Well, what to say, what to say? How does one go about summing up six and a half weeks of experiencing a completely different country using nothing but black dots contrasted with white? All the new learnings, experiences, friendships and emotions are sometimes too challenging to put into mere language. 

 

I came on this trip expecting to be able to return and answer simple questions such as “What did you learn”?, “What was the best moment”? and “How have you changed”?. These questions have too many answers to be simply written down on the way back from my journey, whilst I am sure that many are still to be discovered. All I know is that this trip has changed me in a fundamental way, which as of yet, I cannot quite put my finger on. 

 

40 fellows left the UK on July 20^th, excited, positive and completely unsure of what to expect. During this process we have learnt so much about something so completely alien to us. We have experienced the might of the Chinese Civilisation through the Great Wall and various other places, tasted a range of typical Chinese cuisines, lived with Chinese counterparts, experienced international businesses operating within China, visited the Expo, explored cities, climbed mountains, lived in rural villages, visited diplomatic embassies, studied Chinese and produced final pieces. 

 

But above all, we have learnt about people, Chinese and English. People are not simple organisms we can put into boxes but vastly complicated beings with varying motivations, dreams, upbringings and desires. People are not simple, and so far, sitting in Dubai International Airport, I feel that learning about people has been one of the most important aspects of this trip.

After being in a highly corporate environment for two weeks, I decided that this weekend would be one of exploration, freedom and discovery. Following our Chinese painting class on Saturday morning I went exploring. I decided to go to a new High Technology park in the suburbs of Shanghai. Although it was still fairly close to the centre of Shanghai, as soon as I exited the tube station, I thought that I was in a different city, even a different country. There was next to no traffic, there were perfectly maintained roads with lush green lawns and trees planted on either side. High tech trams glided along the roads and consistently expensive European cars were parked perfectly in designated areas. It was a so completely different to the area where I had entered the metro station back in Dapaqiao (near our hotel), it was almost like a time warp twenty years into the future. It goes without saying that this area was for the fortunate Chinese who managed to get a good university degree and find a professional job, working for Lenovo, IBM or Microsoft. Surprisingly, I didn’t see a single westerner in the whole area during my two hour stay. This was a breath of fresh air, fewer westerners being flown in to work in China is a generally positive thing. Following this, Jordan and I went to the Bund to video from daylight to night time, which resulted in some superb video footage. Following that, I preceded to my bed, ready for a long day in Nanjing.

 

Sunday had to be the best day in Shanghai so far, although ironically it was spent visiting Nanjing. Taking the “Gao-Tie”, the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese Bullet Train was a new experience, and a fantastic one of that. It made me embarrassed of England’s fairly lackadaisical rail infrastructure. China is a country which is supposedly still in a early-mid stage of economic development whilst the UK is very mature, yet, trains which connect cities 300 km from each other in 70 minutes put the UK to shame. On the other hand, while it is a testimony to China, it is also noteworthy that the UK’s public transport is very outdated for a country of it’s level of wealth. Comparing transport systems in Germany and China may be more interesting. Arriving in Nanjing we went to a Gate on the city wall, ventured to the Memorial for the Japanese Massacre, which shocked us all. On the one hand, the postulation that 300,000 innocent Chinese lost their lives in obviously a dire one. On the other hand, the manner in which some of the information was presented and the illogical jumps from blaming the Japanese army to blaming the Japanese people felt disconcerting. Whether this was the Chinese propaganda machine at it’s worst, a heartfelt representation of what happened or somewhere in between, it was definitely food for thought. I highly recommend it to anyone going to Nanjing. Following that, we went to the Purple mountain, viewed Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum and the Lingpu Pagoda, both of which were absolutely stunning, whilst fairly striking when viewed with the backdrop of the city in background. Before we left, we had an hour long conversation in Mandarin with a family who owned a restaurant in Nanjing, which was a fantastic learning experience. The generosity and warm heartedness of the Chinese people is something I will always keep in mind. 

