Seoul and Guanzhou, the Human Side

Seoul

Guangzhou

Recently we visited Seoul, S.Korea and Guangzhou, China where Doug spoke at conferences and collaborated with colleagues.  While he was busy, I traveled around mostly on my own. Everywhere we went, people asked us to compare their country with the other Asian nations we have visited.  Here I will contrast the two cities we recently visited.

"Beer" in Mandarin

Since I speak no Cantonese and only three words of Mandarin (hello, thank you and beer--though I didn't drink any), I was grateful for anyone in Guangzhou who spoke English.  In Seoul most people know at least a little English and many are very fluent.


Despite significant language barriers, I enjoyed each city for its unique culture, sights and sounds.  I particularly loved Seoul's rich history, scenic beauty, arts and crafts, food and friendly people.  In Guangzhou, one minute I loved the excitement of the city's bustling, colorful, disheveled streets but the next minute I wanted to run away, for example, the time an old man spit and phlegm landed on my shoe.  There were a fair number of Westerners in Seoul but I was nearly the only non-Asian seen in the alleys, shops, restaurants and subways of Guangzhou. 

On my first solo day of sight-seeing in Seoul, a young man on lunch break led me around the lower level of the Korean War Memorial museum.   Almost immediately he corrected my mis-pronunciation of "Soul" and taught me to properly say "Suh-ool".  I practiced several times while standing before a display of ancient weaponry once used by a warring kingdom in its epic conflict over the fertile flood valley--now Suh-ool. This city's 21st Century economic miracle has made it the envy of Asia...and the direct target of North Korea.   Interestingly, its prosperity depends largely upon the success of one giant conglomerate: SAMSUNG.  In fact, over half of the college graduates go to work for Samsung or one of its affiliated companies.  It literally IS the economy on so many levels.  

The Korean peninsula, historically a place of endless strife, is still a place of great tension between the two Koreas.  Yet, the people of Seoul carry on daily lives with hardly a concern over their northern neighbor.  I was told many times:  We don't think about North Korea like you do in the West.  Many South Koreans confessed that they have never visited the DMZ and have no desire to do so.  On the whole, I found the people to be resilient, cosmopolitan, and forward-thinking.   On a personal level, they are overwhelmingly kind, friendly, and open.  Everywhere I went there were smiles, greetings and offers to help--and I don't think it was just because I am American although that surely helped.   

As I sat on the subway trying to read this map (right) in extraordinarily small print (my phone was dead so no app map) an older man stood over me watching intently.  When the seat beside me became vacant he plopped down and offered to assist.  We had a warm chat and he told me he is a retired executive working as a consultant to help other companies.  He gave me his card and I later looked him up.  Unless there is another fellow by the same name, he is a retired Samsung senior executive. (Surprise!)  He is now a consultant with the The Federation of Korean Industries, the group of business leaders that Obama met with in April 2014 at a roundtable discussion to promote free trade between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea.  

People were friendly everywhere in Seoul.  Customers waved me into restaurants when they saw me peering through the window trying to read menus.  They took me around museums, guided me through the maze at Seoul Station and stopped to chat on the street corner.  I met a young man who helps foreign engineers get settled in Seoul.  I met a young woman, a teacher and Christian (over half the religious people are Christian), and we spent an hour on the subway chatting about life and the two years she spent volunteer-teaching disabled children in Mongolia.   I met a cheerful little man who was probably in his 80s that exclaimed, "I love America!"  He shook my hand, tipped his hat, and patted my back.    These are just a few of the wonderful people I met.

