'Foreigners' get Chinese culture (Post) 10-10-804�-"nw, fast and The Evthing T10kes, Fride ® C er 120,r:i
n se culture . nersA.
i e
Commued from N 1 grate on westerners after awhile.
You hate to think of anyone hav-
ing that much jurisdiction over
anyone else."
On the other hand, the Chinese
people they met seemed adjusted
to their way of life.
"People were smiling. <Tey
seemed happy."
The daily routine included orga-
nized exercise for all Chinese. Bi-
cycles are the dream of most
Chinese, according to the group's
impressions. And family planning
is strictly enforced, with a reduc-
tion in state benefits for those
families who exceed the one child
maximum encouraged by the
state. This was the cause of some
consternation to their guide, who
was hoping the restrictions would
someday be eased so he and his
wife could have both a boy and a
:girl.
There aeemed to be little in the
way of shortages of material
goods, although with, an average
income of $42 per month, many
Chinese could not afford the elec-
tronic equipment that was so pop-
ular in many of the department.
stores the group visited on nearly
every stop.
It was in sugh stores that
is r L �t
western tourists, .:er�s as
well as other tnatslities,
ono s`emed to draw tKq� �4 '° � atten-
as marriage and career decisions, tion.
' 4 : Staff photo by Gnry'.Bakelmann
are controlled by group leaders, "'They were ea*. iivr e � #ANN= f �
rather than the family. bus," said Nis. ;ra'ht ° � � s ou Beat Crabtree ctilie�'t�? soiivenirs
n to r of as i f ��►�T',a c, �'ll�i-
`�his business of continuing felt sort
s to 'ria z�5,' 4' t tt the weren't polite and helpful. In contrast though. the group
hear about the leaders start Fraction a y p P 9 g g P
- But they were just curious." also visited a traditional com-
-- That was less noticable in cities mune, where they saw workers
such as Shanghai, which hays a making mud bricks as their
fairly large international ula- ancestors had for centuries.
.� y g P
, „ tion. There the group visited a It was the antiq��it�; of �=��::��
trade xhibiticn, ^ornprised most- that they save that impressed M� 0.
ly of highly technical manuf actur- Crabtree in those places, espeToodrA
.
�- ang equipment. clotty "when yob look at some-
fhey really have come a Icing thing and realize it -was probably,
,., — - s ,� y„s
#CL4 C� 1.way as far a -s industry is con but"t around 1.300. . < �o�ae
converted to a hotel, "and I use
the word loosely."
There were 32 people traveling
in their group which saw a host
of Chinese cities besides Peking,
among them Nanjing (Nanking),
Gwangzhou (Canton), Suzhou (Su -
chow) and Shanghai. Most travel-
ing between cities was done by
train.
"It was not that uncomforta-
ble," Ms. Crabtree said, "I don't
think we got an awful lot of
sleep, though.
Travel by foreigners is . strictly
controlled in China, with all
groups accompanied by a tour
guide. The number of visas grant-
ed also is controlled.
"You are there really at Chi-
na's pleasure," Ms.. Crabtree
said.
Their tour guide was a member
of the Travel Section of the All
China Youth Federation.
"He got considerably more
Westernized during those two
weeks — more Westernized than
we got Oriental."
Nevertheless, the group picked
up many details of day to day life
in China from their guide, learn-
ing for example that everyone
seems to belong to one group or
th Personal decisions such
Language was something of a
barrier, although daily foreign
language lessons on the radio,
and in schools as early as third
grade, have taught my Chinese
the rudiments of conversation in
English, as well as Russian and
Japanese.
Despite increased mechaniza-
tion in factories, Ms. Crabtree
.said her group. saw much
evidence of reliance . on manual
labor in agriculture.
"The fields were almost all
done by hand. Once in a greet
while we saw a garden," she
said. "They're not the meticulous
gardeners that the Japanese
are.
Out of the host of images run-
ning through one's mind after two
weeks in China, ' Ms. Crabtree
said the Great wall is still her
most vivid memory.
"You can't believe,. that you're
really there, and you're really
standing on it," she said*.
Despite housing probleM' the
tight controls on travel, and, being
the object of frequent_. ,curiogitys
Ms. Crabtree said she's-- glad"' sne
made the trip when
shy did,
fore the country ` becomes More
open and loses 'Some of its
uniqueness.
+�
Y
"Now you're see ing it,' fort of,
unspoiled."
:4-
C
Friday, October 10, 1980— N 1
Ther saw
history
in China �
By BABY BOKEI,MAI\TN
People Talk Correspondent
The western world watched
carefully recently, as the Chin::se
People's Congress chose new
leaders for the country. The reins
of power were being handed over
to a younger generation of
Chinese communists, as the last
of Mao Tse-Tung's comrades re-
- .inquished control to a new group
of leaders, leaders of their .own
hoosing.
Westerners in China at the time
had the chance to observe, first
hand, an historic moment in the
world's most populous country.
Two Palin Beach County wom-
en were among those to do so.
Betty Crabtree, the manager of
Tradewinds Travel Service, and
Mary Jame Smith of Tequesta
were in China for a two week
tour at the time.
"It was kind of interesting to
be there for that," said Ms. Crab-
tree. "This is the first orderly
change in leadership without
purging anybody. Of course, we
couldn't read .any of the papers.
And it made the housing situation
worse. 9 9
The 3,200 delegates to the Con-
gress put a strain on Peking's
already taxed housing facilities,
Ms. Crabtree explained. Her
group had to stay in a facility 17
miles from the center of the city,
in a former college complex now
Continued on pale Ri 4
0 .