Above: Steam locomotives! Chinese General Zhu De once traveled by the one on left, Chairman Mao ZeDong the other. I got a steamy experience in China Railway Museum in Beijing. Photo gallery below.Maximize Your Beijing Experience
CAN FOREIGNERS EVER UNDERSTAND CHINA
In history Chinese have always felt proud of their culture superiority. According to famous Chinese writer Lu Xun (1881-1936):
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Chinese never look at foreigners as equal,
either they are looked up as saints,
or looked down as brutes.
Beijing hotels have many business visitors, who bring product information, come for projects, business development and meetings. Their free time is filled with dinners, shopping and sight-seings. Exciting experiences, but add only little to understanding China.
FAST TRACKWhen in Beijing, use these 10 points as a fast track into Chinese culture and lifestyle. This helps expats and other foreigners to learn faster about present situation in China.
1. GO TO NEW HOUSE INTRODUCTIONS
Chinese started to switch from government owned apartments to private less than 10 years ago. Everything is still new. Go to see what kind of houses are offered for Chinese home buyers. Check both city apartments and villas:
- observe construction quality, materials, colors, combinations
- observe equipments, furnitures, decoration
- observe other buyers and personnel services
- compare what you see to your own experiences
2. VISIT INTERNET CAFE
111 million Chinese use Internet. Thousands of big Internet cafes in Beijing. Always full, net is cheap 2RMB (=0,2EUR or 0,25USD) per hour. Find an Internet cafe and observe what customers actually are doing with the net. Notice how they use keyboard, audio, voice, text messaging simultaneously. Observe customers, what they do, how they do, their fashions.
ONL-games addiction is new in China. Chinese professors claim that ONL-games are simply "bad". But gamers seek encouraging experiences, which they don't get elsewhere. According to a top analyst, ONL-games popularity in China is based on fact that Chinese gaming community (virtual community) strongly supports gamer's own image of himself.
3. TAKE A RING-3 ROUND TRIP
Take a taxi ride around Beijing 3rd ring road. Observe traffic culture, roads, signs, buildings. Those people might be your next business partners or customers. Learn about scale. Beijing already has five ring roads, and 6th ring is on the way (Ring2 to Ring7).
4. VISIT CHINESE HOSPITAL
Courageously visit some of Beijing's 160 hospitals. Just walk in and see around, observe. Use lifts, check rooms and go behind the corners. Notice the work flow. To become a patient, you need to pay first! Learn about Chinese hospital realities, personnel, patients, visitors, processes, queues.
5. VISIT DASHANZI ART DISTRICT
Take a taxi to DaShanZi Art District. Go scouting galleries, workshops, everything. Find the trends and directions. Interview artists about their art, about change in China. Find young artists, be curious, is it still just Mao-art or something new? Chinese themes for designers?
6. SHOP AT WHOLE SELLER
In Beijing you probably visit department stores like SciTech, Sogo, Lufthansa, Parkson, or massive Golden Resources Shopping Mall (Jin Yuan Shopping Mall). Make an exception, go scouting to whole seller which sells both ordinary people and small businesses. BaiRong World Trade Center is such, located at southern axis inside Ring 3. Observe buyers, sellers and offerings.
7. GO TO HOME DECORATION HALLS
Millions of new Chinese homes are concrete boxes when buyers get them. All is needed for the first homes. Visit JuRanJiaJu Easy Home and AiJiaJiaJu AIKA at southern Ring-3, and DaYangFang retail area (Ring-3 south-east corner, ShiLiHe bridge). Observe materials, colors, products, buyers, sellers. Find also a "lamp city".
8. CHECK NATIONAL ART MUSEUM OF CHINA, NAMOC
Known as MeiShuGuan. Examine that nice building, see art exhibitions and observe Chinese visitors. Visit art shops opposite to MeiShuGuan museum.
9. GO TO RAILWAY STATION
Go to old railway station in Beijing center, or newer and huge western railway station. Go ticket sales counters and waiting halls. Think of scale. Observe people from many Chinese provinces and of many Chinese nationalities (56 nationalities and 54 languages in China). If you have time, visit China Railway Museum which has Mao's steam locomotive.
