China visit, May 2025

  

Back on the bike this morning for a whirl around our Waikanae circuit: Peka Peka to Otaihanga and return along the cycle path alongside the Peka Peka to Otaki Expressway. I’m probably alert to this since returning from our Sounds2Sounds bike ride in Feb/March, but I notice an increasing number of bikes on these routes.

 

I digress however. We're just back from a three-week trip to China where I joined Tim who’d been working with colleagues at Tongji University in Shanghai for three weeks. It was an interesting and successful opportunity for him. We capped it off with a 12-day Intrepid tour, beginning in the capital, Beijing, and including Xi’an, Chengdu, Yangshuo and Hong Kong. It was a busy but fascinating experience, covering a swathe of China and offering some insights into the country’s history which goes back 5000 years or more. 

 

To achieve this we needed to be able to travel large distances quickly. Bullet trains were the answer and I’m sold on them. We travelled from Shanghai to Beijing in an economy-class carriage with families mainly. It took us 4-4.5 hours and cost $NZ200 each. The train shot past villages, towns, industrial areas and fields in bright sunlight like a silver streak moving at 350km/h. Outside the temperature was 26C; inside 23C. We also took bullet trains from Beijing to Xi’an (overnight); Xi’an to Chengdu; from there to Yangshuo and on to Hong Kong. On each of these sections I had intended to sleep but found I couldn't resist looking out the window at the rapidly changing landscape, whether small-scale agriculture, residential, commercial or a cooling tower for a power plant, nuclear or coal.

 

I’d been to China once before, in late 1985, as part of a group of Young New Zealanders invited by the then Communist Party general-secretary, Hu Yaobang, during a visit he made to New Zealand in April that year. I was the diplomatic reporter at The Evening Post newspaper and covered the visit. I was later lucky enough to be on the reciprocal visit to China. I was keen to see the changes since then. Unfortunately, there was a journalists’ strike in Wellington while I was away in 1985. I learnt later that all my news stories, diligently filed from China and subbed by my roommate, linguistics professor Janet Holmes, for the Post had come off the printer in Wellington and into a rubbish bin below, as there was no paper being published.

 

During this current trip I trawled my memory for images of China in 1989, but found only a few. What this new trip revealed was a country full of energy and ambition, proud of its past and impatient to advance quickly, making up time, while retaining cultural and other key values. For what it's worth, I noted that most of the Chinese I saw in streets, cities, shops and villages looked happy. A large number spoke English. I also couldn’t get over the equal use of English alongside Chinese in the immaculate, new Shanghai metro. With Tim leading the way, we mastered the metro system there and in Beijing (a busier, older network) and later in Hong Kong.  Another early impression was how parents in China dote on their children. They are no longer restricted to one child only and actually, like New Zealand, have a declining birth rate.

Shanghai snaps

 

Captions from top: Mao the Tung statue on Tongji campus; view from the viewing platform of the tallest building in both Shanghai and China - the Shanghai Tower, 632m; view of the building from the street below; shopping on popular Nanjing Road; Tim walking along the Bund alongside the Yangtze River in Shanghai; food preparation in the popular student cafeteria at Tongji, enjoyed by many students daily; Tim outside the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Tongji.

I loved both the use and the enjoyment that older Shanghai residents clearly felt about apparently impromptu activities in parks, notably in Fuxing Park. Anything from practising a musical instrument, to singing solo, or joining in an impromptu dance class.

That aside, I learnt in Shanghai that crossing a major intersection, even with traffic lights, was a major undertaking not to be viewed lightly. Scooters, for example, often didn't obey the lights if they saw an opportunity. I saw at least one near miss in that situation, but never any horns or yelling. That aside, I couldn’t get my head around why many scooter riders in China don't wear helmets, including when they have children on board. I never saw any accidents but it looked risky. Also cute, as some of the children were asleep, while being held securely in place by Mum's or Dad's arms either side. Often the children would also be enclosed in "blankets" that protected the riders from winter temperatures and weather.

                                                  Mother and baby wait at traffic lights in Shanghai.

Beijing wandering 

With time to ourselves before the other members of our tour arrived, we explored the Beijing Botanical Garden where there was no shortage of things to see there, on a very hot day.

The Great Wall

Naturally, China’s top tourist destination – the Great Wall – was an early focus of our trip. Our Chinese guide, Gary Ciao, knew that it was imperative on the day we visited the wall by coach from Beijing to get there early, to avoid crowds. He was right. His planning ensured that we had two large sections of the wall pretty much to ourselves before the tourist onslaught began late morning. By then you just want to leave, which we did, having walked as far as we could manage (and were permitted by the ticket we'd selected) on a hot day. The wall justifies its status as one of the top wonders of the world. It was built initially in stages to protect Beijing from invaders from the north. It stretches about 6000km west of Beijing and is still in the process of being repaired and restored. We visited the Mutianyu section of the wall, which is accessed by gondola. We walked to the end of this section, reaching a part of the wall that was cemented closed, as the next section was awaiting repair. I can’t imagine the hardships involved in constructing the wall, let alone the practicalities of doing so. 

From top down: View from the highest point we reached on the wall, showing the steep final section. Middle: Guards presumably ate and slept in the many enclosed sections of the wall. Bottom: Tim studying the next section of wall, which is closed as it is yet to be repaired.  

Later, in Xi’an, a former capital of China, Tim and I walked the City Wall there too, with our Intrepid friends. We had wanted to take a bike tour along it but were informed that those 65 and over weren’t allowed to rent bikes! We took it in stride, ambling along the wall instead with Kiwi-born Aussie friends Helmut and Janine, from Sydney, who were on our tour.

