Trip to Dandong, Great Wall and North Korea

It has been a while since my post which I regret because I really want to chronicle my time here as best I can. Anyway, yesterday we returned from a 4 day trip to the city of Dandong. Dandong is a large tourist city in the NE of China that sits right on the border of the Yalu River. It is also one of the few entry points into North Korea, (NORTH KOREA!!), which is connected by a bridge across the river. Other highlights of our trip included relaxing day on the beach as well as going to the Great Wall, a must when visiting China.

Our trip started Wednesday night when we took a train down to Dandong. This was my second China train experience and it was very interesting. The trip is about 12 hours and we had "hard sleeper" tickets. Despite the name, hard sleepers are very comfortable. In the cabin, bunks are arranged with 3 beds on each side, with a top, middle and bottom. Not a whole lot of room but it was not so bad.

Here is a picture of what our bunks looked like. Here on the right is my friend Katherine mingling with our Chinese companions. These guys insisted that I share a beer with them as well as their food. It was pretty much impossible to say no. One thing I have noticed about China is if someone offers something to you it is customary to refuse it even if you really want it. I think this is considered polite. But this is all an act because the person offering you something will just assume you are being polite and be even more forceful. But when Americans say no, they really mean no. So I've had to adjust to this.

So we arrived in Dandong in the morning and took a boat out to some island off the coast. Here we ate dinner and later had a bonfire on the beace, roasted marshmallows and listened to our Chinese friends sign karaoke on the beach (or as the Chinese say kala oukei).

I think Chinese people really enjoy singing so naturally enjoy kala oukei. I really enjoyed hearing them sing. They mostly sang some kind of corny love songs but had so much enthusiasm that it was impossible to not smile. The Chinese people I have met have been so nice and helpful it is impossible not to like them and China as well. I have been reading a book about the life of a young girl and her family during the craziness of the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960's to middle 1970's. This era was full of neighbors turning on neighbors, accusations of being "capitalist roaders", witch hunts, and really just chaos. So it has been interesting reading this book about this crazy time yet living with these same people who are so good and friendly. One thing I do not understand is how 20th century Chinese history can be filled with so much violence amongst such a loving, kind and welcoming people. It really blows my mind.

The next day we were planning on heading back to Dandong early afternoon but for some reason our boat was delayed several hours. No one really knew why. But it wasn't so bad, the weather was beautiful and we all just lounged aroud. Me and some other people rented some tandem bikes and biked down to the beach. This was quite the adventure because the bikes were definitely too small and could not be adjusted. But my partner and I made due. We biked down to the beach, met some Chinese fishermen, and hiked up a hill to catch a larger view of the ocean.

Later that day we hopped on the boat and went back to Dandong. Here we ate dinner, some great Korean dishes, and that night strolled around the Yalu River. Now from China's side of the bank you can see North Korea! To me, this is extremely fascinating to be able to view one of the most secretive nations in the world. There is a bridge connecting the two countries which is half controlled by China and the other by North Korea. At night, China's half is fully lit up with vibrant colors while North Korea's half is completely black, you can barely see that it is there. North Korea currently has a major energy shortage and at night it turns the switch off throughout the country. This in and of itself is a good example of how far China has come in developing its economy. Not too long ago, the 1970s, the economies of China and North Korea were not that much different in terms of development. But since the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, life in China has gotten better for everyone and currently has tremendous economic growth. Here is a (poor) picture of the bridge at night.

The next day we took a boat ride on the Yalu river and were able to get more up close to the North Korean side. Here are two pictures side by side of the coastline from China and North Korea. I will let you guess which side is which.

Also, I noticed there is another bridge right alongside the one connecting North Korea and China that reaches only half way across the Yalu River from China. I later found out that this was the original bridge connecting the two countries but was completely destroyed during the Korean War by (SURPRISE!) American bomber planes. China has since rebuilt its half while the North Koreans have not bothered. American troops and their NATO allies in the early 1950's had driven communist North Korea all the way to the Yalu River and General MacArthur was thinking about continuing on through to China to topple the communist government there as well. This made Mao Zedong very nervous and sent roughtly 3/4 of a million troops into North Korea to repel American forces. This actually worked and American forces were pushed all the way back to the 38th parallel, where the border between North and South Korea is today. It is interesting to note that before the war the border was the 38th parallel and after the war (and the deaths of several million people) the border is still the 38th parallel. Also in China this war used to be called "The War to Resist America and Aid Korea". Anyway, here is a picture of the broken bridge.

Finally, on our last day we went to a section of the Great Wall. As most of you probably know the Great Wall is really a series of walls throughout northern parts of China that was built and rebuilt over centuries as well as many different dynasties. This section of the Great Wall was built by the Mings in the 16th century, I think. But it was confusing to me who this section of the wall was built to keep out. Were the Chinese afraid of the Koreans? Were there other "barbarians" in this region. I'm pretty sure the Mongols were farther north so Im not really sure. I asked some Chinese people who seemed to know but I did not really understand what they were saying. Anyway, to be honest the Great Wall was not real exciting, pretty much what I expected. It was extremely steep at parts which I was not anticipating but it is not something that I would go out of my way to see again. I hear the Beijing portion is a little cooler. Here are some pics.

Finally, we headed back to Dandong, ate lunch and made our way back to the train station. We were little early so we took a little break underneath the gigantic 70 ft. red Mao Zedong statue! I am having computer issues and I cannot get it down here but the giant picture of Mao at the beginning of this post is what I am referring to. After this we got on the train and took the long ride back to Harbin. It was a whirlwind trip and a lot of fun.

As for how my language is going it is still a struggle. Sometimes I feel like I am making some good progress but other times I just hate it. For example, on the train back to Harbin I was sitting with some of the teachers and other students who were all just chatting away about whatever and then me just mostly silent. I can follow pretty much what they are talking about but it is still a challenge to substantially contribute to conversation. But hopefully it will just keep getting better and better. Time will tell I guess.