Decoding the Chinese mystique for globetrotters

Why did the prime minister's visit to China get so much attention? Is it because China is three times India's size? Because about thousand years ago India could teach the Chinese a thing or two, but now needs to learn from them? Because China is rapidly becoming a banker to the world? Because it was a meeting between two Asian giants, whose trade linkages date back almost 3,000 years? Or because of indications that China and India, could together, change the global centre of gravity for trade and commerce? Well, all of the above are true. But there's more to it.

Throughout centuries, China has held out a great deal of allure, possibly because it retained and continues to retain an enormous amount of mystique around it. Its fire-breathing dragons appear large, awe-inspiring and terrifying. Even though most of them are made of silk and masks, they are unfurled in a manner that makes them appear several times larger than they actually are. Such attempts at creating an impact and an impression–even through bluster–can be found everywhere, right from the terracotta army to the way the popular game of mah-jong is played.

Unlike most countries' forts, the Great Wall of China is popularly believed to have been built not so much to keep enemies away, but to keep its people within. Contamination with the outside world is viewed with a great deal of suspicion. And unlike most languages, which have strict rules of alphabets, grammar and logic, the Chinese language, with over a thousand symbols, works through visual interpretation of lines, which in a combination become words and even sentences.

This sense of mystery it creates hits any tourist right from the moment she/he steps off the aircraft, and onto the airport. Except at a few airports, like those at Beijing and Shanghai, you'll find yourself lost and vulnerable because there are no markers in English.

Even Google Maps doesn't work in most parts of China; maps of the alternative www.baidu.com are not GPS enabled and the explanations are in Chinese. So cab drivers ring up their headquarters for assistance on directions. There's relief for Apple users though, as its maps work on both Apple i-Pads and phones. Other Google products, including Gmail, don't work either, so you'll need a hotmail, outlook or live.com account, which you should configure in a way that mails from other servers are received on it. Unlike other Chinese mail servers (www.sina.com or www.163.com), these display text in English.

To add to your woes, almost nobody at the airport, at stations, on the roads and even at restaurants speaks or understands English. Only a few KFC or McDonalds outlets give higher incentives to English-speaking staff. Tourists may not find this insurmountable in Beijing and Shanghai, where road names are displayed in English too, but signboards in most other places are displayed in Chinese only.

Even cabbies don't speak English, so you'll need a guide, friend or relative, who speaks the language, to take you around and help you out. But if you know no one, then what do you do? Use www.baidu.com strategically–try getting the address to your destination in Chinese and show it to the cab driver. Private taxis, known to exploit vulnerable passengers, should be avoided. Play safe with licensed cabs. And as extra precaution, take a picture of the cab before getting in. Should you forget something in the cab while alighting, ask a friend to speak to the cab company and you will get back the item you have left behind. The police are invariably courteous and prompt in taking action when a complaint is made by a tourist (of course with the help of a
local interpreter).

If you want something, type out that item on baidu. Next to your typed-in text, the search engine will throw up the items' equivalent in Chinese characters and sometimes also pictures. That is how some tourists
manage to get stuff they want from shops or even restaurants.

Eateries and getting food can be daunting too. This is especially true for vegetarians, who can ask for rice and yoghurt, fruit and boiled vegetables (using baidu) and if you're non-vegetarian, but don't want, say, pork or beef, use baidu again to indicate the items you dislike. There's more to surprise you. Leaving aside a few five-star hotels and upmarket superstores, you won't find salt anywhere! The Chinese have their own ingredients, a substitute, which may change from region to region.

Chinese museums, parks and even zoos are amazingly well designed and maintained, and are immensely impressive. The good news is that most museums have interactive gadgets, which give you interpretations in English, making it possible for you to understand the significance of the displayed paintings and artefacts. If you are lucky, you may even be able to hire a guide.

All in all, China offers an immense learning opportunity, which you'll have to interpret in your own way w.r.t. language. By the end of your trip, you'll begin to appreciate the Chinese mystique a lot better, and possibly even get enamoured by it.