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By Kent Foutty, Class of 2009

I am not a world traveler.  I’ve traveled some—Belize, Mexico, Scandinavia, France.  But I tend to find myself most comfortable where I can readily communicate with those around me.  So those who know me found it unusual that my family and I were planning a 12-day trip to China over New Year’s.

I have my son to thank.  He (and my daughter) are completing their senior years at Columbia University in New York City.  My son’s girlfriend, who he met at school, was born in the U.S. but grew up in Beijing.  He had traveled to China with her a few times, and he really wanted us all to experience it.  I was reluctant, but the rest of my family was not, so off we went!

We started with five days in Beijing where the weather was cool and crisp.  The air quality was excellent, which is not typical.  My son’s girlfriend’s parents were giddy with happiness that we could breathe and see!  And there was SO much to see.  Beijing has nearly 22 million people.  That number is so staggering that even after having been there, I can’t really comprehend it.  The land mass of the city is larger than the state of Connecticut.  As we landed, it was shocking how far high-rise residential development extended.

We did all the “usual” touristy things.  We visited Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, and the National Museum.  But we did some off-the-beaten-path things – including an area called Houhai Park that our hosts referred to as “Old Beijing.”  We were the ONLY non-Chinese tourists there.  We got a lot of stares — My son is 6’ 5”, so he is used to this when he visits.  I was not. As we were waiting to enter the Forbidden City, a man slipped his arm through mine and started pulling me.  In my best city manner, I muttered “No” and tried to pull away.  But I looked at him, and he was grinning from ear-to-ear.  I looked up to see that his wife had a camera (that looked like it was made in 1950) pointed at us.  She, too, was smiling.  I realized these people were likely tourists from the countryside (there were LOTS of Chinese tourists), and I’m guessing they hadn’t seen an American.  So, my picture is probably now in a Chinese scrapbook!

I knew Beijing had great architecture.  Not just the ancient stuff, but also the new skyscrapers.  Fortunately, our hosts live in a condo right in the business center, and we stayed in a hotel next door.  Out our window, I could see Rem Koolhaas’s CCTV building.  I absolutely love the building (though apparently many residents of Beijing don’t agree).  But my favorite was a building that is not open yet.  It’s called China Zun named after a Chinese wine vessel of similar shape.  It is 1,731 feet tall.  Designed by Kohn, Pederson and Fox, it’s an elegant building.  Much to my family’s annoyance, I stopped and stared at it frequently throughout our visit and have slightly-blurry iPhone pictures from many angles.

Next, we headed to Chengdu.  We spent seven hours on a high-speed rail train, traveling the equivalent of the distance from Chicago to San Francisco!  With nearly 12 million people, it’s the fifth largest city in China and the capital of Sichuan province.  But we went for…….pandas.  All pandas in the world are Chinese.  Even if they are born in foreign zoos, the loan agreements say all pandas are the property of China.

In Chengdu, there is a large panda preserve.  Essentially, it’s a Brookfield Zoo- sized space with lots of enclosures – but they only have Giant Pandas and Red Pandas.  That’s it.  Some enclosures had families, some were filled with young adults, but my favorite was one with three toddlers.  They kept trying to climb but kept falling down.  All the pandas looked like stuffed animals that had come alive.  I had seen pandas in Washington DC and San Diego, but that was one panda, faraway, after waiting in a long line.  Here I saw over 50 pandas while standing no more than 15 feet from them across a moat.  It was amazing.  As my English-major daughter was proofreading this article, she said I might be going on too long about the pandas, but the number of pictures on her Instagram contradict that.

Next, we were off to Hangzhou, the fourth largest city in China.  We spent most of our time at West Lake and the West Lake State Guesthouse.  It wasn’t completely clear to me, but the “state” guesthouse is  mainly for Communist Party officials.  When the G20 economic summit was held in Hangzhou it was held at this location.  Down by the lake, there is a gazebo with two chairs and a velvet rope around them.  A picture stood on an easel to the side with President Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping seated in those very chairs. Though we could see the city center in the distance, here it was all about natural beauty.  The West Lake area is a huge natural preserve.  We spent time cruising around the lake, hiking in the hills, visiting temples, and pagodas.

Finally, we took a short train ride east, to the coast, and Shanghai.  Wow.  It’s as if a whole city turned into Times Square.  The light at night is amazing.  Older buildings are well lit on the exterior, but newer building are lit in garish colors, many with lighted advertisements on the side, or lighted “butterflies” waving on the exterior, or bubbles of light streaming upwards.  It was truly sensory overload.  I looked forward to morning and daylight.

We spent the next morning on the Bund, the old British section along the river.  Most of the buildings were neoclassical or Art Deco.  Of course, I knew none of the architects.  This is before starchitects, and countries had their own architects.  But there was clearly sharing of information and style.  My favorite was the beautiful Art Deco Peace Hotel, completed in 1929 and designed by Palmer & Turner – they had just restored their lobby, preserving many beautiful finishes.

Again in Shanghai, we stayed in the business district.  That put us close to the three major skyscrapers of the Shanghai skyline.  Jin Mao Tower (1,255 ft) by SOM from 1998, Shanghai Word Financial Center (1,614 ft) by Kohn, Pederson & Fox from 2008, and Shanghai Tower (2,073 ft) by Gensler from 2015.  Shanghai Tower was my favorite.  It gradually twists as it rises into the sky.  And there is a vertical atrium, and inside there is an inner and outer glass wall.  On some levels there are trees inside, between the inner and outer walls!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how this trip would have been so difficult without our hosts.  They took us to amazing off-the-beaten-path eateries with authentic cuisine and no tourists.  Almost no one spoke English, and the ability to travel with people who could speak and read the language was so important.   One doesn’t realize how many French and Spanish words you can decipher until one goes to a culture with a written language that doesn’t use an alphabet!

The combination of communism and capitalism throughout China was very strange.  Upscale malls were everywhere, and they were packed with shoppers.  Someone much smarter than I would have to explain how these two systems coexist. I’d recommend starting with this podcast from the New York Times if you want a primer.

When I got my visa at the Chinese consulate before the trip, they gave me a visa until 2028!  So, I’m already strategizing my next trip.  Shenzen may be tops on my list. It was designated a special economic development zone, and the city has exploded.   A city of 13 million people, there were only 2.5 million in 1995.

So, I’d recommend going to China.  But find a friend or a guide that can communicate for you so you get the best experience possible – full of architecture and dumplings!