North Korean Alcohol Sold at the DMZ

I had quite an interesting experience traveling to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) to look out over N. Korea. You can see NK military trucks, a small city, a huge statue of Kim Il Sung and a giant flag.  Along with hundreds of school children, I scampered through one of many N. Korean tunnels.  It is big enough that 35,000 fully-equipped men could march through in one hour to take Seoul.  I followed that with a visit to the War Memorial museum in Seoul. Together it made for a very moving experience.  With meticulous detail, thousands of artifacts, texts and audiovisual displays explained the conflict that began with North Korea's invasion.  War left deeply devastating scars in the hearts of the people.  Many South Koreans try not to think about it but others keep their names on a long waiting list, hoping to be one of the few lucky people chosen to meet their northern kin for a day.  After that day they are separated forever...or until the barbed wire comes down.  

You are now looking into North Korea. Heavy restrictions are placed on photography.

 

Two Koreas.  How soon will the trains run again??

Families Torn Apart

One of Doug's colleagues, an office mate at Tokyo University, told us about his parents from N. Korea who fled south during the war.  His father, an educated man, was kidnapped and taken to N Korea (along with about 100,000 other abductees) to be used by the government because they needed skilled workers--or to be killed.  They never heard from him again; it is possible that he lived and had another family.   His mother died when he was 13-years old leaving him orphaned.   The story of his childhood is heartbreaking.  Just a few weeks ago he located his mother's fashion-design school in Tokyo where she was a Korean student during World War II.  His mother's graduation yearbook is one of the few items she left behind and he used it to locate her school in Japan.   He was deeply moved by the experience. 

Guangzhou is in Canton, historically a great ship-building port.  First the Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century and controlled external trade; then the Dutch arrived one hundred years later and gained control.  This humid, sub-tropical port city has engaged in international trade for centuries.  In the 1990s it became the first zone to open up to capitalism.  It is the largest city in southern China and runs a very clean, reliable subway system.  Many buildings are constructed in grandiose-style but are, by western standards, poorly maintained.  Despite "NO SMOKING" signs around our hotel, guests and workers puffed away leaving a thick fog and stench in the air.  Beyond the most modern shopping meccas, most Guangzhou facilities are in markedly run-down condition.  Toilets hardly flush and you must BYOTP.  The streets are filled with buses, cars, taxis, bicycles, motor scooters, every type of pedaled conveyance imaginable.   I had offers to ride on the back of bicycles for a small fee.   Most department stores were randomly organized.  Bras and panties lie next to over-ripe fruit, brooms next to perfumes.  I was successful in waking a sleepy clerk at the back of a second floor electronics department to find a wall converter for our technology. (Somehow we lost our universal converter over the past months.)    Though the gruffness of waitresses and store clerks was off-putting after the smiles of Seoul, most workers were helpful and patient with my use of body language and sketches to convey ideas.  

The hotel management even cleared out an all-night wedding party held in the room next to us after I drew a picture of stick-figures.

One afternoon I received an AMAZING back massage and I tipped the young woman $12.  She just about fell over in disbelief.   I guess that was too much but I am confident that she needed it.  With her strong hands, she is likely a poor country girl who, like millions of others, went to the city looking for work.  There is still much poverty in Guangzhou and jobs are no longer as abundant as they once were.  Many textile and low-skill jobs have gone to Vietnam and other parts of SE Asia.   Having said that, many poor people are rising to become middle class.  There are also the rich and well-connected who drive fancy but dusty luxury cars, shop in elite boutiques, and purchase land abroad.  It is a real mixed bag.  I wandered the back alleys alone taking in the sights and smells, wanting to see the "real" China beyond tourist sites and flashy shopping areas catering to the wealthy set. Since so many young people crowd into the cities to find jobs, there are fewer and fewer people with farming skills left behind so those farmers who do retire, sell their land to the government.   Farms are becoming large government-owned properties with tenant farmers once again toiling the soil.  It is the prediction of many rural people that within ten to twenty years, most farm land will again be owned by the government.   How ironic.

