Behind the Bamboo Curtain: None

By A.B.KAR

It is a journey to explore a socialist country mired by negative publicity, especially by the Western media. With language being a major hurdle, the author experimented with a strategy that is interesting to experience. Blending the progress of the nation with that of the ancient monuments offer a revealing thought process to pursue. Reference to many incidents, some funny and other serious, highlights the books appeal to the readers. There is also a reference to what ails the present Chinese society socially, culturally, and politically, with a balanced dose of analysis and perception. Humor, anecdotes, and the authors past experience with other countries offer the scope to explore the country in a unique way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Nov 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781426994784

A.B.KAR

During my professional career, I visited many countries and met people from different walks of life. That exposure always was a great source of interest and inspiration to me. I had a flair for writing poems and short stories during my younger days, but I could not pursue that during my career building phase. So when I retired from active service, I thought of reviving my old passion, which fortunately was in dormant state in my subconscious. And now I am on a writing spree where I am able to connect my past experience in my writing to make the same realistic. Some people, who are very close to me, opine that my creation has the touch of poetry in flow and style. I feel extremely excited when I sit on the computer to put my thoughts to words. My effort to publish the books, written by me, is aimed at sharing my experience with others who look for something different. I am an engineer by qualification and, over a period of time, became a management consultant by association. I live in the city of Calcutta with my wife. My son works with a reputed consultancy organization in Delhi. My daughter has settled down in the USA.

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© Copyright 2011 A.B.KAR.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4269-9477-7 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4269-9478-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011916239

Trafford rev. 09/23/2011

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Contents

PREAMBLE

ORANGE TO ORANGE:

CHINA - INDIA.

AN EARLY MORNING

IN BEIJING

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN – RENDEZVOUS TO REMEMBER

POILA BAISAKH IN BEIJING

CHINA POST

SHANGHAI – A CITY OF FUSION

NOT MADE IN CHINA

SUMMER PALACE ADVENTURE

WEDDING PRESENTS FOR

RAVI – A CHINESE EXPERIENCE

TAXI RIDE IN BEIJING

XIAN-NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

LIGHTER SIDE OF CHINA

WORLD CITY - GLOBAL VILLAGE

BARGAINING – CHINESE STYLE

SIDDHARTA ON BEJING OLYMPICS

CHUN TIAN - BEIJING IN SPRING

WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE

BANGLADESHI FILM FESTIVAL IN BEIJING

BANKING IN CHINA

ENGLISH MEDIA IN CHINA

CHINESE BUREAURCRACY

AN EVENING IN PROPAGANDA

– A CHINESE PUB

CONFUSION OR TRICKS – CHINESE STYLE.

CHINESE TRICKSTERS

BEHIND THE BAMBOO CURTAIN

FINAL DIAGNOSIS

PREAMBLE

My first visit to The Peoples Republic of China was during August, 2007. Two more were to follow during 2008.

Every time it was for duration of three months.

The Chinese Authorities had their reasons not to allow me and my wife to stay on in the country beyond that period.

Incidentally the visits coincided with pre and post Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Hence I could observe their commendable efforts to build the infrastructure for the event. The Government’s efforts to train the locals on basic courtesies to impress the outsiders were a clever move. A number of spoken English programs were sponsored by the Authorities as a genuine measure to make the foreigners feel at home in the country.

As well to impress the world about their capability and efforts to modernize

My earlier experience with a Communist country dated back to late seventies

That was the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Another Peoples Republic in the Communist Block.

Initially I had reservations about visiting any Communist country.

But youthful exuberance to visit a new country drove such misgivings to the back seat. To get exposed first hand to a Communist country for four weeks was worth the experience, I felt.

I landed at Prague International Airport (it was called Praha in Czech language) in early October when there was build up of strong northerly wind with accompanied chill giving strong indication about the advent of winter.

I flew from Frankfurt.

Lufthansa provided hassle free pleasant flight for little more than an hour.

Disembarking under a depressing sky, no doubt, raised an alarm in my subconscious. But I ignored considering the normally extreme weather condition in that part of the world.

There was no aero-bridge.

We had to cover a distance of about a kilometer to reach the Terminal Building.

