China 1980 to the present.

Where do you start when you are planning to write about 31 years of your life and a country as large and complicated as China. 31 years spent working and travelling in a country that even today is still a mystery to many people in other parts of the world. Although it's quite accessible today, it is often misrepresented by the media and western politicians. I am not an apologist for modern China but some of the stories I read from politicians in Australia are so inaccurate, in fact many are the opposite of reality.  I have visited the USA many times over the past 15 years and the accuracy of information provided by their news media about China is even worse, China has propaganda but we are deluding ourselves if we think we don't have it in Australia and other western countries.

I have visited most major towns and cities, spent time in the homes of friends and have never once felt threatened while walking on the streets. For sure you have to take care, with the large gap between rich and poor it's crazy to exhibit any sign of wealth if you are on the street but I have never seen police or army brutality apart from the tragedy of Tienanmen Square. I was in Beijing 2 weeks after Tienanmen, buildings were still riddled with bullet holes, the imprint of tank tracks were clearly visible on Chang An Boulevard and the contempt that the citizens of Beijing had for the army and the party at that time was very obvious. They did a very good job of stopping the spread of the news within China  at that time but now with the internet and mobile phones it would be very difficult to plug all of the leaks. One of the hidden benefits of new technology, it is now quite difficult for any government to control all news sources and that has got to be a good thing.

I have spent more than three years of my life there and have made 120 trips to China.

The transformation of China over the past 31 years is staggering, when I first started travelling there for business it was a very dour and colourless place. Soviet style buildings, a few cars and polluting factories built in the most unsuitable places, often in the middle of residential areas. This probably made it easy for people to get to work but the cost to their health must have been enormous. I remember reading a novel about Russia, the author described it as ''a place of mind numbing drabness'' that description was very accurate and also applied to China in 1980. 

 Guangzhou 1980, concentrated drabness.

Taken in 2009, a huge contrast from the previous photo

Modern China is a place that defies description, the pace of change is so fast that it's impossible to keep up. Cities are torn down and rebuilt almost overnight, super highways cover the country and cars have replaced bikes in most major cities. 

 Guangzhou 1980 taken in front of The Guangzhou Trade Fair, a busy intersection at that time.

Also taken in Guangzhou, 2011 near the previous photo. Thanks to watchchinatimes.com

The change from bikes to cars is not progress in my opinion, the air quality is terrible, visibility is often down to a few hundred metres. The journey times  compared to bike riding or even walking have increased by a huge amount but car ownership continues to rise. They had the answer for mass transport but lost their way.

Photo taken in 2009 at midday from The Guangzhou Trade Fair complex.

My blog has a backroad theme so I will start with transport, China could well be the ultimate backroad, some of the photos and videos I have seen of the western parts of the country look amazing. I have never been further west than Chongqing but I have been on my share of back country roads in China.

My first few visits in 1980 and 1981 required me to travel to many outlying places to visit factories that my company represented, distances were huge so air travel seemed like the best option. Wrong, very wrong. The condition of the Chinese commercial air fleet at that time was terrible, a mixture of ancient Russian and English planes that looked as though they never had regular maintenance.  I had three near misses during that time, the closest call was on a flight from Guangzhou to Chongqing in 1986. I had booked the flight through one of the trade corporations I worked with and did not know what to expect until we arrived at Guangzhou Airport, there were a few early 737's flying at that time but we were deposited at steps of a battered and wheezing Ilyushin IL-18. These planes first entered service in 1957 and this one must have been one of the first. Liquids of various colour and viscosity dripped from parts of the engine or fuselage, canvas showed prominently through what was left of the tyre casings. Inside the plane was in  similar condition, none of the seat belts worked in our row and the interior lighting was non existent due to the plastic absorbing 25 years of nicotine.

I was shaking too much to take a photo at the time, thanks to al-airline.be for this image of a similar IL-18.

Chongqing airport in 1986 was situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, to land pilots had to clear the tops of the mountains [just] and then descend quickly to ensure they had enough runway to stop the plane.

Attempt one  resulted in us missing the runway completely, we were about 5 metres above the tarmac when the pilot decided to abort and go round again. 

