Impressions of China

The Great Wall tourist attraction - by Audrey

The Great Wall ascends from a tiny village in which almost anyone is willing to do anything to sell you…anything. Peddlers on the street vary from those who purchase from artisans or companies, to those who actually create their art right there on the Great Wall.

A popular style of art we saw being made on the Great Wall was an engraving into a black slate to create an image of the Great Wall. Other commodities lining the broad wall were trinkets, coins, and quilts. Now, what a person in 90 degree weather would want with a quilt is beyond me, but the designs on them were quite enticing. Intricate patterns woven in patchwork and patchwork pandas were number one on the selling list. You had to be careful, because if you got too close to the quilt peddlers, you’d find yourself wrapped in one with the woman going “See, see? Nice and warm…” Very odd, people will do anything to make a sale up there. Must be the high altitude.

Tourist Attraction - by Luke

Before you step on to the Great Wall, however, from the place we climbed there was a small square in which a girl was balancing upright on a ladder, a team of men stood around sedan chairs in which to carry you, and the natives looked around for the light-haired foreigners to take their picture with.

It was quite a scene. Shops lined a small staircase up to the actual Wall, and then they became more spread out. Mostly were just small work stations with signs in Chinese asking you to buy this or that. Because of the way it was set up, we’d have to pay to get a group picture taken on this set of risers that were already set up at a prime point where the Wall ascended gracefully to heaven in the background. Well we weren’t going to pay good Yuan for that! We nestled ourselves in our own juxtaposed setting and got a wonderful group shot. Now we all have proof that “I Mount the Great Wall” (as our admission tickets said!!).

Yarmouth China Studies Project group shot

Great Wall and Lauren's head - by Audrey

The Great Wall. The snake who runs its belly along Northern China, the ultimate stairmaster…these are a few names that are fitting for the largest man-made structure on Earth, the only one that can be seen from satellites aside from man-made bodies of water, of course.

The group split in to two and took off in either direction. We soon learned how difficult it would be to move at a constant pace on the constantly shifting rises and falls of the monstrous wall.

It’s steeper than one might imagine. There were parts where you could look down the stairs you just climbed and not see the steps below. In some places it was obvious that if you fell down the stairs, chances are you wouldn’t hit more than two until you were set in to flight and rolled all the way down in to the valley where we first mounted.

The Great Wall At Jinshanling

We had a long while to climb, and were to meet back at the restaurant where the bus was parked at a certain time. When we all got down we got a yummy taste of chocolate ice cream which we learned later to be more popular in the Shanghai area. Lunch was good and we ran in to a group of students from Philadelphia who were traveling on a railroad from Russia to China.

We bid our farewells to our fellow travelers (who were on the last day of their trip, with us on one of our first!) and set off back to Beijing.

Original piece of the Great Wall

Chinese Flags in Tienanmen Square - by Luke

On our way back from Bei Hai park we drove a wide perimeter around the whole of Tiananmen square. With the sun setting slowly over the large tower in the center of Tiananmen Square (called the “(T-tower)” we got a glimpse of probably the world’s most historical monuments. Needless to say, Tiananmen Square is not classified as one of the Seven Great Wonders of the World, but the stories and horrors behind the life of such a landmark should deem it so. The pain and disgust that go hand in hand with views of Tiananmen that are pre-determined by what we’ve only learned in high school are, for me (please pardon the independent speech, here), some of the most powerful feelings I’ve ever had related to school and the rest of the world around me.

View of Mao - by Lauren

To accurately portray the spectre of the unfolding of events at Tiananmen Square, a short history lesson is in order. On April 15th, 1989, student protests broke out only shortly following the death of the communist party general secretary and democratic reformer Hu Yaobang. These protests went hand-in-hand with the feelings people had against China’s leader, Deng Xiaoping, who was not wanted (by the students) to be in charge anymore.

Here comes the tricky part…

Resisting the government’s command to cease protests on April 20, the water of China’s social self was turned from a simmer to a boil. Tension was rising and falling in at a time when the leadership of the country was wavering between Li Peng and Zhao Ziyang, that is, after Deng Xiaoping had been forced from office. The student’s protests were to create a more democratically oriented government, which was not appreciated by the communist leaders.

With martial law declared, Li Peng (the winner of the struggle over power between himself and Zhao Ziyang) ordered troops to ‘handle’ the situation at Tiananmen. He did this with the support of Deng Xiaoping.

