One thing I’ve learned about traveling ‘round the world is that two subjects are a part of nearly every conversation: one is meals and the other is toilets. Human beings share, after all, those needs with all animals except that, somewhat arrogantly, we take it for granted that both will always meet our level of familiar usage and expectations. When we travel from Japan to mainland Southeast Asia, it turns out that we go from the land of the warm toilet seat (Western-style Japanese toilets are so comfortable and multifunctional they really need an instruction manual nearby) to the land of pit toilets. Students who start off by making declarative statements about how they will never, ever squat over a pit toilet wind up doing so without comment after a few days.
In moving from Japan to China, we also go from a civil society with a largely homogeneous population and very strict standards for education, social hygiene and public behavior in Japan to multi-ethnic, multilingual up-and-coming societies with enormous poverty and limited education that are nevertheless extremely hardworking, self sacrificing, and hustling in any and every way they can to be successful for their families and their countries. If there are homeless and beggars we do not see them but street vendors hawking every conceivable consumer item are everywhere trying, as they say in the USA, “to make a buck.”
As we approach China we also learn that we will be visiting during the extraordinary 14-day celebration of the Chinese New Year, including the Spring Festival. Because of the happenstance of our timing we will hear and see phenomenal fireworks displays every night we are in China and we will move through the cities and attractions we visit along with huge masses of Chinese people who are themselves on holiday. China is definitely not the place to visit if you aren’t lean and fit, and if you dislike crowds and walking. The New Year’s means there are rivers of people in every street, many of them just as clueless about where they are going as we are. Even far outside the metropolis, in the old gardens, canals and museums of Suzhou, on the west side of the outer suburbs of Shanghai, and even further out in the countryside at the Mutianyu Great Wall north of Beijing, the crowds are everywhere.
As Americans we’re overdue for the realization that we are a tiny minority of the world’s population and even more so among the many visitors in the streets and plazas. We are also the subject of friendly curiosity on the part of the Chinese people, many of whom ask to take photos of their children with the students. Many also practice their English “hello” in greeting us and meet our feeble attempts to say “hello” and “thank you” in Chinese graciously. It is truly amazing how far sign language and a respectful nod can go. In contrast to Japan, nearly all signs are also in English and the educated Chinese we meet are very proficient in the English language. (In one case, our guide is so articulate and well read that she routinely uses vocabulary that is beyond the comprehension of our college students. When they ask about the meaning of the words she even gives good definitions and examples.)
I hesitate to mention the incredible amounts of litter we encounter only because it seems to me that China is so much like America, especially its Western frontier, except that it is attempting to pack a couple hundred years of development into a couple decades. I am sure that the West had litter aplenty and it’s just not made it past our Hollywood and Disneyworld directors. Even a couple decades back our throw-away American society also threw-down in much of the country.
