I've always been fascinated by cities of transformation. Maybe because I live in Pittsburgh (cue the collective groan from the group that arose anytime the Pittsburghers would reference home.) But, my childhood hometown was changed from a steel town to a struggling post-industrial rust-belt town, and now back into a booming technology and medical hub of the midwest. My parents' generation (and mine as well, apparently) loves to talk about that transformation. I grew up around stories of a changing city.
I think this fascination with transformational cities influenced me to choose Shenzhen for my pre-trip report. Shenzhen is the test city of Deng Xiaoping's Special Economic Zone as he sought to "open up" China away from some of the communist economic policies that had defined the Cultural Revolution period for China. The opening of Shenzhen was successful, as it is now a bustling city with a population of over 12 million and booming technology and finance industries. China replicated the Special Economic Zone model of Shenzhen in many other cities and districts.
However, much to my chagrin, and due in part to the addition of a new direct bullet train route from Guilin to Hong Kong, it is no longer necessary to stop in Shenzhen enroute to Hong Kong. I would have to look elsewhere on this trip to see evidence of cities transformed. It turns out that's not very difficult to do in China, which has been rapidly modernizing as a nation for awhile now. Cities are rapidly transforming everywhere, including many that we went to on this trip, such as Shanghai and Yangshuo. These contrasts are very apparent but sometimes easy to overlook.
In my high school history classes my teacher would show us pictures of her trips to China where the Pudong region of Shanghai, now famous for its iconic skyline, was nothing more than a grassy riverside town. This inspired me to want to go to Shanghai and see this for myself. My own experience with Shanghai is that its historic district is deeply entwined with its modern side. A few of us took a night cruise down the Huangpu River where we were struck by the contrast of seeing the bright lights of Pudong, the modern home to Shanghai's financial district. When the cruise turned around we got to view the historic but beautiful skyline of "The Bund" on the West Bank of the Huangpo river, often called Puxi. The juxtaposition of these two views, which we saw within seconds of each other, is a constant reminder that despite Shanghai's transformation into a thriving modern city, its historic roots still linger in a beautiful way.
In the French concession, which is a territory of Shanghai that was given to the French delegation in Shanghai from 1849 to 1943. The architecture of the buildings in the French Concession reflects its occupation by the French during this period. Today, the French Concession is very western and modern and reflects its past occupation by the French. We noted an important building -- the site where the first national Congress of the Communist party of China was held. Today the building is a museum. Right next door is a Shake Shake. The irony was not lost on us.
Later in the trip I was also struck by Yangshuo, a city very much transformed by tourism. It was easy to be turned off by the major tourist thoroughfare, West Street, which is lively with local business, music, and food, but also overcrowded and very overwhelming at times. When I spoke to people on the trip who had been there before, they mentioned that just in 5 years, the city appeared to have exploded with tourist growth. In my own experience, the sheer number of people was astounding, and this type of foreign tourist influx changed the types of businesses offered on West Street (KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks). Our tourist experience was affected by the quantity of domestic and foreign tourists. Especially considering we were there during a time when it rained for 3 days straight, and I still found the town to be overrun with people (acknowledging of course that we were some of those people taking over the town). We often found that the amount of people and cars, made it more difficult to engage in tourist activities such as biking.
I later discovered that Yangshuo first emerged as a tourist destination in the 80s, but the rapid tourist influx started in the 2000s. It's year tourist population doubled between 1998 and 2003, and has risen substantially since then. The World Tourism Organization chose Yangshuo to be a pilot case study for an analysis of sustainable development indicators of their tourism industry.
I had a wonderful time in Yangshuo. It's impossible to forget that while it does have many tourists, it's physical beauty is astounding. You are surrounded by the Karst mountains at all times. The Li river is frequently within view, excursions to Moon Hill and local Tea Plantations are well within a days journey. We visited the Yangshuo Cooking School, where a local woman taught us the basics of Guangxi recipes. I found all the people of the Yangshuo tourist industry to be wholly invested in helping us love their home. At the Tea Plantation, we had an enthusiastic guide, George, who also took us to a very old and overrun village filled with Ming Dynasty history. Our bike tour leader took frequent stops to make sure we saw all the local foliage and crops that Yangshuo had to offer. We ate at a restaurant called Lucy's where you could get Tuna Salad and Banana Crumble, and the owners were friendly and spoke English. These were some of the nicest people I met in all of my time in China.
As much as the tourism industry may change the experience that we, the tourists, have when we visit a place like Yangshuo, it doesn't diminish its value as an industry for the people of Yangshuo. I am reflecting back on of all the people we met who rely on tourism for their livelihood, both foreign and domestic, and how this industry affects them positively and negatively. This transformation of tourism may not always be positive for the town itself. Certainly, it takes a toll on the infrastructure and the environment. (With three days straight of rain, we saw quite a bit of flooding). Visiting a place like Yangshuo has helped me to see the cost and value of tourism on a city and the types of decisions governments must weigh as they accommodate close to a million tourists a year.
Both Shanghai and Yangshuo are cities transformed. Though they are very different cities, they speak to a diverse China that is rapidly changing in many different ways. This experience has certainly fueled my desire to return to China soon to see how these cities continue to grow and change.
Study Tour
