OLIVIA'S VISIT TO CHINA
April 2002

Here is a short account and a selection of photos from my visit to China in April 2002

We stayed at the Shangri La Hotel in West Beijing where we had a large comfortable room overlooking the city with a panoramic view. Most mornings there is a pall of smog hanging over the city due to pollution and desert sand dust. The first three days we were there in early April the desert sand storms were so bad that people were wearing masks and almost being blown over by the wind. Everything was quickly covered in fine white dust. This is due to the erosion of the desert and the alarming fact that the Gobi desert is creeping nearer to Beijing every year, seriously threatening to engulf it if preventative steps are not taken.

The day after we arrived Robert took me to see some of the old "hutongs" or lanes that are fast being demolished to make way for high-rise buildings. These lanes used to spider their way all over the city and would be home to many thousands of people. Here real life takes place and markets abound, selling everything from cabbages to canaries. Men play chess on upturned boxes and women chat as they hang out washing alongside clusters of garlic. The warm earthy smell is wonderfully intimate and familiar - the smell of humans living in close proximity and cooking for the evening meal, garlic in oil and fresh spices. Here, beside the market near Fuchengmen Qiao, we found an old chap making traditional black cotton slippers for martial arts, but with leather soles and hand-stitching. We came across an ancient man making tiny dustpans from old tins - his workshop was on a small barrow, including a soldering lamp. All kinds of wild birds were being sold in cages, some with their eggs, and I later regretted that I hadn't bought some to release them. The Chinese love caged birds and make a great fuss of them, covering their cages in white fitted cotton covers and taking them to the park every day to hang the cages in the trees. It is mostly the older people who do this. Puppies, kittens and rabbits and dayold chicks are all on offer from baskets on wooden trailers that are hitched onto the backs of bicycles. There were cicadas in buckets, being fed spiders. Cicadas are prized for their "song" and are stuffed into cut up cardboard tubes to take home. Shop-keepers often keep one in a small box on the counter.

We returned to the area the following week only to find that the whole place had been demolished, there was nothing left, just dust and a few trees and piles of rubble. This was a terrible shock and sadly not a unique event. I felt an urgent need to see more in case the whole of old Beijing is destroyed before my next visit. An ominous Chinese character is painted crudely onto the doors of buildings destined for demolition, like a death sentence. One evening Robert wanted to take me to his favourite Russian restaurant, The Baikal, so we got a taxi and set off. However the taxi-driver couldn't find the place and nothing looked familiar. It slowly dawned on Robert that not only the restaurant but the whole street had been demolished. An elegant trail of trees was all that was left. Strangely enough, trees are very much revered and great efforts are made either to move them to a new site or to leave them where they stand. Some of the ancient ones are propped up and protected by fencing and huge efforts are made to prolong and preserve their lives. Many of them are hundreds of years old, particularly in the grounds of the temples and former Imperial palaces. As often as we could we explored more of the "hutongs" and managed to see many wonderful old courtyards, doorways and porches. The roof tiles are a beautiful misty grey colour with a hint of mauve and the shapes are fluid and graceful as if they have been stroked in place with a calligrapher's brush. We never tired of looking at these remnants of old Beijing and were glad that the more we looked the more we found. We also visited several small museums which were once the homes of well known artists or writers.

Ring road access ramps are being constructed day and night and appear like giant noodles slung overhead, as if from nowhere. The speed of construction is daunting and huge slabs of road are erected overnight, hanging perilously in mid-air as if broken off by an earthquake. All this causes dreadful traffic jams and detours so that getting to a meeting on time can be nerve-wracking.

We took a taxi across town to see the People's Education Press who are to publish Robert's book THE GENIUS OF CHINA for schools early in 2003. It was pouring with rain as we arrived, nearly an hour late, and we were warmly greeted by the director and editor who led us to a large reception room where the contract was signed. This was followed by a delicious lunch in a nearby restaurant. The Education Minister Madame Chen Zhili has personally written the introduction to the book, which is a great honour. It also has introductory calligraphy by Robert's friend Dr. Song Jian, who is a great scholar and scientist.

The Chinese edition of our book AESOP -THE COMPLETE FABLES was published by Yi Lin Press just before we arrived in China so we were able to give copies as gifts from us both. We enjoyed signing copies and seeing the surprise on people's faces when we handed them a copy. Meetings are rather formal in China and there is great ceremony in handing out business cards beforehand, always with two hands. Everyone greeted me warmly and made me feel very welcome and it was wonderful to meet many people whose names were familiar. We have a wide circle of good friends in China and Robert is very much an 'honorary Chinese'.

I enjoyed attending a lecture that Robert gave at Tsinghua University to a group of students from the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. We took along the old wind box that he bought several years ago as a demonstration of a Chinese invention (the double-action piston bellows) and some of the students remembered such machines being used in their home regions to make popcorn, or in country kitchens. This early form of bellows led to the Chinese invention and manufacture of cast iron. The students use little electronic dictionaries to look up words they do not understand and are so keen and interested. Afterwards I talked to some of them and they told me their Western names and what their dreams are. They work so hard they deserve success in whatever they do. One student at People's University, where Robert also lectured, told me she had chosen the Western name of Cinderella, "because she was lucky and I would like to be lucky too".

Robert was the only Westerner to give a paper at a conference hosted by the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Sciences, and his speech was projected in Mandarin on a huge screen behind him as he spoke. It was translated by our secretary Zhang Jing. He spoke on why the Industrial Revolution didn't take place in China. It was well received and gave a new perspective on Chinese history. The text of his talk is on his website.