CHINA - 2002

A Trip to China - August 2002

We were away for three weeks, initially we spent a few days in Hong Kong, to visit Mai Po marshes in the New Territories, right up against the Mainland China border.

We met up with John Disney on August 1st in Sydney and stayed the night at a simple motel, the Airport International Motel. Next morning we flew to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, this proved to be a very good flight. We were unsure how to make our way to Mai Po so took a cab into Kowloon to the Kowloon Hotel where we would be staying on our return from the marshes. They arranged a taxi for us to get to Mai Po.

We stayed in a hostel, called the Peter Scott Centre, part of the Hong Kong World Wide Fund for Nature. It was a simple set up with a large room with four beds, the three of us were in the same room, the bathrooms were across the corridor. A woman came in to look after us and cook for us. The menu was an interesting mix of Chinese food and what she thought western food was so we had egg and bacon for breakfast. We arrived in time for dinner at 6.45pm. We were the only residents.

The reserve, for which we had to obtain two permits, was a short walk from the Peter Scott Centre. Next morning we set off to explore, after checking in with the office we walked through the reserve area. The walking was easy, on concrete paths around the fish ponds, quite a lot of wooden board walks to take one further afield right up to the Mainland border. The weather was hot, sticky and typically tropical. Luckily there was a small van near the fish ponds which sold soft drinks and snacks, although we had been supplied with a packed lunch.

The fish ponds, Gei Weis, originally trapped water via sluice gates from Deep bay, this caught the fish and gai wei shrimps, which were allowed to grow in the ponds. Harvesting was by letting out water at low tide and the animals were caught in nets before they could be washed back into the bay. Nowadays the fish are fed by a protein and vitamin enriched cereal dispensed from stainless steel drums with two revolving arms to distribute the food. The water was also aerated regularly. There had been a collection of waterfowl but that was now defunct, only the notice remained.

We then walked away from the fish ponds out onto the marshes which were very extensive and divided the New Territories and the Mainland, there was a massive fence, with barbed wire and security cameras but the gates were not locked so we walked out on the board walks. These were floating on 44 gallon drums with large numbers of kingfishes flying all around us. There were men on ‘slides’ out on the mud flats picking up something but we could not determine what. There were millions of mud skippers out on the marshes.

It was interesting to see the divide and the restrictions on the local Chinese from moving freely from Hong Kong to mainland China or the reverse as one had assumed that with the return of Hong Kong to China there would be free access but that did not seem to be the case.

We visited the marshes again the next morning before making our way via taxi back to the Kowloon Hotel. This hotel was just behind the big Peninsular hotel. We had a small room but with lots of technology with which we were able to send an email to David.

The next day we took a day trip around Hong Kong island. We visited the Man Mo temple, the Peak where we travelled on the tramway to the top of the mountain. We then were taken to Aberdeen harbour with all its boats, including several floating restaurants, one claiming to be the largest in the world! After visiting a jewellery market we went to the mixed Stanley markets near Repulse Bay. The next day was very wet so we did not do much as we had an afternoon flight to Shanghai.

We flew Dragon Air to Shanghai, a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific and again a very good flight. (We had felt apprehensive about flying on Chinese airlines, during the excursions we flew China Air, but we should not have worried as they were very satisfactory).

We took a taxi to our hotel, a rather unusual one, the Longhua hotel, it was very close to a big and important Buddhist temple and it obviously catered for visitors to the 1000 year old Longhua temple. All of our party were to assemble in the hotel and meet up at 7am the next morning. There were over twenty people in the party, including Betty Gilbert, a friend of Peter’s from Broome, so that was good to meet up with her.

Others included Trudy & Jim Rising (friends of Hugh & Sally Dakin from Canberra) and Ross Lein & Valerie Haines from Canada and Aries & Marianne Spuans from the Netherlands. There were six people from Norway, Eivain & Bent Røskaft, Aud & Arne Moses and Kjetil Bevanger & Rønnaug Ølmstad. Christina Miyiki from Brazil, Mark Hauber, a post-doc from Berkeley, California, Angelica Kahl-Dunkel from Germany, Leif & Christina Nilsson from Sweden and the three of us, John Disney and Peter & Daphne Fullagar, made up the party. There was a local Chinese to act as a bird guide, Xu Jiliang from the College of Life Sciences of Beijing Normal University and Claudia who was our guide to look after us and take in the sights.

Everything on the tour was included, all food supplied so we always ate together, usually in private rooms from the main restaurants. The food was good and they made an effort to allow us to sample different types of food, this was true of both tours.