 

Another highlight of the day would be the bus driver who parked a behemoth-esque, brand new bus on the side of a very busy road with no-one inside, crossed the road with us and found us a new bus to take to the Nanjing gate, waited until the particular bus came, told the driver to take us to the right place and then ran back across the road to the abandoned bus. There are many obvious connotations to this friendliness. What we reflected on was whether this would ever happen in the UK, or any other country we had visited for that matter. The answer would probably be ‘yes’, but the consistency of friendliness to foreigners has really touched me.

 

This evening, I have moved in with the Chinese family! I was taken to one of the most famous (and probably expensive) restaurants in Shanghai and was introduced to many of the family friends. I was compelled by their inquisitiveness and wanting to know as much as possible about my life, I have never had to think so much about myself ever before! Finishing dinner, we proceeded to their apartment. I am humbled by how much they are giving without expecting anything in return, the Mum told me off for saying ‘thank you’ too much! I have been given my own room, even though space is an incredibly precious commodity in Shanghai. The house is absolutely spotless and I feel like a true guest. My homestay partner ‘Genius’ is very interesting and positively different to any other Chinese youth I have met before. In fact, given my expectations, I have been pleasantly surprised by the degree of individualism within China. I am going to bed now, as tomorrow we go to the Shanghai Expo, which hopefully will live up to the ostentatious expectations the city has advertised. Wan an, good night!

Well, over three weeks have passed in China, two in Beijing and one in Shanghai and I suppose one would expect me to say that I have a fairly comprehensive overview of China. I have learned so much, but ironically enough, I have learned that there is so much more that I have to learn than I previously thought. 

 

My impression from many reputable UK newspapers and journals was that China was a fairly simple country to understand, one statement I saw was that there were two main groups of people to understand: city dwelling capitalists and rural inhabitants. One important thing I have learnt is that China is nowhere near as black and white as many of us in the West would like to think it is. It is by far the most difficult country to understand which I have travelled to. As soon as I begin to think that I am understanding a trend or a certain group of people, something comes up which prevents me from being able to generalise about even the most mundane subject. Perhaps this is a valuable lesson for the future. I think that for some particular reason, I associated a single, communist Government with the majority of the people being similar. 

 

Last Friday, an employee of KPMG, another fellow and I went to the Bund, which was absolutely breathtaking with the sun setting and the bright lights of the city turning on. On one side of the river were situated the old, colonial buildings and many of the first banks in Shanghai, whilst on the other were the very modern, western buildings. One noteworthy comment would be that although the two sides varied in age, they were still both western. It is is interesting to ask oneself whether China’s new development will have a distinct ‘China-esque’ feel to it or whether it will be strictly western. 

 

Earlier today, a few of the fellows and I visited Shanghai museum, which was superb. It featured a grand showcase of China’s civilisation. One of the most interesting things I found out was that the Chinese starting using paper money notes around 1400 years ago! I believe that in Europe, paper notes originated from bonds, which were created with the establishing of the Bank of England in 1694, around 300 years ago, yet in the West we tend to boast about our ingenuity and creativity regarding financial tools! It will be interesting to see how competitive the Chinese financial sector will be once the stock market liberalises more (in Shanghai, 86% Government Controlled) and trade volume increases, maybe Shanghai will become the equivalent of Wall Street in 10 years time.

 

I also have my Chinese home stay organised, I am staying with a student called Genius. He is fantastic, he has a great appetite for adventure, culture, economics, politics, maths and physics! He is one of the many 17 year old Chinese students who are taking extra classes during their Summer holidays to ensure that he gets into one of the country’s best universities. It will be great to meet his family, see their attitudes to education, China’s growth, government and many more things! What is certain is that I am going to be learning a lot. 

 

Over a week has passed, and I am having a brilliant time, I am tired but eager, ready to penetrate the surface of China. It will be difficult, it will be tiring but it will also be educational, emotional and extremely satisfying!

 

Zaijian

A week has passed since we have arrived in Shanghai and I can honestly say that the city and people I have met so far have blown my expectations. 

