Beyond Communism - the Emergence of a Newly Prosperous and Increasingly Capitalist CHINA!

OUR CHINA TRIP - An Overview

LEFT: At Shanghai China Disney World, my "Chairman Mao"  hat attracted a software engineer who works for Alibaba (Chinese version of Amazon) for an interesting discussion. MIDDLE: At Disney with three of my favorite  women, my Wife Vi, Daughter Lisa, and Granddaughter Michaela. RIGHT: Brooklyn T-Shirt atop the Great Wall of China

Vi and I visited China in September 2017, starting with a standard professionally-guided tour of Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. We added a self-directed visit to Suzhou where our Granddaughter Michaela, a Hospitality major at Purdue University, was in the midst of a six month internship at a hotel. We also visited Shanghai Disney World, along with our daughter Lisa (Michaela's mother) who was on a separate tour of China, and Anna, a fellow intern with Michaela. We are indebted to each of them (Lisa, Michaela, and Anna) for guiding and helping two elder travelers during these off-tour activities. The Chinese people we met, including those being paid to serve us as well as total volunteers with little or no knowledge of English, were uniformly helpful and kind.

A visit of fewer than a dozen days to four popular business and tourist areas in China certainly does not make me any kind of expert on this topic. Therefore, please accept this posting as the questionable opinions of a rather casual observer. Like the "Pussy cat" in the well-known ditty*, I have well-worn interests and biases. *Pussy cat, pussy cat,, where have you been? I've been to London to visit the Queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what saw you there? I saw a little mouse under a chair. Yes, the cat missed all the finery and luxury of the Queen's palace in favor of that lowly mouse under the chair! Perhaps we all miss some majestic sights as we are drawn to the familiar?

Vi in Tiananmen Square where Chairman Mao's portrait hangs prominently. His visage appears on Chinese currency. 

We found China to be surprisingly modern and prosperous, with open, helpful, and accepting people who seemed genuinely happy to have us visit, anxious to try out their often limited (but sometimes quite good) English. They are in the midst of revolutionary changes in their economic and political systems. The situation may be very different in other areas of China, particularly some less developed "autonomous regions" such as those with substantial non-Han Chinese populations.

No More "True Believer" Marxists in the World?

Both Russia and China are far more "Capitalistic" than you might expect, and are rapidly moving in that positive direction.

Our experiences in "Communist" China confirmed our experiences from a brief visit to "Communist" St. Petersburg, Russia, a few years ago, . There are no longer any really "true believer" Marxists left in the World (except for a few Professors teaching at Universities in the US and other Western countries :^)

The core ideal at the heart of Marxist Socialism "From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs" is certainly heart-warming, but does not stand up to any serous analysis. It flies in opposition to basic human  nature! Most of us will not voluntarily work to the maximum of our abilities unless we are rewarded for doing so, or punished if we fail to do so. Furthermore, most of  us will consume far more resources than we actually need unless we must personally bear the associated costs.

Thus, all attempts to implement Marxist ideals on a large scale, such as those of "Red" China and "Communist" Russia, as well as other extreme Socialist countries such as Venezuela, have resulted in either an Authoritarian police-state society, or, in the best case, Extreme Bureaucracy, general poverty, and pervasive scarcity. As Milton Friedman, one of my special heroes, quipped: "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."

The only realistic and humane alternative is a market-oriented competitive Capitalistic system, with visible rewards for those who work to the limits of their abilities. Of course, to be truly humane, the system must provide necessary welfare protections for those who absolutely cannot find gainful employment.

George Orwell's Animal Farm

In George Orwell's 1945 classic Animal Farm, the Pigs [Communists] lead a revolt of their fellow animals [Proletariat] against the Man [Capitalist] who owns the farm. Their motto, “All animals are equal" is soon transformed to "All animals are equal, but some animals [the Pigs-Communists] are more equal than others.”

At the end, when the Pig-Communists move into the farmhouse, adopt the manners and lifestyle of humans, and align themselves with human society external to the Farm,  “The creatures outside [the farmhouse] looked from pig [Communist] to man [Capitalist], and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Capitalistic China

Our first impressions of China were of Beijing airport, which, other than the crowds of Chinese people and signage, could have been any airport in the US or Europe. The taxi ride to our hotel plunged us into heavy traffic. Our driver (who spoke no English) showed his expertise in beeping and angling the taxi to prevent other cars from pulling in ahead of us. He had an uncanny ability to scoot from lane to lane and around other cars. He could have given cab-driver lessons in our native Brooklyn, NY!

