Understanding China up close (Part 2)
Summers were spent in Hongkong where my maternal grandfather had a building on Carnarvon St. near the corner of Nathan Road in Kowloon and later an apartment on Stubbs Road in Hongkong Side.
We would take a long ferry ride to Macau where my mother spent her early school years in Cannonian School to visit the nuns. My maternal uncles also went to La Salle College in Hongkong.
China itself, however, was not part of the tourism map for us when we were younger. Neither was Taiwan, as obviously my grandfather was on the other side of the spectrum. Most businessmen, however, would frequent Taiwan as perhaps it was the “wealthier” China. It was not until the early to mid-eighties when the tide seemed to change. Even the late 70's Filipinos and very very few Filipino Chinese would even think of taking vacations in China much less do business with the mainland Chinese. To this day, some still carry that disdain and distrust for Mainland Chinese.
Back then, it was poor, backward, inconvenient, even unsanitary, uncomfortable and incomprehensible and simply not of this world as we knew it and as we were made to understand it. People spoke no English. That was unthinkable! We thought everyone spoke English and we Filipinos were best at it. Then it dawned on me… more than half the world didn’t. And it didn’t mean they were less intelligent as we can see how obvious that is today.
During my years at the University of the Philippines in the 1970’s, I came across Mao Zedong’s famous quote “Women hold up half the sky.” At that time, possession of Mao’s Little Red Book was punishable by law as it was considered subversive material. I wondered why? In fact I whole heartedly agreed that indeed Women carry half the sky.
After I successfully won a seat in Congress representing the 3rd district of Quezon City, I was invited to be part of the delegation to go back to my grandfather’s home County, Quanzhou, in a village called Tan Nah and to my grandmother’s, Chim Ho, also in Quanzhou.
That was when the whole conscious journey began. The airport of Xiamen was small, crowded, hot, dark, and packed with people. Hardly anything you would call first world. Far from it. But I was warmly welcomed and I didn’t feel like I was a stranger at all in a land I’ve never seen. They put so much effort to make me feel I belonged.
The roads then were mostly unpaved, dusty, and bumpy. Cars would be honking their horns all at the same time as they navigated these roads. Small oil lamps lit stores and homes. People dressed simply in muted plain colors of the same spartan style.
I was advised by some relatives and Chinese Filipino friends to bring bath and laundry soap, tissue paper, shampoo, canned goods and other necessities to gift waiting relatives and friends who eagerly and excitingly prepared to welcome a descendant of an important Tan Nah figure together with Filipino Chinese millionaires who had contributed so much to their own counties and villages. The overseas Filipino Chinese greatly helped in the creation of awesome villages, businesses, infrastructure, schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, etc. for their native hometowns. They did not forget their beginnings. I was amazed at how willingly and passionately they supported their hometowns. I recall how my grandparents referred to them as “Lan Tsu” (our home). Remember, most had left China with practically nothing and were only too willing to contribute to the progress and development of their hometowns when they became wealthy in their new country.
This was also the time I had the good fortune to meet the officers of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. We, to this day, have maintained our friendship and they have made it a point to meet me whenever I am anywhere in China and in fact have arranged many of my most memorable visits to China.
Friends from this office were introduced to me by Mr. Peter Sy, the late father of Dr. Cecilio Pedro, now FFCCCI President, Mr. Go Chun Nin of Tiger Airport , and Benito Co Chan (Cordoba) who were one of my earliest sponsors of my first few trips to China. It was they who told me of how my grandfather Co Yu Chiao (Eduardo Co Seteng) was the first mayor of Xiamen City in 1932, a year after my father Emerson was born in Manila. He was involved in the push back by the 19th Route Army of the Japanese forces who were wreaking havoc on China at that time. Mr. Carlos Chan of Oishi fame later sponsored our Diliman Preparatory School faculty members on a trip to Shanghai and Xi ‘an. And instantly they saw that China was so different from the China they had only heard of and read about. Mr. Chan is indeed a wonderful example of how business can expand to astronomical heights given the realities business investors have access to and support they receive in China. Scores of Filipino Chinese businessmen can easily attest to that considering that their factories, malls, real estate developments and homes are also located there on a grand scale.
My grandmother’s Chim Ho High School alumni officials also brought our Diliman Preparatory School faculty, staff, and officers to Xiamen, Quanzhou and Chim Ho under the leadership of Mr. Carmelo Sy, Michael Cua and their colleagues.