Attempt two, we skimmed the mountain tops and touched down two thirds along the runway, not enough left to stop the plane, the pilot gunned the engines and pulled the nose up, the plane shuddered and gradually gained altitude, it must have been very close to stalling. Sue was white, I am sure I was too, our daughter was sleeping peacefully through all of this.


Attempt three and the pilot again skimmed the tops of the mountains and then put the plane into a steep dive, if anyone had been standing they would have fallen into the cockpit door. We hit the tarmac going way too fast but somehow he managed to stop this wreck before we ran out of pavement.


When we finally got off the plane the pilot was already standing on the tarmac, shirt tails out [I know the reason for this] scratching his head and looking at the undercarriage. How we made it I do not know.

Two years later in 1988 this plane crashed when an engine caught fire while attempting to land at Guangzhou Airport, there were no survivors.  

Near miss number two happened on a flight from Qingdao to Shanghai. By the early 1990's China had started to modernise it's fleets, things should be much better, right ?? No, nothing had changed. They had started building MD80's in China after signing a joint venture with McDonnell Douglas, here I was flying again in China on a Chinese built plane, what was I thinking ??

The hosties were very cute and the plane was not leaking any fluids but after I took my seat in the last row the crew started to fill the aisle at the back of the plane with cartons of beer  and soft drinks, none of the cargo was secured in any way and  it completely blocked the emergency exits and the rear toilet and galley, I was pretty much built in. It was only a 90 minute flight from Qingdao to Shanghai so I guess they decided that the passengers would not need either.  The problem occurred when we hit an air pocket about 30 minutes out of Shanghai, I was in the window seat, the seats beside me were empty but after the bounce my seat row was blocked., full cartons were strewn all over the rear cabin area. The plane pitched and rolled while the pilot tried to compensate for the shift in tail weight which in an MD80 is very critical. We made it but it was the last time I ever set foot in a Chinese airliner. The pilots at that time must have all come straight from the air force, passenger planes were flown like jet fighters. Maximum thrust on take off, hard banking left and right and landings that were much faster than western pilots. Maybe they just wanted to get off those planes asap. Near miss three shows I went close but self preservation and fear won the day.

Thanks to Savvas Garozis for this MD80, awaiting clearance while the pilot searches for the ignition key.

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 Number three occurred on a planned trip from Guangzhou to Hangzhou, I had booked a ticket on a China Southern flight but when we arrived at the plane we were confronted with an Aeroflot Tupolev 154, business was good so C.S. had subcontracted this flight to Aeroflot. Instead of a newish Boeing they replaced it with a 30 year old Tupolev. If ever you find yourself booked to fly on one of these planes do not do it. I am surprised that there are any left still flying but regular reports from Russia and Africa show that they are, usually with deadly results. 

When I saw the plane I decided on the spot that I would not board it, I had booked in good faith and it should have been a new Boeing. The plane was a wreck, fluids leaking, bald tyres and the Russian pilots complexion was as red as the tail flag, A stand off developed at the bottom of the boarding steps, I refused to board but they could not take off until my suitcase was unloaded. The flight was delayed for about 40 minutes, I lost $400 because they refused to refund, even though they had not advised passengers of a change of airline. and aircraft.

Thanks to fl.wikimedia.org for this image of a similar Tuploev 154.

That plane crashed on approach to Hangzhou Airport 6 weeks after the flight I was booked on. There were no survivors.

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Before I start on other transport options I should mention my two constant travelling companions during the 80's and early 90's, my Sony Walkman cassette player, did I hear you say what's a cassette ??? and my Sony multi band radio. 

Without these two small pieces of Japanese wizardry I would probably not have lasted 31 years. After giving up on plane travel I resorted to trains, not as far to fall. The big problems here were time and distance. I spent 40 hours on one journey and many others were 20 plus. I was usually the only Gweilow on the train and I didn't speak Chinese. Rob my business partner at the time told me travelling in China was character building, I am not sure if that's true but it did teach me to be comfortable being on my own, even if I was surrounded by millions. My Sony radio provided a link with the outside world, I could get VOA, BBC and ABC but the most entertaining was Radio North Korea. Hour after hour of stories about the Great Leader, he was so wonderful, a cross between Superman, Batman and Jesus. There was nothing he couldn't do, he was immortal, right up to the time he died, which spoiled the story, until they replaced him with The Dear Leader, none other than his son who is soon to be replaced by his son. Hopefully they will run out of adjectives for their leaders soon and just merge with the South but that would ruin a good radio programme. All of this was delivered by a strange  English/Asian accented female voice dripping with fake sincerity. A cross between Li Lin Chin from SBS and Margaret Thatcher.

