Editor’s Note: China has accomplished a remarkable feat in transforming itself from one of the world’s poorest countries to its second largest economy in just 30 years. From 1979 (when economic reforms began) to 2017, China’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of nearly 10%. According to the World Bank, China has “experienced the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history and has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty.
It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the world. Occupying nearly the entire East Asian landmass, it occupies approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of Earth. Among the major countries of the world, China is surpassed in area by only Russia and Canada, and it is almost as large as the whole of Europe.
Despite the political and social upheavals that frequently have ravaged the country, China is unique among nations in its longevity and resilience as a discrete socio-politico-cultural unit. With more than 4,000 years of recorded history, much of China’s cultural development has been accomplished with relatively little outside influence.
These days, more and more tourists from around the world including Nigeria are flocking to the ancient country to experience its rich history, explore its growth and perhaps catch a glimpse of its bright future.
Here is a travelogue written by Naomi Lucas who visited China recently and experienced first hand the intricacies of this burgeoning country.
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Naomi Lucas is passionate about using creativity to drive personal, organizational and social change. She’s a serial entrepreneur with a bias for ideas that push the envelope. You will find her more often than not, straddling the intersection between Marcomms, Youth Development and Technology.
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It never occurred to me that getting into a country, any country in this world, could be so laborious. I was selected by a recognized body to attend a week-long festival, so I thought the process would be a breeze. I dreamed. My visa was scheduled to come out a day before the end of activities and since I had to travel for a day and then take a connecting flight to my actual destination, I decided there was no point attending.
Having paid all fees and bought my tickets in advance with a promise of refund at the venue, I was stuck. Rather, my money was – the organisers had a no show, no refund policy. So a few weeks before my visa was due to expire, I packed my bags and headed to China, make the money nor waste.
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At the airport, a female Immigration Officer took my passport, asked a few questions and told me to meet her colleague, also female, sitting on a bench a few paces away, her back against the wall, legs crossed.
So where are you going?
China. I responded.
Are you staying in a hotel?
Well er yes…I use AirBnB mostly.
What is that?
I explained the AirBnB model in two sentences.
Hmm. I will let you go because of how you have explained everything to me, although we don’t use to allow this AirBnB thing. Next time you must stay in a proper hotel.
Thank you so much ma. I beamed. I mean, such magnanimity couldn’t be met with anything less than delight. An Immigration Officer allowing you stay in a place you used your own money to pay for? What a rare breed.
As I walked away she whispered, so wetin you go carry come for us? Shey you go bring Brazilian hair?
That’s not a problem, I said, but you know most of what is imported these days is goat hair abi?
Jisos! She said clutching her chest.
It is true. I watched it on YouTube. I said, nodding gravely.
She rushed to her colleagues, who had by now become distracted, to share her morbid finding. And they too, clutched their chests.
As I made my way towards the body scanner, four of them had bundled into a corner holding the passports of travellers who had flights to catch, discussing the impact of fake Brazilian hair on life as we know it.
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By the time I got to Cairo, my back was on fire. As I toured duty free for things to buy on my way back, I wondered how I was going to get through another nine hours of sitting down. I prayed for a miracle, in other words, a row to myself so I could lie down and ease the pressure on my back. I couldn’t bear to think of the state I would be in if I had to sit for that long.
Boarding completed. I closed my eyes and waited. Nothing. I couldn’t believe it. In a plane with over 350 passengers, there were two rows as far as I could see with just one passenger in each – I was sitting on one of them. Just look at God!
I panicked when a Chinese guy came to me and signaled that he wanted to sit by the window. I told him I also wanted to sit by the window. He sulked back to his seat. To ward off future predators, I opened the blankets meant for my non-existent seatmates and spread them across the entire row of seats, stacked all the pillows I could find and lay down. And that was how I ended up having breakfast and lunch in bed, in economy class!
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I knew China was cold; still, I wasn’t prepared for how cold it actually was. While locals walked about in light sweaters, yours truly was decked in three t-shirts, a thick wool jacket, gloves, a muffler, two socks and sneakers and for all that effort, it felt like I was wrapped in tissue paper. I could barely walk. It was so cold.
The drive from the airport to my apartment was a long one. Before my trip, words that came to mind when I thought of the Chinese include: cheap, insular, aggressive… The China/Chinese I saw as we drove to my apartment was/were super-efficient, clean, thoughtfully built, friendly and surprisingly helpful.
My eyes misted over when I got to the main road leading to my apartment and found my ‘Host’ standing in the cold, shivering; looking out for me, even though we had never met before. As soon as I got down she gave me a hug and took my luggage and said in sputtering English, I was afraid you were going to get lost. You see, this is why I use AirBnB. I find hotels unnecessarily expensive, cold and mechanical. Solder come, soldier go. With AirBnB it’s like staying with family and friends. I form deeper connections with guests I meet when I travel this way.
