HANDICAPPED ACCESS NOT HERE YET
By Bob Van Leer

  (GUANGZHOU, CHINA, Oct. 20, 1991) - Today was Sunday and a day of light activity, mostly sightseeing.

  Although China mostly isn't a Christian nation Sunday is observed as the day of rest and business and government offices are closed but most retail business is open. We started with a visit to the Sun Yatsen Memorial. Dr. Sun led the Oct. 10, 1911, revolution that led to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, the last of the Chinese emperors.

  From there we went to the Tomb of the 72 Martyrs. The revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty was actually a series of uprisings, 10 of which failed.

  The mausoleum houses the remains of 72 who fell in an earlier rebellion.

Buddhist Temple

  Then we visited the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees. In the temple is a 17 story Buddhist pagoda and I couldn't resist climbing to the top from which there is a great view of the city. One of our hosts said later those who climb to the top of the pagoda are those who will become good Buddhists in the future and make their fortune, not necessarily in that order.

  We went to see a statue commemorating the founding of Guangzhou in mythology by five goats. We were told they were all rams but one was obviously a nanny goat with a kid suckling her.

  The final stop of the day was the Guandong Historical Museum which was originally a temple built in 1380. The climb to the top was only five stories.

  "Handicapped access" has not yet come to China. There are no easy ways to get to the top of most of these places.

  After dinner Betty and I took a stroll down the busy street adjoining our hotel, the Guandong Guest House. We have found the Chinese pleasant to us and very curious wherever we have been.

  The shops are mostly tiny, some no more than four feet wide. This is tropical country so most open to the street. Through open doors we can see living quarters, tiny by our standards, but livable.

  This is a country of an estimated 1.1 billion people but it feeds and houses itself.

One Child Families

  There is a big push to limit families to one child and it seems to be working. We saw many couples with one child in the cities we have visited but only a few with two or more children.
Even with this, the China Daily reported today the annual increase in population is 15 million people.

  For comparison, all of Oregon has about 3 million people. At the same time the paper says 333,000 hectares of farm land are being lost each year but didn't say to what.

  This hotel has a key system we find aggravating. We don't have a key. There are several attendants at the desk on this floor and each time you want in your room you have to get someone to open it for you.

  This and other hotels we have stayed in here have a master key for electricity. Everything in the room is wired to one circuit and, without this special key, no lights come on. The key has to be removed when you leave the room and this shuts off everything electrical.

  Tomorrow we have to go back to work and we start with a tour of an air conditioner factory.