Riding on the Railroad

Two local farmers outside the oldest timber building in China having fun with us and posing with Durango, April 14, 2010 near Taiyuan, Shanxi.

We’re leaving Taiyuan for Beijing on the new CRH (Bullet) train.  The Chinese are planning something like 140 similar train lines between major cities throughout the country.  When the Chinese government decides to move on an idea they surely don’t do it in half measures.

Today is a beautiful day.  Temperatures are in the 70’s with blue skies and only a hint of wind.  But even these perfect conditions are sullied by the dust and grit that fills the atmosphere at ground level.  Even though Texas gets hot and humid I’ll be glad to get back to where the air is clean.

Riding through the countryside you see how the heavy hand of man has shaped this land.  Hardly a square foot of ground has not been cleared, farmed, rearranged and built upon at some time.  Even where few people live there is no unaltered land or wild spaces.  To me it is as unnatural as the surface of the moon.  Well, maybe that’s a bad example as man has only left a few tons of garbage there and tracks on but a few square miles.  Otherwise the moon is natural, if barren.  Here the barrenness is the result of man’s activities and on a scale that is hard to fathom. 

The one saving grace I see out my window, beside the wonderful people who toil on this land, is the millions of tree seedlings planted everywhere.  Someday there will be a forest here for a time.  But it is still not natural.  The trees are in rows and on terraces and all of just two species, one pine and the other poplar.  It will be better than the current bare ground that is constantly lifted by the wind and eventually settles on everything and in the lungs of all who breathe the air.  In time it will make conditions measurably better and while it is yet one more effort by man to shape this land, the program of planting all these millions of trees is well worthwhile.  I just wish they’d do it with a little more variety.  Maybe someday.

As always seems the case for me, I look at China through several frames of reference at one time.  My daughters are of this land and that gives me one perspective.  My professional career leads me to China to both learn and to a limited extent teach.  That is yet another perspective.  In many ways I’m an American tourist and I see things through those eyes even if I possess more familiarity with and knowledge of the land and culture than most.  And lastly I am a businessman who sees opportunity.  How each of these perspectives blends into the next and which takes precedence at any given moment is a moving and ever changing window through which I take in and process what I see.  Often I am left confused and conflicted.

There is one thing that remains constant throughout.  I am fascinated by China in much the same way I am fascinated by America.  As different as they are I find them equally engaging.  There is a life and vitality in each that makes both pulse with optimism and hope.  These things ebb and flow with time and conditions on both shores of the Pacific but they remain nonetheless.  America is young and imperfect.  China is ancient and imperfect.  I can honestly say I love them both in all their wonderful diversity.

Tomorrow I board a plane for home.  Yet another journey will come to a close when I am once again in the close embrace of my family.  I've enjoyed this journey but am looking forward to being home.

 

Comments

[Michele Chew]

Safe Trip, Tim. Thanks for sharing the journey!

[to sing and to dance (Karen)]

It's been a while since I've looked over the fence at your blog. WOW. So much is happening for you right now. You never cease to amaze me.