A Walk in Wuxi.

I did go for a walk today and it did rain like yesterday.  But I timed today's walk well.  It started to rain just as I was minutes from the family and the apartment.  I walked in the area near Mianhua Xiang.  I passed the grounds of the Wuxi Number One high school which are not too far from the shores of the Grand Canal.  The High School has a huge ground and some stately looking buildings.  But all around there is third world squalor.  I crossed the Grand Canal twice via the Grand Ronghu Bridge and the Grand Xishan Bridge.  I saw that I was not the only one who liked to watch boat traffic.  Under the Grand Ronghu Bridge, there are these concrete stumps, maybe used to moor boats, that are perfect to sit on.  I saw about eight people on both sides of the canal just sitting and watching.  On the west side of the Canal between the two bridges there is a shabby but still useful park in which to walk or just sit.  Again I saw numerous people just doing that.  At one point, I passed a couple of young lovers embarrassed and amused by the presence of a foreigner.  They said hello and when I was fifty feet passed they screamed What is your name!  This sort of thing happens so often that I don't bother to turn around.  But this instance was an extreme for the amount of distance covered before they decided to talk to the back of me.

The impression of China I got from this short walk I am sure is a microcosm of all of China.  China is a land of contrasts.  The Skyline of Wuxi is impressive.  There is lot of infrastructure.  The boat traffic is a sign of great economic activity.  And yet there is so much dirt and poverty.  I saw a woman washing her hair outside her shack of a home.  I saw a Mercedes Benz automobile. I saw a bent over old beggar.  I saw garbage everywhere.  I felt hustle and bustle, and the same time saw so many people sitting about.  I saw these neighborhoods  where there were shops and barbers amid narrow alleyways that surely would be charming if it wasn't for the lack of activity I saw among the residents....