I should explain that in the first ten years of my China travels  from 1980 to 90 crossing the border from Hong Kong meant that I virtually disappeared. There was no international phone service, no fax, no Internet and no mobile phones. The working day usually ended at 6.30pm. after a dinner with the local corporation or factory staff, then it was back to my hotel room. No television and no English newspapers apart from The China Daily, which was a four page propaganda rag. If I left the hotel I couldn't speak to anyone and couldn't read any of the signs, not because of any police rules just my lack of Chinese speaking and reading ability. Many of the trips lasted for four weeks, during which time my family and even my employer had no idea where I was, unless I had been able to send a telex to the office. Even that was difficult because of the ancient ribbon fed machines that were used in China at the time. My Walkman and my Sony radio became my best friends.

Email.
During the 1990's email started to take over from faxes, doesn't seem that long ago. Dial up was king but in most hotels in China there was no easy way to access the phone lines or find a phone service that would support it. I discovered a company called GRIC, they had set up a network of partners who, for a small fee would provide access. The next problem was finding a way to connect to the actual phone line, no access points or plugs in any hotel in China at that time. Luckily I met up with a geologist who was spending months at a time travelling to remote areas in China, he had solved the problem using a razor blade to strip a small section of insulation from the phone cable, two sewing pins with plastic tops, a short length of phone cable with a connector on one end to fit into the modem and two small alligator lips on the other end. Push the pins into the red and black wires in the hotel phone cable then attach the two alligator clips to the pins. It worked and did not damage the host wire.

Bikes.

I suppose it's easy for a foreigner to suggest that Chinese citizens would be better off riding bikes than riding in cars but having seen China during both periods I am sure it's true. Sure it would be difficult in mid winter and mid summer but the reality today is even worse. Millions of people sealed inside cars that are going nowhere, while their salary goes out the exhaust pipe. There is no interaction now between people on their way to work apart from the arguments that arise from massive traffic jams. Before, people would chat to the riders near them, some would sing, maybe stop at a roadside stall for breakfast or a cup of tea.


The following photos show China during the 1980's, a very stark contrast to the photo earlier in this post where a thousand cars idle through millions of litres of petrol making the air pollution even worse.

1980 Tienanmen Square with Mao's mausoleum in the background.

1980 Tienanmen Square with The Great Hall of The People in the background, the cycleway was three times the width of the car lanes.

1986 The Forbidden City taken from Tienanmen Square.

Guangzhou 1980, delegates arrive at The Guangzhou Fair. Bikes are parked and guarded by the attendant for a few cents per day.

Peak hour traffic outside the Guangzhou Fair building 1980.

1982 Guangzhou, almost everything goes by bike.

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Shenzhen

The first time I saw China was 1970, a train ride to Lowu and then a short bus ride to the top of a hill to look over The Bamboo Curtain, the difference since then is amazing but the price paid has been very high. The first two photos were taken in 1970, the third is how that area looks today.

Cars, motorcycles, trikes and other things.

Cars have always been part of my life, the chance to visit China in 1980 opened up a new world of strange looking cars, trucks and other things that I cant really classify. I had expected the roads to be full of Russian and East European vehicles most of which I knew from trips to Russia and Yugoslavia in 1970. There were a few but most vehicles on the road at that time and there weren't many were locally made Chinese models.

A Shanghai SH760 taken in 1980.

This car was used for corporations and taxi services, as far as I know at that time there was no private ownership of cars. Production started in 1964 and finished in 1991 it had a 2.2 litre side valve six cylinder motor which developed around 90bhp, it must have weighed close to 2 tons so was not classified as a sports sedan.

The Red Flag Limo.

 Used mainly for Party Officials and The Politburo, I can't remember ever getting a ride in one but it's possible I did when I visited the head  office  of CNLIIEC in Beijing. I think this model was called the Zil or maybe it was the Zit and had a V8 motor.

State of the art motorbikes, photo taken at the Guangzhou Trade Fair 1980.