Captions: Top, The restored Xi'an City Wall. Middle, British Intrepid mates Helen and James plus Adam. Below, a woman dancing on her own beneath the wall. Dancing and singing in public, usually as part of a group, appears to be common in China. Below: Vibrant nightlife in central Xi'an. 

 

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

The Chinese are tourists in their own country too of course. There were large crowds not only at the Great Wall, for example, but also at the Forbidden City in Beijing (home to former emperors), and at the vast Tiananmen Square there, at 765m by 282m.  It contains the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China and the Mausoleum of Mao Tse tung who proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949. 

 

The day we visited many enormous red Chinese flags flapped and snapped as a strong but warm wind blew across the square.  There were many people milling, with toddlers and babies in strollers, but the site is so vast it certainly didn't feel crowded. One only had to look around,  towards Mao’s mausoleum and the long queues there, to see that you were one of many people in this special place for the Chinese. The mood was upbeat here too. If you asked someone as we did if they’d mind taking your photo, it was no problem. Smiles all round. 

 

                                             

                                  In Tiananmen Square copying the victory sign I noticed many young Chinese using.

The Forbidden City is reached from the square across the Golden Water bridge. This enclosed city was the home of former emperors, their wives, children, concubines, staff and others. By now the wind appeared to have abated and the sun grilled us - the tour is almost all outside - in 30+ C temperatures. Tim and I lost our tour group in the throng and had to text Gary who, diligent and attentive to a fault, came to find us.

                      Tour member Air New Zealand pilot Patrice Almond overlooking part of the Forbidden City.

 

The Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an

A visit to the Terracotta Army, or Terracotta Warriors, was another must-do on our trip. They are a relatively new discovery; they were unearthed by chance in 1974 by a farmer who was digging a well near the city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province. It’s estimated that they were buried there for 2000 years, several metres deep. The warriors were commissioned by a former emperor, Qin Shi Huang, as part of his mausoleum after he ascended to the throne in 264 BC. They are extremely detailed and said to all represent individual people, rather than being the same. They were originally painted bright colours, but only some of that is now evident. They include different ranks of warriors in different poses, and their horses. It is a must-see and still a work in progress as not all of the warriors have been unearthed yet.

 

We struck our biggest crowds of tourists here. You can get good views in certain places, such as the back of a large hall, away from the entry point. Also, later, in Hong Kong, we came across some of the warriors on display at a children’s science museum, with few people around, so there are other opportunities if one cannot abide crowds. 

 

Giant pandas

I could look at the warriors for hours and have done, but for sheer unadulterated delight must mention a visit one morning to the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base near Chengdu. If I had had to choose something to drop in order to do something else, this would have been it. At least that was my view before we went there. Gary had intended for us to go there in the afternoon but swapped it for a morning, on the basis that the pandas were likely to be more active at that time of day. He was right. Several baby pandas were out having fun, while Mum slept and Dad (in a different enclosure) ate bamboo collected by centre staff members and deposited in the pandas’ enclosure by the pile.  It was delightful. Later, we enjoyed a walk in bush on the slopes of Mt Qingcheng near an ancient village where the doctrine of Chinese Taoism was founded in 142 AD.

 

 

 Above: Baby pandas have fun. Below: Nightlife and grocery shopping in the ancient village below Mt Qingcheng, near Chengdu.

Later, in Yangshuo, the Intrepid group had an exciting morning riding push bikes around sodden paddy fields in persistent but warm rain. This morning was one of the most enjoyable for me, as the scenery was wonderful and the biking lots of fun, even in the deluge. 

         From top: Rice growing is less of staple now tourism is strong at Yangshuo; a local woman takes advantage of the high river for her washing; we abandoned our bikes to shelter in heavy rain; our local guide Dave; and a drenched but keen rider. 

A day or so later Tim and I went on a cruise on a raft, with Gary, on the swollen River Li. No one else in the group was interested, having just been to a tea plantation, involving several hours’ drive, but Gary knew I had been keen so arranged it when a chance arose. Amid the rain, the Li had swollen, becoming a brown torrent with a strong current. The rain stopped late morning and for a brief period in mid afternoon cruises resumed. So, at short notice, Tim, Gary and I boarded a raft with a driver and an outboard motor, and followed a line of six or so other rafts pushing slowly up river in convoy, not far from the river bank for safety. Near-vertical cliffs rose across the river related, I presume, to the karst landscape that Yangshuo is known for. This produces mountains which are actually vertical rocks of eroded limestone. After the relatively flat expanses of much of China, it is remarkable to be able to look out of your hotel room at a solid rock face immediately behind the apartment block across the street, as I did.

          Above: a raft similar to ours on the River Li at Yangshuo. Below: Our guide Gary and the captain of the raft.

Our tour renewed my interest in China. It’s clearly a country with challenges, as for most countries. One I noticed was air quality. Some areas have growing industries but are situated in geographical locations that may restrict air circulation. I am sure China is addressing this, including by the rapid electrification of cars. One thing certainly stood out for me: how hard the Chinese work, without complaint, with a fraction of the annual leave New Zealanders enjoy.

The 12-day tour ended in Hong Kong, on May 23. By this time we were a tight-knit group of 10 plus Gary. We had different interests and abilities - Tim and I were the eldest - but we gelled as a group and remain friends. We remain in touch, via WeChat.

Above from left, Airline pilot Patrice; Tim; me; Helen and James from Birmingham in UK; Janine from Sydney Australia (formerly Stokes Valley NZ); Lori from Southern California; Sydney-based Hendrik (New Zealander from Bluff and Janine’s husband);  UK-based Adam; Rachel, friend of Lori’s from Southern California. Below: us at a fabulous light show over Hong Kong, which we watched from Hong Kong Island.

Below: a group dinner in Xi"an.