Eric's Beijing Diary

Last night, Linda, George and I walked around downtown Shenzhen. We started at the large city park right near the central business district. It is a beautiful center, somehow similar to the "town square" of any number of cities I have been to, but bigger and obviously much better financed than most. Lots of tree lined paths, and a lake (probably man-made) area. Much like the other town squares I have seen in China, it is a place for local people to come and unwind. But Linda told me that some time ago, there were young people camped out in the park--young people from all over China. For so many years, the thought, "if I can only get to Shenzhen..." has propelled hopeful job/adventure seeking individuals here for the purpose of seizing opportunities that might be unthinkable in their home communities. The surprise of it is that for so many years, the roaring economy of Shenzhen has actually been able to absorb these people and give them work.

It is just about impossible to even know how many people live here. I have heard estimates of anywhere from 10-12 million. But just about any population figure you see is sure to be inaccurate, because the population has been changing so fast. And the city is really a city "out of place." This is South China. The street language of South China is Cantonese, or some form of it. Even the citizens of Beihai speak a version of Cantonese, but certainly Guangzhou nearby, and Hong Kong, directly to the south. But the street language of Shenzhen is Mandarin. That's because these people are not from South China. They are from all over China. Farmers and working people have come to get work in one of the thousands of factories that have grown up to manufacture every conceivable product brought to them from all over the world. And professional people have come to fill the need for buyers, engineers, and managers in the many foreign companies that have set up offices in this city. Shenzhen is basically catching the overflow from Hong Kong.

I don't know if I would want to live here, not because it is not a pretty city, but because there is something very unusual about a city that is so completely devoid of history. I guess it is not that there are so many new buildings. It is that there are absolutely no old buildings. Actually, that is not quite true. Some of the older apartment buildings were put up in the eighties, when this phenomenon first started. They have certainly had a traffic of thousands coming and going, and they have an old feel to them. But there's just no way you can compare a city like this, where there are no buildings more than 30 years old, to a city like Beijing, which is so rich in history. Get up on a Saturday morning in Beijing, and cycle down toward the Forbidden City, ride around the palace moat, then get lost among the hutongs. Or catch a bus out to the wall, and gaze out through the parapets at the wildness of Manchuria. Shenzhen? Not possible. Yes, you can find a few buildings that look a bit worn out. But there is absolutely nothing ancient in this city.

Still, the city is interesting in it's own way. This is South China, so it is warm and very humid. I am not a Southerner by nature, so it is definitely not my preferred climate. But this city is pretty. I don't know if it actually is the "richest city in China," as they say, but there is certainly plenty of evidence to support that moniker. There are 30-story high rise apartments that have a beautiful garden every two floors. It's kinda weird walking the foot path of a garden 20 or thirty floors above the street, but it does make for a very nice urban dwelling.

On Sunday's, Linda usually goes to a Chinese church in the morning, and an English fellowship in the afternoon. But she wanted to have a Bible Study this morning, so we went to a coffee bar with George, one of her co-workers who lives in her company dormitory, and had a nice time chatting about God's purpose in our lives. This afternoon, we took the subway to a different part of town where there is an English-language home fellowship. Home fellowships are a very big part of the church in China. Although there is a "small group" movement in America, too, in China, it is basically a way of life. Many Christians go to the Three-Self church on Sundays, and some other small fellowship at least once during the week.

We decided to go back to the dormitory a little earlier tonight, since I am leaving tomorrow. The dormitory where George and Linda live is owned (or, more likely leased) by their company. This is a very common practice in China. Many times companies cannot get employees if they do not provide some kind of basic housing. But there are dormitories, and there are dormitories. I live in the teacher's dormitory at Beihang, but it isn't really a dormitory in the strictest sense. The dormitory rooms at Beihang are actually small, one bedroom apartments. But a company dormitory is much different. In George and Linda's dormitory, the men and women are separated as to sleeping quarters, but they do have to use the same wash area, and there is no washing machine, so they have to wash all their clothes by hand. Linda is the only woman right now, so she has a room to herself, but in the men's area, there are five or six guys in one room. I suppose it is not the worst thing for young working people to be a little crowded, but the part about having to do all their own laundry by hand seems a bit unfair to me. It wouldn't cost the company that much to buy a small washing machine. But those are my sentiments. I never heard any of these young people complain about having to wash their clothes by hand. They seem to take it in stride.