 

The majority of my time has been spent working at KPMG, where I have met a great variety of people. The one common theme I have noted from the successful, driven workers is that they have an incredibly wide knowledge about society, economics and politics. It was fairly surprising to be talking to the head of Tax in Central China about the evolution of Chinese society and philosophy, my incorrect assumption was that the majority of accountants would be very straight thinking, technically excellent, but not necessarily as well versed in so many disciplines. This was reflected in all the professional people I met as well as the secretaries, who proved even more knowledgeable than many of the accountants. I am curious to know whether this is a trend within Chinese society, an interest for discussion and debate on serious topics, or whether this is exclusively for the Chinese educated class.

 

I feel that I should also comment on the city of Shanghai itself. It has taken some adjustment after an incredibly moving and memorable experience in Beijing, a more traditional, laid back type of city. Last night I decided to go on a long run along the main road and some back streets, looking for remnants of traditional China, but to no avail. It feels like the city has been consumed by a coherent trend, capitalism. I feel like I could be in central Tokyo or New York. Obviously this isn’t typical of China, but I do ask myself to what extent Chinese people are happy with this type of development, whether this development mainly benefits foreign multinationals and the fortunate educated Chinese class. In addition, the energy consumption in Shanghai per capita must be comparable to that of a typical Western city, perhaps even higher. I feel that Shanghai is the pinnacle of what the capitalist side of China aspires to. I am finding it very difficult to find ‘old Shanghai’ in modern Shanghai. I hope to be successful in this hunt, I would love to contrast this to the modern city of skyscrapers, dreams and energy. 

 

Working at KPMG has been fantastic, I have been really impressed with the employees there, I think they all have some kind of drive to help Chinese society, in contrast to the money making driven employees I naively expected. It’s almost as if the workers in the city don’t suit their external environment. 

 

To sum it up, it has been a highly revealing week in Shanghai, allowing me to explore the new face of China. Is it in the next three weeks where I hope to break the fairly impenetrable surface and delve within.

On the first day, we visited a local state school, which appeared better equipped than the best British Schools and had a fantastic layout. We met our Chinese counterparts who will we be staying with, which for me was incredibly interesting, again, my expectations about these students was completely wrong! After having experienced Beijing and its university students, I was anticipating extremely hard working and academic students who were completely informed about politics, economics, mathematics, languages and the whole array of arts which many students in Beijing seemed so passionate about. In lieu of this, for the most part, many of the students seemed a lot more interested in sport and contrasts between our two cultures rather than issues directly within China itself. Surprisingly, with several Chinese students, I felt as if I were talking to my English peers in Chinese, as they all seemed so westernised (ironically enough more westernised than we are) and interested in Western culture. I did find a few with whom I could discuss some controversial issues, but they didn’t seem to fit the stereotypical 16 hour working day students that I expected, even after visiting Beijing. It will be interesting when we stay with them to find out what social-economic groups they are from and how this affects their interests and ambitions. Going out in the evening, I was exposed to the city by foot for the first time, the sheer energy consumption of the city shocked me, especially the number of cars on the road and the never ending lines of sky scrapers brightly lit up, proud and tall.

 

The second full day has passed within Shanghai, based on a team of a mixture of Chinese and English students exploring Shanghai based on a certain theme; our team’s theme was the environment. We began by exploring a local park and wildlife reserve. Beautiful as it was, with lofty sky scrapers in the background, it slightly felt more like a band aid to a bullet wound than a fully blown conservation project. We then proceeded to lunch, whilst visiting a few environmental sites on the way. The most interesting part had to be the urban planning area which discussed Shanghai’s urban development over the past 150 years. Surprisingly, westernisation began a lot earlier than I expected within Shanghai, as early as 1833 in fact. One of the most intriguing themes was the idea that Shanghai was a green city, that it was a world leader. Although I do not believe this for a moment, the amount of resources the local Government had invested in green urban projects was really impressive for a developing country; I get the feeling that China is beginning to realise that one of the biggest threats to it is itself: its degradation of its environment could end up being extremely costly in the long term. Interesting statistic: since 1980 Shanghai average incomes have increased several times, whilst Green GDP has stayed constant.

