China 中國

About a month ago I decided that I would visit China for the first time. I have many reasons for wanting to go, not the least of which is that life is short and getting shorter. I have always been impressed by many aspects of Chinese culture, especially their art and history. Also my experience with Chinese people (along with the Japanese) is that they are some of the most gracious and hospitable of all.

This blog will just gloss over the myriad things flying through my head. I will discuss them more in detail in later blogs. It is March. My experience with traveling is that I have usually bought my plane ticket by this time, but at this very moment I am not positive that I will really go. Plane fares seem reasonable- from $1000 to $1500 round trip to Beijing. But then there is the Visa application. Only $75, but it appears to need an invitation from someone in China, or a detailed list of places that I will visit and where I will stay. It was the same when I went to Russia, and I used an agent, and I found that very convenient. Here an agent will cost me about $200. I still have to sort that out.

I have a standard tourist agenda of places and sites to visit in a three week period. Beijing, Xi’an, Nanjing and Singapore. Beijing and Singapore are obvious- the number of historical sites is enormous. I love cities, and I am excited by the thought of walking the street. Xi’an is another no- brainer. It is an 11 hour train ride from Beijing- a historic city. It is the capital city of 13 Chinese Dynasties:  the Qin (221 BC – 207 BC), Han (206 BC – 220 AD), Sui (581 AD – 618 AD) and Tang (618AD – 908AD) Dynasties. but most of all the archeological site of the Chinese Warriors- thousands of terra cota warriors individually carved.  Nanjing is close to Singapore. When I was a high school teacher, one of my most impressive students came from Nanjing. Now I just have to find her information.

The language is the third thing that I have been tackling. As a friend of mine remarked, there is no Chinese language. Actually there are several, but Mandarin is both the language of the north and the language of the majority. I had actually spent three years studying Russian to prepare for my trip to Russian, and here I am only giving myself a few months to learn Chinese.  I must say that I am really enjoying it. Chinese, as well as many Asian languages, are tonal. I call it the music of the language and getting the tone right is critical to be understood. I am using many YouTube videos. My goals are modest, I think. I want to be able to introduce myself, order a meal, haggle a price for an item at the market and generally know enough not to come off as an ugly American.