Live; From China

Hampton Union, 03-21-08

By Ron Dupuis

Recently, I, your humble, succinct, yet mildly humorous columnist (we all know in this case the word "columnist" simply means an old man with a computer and way too much free time) had both the pleasure and displeasure of traveling to Beijing and Shanghai, China, along with about 150 of the area's finest residents.

My primary mission was threefold. First, define something interesting to write about in the allotted space the Hampton Union has so graciously provided. Second was to offer our lovely and somewhat precocious offspring, Miss Casey, a bit of a cultural experience other than going to the mall. Thirdly, I hope to find the descendants of those who built the Great Wall and discuss the possibility of something along the same lines from California to Texas.

It is an old Chinese saying that every long journey begins with one small step. For the Dupuis family, the "one small step" was immediately followed by "I have a stomach ache." Up until that point the lovely Miss Casey had been looking forward with great anticipation to learning everything possible about Chinese culture, traditions and education. Realizing how her negative comments affected me, she immediately whined with a impish smile "are we there yet?" and "I have to go to the bathroom." Her attempt to lighten the moment worked, however my anxiety level was still high. We had a 20-hour travel day ahead and I wasn't sure where I packed my nitro pills.

A five-hour bus ride to JFK is not particularly unusual for us, we do that three or four times a year. A five-hour wait in order to allow Air China to get its act together was a little disconcerting. On this particular day there seemed to be a lot of hassles and searches. Finally, when it was determined that none of the 75-year-old women was concealing any contraband in her corset, we boarded, sat in our assigned seats and took off.

Now the fun part. A 13-hour flight that included a course across the North Pole then down through Siberia, three movies with Chinese subtitles, two full meals, one snack and endless conversations with other passengers took up most of our initial flight time. The rest of the journey was spent in fitful naps and worrisome anticipation. Fortunately for me, your humble, succinct, yet mildly humorous columnist, State Rep. Nancy Stiles was traveling with us and we took full advantage of our vast political knowledge and resolved all the world's problems just as we landed in Beijing.

Beijing: A city that seems somewhat tense. The people are friendly but not warm. An immaculate city with at least a 2,000-year history yet all the new development in preparation of the summer Olympics seems to be too pre-planned and lacking an urban metropolitan atmosphere. To the lovely Miss Casey it was disappointing that we could only locate one mall and that did not include an Abercrombie and Fitch. After enough temples to shake the faith of the most ardent of Buddhist we came to the Great Wall. Upon realizing how spectacular this Wonder of the World is, we became aware of the true reason of its existence: To prevent the raiding hordes of the north from taking over the country. Just like a replica from California to Texas would prevent the raiding hordes from the south from taking over our country.

Next week: Beijing vs. Shanghai, plus Chinese education.