Journey to Beijing by Greg McEnnally

Author:Greg McEnnally
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Published: 2019-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

5.7: Hangzhou

After lunch, we headed for Hangzhou, a couple of hours drive further to the south in Zhejiang Province and with around 9 million people, it is no mean city. Another 13 million people live around it. It is also the provincial capital of this province. For a couple of centuries, the 12th and 13th, it was the largest city in the world, prosperous and famous. Over time, most of the old city was destroyed, principally during the Taiping Rebellion in 1861 and by Mao’s Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. What you see now is a developed modern city.

Hangzhou marks the start of the Grand Canal, of which we saw bits but did not visit as such. This canal, which was begun in 495 BC, went almost to Beijing at its peak, a distance of nearly 1,800 km. The city’s main claim to fame is West Lake. Now, there are some 36 West Lakes in China: even Fuzhou has one; but this one in Hangzhou is the original. It has huge status in Chinese eyes as one of the most famous places in all China

On the way down, we stopped for another tea demonstration; you get so many of these in China. This was concentrated on flower tea, which I actually like very much, but at 80 Yuan for a 1 kg packet, I decided I was not that much of a devotee. I had realised that at these demonstrations, you have to pay the wages of the staff, plus all the paraphernalia, whereas in many cases, you could buy the same product much cheaper in a supermarket.

We had about 1 1/2 hours in Hangzhou to do our own thing, though I think we were supposed to shop: it was billed as a shop stop. We (Bernadette and I) followed the model—that rather attractive member of our group—into a department store and were not surprised to see her head for the accessories. In another part of the store, we saw one family in our group buying a watch for their little girl. We headed out of the store and proceeded to walk around the streets of the town instead, looking at the people, the traffic, the buildings and whatever else caught our fancy.

Hangzhou was a little more modern and up-market than Fuzhou and a little more expensive. It was a cleaner city, with fewer pedicabs and bicycles and more cars. The taxis were more modern and better looking too, in grey and green colours, though they cost 10 Yuan to hire compared with 7 Yuan in Fuzhou at this time. We did not know it then, but later, Bernadette would spend many years teaching at a university in Hangzhou.

Our evening meal was the usual banquet style, again in a large restaurant holding about 200 people. I noticed on the wall, amidst the art work, some Christian style art, but I suspect it had been selected for its artistic rather than for its religious merit.

Next, we were presented with a proposed addition to our schedule: a concert.

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