Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
Villages, not glitz, show a country's history and culture
By Fernando Bensuaski |
June 24, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DEAR Mr Wan Lixin,
Another important topic in Wednesday?s column òDevelopers ?copy? quaint Austrian village while razing Chinese hamlets.ó
The column itself is very complex with at least four topics that can be debated and expounded upon extensively.
As a person who has visited 56 countries (20 or so of them extensively), I would like your permission to focus on the last sentence of your excellent article: òWhere are our own traditional Chinese villages?ó
A few years back, a long-time friend from Philadelphia wrote to tell me that he needed to be in South Korea for a week and would like to come to Shanghai with his wife for 24 hours. Since he had never been here, he asked if I could organize a mini tour of the city. My friend is cultured, educated and well-traveled.
I asked my assistant (a Harbin girl living in Shanghai for some time) to organize a detailed tour from breakfast to dinner. What she put together caught me by surprise: start at People?s Square, walk along the Bund, go to Plaza 66, then to Lujiazui, back to Hongqiao, and finish at our offices on Huaihai Zhonglu. She had put her heart into it; this is the China she wanted to show an honored guest.
However, to me, Lujiazui is like Dallas, Plaza 66 a pleasant mall that could be in Los Angeles, and the Bund an attractive, well-sited reproduction of London.
My friends were coming here to see China.
At my direction, we left their hotel after breakfast and headed to Wuzhen. On the way back, we stopped at both the Longhua Temple and Longhua Cemetery, walked a few blocks around Yongfu Lu, and ended at the Bund after sunset.
I chose Wuzhen because we did not have time to go to Pingyao. To me, the villages (whether in Tuscany, East Anglia, Provence or Bavaria) represent the heart of a country, its history and its culture.
Yes, Feng Jicai is right: they need to be preserved and promoted.
Another important topic in Wednesday?s column òDevelopers ?copy? quaint Austrian village while razing Chinese hamlets.ó
The column itself is very complex with at least four topics that can be debated and expounded upon extensively.
As a person who has visited 56 countries (20 or so of them extensively), I would like your permission to focus on the last sentence of your excellent article: òWhere are our own traditional Chinese villages?ó
A few years back, a long-time friend from Philadelphia wrote to tell me that he needed to be in South Korea for a week and would like to come to Shanghai with his wife for 24 hours. Since he had never been here, he asked if I could organize a mini tour of the city. My friend is cultured, educated and well-traveled.
I asked my assistant (a Harbin girl living in Shanghai for some time) to organize a detailed tour from breakfast to dinner. What she put together caught me by surprise: start at People?s Square, walk along the Bund, go to Plaza 66, then to Lujiazui, back to Hongqiao, and finish at our offices on Huaihai Zhonglu. She had put her heart into it; this is the China she wanted to show an honored guest.
However, to me, Lujiazui is like Dallas, Plaza 66 a pleasant mall that could be in Los Angeles, and the Bund an attractive, well-sited reproduction of London.
My friends were coming here to see China.
At my direction, we left their hotel after breakfast and headed to Wuzhen. On the way back, we stopped at both the Longhua Temple and Longhua Cemetery, walked a few blocks around Yongfu Lu, and ended at the Bund after sunset.
I chose Wuzhen because we did not have time to go to Pingyao. To me, the villages (whether in Tuscany, East Anglia, Provence or Bavaria) represent the heart of a country, its history and its culture.
Yes, Feng Jicai is right: they need to be preserved and promoted.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
