Growler’s China

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My writings here are by no means extensive, as China is a deeply complex and fascinating country, but they serve merely as a gateway to the once mysterious Middle Kingdom.

Thanks to Zhen (Jane) Zhao for helping to nurture my love of Chinese culture.

For those who don’t know about China or want to know a bit more, this is for you.

Rawle Austin presents...

An introduction.

China. A massive land of ancient history and beautiful culture. It’s one of the largest countries in the world with a population of over one billion people. I first fell in love with this country's culture through watching Hong Kong kung fu movies and enjoying the food at various local Chinese restaurants. I’m particularly partial to a bit of sweet and sour pork or chicken with rice, washed down with Chinese tea!

In 1999 I was lucky enough to visit China for two weeks travelling to the capital Beijing (formerly called Peking), Shanghai and Xi’an (pronounced See-an).

In 2000 I started and completed a two year course in basic Mandarin Chinese, which is still the predominant language in the region, with the intention to be able to hold a basic conversation, read and write.

The written language is composed of characters instead of letters which are made up of various strokes that are written in a certain order to make them easier to write. This will be a lifelong mission so the learning goes on.

After many years of major political upheavals China is growing fast in all areas.They recently sent a man into space, only the third nation to do so after America and Russia. Foreign investment is at an all time high not seen since the 1920’s as the economic growth is steadily increasing since China joined the World Trade Organization. The country will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2008.

The success of Ang Lee’s film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon raised the bar for the genre and cinema as a whole.

Chinese film stars are now household names like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li (whose Chinese name is Li Liang Jie).

China’s history goes back to 2000BC where prehistoric remains have been unearthed of ancient, advanced civilizations.

The earliest major event, in my humble opinion, was around 221BC. The area, now known as China, was divided into 7 kingdoms each with their own currency and cultures.

The head of one of these kingdoms, King Zheng of Qin had a vision to unite all the kingdoms under heaven and make one large empire. He conquered the other states and founded the country of China with the intention of producing a unified language and currency. As the first Imperial Emperor of China he named himself the Yellow Emperor (Qin shi Huang Di). He also instigated the building of the Great Wall of China to keep out the Mongol invaders of the north.

This entirely man-made wall is an enormous structure spanning hundreds of miles and can be seen from space.

It is still much intact today and when I first set eyes upon it my jaw dropped at the spectacle of it winding round the mountains like a massive snake.

This was the start of the Qin Dynasty, which lasted until the Emperor’s death. He had a massive tomb built for him that contained hundreds of lifelike statues of his army.

This tomb is still largely undamaged and based in Xi’an. It has been excavated for the glory of all to see but photo’s are not permitted.

The statues are over two thousand years old but are in incredible condition allowing us to see a slice of a culture long since extinct. This story has been told in two recent films. Chen Kaige’s The Emperor and the Assassin starring the actress Gong Li and Yang Yimou’s Hero starring Jet Li. China’s history has long had changes of dynasties brought on by the slow corruption of the old leading to overthrow by the new.

Other dynasties of note (there were more in-between) were the Han Dynasty who strengthened the unification of the country and the Tang Dynasty who were based in the then capital Xi'an (Chang An).

The time during the Tang reign was known as the golden age for it’s great painting, poetry and literary achievements.

Invading Mongols under the feared Kublai Khan who then adopted Chinese culture formed the Yuan Dynasty.

Following this was the Ming Dynasty under whom Beijing was made the capital and the Forbidden City was built.

The Forbidden City was one of the highlights of my visit to China as this was the actual residence of the past Emperors kept in all it's glory. It was simply stunning to see and walk through. The Manchu people of the north who formed the Qing Dynasty overthrew the Ming dynasty. This was to be the last Imperial Dynasty in China. Foreign invasions in the late 19th century served to slice up the country, which further weakened the standing of the Qing Dynasty.

This dynasty, under the last emperor the five-year-old Puyi, finished in 1911. Civil war, Japanese invasion and the Second World War followed bringing further turmoil to the country. In 1949, the People's Republic of China was established.

Many of the temples, buildings built during these periods remain intact and are a sight to see with ornate sculptures and detailed paintings. All the provinces have many historical areas.

China has eight main dialects with the main one being Mandarin Chinese. Cantonese is spoken more by the southern peoples and in Hong Kong.

Former Hong Kong residents who emigrated to England explain the predominant spoken and written Cantonese language present in the Chinese community today. They founded London’s Chinatown, an authentic surrounding of Chinese shops and restaurants with a vibrant Chinese community and many other Chinatowns in the U.K. The Chinese New Year celebrations held throughout the country, every January/February, are must see attractions with an amazing vibe.

Internal travel was restricted for a long time in China so today most tourism is generated by the Chinese themselves touring their own country with many who still haven’t come into contact with foreigners.

This was seen to great effect when I was in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Our tour group was often held up as people queued to take pictures of us. Many of those Chinese visitors had never seen a black person before.

People were queuing up to take my photo asking me to pose with them and their family and so forth. All done with much warmth and thus making my trip a memorable experience. Similar scenes occurred in the cities of Shanghai and Xi’an where I unintentionally held up the group a few times. Each of the three cities has it’s own distinct, visible identity and it was a joy to visit each.

It was on this trip where I learnt how to use chopsticks (kuai zi).

Another fact about China is that surnames always come before first names. So a man’s name Hu Jintao would be Mr Hu not Mr Jintao.

Some basic phrases I’ve learned are 'ni hao' (knee how) meaning 'hello', 'ni hao ma?' (knee how ma) meaning 'how are you?' and 'zai jian' (zai jen) which is 'goodbye'.

In closing, I have to recommend China as a place to see and visit. If it's your first time it's probably better to go as part of an organised tour group. There's loads to see and experience!

See my China photographs, here!

When I went to China in 1999 I went with Travelsphere>

I studied Mandarin Chinese at the London South Bank University Language Centre>

Xian zai wo hen xihuan Zhong guo! (Now, I really enjoy China!)

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