The Great Wall, the world's oldest theme park<\/p>\n
Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Beijing<\/p>\n
"Your heart is beating too fast," a doctor at the herbal
\nresearch medicine center tells me through an English translator.<\/p>\n
"I just climbed up and down the Great Wall, and it nearly
\nkilled me. Could that be the reason my heartbeat is fast?" As
\nusual, the skepticism in me comes out. Not without a reason: Only
\na few months ago, I got a clean bill of health after a general
\ncheckup in Jakarta. And I was not about to be cowed by some
\nChinese doctor who claims that he can tell me what is wrong with
\nmy health in just a few seconds.<\/p>\n
"Your cholesterol is high, and you are overweight," he
\ncontinues. My bulging stomach gives it away obviously, and the
\nPeking duck I have been stuffing myself with these last three
\ndays must have raised the cholesterol level.<\/p>\n
"You have too much fat tissue blocking the blood circulation.
\nThat is why your heart is beating too fast."<\/p>\n
Now, that kind of doctor-speake really scares the pants off
\nme. My skeptical barrier is not as strong as the Great Wall. I am
\nlistening, doc.<\/p>\n
"Your tongue is off color. Your body heat is abnormal because
\nyour liver is not functioning fully."<\/p>\n
When the doctor prescribes me with a couple of herbal
\nmedicines, I naturally ask: "Do you take credit cards?"<\/p>\n
"Sure we do," the translator-cum-cashier gratefully takes the
\nVisa card out of my hand.<\/p>\n
The visit to the herbal medicine center is part of regular
\nday-long tours that travel agencies in Beijing offer visitors. My
\ngroup consisted of a dozen people of assorted nationalities who
\nwere whisked into a room on the second floor for an overview of
\nChinese medicine and its history. It is then followed with a free
\nmedical checkup, which consists of a doctor feeling up your pulse
\nand inspecting your tongue. The doctors will then happily
\nprescribe you with the proper medicines, which, coincidentally,
\nconveniently and immediately available on the premises.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the Great Wall tour.
\n*<\/p>\n
A visit to the Great Wall is a must for first time visitors to
\nBeijing. I don't quite buy Chairman Mao's challenge that "you're
\nnot a real man until you get to the Great Wall" printed in most
\nbrochures offering such tours. But I had expected that a visit to
\nthis ancient structure, just one-hour's drive from Beijing, would
\ntake me through the long history of Chinese civilization and its
\nmany dynasties.<\/p>\n
I have come here expecting a journey back in time and to have
\nsome sort of spiritual experience.<\/p>\n
A visit to the Wall will also be helpful in understanding some
\nof the contemporary thinking among Chinese leaders, Chinawatcher
\nfriends tell me.<\/p>\n
The wall was built by the Qin dynasty to deter foreign
\naggression from the north. Subsequent dynasties added and refined
\nthe border, and built the watchtowers to detect incoming
\ninvaders. China's ancient and modern history is filled with
\nstories about foreign invasions and occupation, from the Mongols,
\nManchurians, the Japanese and more recently the West. Because of
\nthat, suspicions, concerns and fears of foreigners remain strong
\namong most Chinese, at least until recently.<\/p>\n
The Great Wall is a symbol of both the greatness of Chinese
\ncivilization (and thus a source of pride) and also of their
\nsentiments towards foreigners.<\/p>\n
But with China's economy now opening up to the rest of the
\nworld, and with Beijing scheduled to host the Olympics in three
\nyears' time, xenophobic sentiments that were echoed in statements
\nby its leaders in the recent past are rapidly losing ground in
\nChina.<\/p>\n
Foreigners, including first time visitors like me, feel very
\nmuch welcome in Beijing, perhaps even more so than they would in
\nother Asian capitals. (Jakarta for one is not as friendly to
\nforeigners, according to a South African friend.) Tourism is
\nbooming with this opening up, and xenophobia will soon no longer
\nhave a place in China.<\/p>\n
But the rapid growth of China's economy and its tourism sector
\nalso inevitably means the commercialization of some of China's
\nhistorical and cultural heritage. The Great Wall, unfortunately,
\nis not spared this either.<\/p>\n
A typical Great Wall tour today consists of not just a visit
\nto the Great Wall itself, but also brief stops at a jade factory,
\ncloissone factory, herbal research medicine center, and the Ming
\nTombs complex. They were brief stops, but long enough for
\ntourists to decide whether or not to buy the items on display,
\nand to haggle over prices. A quick traditional Chinese lunch is
\nusually thrown into the package.<\/p>\n
The Chinese are doing what most other nations are doing in
\nselling their tourist sites: packaging as much as possible into
\none program. Such tours are popular for those with a day or two
