TABLE
OF CONTENTS
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A
Guillin Bus Ride
By Suzanne Schefcik
As our ship
docked into Hong Kong Harbor, my group of traveling companions and
I
decided that mainland China
would be our next destination. Due to the fact that our ship hit a
typhoon and
detoured from the coast of Qingdao, China,
my
travel plans to Beiijng were also detoured. The cost to get to Beijing
from Hong Kong was a little out of
our price
range and we decided upon the next best thing, Guillin. An overnight
bus ride
seemed like an easy route into the country. As we bought our tickets,
we
realized that the language barrier was terrible. The women behind the
desk did
not speak a word of English and we did not speak Chinese. Chinese
symbols were
completely foreign to us and we had no idea what our ticket read in
English. We
were unsure where our tickets would bring us as we hopped on the bus
that
evening.
The bus
contained rows of bunk beds containing a single
pillow and blanket. The beds were about two feet
across and five feet long. I
was far too large for the beds, but I made my best effort to fall
asleep. I
awoke to a terrifying site; darkness, dirt and army trucks. Where were
we?
There was no real road outside the bus window and the potholes felt
like small
earthquakes as we drove over them. I looked down from my top bunk and
realized
that we had picked up a number of native Chinese men who now slept
soundly in
their beds. This apparently was routine for them, so my terror at this
unfamiliar sight subsided.
As
I pondered the
situation, I began to realize that many Chinese citizens do not have
the
opportunity to buy their own cars, afford plane tickets or have
alternative
ways in order to reach their final destinations. The train system in China was nothing compared to Japan.
The Japanese
rail system covers nearly any destination within the country for a
fairly low
rate in record time. In China,
this was quite the opposite. The price of train
tickets in China
was
unreasonable and trains took days to reach their destination. Along
with this,
the conditions of the Chinese trains were dirty and unsafe. Japan,
on the other hand, was
immaculate and secure.
As I
compared
the two opposing countries, I began to
realize how little the government was doing in order to maintain roads
and give
people access to discrete locations throughout the country. “Transnational social networks are both rooted in
localities and part of global circuits,” according to Alan Smart in his
article
titled Participating in the Global: Transnational Social Networks
and Urban
Anthropology. This
statement applies to public transportation as a global circuit.
Although the
context in which Smart uses this sentence defines a slightly different
problem,
it correlates with my experience. The
reality of my situation really rang true as we walked through the
impoverished
streets of Guillin. Many citizens were sleeping on the streets and had
little
or no money. By no means would they be able to afford a plane or train
ticket
to far away destinations in China.
It dawned on me that we were seeing more of their country than they
were and it
made me feel terrible.
By using my own
previous knowledge of transportation within different countries outside
of China,
it is easier to make note of differences and underlying factors that
shape the
public way of life. Chinese buses, which remain an important mode of
transport
for many, are very different from any I have ever encountered. With
rows of
bunk beds as seats and a large number of passengers, I feel that this
vehicle
apparently services lower class people to job sites, families and
friends. It
provides transport at a lower cost that more can afford, but not all.
The social and
economic
conditions in which China
is in can be reflected through the movement and transportation efforts
of its
people. With the opportunity to see the world, or even one’s own
country, opens
the mind to new ideas and opportunities. Those who do not have this
opportunity
have little experience outside the small village or city in which they
live.
This could prove to be a problem for many Chinese citizens.
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