Poking About Behind the Facades in China ...

China is filled with hidden worlds. Indeed the entire country was a hidden world till very recently. I have only visited Beijing a few times so I have glimpsed a mere fraction of what lies behind the facades. The Chinese government is busy destroying many of these very human places in the name of progress. The damming of the Yangtse has drowned several villages. As the country prepares for the Olympics, ancient historic huotong neighbourhoods are being replaced by sleek high rises. One day only the Great Wall, the Tomb of the Terracotta Warriors, and other tourist attractions will remain ... and of course the factories. But when I was there I saw some wonderful worlds where real people lived hidden behind the facades of the buildings that faced onto the wide avenues.

On my first visit I wandered out into the area surrounding my airport hotel and discovered a world alive with bicycles, carts, children and their parents, all living, traveling, cooking, and eating on the narrow roadways. It felt like a very friendly place, and much greener than I had imagined.

Another time I spent my time in one of the many parks listening to musicians and watching families sipping their tea from themoses.

The last time I was in Beijing I stayed for a few days at a hotel within walking distance of Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. Of course I went to see these tourist attractions, but one of my most interesting finds was a place I was not expected to discover. I looked down from my hotel window on a curious sight that made no sense from twelve stories up so I went down for a closer look. It took some doing to find an entrance off the main street into the neighbourhood behind the sleek highrises, but I finally found what I was looking for: an outdoor exercise area used by the people living in the small old houses.

I saw an old man go through a circuit of joint limbering exercises on a series of green low- tech, muscle-powered machines. I watched as a woman taught another tai chi or yoga moves, their bodies swaying to silent music. I stayed a while. Doors opened and more people came over to use the equipment for a few minutes before slipping back inside their houses. And yes, I too went through the old man's circuit.

Then I saw the sign. It explained that Olympic money had been used to provide this exercise and recreation area for the neighbourhood.

Over the course of the next few days, in several other neighbourhoods, I saw more of this green equipment being used by people. I thought about how wonderful it was that the Olympics meant that the people of Beijing would actually be left with something that would help them stay healthy long after the summer of 2008.

Of course the reality is that the Olympics will displace many of the people I saw using that equipment.

Just as I had to work hard to find the neighbourhoods where people actually live in Beijing, I had to make a real physical effort to climb up to the Great Wall. I arrived huffing and puffing, my heart racing from the exertion. It was worth it. I forgot all about Beijing and the vendors along the route. High above the city and the commerce, I followed a yellow butterfly along a path that had been walked for centuries.

I hope that China's sudden entrance into the world of capitalism will not mean that the culture created over all these centuries will be lost completely.

I have of late been thinking of China in terms of cheap goods sold by our dollar stores and Walmart, of lead being used in children's toys, of poisonous substances in skin care products and toothpaste. Made in China has come to mean loss of jobs in Canada, cheap consumer products that cannot be trusted, and visions of Chinese workers living their lives like ants in an anthill. I also think of the human rights abuses, of Tibet, of the imprisonment of practitioners of Falun Gong.

I would rather remember the old people sipping their tea and doing tai chi. I want to remember that yellow butterfly.