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Wuhan to Beijing page of Carter's China Trip |
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The next morning we filled up on the breakfast buffet and got on the train at 8:00. We faced a 13-hour ride across the North China Plain to Beijing. By now we were down to 11 persons, including a professional colleague who was our guide. The train was air conditioned, comfortable and everyone had assigned seats. The only food on the train was available when someone came through with some snacks. I lived on my ample breakfast and drank my bottles of tea and water. The toilet was locked at the start of the trip, with the sign on the door reading NO OCCUPYING WHILE STABLING It was the Chinese type of
toilet with no seat. Some of our
group held off using the facility for the entire trip. Of course, based
on this sign no one could use the toilet while the train was stabling. I was surprised to not see any farm machinery, but there would have to use power equipment to farm such large fields. These are probably collective farms and it was Saturday. I thought we would see a lot of soybeans, but I saw only a few fields. I saw almost as much tobacco as soybeans. And, it was flat, justifying the name North China Plain. |
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Oh, I should note that most of us were geographers and it is always great traveling with fellow geographers. We see a lot and voice many opinions about what we are seeing. The train made only two or three stops. Soon we crossed the broad and shallow Yellow River, just north of Zhengzhou. The Yellow is shown on the map as the Huang He. It is comparable to the Platte of Nebraska. Of course, there are many reports that the Yellow is being drained throughout its course for irrigation. Where we saw it it was not much of a river. I was looking for evidence of dry conditions and stress due to lack of moisture. I did not see any evidence. But, soon after I got home I received a report from the Earth Policy Institute with an update on the falling water table of the North China Plain. According to this report the water tables are falling faster than anticipated. Because this is one of the major agricultural areas of the world, it behooves us to pay attention to what is happening here. And, now that I have seen the Plain with my own eyes I have a better image of the environment. Most of the passengers on the train were Chinese and this gave us a glimpse of
their lives. There were a number
of card games being played. Throughout
my days in China I saw many groups of Chinese playing card games or board
games. They seem to take these
games seriously and many of the players were quite animated and noisy as they
played. In our train car there were a few young children. The family behind me had twin daughters, perhaps six years old. As the trip wore on they got restless and started performing, entertaining all of us. Most families have only one child so seeing a pair of kids is quite rate. I was reminded many times about the one-child policy of China—people openly talked about this. Most Chinese I talked to feel the need to curtail population growth and appreciate that aspect of the policy. But, there is also a concern about how spoiled these single-child kids seem to be. I heard and read a number of things about the consequences of having only one child in a family. Stay tuned. |