Our Novotel Peace Hotel was modern and comfortable, with spectacular views from our 28th floor window, despite the somewhat smoggy air. The only negative surprise was the poorly-designed tub-shower that had a glass wall that blocked access to the water controls. You had to get fully into the tub to turn on the water. That meant you'd get splashed by the initially cold water. Furthermore, the tub, although not particularly deep, was way above the level of  the floor, a significant slipping hazard when getting out.

Our tour director, Lee, spoke excellent English, and shared well-received stories of his family life, including the hazards of the 1960's and 1970s "cultural revolution" and of his mother-in-law. In Xian we had a second leader, Peter, an expert who has worked on restoring the terracotta warriors. He too shared personal stories. He told us to look for him on a PBS documentary scheduled for release around the new year 2018.

Our bus comfortably accommodated the 26 members of our group. We soon became friendly with several of our tour-mates, including those from Bulgaria (now living in South Africa), Canada, England, and various  states in the US.

Flying and Touring Routine

The travel and tour was physically and mentally demanding, especially considering our ages, 75 and 78. We traveled by taxi from home to the Villages Transportation terminal at Spanish Springs, their Van to the Orlando FL airport, changing planes at Los Angeles CA, and again at Hong Kong for the flight to Beijing. That all took over 36 hours from home to hotel. We were exactly 12 hours off from our home time, so the "jetlag" was significant. The tour day usually started with a 7AM hotel  breakfast and an 8AM departure for sightseeing. There was a lot of walking, particularly the first few days at Tiananmen Square ("Temple of Peace"), the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall.

After the touring day, I usually ventured out alone, or at times with Vi, to walk the streets in the hotel vicinity, seeking a convenience store, supermarket, American fast-food, and so on. The streets were teeming with aggressive vendors and lined with small food shops, restaurants, and other stores. All, as far as I could tell, were strictly privately-owned and operated. I was impressed by large, multi-level and very modern shopping centers, featuring intentionally known brand names.

Scooters and bicycles, along with crowds of Chinese people, flowed along the sidewalks. I was continually surprised that no one ever seemed to get pushed or run over.

Crossing the street was an adventure! A plethora of people, cars, trucks, buses, scooters and bicycles seemingly regarded the traffic lanes and lights as mere decoration. I followed the advice of our tour leader and adopted a "sticky rice" strategy of embedding myself in a crowd of Chinese people and going with the flow.

After the organized tour, we had the opportunity to use taxis and public transportation, under the very able tutorship of Michaela and Anna. Both are excellent and inexpensive.

Bottled Water

Throughout our trip we were required  to use bottled water, and were told not to use tap water at the hotel for drinking or brushing our teeth. Drinking fountains were not generally available anywhere. The hotels provided two or four free small bottles that we usually put into the refrigerator. Additional water was an expense.

At airports, safe water was available for free, but it was either a choice between "hot" and "warm". I brought empty plastic water bottles through airport security and filled them with the "warm" water. Chilled water in bottles was available but cost around $2 each. I  noticed that some Chinese people had bottles with tea leaves in them, and they would use the "hot" water to make tea. The tea was weak and almost colorless since the tea leaves were used multiple times. At Disney they had safe water fountains, but that was an exception.

Internet Blocking in China

We had very good free Wi-Fi internet availability at Chinese airports (Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai) and at our fine hotels in those cities as well as in Suzhou. However, throughout our time in China, I could not gain access to my Google Groups or Google BlogSpot accounts. Facebook, however, continued to work OK. Our granddaughter (in the midst of her internship at a hotel in Suzhou) had suggested that I could use an app called "ExpressVPN", which, for a fee, would give us access to at least some of the blocked sites. However, the front desk agent who signed us in at our first hotel told me that ExpressVPN was not legal in China, and, since I had access to other internet features, I did not try to use ExpressVPN.

Cable TV Access in China

At each of the our hotels, we had access to many TV channels, in each case including several in English. All hotels had Bloomberg. Two had CNN, and some had the BBC, CNBC, and HBO, as well as an English-language Chinese station. However, I  never saw Fox News or Fox Business, nor did I see MSNBC. I don't know if this situation was due to blocking by the government or simply a matter of cost control by the hotels.

Some Highlights of Our China Tour

Please note that I generally do not take photos of the sights and scenery since better, professionally-taken photos are generally available online. Therefore, most of my photos feature images of family, friends, and me.

