If you ever want to understand what it means to live in China — “real China,” as some are fond of saying — head out to one of the popular tourist sites this week. It doesn’t matter which — may as well be the Great Wall, shown above, or Xiangshan, or Jiuzhaigou, whatever. Advance warning: you’ll need to prepare heavy doses of perspective and patience, and master a few advanced breathing techniques, because what you’ll deal with will shock and anger you, and seriously test your resolve to be a compassionate, courteous human being.
It will also open your eyes to what it truly means to live under constant population pressure, as this country does, and hammer home the problems this country faces due to those pressures. So ignore this post’s title: go take a hike on the Great Wall, preferably around lunchtime, when everyone is just arriving. Let the experience be didactic. QQ video for those in China after the jump.
I am well-stocked with a supply of dvd’s. Went to Carrefour for provisions and now I have no intention of leaving the house until October 6th.
Whoever travels during Golden Week holidays is either Chinese or insane.
Workers Paradise and their wonderful holidays. Even their holidays are feudal.
And someone punch that guy at the 2 minute mark for putting his collar up!
Walked through a park on the way home from work today (some of us work during the holiday). It’s not the largest park in NanJing, but usually pretty popular. Only a few folks out enjoying the sunshine. The Metro lines both ways were less crowded than usual. Everybody seemed polite and happy.
All that being said, you couldn’t pay me to drive my car this week. Seems like calm away from BeiJing.