I looked at others. They were well equipped with heavy overcoats and fur caps

Nobody from the host Company, unfortunately, cautioned me on this.

So I had to run to cover the distance.

It was a big relief initially to enter the Terminal Building. But soon I realized that they had kept the temperature too high. Even for me to feel uncomfortable.

I collected my baggage. Proceeded towards the exit gate.

Reality started unfolding gradually.

I looked through the huge glass partition if there was anybody to receive me.

No. There were not many outside, either.

Though promised, I could not locate anybody there to receive me in that aggressive weather.

I got panicky.

I moved from one counter to other.

With desperate attempt to communicate in English and broken Deutsch asking for assistance.

Every one listened till I finished my narration.

But at the end there was a vacant look. Obviously they were unable to comprehend my predicament.

In between I rang up a few numbers which Mr. Jaroslav, the Company’s representative for India, left with me.

He could converse in English as he had to cover English speaking countries to promote the business of Skoda Machine Tools. He appeared quite easy going when he visited our Works a couple of times. And I trusted him.

But the person in the other end could speak only in Czech.

Momentary relief was provided by the cafeteria in the building with strong coffee and snacks. At reasonable price unlike other International Airports, but on payment in USD.

I kept my cool and looked at the display board if there was any incoming flight from Western countries.

In the hope that I could catch someone who could speak in English.

But there was none at that moment.

Lufthansa counter was closed by the time I realized what a mess I was in.

The electronically operated display board exhibited the details of incoming flights from Warsaw, Belgrade, Moscow etc. But not any from Frankfurt or any place in the Europe.

Even Vietnam or Beijing.

The day wore on.

I got scared.

I thought of taking the next flight back to Frankfurt. But my ticket had fixed return date. So I could not do that either.

The limited foreign exchange at my disposal would not buy me a fresh ticket.

I was too exhausted to even to think of any alternative measure.

Finally I noticed that the board had displayed a flight from Dusseldorf . I checked my watch. It would land in half an hour’s time.

I positioned myself at the exit gate from customs enclosure.

I looked for a passenger who could help me. The cabin crews were taking too long to emerge.

I located one assuring face. He turned out to be a soft spoken elderly English man.

‘Young man, you have a problem there. You have to contact and register yourself with Reise Bureau i.e. Travel Agent cum Security Agency, located at the exit from the Terminal Building. They are only authorized to decide which hotel you should check in. Accordingly they will advise the taxi fellow. This is applicable to any foreigner like you. The communist countries are notorious in enforcing their norms of security to the foreigners’; the English man gave a sarcastic smile.

I appreciated that even in that moment of high drama.

‘By the way, the person at the counter would speak in his native language only. You have to manage the situation’, he cautioned me before leaving.

Finally I could reach a hotel in Prague after spending about six hours in the Airport. It was already dark outside.

Next day morning I contacted some English speaking guy at the Prague office of Skoda.

I was supposed to be an official guest of theirs. They sold two expensive machines to our Company. And I was invited to attend a 4-weeks’ training in their Works.

‘How can you expect someone to receive you on a Sunday morning at the Airport? We do not do that’, that was my first encounter with a Czech official of the reputed Company.

I cursed myself to visit a communist country like this.

Finally I could take the Company transport to travel to Skoda Works at Plezen at a distance of 200km from Prague.

As usual the driver could not speak even a single word of English.

There was no English speaking escort either.

The more I had the glimpses of Czech country side with barren fields covered with snow, I got scared. How could I survive in the country for four weeks? Especially with such indifferent lot of people.

I could not get any information about the country from the hefty Czech driver. Neither could share anything with him.

He was engaged in smoking cigar and driving at break neck speed.

They put me up in a Youth Hostel. The room was spacious. Central heating was quite intense. Like the Terminal Building at the Airport.

Next blow landed on me soon.

I was told that during the week end they would switch off the heating.

That was the government regulation. To ensure economy on the energy front.

Everyone was supposed to leave for their homes or other destinations during the week end.

So with the outside temperature of -15 degrees Celsius, anybody could imagine what would be my condition.

The authorities in the Youth Hostel had to follow Government directives.

There should not be any exception to the same.

