CHINA — "A Technicolor Rorschach"

I never expect to fully understand a country’s culture after a single visit. But after researching and traveling through China, I’m left more confused and with more questions than ever before. China is ancient, massive, and seemingly full of contradictions. Along our way we experienced delight and disgust; serenity and chaos; helpers and hustlers; and after countless chicken feet, we never once found a chicken breast. It’s been six years since our trip and here I sit, still struggling to articulate insights from the experience. China is like a Rorschach Ink Blot and it’s with American red, white, and blue paint that I see her.

RED

When it comes to societal control, ‘Big Red’ is K.T.G. (killing the game). It’s no secret the People’s Republic of China is a communist government that controls almost all facets of society and infrastructure. It’s a brilliantly innocuous name where one might assume the ‘people’ control the republic, but that is far from reality. Birth rate, education, and social credit scores are just a few ways the government regulates the lives of its people. The sheer volume of cameras in any given space in Shanghai might as well play Rockwell’s 80’s hit: ‘Somebody’s Watching Me” as people pass by.

When a government has total control, they can also get a lot done. Whether it’s building one of the most modern high-speed train networks in the world or an entire city of towering sky scrapers to stimulate the local economy, they can and have done it faster than anyone. We witnessed ‘ghost cities’ appear through the windows of our train as it sliced through the countryside at nearly 300 km/h (~186 mph) between Beijing and Xi’An. These empty steel and concrete skins are haunting reminders of past stimulus initiatives and investments that linger unsettled.

Ghost City

WHITE

Chinese cities range from tiny rural villages to ultra-modern megalopolises. We wore goosebump sleeves of excitement while getting lost amongst the tangled web of narrow passageways in a hutong neighborhood of Beijing and wandering along the narrow steps and pathways that grout the layered rice paddy terraces of Longji. It was difficult to comprehend the 3,000-year-old history of Xi’an; picturesque stepping stones, bridges, and stilt homes lining the frozen-in-time river town of Fenghuang; or structurally engineered diversity of silhouettes etching the Shanghai skyline.  

The beauty of the Chinese countryside rivals any other in the world. We found peace and serenity while hiking along the Great Wall that draped over a seemingly endless horizon of undulating mountains; admiring the trees that appeared to free climb the sheer cliffsides of countless limestone pillars in Zhangjiajie; and listening to bird songs and the gentle applause of rice paddy grasses swaying in the morning breeze. We experienced moments of true bliss and discovered humility and gratitude throughout our travels through rural China.

Wandering through Longji Rice Terraces

BLUE

Amongst all the beauty and modernity were also cultural observations that left us scratching our heads. While personal space and organized lines to entrances were uncommon, cutting in line and being pushed and leaned upon while waiting was quite commonplace. On several occasions we saw people hack up phlegm and spit it onto the floor of a bus or train and parents allow their young children to urinate on the street or defecate into a public trash can. We caught numerous locals staring and sneaking selfies of themselves with my wife’s Caucasian skin and blue eyes as their backdrop. At times it felt like we were part of a living cultural circus.

We also discovered transportation and logistical challenges. Rather than blood pressure, the true ‘Silent Killer’ in China are swarms of electric scooters that whir at ballistic speeds through the streets. If these two-wheeled assassins are feeling particularly courteous they may offer a “meep meep” as they pass within inches of you at a crosswalk. At several bus stations we were corralled into rogue charter buses, not realizing until too late they were not the official express buses for which we were looking. After the first incident, we were determined to avoid it the next time; however, the Chinese rogue bus game & hustle is next-level: Rogue Buses: 3 Travel Dispatch: 0.

Wandering through Xi’An

THE COLOR OF REALITY

Our exposure and experiences provide the palette with which we paint our reality. The primary colors of red, yellow, and blue are the foundation for all other colors. But it’s only through blending we’re able to appreciate the incredibly diverse spectrum of color. The culture in which we are raised provides us with our primary colors. Rather than adding new colors, exposure to other cultures helps us blend those we already have. Exposure and experience to new things increases our range for understanding ourselves and others.

China is a complicated mix of cultures with a history spanning over 4,000 years. It would be naive to think it could be definitively summarized or judged after a single 18-day trip. Every visitor to China brings their own color palette with which they interpret and understand their experience. What I originally believed to be contradictions may in fact have been painted by oversimplification, unconscious bias, and assumptions of what I saw. Regardless, after six years of reflection I have a deeper appreciation for the rich history, culture, and beauty found throughout the country. However, I’ll just have to accept I may never know what happens to all the chicken breasts in China; and I’m okay with that.

-Don

Shanghai Skyline