 Wonderful Guide, Rui Fang

During the first day I visited historical sites around Guangzhou accompanied by a recent graduate.  She earned her PhD in geochemistry one year ago but has yet to find a job.  She appeared happy to practice English and show me around the city though I worried that she was simply doing a favor for her mentor.  The young woman is one of China's success stories of a rise from rural poverty to middle class.    Her parents, once starving children during the Cultural Revolution, are now farmers in central China growing vegetables on their small plot.  A matchmaker introduced her mother and father and they were married.  After several child-less years they finally had her--a baby girl. Then they illegally had her brother.  And her parents were terrified.  They had to pay a lot of money to the government so they could keep him.  And then they had her sister.  Again, they had to pay a lot of money to the government (but somewhat less than for the second child).   Public education only goes through grade 9 so her very poor family saved and saved to send her to a boarding high school in a city.  Her brother ended school after grade 9 and is a "cooker" (cook) now.  Her sister is a nurse and works very hard in a hospital.  We talked at great length about the value of education.  She strongly believes that China misses some of its greatest talent by placing so much emphasis on examination scores.  She memorized materials easily and did very well on tests but she found no joy in learning and had zero understanding of how to apply that knowledge.  "We just memorized the books," she said.

Peering into N. Korea at the DMZ

My young guide has some interesting perspectives on history and government too.  After I told her that I had traveled to the DMZ, she said, "North Korea is a good place really and the people are happy there just like in China during the '80s. North Korea will soon become a very great place. You will see."  I didn't say anything for quite a long while.  Then I said,  "I have read several books by escapees."  "Really??" she asked.    Then I said, "I wonder why their experiences were so horrible if the government is so good.  And I want to know why so many defectors escape N. Korea if it is such a good place to live."  She was silent, thinking about that.  Not unlike the night skies over Korea, one billion Chinese people are as "in the dark" about that brutal, totalitarian regime.

Figurine of the Young Woman Saved by Soldiers

My guide also shared some stories that she learned in school about China's history.  She said, "We read beautiful stories like a story about a young woman whose father wanted her to marry a LAND-LORD but he was BAD so she fled to the mountains where her hair turned white from the lack of sunshine.  Then she was rescued by soldiers who saved her."   She continued, "The Cultural Revolution was good because the intellectual people needed to get exercise and learn about country life."   She isn't as wise to the propaganda as other students.   A few young men attending the science workshop asked if I would please give them some lectures.  "About what?" I asked.  "About China's history," they replied.  I teased them saying, "You are Chinese so you already know your country's history."  "NO! NO!" they exclaimed, "We want to know what YOU say about China's history!!!"  I told them that I am sorry but I am not prepared to give lectures. They are wise enough to know that they have only received slanted stories of their country's past.  Of course, curious people can read about history on the Internet but as I discovered, most U.S. websites are slowed dramatically by the Chinese government.   Most importantly, I learned that it is far more tense to talk about HISTORY in East Asia than to discuss SCIENCE!  

This is a similar classroom to the one I taught in.

I was fortunate to speak to a class of thirty-four 14-yr. olds in Guangzhou.  The teacher didn't show up so I was on my own with a parent to translate.  First I explained what life is like in US schools and showed lots of pictures.  Many photos were of students in groups doing problem solving.  The kids just couldn't believe that students would interact with one another during class time.  Then I taught a history lesson requiring student participation.  I started by asking them to work in groups to write down as many reasons as they could why people move from one country to another.  My favorite response was: to have more babies. (To avoid the one-child-only policy.) The lesson taught about indentured servant-hood in colonial America and included the concept of legal contracts.  They were asked to take the role of a poor, young woman deciding whether to move to America.  She had five possible choices about how she might get there (or she could choose to stay in England.)    They were so excited to be asked to make decisions and justify their choices.  They rose from their seats to address the class. Then I explained how slavery increased as indentured servant-hood decreased.  I showed a picture of enslaved people and used it to explain that a country must face the truth of its past and teach it to the children.  That brought up Japan's refusal to admit guilt for East Asia war crimes.  A great discussion followed.  I discussed how important it is for good citizens in every country to place pressure upon their governments to do the right things.  It was a moving experience to discuss these timeless concepts with public school kids in China.