China: then and now

[wix]

I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I say that the pace of change in China over the past two decades or so has been enormously fast. I first visited China in 2000 and have been living here for a year now. Even in the year that I have been living in Xiamen it is amazing how quickly the city has been remodelled. Even if I go away for a few weeks when I come back old apartment buildings have been demolished, dozens of new shops have been opened (and lots of others have closed down!), etc.

My boss who is Taiwanese came to China in 1991 to open his factory. He has told me about when he first came here and it was obviously a very different place to today. It took eight hours to drive from Xiamen to the town where the factory is. Today it takes less than two hours via an expressway. For the first two months he came here he only ate mantou because the restaurants were so dirty that he didn't dare eat the food.

My grandfather visited China in 1978. I wish he was still alive so I could talk to him more about it. I can only remember a few of his stories, but it was like another world.

It would be great if some of the members of the forum who have been in China for a long time could relate some of the other changes they have seen.

[Quest]

I was born and grew up in guangzhou, when the first 13 story hotel/restaurant building erected in my district in 1986, everybody was so excited, becuase most houses were under 10 stories. Then in 1996, it took an 80+ story commericial building to cause the same hype.

in the 1980s, we still had to use allotted food stamps to buy food!! we couldn't buy more even if we had money. now some people spend as much as tens of thousands for a single meal!

[Quest]

transportation is a lot better now. in the 80s, we had ugly and dirty buses with poor ventilation, now we have ACed buses equipped with mini TVs, and a modern subway rail system. more roads have been built, i remember it took 2 hours to go to my aunt's house then, but now it only takes 30 mins.

[Ian_Lee]

The first time I went to PRC was in the late '50s just before the GLF years.

We had to catch the first star ferry that departed in 5:30 a.m., caught the coal locomotive first train at the old Tsimshatsui station to Lowu, then spent two hours at the immigration in Shenzhen (hardly any other building except some farming villages), by the time we arrived in Guangzhou it was already 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.

The most memorable thing was during the Shenzhen--Guangzhou rail trip, the train had to stop at every station. During the brief stopover, my mom bought a bowl of chicken rice from the hawkers at the platform. The bowl was made in wood and was disposable.

In 1980, after Deng opened China, we were on a trip to Nanning. Many young soldiers who might just be back from the border skirmish in Vietnam lined up on the roadside and panhandled.

Many lost either one leg or one arm.

In 1981, I was in a restaurant in Beijing. A young guy standing next to our table held a plastic bag. Right after we finished one dish, he poured all the residue into that bag.

Nowadays when I go to the restaurant in Shenzhen, they serve dim sum like "Pao Er Lai" -- literally meaning "affording a mistress".

Actually the dim sum are two custard buns made in breast shape with a yellow dot on top of the snow-white bun!