China

Hello, and thank you for visiting our travel blog.

For the last two days, Karen and I have been in China. Our adventures took us to a port city of Tianjin, and to The Great Wall of China, just outside of Beijing.

Our day started early, boarding a bus and driving to Beijing for lunch at a nice little place. Great food! Afterwards, we headed out to Badaling. Unlike our first visit to the Great Wall, the Badaling portion of the wall was built ~600 years ago. The Great Wall itself is a Wonder of the World, and is so long that it can be see from outer space. It was built over a ~2,000 year period, and stretches some 1,300 miles. It was originally constructed between the 7 regions that makes up today’s China, and later, the walls were joined together to protected agains the “Mongolian invaders”.

There are Guard Stations every ~5 kilometers. When the guards saw an attacker coming, they used the station to build fires. The size of the smoke (during the day) or the flames (at night) signaled how many attackers there were, and how far away they were. Pretty cool stuff.

The tour operator had a lot to say about modern China. A couple of fun things are that since COVID, their citizens are “lying down” and no longer want to work, go to school, etc. Much of this was driven by the fact that entire cities remained in quarantine a year or longer after the rest of the world. At some point a few years ago, their government allowed the broadcast of a World Cup match, and their society observed an entire stadium of people without masks. This lead to marches in the streets across the entire country, and the very next day, the government dropped all quarantines and Mack mandates (but forced everyone to get vaccinated, which they accomplished over the coarse of a week or so).

This drove immediate change in the citizens. Parents previously spent all of their time and money sending their children to extra classes so they could get into a better university. After high teen suicide rates over the last few years, there has been a huge cultural change. Now, everyone is just coasting. Nobody wants to marry or have children. All kinds of things that were out of the question just 6 years ago (when Karen and I last visited China.)

They understand that this is not sustainable, and that their society will collapse, but they apparently think that this will lead to a new government. Also, when folks purchase apartments in China, they do not own the land, and the government takes it back after a 70 year period (which is scheduled to start happening in some 25 years). So, all of these actions over the last few years are intentional and, while a bit hard for westerners to understand, intended to make the changes that the citizens want within the next generation.

One of the guides also talked about how she had talked on the phone to her friend about something or other, and she was absolutely certain that she had never typed the subject into her phone. Never the less, when she turned her phone on the following day, she was inundated with advertisements related to whatever they were talking about. (She explained that, like many many things, the thing being advertised was a product or service that is provided by a company that is owned by their government…) She indicated that the listening in thing is well known, and that everyone talks in codes to keep the government out of their business…

One last interesting thing we learned. Only 10% of the working population is employed for the government. These are considered life-long jobs, and their pension is fully paid. These employees retire 10 years earlier than their privately-employed counterparts. However, these jobs are hard to get. You have to pass a test, and there is a 99% failure rate.

Privately employed workers have to pay for Heald the cost of their pensions, and their jobs are at ricks after the age of 35, because younger people are perceived to be cheaper and more productive. If they lose you job, they are required to pay their full pension cost until they are at retirement age.

Also, there is a 100% tax on foreign automobiles, and you have to win a lottery in order to obtain a (required) license plate. If you are one of the lucky 8% (per year) that is able to win and buy a car, you are not allowed to drive the car 2 days per week (depending on the last digit on your plate). All traffic laws are enforced via camera and automation.

Different world…

The second day, Karen and I enjoyed a tour of Tenjin, one of four cities in China that are like Washington DC, and not part of one of their 23 providences (which is similar to a USA state). Tenjin was fun. We visited a mansion and spent some time at a mall and a park. The best part was the snacks, which included eating fresh made jerky. We also were able to see the cherry blossoms, which were in bloom. (Best picture I’ve taken on the trip so far!)

On the way back to the ship, we saw huge apartment buildings that are half-way built. The Chinese government stopped building them (and many others) because no one wants to move out of the big cities to the smaller cities. Also, the demand for real estate has plummeted, because no one want to work and the younger folks are content living with their parents…

Next stop, (several more cities in) Japan, but as you know, that is another story.

Thank you for visiting.
– Mike

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” – Kong Qiu (a.k.a. Confucius, Chinese philosopher, 551 BCE)