The Three Gorges Dam tonishing modern metropolis of where everyone can have a dream.
One of the highlights was boarding a gleaming skyscrapers and western In the past, no matter how hard the
smaller sightseeing vessel for a cruise designer boutiques. I mused that people worked, there was no future.”
through the Yangtze River’s Lesser the scope of the construction echoes The future, I thought. The key
Three Gorges, a spectacular scenic the building of the Great Wall. word. China has been propelled into
journey. The following day we took As I had observed in Beijing, the new world by a booming econo-
a short bus trip to Three Gorges Dam, Americans have landed in force in my. Given a stable political climate,
the world’s largest dam, scheduled China — so much so that the govern- perhaps new communism can go a
for completion in 2009. This im- ment is concerned, not about the long way in providing its masses of
mense hydroelectric project will dis- migration of capitalism and an open people a better life and a better liv-
place 1.5 million people, submerging economy (government slogans cry ing and future, without the terror of
2,000 villages and towns and several out, “To get rich is glorious”) — but the Great Leap Forward, the disaster
archaeological sites. Though con- about calories instead. The Chinese of the Cultural Revolution — or the
troversial, the dam will supply one- are gaining weight, to the point that massacre at Tiananmen Square.
ninth of the nation’s electricity (equal the government is concerned about Perhaps the students on that
to the power of 15 nuclear plants) obesity. Shanghai boasts a variety fateful day in Tiananmen Square ac-
and reduce pollution (China burns of franchises, from McDonald’s and complished their goals: Their act of
50 million tons of coal annually). Pizza Hut to Wal-Mart and Starbucks. defi ance has been one of the forces
The following day, we were The Chinese have come up with a to guide China into a new direction,
bused to what surprisingly became as was the man who challenged the
the highlight of the trip: Not a
palace, pagoda, or temple, but
China has been pro-
government’s tanks. Despite efforts,
Western media sources have not
a children’s school.
pelled into the new
been able to identify that solitary fi g-
world by a boom-
ure. Time magazine dubbed him the
Viking Jingzhou Primary
School
ing economy. ...
unknown rebel — perhaps a fi tting
The children, ages 5 to 8, were lined
Perhaps new com-
epitaph to an everyday man who de-
up waiting for us as we got off the
munism can go a
fi ed old communism. MO
buses. The kids were smiling, laugh- long way in provid-
ing, and holding up their fi ngers in
ing its masses of
the peace sign. I walked by and bent
over to give high fi ves and low fi ves
people a better life.
to tiny hands. They were exuberant,
yet they were children of parents who
had no money to pay for the school. new innovation — McDonald’s ki-
Viking sponsors the 800 children osks. These plastic cocoons with the
enrolled. More than one of the Ameri- golden arches emblazoned on three
can tourists, eyes glistening with tears sides have walk-up windows through
as we left, wanted to take an armful which a clerk dispenses Big Macs.
of children back with them. I walked Shanghai’s major thor-
After several more days of pleas- oughfares, wandering into six-story
antly cruising the river, we arrived malls that looked like Hollywood
in Shanghai. spaceships interiors. I saw thousands
of young Chinese people taking pic-
From Village to Metropolis tures with cell phones and shopping,
It was an overcast day when we ar- buying everything from Chanel per-
rived in Shanghai. I had read that the fume to Nike sneakers.
city began as a fi shing village 5,000 I told our guide that the people
years ago and now is a cosmopolitan looked happy. He replied, “Yes, com-
city of more than 20 million people. pared to the situation 25 years ago.
It has more construction projects The difference today, even with sin-
than anywhere in the world, an as- gle-party rule, is China is now a place
SSept_china.indd
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