Comments on: Thoughts on China http://highearthorbit.com/thoughts-on-china/ Transmitting ideas, observations, and images from 42,000 km. Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:32:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Beijing Air Quality and Olympic Venues :: High Earth Orbit http://highearthorbit.com/thoughts-on-china/#comment-197661 Beijing Air Quality and Olympic Venues :: High Earth Orbit Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:24:42 +0000 http://highearthorbit.com/thoughts-on-china/#comment-197661 [...] During our trip to China in December Corrie and I definitely felt the effects of the poor air quality. This has also been the discussion for over a year leading up to the Beijing Olympics that start tomorrow. China has been trying a variety of mechanisms to cut down on pollution including removing all cars from the roads for 2 weeks and seeding rain clouds to pull the particulates out of the air. [...] [...] During our trip to China in December Corrie and I definitely felt the effects of the poor air quality. This has also been the discussion for over a year leading up to the Beijing Olympics that start tomorrow. China has been trying a variety of mechanisms to cut down on pollution including removing all cars from the roads for 2 weeks and seeding rain clouds to pull the particulates out of the air. [...]

]]> By: jana http://highearthorbit.com/thoughts-on-china/#comment-145783 jana Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:55:12 +0000 http://highearthorbit.com/thoughts-on-china/#comment-145783 for me, the most striking parts of the country were those that tourists didn't normally see. we were lucky enough to have friends living in xi'an, and nikole served as local tour guide through the back streets of the city (leading us to a delightful working buddhist temple). but what was most compelling was not the well kept temple, with monks working or in prayer, but the kitten tied to the door, the string looping around its neck so that it wouldn't run off. the small child "being curbed," pooping in the street through the gap in his pants, the huge bricks of coal being delivered by bicycle for cooking, heating polluting. and not just the poverty --- the morning exercises (dancing, forms) in the town square that troy and i jogged through, and received waves and smiles for our troubled breathing. haggling in the non-tourist art district, where the masters are proud of their works. the morning food carts, the well-laden bicycles. i know that i only scraped the surface of the "real" china --- you've a huge advantage with the language skills, though my local friends also helped. just like that chicken we managed to order in puerto rico... the humanized aspects of the country are what really made the trip for me. for me, the most striking parts of the country were those that tourists didn’t normally see. we were lucky enough to have friends living in xi’an, and nikole served as local tour guide through the back streets of the city (leading us to a delightful working buddhist temple). but what was most compelling was not the well kept temple, with monks working or in prayer, but the kitten tied to the door, the string looping around its neck so that it wouldn’t run off. the small child “being curbed,” pooping in the street through the gap in his pants, the huge bricks of coal being delivered by bicycle for cooking, heating polluting. and not just the poverty — the morning exercises (dancing, forms) in the town square that troy and i jogged through, and received waves and smiles for our troubled breathing. haggling in the non-tourist art district, where the masters are proud of their works. the morning food carts, the well-laden bicycles.

i know that i only scraped the surface of the “real” china — you’ve a huge advantage with the language skills, though my local friends also helped. just like that chicken we managed to order in puerto rico… the humanized aspects of the country are what really made the trip for me.

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