LAST DAY IN CHINA. CHINA JOURNEY

It was our final day in Beijing, the next day we would be flying out of China. We had toured various parts of the country and liked it immensely. But I was feeling sad that I could not see the common people, their houses and their way of living

Luckily for us, we had with us a couple from Mumbai who were avid travelers and had apparently gone for a 6-month honeymoon tour all around the world, the husband casually mentioned over dinner that the next day being a free day they were planning to go to a Hutong in the suburbs by the local subway train, we jumped at the opportunity and planned to accompany them

We were going to go to see a Hutong, which means an alley, naming of Chinese Hutongs is very interesting. In ancient times the names were passed by word of mouth and there were no signposts. 

In Ming and Qing Dynasties names were written down after local dialect, a person’s name or location. In later years the government changed their original names into more refined formal ones.

In Beijing more than 1,000 alleys are now left, some of them famous for the old-style buildings, and some for traditional and time-honored workshops 

We took the subway train from Shilihe station which was nearest to our hotel, the station was  maintained in a spic and span condition, we took tickets in the automatic ticket vending machine and got a train

In no time we reached Nanluoguxiang or South Gong and Drum Lane, a 800 years old hutong in Beijing ,it is renowned for its long history, Hutong culture, specialty stores and distinctive foods

There were eight parallel hutongs on each side of the old alley which were built in the Yuan Dynasty and because of its layout, it is also called the Centipede Lane.

The alley remains very popular as it has witnessed many stories of Beijing and stands as a mute spectator to time which has passed by.

As we walked along the crisscrossing lanes, we could see the daily life being screened before us and it was very exciting

Because of the interlacement of the lanes, every house is connected to the other, making it easy for local people to keep in touch with their neighbors which creates delightful camaraderie, I was reminded of our village life in India where everyone knows everything about others in the village.

We could see public bathrooms and toilets, various colorful shops were selling all kinds of goods to satisfy the local people's daily needs

We could see a typical courtyard style of buildings here. Some of the buildings had red lanterns hanging under the eaves.

Compared to other Chinese buildings which have red walls and gold roofs, we found gray walls and roofs more in folk style

Although a historic place, the culture here was full of innovation and there were many eateries and boutiques, I saw a bridal couple quenching their thirst with a delicious cool drink as it was a very hot day

We saw an elementary school which was said to be nearly 400 years old

We had a different and thrilling experience that day, as we walked along the tree lined roads and observed the relaxed lifestyle of the common people, I felt that people wherever they are basically the same, they are not concerned about the differences of opinions among the different countries and their rulers or the politics , all they want is a happy and content life for themselves and their family

China has free public healthcare under social insurance plan and the healthcare system provides basic coverage for majority of the people.

What was most astonishing for me was the fact that there is no private ownership of land in China. One who desires to construct can only obtain rights to use land. A land lease of up to 70 years is usually granted for residential purposes.

I personally felt that this sort of practice everywhere would decrease the greed of the rich to possess innumerable number of dwellings

The government provides affordable housing by subsidizing commercial housing purchases or by offering low-rent public housing to middle- and low-income families.  Private commercial housing market caters to the needs of higher-income groups

Chinese pharmacies offer both western and eastern medicine at very reasonable prices and Chinese medicine also is used by many

Chinese hospitals can be crowded but most major cities also have specialized hospitals and most of the health care professionals speak English fluently 

One of the unusual things I noticed was that most Chinese toilets do not provide toilet paper or hand soap. 

The Chinese culture has been greatly influenced by their beliefs in Ying and Yang, good and evil. Everything to the Chinese, including health and life, is a balance between good and evil

Calligraphy in China is an art form, a meditative practice, a scholarly pursuit and nowadays, an investment as famous works fetch millions of dollars

Most people speak Mandarin, a Chinese Dialect as their first language, I noticed that they speak very fast

Old China was an agricultural society controlled by landlords and New China is an industrialized society controlled by CPC.

Chinese celebrate their New Year for 15 days, in fact date of the Chinese New Year changes each year, but it always falls between 21 January and 20 February.

All over China we saw everyone using mobile phones to pay for everything making all transactions paper and hassle free

Our guide in Beijing was telling us that most of them finish having their dinner very early mostly by 6 pm, I asked him don’t you feel hungry till your sleep time and he answered that they drink green tea in large quantity and it also serves in controlling their weight and prevents paunches too

Tea has been one of the loyal components of Chinese leisure for centuries. The Chinese are the largest consumer of tea in the world drinking 2.1 million tons of tea every year which makes it 38.6 per cent of world tea consumption. 

