Events in my life have brought me to China again. This time for several workshops and ACM Multimedia Conference. I have a hectic professional schedule — exactly opposite of the trip a month ago.
Today I am at Huang Shan for a workshop. This small town looked really beautiful and the Hotel where I am staying is impressive — extremely modern, very good service, and amazingly clean. SO I keep getting impressed by China.
One of the most impressive thing in my experience has really been Chinese people — How friendly they are — and that appears so genuine. Take Line — our guide in Shanghai laast month — she still sends me weather information for the cities I am going to visit one month after we worked with her in Shanghai. This is concept of service without expectations of a tip. Or HaoJie — a post-doctoral student from Singapore who was our (friend and) guide during last month in Beijing — he was at Beijing Airport to help me and was all the time there until we took flight to Huang Shan. Telling them to go or not help, does not work. I can go on — …
China is definitely a transforming country and like most leading countries has some strong ‘systems’ — social, organizationl, and political — that are making it successful. I am definitely seeing and learning about human society through my visits to China.
I grow up near Huangshan, so I could imagine how you feel when you meet it for the first time. There’s some other Shangrila-like places, such as Li Jiang(means beautiful river), Feng Huang (means phoenix), Jiu Zhai Gou (means nine towns in mountain trench) etc., where you will be encircled by mountains, rivers and ancient dwellings.
As regards your story in the airport, there’s a tradition in China to wait to see guests leaving. Ancient Chinese even accompany a guest for as long as ten miles. As a result, there must be a pavilion in the suburb ten miles off the town. It is built for friends to have a rest and say goodbye. Now you may could understand why your Chinese friend didn’t follow your minds to leave.