\nto spare in Beijing. And for 350 RMB (US$43) it's probably good
\nvalue for money.<\/p>\n
But, as with many package tours in other parts of the world,
\nthe commercialization of historical and cultural sites tends to
\ndeprive visitors of spiritual and emotional experiences that
\njourneys like these are supposed to evoke.<\/p>\n
My trip to the Great Wall, as well as to Tiananmen Square
\n(including Chairman Mao's mausoleum) and the Forbidden City
\nearlier, were all very interesting and fun, but they were devoid
\nof the spiritual experience that I had hoped for when I set foot
\nin Beijing.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
Taking one of these package tours of the Great Wall, as one
\nAmerican member in my tour group describes it, is more like a
\ntrip to Disneyland. Our tour takes us to the Badaling Great Wall,
\nthe nearest to Beijing, and thus, the most commercially
\nexploited.<\/p>\n
Souvenir vendors greet you as soon as you arrive at the
\nlocation. Before you buy your entrance tickets, there are bears,
\nconfined to their places a safe distance away, to entertain you.<\/p>\n
But it is the sliding cars taking you up the hill before you
\nbegin your climb that reminds you the most that you are in a
\ntheme park rather than a historical site. The cars come in
\ndifferent colors. Getting into one, you need to go through a
\nturnstile and navigate your way through steel structures set up
\nto prevent people jumping ahead of you.<\/p>\n
For the physically challenged, there is always the cable car
\nthat takes you to one of the peaks of the walls, allowing you to
\nenjoy the vista without so much as a struggle. (Now I know why
\nChairman Mao says you're not a real man until ...)<\/p>\n
The wet weather serves as another distraction in this tour.<\/p>\n
"You're lucky today," our Chinese guide tells us. "The group
\nyesterday suffered from severe heat and humidity." He buys us
\nplastic raincoats, and a horrified American tourist next to me
\nreacted: "I'm not putting one of those thrash bags on me."<\/p>\n
Once we disembark from the sliding cars, the climbing begins.<\/p>\n
Our guide says the goal is to reach the peak of the Badaling.
\nAnd we have 90 minutes to go up and then come back down.<\/p>\n
In parts of the Great Wall, we have to climb very steep steps.
\nIn others, the floor is ascending and the wet surface is
\nunhelpful. And the fact that there are hundreds (and probably
\neven thousands) just like you struggling up and down at the same
\ntime makes the climbing even more challenging.<\/p>\n
One really needs to be in good shape to scale up and the down
\nthe Great Wall. Between the struggle for the next step, the
\npushing and shoving with other tourists, and catching your breath
\nevery now and then, it is easy to see why many people lose sight
\nof why they are there in the first place.<\/p>\n
I manage to catch a glimpse of the dramatic panorama from one
\nof the watchtowers: the green hills around us, the other parts of
\nthe Great Wall in distant mountains, and, wait a minute, look at
\nthose foreign invaders?: Yes, tourists in cable cars.<\/p>\n
Reaching the peak of Badaling, after such a struggle, was
\nquite an achievement for a man of 90 kilograms with wobbly legs,
\nbut such a feat quickly turns into an anticlimax. Greeting you at
\nthe top are more vendors, selling t-shirts and bronze plaques
\nthat say you have reached the top of Badaling Wall. If you have
\nfive minutes to spare, they can engrave your name in the plaque
\nfor no extra charge. Even the amateur photographers are doing
\nbrisk business, although most tourists come equipped with their
\nown small digital cameras.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
"You've been cheated," a Chinese friend of mine tells me on my
\nreturn to Beijing when she hears about my purchase of the Chinese
\nherbal medicine during the tour.<\/p>\n
I guess part of being a tourist is to be ripped off from time
\nto time. But then, I am taking the herbal medicine home.<\/p>\n
Beijingers of course don't go to Badaling. There are other
\nparts of the Great Wall some further distance from the city where
\napparently you can truly absorb the greatness of its
\narchitecture, the role it played in subsequent Chinese dynasties
\nsince the 13th century, and the glory of Chinese civilization.<\/p>\n
But for a first and short visit to Beijing, scaling Badaling
\nis not so bad. The package tour was fun and interesting, at least
\nfor the money you pay.<\/p>\n
Next time (and no doubt there is going to be a next time) I
\nshould give myself a little more time and go for the more
\nchallenging and lesser visited parts of the Great Wall and get
\nthat spiritual experience I was looking for. Before commerce
\ntakes them over.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-great-wall-the-worlds-oldest-theme-park-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}