Beijing Area

Novotel Peace Hotel. The tour included: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Rickshaw Tour, Home Lunch, Foot Massage, Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

Courtyard of private Chinese home where we enjoyed a wonderful meal with our tour group..

Note yellow bike on right is one of tens of thousands all over the city streets that can be unlocked by cellphone code and borrowed for a fee. 

Our Rickshaw Driver allowed me to sit in the driver's seat and pretend to pedal Vi around tte town.

Great Wall of China Panorama. TOP: Note Vi in blue sitting. BOTTOM: View looking upward as Wall rises steeply.

Xian ("She Ann") Area

Sheraton North City. The tour included: Elementary School Visit, Terracotta Warriors, Xian Old Market Area.

At an Elementary school in Xian. My student is Pang Zi Han, who wrote her name in Chinese and copied some English words for me. Vi sits with her student behind me. They asked for a volunteer to teach the class some English. I was the first. I drew the Earth, pointed out North, South, East and West, located China and USA, then I sketched a separate map of the United States noting New York where my wife and I were born and educated and worked, Florida where we retired, and California from where we flew to China.

Vi and I view the famous Terracotta Warriors. At the right is a "warrior" who looks a lot like me :^)

Shanghai Area

Hilton Jing'an. The tour included: Bund, Waterfront, Old Shanghai, Acrobats Variety Show.

Vi at Shanghai waterfront skyline. Vi on the Shanghai Bund takes the bull by the horn. 

Shanghai Disney World (on our own with Lisa, Michaela, and Anna).

Suzhou ("Sue Joe") Area

Jingi Lake Grand Hotel (where Michaela and Anna are interning).

Michaela and Anna arranged a walk and a golf-cart tour around the lush forested grounds and lake. Vi relaxed as Michaela and I used their impressive and humongous swimming pool and hot tubs.

Michaela and Anna took me, by taxi, to the old town area, intending to visit the museum. It turned out the museum happened to be closed, which was fortunate! We walked along narrow a narrow alley with shops on both sides, along their canals (reminiscent of Venice), took a woman-powered canal boat tour (and she sang!). We consumed a freshly-made waffle cones with ice cream and jelly balls.

In the lobby of the Suzhou Jingi Lake Grand Hotel where our Granddaughter Michaela, a Hospitality major at Purdue University, is interning. 

Suzhou. China - we went to museum by taxi but it was closed. turned out great because we walked down narrow lanes, dodging scooters and bikes. We walked along the canals and got to ride a canal boat

Suzhou China - fantastic pool and hot tub complex in hotel where Michaela is interning.

She is a competitive swimmer and treated Vi and me to dinner at her hotel using two awards

earned by winning swimming races against other hotel personnel.

Suzhou China - freshly made waffle cone after wonderful singing woman-powered canal boat

Journey with Michaela and Anna. ZOOM IN TO SEE WAFFLE COME!

Early Evening Suzhou Lake View - TOP: Note Ira and Michaela near right edge. BOTTOM: Chinese family enjoys life. 

Shanghai Pudong Airport Area

Ramada Plaza Pudong Airport Hotel. Our 5th-floor room overlooked the airport. We could see the terminal and the planes. We had dinner and breakfast at  the hotel.

We took the hotel courtesy van to the Shanghai Pudong Airport, changing planes at Hong Kong, changing again to San Francisco CA, changing again to Charlotte NC, and getting off the plane then on again to Orlando FL for the Villages Transportation van and taxi home. Again over 36 hours with a 12-hour time difference. We each had a bit of digestive upset and health issues, but they were mostly remedied by the medications Vi thoughtfully brought along.

Our Brief Visit to Russia

The second stop on our 50th wedding anniversary Baltic cruise with members of our family was St. Petersburg, Russia. My maternal grandparents came to the US from Russia. My grandfather Louis Leibowitz was from Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, virtually at the current line of demarcation between the Ukrainian-nationalists and Russian-speaking separatists). My grandmother Lena was from Baku, Azerbaijan.

Furthermore, our daughter Lisa has been studying the Russian language at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, where her husband, Jerry, is a member of the faculty, and our 16-year-old granddaughters just completed their second year. Her knowledge of Russian and research into sightseeing and museum highlights in St. Petersburg helped make our visit most effective and enjoyable.

