Camp Champions Blog

We are flying Dragonair to Kathmandu.  Our adventure in China has come to a close.

It seems like a great time to summarize my thoughts on this fascinating country.  I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about what to say about China.  I know I cannot find a unifying theme.  Instead, our 24 days here have been a collage of images, thoughts, smells, tastes, sounds and toilet options.

This blog is my effort to share this collage.

Communism

Mao must be flipping in his grave.  China is a Communist country just as surely as I am a kitten.

Here is the evidence.

China embraces entrepreneurship and wealth like few places I have ever seen.  We saw improvised stores, vendors in parks, street guides, knock-off markets and Chinese QVC.  You can buy anything and everything, from huge pearls to beautiful ethnic robes to works of art to Gucci bags.  It is for sale for the person willing to haggle and spend.

Every town is festooned with billboards touting Western brands.  Status is a mobile phone.  Marc Jacobs and Sephora and Estee Lauder are everywhere.  In fact, so is Playboy, though we saw no evidence that they know what that brand signifies.

We saw people lining up to worship at the god of wealth.  We saw idols with coins in their mouths and no tail end (so that the money cannot go out).  We watch Good Morning Asia with a 30 minute segment on investment with two men talking earnestly with glasses of unconsumed wine in front of them.=

Mao remains an icon, but his views no longer hold sway.  Sure, you can buy his Little Red Book almost anywhere, but it is usually next to the chopsticks, throwing stars and samurai swords.

Here is my favorite tidbit on communism: apparently young people are joining the Communist Party . . . for the political and networking connections.  Apparently, becoming a Communist is a great business move for a free market fanatic.

Atheism

This is a tricky one.  Roughly 70% of the Chinese list themselves as atheist.  Communism is atheist by definition.  The Russians were adamant to stomp out religion, destroying sites and banning religious gatherings.  China seemed lukewarm in its abolition.  The Muslim Quarter and its Mosque never missed a beat.  Buddhist and Daoist shrines continued unfettered.  Christianity was discouraged, but not wiped out.

Now, Shanghai gears up for Christmas.  Hong Kong seems to celebrate the season with every opportunity.  Sure, their enthusiasm is clearly driven by the commerce aspects of the season. The moment Thanksgiving ended, the Christmas trees were up and every variety of Christmas decoration available.    Yet there is an odd difference.  The omnipresent Christmas carols are piped from every speaker, but there is a mild difference to American stores – the carols include the religious ones.  Silent Night, Oh Come All Ye Faithful and Away in a Manger are the choices, not Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town or (dare I even name it?) Jingle Bell Rock.  I find this interesting.  I understand the fact that US stores are committed to religious inclusion so that they only play secular music.  But why would China embrace the religious songs?  I really do not know.  But it is so odd for a nation that officially repudiates religion.

I will admit that Hong Kong is different from the rest of China, but I saw similar trends in the mainland.

Hong Kong Changed China More than Vice Versa

In 1997, England turned Hong Kong over to China.  The deal was consummated a decade earlier when China was only dabbling with liberalizing its economy. Many people worried that the economic status and vigor that the city-state had developed would be destroyed after its reacquisition.

It seems the opposite happened.

First, the Chinese made several critical decisions.  Hong Kong would have separate laws and government.  It would not adopt the Yuan, but maintain the Hong Kong dollar.  Private companies would remain private.

These policies were not out of kindness, but instead out of a desire for “hard” currency – currencies like the dollar that trade freely and have international value.  In the 1980’s, the Yuan was without international value.  It might be undervalued now, but at least it can be exchanged.  In the 80’s, China needed hard currency if it wanted to buy anything that it did not manufacture itself.

Hong Kong became China’s ATM.  They decided that they liked it.  They then decided to make Shanghai the next Hong Kong.  Deng Xipeng (sp) committed the country to a plan to make the economy freer without providing other freedoms at the same time.

The appetite for dollars remained strong.  In fact, I suspect that the policies that have resulted in China holding over $3 trillion is a result of this hunger for US currency.

Economic Freedom Without Political Freedom

This is a hard phenomenon to comment on.  Many commentators seem to believe that the internet and economic freedom would result inexorably in a deep hunger for great personal freedom.  The protests at Tiannaman Square seem to suggest this.