The next morning after we had all met up we spent the morning visiting a local temple where we were caught in a sharp shower, a number of people bought an umbrella from street sellers, we did not and luckily we never needed it again. After lunch we caught the ferry to Chongming Island, we were all in a First class cabin and the trip took about an hour and a half across the very wide river. We stayed in a hotel just near the ferry terminal on the island. Before dinner Peter and I walked around the local area and attracted lots of well meaning attention. Next morning we looked out of our window which was in the front of the hotel overlooking a park. There were lots of locals taking their morning exercises often accompanied by their pet bird in a cage. As the people walked around, the cages were placed on the nearby bushes.

Chongming East End Nature Reserve for Wetlands and Birds was established in 1998, a total area of 326 square kilometres with a water area of 146 km. Chongming island is in the mouth of the Yangtze river. It caters for migratory shorebirds which breed in Northeast China and Siberia and move along the East Asian-Australian Flyway. Chongming is also an important breeding ground for fish.

The next day we spent all day out on the marshes about an hour and a half’s bus drive away. Obviously at certain seasons they have lots of birds there but it proved a rather disappointing place for birds. We walked around the banks and some people took their shoes off and walked to the water’s edge but without seeing too much.

The next day we caught an early ferry back to the mainland and spent the day in Suzhou, an old city not as prosperous as Shanghai but famous for its silk factories. Marco Polo was Mayor of Suzhou for three years, he lived in China for many years. Amongst other things we had a lengthy tour of the silk factory and saw everything from the silk worms to the finished products. We saw the people working, spinning the silk from single worms in a cocoon to make the thread. Sometimes there were two worms in a cocoon which did not allow the thread to form so they had evolved a way of making a ‘mat’ which they used to make quilts. We actually bought a quilt. We also visited an establishment which demonstrated the traditional tea ceremony.

On return to the Longhua hotel, some of us had a very rushed dinner so that we could take a ferry trip on the river, this was an excellent thing to do but caused a bit of angst among the party as some people did not wish to do this. The river has two distinct banks, one the old part of the city, with older buildings, some of them showing the French influence and the opposite bank with brand new state-of-the-art buildings. It was all flood lit and well worth doing. Everything we saw of Shanghai struck one as a very modern city, all going ahead at a tremendous pace. They are building a monorail which will take you in from the airport to the city, it is not quite finished yet. The airport was certainly very modern with up-to-date technology.

The next morning it was planned to take us on more sight seeing tours but people wanted to see more birds so we were taken to the Botanic Gardens where we spent quite a successful time. In the afternoon we flew to Beijing. Everyone split up to go to their various hotels. We had arranged to stay in the conference hotel, The Beijing Continental Grand Hotel. This proved very comfortable and every day we walked, via a covered corridor, to the conference centre.

On the Sunday many of the conference delegates went on a tour to the Great Wall of China. In fact this amounted to four large bus loads, it was August so there were masses of people – too many in fact! We first visited the Ming tombs, we saw number 13, a massive structure but under these conditions not very impressive. Much of it seemed to be reconstructed and not the original buildings. We had lunch at a vast restaurant catering for tourists, it was attached to an enormous Friendship store with everything for sale. There was a good display on the making of Cloisonné ware. We spent too long there and got very delayed. As you arrive at the Wall, you could walk either way, we chose the left as there seemed fewer people. The charges were interesting, they were: per person 45 yuan, students and old people over 60 years 25 yuan but no charge for a child under 1.2 metres!

The Great Wall starts at the bank of the Yalujiang River, it then runs westward through Shanhai Pass and Jiayu Pass and ends at the foot of the Qilian Mountains. The total length is over 7300 km. Badaling Great Wall, first built in 290 BC, was the outpost resistant line of Juyong Pass and the important defending construction of the Great Wall. The existing Great Wall was rebuilt more than 600 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. Located 60 km to the Northwest of Beijing, the Badaling Great Wall is over 1000 metres above sea level. The height of the wall averages 7.8 metres and the width of the top averages 5.8 metres

As we walked along the Wall we got caught in a dramatic thunder storm which thinned the people out. Every so often along the Wall there were archways with a little shelter but in fact we got soaked. So after a while we made our way down to a coffee shop where we met up with Val & Russ from Calgary and waited for the return bus trip. All this meant we were late back for the Welcome Ceremony and the speeches had already started. We enjoyed the plentiful and good food with remarkably little queuing, all very well organised for about a thousand people.