 

Tomorrow morning, work placements begin! I am very excited and cannot wait to learn more about how multinationals work in China. My preconceptions are that multinational corporations will have hammered in the values and working styles, allowing only for very small local differences. Working with KPMG will be fascinating, especially since I believe that have some contact with state enterprises, such as auditing and financial advisory roles. Equally, I am interested whether KPMG has any hiring issues, as I have heard from several people in China that there is a lack of top talent; how KPMG supplement this I will be interested. I am also intrigued as to whether KPMG monitors social and political changes such as whether it monitors how likely China will be likely to be a democracy in the distant future and how this will affect them and the general business environment. Finally, I really want to meet Chinese people who have been successful and have been employed by a large multinational. I want to learn about these people and understand them as well I can, if any of us in the West want to be competitive in the future we need to see how our partners/competitors work!

I feel that my knowledge of China is growing exponentially, each day adds significantly more than the last to my knowledge of China. The last few days of Mandarin classes have been fantastic, with local people finally being able to understand a few of the more complicated sentences I put forward to them, which is very satisfying. 

 

I have also learnt the importance of the tones, which at first sound fairly similar, whilst after a while they begin to make sense. In addition, many words in the Chinese language called measured words such as: a ‘bottle’ of water and a ‘cup’ of tea have deep rooted origins in Chinese culture. Talking to a Chinese gentleman on the plane today, he told me how the measure word before ‘ren’ (literally people) when referring to family members is ‘kou’, meaning ‘mouth’ which came from the fact that Chinese families were historically quite small as food security has traditionally been a large issue in China. We also discussed many emotions and feelings which are held in by the Chinese people regarding political and social freedoms, how China will meet its energy needs in the future, wealth disparities, the property bubble in China and various other topics. It shows how much we can learn from one another if we put ourselves forward. He was also giving me several interesting statistics, such as 50% of all own-able apartments in Shanghai are actually empty, nobody is buying them!

 

It was surprisingly emotional saying goodbye to Juliette, Ariel and Toles, our three superb helpers at Beijing Normal University. I came to China not expecting to meet individuals as fantastic, energetic, positive and helpful as any of these three. They blew my expectations of the water about Chinese people, (along with many others!) and have contributed towards my affection for the Chinese. 

 

Getting off the plane in Shanghai felt like any other city; a bright, unblemished airport. However, getting on the coach and driving to the motel was a moving experience. Dotted around us everywhere were skyscrapers fading all the way into the horizon, flashing lights on them giving the city a hugely energetic feel, whilst it also made me reflect heavily on whether the Chinese are truly proud of this city. I have only been here several hours so it is far too early to make any concrete statements, but it appears that Beijing, architecturally has retained its former glory whilst Shanghai has built upon it. The skyline was breathtaking, in positive and negative ways. Another interesting observation was that there were various western style houses littered around Shanghai, as well as gated communities with mansions within. I will be intrigued to see what tomorrow will bring.

 

It is apparent that the 4 week stay in Shanghai will be incredible, albeit very different to Beijing. I feel that Beijing has a place in my heart as it was the first part of China for me to experience and the city was full of contradictions, hopes, challenges, beauty and positive energy. I truly hope that Shanghai will build upon my experiences so far and show me 

a part of China, the new 21^st century Chinese culture which was not present in Beijing. I feel so privileged and so fortunate to be in this thriving city, I will try to draw as much from it as I possibly can. I feel that I will be put out of my comfort zone significantly more in Shanghai, which I cannot wait to happen. I think that we will also witness a greater clash between western and Chinese cultures within this city, I truly cannot wait.

The past few days have been as busy, if not busier than those preceding them. The mandarin classes have been fairly intense and we have all been going out on various excursions.

Yesterday morning, we left for a rural village called Humen village, around 70 kilometres away from our hotel in Beijing. I was expecting this village to have little or no infrastructure and for visitors to only come once in a blue moon. This was not the case!

The roads all the way up to the village bar one or two short crossovers were in pristine condition, it resembled France or Germany more than a developing country, although there we did pass an overturned truck and experienced a ridiculously agonising traffic jam. 