10. TAKE A FOOT MASSAGE
Learn about Chinese inventiveness. Foot massage is always an experience. Take foot massage at small place, not at hotel. Observe your foot massager, talk, he will tell about your problems. Secretly bite your teeth if needed, but don't ask mercy. Just 50RMB (5EUR/6USD) per hour. Observe yourself, you may learn something about yourself!
ABOVE 10 POINTS will widen your China perspective. But more is needed.LEARNING CHINA comes mostly by working with Chinese with products, projects, sales, marketing, business development, and processes.
Compared to western societies, there is a big difference in Chinese way of communication, taking responsibility, hierarchy, Guanxi (relations), face keeping, sensitivity, and using rewards.
Epilog
Expats working a few years in China might still remain culturally "blind", similarly as foreign business visitors. They often wonder "why" and don't have answers. Expats are at risk of being "used" by Chinese, who recognize their ignorance and certain humanity softness.
China is a mix of culture, system, money and modernization. Way of working and lifestyles are in change. Career and emerging consumption. The more you understand China, the better you can avoid miss-understandings, wrong expectations, or being "used". Of course knowledge contributes to get results in your work in China.
But who is learning faster in changing China, foreigners or Chinese? Right now Chinese seem to be faster. Remember Lu Xun's conclusion which, in post-Olympic China, is still very valid.
BeijingMan aka Kippo
List of BeijingMan Postings
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China Railway Museum, Beijing
PICTURE STORY - Locomotive Experience
All pictures in this post were taken in China Railway Museum, Beijing. I used Canon 20D with EF-S 10-22mm zoom and EF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS zoom. Click to enlarge.
Above-1: China Railway Museum Beijing. On the right is Chairman Mao ZeDong's steam locomotive, left to it is General Zhu De's steam locomotive. Legendary elements in China's history.The other half of museum has diesel and electrical locomotives, passanger coaches and freight wagons. Premier Zhou EnLai's train coach was there, too.
Above-2: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Steam locomotives, left General Zhu De's, right Chairman Mao ZeDong's.
Above-3: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Between General Zhu De's and Chairman Mao ZeDong's steam locomotives.
Above-4: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Steam locomotive on left belonged to General Zhu De. Text on it: Zhu De Hao. Locomotive on right belonged to Chairman Mao ZeDong. Text on it: Mao Ze Dong Hao.
Above-5: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive, also known as Class JieFang (JF, Liberation) No. 304. Length 23,75 meters, wheel arrangement 2-8-2, designed speed 80km/h. Built in Japan in 1941. Retired from service in 1977.
Above-6: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive.History: In 1949 China had about 4000 steam locomotives. In 1952 China begun to manufacture steam locomotives based on foreign models. In 1958 manufacturing of diesel locomotives was started. In 1988 production of steam locomotives was stopped.
Above-7: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive.
Above-8: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive.
Above-9: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive.
Above-10: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive.
Above-11: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive. On right see neighboring General Zhu De's locomotive.
Above-12: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive.
Above-13: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive. A test drive day for BeijingMan - Massive.
Above-14: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Mao ZeDong steam locomotive. Coal storage.
Above-15: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zhu De steam locomotive, also known as Class JieFang (JF) No. 1191. Length 23,91 meters, wheel arrangement 2-8-2, designed speed 80km/h. Built in Japan in 1942. Retired from service in 1977.
Above-16: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zhu De steam locomotive.
Above-17: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zhu De steam locomotive.
Above-18: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zhu De steam locomotive.
Above-19: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zhu De steam locomotive. BeijingMan driving Chinese steam locomotive. This is General Zhu De's steam locomotive! Like Dr. Pepper with vanilla and almond!
Above-20: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zhu De steam locomotive.
Above-21: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zhu De steam locomotive.
Above-22: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Steam locomotives: left General Zhu De's, right Chairman Mao ZeDong's.
Above-23: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Steam locomotives: left Chairman Mao ZeDong's, right General Zhu De's.