Our visit began with mass confusion at the customs checkpoint. As we debarked the ship we were swept into long lines of our fellow cruise-members who all seemed to have numbered stickers on their shirts denoting the land-tours for which they had signed up. They told us they had obtained the stickers at the theater on the ship, but we had somehow missed that part of the instruction! We attempted to re-board, but could not, so we joined a line and, quite fortunately, ran into our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters who informed us that our particular tour would get our stickers as we boarded the bus.

The lines at customs moved slowly, and, when it was our turn, we discovered why. The customs agents were translating our names and personal information into Cyrillic characters. Thus, my name "IRA GLICKSTEIN" had to be converted to the Cyrillic "ИРА ГЛУКШТЕИN" and so on for all of our information. Although this should have been an easy computer task, the customs agents seemed to be doing it manually, which is why it took so long. So our tour was delayed about an hour.

On to ride into town, our tour leader, who spoke good English, told us that, "in Soviet times" multiple families shared communal state-owned apartments, but that the Khrushchev reforms had changed that, with a goal of separate apartments for each family. Starting in the 1960's, many new concrete-block apartments were erected and, although it took up to ten years, depending upon their position and political connections, most families eventually obtained their own apartments.

Then, in the 1990's under Yeltsin, as the old Soviet Union disintegrated, residents were essentially given ownership of their apartments for free. Now, she said, over 95% of the people had their own apartments. The average apartment was now worth about $40,000 and those who owned more than one, having inherited them from their deceased parents and transferred ownership for a few thousand dollars, would rent them out.

We drove through block after block of massive apartment buildings, some with obvious external deterioration, but generally clean.

The bus took us on a short tour of the major attractions of downtown St. Petersburg. Then, we were dropped off at a souvenir shop, where they had free tea, water, and restrooms, and we were given a few hours "at leisure" to explore the city on our own.

Downtown St. Petersburg is a bustling city, with lots of people hurrying down the streets, many stores of all kinds, and hot dog vendors with carts on the sidewalks. Just as a cat seeks mice*, I focus on fast food. So, I ogled the American fast food franchises, but, alas, was not able to dine there. The main photo above shows the popular golden arches and the inset photos on the right show two other favorites - can you read the Cyrillic characters and identify them?

With the help of daughter Lisa, and my familiarity with some Greek characters from my math and physics education, I got pretty good at sounding out Cyrillic. "Санкт-Петербург, Россия" is "Saint Petersburg, Russia".

Lisa had done her research and intended to walk to the Kunstkamera ("кунсткамера" which means "Cabinet of Curiosities")  Russia's first museum, created by Peter the Great and first opened around 1727.

The long walk was too much for Vi, who was dropped off at a nice park. The rest of us continued the walk. Along the way, as we were crossing a bridge over the Neva River, a Russian man spoke to me in good English, saying that all the bridges would be closed between midnight and 5 AM, a fact our tour leader had earlier conveyed to us, telling us that the bridges had to be raised during those hours to allow large transport ships to pass through.

There was further confusion as our daughter and son-in-law, who had earlier exchanged US dollars for Russian rubles, purchased tickets for the museum. Students and retirees were entitled to an 80% discount on the admission price, but only two of our three granddaughters happened to have their student ID cards, and I did not have my AARP card. However, not to worry. All our granddaughters got student discounts and somebody miscounted, so I got in for free!

Once in, I had to check my large backpack, which I left at the coat-check station in return for a very substantial numbered token. The museum reminded me of the New York Museum of Natural History as it was back when I was in elementary school.

Lisa led us on a beeline to the special section of "Oddities" where photography was prohibited, but, as we were told, there were plenty of images on the Internet (see photos below).

After our all-too-short visit to the Kunstkamera, we returned to the park where we had left Vi and she told us she had made friends with Russian woman who spoke adequate English.

We all walked further through the active streets, stopped to ogle some cathedral, and further tested our ability to sound out Cyrillic characters. ("кафе" is "Cafe", and so on.)  At this point, I too was pretty much "walked out" and Vi and I decided to walk back to the souvenir shop for some free tea and wait in that area until it was time to catch our tour bus back to the ship. Our granddaughter Alexia was nice enough to walk and wait with us.

There was a very comfortable park near the souvenir shop dedicated to the famous Russian writer Pushkin, and we happily waited there.

As we waited in the park, I noticed the pigeons had an unusual fondness for the famous Russian writer, see photos above. I tested my ability to sound out Cyrillic characters by reading the inscription on the Pushkin statue, "Алекса́ндр Серге́евич ПУШКИНУ" is "Alexander Sergevitch PUSHKIN". Hooray!

