Firstly, it is not the People's Republic of China that's too hot, but rather Vancouver that is too cold. By Beijing standards, thirty degrees centigrade is fair weather, twenty-five is getting cold, and twenty is unbearably frigid, as one passenger made clear upon disembarking in Vancouver on the return trip.
I'm not a big expert in economics or politics, but I'll just give my observations:
The Communist party is sure serious business. So is swine H1N1 flu. [No man. You gotta respect the farmers.]
The Canadian dollar - RMB exchange rate is approximately 1:6, though everything is cheaper in Beijing so it still feels like everything is priced in Canadian currency.
Facebook, blogger, and youtube seem to be blocked. Some tough deductive reasoning would lead one to the conclusion that I did not publish this post in China.
China must be a very safe place, if safety in numbers is anything to go by.
The sixtieth anniversary of the forming of the People's Republic of China (right, you advanced super- intelligent-absolutely-accurate intellectuals?) is coming up, and it seems to be pretty serious. Though I really don't see why it should be more serious than the fifty-ninth of the fourty-second anniversaries, it doesn't really matter. Though something of this seriousness probably happens every year in China anyways. The number of movies made portraying the glorious days of the resistance, the revolution, and what not would almost make you think if China single-handedly defeated the Japanese.
Traffic Law Number 1: whoever gets there first has the right-of-way. This applies to pedestrians and cars alike. Of course, having the right-of-way doesn't really mean anything.
"AC" on an electrical applicance has a greater chance of meaning "air conditioning" than "alternating current".
English translations of signs range from the mistaken "No tourist admittance" when it's supposed to mean "Don't jump into the fountain" to the elaborate "Behold, such lush, fragrant grasses; how cruelly hardhearted it is to trample such!" instead of "Don't step on the grass".
I found Blogger, Facebook, and Youtube to be blocked in Chi- I mean, the People's Republic of China. Some tough deductive reasoning would lead one to the conclusion that this post was not published in the People's Republic of China.
Prokofiev, unfortunately, is not very popular in the People's Republic of China. Well at least it doesn't appear to be, seeing how his piano sonatas are no longer published (a fact that I discovered upon taking a one-hour walk to some major conservatory to demand some of the said sonatas), and the only Prokofiev score I found in the whole duration of my vacation was one of his four etudes; great etudes, I admit, but Prokofiev did write better things. Incidentally, there was a prepondernace of Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff in one of the stores, which was really quite interesting.
The Yellow River is a sight to behold: the torrents of muddy, yellow water stirring up massive amounts of silt, eroding the soil...it's beautiful. And if you think otherwise you're just a silly foreigner with no understanding of Chinese culture.
The top floor of a tewnty-story building doesn't offer much of a view in Beijing as it is obstructed by the tall buildings. Even less so in Shanghai. By the way, the river that flows through Shanghai is also beautiful. So are the construction cranes and half-completed buildings that obstruct the
view of twenty-story buildings.
All aspects of the People's Republicblargh can be described by either "good" or "developing".
China's a great place.
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