Modern KunmingI've come to realize that I can't really say "China" when characterizing my experience here. China's just too complex and enormous for that. My myopia started to become apparent when we hit the city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province. Yunnan alone which, in three weeks, we've just started to get a feel for, is a bit larger than California and has 45 million people; several million of which are ethnic minorities with cultures much different than the majority Han Chinese. Sometimes Tami and I feel like we are in an Andean village in Peru, sometimes in a farm valley in Burma. If a person had the time and money, a fantastic trip would be to enter China at a distant southern or western border and travel slowly overland to Beijing or Shanghai. As we've moved north from Laos, the changes have revealed what a huge, teeming country this is.
Prosperity and energy were apparent from the moment we crossed over from Laos. I was in no way prepared for Kunming, though. Accurate numbers are hard to come by because China is changing so rapidly. Our guidebook published in 2003 says Kunming had about four million people at that time. We spoke with a local man who worked for China Railways. He was an engineer and seemed to be very well informed. He said the current figure was closer to five million and the government expected (and was building out the infrastructure to accomodate) a doubling of that to ten million by 2020. Sheesh! We have two metro areas of ten million in the US - LA and NYC. People here keep telling us Kunming is a small, big city in China.
Tami with Kunming Behind
Whatever... numbers only tell part of the story. Visiting Kunming felt, for the first time since Bangkok, like visiting a full-fledged, modern metropolis with all the accoutrements: forests of skyscrapers, constant passenger jet traffic, bright lights and so on. It was not unexpected to find that the people of Kunming while nice, were a bit more like city people everywhere - busy with their own lives and fairly indifferent to a couple of foreigners walking their streets. That said, we did have a handful of very nice interactions and conversations with Kunmingers. Virtually very person we asked for help, whether it was a bus driver or a shoe repair person, took care of us with a smile. I'm starting to think they put courtesy dust in the water here.
Kunming's New "Old City"
Kunming is an old city. They even have what they call an "old city". What's left of that is going away very quickly, though. From what we've read and what we're seeing, the Chinese have not been sentimental about old buildings. Many "old cities" - some centuries old - around the country have been razed to make way for modern towers. Kunming stands as a stark example of that. Here and there you see rickety old slices of villages nestled among modern glass, steel and concrete. Even the area city developers are calling "old Kunming" seems destined for a ground-up makeover. Pretty much every city we've visited has buildings or neighborhoods constucted in traditional styles. Apparently they do this, not out of a love for the past but with the understanding that "old" is what Chinese (and foreign but to a lesser extent) tourists want to see. I'll give them this much, they stick to traditional styles and use local craftspeople. I've never seen so much hand carved stone and wood.
When they cast their eyes to the future, the gloves really come off. Kunming's avenues and huge pedestrian areas show an awareness of what design qualities make for a grand urban experience. The Chinese are clearly thinking big and thinking long-term.
Of course, "long-term" begs a bigger question or two. They seem to be building with only slightly more regard for dwinding oil supplies than we do at home. They're building up with towers rather than out "ex-burbs". American style ex-burbs are unlivable without cars. We've seen rail lines being constructed on a massive scale. That's certainly more efficient for moving people and goods than cars and trucks but it won't be enough. They are following a resource gulping, consumerist model that is adding fuel to the already raging fire.
Prosperity and energy were apparent from the moment we crossed over from Laos. I was in no way prepared for Kunming, though. Accurate numbers are hard to come by because China is changing so rapidly. Our guidebook published in 2003 says Kunming had about four million people at that time. We spoke with a local man who worked for China Railways. He was an engineer and seemed to be very well informed. He said the current figure was closer to five million and the government expected (and was building out the infrastructure to accomodate) a doubling of that to ten million by 2020. Sheesh! We have two metro areas of ten million in the US - LA and NYC. People here keep telling us Kunming is a small, big city in China.
Tami with Kunming BehindWhatever... numbers only tell part of the story. Visiting Kunming felt, for the first time since Bangkok, like visiting a full-fledged, modern metropolis with all the accoutrements: forests of skyscrapers, constant passenger jet traffic, bright lights and so on. It was not unexpected to find that the people of Kunming while nice, were a bit more like city people everywhere - busy with their own lives and fairly indifferent to a couple of foreigners walking their streets. That said, we did have a handful of very nice interactions and conversations with Kunmingers. Virtually very person we asked for help, whether it was a bus driver or a shoe repair person, took care of us with a smile. I'm starting to think they put courtesy dust in the water here.
Kunming's New "Old City"Kunming is an old city. They even have what they call an "old city". What's left of that is going away very quickly, though. From what we've read and what we're seeing, the Chinese have not been sentimental about old buildings. Many "old cities" - some centuries old - around the country have been razed to make way for modern towers. Kunming stands as a stark example of that. Here and there you see rickety old slices of villages nestled among modern glass, steel and concrete. Even the area city developers are calling "old Kunming" seems destined for a ground-up makeover. Pretty much every city we've visited has buildings or neighborhoods constucted in traditional styles. Apparently they do this, not out of a love for the past but with the understanding that "old" is what Chinese (and foreign but to a lesser extent) tourists want to see. I'll give them this much, they stick to traditional styles and use local craftspeople. I've never seen so much hand carved stone and wood.
When they cast their eyes to the future, the gloves really come off. Kunming's avenues and huge pedestrian areas show an awareness of what design qualities make for a grand urban experience. The Chinese are clearly thinking big and thinking long-term.
Of course, "long-term" begs a bigger question or two. They seem to be building with only slightly more regard for dwinding oil supplies than we do at home. They're building up with towers rather than out "ex-burbs". American style ex-burbs are unlivable without cars. We've seen rail lines being constructed on a massive scale. That's certainly more efficient for moving people and goods than cars and trucks but it won't be enough. They are following a resource gulping, consumerist model that is adding fuel to the already raging fire.
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