China

I entered the country of China as a participant in a goodwill tour in which I was one of fifteen US basketball players who were slated to play five games against China’s National Team. These games took place in five cities, and there was very little time to understand the differences in the regions of the country. Since having made that trip, however, I have been able to gather enough information to share with you. Again, I encourageyou to remember the aforedisplayed disclaimer.

The country of China has 666 cities, 23 Provinces, 5 Autonomous Regions, 4 Central Admin. municipalities, 2 special Administrative regions. (see below) The land area covers 9.5 M sq Mi.. Beijing is the Capital, and have a population of 1,304.2M . They have 106 men per 100 women with an adult literacy of 90.9%. Their currency is the Yuan and there are about 8 Yuans per USD. Their flag has Five Yellow stars on a redbackground. One large star partially encircled with four others; The national animal is the Panda Bear, the flower is the Peony, their tree, the?????, their stone, the Jade, their >>>>>, the ???????, the.

The Chinese have had nine dynasties (see below); the Yuan Dynasty lasted from 1206-1320 and was hosted 6 emperors. The Chinese currency was obviously named after this dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty was proceeded the Song, Tang, Sui, Jin, Han, and the Quin Dynasties. Following the Yuan Dynasty were the Ming and Qing (Ch’ing), Dynasties. With each hosting 12 emperors. The Boxer Revolution of 1900 was crushed by foreign armies sent to rescue the foreigners, missionaries and converts in China. The defeat of the Boxers weakened Qing Dynasty and when Young Modi, Qing ascended the throne in 1909, his rule lasted two years. Modi Qing was the last emperor. In 1912 Sun Yat-Sen became the first president of China. He is called the Father of Revolution, but his presidency only lasted two months. Despite this short rule, today his picture is posted opposite Chairman Mao’s in Tiananmen Square. Chiang Kai-Shek followed Sun, and China was ushered into twentieth century under Mao Zedong, Hua Guofeng and a confusing defacto leadership under Deng Xiaoping spanded Hu Yaobang and Jiang Zemin until his death in 1997 and Hu Jintao, followed Jiang Zemin.

With China being such an early culture and occupying such a large area, there are many ancient sites and artifacts to witness, but the Great Wall is in fact the most impressive sight that can be imagined without the of modern technology. The wall is 7000 km long and its width 15-30Ft and height up to 25 ft varies pending adequacy or inadequacy of the terrain to provide military protection against the Northern tribes (the Huns).Building the wall cost the people dearly in lives sacrificed in labor and toil. The Great Wall is so impressive structure in size, that it is said to be visible from the the earth’s orbit.

I think if I had been a member of the central committee authorizing the building of the wall, I would have made the first and most impressive Power Point presentation. Despite my affinity for peace, I see it more humane go to war than build a wall that would have been marginal at best to prevent the enemy’s breach. Once breached, one would have to fight anyway. So make workers into soldiers and place a sword not a trial in their hands. country that invented gun powder should have to cower to an army of guys on a few horses. After all, my understanding was that Gingus Kahn was put to death by one woman in one night with one drink laced with poison. I think that would be classified today as chemical warfare.

Some of the less impressive things and sights I found in China include the two humped camel. I grew up knowing the one hump camel on the Camel cigarette pack, and I never though that the number of humps differentiated the camels into geographical regions and different species in their class. The Dromedary is the hump camel, and the two hump camels are called Bactrian. I don’t see the two hump camel faring as well in the camel foot race popularized in Saudi Arabia and some Muslim areas. In 1999 scientist identified 169 wild Bactrian Camels in China that were of a different genetic makeup from those in captivity. Work is underway to create a preserve to protect them and assure their continued existence.

Many Chinese eat in the round, with the food placed in bolds or plated on a large Lazy Susan. The table often seats ten or less, and of course Chop Sticks are the implements of choice. Here again, my representation on Central Committee selecting the implements for eating would have ruled out the Chop Sticks in favor of the spoon and fork combination having a knife at the other end. Chop Sticks don’t cut worth a dam. Also there’s probably a retrieval concern for Americans. The Chinese remove pieces of food from the center plate, place their mouth and return for more. Talking about double dipping, man they take that practice to the extreme. regard to eating in the Province of Sichuan, be prepared for hot and spicy foods. They have these set-a-side dishes with various colors and questionable textures. Stay away from them because the tea won’t save your mouth, and cola only raises the intensity of the fire. The Sichuan Province and many others are fond of Watermelon. I think this is one of the places in the world where a Black American can eat Watermelon in public without being self conscious. I didn’t find candy readily available in any variety, Thank god for 7-Eleven, you can always find a Snickers bar on hand, and even in Beijing one can find a Snickers at a reasonable price.

