China today: A harmony of old and new
(Note: This is the conclusion of the story on the nine-day trip to the provinces of Sichuan and Hunan in China, organized by former senator Nikki Coseteng and the Filipino Chinese Friendship Association for participants to experience China today. Read the first part here.)
On the fourth day of our China adventure, we boarded a bullet train in Jiuzhaigou to Chengdu and then a second one to Huaihuanan in Hunan provice. An hour-and-a-half bus ride took us to Feng Huang Gu Cheng or “Phoenix Ancient Village.”
Built along the Tuojiang river, this beautiful, sprawling heritage village of original wooden houses is like a dream in the daytime. This is because many local Chinese visitors proudly wear the traditional ethnic Miao costume with stunning silver headdresses. They pose at the best vantage points, gliding past picturesque bridges, clear river and the Wanming pagoda. You are stepping into ancient history even while the original structures now house trendy shops offering coffee, traditional blue tie-dyed clothing, silver of the finest craftsmanship, herbal medicines and lovely Chinese contemporary fashion.
We retired to the Union International Hotel for the night. Early next morning, we took a three-hour bus ride to Zhanjiajie, another place I was highly anticipating because of its many famous sites. There is Tianmen Mountain or Heaven’s Gate, a towering mountain with a large hole through which the sun shines at the right time of day. There’s the Grand Canyon C Line, the world’s longest glass suspension bridge where you must conquer your fears. Then there are famous Hallelujah mountains where the backdrop of the movie Avatar was filmed.
All these sites surpassed expectations and I marveled at how China made this topography accessible to people of any age or physical capability. At Tianmen Mountain, they had cable cars and escalators 12 rides long. You could, if you wished, take the 999 steps up or down Heaven’s Gate itself, looking up from the base to gaze at the heavens through the mountain’s natural hole.
We spent a cold, wet and windy afternoon on this mountain. The glass walkways over the valley far below were not scary as the fog prevented you from seeing just how high you were. Soaked and freezing despite umbrellas and raincoats, we then enjoyed a hot, delicious dinner of Korean barbecue. Perfect, because after feasting on veggies dishes, I was actually craving more meat (and dessert). I got my wish as the Korean bbq included duck, chicken, pork and beef, as well as dessert because the tour guides surprised our groupmate Kazumi Go with a birthday treat of chiffon cake topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
On the way to the hotel, we took photos of the Seven Wonders building. This recently built structure in traditional architecture style sports a hole in the middle as a tribute to Tianmen Mountain. It is also gloriously lit at night. Meant as a condominium before the real estate collapse, it had been repurposed to house shops and daily cultural or music shows.
The following day, I explored the quaint streets of Zhanjiajie, finding a path to cross under a bridge to get coffee from local chain Luckin. Serendipitously, the crossing took me along the river where a curving walkway made of stones would take you to the other side. As I explored and bought plums from a stall, most of my group visited a traditional herbal store housed in a Unesco World Heritage structure. The herbal medicines sold there, however, were on the pricey side that only a few could afford.
The day’s highlight was the famous glass suspension bridge where we collectively conquered our fear of walking on glass so many thousands of feet above the valley floor. The only way I survived was by not looking down. Using this tactic, I crossed the 500-meter bridge several times. Our daily steps were now averaging about 13,000 for the group, and a good deal of those steps were stairs or paths with an incline. Small wonder that our clothes were getting looser by the day!
From a delicious lunch that included dumplings with a wrapper of thin omelet, a hot and spicy soup, tender sliced pork with a dipping mixture similar to togarashi, and more veggies, we proceeded to the Avatar mountains where the scenic Bailong elevators took us up to the best viewing locations. The iconic “Hallelujah” mountain does, indeed, evoke praises for our Creator. He fashioned these strangely shaped mountains, whose many layers spin an ancient tale of geological formation, and topped them with forests and wildlife! You needed to stop taking pictures and just gaze at the jaggedly shaped towers of rock in front of you for as long as you could.
We capped our second day in Zhangjiajie with the spectacle of a show set against the grandeur of Tianmen mountain. Imagine a production with a cast of 700, with spellbinding music and dances, amazing costume changes and a touching love story between a legendary fairy fox and a human woodcutter—with Heaven’s Gate as your backdrop!
