fncceo
Diamond Member
- Nov 29, 2016
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I just returned from a three-week tour of China where most of the focus was on natural wonders. But, I did spend my first three days in Beijing enjoying the sights and historical wonders.
As the only foreigner in three separate tour groups made up of Chinese national, (my girlfriend of many years being my interpreter) I came away with what I hope is an unfiltered look at the country that many tourists don't get.
On the second day of the tour, while still in the grip of jet-lag, it was suggested that I might want to join the group going to see the flag-raising ceremony in Tienanmen Square that occurs at dawn every morning rain or shine. I was told we had to leave at 2:30 AM, which seemed a bit early for a 4:30 AM sunrise, but I acquiesced.
I was expecting to see a dozen or so similarly sleepy-eyed insomniacs who came to see the short ceremony before grabbing a McDonald's breakfast (located conveniently across the road from Tienanmen Square) and back to bed.
What I didn't expect was to see thousands of people pouring out of buses and subway trains (I stopped counting after about a hundred tourist buses) to line up to get into the square. I would conservatively at about 25,000 people pushing and running in the square to get as close to to the flag as possible. What I thought was an early arrival and unapologetic rugby scrum tactics was only able to get my girlfriend and I within 100 yards or so of the flagpole ... a prestigious position compared to the 15,000 or more less competitive onlookers behind me.
The ceremony itself is simple, a group of men march out (none of which I could see behind ten thousand people armed with phones and selfie-sticks) , raise the flag, the national anthem is played over a PA (the only nation anthem in the world that originally came from a movie) and its done. The next several hours is spent taking photos the each other and the monuments in and around the square and eating all the food that people miraculously pull from their purses, shopping bags, and haversacks.
The reason I bring this up as a cautionary tale is that morning wasn't special. It was a normal Thursday Summer morning, not a holiday, not even particularly good weather ( a lot of morning haze). This is not a mandatory thing. No attendance is taken and no one receives brownie points for being there at O'Dark Thirtry to watch the very simple show. This is an unsolicited outpouring of national patriotism that occurs EVERY day, rain or shine, 365 days a year which Chinese consider fun.
Chinese are proud of their country in a way I haven't seen American be in my adult lifetime. I saw again and again, this pride in their country, in its progress, completely free of the self-doubt and ennui that Americans seem to enjoy.
Like Americans of the 1940s, I believe they would respond to a perceived attack on their country or values in a way no enemy would want to face.
As the only foreigner in three separate tour groups made up of Chinese national, (my girlfriend of many years being my interpreter) I came away with what I hope is an unfiltered look at the country that many tourists don't get.
On the second day of the tour, while still in the grip of jet-lag, it was suggested that I might want to join the group going to see the flag-raising ceremony in Tienanmen Square that occurs at dawn every morning rain or shine. I was told we had to leave at 2:30 AM, which seemed a bit early for a 4:30 AM sunrise, but I acquiesced.
I was expecting to see a dozen or so similarly sleepy-eyed insomniacs who came to see the short ceremony before grabbing a McDonald's breakfast (located conveniently across the road from Tienanmen Square) and back to bed.
What I didn't expect was to see thousands of people pouring out of buses and subway trains (I stopped counting after about a hundred tourist buses) to line up to get into the square. I would conservatively at about 25,000 people pushing and running in the square to get as close to to the flag as possible. What I thought was an early arrival and unapologetic rugby scrum tactics was only able to get my girlfriend and I within 100 yards or so of the flagpole ... a prestigious position compared to the 15,000 or more less competitive onlookers behind me.
The ceremony itself is simple, a group of men march out (none of which I could see behind ten thousand people armed with phones and selfie-sticks) , raise the flag, the national anthem is played over a PA (the only nation anthem in the world that originally came from a movie) and its done. The next several hours is spent taking photos the each other and the monuments in and around the square and eating all the food that people miraculously pull from their purses, shopping bags, and haversacks.
The reason I bring this up as a cautionary tale is that morning wasn't special. It was a normal Thursday Summer morning, not a holiday, not even particularly good weather ( a lot of morning haze). This is not a mandatory thing. No attendance is taken and no one receives brownie points for being there at O'Dark Thirtry to watch the very simple show. This is an unsolicited outpouring of national patriotism that occurs EVERY day, rain or shine, 365 days a year which Chinese consider fun.
Chinese are proud of their country in a way I haven't seen American be in my adult lifetime. I saw again and again, this pride in their country, in its progress, completely free of the self-doubt and ennui that Americans seem to enjoy.
Like Americans of the 1940s, I believe they would respond to a perceived attack on their country or values in a way no enemy would want to face.