Yet I am not so sure.  I think that eventually China will need to liberalize politically, but I also think that the Chinese crave monetary success much more than political freedom.  This balance is different from what we see in the West.  They will be willing to trade freedom for success much longer than we ever would.

Four Kids Make Us Fourtunate!

As I have documented, Susie is a star for bearing 80% of a basketball team.  Since China adopted the One Family, One Child policy, large families are simply a marvel. Our large size made us celebrities. Whenever we found ourselves being photographed, we chose to embrace the opportunity to meet new people.  In every city, we engendered smiles and laughs.

I, however, did find the sexism of many of our new friends somewhat annoying.  On several occasions, we had people look at our 2 boys and 2 girls and then say to Susie, “Two boys, you so lucky!”

Grrr.

Old Habits Die Hard

The older Chinese cling to their ways.  They practice their Tai Chi daily.  They still spit enthusiastically.  They seem to be wearing the same outfit today that they wore years ago, but they each seem to adhere to a different look.  Some still wear their Mao shirts.  Others are wearing suits (even on amusement park flume rides).  Perhaps my favorite is the pajamas.  Some Chinese women wear PJs everywhere – Hello Kitty, pandas, whatever.  You can see the younger generation rolling their eyes, but the PJ crew cares not.

This underscores the massive generation gap.  The younger generation talks on their mobile phones while the older set talks while playing cards.  The kids wear Abercrombie and Fitch as they pass veterans in Mao shirts.   One group eats chicken feet as the kids eat KFC.

Personal Space, We Do Not Need Any Personal Space

The Chinese are comfortable being close – really close.   In subways, in queues, in noodle shops, on the street.  They like it close.  We had a trouble modifying our territorial bubbles.  Ultimately, we did OK, but the Sleeper Bus was too much for us.  We just were not ready for a return to the womb.

Uniform Education

We hear a lot about the rigor of Chinese education, but I saw a huge emphasis on uniformity.  To start, every student wears a uniform.

At 8AM every morning, all students in China line up in the same way and perform the same exercise routine to the same recording.

I suspect that this might be one of the reasons they have less civil disobedience.  Duty and respect and conformity have long been hallmarks of Chinese culture.  It is not just a part of the totalitarian regime, it goes back to Confucius.

As a result, you have a people that can accomplish amazing things once they put their collective minds to it (the Great Wall, massive economic growth, leadership in green energy equipment), but it is not well-suited to develop innovative or revolutionary ideas.

Hygiene Might Not Be Their Scene

You are never really prepared to see a 2 year old walk to a bush, squat and (how should I put this) do their business.  And business is good.  The little ones do not have diapers, just pants with slits from the front to the lowest point of the pants to the back of the back waistline.

As adults, the facilities remain oddly foreign.  I have documented the squatters/holes in the ground.  Some of the facilities in the rural areas were simply shocking.  One of our favorite observations is that most of the squatters were built by American Standard.  I just love this.

Ultimately, China has made a huge impact on us, but we are not sure what the impact is.  We loved the people, but I am not sure we understand them.  We have seen beauty that is unmatched next to public incineration pits, squalor and trash.

We have seen communism that is not communism.

We saw a spiritual people in a country with record levels of atheism.

We saw that population control measures transform the way people see the world.

We loved our time here, but it is time to go to Nepal!

Steve Sir

Tonight, we had a great opportunity for a teachable moment.

Hong Kong is New York.

Midnight, Thursday night/Friday morning:

I am on a sleeper bus from Yangshuo toward Hong Kong. You might think I mistyped that - surely I meant a sleeper train. Nope, it is as I said -a sleeper BUS.  Picture three rows of bunk beds: one on either side and one down the middle. Each row has 7 bunks for a total of 42. Even when 7-11 hosted 27 girls, it was roomy in comparison. We were the last passengers to get on.