Trikes, photo taken on a visit to Guangzhou Zoo 1980.

These things were unbelievably crude, the canvas blinds prevented any side or front vision and effectively trapped all of the exhaust gas in the passenger area. Usually used on roads that were also used by heavy trucks, crash safety rating minus 5 stars.

Not sure what to call these things, maybe Pterodactyls ??

These vehicles were very common in the cities and the countryside, they seemed to be powered by a single cylinder diesel engine that operated at around 25rpm, the open radiator covering the driver in steam with the thick black exhaust also vented to mix with the steam to create a very nice contrast. Steering must have been almost impossible as the motor and transmission were all mounted on the front sub frame, all of which turned when the steering bar was turned.  Fortunately I never did get a ride in one.

Audi in China 
I'm not exactly sure of the full details of the Audi joint venture with Red Flag motors in Dalien but the following photo gives some idea of the difficulties of doing business in China at that time. My understanding is that Audi agreed to the joint venture to produce it's old Audi 100 model, this worked for a while until Red Flag decided to produce their own version. The only difference being the badges and the razor sharp red plastic flag on the bonnet. This was very effective in clearing a passage through pedestrians and cyclists. I spoke to Chinese friends at that time and they said the Red Flag model sold for a much lower price than the Audi. I somehow can't see Audi agreeing to a deal like that knowingly.

The Audi 100 and clone. 

Driving in China is covered by a set of road rules that are kept completely secret from all foreigners but here are a few that I have discovered after years of research and observation.

1. The horn must be used whenever another car, bicycle or pedestrian are in view. Or if stopped in a traffic jam.
2. Now this is an old rule and not used so much in cities now but it still persists in the countryside, the main aim of driving is to get the car into top gear as quickly as possible after using all lower gears. I have been with some of the best in this competition. They could have it in top after about 10 seconds and before the car reached 10 kmph. 
3. Leave the car in top gear unless completely stopped.
4. Give way to all traffic entering the road you are on from any street, lane, footpath or paddock. This rule applies on freeways too. No one obeys this rule at anytime from any direction.
5. Drive against the traffic on the opposite side of the freeway only if you really feel like it.
6. Old rule not used so much now, when driving at night switch headlights off so as not to blind oncoming cars or bikes.
7. re rule 6, flash high beam every few seconds to see where you are going and destroy other drivers night vision.
8. This is a rule for passengers, try never to be a passenger between midday and 2.00pm. Naptime, driving and naps coexist in most parts of China.

 I have always tried to observe rule 8 after a few close calls but sometimes factory visits meant that we were still on the road during naptime. My solution to the problem was to always sit in the back seat where I could watch the drivers eyes in the rear view mirror. I have stopped numerous cars and taxis and made them wait while the driver had a cigarette and a 10 minute rest, often this lead to arguments but it works every time, I am still here. The driver is furious that some Gweilow could make him lose face and naptime but is so angry he cant fall asleep again.

Trains.

Many of the journeys I have made in China have been by train, often spending 20 hours to travel between Beijing and Qingdao or Shanghai and one marathon 40 hour trip from Shanghai to Hong Kong. If I was lucky I would get a soft seat or soft bed ticket but sometimes I travelled hard seat. These trips were terrible. Hard seat class meant that you shared a wooden bench with two other passengers, facing the three opposite,  the backrest was at 90 degrees and there was no padding. People, animals and the resident railway rodent population made up the numbers. The carriages were reasonably clean at the start but filthy by the time the train reached its destination. The toilets produced the same reaction as a finger down your throat. I never wanted to be reminded of those trips but I have found a couple of photos to share with you, enjoy the journey.

It's not The Orient Express. Photo by Trekearth.

Hard Seat Class. Just add 200 people, 30 chickens a few pigs and don't forget the rodents. Photo by Bharak Rhatshak

Soft bed was the best, a slightly padded bunk in a compartment for four, smoking was allowed and the Chinese opera played non stop. A Walkman on medium to high volume helped a lot. Hard boiled eggs, dry biscuits and warm beer managed to get me through each trip but may have made it unpleasant for my fellow travellers.

 The luxury of a soft bed ticket, photo by Sinotravel.