The next day the conference started and Peter and John spent the day attending the scientific sessions. I had booked to go on a day trip to the Summer Palace. There were only seven of us on a 44 seater coach so we had a very comfortable day with a good guide called Andy. I met up with Vicki Bryant from Stirling, Scotland and a Dutch woman, the three of us arranged to meet on the Wednesday to take a taxi to Tian’anmen Square. Naoko Kikkawa and another Japanese lady; Charles Muller from England and a German woman who had lived in Edinburgh for many years made up the party. We went first to the Summer Palace, which was crowded as we came to expect everywhere to be in China but not too bad. Situated at the foot of Xishan Mountain in Beijing, the Summer Palace, originally called the Garden of Clear Ripples began to be built in 1750 during the 15th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1736-1795). Covering an area of 2.9 million square metres, the palace is chiefly formed by the Longevity Hill and the Kumming Lake. In the Palace there is the Suzhou Street, the Garden of Harmonious Interests and the longest Long Corridor in the world. The Summer Palace has twice been plundered, once by British and French imperialist powers and a second time by the troops of Tsarist Russia.

We walked through the very pleasant gardens, much of the time under the covered and ornate walkway which was about 700 metres in length. We ended up at a bridge with 17 arches, nine plus nine counting the middle one twice as nine is a lucky number, this bridge was a birthday present for one of the Empress’. The bridge is 150 metres in length and is sometimes called ‘the rainbow of the lake’. This Empress Cixi was ruling as her son – Zaichun (Emperor Tongzhi) - was only six years old. She proved to a difficult woman, one of her efforts was to use money intended for the Navy and presumably the upgrade of the fleet. In the event she used the money to built a marble boat which sat in all its glory moored at the jetty at the end of the long walkway. ‘The Boat of Purity & Ease’ although first built in 1855 was rebuilt by Cixi in 1893, it is 36 metres long. As the Emperor became an adult Mother was still in charge and chose a wife who the Emperor did not like and rarely saw so she lived in a different palace. The Emperor tried some ‘reformation’ but this only lasted 100 days when Mother imprisoned the Emperor at the Summer palace in the summer and in the Forbidden City in the winter.

We moved to a Pearl factory with fresh water oysters, although there was a small display it was mostly just a shop to buy pearl products. We had the traditional lunch all served with yellow china. In the afternoon other places we visited were a traditional tea ceremony and a Chinese medicine hospital.

On the Tuesday John, Peter and I went to the Peking Zoo in the middle of the day. We saw the Pandas who had good enclosures, much of the rest of the layout and cages were rather old fashioned. We saw quite a lot of birds particularly ducks and other water fowl and lots of people. We returned in the early afternoon. The Risings, Jim and Trudy, had the idea of going to the Peking Opera so the five of us went there that evening, it was held in the Liyuan Theatre in the Jianguo Hotel at Qianmen, it was quite a distance away, we went in a Minicab and returned in two taxis. It was probably better called a Dance and Acrobatic troupe, complete with sub titles above the stage to tell you the story. We sat at elevated tables and were served tea and nibbles.

On the Wednesday Vicki Bryant (husband David) and I met up (without the Dutch woman), we took a taxi to the Park of the Peoples’ Culture to the Gate of Heavenly Peace, we walked through the gate into Tian’anmen Square which was vast, crowded and filled with stirring music. We had thought of going through the Mao Mausoleum but there was a massive queue so we abandoned that idea. We met up with two young students and I suspect got caught up with a bit of a scam but they were very pleasant, they took us out of the Square towards older Beijing. This took us through the alleys off Qianmen Dajie with lots of shops, eventually we ended up at an Art studio and met the Calligrapher, Zhang Zhiyong, he was planning a trip to Europe with his scrolls. We each bought a scroll. We left the students there and walked back the way we had come, we stopped to have lunch at a café. Vicki wanted to go to an indoor market at Tiantan Lu, we started to walk there but took a taxi, Vicki was interested in the pearls which were on the third floor but we did not buy anything. After looking around the rest of the packed building we took a taxi to the Beihai Lake Park, parts of which were very peaceful and parts were a very busy children’s playground. After a pleasant walk we returned to the conference centre.

