How do you describe the enigma that is China? Where do you start? Maybe the size. The world's fourth largest country borders 14 other nations.
The rivers? The Yangtze, Yellow, Mekong, Pearl and Brahmaputra all flow through Chinese territory. What about the population? More than 17% of the world's population - nearly one in five people - lives there. There are 56 recognised ethnic groups speaking 297 languages. Hmm, still too many numbers.
And maybe that's the thing. China is so vast in every way that writing about it as a whole is difficult. The heritage and customs are regional. A Cantonese speaker from Hong Kong will eat, speak, think and act differently from a Mandarin speaker from Beijing.
If you're a world traveller, then China absolutely must be high on your list of places to visit. I've taken many tours there over the years and never tire of visiting this extraordinary country.
Before my first visit, my head was full of opinions and notions about China, based on a cocktail of second-hand information from western media, inexpertly blended with books, movies and occasional visits to Chinatowns. Rarely had I talked to Chinese expats or nationals.
There's nothing quite like actually visiting a country to force you to reassess. China is in the news so much these days, one way or another, that it must be worth getting closer and trying to understand more of what is going on. China is opening up again after Covid, so there has never been a better time to visit. China has millions of tourists, but most are domestic or from neighbouring countries. Western tourists are around 2-3% of the total.
The high-speed rail network in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the world's longest and most extensively used. It has become so in the space of about 20 years. The trains are fast, very comfortable and air-conditioned. A stewardess in an immaculate uniform will greet you at the door for boarding. My favourite activity on board, by far, is visiting the café car. Clean and comfortable, well-staffed and welcoming, it retails an extensive range of snack and meals that that are… sometimes completely impossible to identify! It's lucky dip time and part of the fun!
Where to Visit in China
I really like Great Rail Journeys' Classic Treasures of China & Yangtze River Cruise tour. I figure if you're going all that way you might as well spend as much time as possible there; but that's just me, other people have different time and budget constraints and that's just fine.
This tour covers everything that you need to see on a first visit - Beijing with the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Great Wall, Xi'an for the Terracotta Army, Chengdu for pandas and Shanghai for the Bund. Plus, there's a cruise on the Yangtze River through the Three Gorges and the associated dam.
So far, I haven't mentioned Chongqing, which we pass through briefly, and which is (arguably) the largest city in the world at well over 30 million people.
Beyond visiting the must-see sites, is there an opportunity to learn more about China and its people? Definitely.
In each of the cities we have a local guide to look after us, and each city, to some degree, reflects the nature of where they live.
Beijing is more formal and aware of its significance; Shanghai is more cosmopolitan and easy-going; Xi'an is closer to its historical significance; and Chengdu is the most youthful and exuberant.
A Taste of the Real China
In a country like China, it's hard not to mix with the locals.
A visit to Tiananmen Square in Beijing is an introduction to the incredible number of people out on the street - and they're usually going in the opposite direction to you! Thousands of Chinese tourists make the pilgrimage to Tiananmen, often wearing identically coloured baseball caps.
The square contains the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao). A visit is a pilgrimage and a rite of passage for the Chinese.
Most people haven't seen a European in real life before, living as they do in small towns and villages away from the tourist pathways. I can't begin to count how many times I've been photographed with random groups of people simply because I'm a novelty. Presumably I've been projected, many times, larger than life on to a village wall somewhere for the "What I did on my Holiday" slideshow.
In Xi'an, you may walk along the astonishing Datang Everbright City Road, filled with colourful lights and street shows where fashionable young people enjoy dressing in traditional Tang Dynasty clothes for their own amusement.
We may walk along Huimin Street, the Muslim Quarter and home to the Hui ethnic people, where hawkers vie to sell you brightly coloured foods that defy description. The Chinese eat almost everything you can think of, although western bread, milk, cheese and uncooked or under-cooked food is rarely popular.
In Chengdu, you can enjoy an ear-cleaning massage from the comfort of your chair in a tea house, while watching hundreds of elderly Chinese drinking endless cups of tea (cha) and playing ferociously competitive mahjong games. Once armed with refreshed and glowing ears, it's a short walk to People's Park where the matchmakers work in the open air. Paper resumés are tied to the railings advertising the relative merits of boys and girls looking for a marriage partner; anxious parents wait nearby, ready to answer questions. Small armies of pensioners dress in their finery for open-air western-style ballroom dancing classes and competitions under the trees.
At the Great Wall near Mutianyu, you will usually meet large groups of 10-15-year-old Chinese schoolchildren, identically dressed in white tracksuits, on school excursions to see the famous landmark. They're learning English and may have never met English people before. You can have wonderful conversations with them, although some of their English phrases are a little unexpected:
- "Do you have an umbrella?"
- "Please say hello to the Queen."
- "Is the English weather clement today?"
These have all stopped me in my tracks. There are also the now traditional exclamations of "Manchester United!".
Experience China with Great Rail Journeys
So, a China tour is not just about seeing things; it's about meeting people.
I firmly believe that the more that people meet, the more they understand. It's worth saying that China is a Communist One-Party state. That means there are limitations on what you can do and say while you are there. Internet access is controlled, and social media and news media access will be blocked, even with a VPN. That said, a visit to China raises some interesting questions for westerners, that challenge our assumptions. Each side has something to learn from the other.
Working out what can be learned is your challenge as a visitor, and one that you're better equipped to make when you've actually been there.
How I Lost Face Over Ice Cream in China
On my first-ever tour to China, we returned to our hotel from the Great Wall, and I had to distribute various purchased souvenirs to my customers.
For this 10-minute process, I set up on a table in the lobby together with my local guide, Lily, and set to work with my group. Soon, the hotel manager appeared, flanked by two staff members, and a quiet conversation with Lily ensued.
"At 6pm," she translated, "this table is used to set up an ice cream fridge for hotel guests. It is now 6.01pm and he wants his table back."
"Well," I said to Lily, "tell him he's fresh out of luck for the next few minutes. Tell him to come back in five minutes."
Hesitantly and reluctantly, Lily relayed this back to the manager. It didn't look like I was making too many friends on this one. Lily came back and repeated his earlier request to me.
"Why does he need this table right now?" I asked.
There was the sort of absolute silence where, with a sinking feeling, you realise things aren't quite going as well as you had hoped. It turned out that he understood a little bit of English. He turned his back and stalked off. Lily, always charming and patient with foreigners like me, helped out.
"In China," she explained, "we never ask why. We just do as we are asked."
In declining his request, I had caused him to 'lose face' in front of his staff, and in becoming irritated, I had also lost face myself.
I was allowed to remain in the hotel, my visa was renewed, and I was allowed to return to China frequently, so things worked out in the end. I've worked with Lily many times since, especially now that she has educated me as to how to be a better Tour Manager. Part of this education was achieved by presenting me with specially created tea and instructions to drink it daily.
"It makes you a good and proper Chinese man," she said. "It's also good for eyesight, intellect and… other things."
