Modern China: what a change from 25 years ago when my family travelled there, on holiday. At the time, we could hardly see each other although we were standing at an arm’s length away as the air was thick with smog from coal-burning factories.
This time, as I looked at the Pudong skyline of the Shanghai financial district, I could only marvel at the difference in this former farmland that is modern China.
I was on a holiday with friends, all of us in our 60s and 70s, through China’s southwest covering Sichuan, Chongqing, Wuhan and ending off in Shanghai. How often have we seen China through the lens of a Western-centric media where China is associated with many negatives: internet censorship, threats of microchips that spy or bullying at the South China Sea.
Perhaps it’s the skeptic in me, or just a silver’s sense of smugness. Revisiting China was not a hard choice, as I had to see modern China for myself.
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First-hand exploration of modern China
We started off in Sichuan. Visiting the panda reserves was an eye-opener not just because I was seeing brown pandas for the first time, but also to witness the careful crafting of conservation programmes.
Another surprise was the Sanxingdui Museum dating back 3,700 years to the Shu civilisation. The museum was a stark contrast to another historic site at Xian that I had seen 25 years ago. I remembered that the Xian museum did not have a grand entrance and was poorly maintained.
The Sanxingdui Museum, by contrast, was modern and commanding, with a grand exterior. Just as impressive were the inside displays of one of the world’s most significant collections of bronze, jade and gold figureheads, pottery and masks dating back 3,000 years. The aesthetics and design of the displays were something I was accustomed to in the most noted museums of the West.
It then occurred to me that finally, China has indeed embraced its status of being an ancient civilisation with its many treasures.
There are of course, China’s natural landscapes. Many are world-acclaimed UNESCO sites. Sichuan boasts Jiuzhaigou, a valley with Nine Tibetan villages. Here there are many pristine turquoise clear-bottomed lakes. There are also a few interesting waterfalls, with the tallest standing at 300m (height of 200 men standing on each other’s shoulders) and the widest having a span of 320m.
If there’s a takeaway for me, it is that China has made leaps in preserving these sites. No smoking is allowed in the parks, and entry is capped at 40,000 people daily. It was just unfortunate for me that I was not used to having noise levels which are still several decibels too high.
Landscapes become theatre
I have to hail the transformation in Chinese theatre. I was particularly impressed by the following.
Using China’s natural wonders of majestic nature scapes, director Zhang Yimou’s Impression shows are large-scale performances with a cast of at least 100 persons. There are seven Impression shows in different provinces of China, each capturing the culture of the area that it is staged in.
I was fortunate to catch the show in Chongqing which had two poignant storylines touching on life there.
- One was the demise of the boat-tracker profession. (Boat-trackers are the boatmen who pulled larger ships manually into the Chongqing shoreline.)
- The other was a mother's heartfelt woe in telling her soon-to-be-wed daughter that she could only cry on the night before the wedding, but never after.
Engineering feats: both past and future
One of my biggest takeaways from this China trip was also the many works showing engineering prowess.
Chongqing, aptly nicknamed China’s ‘Bridge City’ boasts 22,000 bridges, of which 28 are in the city itself. The city holds world records for the span, height and length of different types of bridges. There are arch bridges, cable-styled bridges, beam bridges, cantilever bridges and suspension bridges. It is an amazing sight, especially at night, when they are lit.
The other is not a new engineering project but having taken a trip down the Yangtze River, I can only appreciate how massively the Three Gorges Dam changed lives. It’s a collection of six dams and was to control flooding of the river.
Our China tour guide echoing a party line explained that it was proposed in 1919 but only started 30 years later under Chairman Mao.
Now more dams are being planned to add to power needs. China is today using more natural energy solutions from water, solar and wind. The Global Energy Monitor reports have also indicated that China’s build-up of solar and wind capacity is five years ahead of schedule.
China may not be shouting or bragging about going green, but significant strides have been made in the past couple of decades. It was not hard to be impressed by these changes.
Soft power of modern China
Another giant leap is China’s rise in soft culture. Up until a decade ago, no one would have heard of brands like Luckin Coffee, Chagee Tea, Shein, BYD or Pop Mart.
Today global coffee titan Starbucks is falling far behind its Chinese rival Lukin Coffee in China. According to CNN report, Luckin had 16,000 stores in China last year, compared to 6,900 Starbucks stores. No wonder Starbucks has had to recently hire a Chief Growth Officer.
My friends have changed to driving BYD cars and brag about the fuel savings every month, their wives are gifting Labubu toys from Pop Mart (the latest status symbol) and I’m wearing Shein clothing because they’re 60% cheaper than similar items in retail shops. Fast fashion is not for keeps, but that’s fine… we silvers should not look frumpy.
