Hi there!
It’s the last blog about China! I went to Hong Kong and got my Chinese visa to re-enter for the last time. Also I had a great time here with some very good nature hikes on the outer islands. Hong Kong is just an awesome place to visit. If you are in Hong Kong then Macau is a nice day trip from here. I like the place since you got the Western/Portugese and Eastern/Chinese influence. Despite the numerous casinos the food and buildings are different from everywhere else so far I have seen in Asia. I still cannot believe that so many travellers told me not to go to Macau.
The last visit in China
In Hong Kong I met my parents and with them I travelled to Shanghai. Personally I don’t think there are many things to do here. A walk along the river, The Bund, and a visit to the high rise area of Pudong were my only high lights.
I was glad to leave this smog filled city and head to the next destination in Xi’an. The Terracotta Warriors were one of the high lights I missed, but was not something to miss! My guide told the nice story about the how, when and why of this tomb. It’s unbelievable to think that the first leader, emperor Jingdi, in China reunited all small states, introduced the Chinese language as we know now, and also unified the currency. The most crazy thing of this men was actually that he thought to rule after his dead. Therefore he built this massive army made of clay around his tomb. Isn’t that just bizar? More bizar things were to come… in Tibet.
Tibet
The flight to Tibet was full of control freaks, checking every single detail of me and the documents. When we arrived in Lhasa the security was enormous: many militaries, tanks, and military base which gave me a repressive feeling. That’s tibet nowadays, my guide, tells me. Nowadays even every car is equipped with a webcam and built in microphone. Cultural genocide, racial genocide; just give it a name, but it’s all happening. Mass migration of Chinese to Tibet makes things difficult for the Tibetan. My guide continues his story; the new highways and railway will even increase the number of Chinese. They live in two diffrent worlds. Mostly Chinese can run business and live in the nicer part of Tibetan cities. It is the tibetan who lives in the poor neighbourhoods. He tells me this in a small alley where nobody can hear us. It’s too dangerous to talk about this in public. You might risk to put in jail.
Why is Tibet important?
Tibet has a very old history. Many temples date back in the period of the kings. Only during the 17th centuray when Buddishm was introduced the temples got the colours and shapes as we see now. After the “liberation” by the Chinese in the 50s Tibet became a military paradise for the Chinese. There are a couple of reasons why there is so much interest in this part.
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Chinese need more space to live
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Exploiting the minerals that Tibet contain
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“Expansion beyond borders”, which means border conflicts with neighbooring countries in order to expand their own country.