the Japanese because they won’t apologize for what they did to them in the war.
• Dental must not be covered. There are a lot of bad teeth in China.
• Guns are illegal
• Disney is opening in Shanghai in 2015. A strange deal was struck and Disney owns 50%.
• Opium wars caused a lot of unrest. Opium is bad.
• We Chat is the Chinese version of Face Book.
• 1.3 billion people live in China. It's the most populated country in the world and the third largest land mass.
• There is a lot of competition among children at a very early age.
• Chinese are pushy because with so many people if you don't push, you don't get ahead. Not something we got used to.
  
• The government is working on the pollution issue. Trying to change from coal to electricity but it is a slow process.
• It's expensive to drive and own a pet - license fees are outrageous.
• The Chinese have many superstitions - never give a clock to Chinese - it means there will be a funeral; lucky numbers are 6, 8, 9, 10. 4 and 13 are unlucky
• It is very humid in the south - great for skin. Bad for hair!
• The young women are very skinny. Actually overall the Chinese are small. Shopping for clothes is bad for one's self esteem. Aunty Deb (who is tiny) would need an XL and uncle Daryl an XXL!
  
• We had to hand over our passports to every hotel we stayed at.
• Farmer's build big houses and use all the rooms to make money - some they rent out for accommodation and some to businesses. The bigger the house, the more the government will have to give them when/if they are re-located.
• Tea bushes are replaced every five years. Women pick the tea and men bake the tea.
• There are dating parks where singles posted information to find a mate. Often the mothers go to the parks to find a suitable candidate for their child.
• 1 million people can fit in Tiananmen Square.
• 1/3 of the Great Wall has disappeared.
• People don't hang their laundry out in Beijing like they do in the south. We were told it's because Beijing isn't as humid and clothes don't need to be outside to dry.
• Drinking and driving is not tolerate. You will go to jail. No warnings.
• China has the death penalty.
• Young couples like to live one bowl of soup distance from parents - you can carry a bowl of soup from your parent's house and it is still warm but you don't live together. 
• Peace and Harmony are strong values in China.
• The Beijing Olympics were the catalyst for a lot of change in China - huge pride in country, there is less spitting on the streets now (although it still exists!), a lot was invested in infrastructure including changing to electric heating, pollution was halted during the Olympics by shutting down the factories (same for the Shanghai Expo)... 
• Some cars are only allowed to drive on roads certain days of the week. You get a ticket if you are driving when you are not allowed - they can tell by your license plate
• The Chinese believe that Marco Polo took the idea of pizza and ice cream from China to Italy. I have to say, the Italians definitely perfected both pizza and ice cream!
• Chinese like to gamble but casinos are illegal in China. They love Vegas.
  

I am very glad to have had the opportunity to glimpse in to the Chinese culture. For me the ChinaPac tour was perfect. The guides were excellent and we didn't have to worry about anything - food, accommodation, transportation, admission to sites, group check in at the airport - everything was taken care of for us. Even a wake up call every morning. It was a trip I will never forget!

Traveling makes me realize that I am fortunate to be able to take time off to explore different places. And, we are very fortunate to live in Canada. Even with snow in May.