Steve and Cathy's Blog

This is going to be an interesting day for many reasons. We arrive at an enormous artificial island specially built for the anticipated growth in cruise ship traffic. Insignia, we find out later, is the first American cruise ship ever to call on Sanya (see the picture at the beginning of this post). The Chinese government has gone to great lengths to provide extra security: Chinese Coast Guard vessels are also at the pier, helicopters fly overhead, and armed soldiers are stationed in the terminal.

Our first encounter with the Chinese government is a face-to-face interview with immigration that takes place in the terminal. We are to present our passport, a copy of our passport and paperwork we have filled out to the immigration official. Given all that we have heard about the communist regime and its enormous apparatus for controlling its people, its iron control of the internet, and its complete authority over the lives of the 1.4 billion people that live there, we head for this with some trepidation.

We stand in line (there are half a dozen lines) behind eight or nine other people. As we wait, Cathy notices that there is a man on a raised platform about twenty feet behind the immigration officials. He is taking photographs of everybody in line – everybody. This ain’t no tourist, but there certainly is no information about his identity or his purpose. [I was positive that his camera was linked to some face-recognition software that China stole from Facebook, and my face would come up as Agnes B. Cusbacon and they wouldn’t let me into China and would drag me away for trying to pose as Catherine Knight!] After we see that each individual steps up to the desk, passes the paperwork, and then spends about three minutes while the official examines the paperwork, scans it into the computer, stamps the passport copy which she hands back, keeps the passport, we think we know the process.

Now it’s Steve’s turn. Step forward, pass the paperwork. So far, so good. But then the official starts looking through every single page of the passport, then types stuff into her computer terminal, then goes through the passport again, then speaks to someone beside her who is watching this process, then types some more stuff, then goes through the passport yet again, and so forth. I stand there in total silence watching this process, which goes on for eight full minutes. Finally, she stamps my passport copy, hands it back and signals me to go.

Cathy is next, and all goes fine. We meet and then head for the bus after going through security. This unnerving “Welcome to China” process has taken way, way too long. We go out to find Bus 15, and see that it is closed and moving toward the exit. We wave and wave. Fortunately, folks from the ship who know us are also on bus 15 and they shout to the driver asking him to stop, which he does. Steve is beyond pissed off, and it takes half the day to get him out of his rotten mood. &%$# Commies!

The bus is gorgeous, which is good, because this Highlights of Sanya includes a one-hour drive to the Nanshan Cultural Resort, which is the highlight of the tour. On the way, our excellent guide, Jackie Li, describes the city of Sanya and Hainan Island. Hainan has the very warmest climate in all of China. It is described as subtropical, and he points out that it is approximately on the same latitude as Hawaii. Half a million people live on the island, but 20 million people (almost all of them from China itself) visit there annually. Thirty years ago, Sanya was a sleepy fishing village. Today, the city has 685,000 residents, and there must be at least fifty buildings that are over thirty stories high, many of them with 2-bedroom apartments that sell for US$600,000. A high-speed rail line runs the length of the island. 85% of the city’s gross domestic product is tied to tourism. Jackie describes Sanya as a “romantic city.” It is a favorite for destination weddings,

After seeing this city, we have to give the Chinese government their due. They do things on a massive scale, and the changes that they have wrought in the past thirty years are mind-boggling. Peter Croyle told us that 500 million people have been lifted out of poverty now that their economic system has abandoned communism. Sanya is but one small example.

The particular highlight that will occupy most of our tour, the Nanshan Cultural Resort, is twenty-five miles west of the city. It takes about forty-five minutes to get there. Peter Croyle described it as Buddhism meets Disney World, and that is not an unfair nor derogatory statement. It is a theme park – without rides except for a tramway – dedicated to the practice of Buddhism. I am now going to quote part of an article out of the newspaper China Daily website that will give you the flavor and history of this unusual and beautiful place. As you read it, you will note the Chinese perspective that I hope gives you an idea of how it fits into Chinese culture:

“The key features of the zone include the three-sided statue of Guan Yin Buddha, Buddhist temples, and spectacular landscape and sea views. The zone has been designated a Priority Project of China Tourism Development and earmarked for further development. Recently completed, the bronze statue of Guan Yin Buddha stands 108 meters tall on an artificial island in the sea just off Nanshan. It is larger than the statue of liberty.