I had booked a luxury apartment on the twenty-first floor of a building overlooking Chimelong Park for maybe twenty per cent of the price I would have paid for a standard room in Eko Hotel. Shameless bargain hunter that I am, I must dig until I get the best value for my money. Yes o. The thing doesn’t grow on trees now does it?
The first thing I did once I got to my apartment was to whip out my phone and start filming, grinning like a kid in a candy store. The apartment looked way better than it did in pictures and the view was spectacular. I knew my stay would be a good one.
The best decision I made on the trip was to ask my host to get me an interpreter. Beyond ‘Hello’ I knew nothing else in Chinese and I didn’t want to rely solely on my offline translator. My interpreter became like my right arm – showing me the best places to find bargains, where to eat, what parks to visit, places to avoid, how much things actually cost etc. When she sensed my apprehension at riding the subway alone for the first time, especially because of the sheer number of exchanges and the fact that I couldn’t speak the language, she drew a map of my route on a serviette, took my hand and said, you’ll be fine. And know that if you get stuck, you can always ask for help. I knew that really… I just didn’t want to end up in Tibet by mistake.
My biggest lessons about China, I got from taking the subway. The Chinese are an extremely time-conscious people. Every time I found myself underground during morning rush hour, I found them running, like, Usain Bolt type of running. They were also a very courteous, considerate bunch. Like magic, every time an elderly person, a pregnant woman or one with children entered the train, someone or several people immediately gave up their seats. Immediately. The guys at the subway station, the cleaner on the street, the roadside vendor, the waiter – they all had a smile and a hello for me. When I struggled to order food, someone always came to my aid without me asking. They were such a warm people I felt bad for all the times I thought otherwise.
The most surprising for me was the PDA and the socializing. My goodness. After work was not for going home. It was for hanging out and for kissing and cuddling, right there, wherever ‘there’ was. I was like, see Chinko o, Lol. It was good to see them so outgoing and relaxed for a change.
As I packed to leave I knew two things deeply: that I should have extended my trip, and that I would come back again at some point in the future.
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As someone who designs and manages projects, the airport got me. By God it did. The idea of it, the kind of process that birthed it, the sheer size of it. To give you an idea of scale, multiply the size of our very own Murtala Mohammed International Airport by 50. The place was endless. I was humbled. I walked and climbed for close to 45 minutes, just to get to my designated check-in area. Everything worked, well, like clockwork. Gosh, who designed it? Who built it? How did they manage to achieve such level of organization? How do they coordinate the one million and one moving pieces? Who are these people? The harder I thought, the dizzier I became. But I really wanted to understand.
Then this guy walked up and said hello. I smiled back. He asked where I was from. Nigeria, I told him. He happened to be Nigerian. Ah. I smiled. He asked if I could please wait for his sister who was about to check-in, so we could go in together, it was her first time travelling and she was jittery. I said no problem.
A few minutes later, dude stretches his sister’s passport and a packed bag towards me and says, Please help her carry this one so she can carry the other one. She is only allowed one hand luggage. And tell Immigration you are together. Once you pass immigration, you can give the bag back to her. He waited; arm outstretched for me to collect the passport.
I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. Like, who did this to us? Why carry two bags when the airline specified only one was allowed? If all other passengers did the same thing what would happen to the plane? Why do we have this tendency to want to circumvent the rules even when they are clearly to our benefit? But more importantly, why am I the one these kinds of things happen to? What about me make people think I will be agreeable? The one who won’t say no?
I told him that as much as I would like to help, I would not lie to Immigration or adopt a bag on anybody’s behalf. He looked genuinely heartbroken and even more surprising, upset.
As I pushed my trolley towards the departure gate, I could here him raking in Igbo, shouting at me. You cannot help your own sister! Your own sister from your own country!!! Tufiakwa! I chuckled. ‘Sister’ my beautiful derriere.
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One step out of the plane and I began undressing until all I had left on top was a camisole. It seemed the heat in Lagos was sent to welcome me at the door. Cleared from Immigration, I walked towards the baggage area and stood still for a moment. I needed to, for staring back at me were four huge basins collecting water from leaking areas in the roof. The switch from where I was coming from to the sight in front of me was too sudden and too drastic for my brain to handle. I felt exhausted.
A uniformed man asked me to drop my luggage on a desk as high as my waist. It was a huge bag. It landed with a thud.
Ha ah! You are dumping your suitcase in front of an officer of the *something something something* like that?
Oga, abeg, abeg, I’ve been on the road for two days. I am very v-e-r-y tired. It came out like a threat but I really just wanted to go home.
He softened. After lecturing me on how to treat officers like himself in light of their continuous sacrifice for people like me, he let me go.
As I dragged my bag towards Arrivals, I saw a white man being cornered by another officer, who collected his luggage and led him to a dim, empty room. I said a prayer for him.
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My experience has left me with newfound respect for the Chinese. I don’t know what type of ‘cracy’ they practice over there but it looks like it’s working. Can we have that instead? We need a system that works; one that fosters development on a mass scale. If we don’t, competing in the near future will be impossible.
