Sunday, June 17, 2007

on reflections coming from the Land of the Dragon

 


yea, was in 龙的传人的国度 almost 3 weeks ago. Spent an enjoyable 13 days there. I stayed mainly in western China, and moved about the city and the country side. Well, spent more time at the countryside than at the city. It was a good orientation trip for me, as I got to see firsthand how my colleagues are working on the ground.

City life there is really more advanced than ours here. You can buy more stuff at cheaper prices and a wider variety. But the income gap is also more pronounced bah. You have the hyper rich and the hyper poor. The income gap is really more obvious. The pursuit of material success and well-being is much more tangible.

In the countryside, the pace of life is slower. For me, I found it refreshing; for my colleague, she found it a bit too slow for her liking. But we share the same sentiments that the people are very much caught up in their past and traditions. Very difficult for the Message to be spread, because they view the good news as a "foreigners' stuff".

I made it a point to watch TV at all the places that I stayed. Well, besides the point I'm a TV junkie, I thought the TV is a pretty good gauge of what goes in the minds of the populace.* From what I see, it seems like there's a constant tension. Some channels would just keep showing programmes of the great glorious episodes in 人民的奋斗, like historic serials like "八路军". And you have modern shows depicting the good life, or follows western genres like CSI-like shows. And you have K-drama and Japanese anime. (No kidding!) And you even have shows debating about Chinese ancient literature. So I would say it has a rich sense of culture and heritage, and that the TV there is infinitely more interesting than our local shows. Oh, and the best part? Football channel is FREE there... 

Food deserves a posting on its own, so I'll do one on that later...

*Some would beg to differ of course. And I agree, you cannot believe EVERYTHING you see on the TV. Just as you cannot believe EVERYTHING on the Internet, or EVERYTHING you read in the books.

Yea, I'm a sceptical bastard... :P

 

5 comments:

  1. The pic of the giant pandas drinking from the water hole is totally adorable...

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  2. yeaps, the palce where I went to is home of the panda, the golden-furred monkey as well as famous landmarks as 九寨沟 and 四姑娘山.

    Wish I could go there again~

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  3. yeaps, but it felt more like play though :P

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  4. In the city zoo or 卧龙熊猫保护区? Hug one to sleep. haha

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