Yinchuan China

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YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda strikes an impressive pose. This late evening shot is taken from the south side.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda is surrounded by shopping streets like this one specializing in hardware.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda strikes an impressive pose. This late evening shot is taken from the south side.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda is surrounded by shopping streets like this one specializing in hardware.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda strikes an impressive pose. This late evening shot is taken from the south side.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda is surrounded by shopping streets like this one specializing in hardware.

YINCHUAN: Another lion guardian near the Rainbow Bridge Hotel; this one male.

YINCHUAN: This is the four star Rainbow Bridge Hotel where I stayed the last four days here. At $43 the room included a virus infected, but fast computer connected to the Internet. On this machine my Philips Key007 Wearable Digital Camera met its doom, killed by a virus. Dead, it no longer functions as a camera... though the flash memory function seems to still work... another occasion to remember it is all an illusion and that bliss does not depend on having a camera. However, this batch may be the last of the photos until I can get a replacement camera!

12-18 July 2004

Hello from Yinchuan China,

A three hour bus ride got me up near the border of Inner Mongolia and to Yinchuan. After my usual three hour hike around the city I found the $33 three star ERA Mansion hotel located a few steps from the picturesque Yuhuang Chinese Pavilion. After two nights without English or Internet I moved over to the four star $43 Rainbow Bridge Hotel where several staff attempt to speak my language. A KFC restaurant near the hotel became my western food sanctuary when Chinese noodles no longer looked appealing. Amazingly, child beggars wandered from table to table inside the restaurant asking for handouts; KFC staff ignored them. Badminton without net is a popular evening exercise-pastime on the city sidewalks. Evening is the only time people seemed happy to me. Sour, worried expressions are so commonplace I can't help wondering if anyone is happy here.

On several occasions people rushing to get on city buses shoved me out of the way and never during my entire stay did I see an able passenger surrender his/her seat to a feeble or disabled rider, as has been common in other Chinese cities I've visited. Quite the contrary; vacated bus seats always are quickly grabbed by some young aggressive person, giving graphic meaning to the Darwinian idea of the "Survival of the Fittest!" Along the sidewalks I see self adhesive labels containing a short message with phone number affixed to the pavement. Later I learned these ubiquitous advertisements offer false identity papers for anyone who can pay for the service. It is all very illegal and is handled quite surreptitiously. The government does try to stop it I'm told, but the forgers are always one step ahead of the law.

My room in the new hotel has a fast Windows XP computer and Internet connection, but the machine features porno pop-ups and so much spy-ware progress is grossly impeded. Eventually I gave up and ran my suite of virus-spy-ware detection and cleaning programs. That helped quite a bit, but not all malicious software could be removed with the tools I have. The most irksome invader, CNSMIN hijacks the search feature in IE, replacing typed search strings with Chinese characters and taking you to a Chinese search site or worse. Cleaning a computer containing this particular Spyware/Adware/Trackware virus is next to impossible and causes havoc with normal use.

The second day all hell broke loose on the computer and the flash memory in my little Philips KEY007 Wearable Digital Camera became corrupted beyond repair. After five hours attempting to restore the camera functions I gave up. The camera is dead; murdered by a virus in China. The photos taken in Yinchuan will be the last until I can find a suitable camera replacement. Hopefully I'll be able to find something when I get to Shanghai in a few days. If anyone knows of a quick way to get another Philips KEY007 over to China, let me know quick.

With no CNN or BBC, the only English language news I've gotten for weeks has been in the China Daily News. One article caught my attention: 120 boys born for every 100 girls! Now that is something to ponder. The last statistics I saw ten years ago put the disparity closer to 110/100. It is no wonder males are so preoccupied with sex on the Internet.

The Wikipedia entry for Chinese History provides an excellent introduction to the subject. My session using the Internet terminal here in the hotel room has been interrupted so many times I'm disgusted. A half dozen times I've lost ten to twenty minutes worth of writing or editing. It makes work on the Internet almost impossible... and this is one of the better facilities. I can never tell if the problem is with the virus infected machine, the LAN filtering content or the government prescribed local ISP censorship. Together they make for a discouraging experience. I can't help wondering if that might explain why most kids in the WongBa's are playing games or looking for romantic liaisons rather than doing serious research. This session has been in progress long enough a new interruption feels eminent. Anyway, my plane leaves for Shanghai in an hour and a half, so I'll close.

Peace,
Fred L Bellomy

PS: This is that great interactive map of China again. F

YINCHUAN: South Gate and plaza. Note Mao's photo hanging over the gate.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda strikes an impressive pose. This late evening shot is taken from the south side with a Harry Potter flying broom in the foreground.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda is surrounded by shopping streets like this one specializing in hardware. These merchants take a break from work to play a game of ... what?

YINCHUAN: An exercise-play "class" on the sidewalk in front of a women's clothing store. A spunky young leader sang children's songs (in Chinese, of course) and led the toddlers with exaggerated body movements. The kids attempted to follow with varying degrees of success. It all made hilarious entertainment for the adults gathered around to watch.

YINCHUAN: An exercise-play "class" on the sidewalk in front of a women's clothing store. A perky young leader sang children's songs (in Chinese) and led the toddlers with exaggerated body movements. The kids followed with varying degrees of success. The parents watched their kids with obvious pride and admiration.

YINCHUAN: Test photo from my room after the camera stopped working correctly.

End

YINCHUAN: South Gate and plaza hosts many interesting sculptures. This one I especially like.

YINCHUAN: Near South Gate tradesmen congregate waiting for employment. From their behavior my guess is that many come into the city from their homes in outlying farming areas.

YINCHUAN: Another shot of the South Gate plaza sculpture I especially like.

YINCHUAN: Near South Gate tradesmen congregate waiting for employment. The minute I started taking pictures an enormous crowd of hundreds gathered around me.

YINCHUAN: South Gate and plaza. Note Mao's photo hanging over the gate.

YINCHUAN: Near South Gate tradesmen congregate waiting for employment. The minute I started taking pictures an enormous crowd of hundreds gathered around me. Everyone wanted their photo taken by the strange foreigner.

YINCHUAN: South Gate and plaza hosts many interesting sculptures. This one I especially like... don't know why the bright red washed out in this photo.

YINCHUAN: Near South Gate tradesmen congregate waiting for employment. The minute I started taking pictures an enormous crowd of hundreds gathered around me. At one point they pressed in so tightly I couldn't move.

YINCHUAN: Near South Gate tradesmen congregate waiting for employment. The minute I started taking pictures an enormous crowd of hundreds gathered around me.

YINCHUAN: Western Pagoda strikes an impressive pose. This late evening shot is taken from the south side.

YINCHUAN: Up here near the Inner Mongolian border bicycles still are a favored mode of personal locomotion. Special bicycle lanes and traffic signs attest to the importance of this mode of transportation. Motor scooters, both gasoline and electric also are popular.

YINCHUAN: A second test photo from my room after the camera stopped working correctly.

YINCHUAN: Last photo taken with my now defunct Philips KEY007 Wearable Digital Camera. My struggle with disappointment shows in that expression... where is my Buddhist training when I need it most!