With great deal of persuasion I could manage to keep the heating on during half day on Saturday. But beyond that even God could do nothing. If there was a God in a Communist country!

So I had to move out to the City Center. After heavy brunch in a cafeteria I entered a hall where continuous screening of movies was going on.

These were Italian movies with subtitles in Czech. Surprisingly Kabir Bedi, hero in the movie, was the only known face there to keep my company.

As usual there was overheated ambience inside the hall. But definitely within tolerance limit compared to the freezing temperature outside.

And I could stay there as long as I wished.

It was not possible to hang around in the centrally heated super markets indefinitely.

So I had to bear with the drudgery of watching same movies again and again without any clue about what even Kabir Bedi was talking about.

Strong Brandy was my only company to keep me alive.

There were other disturbing stray incidents in that country.

On one late night the waiter in a Restaurant threw away my overcoat when I proved that he had over charged me.

Then that incident with Branislav, the Czech Erection Engineer who was in our Plant for six weeks installing the machines.

He was kind enough to take me to a Wine Bar one evening.

During the session, every ten minutes he left the seat and looked outside the window.

‘What is the matter, any problem?’

"Oh, nothing in particular. I am checking up if anybody is shadowing us. I am not supposed to socialize with a foreign national’, Branislav almost whispered in my ears.

So that was my experience with a flourishing Communist Country of those days.

Against such background, visiting the second Communist country was but a challenge for me, no doubt. Only point in favor was that lot of water had flown through all the rivers in the world during more than three decades after my visit to Czechoslovakia.

East European countries, having strong foundation of communism, had gone through transformation. Political, ideological, economic and probably on social front.

Residue of communist doctrine was confined to a few pockets in the world.

So my experience in Plezen during seventies could not entirely influence my trip to China adversely. That was the mind set I had before the journey.

But I had to encounter a number of well wishers before I was off to Beijing. And was flooded with unsolicited advice.

‘Be careful. Communists are the same everywhere. They are highly unpredictable’.

Further doctoring followed.

‘Don’t be vocal on any subject. Do not make enquiries about their social system. Definitely not their political ideology’.

Additional cautioning went on.

‘You cannot move around in the country freely. They will always keep a watch on you and your wife’.

So everything was scaring about China.

But we visited, stayed for nine months on different time of the year and enjoyed our stay.

All the episodes, narrated by me, would depict my perception on the happenings there.

But on one aspect I found China of 2008 same as Czechoslovakia of 70’s.

Closed society, reluctance to socialize with foreigners and above all background control by the State.

I asked a number of expatriates about how they felt about the country.

‘Lonely. Nobody can stay here for more than two years even with the best jobs’.

‘I wish I could leave the country at the earliest’, someone, who was compelled to stay longer in the country.

I do not know what will happen in future.

That is why I have to tell my story, an account of firsthand experience, about modern China.

ORANGE TO ORANGE:

CHINA - INDIA.

I accessed important information about China before proceeding there. As a reference I thought of referring to those of India as well, so that ‘orange to orange’ comparisons could be made. I considered it a pertinent approach to perceive everything in the new country with reference to mine.

When language is a barrier, socialization with the locals being an impossibility; I had to depend on the visuals in China. Greatly facilitated by their body language and outwardly understandable mannerisms to get to know the country. Information, collected prior to the trip, turned out to be the major indicators of authenticity between what I perceived and what was real.

I thought it appropriate to share the data with the readers so that they could draw closer to my mental process while on the journey to explore the country.

Comparison with my own country did help to rationalize my mental process.

Unfortunately I could not think of any other strategy.

With that thought in mind I focused on some salient data.

Economists, March, 2005 summarized Foreign Direct Investment in China and India in one sentence.

‘China’s cup overflows and India catches the spillage’.

Hard data support such observations.

China had the FDI flow of USD 55 billions, whereas India could boast of USD 5 billions. That was the scenario during 2006. There might be marginal change in the figures presently, but nothing drastic.

As per IMF – 2007 Report the GDP Per Capita of China was USD 5,325 with a world ranking of 100. In 1978 China had a meager USD 673 on GDP count.

India ranked 129 having GDP Per Capita of 2,563 as per IMF-2007.

