THE NATURAL GAS JAZZ BAND
October
29, 1999
The total
experience was one of excellent sightseeing, outstanding meals, some
never-to-be-forgotten jazz moments, observation of a booming capitalistic
economy, and experiencing those special insights into another culture that each
of us had in one way or another. As
for the jazz, I was delighted that we had considerable contact with youthful
Chinese musicians and perhaps influenced their musical future. Also we had some wonderfully enthusiastic
reactions in the form of clapping with the music and even some impromptu
dancing.
One
lasting impression I will always carry with me is the existence of many, very
new skyscrapers surrounded by streets full of bikes, cars, buses and trucks
going every which way, and the thousands of tiny, one room shops on the side
streets selling bike parts, beverages, haircuts, shoe repair, etc. As for history, I had read about the
artifacts from civilizations nearly 7,000 years old but to actually stand only
inches away and look at them was something I just can't describe.
Every day
I became more and more fascinated with the daily influence of the government of
the People's Republic of China on our tour. Following is a brief summary of
some of the anecdotes and happenings that caught my interest.
The first
indication of control occurred months before we left when I was told to submit
the lyrics of all songs that would be sung in China since they wanted no
anti-government or controversial content presented. I told them that our jazz
did have some tune titles and lyrics that were quite suggestive sexually but
not politically oriented --I guess that sex was OK since I heard no more about
the matter.
I am
convinced that our Chinese tour guides were checked out and approved by the
government before being given their jobs.
Therefore it is not surprising to have received a number of "party line" replies to questions
that we asked.
The
biggest shock I received in China came the morning that the bus attempted to
get to the Summer Palace in Beijing and ran into that terrible traffic
jam. Curious as to why the guides didn't use their cellular phones to find
out what routes were open, I was told that two different marathons were being
run that morning and that the government had closed numerous freeways
without any forewarning or information on specifics of routes involved.
(Can you imagine what would happen if that occurred here?) One of our tour members expressed the
opinion that the government did not want large groups of people assembling
unless they had strict control of those groups - hence the marathon and traffic
news blackout. This theory would also
explain the truckloads of soldiers present at the Fireworks Festival. Our group had to enter through two
checkpoints to reach our seats at the Fireworks Festival, each manned by a dozen or so soldiers. Also, at one of these checkpoints a soldier
was occupied taking photographs of our group (and others) as we came through
one by one. I don't think these were
destined for his souvenir photo album. Incidentally, the vast number of
tourists seen in China was Chinese from other provinces - we saw relatively few
Caucasians.
Other
incidents were noticed. We were told that we ate at government owned
restaurants because "the others can't be trusted to give the quality we
want you to have." I was told that
I was being too democratic regarding the band member's opinions, and that as
leader, I "should make the
decisions for the band." We were
told that the work conditions for the women at a silk factory "were not
important because they realized they were making items of great beauty and that
was their reward." At the band's
performance in the Hangzhou hotel nightclub, I was told "the Americans
should sit separately from the Chinese because of security reasons." We were told to avoid buying souvenirs from
the independent hawkers in tourist areas because they overcharged, only to find
those items absent or priced similarly in the government owned Friendship
Stores where we had been dropped off later.
Our guide in Beijing, when asked about the student deaths in Tiananmen
Square, June 4, 1989, replied, "We must not have been informed of
that. However, we do know that the
students were being used by other groups."
I guess
the final communications glitch was when we were told that our flight home
would be a non-stop from Shanghai to SFO and instead we ended up flying first
to Beijing, getting off the plane with all of our carry-on luggage, and then,
finally, reloading to continue the journey home.
It was
revealing to learn that only one of our three hotels advertised email
availability and that particular one was "not functioning" the only
day I asked to use it. However, one day
in Shanghai, Dee, Ginna, and I spent about 1 1/2 hours finding an email outlet
and actually did access the internet to receive and send messages - also, AOL
world news was available on that connection.
Well, if
this were one of the many 16 course Chinese banquets that we enjoyed, it would
be time to serve the watermelon for this particular bit of correspondence since
that dish signifies the end of the meal.