Upon arriving in the village, I noticed several things. Firstly, there were electricity wires, perfect roads and luxury cars parked in admittedly modest housing. The local townspeople looked less surprised and were less curious about us than many people we encountered in Beijing. I was fascinated by this and so decided to investigate! It turns out that this is a tourist village, which due to its proximity to Beijing has turned out to be fairly wealthy. Lots of the infrastructure would put British towns to shame such as street lamps powered by stored electricity generated by solar panels and solar heaters on almost every house. On the other hand, there were donkeys near the road, no western toilets and no showers (to our knowledge!). This town I felt, is analogous to the change happening in China, lots of aspects have been quickly updated and modernised, whilst traditional values and attitudes rule in several quarters.

After eating a delicious lunch derived from home grown food, we all proceeded to climbing a mountain which translated as "middle peak". At the bottom of the mountain, there were striking towers, built in 1429, which really further engrained my awe with the previous power of the Chinese Empire and just how strong its emergence will be.

Earlier today, another fellow and I managed to order food at a restaurant with very few problems. We were very pleased with ourselves, even gaining a few silent nods of approval from surrounding Chinese customers.

I cannot believe that this is our 11th day in China, it has gone incredibly quickly. Reading about China, or any other country for that matter, is not enough. One has to be with the people, talk to them, ask difficult questions and share memories before one can even begin to understand a country, especially one as diverse and large as China! I have decided that I will certainly return here on my Gap Year and travel to the South, the mainland and the North as to have an even more rounded experience. I am taking the afternoon off on this beautiful and clear day in Beijing to go for a run, to play table tennis with a Chinese student whose name Sunshanquan translates to "Bob, to some photography in Beijing and then to work on my Final Project and some Mandarin!

If you have any comments or questions about my time here, please free to contact me!

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Sitting in my room, learning Mandarin on a rainy Beijing evening, I have a fantastic view of the city, with all it's idiosyncrasies, quirks and energy being increasingly absorbed by myself each day. Yesterday, we attended a lecture on the social development within China starting in 1945 with the Civil War up to what is currently happening right now. This was one of the best lectures/classes I have ever attended, the lecturer was Chinese but he had just moved back from the US, after having lived there for 8 years. So many things grabbed my attention in this speech, so I shall only summarise a few of them. The lecturer has shown a side to China which I feel is not portrayed by the Western media. Before coming to China, although I try to read non-mainstream news, I still had the impression that the people were repressed and that they were not aware of the pros and cons of their own 'Communist, non-elected Government". After having talked to several students, I am aware that there is an educated class which is fully aware of the condition of their political and economic system. Two things in particular have surprised me when talking to Chinese students and lecturers at Beijing Normal University. First is the degree of independent thought they have, they do not seem to be indoctrinated or irrationally biased or even scared of talking the truth. Second is the quality of argument they put forward, acknowledging the drawbacks to a non-electable Government but also the many advantages. Briefly, here are some interesting advantages of the current Government which I have heard and thought about recently, which I think are worth mentioning. Advantages: The Chinese Government has not been voted in by the people, therefore it recognises that it is not fully legitimate, thus it works harder for the people to satisfy them than an elected Government would. There is a time and place for Communism and Authoritarianism. China had suffered 100 years of 'humiliation' up to 1949 and deserved better. However, since the country is so large with so many people, hard decisions had to be taken. It is arguable that a democratic approach would not have allowed such a coherent economic plan which Deng put through in 1978. Without Communism and the earlier development of a state funded infrastructure, the country may be freer to pursue the path which is in its own best interests, not that of multinationals and the elite ruling class. Overall however, what China has taught me so far is that there is no objectively ideal form on Government, from time to time Government type should change. In the long term, perhaps a democracy is the most desirable, when the populace is more educated and better at making informed decisions. Even then, China has spawned reasonable doubts in my mind about the long term viability of a democracy. In addition, China's political/economic model is fascinating, it's as if it takes a leaf from all philosophies, which I would hold is the best form of governance. Surely certain parts of the economy and society fare better where individuals can make their own decisions and markets are more liberalised, and others where economic agents cannot reasonably assess long term risk and benefits, the Government should step in to provide. I believe that this is what the Chinese Government is doing. Pragmatism over ideology. Another interesting Chinese institution I have recently learnt of is unofficially called the Web Police, an organisation which is paid to post messages online and to catch out those who are spreading discontent about the Chinese Government. It is worth asking oneself, with the increasing numbers of Chinese people becoming educated, will China transition from a dictatorship to a democracy or will it continue on its current path? I believe that the Chinese Government has been making the right decisions in the past few decades, although like all Governments, not without its mishaps. China's political future will be a fascinating one to watch, one which will have profound connotations for the rest of the world. The past week, our days have been structured around Tai Chi and Kung Fu at 7.00 am, followed by Mandarin from 8.20 to 11.50, lunch, then a whole plethora of activities including Calligraphy, Chinese Kung Fu shows, visiting markets, photography, lectures on the economy and social development and visiting the British Embassy. Thank you to everyone in the UK and elsewhere for reading my blog, I hope that it is providing you with interesting insights on not solely what I am doing, but my reflections and what I am learning. A whole hearted thank you to the British Council and the Global Fellowship Team, you have made this trip unforgettable. I already cannot wait to return to the UK and share all that I have learnt!

