Life and Travel in China

The Chinese authorities are excellent at prevention and counteracting terrorist attacks. Luggage is scanned at every bus or train station. Now, during the Chinese New Year, the controls are even more stringent. Even when entering the subway in Shanghai, your luggage is scanned, and any larger packages must be shown to the police. Maybe it's annoying, but it doesn't bother me at all. This is certainly better reasoning than the solutions used in the USA. It was only after the fact that the services became interested in the safety and control of passengers and packages... It is worth mentioning that now there are soldiers at all major railway and bus stations. Privates keep order and help people lost in the crowd. While at the train station in Hangzhou, I was shocked by the number of passengers (still 2 weeks until the Chinese holiday). There were about 30 ticket counters open at the station and each had a queue of 10-15 people. There is a soldier between each turn, and there are also policemen in the station hall. You can feel safer! Of course, someone else may feel the pressure of the communist state, the police state, but it doesn't bother me, not at this time and not in this aspect.

February 14 will mark the beginning of the Year of the Tiger in China. Most companies have holidays this week, until February 20-22. All bus stations and railway stations are besieged with crowds of travelers. Chinese railways run thousands of additional trains. People who migrate from large cities where they work return to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year within 10-20 days. Traditional dinners, vigil, card game, snacks, fireworks. This is one of the largest migrations in the world, and it all takes place within a few days. Train tickets are purchased several months in advance, flights are two or even three times more expensive (although all tickets are sold out), buses are overcrowded, and some people even travel by boat or ferry. On a global scale, this is an incredible movement of such a mass of people. Of course, I have already documented it in photos, which I will try to add tomorrow. The night of February 13-14 will resemble our Christmas Eve, the trains will be empty, because everyone will sit down to a gala dinner!

Crowds of people in stores and hypermarkets! Last day to shop before Chinese New Year. Tomorrow there will be a big cooking and gala dinner. The next days were similar, lunches, dinners, meetings with family and friends, visiting others. The last moments before the most important holiday in the Middle Kingdom.

I was reading such interesting facts about the Middle Ages in Europe and came to the conclusion that in many aspects the Middle Ages are still going on in China. In the Middle Ages, babies did not wear clothes, in China they are often naked, or have the famous opening (without diapers) to do their business at any time. Recently, a woman even took such a child up and let him pee on a bucket - this happened in the hospital (as if there were no toilets there). I saw the same thing at the metro station, why go to the toilet when there is a garbage bin?! In the Middle Ages, beggars broke children's arms and legs, in China they still do it today, and several dozen years ago it was a standard procedure. The more deformed a person is, the more sympathy he should arouse and thus bring more profit from alms. In the Middle Ages, the most important thing was to survive the day, to eat, warm, sleep... such basic physiological needs. To this day, the most important thing for a Chinese person is lunch and dinner, and after dinner they can sleep well - even in the square, on the sidewalk, or on a park bench. In the Middle Ages, women were always condemned for witchcraft, betrayal, pregnancy... In China it is similar, unwanted pregnancy is a woman's problem, cheating on a woman is unacceptable, but a man can go to karaoke, get a massage and keep mistresses. In the Middle Ages, God was the most important thing, everything was subordinated to religion. In China, God or Buddha does not play such a role, but Chairman Mao is still a god. In the 20th century, everything was subordinated to communism and the party. In the Middle Ages, knowledge was even forbidden, until recently there were many illiterate people in China, and people still have a limited understanding of the world, mainly due to censorship of the media, books and films. It seems that I am simply observing and experiencing the Middle Ages of the 21st century!

Preparations for Expo 2010 are underway in Shanghai. Recently, I have been able to observe the changes firsthand. Near YuYuan (Huangpu), old tenement houses were demolished (I presented photos of these buildings) and new buildings in a similar style were built in the same place. In Pudong, new office buildings, roads and pedestrian bridges are being built near the tallest skyscrapers. There were also quite unusual buildings in the neoclassical style. They are currently renovating the Jade Buddha Temple (YuFo Si). A new bus station and a huge construction site are being built. The promenade has also been rebuilt and work is still ongoing on the main street, Zhongshan Lu (WaiTan). There is little time left, so the work continues day and night. I remember when my hometown of Wroc