Lions Travelogue takes trip to China
By KEN STEADMAN
For The Vista
As youngsters we heard, “if you drill straight down through the earth you will come out in China.” That comprised just about the sum total of our knowledge of China at that time. One tourist remarked recently that what China has achieved in 20 years took the U.S. 100 years to accomplish. He was referring mostly to the upscale, modernistic look of Shanghai with its 24 million people… four times larger than NY City.
You are in for a special treat on February 2, 2015 with the showing of “China Rising” by video producer Dale Johnson when the Fairfield Glade Lions Club Travelogue Series resumes. It all takes place at the Palace Theater starting at 7:00pm. Tickets are on sale at the door for $8.00 per person for those who do not have Season Tickets. Much will be learned and viewed about China and their vastness. So mark your calendar and enjoy an evening of remarkable entertainment.
China does indeed have cars…lots of cars. There are at least 20 Chinese companies that manufacture autos, and many of the World’s auto builders also make or assemble cars in China. More cars were purchased in China in 2013 than were purchased in the U.S. and you can see the manifestation of the buying spree in the traffic flow.
There are eight lane highways through the city and traffic seems to fill all of them. Traffic in China is truly ‘unbelievable’ to our American sensibilities. Vehicles casually pull in front of other drivers with impunity, trusting that the driver behind won’t actually crash into them. In China, drivers ebb and flow “with the traffic’ as it were, and everyone accepts such driving behavior with equanimity. Even bicycle riders will pull out into heavy traffic with calm assurance nobody will run over them.
Producer Johnson commented, “I expected China to be sort of a dirty place with littered streets. Not true today. At five in the morning, street sweepers will be working the streets of the major cities I visited. In Harbin for instance, one of the smaller cities (8-1⁄2 million people, still larger than NYC) motorized trucks would pass through after the streets were swept for washing. This continued throughout the day.”
Everywhere there are tourists by the hundreds. They are Chinese tourists; not so many are foreigners. Chinese in great numbers are visiting all the monuments and historic places in China today.
On the Great Wall (which the Chinese call the long wall) Chinese tourists are everywhere. You may have heard that the Great Wall is the only man-made object visible from the moon. Not true. It’s not as wide as a four lane highway and there are many man-made structures that are larger.
China is now the second largest economy and still expanding. Its rate of growth is slowing now to single digit percentages rather than the double digit rate it has sustained for two decades. It is still a Country worth watching, and a Country worth knowing … a fascinating people with vibrancy, hunger and ambition to make things happen.
Plan to join the Lions Club for an interesting and educational evening about “China Rising”. Please help the Lions with their most recent fundraiser.
Food City cash cards are available in $50.00 and $100.00 amounts for gas, food or any other service offered from the store.
You get full cash value from the card and the Lions get a percentage directly from Food City. Leader Dog for the Blind is the current organization that will benefit to redesign their much needed Kennel Facility. Checks can be made out to: FFG Lions Club Fundraiser.