We have committed about 3 faux pas in less than 4 minutes.  First, we entered leaving my shoes on (you take them off and put them in a plastic bag), we entered rather loudly (as there were people already sleeping at 11PM) and I put my belongings in an occupied bed.  Please do not think that I tried to jump into a bed with another passenger.  No, I went to a bed that was empty, though the bedding had been messed up.  Since I could not see the one available bed with bedding properly folded (it was on the row I could not see), I went to the first one that did not have 1) another Baskin or 2) a Chinese person.

I put down my stuff and padlocked my computer bag to the foot of the bed before the husband of the woman who had gone to the bathroom said anything. "No!" He said, with no language skills beyond that.  His wife then appeared and looked non-plussed that a stranger was about to jump into her berth.

Note that she was missing because there is no bathroom on the bus.  This was also a concern for the sleeper bus.

Why did we take it? It saved us about 8 hours of travel time.  I think it is a good decision.

As I lie in my own bunk, I wonder a bit.

When I came to China in 1986, I was excited to feel tall.  As a rule, the Chinese are more diminutive than Americans.  I was the tallest in my family, but that is not quite an exacting standard.  At 5’9”, I was the big Baskin.  In high school and college, I have always been exceptionally average.  But not in China.  Suddenly, I felt like a power forward.

I told the boys that they would enjoy the same experience.  Since Liam is essentially the same height I am (I will absolutely not bore you with the number of conversations he has initiated claiming that he is taller . . . let it suffice to say that he is not, but might be by the time we return to the states) and Wiley is an inch shorter, they would also feel tall in China.

I share this for one simple reason.  While it might be a boost to the ego to be taller in the streets, it is highly disadvantageous when you are in a sleeper bus.

Now I do not know whether any of my following theories are true, but let me share it nonetheless.  Having now occupied a sleeper bus, I can say that one, if not all, of the following are valid:

1. The Chinese do not value personal space.  In fact, they must view it as an affront to life.  Instead, they must crave a return to the womb, but without the legroom,
2. The average sleeper bus passenger is actually just 4” 9” tall.  During the day, he or she walks using some bizarre stilts to achieve a greater height   - say 5’5”, but once in a tight place (like a sleeper bus), the stilts come off, are stored underneath, and the traveller then plops happily into the bus berth,
3. The designer of the bus is a seriously mean individual,
4. The designer of the bus is conducting a psychology experiment on claustrophobia.

That is what I have as an explanation.  As you now know, the berths were, shall we say, on the tight side.  Virginia could touch both ends if she extended her toes.    If I were to extend my toes, they would have punched through a partition and rested on the chest of a now uncomfortable Chinese traveller.  I am guessing that the berth was 28-30 inches wide and 5”3-5” long.

This is where I should show a picture.  I do not have one.  The one at the start of this article is from the Internet.  My failure to produce one of us requires and explanation which is forthcoming.

In order to get to the bus, our travel guide had arranged a pick-up at 10:40 from our hotel. We sat in the lobby and waited for our chariot to arrive.  Our “chariot” came in the form of an open air taxi. It was essentially a large gas-powered golf cart. The ride was only 5 minutes, but with the 40 degree weather and the breeze, it was a chilly start.  In retrospect, it was kinda luxurious compared to the bus.

Oh, and I now own a baker’s dozen urinating idols.

Urinating. Idols. Remember the tiger statue that I bought that did not work?  The one our tour guide assured me he would replace? Apparently, urinating idols are the aforementioned replacement.  I, myself, rarely confused large striped feline predators with whizzing waifs, but I guess I lack vision. Now, rather than have a symbol near to my heart that is tied to a central Camp Champions legend (the mighty Tiger), I now have a bag full of characters that look like the Calvin and Hobbs boy jumped off a Ford F150's anti-Chevy decal.

Just to help you understand what I am talking about.  This is a 2 inch statue that you must first soak for 2-4 hours in water and then pour hot water on it.  The heating makes the cold water expand and the idol, well, pees.

Yep.

I am hard-pressed to articulate my feelings about this confusion. Am I disappointed?  Sure. But there is more to this emotional mélange. I sense a tablespoon of bafflement, a dash of amusement and a pinch of frustration.

But there is another taste.  Yes, it is a hint of possibility.  Sure, the idols are crass, but they might prove to be a source of great excitement to the Senior Campers or even a group of Rookies.  OK, it is not sophisticated humor, but who said that is the only kind?  I know it will create great giggles, but I worry that it is a little too base.  Any thoughts from you readers?