About a month had passed since the students’ refuse to withhold their protesting. Troops were launched into the Heart of Tiananmen to brutally bring the radical, anti-democratic protests to a screeching halt. Tanks poured in with foot soldiers by their side. With stern, bloodthirsty intentions, the soldiers marched straight in to the crowd of frightened movementists…with their guns pointed forward the whole time. The rest is history, barely ten years ago, to this date, and it is impossible for me to imagine such a horrid thing existing while I was idling my 6-year-old self with pattern blocks and weather charts… sunny, cloudy, foggy, or snowy until school let out. I was completely unaware of what was going on in the world then, and if I’d had to have made a guess, it would have been a cloudy day over Tiananmen.

That is the history lesson. There are hopes that the reader isn’t completely asleep through all the names and dates, impressions and speculations…but it was definitely something that had to be reviewed before summarizing our attendance there.

Tiananmen Square Statues - by Luke

Our first glimpse at Tiananmen, as said before, was of a quick perimeter to see all sides of the Square. It was closed off, due to renovations for the 50th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, so we were only able to cruise the strip that surrounds Tiananmen. We went home, regretting that we were not able to walk on the grounds of the historical monument, but found that only a couple of days later we were able to visit, on the first day of the reopening! The great green walls of construction were torn down and we were the first to experience the newly re-stoned walkways and a completely ‘refurbished’ Tiananmen.

The experience of walking across the slate floor at Tiananmen Square was a little bit like a dream. Though it was sunny, it felt cloudy, and my feet were like marshmallows scuffling softly against the ground. I imagined all the people who died here, scrambling towards the large monument in the middle of Tiananmen, hurrying in vain trying to climb it (though it is unclimbable) and feeling that inevitable sting of death. It’s great to say that I’ve experienced such a place and hope that my travel-mates feel the same.

Yamouth China Studies Project group shot

The Forbidden City by Audrey

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a very tall wall called the Purple Wall. One might be confused with the name, as it is pictured red. If you can look close enough, there is definitely a touch of purple somewhere among the red expanse. A possibility as to why it is called the Purple Wall is that the wall is so old, 600 years, in fact, that the paint used on the walls is so faded and the sun has tinted it a grapefruit shade of red.

Street Peddler by Audrey

When we arrived we parked a long distance from the entrance. From the moment we got off the bus to the moment we entered the Forbidden city we were surrounded by a literal swarm of people trying to sell us postcards and figurines. They appeared out of nowhere and followed us like mad until they started dispersing in the crowd at the entrance to the City. This location is a virtual magnet for peddlers. They can only gather outside of the purple wall because of admission fee purposes, but believe me, they make up for not being able to get in by getting you good (or at least harassing you to a point of near-insanity) while you’re waiting to get in.

Crane Statue by Luke

When you go through the gate you pass through a small hallway that is filled with souvenirs and necessities for trekking around the hot courtyard such as an umbrella or a multitude of bottled water. After this dark merchandising tunnel you emerge in to a wide plain of stone with widespread landmarks such as statues of cranes, lions, and bridges over a small river that passes through that lead to stairways up to the first large building. Large urns were placed mathematically through the entire place, on the perimeter. Some of us hid in the shade of these, along with an umbrella to ease the heat, while others took pictures and explored this historical site.

Traditional Scaffolding by Jim

We spent about 15 minutes milling around and then the full group met at the top of the first large staircase. Some tourists asked some of us for pictures, and we observed the traditional style scaffolding they use in modern times to do renovations on various buildings.

Styrofoam Booties by Steve

Once we passed through that area of the City we were required to wear these strange booties made of styrofoam, nylon tape, and elastic. Yang said that they probably didn’t care if we kept them on, because most likely it was just a way of making money.

Performing the Cotton-Eyed Joe dance by Audrey

Further in to the Forbidden City there were museums and gardens. In one pathway between museum halls, the group did the “Cotton-Eyed-Joe” dance and a bunch of Chinese tourists got to watch us make complete sillies of ourselves.

Throne where emperor sat - by Becky

We left the overpowering landmark with a sense of smallness, which is exactly what the emperor, Qin, who had it built intended. He wanted to create a feeling of heaven on earth, and for all the subjects to feel weak and insignificant so they would easily bend to his power.