I look forward to an extensive visit to China in the year ahead. It is one effective way I can bring Filipinos and Chinese closer in terms of understanding, respect, and cooperation. That definitely cannot be a bad thing and may in fact, be the best way to achieve what is good, if we take into consideration our own national interest.
From 1989 to 2010 — all of twenty years — I personally saw China’s transformation. I still could not believe it to be possible to this day. I had not seen this in any of all of my extensive travels anywhere in the world. Totally unbelievable. Then you wonder: why is it that only China could do it?
From roads only for bicycles with just one lane for the use of cars of government guests, to the unbelievable network of expressways, interchanges — some as high as 5 or more levels for all kinds of vehicles and trains. And now, “death defying” glass bridges and vertical escalators hundreds of meters high! From sputtering trains and rusty buses, tractors with carts attached to the rear, to European luxury vehicles, I saw it all happen in all stages.
I saw the expressway from Xiamen to Fuzhou being constructed. The entire length took us all of 5 hours of travel time by car. Full blown construction was going on with only a few tractors carrying stones in carts attached to them. They were in turn laid on the ground by men and women with their hands. I was fully convinced: this is indeed a different sort of people! Two years later, the expressway was completed. This time, the trip took us only 2 1/2 hours and today perhaps only an hour or less by speed train.
I was told by relatives and friends and I actually experienced that in the late 80’s and even into the 90’s they had zero toilets in homes and cramped squat toilets were found in outhouses for the public to use. Some without doors and others were mere holes in the ground. Let us now disabuse our minds about China’s toilets. Today - granite and glass clad restrooms with modern day fixtures and amenities all manufactured and quarried in China would be available to tourists in public places as well as private establishments. And local folks have transitioned and moved from old brick traditional houses to high rise condominiums and multi-story villas.
I remember those days when rubber shoes were not very attractive and the dye of some t-shirts, blouses and trousers would transfer to your skin! In only a couple of years, the highest-grade garments designed by the most innovative and creative fashion designers would be made available in the high end boutiques in huge modern malls in China and around the world! I saw how single story to 6 story shop houses turned into magnificent glass and steel structures of 40-60 floors rising endlessly from the ground. I was told thousands of building permits were being issued monthly by local governments at the height of the boom.
I saw the transformation of vegetable patches and agricultural land to magnificent buildings with amazing lighting and awesome architectural designs! Yes, all in 20 years!!! And, with today’s technology, water supply, flood control, irrigation and agriculture productivity remain at its highest levels despite the fast-growing cities displacing farm lands.
So, what have not changed in China? The Great Wall and the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Terra-cotta warriors of the Qin Dynasty in Xian, and countless other monuments stand as witnesses to a 5000 year glorious history of an uninterrupted, unified civilization. And most importantly, the desire, passion, and resolve of the Chinese to innovation, creativity and to provide a better quality of life for their own people. Those have not changed.
When people are asked if they would like to travel to a particular country, we hear them say…”I’ve already been there”
For China, when I say “I’ve been there 6 months or 2 or 3 years ago”, I get a shocked look. Then I understand. I noticed from 1989 to the present, at the height of its growth, the urban landscape of China would change beyond recognition every 6 months to a year! Even vast natural masterpieces that have been well preserved, today, have huge resorts, welcome centers several kilometers away to accommodate millions of visitors from all over the world! The last pre-pandemic count had been 60 million international tourists, against our 5.5 million.
When I first visited Xi‘an in the late 90’s, our vehicle stopped right at the doorstep a few feet from the terra-cotta warriors. The last time I was there, the parking space for buses was well over a kilometer away and we had to take a golf cart to take us to the excavation sight. A comprehensive museum has been erected since. Not actually good for my plantar fasciitis! But it was an experience that again opened my eyes to the grandeur, organization, craftmanship, creativity, elaborate documentation and preservation done to show great significance and contribution of the Qin Dynasty to Chinese culture and history.
Every visit to China is an eye opener and a heart tugger. As you open your eyes to what is, your mind couldn’t help but think back to what was. I see what is and cannot fathom how it came about. And where is China going? I try to find out. Meet more people, ask more questions. And it has come full circle. What I’ve been through in childhood, all throughout my teens and young adulthood, my parenting years and today as a grandmother of 6, the nagging question tugging at my heart is… Why can’t all countries grow like China? Simply, forever at work to give their own people a better life. That’s the ultimate goal.
The world saw it. From abject poverty almost for all to the present where almost all are in undeniable prosperity? Or at least comfort. To see is to believe.
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