By Bob Van Leer

  Betty and I returned Saturday night from a three-week tour of China. This is a country that can't be summed up in a few words or a few articles. Beginning in this issue is a series of articles I wrote on the scene, mostly on a day-by-day basis. Travelers to China need a sponsor and ours was the All-China Journalist Association. Our trip was under the sponsorship of the National Newspaper Association (NNA). The associations sound similar but there is a vast difference. The Chinese association is part of the government and all journalist are government employees. The NNA, however, is a voluntary association and in no way connected with our government.

   All of us were paying our own way but the three men assigned to stay with us and interpret throughout the trip were doing their assigned work. The trip would not have been possible without the help of the three. Mr. Li Xiande, member of the secretariat of the All-China Journalist Association, was the senior of the group and a member of the secretariat of the association. Mr. Liu Yong Sheng, deputy chief of the Europe-America division of the association, was the manager of the tour and Zhang Xuejun "Henry", Europe-America division, was Lieu's assistant. Independent travel is possible in China but it would be exceedingly difficult. Language communication is a gulf, not just a barrier. So very few Chinese speak any English an interpreter is virtually a necessity. This will be changing as English lessons are now started above the fourth grade. There are no rental cars available in China. But cars with drivers are for rent. After our tour we'd have to agree with the Chinese this is the best way to handle it. Western driver might not even be able to find a service station. 

  Government officials we met with pounded away at two themes to us. One is that China isn't Russia or Eastern Europe/ China is not falling apart economically and the Chinese Communist Party is not going to collapse as the European parties did. The second is that China welcomes westerners and western technology and investment. The theme was that China is open for business.

  In addition to meetings we visited some of the better known tourist places such as the Great Wall and the terra cotta warriors at Xian. We were escorted from city to city but within cities, on free time, we were allowed to go anywhere we pleased. Our hosts supplied maps and we were on our own. We were in Russia two years ago and, in comparison, China is in much better shape. Food of all kinds is readily available in a wider variety than at home. The Chinese have a wider variety of foods they consider edible. The people we met were universally friendly and very curious. The only anti-Americanism we ran across was in British-ruled Hong Kong.

  We were not completely convinced the government is as stable as they would have us believe but the country gives every indication of functioning and even prospering by Chinese standards. New construction is everywhere in every city. Whether the Tiananmen Square incident will repeat itself remains to be seen. On the surface everything seems orderly and under control. Lack of personal communication was our biggest handicap. From the few westerners we were able to meet we gathered the government might not be in a solid control as it thinks it is.