After days of rising early and sleeping late to catch spectacles of light, we were fatigued. But this Fox Fairy Show made the additional lack of sleep worthwhile. The natural beauty of the mountains blended with the creative genius of the composers and the talents of singers and dancers. All this was highlighted by cutting-edge technology that played on lights, lasers and holograms across the vast stage. Words could barely describe this achievement which is symbolic of how China manages to keep her vast country and population in sync elsewhere and everywhere.
The late dinner was particularly delicious, with fried tempura-style eggplant stuffed with minced pork, a slew of the region’s delicious barbecued meats on skewers, fried rice (which did not appear at every meal) and the usual variety of yummy veggie dishes, roast duck and fish. We slept a few hours, then went off to the clean, spacious, well-run airport of Zhangjiajie for a flight back to Chengdu where our adventures had begun.
That afternoon, we were back at Taikoo Li and Chunxi Road, and dedicated ourselves to some serious retail therapy for fashion, food specialties and all sorts of panda pasulubong. There were panda bags to be had at Y2 each, lovely marshmallow-like nougat snacks that sandwiched biscuits and sported a variety of toppings. The very chic boutiques and department stores included Only, Sem/R, Duola Gege, Yishion, Helen Princess, LEDiN and so many more. We couldn’t enter them all due to our limited time. There was even a four-story jewelry store in the shape of a pagoda with dancers on the second level in traditional dress and dark sunglasses swaying to catchy music to lure shoppers in.
Our last dinner was a real treat as we had the traditional Sichuan hotpot in a restaurant set in a lovely park by a river. Traditional dances with mask changing kept us enthralled as we enjoyed our hotpot dinner of two broths (a non-spicy one for those who don’t like spice) with a variety of meats and vegetables. The homey yet yummy dessert consisted of steamed and fried buns with a dish of condensed milk.
On our last morning in Chengdu, we went right away to visit the panda base as these adorable creatures with “sad” black eyes and comical movements are most active early in the morning. After they eat, they get lethargic and lazy, sleeping off the rest of the day.
They were incredibly cute and they stole my heart! I am now in love with pandas and sorry for their plight. I didn’t know that it is very difficult for pandas to grow their populations in the wild.
Their mating season is brief and some pandas take time to get attracted to each other. Some males are torpe and don’t know how to mate. To make things worse, pandas have poor eyesight and can accidentally sit on their tiny newborns. Without human intervention, they would probably be extinct.
The panda base takes days to fully explore, but we had to leave for lunch at a buffet restaurant located in Wanda Place in the Jinniu District. The scrumptious buffet offered casseroles of steamed oysters, more seafood for hotpot at the table, steaks, sushi, pizza, stir-fried dishes and fried rice, fried foods and fritters, fresh melons, a range of sodas and teas, miniature western desserts and ice cream.
We then explored the Wanda Plaza which is like our Glorietta, with higher-end and less-expensive shops plus...Sephora! There are 350 Sephoras in China and I finally came across one on our last day. The rest of the mall had good shops for men like UFO where I bought normally expensive jackets for my son on sale at Y150 each. Then I went outside the mall to check out a row of tiangge on a side road with low-priced yet well-made clothes. I bought an off-white overblouse for myself for Y19!
More than anything, after this whirlwind tour, our attitude towards China changed and we now see Western news on China in a more balanced light. That country is not perfect, as no country is, but it is not this strange monster that media can make it out to be. Instead, we found efficient, clean, ultra-modern cities and infrastructure. We met a people proud of their vast heritage, collectively overcoming adversity to stride with purpose into their future.
“The Chinese have a collective memory of history,” explained Nikki, “to not let that humiliation of the past happen again. They have one language from north, south, east and west. (They have only one time zone based on Beijing time.) All of them are working towards the common good. If someone makes a building, every component is made in China so that all the supporting businesses will prosper. Make the cake bigger so more can share.”
Nikki pointed out that this attitude is the same even with the Chinese who live in different parts of the world. Wherever they are, the Chinese are hardworking and have a respect for their elders. Chinese living overseas send money back to their relatives in China and those who do really well build schools, bridges and other infrastructure in their home towns.
The way I look at and think of China will never be the same. They have a strong sense of national identity and a deep pride in the varied cultures of the different ethnic groups. They embrace with zeal the possibilities of an unfolding future. This has given me a newfound respect and admiration for this country.
I now look forward to coming back to know even more about these people, who survived wars, disease and other obstacles only to soar to even greater heights.