I noticed the adult reverence for children. Whenever there was a child, an adult was in contact. They didn’t use strollers or carriages. They carry the chills even when they sleep. I witnessed a father carrying a child on his climb up the Great wall. That was a taxing climb for one alone, and this child was old enough to walk. I think would have awakened him and coaxed him up the wall.

In some areas, there is a high level of appreciation for cleanliness. I saw people on the highways with brooms, and in some cities there’s no trash of any kind on the streets and no graffiti on the walls. But, I ate in a Greasy Spoon near the air port where customers discarded their bones from their mouth to the floor or on the table. The Chinese characters are a standard communication configuration, though pronunciation or enunciation variesfrom region to region. As such, Chinese from different regions are often unable to understand each, but they always default to the written standard language. I think the early invention of the printing forged nationalization of the written form of their pictorial language. Unlike the phonetic alphabet (symbols representing sounds) by most modern cultures, the Chinese characters represent ideas. I was reminded of a 60’s media guru Marshall McLuhan who claimed three media stages that detribalized our culture i.e. the phonetic alphabet, the Gutenberg Galaxy, and the electronic media the TV. His point, as I understand it, is each of these forms of media developed our brain to a more complex level making us more developed than previous that we could never home again as the person we were. I often wondered what is the effect of order in being detribalized, and what does it mean if the Chinese were never detribalized via the phonetic alphabet. Perhaps the same thing occurs other means. After all aren’t musical notes a form of mental conversion of symbols into hand position on an instruments?

Have a good visit to China, I hope the following information will help your understanding and your interest this old and wonderful culture.

Municipalities are directly under the administration of central government. A municipality has the same political, economical and jurisdictional rights as a province;

Special Administrative Regions (SAR) was established specially designed for solving Hong Kong and Macao issues and based on the concept of "one country, two systems", SAR is in a pattern within which two completely different social systems (socialist system and capitalist system) and ideologies can coexist, SAR has more autonomous power regulated clearly by laws, including executive, legislative and independent judicial power.

Taiwan Issue: a result of China's civil war in late 1940s'. In the earlier years of separation of mainland China and Taiwan, both sides of China (also called People's Republic of China "PRC" or "communist China", "Red China", "mainland China") and Taiwan (also called Republic of China "ROC") claim the legal sovereignty over China. Mainland China keeps claiming Taiwan as one of its provinces while Taiwan regards itself as an independent country.)

Spain

England

I entered the country of England with four thoughts or misconceptions to which I wanted clarification:

1. What was the difference between Britain, Great Britain, British Isles, and the United Kingdom?

2. What is, and the history of, the rhyming speech used by the inhabitants of these isles in which they understand, but the rest of the world is at a lost.

3. I wanted to hear their accents, and set up a question to which they would answer and ask me for the answer at the same time.

While these are not earth shaking issues, they are points of interest that have been with me for my young life. All other interest are adequately satisfied by qualified tours and their guides. I invite you to visit those places that I visited by clicking on the following sites:

The Tower of London: http://www.toweroflondontour.com/
The changing of the Guard: http://www.freefoto.com/browse.jsp?id=31-36-0
Big Ben: http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/bigben.htm
Westminster Abbey: http://www.europeanphotoalbum.com/england.html
London’s Eye
Parliament
London’s Hard Rock Café: http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes/Cafes.aspx?Lc=LOND
Thames River: http://www.danheller.com/london-thames.html

1. What was the difference between Britain, Great Britain, British Isles, and the United Kingdom?

Though I have titled this visit as my impressions of Britain. I do so to correct a distorted understanding of the British possessions often referred to or defined in three or four ways. I’ll allow the experts to explain below:

GREAT BRITAIN, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE BRITISH ISLES, BRITISH ISLANDS

Many are not aware of the precise meaning of the term "Great Britain". Even many British are unaware of the precise reality that the term expresses. Try asking a person living in the United Kingdom the exact meaning of the expression they have on their passports: "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Many will not be able to provide an adequate answer. No wonder, therefore, that confusion also exists outside the United Kingdom and that in other European countries people erroneously group together the English, Scottish and Welsh under the word in their own language meaning "English". Hence, for example, the French commonly group them together in the term "anglais" and the Italians "inglesi"). This can be a cause of offence for the Scottish and the Welsh.Here we shall try to explain the meaning of the terms "Great Britain", "United Kingdom", "British Islands" and "British Isles" as wells as the political and geographical realities that they express.Great BritainGreat Britain is the largest island in Europe. "Great Britain" is the collective name for the three countries of England, Scotland and Wales. It also includes the small adjacent islands but it does not include the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.The term "Great Britain" came into being when England and Scotland became a single kingdom under King James VI of Scotland who also became King James I of England, after the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. It must be remembered, however, that this was not a political union but merely the union of the crowns of the two countries. Politically they were still two states, each with its own Parliament. Political union came about only during the reign of Queen Anne, in 1707. It was in this year that the Scottish Parliament assembled for the last time and the formal union of Parliaments was effected. It was on 1 May of that same year that the "United Kingdom of Great Britain" came into existence.Under Edward I the conquest of Wales was completed and Wales was united to England under Henry VIII, the second monarch descended from the Welsh House of Tudor. This union was ratified by two Acts of Parliament in 1536 and again in 1543.

The adjective "British"

The adjective "British" is, of course, used in relation to Great Britain but there is also a common tendency to use it when referring to issues relating to both Great Britain and the United Kingdom. This is inaccurate and from a legal point of view erroneous.Sometimes, however, in legislation the term "British" is used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole, especially in matters relating to the question of nationality.

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is made up of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The official name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" came into use in 1922 after the constitution of the Irish Free State (1922-1937), the former name of the Republic of Ireland.The whole of Ireland had been united to Great Britain by an Act of Parliament in 1800 and which took effect in January 1801. However, this union had never been popular in Ireland and became the target of Irish Nationalist leaders ever since. The union of the whole of Ireland with Great Britain lasted until the constitution of the Irish Free State. The Treaty that sanctioned the separation laid down that the six counties in the north should remain united to Great Britain hence constituting Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom but not part of Great Britain.Therefore, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, used to indicate the political union of England, Scotland and Wales, was expanded, in the 20th century, to include Northern Ireland: the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" as it now appears on passports.When speaking of the United Kingdom and its constituent parts it is important to use the correct terminology. In 1969 the Royal Commission on the Constitution was set up with the aim of examining the relation between central legislature and government on one hand and the "several countries, nations and regions of the United Kingdom" on the other. The words "countries", "nations" and "regions" reveal a certain vagueness which was eventually resolved by the Report of the Commission.The Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are not part of Great Britain, they are not part of the United Kingdom and neither are they part of the European Union. They are self-governing British Crown dependencies.

The British Islands

The expression "British Islands" has been defined in the Interpretation Act 1978 as meaning the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The Republic of Ireland is not included in this definition.

The British Isles

The expression "British Isles" is geographical and not political. They are a group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe consisting of Great Britain, the whole of Ireland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Isle of Wight, the Scilly Islands, Lundy Island, the Channel Islands and many other smaller islands. A list of the main islands of Great Britain is to be found on another page on this site.

2. What is and the history of the rhyming speech used by the inhabitants of these isles in which they understand, but the rest of the world is at a lost. See below.

3. I wanted to hear their accents, and set up a question to which they would answer and ask me for the answer at the same time.

Deane: Pardon me madam, but could you give me direction to the Hard Rock Café?

Respondent: Why you just go down and take the underground to the second stop, don’t you?

My Personal Advice: Unless you’re sure of yourself, don’t attempt to identify the nationality of someone by their accent. Refer to a UK accent to be safe.

Example:

Deane: Do I detect a UK accent ?

Respondent: You certainly do, I’m from New Zealand.

Deane’s private thoughts: Damn, I thought you were from Canada.