|
"Red Heart Moon" a WEST MEETS EAST China Weblog -- by Kevin Hart
Cross-cultural musings about life straddling the Pacific.
last modified Jun 16, 2004 at 17:43
In professional circles, it is said the key to success is positive networking, especially here in China, especially here in Chongqing. I did my fair share today.
Today, my only day off in Chongqing from our busy sailing schedule, began with me hightailing it out to Jiang Bei in the northern part of the city, where my wife Jennifer's younger sister lives. Our daughter Perin has been staying out there while Jennifer has been taking care of our rental properties in Sanya.
In the morning, Perin and I dropped in on an American friend of mine who has been here for 3 years which, by expat standards, is a long time,especially for this remote city of Chongqing. He couldn't be happier as he and his 19 year old bride finally received word from the American consulate in Guangzhou to go in for their interview. In most cases, being notified to attend the interview means that all other hurdles have been cleared, and just a few cursory questions must be answered before the visa is stamped. Pamela expressed her apprehension at being under the microscope, even if only for a few minutes, but Jack is taking it all with a couple grains of salt. I just wonder if they will grill her as to why she is marrying a man nearly 50 years her superior.
Perin and I took a 5 RMB (80 cents US) taxi ride across the peninsula to have lunch with a group of American tourists that had just been on our ship. Their guide, a very attractive divorcee from Beijing, treated us, and it was good to get to know her better. The matchmaking wheels were clicking in my head and I right away thought of a good friend of mine from Canada who lives there. Sparks could fly between them if given the right circumstances and proper introduction, and nothing would please me more than having them hook up.
After lunch, Perin and I took another 5 RMB lift in a third direction, landing us at the posh Marriott hotel near the city centre. There have been persistent rumors since the hotel was built 5 years ago that a large portion of it was financed by embezzled money from the 3 Gorges relocation project. I hope to some day find out if that is true. Anyway, we met up with another recent acquaintance, a 30 year old Singaporean who has fallen in love with Chongqing, its food, its women, and its future. He said he could get financing for starting a business here, and expressed interest starting a "High Society" type of magazine for the city. Nothing else like it exists here, and he thinks it could be very lucrative. I will be in touch with him over the next few weeks and months while he learns the ropes here, and see if there is anything I could find out for him.
In the late afternoon, I brough Perin to her grandma's house. We call her Waipo, and it was great to see her today after almost two months of not seeing her. Aunt and Uncle "Yao Yi" and "Yao Yi Die" will look after Perin for two more days until Jennifer gets back from Hainan.
Extra extra, read all about it. As of September 9, the 5-stage ship locks at the 3 Gorges Dam have been closed to all passenger vessels. This is in preparation for the next big jump in the water level which will begin around the middle of the month. Right now, the water in the reservoir is 136 m. above sea level and soon it will be 156.
I just read at the China Daily website that they planted 56 tons of rat poison to "clear the area of rodents". Why try to poison them? When they see the water coming they will have to seek higher ground just like the people, or hope to morph into otters or something. And won't the rat poison affect the water quality? It is bad enough as it is.
I will be interested to see how long it takes to raise the water another 20 m., as the river is quite low because of the drought that has plagued the area all summer. And questions about the shiplocks: while most passenger vessels cannot pass, ships heading to Shanghai and cargo vessels are being allowed through. What gives?
Sorry to be asking these questions and not answering them. Let me do a bit of detective work and try to sort it all out for you. Stay tuned!
Trying our best to cope with the unrelenting heat of the past more than one month, the girls and I took the 4.5 hour train ride to neighbouring Chengdu to visit Jennifer's older sister.
There is an intense rivalry developing between the two cities, as both lay claim to being the "major" city in SW China, and often compete for the same investment money, both public and private. While Chongqing literally means "Double Jubilation" (especially apt after being granted direct municipality status by Beijing in 1197, Chengdu means "Mature City", and as the capital of Sichuan province, this is very apparent. While, like CQ, CD is tearing up roads, putting in new clover-leafs left right and centre, and construction goes on at a torrid pace, the city has a more relaxed feel to it, and because of its flatter geography, it feels much more spacious and comfortable. CQ is pretty much entirely sandwiched on a narrow strip of land between the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. But I have told you that before, sorry to repeat myself!
Chengdu has an abundance of road side tea houses and the parks are full of them too, something entirely lacking in CQ. Chongqing boasts some nice hilly views and interesting geological formations, Chengdu is laid out over a plain with easily understood road systems not disimilar to Beijing -- N to S grids and ring roads surrounding the downtown area.
Other than Jiefangbei in the very downtown core, there are other large built-up areas in and around the city like Nanping on the north bank of the Yangtze, Jiangbei on the north bank of the Jialing, and Shapingba, a half hour drive up the peninsula.
In Chengdu on our first morning, I felt an aftershock of an earthquake registered deep below the earth near Yibin City. The plain on which CD is built is an ancient seabed, and the ground is still rather soft compared to CQ which is basically all solid rock. Most buildings in CD are low because of this, although some skyscrapers are popping up as they learn to secure foundations better for large buildings. CQ is, as I have said, the consummate Concrete Jungle, and it goes way up.
We loved the tap water in CD because most of it is from underground sources, keeping it very cool even in the hottest summer months. CQ gets its water from the nearby rivers and reservoirs, which are at the mercy of the heat just like everything else under the sun.
Chongqing people say the Chengdunese are lazy and complacent, CDers say CQers are uncooth and tempermental. All I can say is I love the food in both places, and there are an abundance of attractive women in both cities, unrivalled in all China in my humble and slightly biased opinion!
It will be interesting to see how both cities develop and cope with each other's growth in the coming years. Hopefully, more partnerships will be made, and the governments of both metropoli will pool their resources instead of engaging in unproductive one-upsmanship.
|