Great
My friend Andy is back in Beijing for a few weeks. Since I was there for work on Thursday, I stuck around for the weekend. On Saturday we went to The Great Wall.
A tour guide met us at Andy's hotel. She was delightful, a twentysomething bank employee who moonlighted as a tourist wrangler on the weekends. She smiled broadly as we shook hands, “I love Americans!”
Apparently she'd just woken from a 20-year coma and not yet had a chance to watch the news.
“These Americans love China!” I replied in my usual charming and hilarious way. “But I bet you say that to all of your customers.”
She scowled. “No. I hate the Japanese.”
The guide loaded us into the car. As we sat in the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way out of Beijing, she gave us a bit of a Great Wall 101. The Great Wall was joined from early structures by the Emperor Qin Shi Huang around 200 BC as a defensive barrier against northern tribes. Most of the wall around Beijing was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644.) During this period, more sophisticated designs and passes were built in the places of strategic importance. The whole thing stretches about 5000 kilometers across northern and western China. Or something like that.
There are several restored portions near Beijing, and we wisely selected an area that was a bit further out to avoid the hordes. The weather was nice and when we pulled up you could see it clearly.
What can you say? It’s a wall. And it’s great. The Great Wall.
We navigated through the gauntlet of souvenir shops and geegaw stalls. (HELLO! HELLO! YOU BUY (stuffed) PANDA! YOU BUY PANDA!!! HELLOOOOOO!!!) We hopped on a gondola which motored us to the top. Then Andy and I spent a few hours walking along the restored section. There were moments of genuine awe – the history, the sheer physicality of it all. People built this with their hands in the heat of the summer and the cold of the winter. 5000 kilometers long. Probably no health insurance or 401K either.
Wow.
As a former New Yorker, it was also depressing. New York City can’t muster the will to burrow through a trillion dollars worth of litigation to build the Second Avenue subway and it’s only supposed to go to the East Side. Or maybe a train to the airport LIKE EVERY OTHER CITY ON THE PLANET? “The people in Queens don’t want it.”
The Emperor Whatshisface of China had none of that. Don’t like my wall? I don’t like how your head is still attached to your body.
Now that’s government in action!
So I’ve officially walked on The Great Wall. I guess it’s not something everyone gets to do. I recommend it. Unless you’re Japanese.
A tour guide met us at Andy's hotel. She was delightful, a twentysomething bank employee who moonlighted as a tourist wrangler on the weekends. She smiled broadly as we shook hands, “I love Americans!”
Apparently she'd just woken from a 20-year coma and not yet had a chance to watch the news.
“These Americans love China!” I replied in my usual charming and hilarious way. “But I bet you say that to all of your customers.”
She scowled. “No. I hate the Japanese.”
The guide loaded us into the car. As we sat in the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way out of Beijing, she gave us a bit of a Great Wall 101. The Great Wall was joined from early structures by the Emperor Qin Shi Huang around 200 BC as a defensive barrier against northern tribes. Most of the wall around Beijing was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644.) During this period, more sophisticated designs and passes were built in the places of strategic importance. The whole thing stretches about 5000 kilometers across northern and western China. Or something like that.
There are several restored portions near Beijing, and we wisely selected an area that was a bit further out to avoid the hordes. The weather was nice and when we pulled up you could see it clearly.
What can you say? It’s a wall. And it’s great. The Great Wall.
We navigated through the gauntlet of souvenir shops and geegaw stalls. (HELLO! HELLO! YOU BUY (stuffed) PANDA! YOU BUY PANDA!!! HELLOOOOOO!!!) We hopped on a gondola which motored us to the top. Then Andy and I spent a few hours walking along the restored section. There were moments of genuine awe – the history, the sheer physicality of it all. People built this with their hands in the heat of the summer and the cold of the winter. 5000 kilometers long. Probably no health insurance or 401K either.
Wow.
As a former New Yorker, it was also depressing. New York City can’t muster the will to burrow through a trillion dollars worth of litigation to build the Second Avenue subway and it’s only supposed to go to the East Side. Or maybe a train to the airport LIKE EVERY OTHER CITY ON THE PLANET? “The people in Queens don’t want it.”
The Emperor Whatshisface of China had none of that. Don’t like my wall? I don’t like how your head is still attached to your body.
Now that’s government in action!
So I’ve officially walked on The Great Wall. I guess it’s not something everyone gets to do. I recommend it. Unless you’re Japanese.
posted by Karl @ 12:31 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
As a native New Hampshirite, it is my duty to inform you that the preferred mockery of "Live Free or Die" is "Live, Freeze and Die."
schmoo-lin, you look great!
W
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