Since I am fascinated in energy and oil consumption, I decided I would embark upon some research on the topic, set contextually within China. Ariel, one of our helpers was kind enough to provide me with the names of the three biggest oil companies within China: Sinopec - World's 7th largest company by revenue China National Petroleum Corporation - World's 10th largest company by revenue China National Offshore Oil Corporation China consumes around 8.2 million barrels of oil per day, whereas the US is around 19 million, yet the population of China is 4.8 times that of the US, meaning the Americans use about 10 times as much as oil per person than the Chinese. China's oil concentration ratio is around 1.5 times higher than that of the US (oil energy used to generate a unit of GDP at non-PPP), which slightly concerns me about China's future economy. With peak oil approaching and higher transport prices, it is possible that if China makes the same mistake than the US has done in terms of reliance on oil, its economy may not provide the living standards which many Chinese want and deserve. This is probably one of the most positive aspects of China's authoritarian Government, the ability to quickly pass through laws and legislation, although obviously not without drawbacks, could be very useful regarding energy consumption. Visiting Peking University this evening with some other fellows was also fantastic, in the taxi we learnt from the driver that there are 4.4 million cars in Beijing, 140,000 of these being taxis, with 280,000 taxi drivers (they take shifts). It is fascinating that China is investing in parts of Africa for natural resources such as ores, minerals and hydrocarbons in places where the Western countries haven't even touched (although they may soon). Well, one can read as many statistics as possible, but being in Beijing gives one a feel of the sheer size and hunger of China, the determination of its people to create a better future for themselves and also hits home how privileged all the Global Fellows are to have grown up in a developed country with an opportunity to go university to study a subject which appeals to us. The more I explore Beijing, the more I am thrown by the cultural identity of China. Modern skyscrapers have Pagoda style roofs, the Government is 'communist' but the economy is over 90% market led, men in suits sit in downtown alleys eating traditional noodles and you can buy Coca Cola inside Tiananmen Square. Equally, earlier today after Tai-Chi, Mandarin Class and Calligraphy, we stumbled into a games arcade, which looked more like downtown Tokyo than central Beijing. It also had a sign which stated "No photography, no video, no pornography, no gambling and no smoking" (Would attach a picture but probably not appropriate). This is fascinating to me, I suppose that some would say that some Chinese people don't want outsiders to see them in such Westernised environments, I am sure there are many other explanations as well. There were also many desolate luxury shopping malls, filled with beautiful Chinese women attempting to sell vastly overpriced Western brands. I am only starting to begin to understand the amount that I don't understand about China. This is a huge and vastly complicated country, one which is hard for foreigners to understand. I appreciate now that I will not leave this place with a comprehensive understanding, at least not that of an insider. I am however, doing as much as I can to understand the people, their way of life, as this century, without China onboard, our race will be in a significantly less favourable situation. The West needs China as much as China needs the West.

