Sunday Morning on Wenhua Lu

Comments

1. Michele Hannon says

   June 23, 2013 at 10:19 am

   Cool! Too bad you couldn’t bring your motorcycle with you!

   Reply
2. Cindy Wexler says

   June 23, 2013 at 3:00 pm

   That third frame down, of the tree lined street, could literally be a road in Houston’s Chinatown region – the only real tell is the signage is only in Chinese, whereas here, it is Chinese with small English translations! Seems a lovely and vibrant city!

   Reply
3. Wei Wang says

   June 24, 2013 at 3:02 pm

   Don’t eat the food made on the street like the first picture. They might taste good, but you don’t know what chemical ingredients you are taking into your body! I know it is difficult, but if possible, cook more at home and buy at big supermarkets.

   Reply
4. Ken Wieland says

   June 25, 2013 at 12:48 am

   What strikes me is how clean the streets look. Where are the croweds of people coming and going? The street bikes transporting stacks of boxes? The police with there ak47’s on there shoulder? The over sized bill boards of chairmen moe? This is not the china I have come to hate and loth.
   I do have to think that much of the mechanism that pays for those clean streets comes from slave labor. The 10’s of millions of jobs lost to china and there ultra low wages. As always its not the people because fathers there want the same thing there that fathers here want. To feed there family’s, keep them warm at night, and hope for a better future. The same feelings many fathers across the globe have felt when they looked at photos of the USA for the last 50 years are now my feelings. It’s just not very comfortable and I have it better then many.
   Ok enough of my views. Have you given any thoughts to buying a 2nd hand scooter? Would you be able to own one? Would you even be able to get a drivers license?
   Well keep up the posts. They are a window to another world.

   Reply
   • James Trumm says

     June 25, 2013 at 1:15 am

     Ken, you raise a number of good points, as usual. How are you doing?

     The pictures I posted were taken on a Sunday morning when traffic was light. Certainly there are other times and places where the streets are thronged. I’ve seen a few bicycles, scooters and motorcycles configured to carry large loads–one clever modification enables a 150cc cycle to carry eight 12-litre water-bubbler bottles for delivery–but it’s far more common to see small vans. Pickup trucks, though, are completely absent–I have not seen a one.

     I haven’t seen any public posters of The Great Helmsman, though I did spot one hanging in a low-end hotel lobby. Paradoxically, Mao does appear on currency of all denominations. It amuses me to think how he might feel about his image being the instrument of a hypercapitalist economy.

     As to soldiers, I haven’t seen any at all. There are also fewer police here than on the streets of Toledo.

     The streets and sidewalks are indeed kept quite clean. There appears to be a small army of old women with straw brooms who maintain them. They are easily identified by their bright green reflective vests and traditional straw hats. I have no idea what such women earn or how exploitative the system which employs them is. It would make an interesting study. I also see older people attending to the numerous public parks and gardens. Are these people whose golden years are being demeaned by such low-status labor, or are these people who are happy productive citizens well into old age? I don’t have enough information to make a call on that.

     I’ve thought of buying a bicycle, scooter, or motorcycle. I’m waiting to get settled in my own apartment (which should happen in a day or so) before I turn my attention to that. I wouldn’t need a license for a scooter, though I would probably need one for a motorcycle. I would not need to pass a operator’s license test, though, which is fortunate since I hear they are quite difficult here. I’ll post more on the motorcycle/scooter scene in upcoming weeks.

     Reply
5. Scott says

   July 6, 2013 at 7:30 pm

   …want me to send your bike? The photos are incredible!

   Reply