Finally, here is why you have not picture of the Baskin on the bus.

Clearly, we could not take a picture when we arrived.  People were sleeping and we did not want to wake them.  Instead, we planned to take one as we left the bus.

Why we assumed that our stop was the terminus, I do not exactly know.  We were going south toward the city closest to Hong Kong (Shenzhen).  Hong Kong is as far south as you can go.   I guess it never occurred to me the bus would head to the east after Shenzhen.  We were scheduled to arrive at 8AM.  At 7:15, Wiley wakes me,

“Steve Sir [oddly, he still uses my camp moniker], I think this is our stop.”

To be honest, I discounted this for three reasons.  First, most people were staying on.  Second, we were 45 minutes early.  Third, Wiley is not the logistics guy.  More accurately, he is more of an anti-logistics guy.  He does not worry about deadlines or timetables or directions or anything else.  I think his basic assumption is that someone else will be more worried about it than he is, so he can enjoy the moment.

This has been a great assumption for our travels.

I want to be clear that I am not critical of Wiley in this regard.  In fact, I am quite jealous.  The only problem is that his strategy requires people like Susie and me to make it work.  I would switch places with him, but I doubt he would agree.

Back to Wiley’s warning.

To have Wiley ring the bell of anxiety did not make sense.  In fact, I initially thought that I was having an odd dream.

After assuring him that he was wrong, I decided to double check.  I spotted a petite Chinese woman (bet that berth fit her perfectly) and asked, “Is this the end of the line?”

“No.”

Through my cloud of sleep, the seriousness of Wiley’s appeal came forth, knocked on the door and asked for a cup of tea.  I asked a follow-up question.

“Hong Kong?”

“Oh yes, this is stop Hong Kong.”

At that moment, the bus started to pull out of the station.

I am not exactly sure what in my voice convinced the bus driver to stop.  The Chinese like their timetables.  He did not want to stop; yet he did.

I also have no idea how long it took us to wake the other 4 people, unlock the valuables, gather our stuff, leave the bus and retrieve our luggage.  I honestly think it was less than 4 minutes.  That does not seem like a lot of time, but challenge you to simulate it in the comfort of your own home.  [Note: if you actually do this experiment, you have too much time on your hands.]

We were a blaze.

We got off, got breakfast, cleared customs, made 4 train transfers and arrived in our hostel.

We were a long way from the golf cart pick-up, but the journey was complete.

Welcome to Hong Kong!

Steve Sir

We spent the day cycling in the Chinese countryside.

Some days the creative juices dry up.  Insights are slow to come.  Clever commentary seems elusive.

I am guessing this is one of those days.  As you might have guessed, this was a transition day.  We have spent two nights in the village of Xing Ping among the ethereally beautiful mountains surrounding the Li River.  We had planned on spending a third, but our night bus to Shenzhen (outside Hong Kong) would not pick us up in Xing Ping.  Instead, we would have needed to take a bus with all out gear to Yangshuo and waited at the KFC until our 10:30 pick-up.  [Yes, I said KFC.  We have only visited one place (Xing Ping) that does not have one.  KFC is a common a sight as posters of Mao.  In fact, I am starting to think these two guys might be brethren:

Susie has told me to include the following message in this blog.  Since one of my basic strategies of familial bliss is to listen to her, I am doing as she suggests.

About 3 weeks ago, I was asked to blog for Psychology Today on child development and parenting.  Clearly, they have reached a level of desperation in their article sourcing, but we are excited nonetheless.  I have posted 4 articles. To be honest with you, I prefer this blog as it is more free and fun, but I do not argue with Susie. [Note from Susie: Steve did not think to include this, but I think it is pretty cool. One of Steve's articles was selected by the editorial board as "An Essential Read". If you are interested in checking them out, please go to http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smores-and-more. This is the end of the proud wife aside.]

I will get philosophical in this blog.  Consider this a warning.  Before I dive in, I will share one nice family picture to start.  I will include more shots at the end.  In the meantime, I need to share.

Our train trip was uneventful until an hour or two before our arrival in Guilin.