Guiyang

I arrived in Guiyang at night and tried all the run down budget hotels that align the streets surrounding the train station. None of them accepted foreigners.  The CCP have a really annoying system. Every time you check in somewhere the hostel has to scan your passport and fill out a form that gets sent to the government so that the Public Security Bureau can keep a log of everywhere a foreigner stayed during their visit to China. Theoretically I should phone up the PSB every time I camp to let them know where I am; theoretically the system is for my own security. Only a small percentage of hotels and hostels have a license to fill out the necessary forms. They do pointless security checks even on journeys from tiny villages to other tiny villages just in case someone wants to blow up the bus. The paranoia of the CCP is beginning to get on my nerves, whether it is bag scanning at bus stops, snooping on where I stay or the government hijacking of the internet. I can’t imagine how it must be in Xingjiang or Tibet, two regions where there has been a lot of unrest and consequently a huge volume of resources poured into police surveillance. If I lived here in China I reckon I’d be filled with revolutionary zeal. Speaking of which, I personally sense absolutely no revolutionary zeal in China. China is changing so rapidly that if anything, people here crave a sense of stability and continuity. The recent uprisings in the Middle East took place in countries heavily affected by the downturn in the global economy. Chinas economy dropped from 9.5% annual growth to 9.3% (or something trivial like that). As long as there is continued economic growth I feel the Chinese people will see no reason to rise up against their government. In China I sense a feeling of indifference to political issues. Like westerners, they seem more interested in their equivalent of X-Factor or American Idol than political issues. Mainstream Chinese society is as docile as mainstream Western society and without a free media, I feel it’s unlikely that the masses will generate an interest in political issues, let alone have the ability to mobilise grassroots socio-political change. Then again, I commented on how wonderfully harmonious Brixton was back in August, 3 weeks later there were riots and looting galore. If you have any wisdom whatsoever, then you’ll not take any of my sociological analysis too seriously. Despite moaning about the CCP I admire the ecological implications of the government’s 5 year economic plan and if all their plans come to fruition, China will significantly help the world in becoming more sustainable and less dependent on fossil fuels. Besides, drilling for oil is a form of grave robbery. Oil may have been from plankton and other single cell life forms but they were still life forms nevertheless and deserve to rest in peace. R.I.P my photo and phyto-planktonic friends. Gone but not forgotten. Anyway, the one advantage of a one party government is that they get things done without the hassles that a pluralistic society naturally brings. All their previous 5 year plans have been effective and as far as dictatorships go, China is by no means the worst and so long as the populace continue to be so docile regarding their lack of freedoms the government will continue to be a long way from being the worst. If there were widespread protests in China like we’ve seen in the Middle East I don’t know how far the government would go to hold onto their power, I like to think not as badly as Syria. Who knows….Political rant over.,,,,

Guiyang is the capital of the poorest province in China. It is said that Guizhou is missing 3 important things, 3km of flat land, 3 days of good weather per year and 3 Kuai in anyone’s pocket. I definitely agree with the flat land bit. The only flat land I saw in the rural areas was either flooded rice paddies or fields of newly planted crops. It’s a nightmare finding somewhere to camp. If accommodation hadn’t been so cheap it would have really irritated me. I got amazing luck regarding my weather in Guizhou. I saw patches of blue sky in Zhaoxing one afternoon and had one of the 3 annual days of proper sunshine whilst in Guiyang. The city has many homeless people, comparable to European numbers. A significantly high proportion of the older men wear Mao suits and the little blue caps. China is a country of great contrasts and it should come as no surprise that the appeal of communally owned wealth appeals more in China’s poorest province. I don’t think I saw one Mao suit in Shanghai. It’s not all doom and gloom. There are some modern gleaming buildings (gleaming but very kitsch) being built in between the shabby ones but even the centre of Guiyang has the rundown feel of a small provincial town but without the small town levels of traffic. Despite its lack of development in comparison to the rest of China I still felt a sense of optimism amongst its inhabitants and I bet that even the homeless people had 3 kuai to burn. Maybe the aforementioned saying is just a saying. Guiyang’s worth a day’s visit if you’re passing through anyway. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.