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Urging Chinese to see charming rural America
By Greg Cusack |
March 22, 2011, Tuesday
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MR Wang Yong:
AFTER having read the Shanghai Daily regularly for about a year and a half now, I have been intrigued by the reports in your paper about Chinese tourists and the places they like to visit.
Like most people who visit other countries, the Chinese people seem to love touring cities - and shopping. I have also noted the great exodus from rural countryside to China's great cities, including rapidly growing Shanghai.
In many of your own opinion pieces, you have also recounted your own journey from a smaller, more rustic environment to the canyons of a great city. Most of America's people also now live in cities. This process has been going on for almost a century here, whereas China's experience has been much more compressed.
You are right to be concerned about what this exodus will mean over time - its impact on the production of wholesome foods as well as an eroding memory of the reality of rural life by urban dwellers.
In the United States, many have chosen nonetheless to remain in, or move to, smaller communities where the rhythm of life is less hectic and more tied to land, water, and the changes of nature's seasons.
I discussed an idea with my wife the other day that she thought might have merit and should be "flown by" you for your assessment and reaction. Do you think some of the Chinese tourists who wish to visit the United States would find of interest a two-day "side trip" (say, from a nearby destination such as Chicago) to a more rural part of America?
There is much more to this country than just the size and glitter of our cities. Rural America is more relaxed, often more welcoming, and filled with interesting places and people. Plus, there are local artists and artisans who sell wares not easily found in larger American cities.
Wonderland
Where my wife Karen and I live in northeast Iowa state we can easily travel to points not only nearby in Iowa, but also in Illinois and Wisconsin. And the state of Minnesota is only a little further away. The scenery around here is spectacular! Rivers, greenery, farmsteads, rolling hills, majestic bluffs, exposed rock formations, and "old" (for America) settlements, too, many of which retain the look of earlier times.
When I look eastward to the western shore of Illinois I remember that I am looking at the original western boundary of the United States after the revolution of 1776.
Some of the earliest clashes of American native Indians and of the ever-advancing whites occurred in western and central Illinois. Indian settlements were wide-spread (native American burial grounds are all about us).
Modern riverboats (19th century-looking paddle-wheelers among them) ply these waters, carrying tourists up and down the river, passing smaller pleasure craft and massive, slow-moving barges. Wild animals are plentiful, including fox, deer, turkeys, geese and the majestic bald eagle.
If you and some of your readers think this idea of a rural option for future Chinese visitors to America has some merit, I would appreciate your letting me know. Perhaps you could put me in touch with a knowledgeable contact in China with whom I could speak (via e-mail) to further "sound out" this concept.
(The author was a member of the Iowa state House of Representatives. He also served in the Iowan executive branch. He retired in 2004. He can be reached at gloster@iowatelecom.net)
AFTER having read the Shanghai Daily regularly for about a year and a half now, I have been intrigued by the reports in your paper about Chinese tourists and the places they like to visit.
Like most people who visit other countries, the Chinese people seem to love touring cities - and shopping. I have also noted the great exodus from rural countryside to China's great cities, including rapidly growing Shanghai.
In many of your own opinion pieces, you have also recounted your own journey from a smaller, more rustic environment to the canyons of a great city. Most of America's people also now live in cities. This process has been going on for almost a century here, whereas China's experience has been much more compressed.
You are right to be concerned about what this exodus will mean over time - its impact on the production of wholesome foods as well as an eroding memory of the reality of rural life by urban dwellers.
In the United States, many have chosen nonetheless to remain in, or move to, smaller communities where the rhythm of life is less hectic and more tied to land, water, and the changes of nature's seasons.
I discussed an idea with my wife the other day that she thought might have merit and should be "flown by" you for your assessment and reaction. Do you think some of the Chinese tourists who wish to visit the United States would find of interest a two-day "side trip" (say, from a nearby destination such as Chicago) to a more rural part of America?
There is much more to this country than just the size and glitter of our cities. Rural America is more relaxed, often more welcoming, and filled with interesting places and people. Plus, there are local artists and artisans who sell wares not easily found in larger American cities.
Wonderland
Where my wife Karen and I live in northeast Iowa state we can easily travel to points not only nearby in Iowa, but also in Illinois and Wisconsin. And the state of Minnesota is only a little further away. The scenery around here is spectacular! Rivers, greenery, farmsteads, rolling hills, majestic bluffs, exposed rock formations, and "old" (for America) settlements, too, many of which retain the look of earlier times.
When I look eastward to the western shore of Illinois I remember that I am looking at the original western boundary of the United States after the revolution of 1776.
Some of the earliest clashes of American native Indians and of the ever-advancing whites occurred in western and central Illinois. Indian settlements were wide-spread (native American burial grounds are all about us).
Modern riverboats (19th century-looking paddle-wheelers among them) ply these waters, carrying tourists up and down the river, passing smaller pleasure craft and massive, slow-moving barges. Wild animals are plentiful, including fox, deer, turkeys, geese and the majestic bald eagle.
If you and some of your readers think this idea of a rural option for future Chinese visitors to America has some merit, I would appreciate your letting me know. Perhaps you could put me in touch with a knowledgeable contact in China with whom I could speak (via e-mail) to further "sound out" this concept.
(The author was a member of the Iowa state House of Representatives. He also served in the Iowan executive branch. He retired in 2004. He can be reached at gloster@iowatelecom.net)
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