When I'm honest, the prose is sometimes just noise
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I previously blogged about my initial impressions of working in a Chinese law firm. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to dive a little deeper into the China pool with one of the quintessential experiences of China’s business culture: the company retreat. Many Chinese companies don’t provide any paid leave for their staff. Instead, companies will pay for their staff to go together on a brief vacation each year. Such retreats are intended both as an opportunity for rest and a chance for team-building.* My firm sent the office to South Korea’s Jeju Island over the winter. While it was my first extended time in South Korea, the trip was perhaps more interesting for the insights into Chinese culture that I gleaned! Jeju Island itself is well worth a visit. Only an hour’s flight from Shanghai, the change from the east coast of China can be jarring: from China’s smog-choked, overcrowded cities, to a pristine island with clean air, mountain peaks, and dramatic seaside cliffs. Jeju was formed by volcanic activity millennia ago, and the results today are unique scenic sites declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. The island is dominated by the central Mount Halla, whose flanks are crossed with trails used for leisure hiking. Also famous are the cliffs along Jeju’s coast, many of which have colorful and ornate designs as a result of the cooling lava that formed them, volcano ‘tubes,’ or underground caves, formed by flowing lava, and Mount Ilchulbong, a dormant volcano whose dramatic position on a small peninsula is simply gorgeous. The scenery was breathtaking, and I would have loved to spend several days hiking around these sites to soak in the beauty of creation. But as I was traveling with a Chinese tour group, that was not to be. When Melanie and I travel around Asia, we frequently see Chinese tourist groups: crowds wearing brightly colored hats (to identify the group) led by an intrepid tour guide, who waves a large flag and burnishes a bull horn to regale the group (and those unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity) with wisdom and directions. Melanie and I often wondered what kind of travel experience such groups provide. Traveling around China, we sometimes feel overwhelmed by the clamor and crush of tour groups around us. Travel just a bit off the beaten path, however, and these groups seem to disappear. Where do they go, we wondered? What do they see? It was my time to find out. To the left, one of my colleagues shows me how to pose for pictures, China style! Jeju has thrown open its arms to China’s tourism industry,** and as a result, buses of Chinese tourists clog the island’s roads. Before our departure, our tour agency sent tips for our preparation. The tips were in Chinese of course, so after struggling through translating the email, I had a rough idea of the advice: pack your own toiletries, because Korean toiletries are of poor quality, and pack lots of snacks, because the Korean food in South Korea is not as good as the Korean food in China. One would think we intrepid Chinese travelers were heading into the barbaric wilds, and I suppose the food and toiletries were different from China. Yet I must say that I generally found South Korea to be an exceptionally nice and clean place, and the food was quite good (I could happily live on a diet of Korean barbeque and stone pot rice). This didn’t stop my colleagues from grumbling at every meal (“不好吃!”, not tasty), or complaining about the lack of hot water.*** My first takeaway from a China tour group: there’s no place like home (i.e. China). Upon arrival, we first visited some of Jeju’s scenic cliffs, and these beautiful sites quickly wetted my appetite for more natural wonders. As we trudged back into our tour bus, I had a hard time understanding our Korean tour guide’s Chinese, so I asked my colleagues what our next stop was. Their response: a duty free shop. I was a little surprised, but I suppose everyone likes to do a bit of shopping when they travel, so I went along with it. I found a nearby café while my colleagues shopped for a couple of hours, but to my surprise, this was hardly our only shopping excursion. Indeed, nearly half of the tour’s stops were at duty free shops or shopping malls! To be fair, Melanie and I have often complained about the shopping options in China, which offer the two extremes of poor quality cheap products, or exorbitantly priced imported products, so I can’t blame my colleagues for wanting to take advantage of reasonably priced, quality products. Still, I must admit that I was rather disappointed that so much of our time in Jeju was spent in shopping malls. My second takeaway from a China tour group: bring lots of excess baggage to bring home all of your shopping goodies! After our first visit to a duty free shop, our next stop was a little surprising to me: a teddy bear museum. I asked my coworkers if Jeju has some connection to the teddy bear industry, but they didn’t know, and after visiting said museum, I still don’t know. The museum was little more than a gift shop, and I have no idea why Jeju has no less than three such museums (that I saw). Instead, I was learning my next lesson about China tour groups: don’t let an interest in local culture or history get in the way of good, clean fun! To the left, a classic example of a Viking Teddy Bear, at least as interpreted by Wagner... Jeju seems to have fully embraced the Chinese tourism industry’s search for simple fun with an array of attractions that I admittedly found bizarre, but which Chinese tourists seem to enjoy: the aforementioned teddy bear museums, Mini Land (mini-recreations of world landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower), the African Art Museum, Elephant Land, Mongolian Horse shows, and more. One stop on my tour was a multi-faceted entertainment complex, which included a “5-d” Movie (I don’t know where the extra dimensions were, but we did see a terrifyingly stupid 3-d horror movie), random ice sculptures, and an “Interactive Picture Hall,” which was a bunch of wall paintings designed for customers to pose in, resulting in funny pictures. My colleagues loved this picture hall. Okay, so did I: I pose in an Indiana Jones-like scene on the left. We also stopped at a Mongolian horse show, which featured actors riding horses (presumably Mongolian) accompanied to eclectic music, ranging from Mortal Kombat to Gangam Style (the crowd loved that one). The audience was also treated to some kernels of wisdom about Genghis Khan, such as: “He lived with himself and rats. But he learned from the words of others. He learned that the only enemy is in yourself, and don’t blame your country, poverty and home.” Those were some smart rats! Though this wisdom sounds a bit pacifist for a man largely known for his warfare and conquests…silly rats! While I must admit that these weren’t the type of sites I favor when traveling, my Chinese colleagues genuinely enjoyed themselves, to an extent I doubt many Westerners would allow themselves to. Many Westerners seem to adopt a jaded and ironic worldview as they grow older, and this can cause many Westerners, including me, to miss out on opportunities for fun that we might have enjoyed when younger. This carefree attitude allowed my colleagues to really enjoy themselves. My colleagues broke out into a big snowball fight when we visited Mount Halla, something I can’t imagine happening with a group of U.S. lawyers! And that’s my biggest takeaway from a Chinese tour group: it’s all about having fun with friends. I never cease to be touched by the warmth and generosity of my colleagues, and I have a new-found appreciation for their ability to enjoy life. While I might have preferred a different travel itinerary [Indeed, I hope I can learn a bit more about South Korea the next time I go there!], the company was good, and I enjoyed myself! * I suppose there are some undertones of pre-capitalist days in this practice: “Together comrades! For the glory of the company!”
**Jeju Island is the only place in Korea that the Chinese can travel without a Korean visa. And travel there they do! *** The Chinese generally prefer to drink water at close to boiling temperatures, believing this provides health benefits. I didn’t care for this much when we first arrived in China, but I’ve grown to like it, especially in winter! |
AuthorTwo free spirits who happen to be a lawyer (Brian), an educator (Melanie), and Americans find themselves in China in the twenty-first century. Archives
February 2016
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