“Nanshan has been deemed an auspicious and blessed land in Brahma. According to Buddhist scriptures, Guanyin Buddha made 12 oaths to save all living beings. To dwell at South Sea permanently was the second of the twelve oaths. Master Jianzhen, a renowned monk during the Tang Dynasty, tried in vain five times to sail eastward to Japan to preach Buddha’s teachings. On his fifth trip to Japan, he drifted to Nanshan. While staying in Nanshan one year and a half, he set up a temple and performed missionary work. On his sixth attempt he finally reached Japan. The traveling Japanese monk Konghai also landed in Nanshan in this way, attempting to learn Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty. “Good fortune as vast as East Sea, long life as great as Nanshan Mountain” is a famous saying that further depicts Nanshan as the root of Chinese traditional culture emphasizing auspiciousness and longevity.

“The Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone is a unique large-scale eco-cultural tourism zone with an area of 50 square kilometers, including sea area of more than 10 sq km. Backed by its beautiful sea and mountain landscape and rich historical cultural resources, Nanshan will be built into several cultural theme parks and resorts, including Buddhism Park, a historical site in India, the World of Auspiciousness and Longevity, Statues of Fairy Tales, Gate Scenery District, relevant hotels, vacation villas and other facilities. Among those, construction of the Nanshan Buddhism Cultural Theme Park started in November 1995 and was completed and opened to the public in April 1998. The park consists of sites and scenery with Buddhist cultural influence, including Nanshan Temple, Nanshan Kwan-yin Statue on South Sea, Savior Garden, Auspicious Garden, Longevity Valley and Small Moon Bay. It is also home to various attractions which have entered the Guinness World Record. They include Gold and Jade Kwan-yin Statue, Dragon-Phoenix Ink Stone (the world’s largest ink stone), Brahma Bells Garden, and the top statue project in the world and century. This project took 6 years to build and had a Grand Buddhist Revealing Ceremony on April 24, 2005. It was a great event for Buddhism occurring only once in a thousand years.”

We arrive around noon to this huge park. Jackie hands out cards with his information on it in the event we get separated from the group, which would certainly be easy to do. It really is a huge theme park sans rides, and there are thousands of people here. Jackie quips: “You need this card if you get lost. I cannot remember all your faces.” Another honest observation that all of us look alike to Asians, much as the reverse is true when we see them at tourist sites in the U.S.

We walk for quite some distance, are given twenty minutes to photograph the central attraction, the 353-foot tall statue of the Guan Yin Buddha. It is indeed enormous, and yes, Jackie does tell us it is higher than the Statue of Liberty. Twenty minutes is really just enough time to get within a hundred yards of it, which is fine. We have many things to see in our three-hour visit. [The park is absolutely gorgeous, beautifully landscaped, with lots of flowers and flowering shrubs, as well as many huge rocks with Chinese character carvings. And the weather was perfect, sunny and warm but not hot.]

Next stop: lunch at a restaurant in the park. We hop aboard one of the choo-choo-train tramways that stop at key locations, and the five-minute ride takes us to the restaurant. We are seated in our own area, and many, many dishes are placed on a Lazy Susan in the middle of the table. It is a completely vegetarian meal, although it certainly doesn’t look it. All the “meat” dishes are made with tofu. Cathy will explain: [There was tofu baloney, bacon, chicken wings, chicken fingers, among other things. It was gross. The actual vegetable dishes were quite good.]

After lunch, we return to the central area. It is time to visit the Nanshan Temple, completed in 1998 to honor the 2000^th anniversary of Buddhism’s introduction to China. There are many, many steps to climb to reach the temple, so Cathy decides to relax in the shade and people watch while Steve climbs, snaps photos and explores. What strikes me more than anything is the number of families and the number of teens we see here in the park. Everyone is dressed very nicely, especially the women and girls. It is quite an impressive sight, and Cathy also notes what good manners everyone displays and how quiet and respectful they are. This is indeed a religious shrine, and it is treated as such by the visitors.