That evening after dinner in the hotel restaurant, we often ate in the hotel which served cosmopolitan food and suited John particularly, we left for the mid week excursion. Again lots of people, five bus loads in fact. This was to the Beijing Songshan Mountain Forest Tourist Resort, Zhangshanying Town, Yanqing County on Jundau Mountain about 90 km from Beijing proper, it was set up in 1986. We all stayed at this reserve, it took us a while to get there as the drivers were rather lost so we were late to arrive. The resort was rather run down but adequate for the night. There was some overflow accommodation where John and the Risings stayed, about one kilometre away. Even in this simple establishment we were supplied with hot water in a Thermos, a comb, toothpaste and tooth brushes, this seemed to be a custom in all Chinese hotels. Next morning we all got up at 5am and walked up the hill through some steep rugged countryside but along a good road. The hotel did not provide breakfast but we were given material for the meal which was good, rolls, eggs and water. We saw about thirty birds which was a good number and more than we had seen elsewhere. We eventually returned to the resort for lunch but that was very crowded so we decided against that meal, the trip back to the city was rather quicker as the drivers knew where they were going. After dinner in the hotel we went to a session on the evolution of birds and dinosaurs, there were two presentations with opposing views. There was also a display of dinosaur material recently discovered that we looked at later in the hall with the posters, all very impressive.

On Friday at mid day the three of us visited the Forbidden City, we entered via the South Gate and hired an audio guide. We walked along the centre and through all the pavilions. We ended up at the North Gate where we had coffee and muffins. We also visited the ceramic museum, then walked out into Tian’namen Square, it was now after work and the square was full of people, lots of them flying kites.

The Forbidden City, also called the Palace Museum, is located in the centre of Beijing. It was the imperial palace for both the Ming and Quig dynasties. Twenty four emperors lived there, ruling China for four hundred and ninety one years. The Forbidden City covers an area of 720,000 square metres, with 9,000 rooms, pavilions and chambers. It mainly embodies the superb tradition and unique styles of Chinese ancient architecture. One of the most elaborate pavilions is the Magnificent Hall of Supreme Harmony (or the Hall of the Golden Throne), it is the pavilion with many marble balustrades in the front of it. Scattered throughout the grounds are many statues, particularly lions, often guarding the entrances to the pavilions. Also other bronze statues of birds and other animals like cranes and tortoises. Along the ridgelines of all the roofs there were effigies of animals, they were lightening conductors, there were a wide variety of these animals but the lowest animal was always a chicken.

There are lots of stories about the Emperors who lived in the palaces. It is said that one Emperor had up to 3000 concubines, they were part of a hierarchy, they had to attract the Emperor’s attention which might take up to two years, they tried to do this by bribing the eunuchs. In one of the pavilions there were 27 beds each for a concubine while the Emperor moved from one to another. The rule was that the Emperor could not stay with one concubine for more than two nights. One Emperor died in the palace, perhaps from over indulgence!

The last day of the conference saw Vicki Bryant, Doortje Ebbinge from The Netherlands and I explored the local area, we visited a nearby art gallery, called the Huang Museum, they were exhibiting the work of a Mongolian artist, Huang Zhou (I bought a simple print). We then wandered around the local shopping area and explored the food halls particularly which had an amazing range of food, vegetables, meat and pastries. We bought some cakes and juice and sat outside and had morning tea. That evening was the formal banquet for the congress. It was a sit down affair, with lots of waiters and excellent food. It was a good opportunity to say good bye to everybody.

Early next morning everyone departed their separate ways, we went on the Xi’an excursion with 31 other delegates. These included Ding Chang Qing who was our excellent local guide. There were six Australians, Jiro & Naoko Kikkawa, Richard Schodde and the three of us, John Disney, Peter & Daphne Fullagar. Walter Bock, the President of the Congress and his daughter, Susie from the USA, together with other Americans, Dominique Homberger & husband Ravi Ran, Michael Gochfeld & Joanna Burger, Jan & Gladys Monahan and their son Bill, Ian & Claire Tizard from Texas and Bob Risebrough. The rest of the party comprised Arnold van den Burg from Heteren, The Netherlands, Capo Lucia and Maris Milone from Italy, Adrian and Cheryl Craig from South Africa, Joseph del Hoyo, Dolors Buxo and Jordi Sargatal from Barcelona, Spain and Charles & Mary Muller from the UK. There were also two employees of Swarovskioptik from Austria, Gerold Dobler and Beate Porta.

The plane trip was delayed so that we were late arriving in Xi’an, however, we went straight to the World Heritage museum to see the Terracotta Warriors, obviously set up and supported by a lot of overseas money (We know that Lynn Salmon and others have done lots of work there). Once we were inside the gates it was very good, there was quite a bit of pestering outside the museum. Xi’an is an old city once the capital of the country, more like the ‘real’ China not so modern or advanced as Beijing and Shanghai. Xi’an is part of Shaanxi Province.