IMF-2007 offered the same figures for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) which was an adjustment for differences in cost of living. To make the comparison on macro scale realistic.

As per IMF-2007 the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China was 3,280,214 in Millions of USD with world ranking of 4.

India ranked 12 with GDP of 1,100,695 in Millions of USD.

China with a population of 1.3billion had a standing of 100 in GDP Per Capita.

India with a population of 1.2 billion had the ranking of 129 in GDP Per Capita.

China, in spite of higher population than India, maintained the edge in ranking.

In 2001, 400 million Chinese was lifted out of poverty meeting UN’s Millennium Development Goal, 14 years before the target of 2015.

In India 390 millions lived under the poverty line in 2001, far away from the UN’s goal.

In 2002, 91% Chinese aged 15 and older could read and write, comprising of 87% females and 95% males in that age group.

In India adult literacy rate was 60%, consisting of 48% females and 70% males.

2008 was celebrated as the 30th anniversary of China’s economic reforms and opening up as initiated by Deng Xiaoping.

With 235 million people, having been raised above poverty line had created a burgeoning urban middle class that had a growing stake in continued reforms and modernization.

Future of China, as envisaged by the Government, would be shaped by two balancing forces i.e. cumulative justice and distributive justice resulting in harmonious society with strong Chinese characteristics.

India was set to follow Secular Democracy by Nehru.

China followed Democratic Dictatorship as stipulated by Mao Zedong.

Deng Xiaoping assumed full power in 1978. He recruited experts in the party, valued for technical excellence rather than ideological priority.

While embracing limited Capitalism for the country he used to say, ‘It does not matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches the mice’.

Mao believed in one red star.

Deng believed in host of expert red stars.

House Cleaning, as reported in China Daily dated November 03, 2008, offered astounding information.

NPC Standing Committee was entrusted with the task of announcing punishment and dismissal of the Government functionaries on charges of corruption.

Huang Song You, a Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court was removed on corruption charges.

Zhu Zhigang, Member of NPC Standing Committee and Deputy Director of NPC Financial & Economic Affairs Committee was dismissed on being proved corrupt.

Liu Zhihua, Vice Mayor of Beijing was sentenced to death with two years reprieve for taking bribe.

Administrator of Shanghai was put behind the bars on charges of illegal land deals with the Developers. His wife also was sentenced as she was involved in corrupt practices.

There were many cases where the Managers of Public Sector Banks were sentenced on corruption charges.

Corruption was viewed as the crime against society in China.

Detection to punishment normally followed the time frame of maximum three months.

President Hu Jinta announced that corruption was life and death for the Chinese Communist Party.

‘Chinese characteristics’ should be the foundation on which corruption should be dealt.

The approach for corruption prevention was formulated on ideological work, system building and effective supervision.

In order to keep people informed about the Government’s actions against corruption, the media published official crime records from time to time.

In India, on the contrary, the people having contacts at appropriate places would hardly get punished.

Judiciary would take long to decide about any case as there would be delay in investigation and subsequent trial.

Such data did help me to proceed to China with an open mind.

And look at everything with pragmatism.

AN EARLY MORNING

IN BEIJING

It is past 6 in the morning. The sky is overcast. Sun is struggling to trickle through layers of cloud. The way an aircraft maneuvers the cloud banks. 

The girl in the lift says, ‘Nee-hao’ with a faint smile. She has been on the job throughout the night.

I say, ‘Nee- hao’. And concentrate on my thought.

‘Shie-shie’, I return to the lift when I hear her mutterings. I look at her face. She does it with sincerity.

‘Shie-shie’, I leave the lift with a smile. Her eyes glitter. 

The electronically operated door latch at the exit opens when I press the knob gently. Modern marvel!!

I am outside in the crisp October cold. Feel the intake of fresh air in my lungs. My spirit brightens up. 

In the garden four elderly ladies are deeply involved in Tai Chi. To-day is their day for using Chinese hand fans. A portrait of concentration and devotion. They are keeping rhythm with the music emanating softly from the tiny cassette player. 

Brisk walking through the complex. In the mini park all the exercising gadgets are engaged. Mostly with elderly people and a few middle aged ones.