Quaint or ANother Asia II

the 1st word comin to mind bout China for mi is quaint...interestin society that is realli at a crossroads of rural-ancient and urban-modern...so u see a mix of both old n new, current n archaic in today's China..esp e outlyin small towns n second-tier cities..

i onli went to my uncle's small township outside Guangzhou province, known as Zhongshan...prob due to e presence of a high central hill in e middle of the town that has had telecommunications towers n power grid lines added to it in e last 5 to 10 years...i must say dat the town is planned more orderly n not nearly as haphazard as Hong Kong..

travelled to Zhong shan by ferry which is actually a fast-craft not unlike those they hav bringin lost souls to the charmin lil' island of Pulau Tekong...onboard I saw this darn crude advertisment for Chinese Sausages..realli,man, Chinese Companies hav a long way to go in advertisin..lackin in taste n finese man..

then there were the Cultural Revolution Era slogans found on bright red banners at street corners n major junctions exhortin locals to study hard n contribute to civic society as well as live free of 'corrupt' morals...also the state production license certificates n quality 'Inspection' documentation found in all commercial stores n shops which are a throwback to another year or generation of 'state supervision'...

one can see images of a rural China seekin to live in transition with modernity again on the major highways n expressways..passin a roadside shack sellin honey from a bee-farm n seein trishaws, bicycles n farm tractors..tractors! goin on to e expressway carryin hay...u realli see dat other side of China not evident in economic reports n news telecasts..add to dat the image of a plantation 2 km from a major shoppin mall n adjacent to a main road..u get e picture of a China tryin to be inclusive but not wildly successful in doin so at e moment..

of course, there is great evidence of piracy n IP-infringement in China...for instance, i saw this CHi brand usin e same logo design n background as Dunhill but with e words 'Duobile' in place..n sellin e same type of shirts n clothes as Dunhill lor..but i must say, the quality of cut n material is as good as the original..like somebody stole the material from the Dunhill factory, sewed it with e same machines n sold it at just above e cost of e materials n workmanshp..no wonder e ang mohs hate us chinese haha..

finalli, stayin in e hotel at Zhongshan, i noticed a curious thing...in e middle of e nite, certain scantilly-clad n (i must say) attractive women with high-pitched voices come knockin at hotel room doors..their intent is obvious esp when they ask if u called for 'room service' when quite obviously, one did not..n it was a reputable 4-star 'govt approved' hotel i was stayin in lor...gives one room for tot rite...or fantasy...;-)