As you walked into the museum in the foyer there was a 360 degree AV presentation showing a film reconstructing the probable history of the time when Qin Shi Huang ruled a reunified China and the building of the warriors and horses to be a memorial to him on his death. Qin Shi Hunang was said to have a great fear of death and this may be why he set about providing such an elaborate burial and memorial for himself. Qin’s actual tomb is at Lintong, approximately 1.25 kms west of the burial site of the guardian army.

Since excavations started in 1974, three pits of terracotta warriors and horses have been uncovered, constituting an important part of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum. In the first pit there is the main formation of chariots and infantry, in the second pit is a curved formation of chariots, cavalry and archers and in the third pit there are the commanders of the formations. There are connecting pits which contain a large assortment of bronze weapons. The contents of the pits show the classical oriental art of some 2000 years ago. The terracotta warriors are life size and very dramatic, they are now on the UNESCO protection list of items of the world’s culture and natural heritage. They are popularly considered to be ‘The Eighth Wonder of the World’.

We had dinner together with another IOC tour group, part of the entertainment at dinner was a puppet show, we stayed at the Aviation Administration Hotel, called the Minhang Hotel.

Next day was a very long drive on a winding road over mountains, the road was well paved but the twists and turns made it slow and rather scary at times. Initially there were acres of Maize being grown, small villages with very simple homes but almost all with power and satellite TV, there was much evidence of mobile phones. (Ravi said it was a similar situation in southern rural India). Once over the main mountains it seemed drier and yet there was more rice growing. Often we saw food of various sorts drying in front of the houses. We then had some bus trouble and made our way slowly to the Yangxian Hotel at Hanzhong. En route we had lunch at a temple which had been the home of the ‘hermit scholar’ who had advised the Emperor who had re-united China over 2,000 years ago. There had been several advisers, this particular man was wise enough to ask to leave the court early as many of the other advisers were subsequently killed. After the hermit died the locals built the original temple about 2,000 years ago, the current building being 600 years old from the Ming time. We had an interesting lunch, all vegetarian food and no alcohol (usually one was offered Chinese beer with meals).

One of the main attractions of the tour was to see the Crested Ibis one of the rarest birds in the world rescued by breeding programs and local support which we saw very well at their roost. The next morning Peter, with some others returned to the Ibis site to see them depart for the day. He managed to obtain some good sound recordings. The bus was partially repaired the next day when we returned to the Ibis area where there was a Breeding Centre where we were entertained as honoured guests, we then travelled for a further four hours up to Qinling mountain to the Changqiag Nature reserve where we stayed in a small village in a simple hotel, each room had a quaint bathroom, with a modern tastic heater and only small hand towels. We ate across the road from the accommodation. The next day we walked up to the reserve, a very long walk, we had packed lunches and returned late, we were the last people back, ending the day having a pleasant dinner with Ding, our guide.

The reserve had been chiefly set up for the Giant Panda, we saw one in an enclosure where an animal was recovering from some treatment. It was also the home of other
animals and forest trees including the Metasequoia which was rediscovered in the 1940s.

The next day saw us taken in small buses back to the Ibis area before the fully repaired large bus returned us to Xi’an. It was a clear day and we had a good , but long trip back to Xi’an. On these long trips toilets were often a bit of a problem. That night we had one of our most elaborate banquet dinners.

Back in Xi’an we visited the comprehensive museum, the Museum for History of Shaanxi which serves the whole of Shaanxi Province. Opened in 1992 the extensive material is arranged in chronological order. We then visited the very old Bànpo Bówùguan, the Banpo Neolithic Village. This museum shows the earliest example of Yang-shao culture and was occupied from 4500 BC – 3750 BC. It was discovered in 1953. There is a large hall constructed to protect the ruins of the three areas, a pottery, a residential part and a cemetery. It was said to be a matriarchal society. Last stop was the Big Goose Pagoda, it was built in AD 648 by Emperor GaoZong, the third Emperor of the Tang dynasty. It houses Buddhist scriptures. It has a number of pavilions as well as the Pagoda and some attractive gardens. We watched a Buddhist ceremony in the grounds.

On return to Beijing we stayed at the Guomen Hotel near the airport for our flight home to Australia next afternoon.

One thing we noticed in China was the evidence of the one child policy which was obviously working, possibly that single child was rather spoilt. Comment was made that in a couple of generations time there would be only single isolated people with very few relations, no siblings or cousins, no aunts or uncles and four grandparents with only one grandchild, an interesting thought.

Daphne Fullagar