Steam trains were used into the early 1990's but I haven't seen one since I took this photo in 1991. I am sure they would still be there somewhere but not on the main lines.

Taken on the Nanjing to Nanchang Line in 1991.

Trains in China today are fantastic, clean, fast and comfortable, at least that's what I have found on the main routes. The following photos show the local trains from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and the Guangzhou Metro. So much better than our dilapidated and graffiti scarred trains in Sydney.

Hong Kong KCR

Guangzhou Metro

Signs.

China is a great place for sign spotting, one of the first I saw was in Dalien in 1981, it was a Do Not Disturb Sign in my room, unfortunately I didn't think to photograph it. Very apt these days as the hookers outnumber guests by at least 3 to 1, very different to what it was in 1981. It read,

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No Interu -

pting

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Guangzhou Railway Station has this one,

 

Or this one on the Guangzhou Metro,

Or Zapatas in Shanghai where they have no trouble hiring security staff,

And one from the through train to Hong Kong,

This is not a sign but it fits into this catergory quite well, If you are planning to visit the Guangzhou Trade Fair why not stay at The Warm Yes Hotel, there are many hotels that I have stayed at that could be described as Warm Yes but this one is actually called that. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298555-d499910-r64625958-Warm_Yes_Hotel-Guangzhou_Guangdong.html#UR64638526

I remember meeting a delegate at the fair a few years ago, as her English name she had chosen Milky, her family name was Toe. Milky Toe, she would have fitted in perfectly at The Warm Yes.

The Three Gorges, before the dam.

One of the most spectacular journeys I have made in China, from Chongqing to Wuhan by ferry. We did the trip in 1886, before The 3 Gorges Dam was built. My contacts had booked us on a local ferry for the journey, it was clean and reasonably comfortable and full of character. A few French tourists on our deck, 2nd Class, with the locals packing out 3rd Class on the deck below, with what sounded like the contents of a small zoo. Roosters, sheep and cattle were located somewhere below us.

A local ferry, similar to ours

This was at the time when China was just starting to open up to western tourists, there were quite a few ''tourist boats'' plying the river. Almost every one that we passed was full of people sleeping, reading, sunbathing or playing cards. Why bother to come all that way and not look at where you are?

Factories were built beside the river in many places, obviously it was a prime location, close to shipping and with a good source of water for manufacturing, unfortunately once used the water was pumped back into the river. Some factories discharged blue water, some red, some were white foam and one was discharging hydrochloric acid. Our throats burned and eyes watered as we passed this location. Factories that produce metal products such as stainless steel use acid to polish the finished product, this factory was probably doing that. I once asked a cutlery factory manager in Zhejiang province ,where did the acid go when they were finished with it, ''Away'' was his reply, at that factory through a hole in the wall and into a nearby stream.

One of the multi coloured factory outlets, white, maybe soap, it was foamy.

Our boat moored each night at small villages that were built on river banks so steep that walking up the stone jetties looked impossible. One of my great regrets is that we didn't leave the boat at night to visit the villages. We were both worried that our 5 year old daughter would get sick if we left the boat but the chances were probably the same on or off the boat. She also attracted a lot of attention, she had long blond hair and local people would often walk up to her and touch her hair. Not in a threatening way, just curiosity but for a 5 year old it was quite an ordeal. Big cities were not too bad but the smaller and more isolated the village the greater the curiosity of the people.

 

The gorges were amazing, rising vertically from the river to their peaks thousands of feet above. The skill of our Captain was also amazing, every day he would have to manoeuvre the boat through narrow channels with jagged rocks just a few feet on either side of the hull. The scenery changed hour by hour, villages, pagodas, factories beside the river, small, medium and large boats, birds, animals and dead humans were all to be seen on the river. When our daughter returned to kindergarten her first show and tell was not believed by many of the other kids but was confirmed by the teacher who had also made this trip.

The trip lasted three days and we left the boat at Wuhan after passing through the giant locks at Yichang. We flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou on a very early 737, I think they had the nickname at the time of ''Fat Albert''. The plane looked OK and it was a smooth flight. [I just checked my facts about 737's, they started service in 1967, China was not buying new planes then so this plane was probably pre 1970]

The Guangzhou [Canton] Trade Fair.