Other than water, green tea the least processed form of tea is the most commonly drunk beverage in China. Chinese produce more green tea than any other kind of tea (black, red, green, white) and about 80% of the world's green tea is grown in China. 

My overall observation about the Chinese is that they are basically very warm, simple and straightforward people, busy with their lives, we observed the youngsters after work ordering and carrying away their dinner in the form of soup or noodles maybe to avoid the hassle of cooking after reaching home

 

SILK AND GOLD IN CHINA JOURNEY

That day we were taken to Beijing Yuanlong Silk factory, I was quite sceptical about visiting a silk factory because India and particularly our state is famous for silk, but to my surprise I learnt a lot about silk that day

China is the world's largest and earliest silk producer, vast majority of silk coming from the mulberry silkworms. The production of silk originated in Neolithic period (4th millennium BC) and the art of silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road opened at 114 BC, though China maintained its monopoly over silk production for another thousand years.

Use of silk within China was not confined to clothing alone, and silk was used for writing history too.

The color of silk worn also held social importance and formed an important guide of social class during the Tang Dynasty.

Silk cultivation spread to Japan around 300 AD and by 552 AD, the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman empire) managed to obtain silkworm eggs stealthily through two monks and was able to begin silkworm cultivation, the Arabs also began to manufacture silk at the same time.

In the 20th century, Japan and China regained their earlier dominant role in silk production, and China is now once again the world's largest producer of silk. 

Many myths and legends exist regarding exact origin of silk production, history tells us that in 3000 BC, a silkworm's cocoon accidentally fell into the teacup of the 14- year Empress Leizu and to extract it from her drink, she began to unroll the thread of the cocoon and saw the long fibers that constituted the cocoon

The Empress decided to weave some of it and kept some of the cocoons to do so. Having observed the life of the silkworm, she began to instruct her entourage in the art of raising silkworms which later came to be known as sericulture and thus the empress became the goddess of silk

Though silk was exported to foreign countries in great amounts, sericulture remained a secret that the Chinese carefully guarded

In China, silkworm farming was originally restricted to women, and many women were employed in the silk-making industry. Silk provoked such a craze among the high society that rules were enforced to limit its use to the members of the imperial family. 

In course of time silk began to be used for decorative means and in less luxurious ways like musical instruments, fishing and bow making. 

For more than a millennium, silk remained the principal diplomatic gift of the emperor of China to neighboring countries 

In the silk factory, we were shown the procedure of how Silkworms produce their own cocoons out of a single silk thread and once the cocoon is ready, how they are hand-picked one by one and put in an oven for the heat to kill the worm without damaging the silk thread. This procedure is quite a barbaric one and is the reason for some people all over the world to refuse wearing silk clothes

When worms are dead, the cocoons are left to soak in water so that the workers can easily find the end of the thread to place it in the spinning machine that will untangle many of them 

A single thread is too thin, and usually the finished silk strand used to make the fabric comprises of eight raw threads.

Double and single quilts were available on sale and they were light and wonderful, again weight restrictions in our luggage prevented us from buying them

We then proceeded to the Silk Street so named as it was previously a complete street with multiple open stalls, now all the stalls are placed in a single air - conditioned complex with escalators and sign boards, each stall arranged in modern, glass fronted side by side locations. It was directly linked to the metro subway too which was very convenient to the customers

We saw plenty of nice pearl and jade jewelery, mobile phone accessories, silks, scarves and leather belts. Good food courts were available and relatively clean toilets under the Pearl Market.

We needed to do a lot of bargaining as negotiation was expected, we saw an article, asked for almost half its original price, a calculator was brought out and haggling went on 

There were different levels of quality in goods and a discerning eye was much needed to make out the true worth. We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner, the owner there was a young Indian, very enthusiastic, he served us food personally and lovingly.

Our day ended with the Golden Dynasty Mask show which was at the city centre ,while waiting for the show to begin I saw a cute autorickshaw

Actually we had walked a lot that day and were tired and were waiting to go to our hotel and relax but we were spell bound by the show which was around 90 minutes 

It was all about an ancient love story, there were superb stage settings with waterfalls, pools and floods happening right before our eyes, apparently 84,000 gallons of water are used for these special effects, there were no dialogues but we could understand what was happening with the story played out superbly in form of dance and acrobatics and laser work, in one scene I noticed 12 live white peacocks used as head gear very effectively