Initial China Trip
July 1979
Dear Cha-Wel-Dor-Sue,
Pat
and I had a great time in July visiting the People's Republic of
China and were fortunate in getting on a tour that included Canton,
Shanghai, Soochow, Sian, and Peking. Were we to select the cities
ourselves, we wouldn't have changed a single thing!
Canton
is included in virtually all tours to China and is the principle
gateway to China via Hong Kong. Hotel accommodations there are
adequate and have been available previously in order to take care of
the huge influx of businessmen that visit China twice a year in the
spring and fall to attend the Canton "Trade Fair". We stayed at the
Dong Fang Hotel, and it was a very large place. The only deficiency
that it had was that it was not air conditioned! It was the only
hotel on our entire trip that was equipped with only fans. July is
not the time of the year to see China as the latitude of Canton is
that of Miami Beach, and Peking that of Philadelphia. The temperature
during our entire trip ranged from 95 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit!! It
was hot, but the sites and tours were so interesting that the weather
was tolerable. While in Canton, we visited an ancestral temple in
Foshon City and a porcelain and art crafts factory.
Peking
was undoubtedly the high point of the trip as it is the capitol and
certainly offers the most interesting sites, i.e., The Great Wall,
The Imperial Palace (Forbidden City), The Heavenly Temple, The Summer
Palace, Ming Tombs, and the Tien an Amen Square including Mao's
Mausoleum. There are so many other interesting places that remain to
be seen that Pat and I would like to revisit China at our first
opportunity.
Sian
is the site of the remarkable archaeological discovery that was made
in 1974 and reported in the July issue of the "National Geographic
Magazine" for 1978. Can you imagine 8400 terra cotta statues,
life-size of warriors with their chariots and armament arranged in
perfect formation to guard the tomb of Chin Shi Huang Ti, the first
emperor to unite all of China. It is an utterly fantastic sight and
our tour included this unique experience; most of them do not visit
Sian. Sian, incidentally was also the capital of China under several
dynasties and was the starting point of the so called "Silk Road" by
which the treasures and art-crafts of China were carried to India,
the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean
area.
Shanghai
is the largest city in China (11,000,000) and its major port. It lies
along the Whampoa River which joins the Yangtse 16 miles downstream
to flow into the China Sea. While there, we visited the Yu Garden the
Long March Communes, and one of its hospitals. We stayed at the Chin
Chaing Hotel which incidentally is where Nixon stayed in 1972 and
from which his "Shanghai Communique" was issued.
Soochow
is the Venice of China and has several of the most beautiful gardens
in all of China, i.e., Lingering Garden, Garden of the Humble
Administrator, and the Master of Nets Garden. Soochow is reached
easily by train from Shanghai in two hours and its People's Hotel was
very adequate and satisfactory. While there we saw a jade and ivory
carving factory as well as a carpet factory and an embroidery
factory.
Old
China, especially during the Yuan, Ming, and Manchu dynasties, was
beautiful and it was a great thrill to see its magnificence as
reflected in the Forbidden City and Heavenly Temple. New China is a
dynamic society and to the superficial eye seems to be going places.
Unfortunately, the cultural revolution however well intentioned,
proved to be a disaster for China and it is now trying to catch up
with the rest of the world by a speedy program of modernization. This
is the reason for its opening its gates to the technological world
and tourism for the "hard cash" that such an industry
provides.
The
high point of the trip for me was to spend an evening with Dr. George
Hatem and his beautiful wife, Su Fei at their home in a suburb of
Peking. Dr. Ma Hai-Teh "Virtue from Overseas" served as a physician
to Mao Tse-tung and Chou en Lai and used his expertise in infectious
diseases to rid China of venereal disease, prostitution, as well as
to introduce modern methods of vaccination and inoculation. He is
revered by the Chinese and respected by medical men the world over.
Not one physician in a thousand in visiting China will have this
opportunity to meet this unique human being! My way to meet him was
paved by a close friend of his, John Roots, author of Chou en Lai,
and by his brother, Joe, who lives in Roanoke Rapids, North
Carolina.
En
route to China we spent a night in Japan and then two days in Hong
Kong prior to entering China and two days in Hong Kong after
departing from China. Hong Kong is to me one of the most exciting
cities in the world, and Pat and I have been there on three previous
visits to the Orient.
While
in China both of us kept our cameras busy and we have a nice
photographic record of our visit to remind us in the years to come of
our good fortune in seeing this remarkable country and its wonderful
people.
During
the past several years Pat and I have traveled the equivalent of
several trips around the world and have seen many different countries
and cultures but no trip has surpassed this visit of ours to the
People's Republic of China.
With best wishes,
DAD
CEJ/dm
or