Every year since 1980 I have travelled to Guangzhou in April and October to attend the trade fair. The only exceptions were during the SARS epidemic and April 2010 when I was recovering from an operation.

 The Liuhua fair buildings in 1980.

The early fairs lasted for four weeks and as I mentioned earlier in this post, there was nothing to do after the fair closed. There were only a few foreign businessmen at each fair and most stayed at the Dong Feng hotel across the road from the fair building. The fair would start at 8.30am every day, seven days per week, it would close for lunch at 11.30am and re open at 2.30pm and close each day at 5.30pm. This meant we had a three hour break every day to fill in. There was no entertainment and no communication equipment,  so we could not even work during the lunch break. Shampoos became the highlight of most days, for a few cents we could go to the hotel hairdresser and have a one hour shampoo, shoulder, head and neck massage. I know what you are thinking but it was not like the Taiwan salons, the only result of these sessions was that we had very clean hair.

The Chinese food at the hotel was terrible, the western menu consisted of egg sandwiches, one greasy fried egg between two pieces of tasteless white bread. Cold beer? never heard of it. There was one pool table there which we used every day but apart from that nothing else to do. Four weeks was like a prison sentence. My first fair was number 49 in 1980.

The last fair that I attended in October 2010 was number 109, I have spent almost two years of my life inside the buildings of the old Lihua Complex.

After so many years in this place this is the only photo I can find. Hall 5, which was used for machinery displays.

The Liuhua complex was built by Russia and it really showed, the buildings were solidly built but the various halls must have all been built by a different department. Where two halls joined they were always at different levels and often they had forgotten to include a doorway between them. Chinese builders had solved the problem by knocking holes in the walls but many needed a few steps up or down to make up for the variation. Some didn't have enough stairwells so these were tacked on the sides of the building. No airconditioning of course and up to 1995 everyone smoked. Some days it wasn't possible to see 50 metres down the aisles. If ever a fire had broken out in the basketware hall the loss of life would have been enormous.

Hall 9 was a mystery, the top floor number 5 sloped to one side, I could never work out why but probably the workers had run one additional row of blocks on one wall before the floor was poured. Too much trouble to change it so it has stayed that way up to today.

An early tradition of doing business in China was tea drinking, no sooner had you sat down at a table a cup of lukewarm tea was placed on the table. Usually some of it was spilt over your notebooks while being served. For about two years I followed tradition and drank the tea, hundreds, maybe thousands of cups until one day I walked into a service room by mistake. There were a few attendants there with all of the used cups and saucers they had collected, the cups were being rinsed in cold dirty water before being put back into service.

As soon as I stopped drinking the tea the sore throats and colds that had plagued me for years vanished.

The difference between the Liuhua complex and the new fair at Pazhou really shows the changes over 30 year. The first section [A] was large, actually huge but then they added another and another. The entire complex is now so large there is no way that you can walk every hall in the five days of each fair.

Building A, includes halls 1 to 5, it is .8km in length and has two levels.

 Building A was the first section completed, at .8km in length and with 15 aisles and two levels the total walking distance to pass every booth is 24 kms. I took a pedometer to one fair, my total walking distance for the 5 days was 82 kms. from the time I left home until returning to Australia.

Building B.

Building B is shorter but has three levels, building C is shorter again but has four levels. The design of the buildings is stunning, they have managed to disguise the boxy shape of each building by wrapping it in a web of metal, the photos don't go close to showing it as it really is. They have managed to preserve some typical Chinese features in this building, the German architects must have planned each hall to have 10 aisles but who needs wide aisles, more booths is what we need so they now have 15 aisles, this means that all of the electrical plugs are now in the middle of the aisles covered by loose carpet, instead of being hidden inside the booths. Everyone who visits the fair meets the same fate, tripping at least 20 times per day and sometimes falling flat on their face.

This is where I escape to at lunch time, there are 70 steps to get down to this level so it's usually deserted.

The following scan shows the layout of the Pazhou complex but can't convey the size of the place. The block shown is approximately 3kms. x 1.5 kms.

New hotels are being built near the fair, adding to the stunning collection of architecture. The new Pazhou Hotel shown in the following photo will also incorporate more display areas adding to the thousands of booths already available in the main fair complex.

The new Pazhou Hotel, due to open 2012. Photo by Aedas.com