Above-24: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Steam locomotives: left Chairman Mao ZeDong's, right General Zhu De's.
Above-25: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class JianShe, meaning Construction, steam locomotive JS-5001. Length 23,39 meters, wheel arrangement 2-8-2, designed speed 85km/h. Made by Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stocks Works in 1957. Total number manufactured: 1916 locomotives.
Above-26: China Railway Museum, Beijing. JS-5001 steam locomotive.
Above-27: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Left: Class QianJin, meaning March On, steam locomotive QJ-101, made in China in 1964, wheel arrangement 2-10-2. Right JS-5001 made in China in 1957, length 23,34 meters.
Above-28: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Big red steam locomotive.
Above-29: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Big red steam locomotive.
Above-30: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Inside view into big red steam locomotive.
Above-31: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Inside the big red steam locomotive.
Above-32: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Inside the big red steam locomotive: coal storage.
Above-33: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class KF, KF-006 steam locomotive. Length 28,41 meters, wheel arrangement 4-8-4, designed speed 100km/h. Built in U.K. by Vulcan Foundry in 1936. A real beauty. Retired from service in 1977.
Above-34: China Railway Museum, Beijing. BeijingMan 175cm gives scale for KF-006 wheels.
Above-35: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Left: Class QianJin steam locomotive QJ-101, made in China in 1964, wheel arrangement 2-10-2. Right 1019.
Above-36: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Green steam locomotive SL-152.
Above-37: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Left, green SL-152 steam locomotive. Middle: Class Zero steam locomotive, made in Britain in 1881, wheel arrangement 0-4-0.
Above-38: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class Zero steam locomotive. Image of this locomotive was printed on museum's entrance ticket.
Above-39: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Class JieFang steam locomotive JF 2101, also known as "National Day". Wheel arrangement 2-8-2. Made in China in 1950. Retired from service in 1986.
Above-40: China Railway Museum, Beijing. 1019 and JieFang Class steam locomotive JF-2121 which was made in China in 1952. Wheel arrangement 2-8-2. Retired from service in 1986.
Above-41: China Railway Museum, Beijing. New front figure on 0007! Steam, diesel, I see electricity ...then not crystal clear, has it wings?!
Above-42: China Railway Museum, Beijing. 0007 and 1008. Notice the logo.
Above-43: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Left: 0001. Right: DHF-0008 made in 1976.Logo of China Railway. This logo has been in use since 1950s. Before revolution logo was like flying eagle and it was changed to this. This logo means GongRen, worker. Gong is the inner part and Ren is the outer part. Writing style of the logo is based on ZhuanTi type of font which is commonly used for carvings.
In 1950s, workers were the locomotive of the Chinese society, drivers of China's development. Logo's outlook has also been explained as a train running on a rail.
Above-44: China Railway Museum, Beijing. BJ-3003 from 1970, decorated with an image about TianAnMen.
Above-45: China Railway Museum, Beijing. BJ-3003 from 1970 and NY-0003.
Above-46: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Inside Premier Zhou EnLai's passanger coach, meeting on rails. More tea please!
Above-47: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Inside Premier Zhou EnLai's passanger coach. Yes, it's pink!
Above-48: China Railway Museum, Beijing. Road and entrance into museum. This is just half of the museum building, opened in 2003. Camera usage may not be allowed if you give too professional impression.During my visit there was only a few other visitors. It was ok to go in locomotives and coaches. My tour took about three hours. Probably rest of my life I dream about ride by a steam locomotive! Some newer carriages, used by Mao, were parked outside museum building but not allowed to enter.
China Railway Museum, Beijing
+ Excellent locomotive collection
+ Can go inside locomotives and coaches
+ Everything in good condition
+ Not many other visitors, no queues
***** EXCELLENT TARGET IF INTERESTED IN LOCOMOTIVES *****
China Railway Museum
North of Loop line, No.1 North JiuXianQiao Road
Chaoyang District, Beijing
Tel: +86-10-64381317
Tickets 20RMB (= 2EUR/2,5USD)
Google Earth: 39.99662N 116.51060E
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© BeijingMan aka Kippo 2008, 2009
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