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Our second day in St. Petersburg was a half-day tour to the impressive Hermitage museum. This time, we passed through customs rapidly.

As we waited to enter the Hermitage, street vendors plied us with novelties, such as Russian nested dolls and souvenir books, and so on. I was pleased that one vendor was selling anti-Communist t-shirts for $10 US currency (similar to the example shown in the lower left inset of the first image in this posting):

• On the front of the t-shirt, the old Communist hammer and sickle on a field of red is replaced by "McLenin's" - the face of Vladimir Lenin, the (once) highly respected Communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist who served as the leader of the USSR 1917 through his death in 1922, surrounded by the now-universal symbol of western capitalism, the golden arches of McDonalds.
• The back of the t-shirt shows the defeated hammer and sickle in a red star with the legend "The (Communist) Party is Over".

Indeed, Communism is over. The only people who still believe in it seem to be academics, teaching in western universities!

Our tour leader was a young woman who spoke excellent English. She guided us through the impressive exhibits and explained them to us. Our special tour included a visit to the "Gold Room" where an expert guide explained the exhibits in the Russian language which was translated and repeated by our guide.

PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS

Of course a bare two-day visit to one city in Russia is not a basis for any deep political analysis. First of all, St. Petersburg (Leningrad in Soviet times) has, even in the days of Peter the Great, been more western-oriented than the rest of Russia, and is probably far more prosperous than average. Furthermore, the only contact we had with Russian people was the customs agents, who said not a word to us; the tour guides, who spoke disparagingly of "Soviet times" but said nothing about the current situation or their leader Vladimir Putin, who happens to be a native of St. Petersburg, which I guess is understandable; and the guy on the street who told me about the bridges closing at night.

Never-the-less, I got the distinct impression that the policies and customs of the old "Soviet times" had deep roots that affected the current situation. My wife Vi thinks the long delay at customs was likely due to a need to increase employment of people in government jobs. It seems to me that security at their customs checkpoints and museums was more officious than effective.

The customs agents were behind high barriers such that we could see their hands only when they took our passports and gave them back. We could not see whether they transliterated our names to Cyrillic characters manually or with the aid of a computer, but I believe it was the former because of how long it took.

A slip of paper with our transliterated information was tucked into our passports when we left. When we returned from the tour, we had to go through a security checkpoint to get into the customs building. That included an x-ray screening for my backpack and passing through a metal detector. When my belt buckle caused the metal detector to beep, I took my belt off and tried to hand it to the guard, but he just waved me through as it beeped again. We again had to wait at customs, but all they seemed to do was remove that slip of paper from our passports and pass us on. (Upon entering the ship, we had to put our sea card into a machine that instantly brought up a stored photo so the attendant could confirm our identity, and then we had to go through some real security that included an x-ray scan of our belongings and a metal detector where we had to remove our belts.)

On the first day, at the Kunstkamera ("Odditiies") museum, they made me check my backpack, but they did not use a metal detector or inspect the contents of my pockets or jacket or purse-size containers, etc.

On the second day, at the Hermitage museum we were warned not to take any bottled water or other liquids because of an incident not long ago where a mentally disturbed man threw acid on a valuable painting and used a knife to slash it. Thus, I was not surprised to see a metal detector at the entrance. However, it was totally unmanned and beeped merrily as we walked through! I could have easily carried a bottle of acid and a knife without any serious chance of detection.

On the second day, we again had to go through the customs checkpoints, both leaving and returning. This time, however, they passed us through both ways without giving us that slip of paper or demanding it upon our return. Perhaps the customs agents scanned our passports with a computer, but it was hard to tell.

Once aboard the ship I looked more closely at a Russian language advertising leaflet I had picked up and was proud to recognize that "Эрмитаж магазин" sounded out as "Hermitage Magazine" and meant "Hermitage Store".

Ira Glickstein

*As a cat is genetically drawn to see mice, I am ineffably drawn to focus on fast food joints. Recall the childhood poem:

"Pussy cat, pussy cat / where have you been? / 

I've been to London to visit the Queen. / 

Pussy cat, pussy cat / what saw you there? / 

I saw a little mouse, under a chair!"

Yes, the cat missed all the finery and luxury of the Queen's palace in favor of that lowly mouse under the chair! Perhaps we all miss some majestic sights as we are drawn to the familiar?