Saturday, May 20, 2006
Back in the States
Wuhan from the Yangtze
I've been back in the States since late Sunday. A lot happened in China, but I seem to be having a problem forming it into a coherent narrative. Next time I go I hope to have a laptop or very capable PDA along all the time to jot things down as they occur. I had a great time in China, but Nian and I had time enough for a few disagreements as well. I won't recap what they were, but I'd characterize them as me being unknowingly judgmental, and Nian putting too much emphasis that we put the same priorities on things. I wouldn't call them fights, but Nian was upset that they happened at all by the time I got back home. If either of us behaved badly I'd more likely chalk it up to the stress of being apart months at time (five this time) then only having two weeks together.
We spent a great deal of time in Wuhan, the town Nian grew up in, in central China, this time visiting her father who had traveled back after a long stay with Nian's Mom in Guangzhou where she is currently staying to help look after Aiai. We touched bases with many of Nian's friends and family in Wuhan as well as taking in several of Wuhan's cultural sights. Located along a huge lake and the Yangtze River, Wuhan offers spectacular natural scenic views. A lot of effort has been spent in various parks and island retreats to recapture the essence of classic Chinese architecture. China builds sturdy buildings, but they seem to age unnaturally fast. Nian was constantly referring to "very old buildings" as anything 20-30 years old. With the exception of a very few historic sites for Universities and the like, it seems all of Urban China has sprung up in the last 20 years. Both Wuhan's and Guangzhou's skylines are dotted with uncountable cranes (especially Guangzhou). The rate of building seems likely to double the usable building square feet area in another 10 years time. No mean feat as both have over 9 million residents each already. Unlike American cities with large buildings in the center diminishing in size out to the sprawling suburbs, China's large cities expand outward with all large buildings. Business and residential sections largely mixed, and with the apartment complexes giving the large financial buildings a run for the money with what looks like a majority over the 40-story mark, then falling off rapidly to country side and small villages at cities edge -- villages likely to be annexed and swallowed in China's rapid race to urbanize.
While China's population is large so is it's land area and I had time to see a lot of countryside from train as we traveled to and from Wuhan from Guangzhou. There is still a lot of natural beauty to be seen, but a huge portion of the countryside is of course dedicated to agriculture. But unlike American farms with mile after mile of flat boring sameness laid out in regular rectangles, China's agriculture largely follows the contours of the land in a much more pleasingly aesthetic fashion -- even if this was done for efficiency's sake to make optimal use of land cultivated more at the family level than the large industrial level as in America. In many cases the curved and stepped terrace farming takes on an almost Zen-Garden look.
I have a disk load of pictures to upload, but it is getting late. Hopefully tomorrow will see me get into a better blog updating mode. It is hard to know what to say directly about my time with Nian and Aiai this time around. Nian is a little unhappy my blog posts don't center more directly around family matters. No doubt they will figure more largely in my posts once they are both here with me in America. For now I'm still getting back on Central Standard Time, and trying to collect my thoughts about my last trip even as I search for employment abroad so that we can be together sooner.