Steve and the others return from the visit to the shrine. We are given a few minutes to walk over to the area that overlooks the South China Sea, and then we begin the hike back to the bus area. As you can imagine, there must be a hundred buses. If it weren’t for our guide, we would still be there looking for ours.

We head back to the city, and Jackie gives us more information about his country. Here are the topics he covers:

• There is religious freedom in the PRC (People’s Republic of China). Buddhism is not the exclusive religion; Confucianism and Taoism are also practiced.
• Feng Shui played an important part in the decision of where to locate the park. It backs up to a mountain, which is important. It is by water (the South China Sea). The direction of each of these features is important as well.
• The “one-child policy” that restricted married couples to having only one child as a way to deal with overpopulation in China has had so many unforeseen negative consequences that the government has relented. Now you may have a second child (we assume with government permission, of course). Right now, there are 118 men in China for every 100 women.
• In the not too distant future, China will be facing a significant challenge in providing services for all the people that are reaching retirement age, as there will not be enough working people earning money to pay for the services all those elderly will require (Sound familiar?).   It is further exacerbated by the lower birth rate of young people who have moved from the rural to the urban areas to seek employment. This generation is not as interested in having a family at all as were their parents (A problem faced by every “developed” nation).
• The education system is basically six years of primary school plus six years of secondary school. College is not free, but scholarships abound.

In half an hour, we reach our last stop (Cathy and Steve and others had hoped that we could just skip this). The obligatory shopping opportunity. This one is at the Pearl Cultural Center. Cultured pearls are a big industry in China, especially here on Hainan Island. So we must all get off the bus, tour the Pearl Culture Museum, and then browse.

The Museum is on the first floor. It includes about fifteen backlit signs and pictures. All the writing in in Chinese, so it is of no value to us. There are display cases of pearls and oyster shells. The museum is essentially there so that the high end pearl store can call this stop a tour.

Then we are sent upstairs for the real purpose: to see if we are interested in buying some pearls. There are many, many lovely young ladies to help us. In fact, we learn later that being tailed by a salesperson is the custom here in Asia. They are not haunting us or casually pressuring us to buy. It is considered disrespectful to ignore the potential customer. The sales people are expected to stand alongside the potential customer as he/she browses. We think of it as an invasion of personal space. They view it as proper customer service.

Cathy and I help ourselves to free soft drinks. Free snacks are also available, as well as (which Steve finds out too late) beer. We stand in the corner watching this process. Some shipmates do indeed buy stuff, so the tour company has met their obligation to funnel tourists to the store where we can buy some nice stuff if we so desire. A mutually beneficial event, I suppose.

We board the bus, and in twenty minutes we are at the ship. We then have to pass through the immigration process again. Why the Chinese government must process us on our way on to the ship on which we arrived is a mystery to all of us. Ours is not to question why. Not in China. Say nothing. Don’t even smile, or they’ll think you’re up to something. Just get through the process. Sort of like getting a vaccination when you were a kid.

We sail away right around 7:00pm. We have chatted with Pat Watt on our way back to the ship and we meet for dinner at the Terrace Café at 6:30. It’s warm, so we decide to dine in the open area on the stern. And it is a very fortunate thing we do. It’s nighttime now, and little did we know that Sanya puts on quite a light show then. Out come half a dozen large, new tour boats with vivid lighting on their sides, some of which changes, creating quite a light show. Continuing the light show theme, two 20-story buildings put on a moving light show as well.

What an amazing finale to our one-day visit, which also serves as our introduction to China. Right now, we are at 18 degrees north latitude, but we will be heading steadily north for the next week. The summer (better said: perpetual summer) season we have been experiencing is going to change into spring. I wonder when we will next want to dine al fresco on this ship. Looks like it’ll be quite a while, as we will soon be on the same latitude as Wallingford. Brr-r-r-r.