Well, the last two days have been fairly tumultuous, I feel that I have been learning so much about China. Here are my experiences and reflections:

 

Yesterday, Saturday June 24^th, we visited the Great Wall of China. As one would expect, absolutely breathtaking. The fact that over 2500 years ago, the Chinese civilisation constructed a huge, technically complicated wall, spanning over 6000 kilometres is a testimony to the ingeniousness, diligence and determination of the Chinese people. For me, it was but a stark reminder of the global power China has almost always been in the past 5000 years, that the Dragon has been sleeping for the past 200 years and is ready to roar again.

 

I also found it slightly ironic being on the Great Wall. Here we are, 2500 years down the line, walking on one of the seven great wonders of the world, yet for some reason, even in the 21^st century we cannot seem to grasp the idea of a two-way walking system, creating ridiculously large queues on the bottom/middle section of the wall and slowing everybody down! 

 

Following this, we visited the Olympic Stadium which was a sign of China’s re-emergence and determination to show the world that it has returned. It goes without saying that it was mind blowing, yet equally surprising was the feel of the whole surrounding area, with luxury hotels surrounding it as well as high rise skyscrapers in all shapes and sizes.

 

Sunday, June 25^th was equally, if not more sensational. We visited Tiananmen Square, which really re-affirmed what I had learnt the previous day. Beautifully designed and upheld palaces and wide open squares, it is a wonder that the Chinese civilisation declined the way it did in the 16^th century. Equally, it was vivid reminder of the resourcefulness of the Chinese. It was interesting to be in a location which is so controversial for China, I am curious to know whether the Chinese tourists (probably making up about 99% of all 150,000 daily visitors) knew anything about the controversies surrounding the square. Trying several times myself, Tiananmen Square is blocked on the Chinese interest. I am intrigued, yet slightly concerned about whether this censorship will be China’s Achilles Heel as it truly starts to dominate our civilisation this decade.

 

After a lot of traffic and tired legs, another Fellow and I decided to go to the Silk Market in central Beijing. We decided to take the tube, which is 2 Yuan (£0.2) per journey, which is fantastic, the trains truly put London’s system to shame, they were so smooth, punctual, practical and technologically astounding. When we reached the Silk Market, the number of Westerners must have increased by a factor of 100. On the underground, we only saw one other foreigner, hence all the curious looks from the Chinese passengers! We went on the ground floor, looking for a pair of shorts. I decided that I needed another pair of shorts (I am not a mass consumer, I only have two pairs of shorts!), so went to a neat looking store. I must admit that this was probably the funniest experience I have had in a very long time! The lady offered 600 Yuan for a pair of shorts, the westerner on the metro told us to offer about 5%, so I went in at 30 Yuan! She asked me if I was crazy and offered 200 Yuan, I started to walk away and she then offered 100. 80. 60. 50. 40. I stuck at 30, but she didn’t do it, so I walked away. She was then screaming prices at us as we left! Similar experiences occurred with other products.

 

The most enjoyable and inspiring part of this excursion however was viewing the skyscrapers and different building with Beijing centre. They were truly magnificent, like towering giants over irrelevant and powerless human beings. We saw Chinese businessmen in Western apparel and lots of more expensive cars, the sign of growing prosperity. What truly concerns me is how our planet is going to cope with 1.4 billion people aspiring to lead lifestyles such as our own. There is nothing wrong with this, why should the West get to lead resource draining lifestyles whilst the developing countries don’t? I have just realised the scale of the responsibility Governments in the West have, to lead the way in sustainable technologies and development, whilst subsidising green technologies in developing countries. If we do not change our ways and help others less fortunate than ourselves to do so, we only ourselves to blame. Now is the time to inspire, encourage and help China, India, Brazil, Russia, South America and South Africa to develop in sustainable ways, if we do not, we do not deserve the power and fortune bestowed upon us.

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