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China - Northwest of Chengdu

During a one day lay-over in China on my way to New Zealand, I hired a driver/guide (thanks Toto!) and visited the mountainous area about 100km northwest of Chengdu, and captured these three scenes: Tai'in "Ancient Town" Area - the site of an old settlement that is being rehabilitated and expanded into a semi-rural residential area nestled in the ancient mountains Dengjia Dianzi Mountain - a gigantic vertical rock face that impressed us into stopping on the roadside to admire it - and capture it on video (since it didn't seem to be named, I used the name of the closest little settlement) Min Jiang Reservoir - a beautiful body of water nestled in magnificent mountains. We drove up a crazy dirt road to the top of one of them to capture this segment. The natural beauty of China, like many other landscapes around the world, is truly inspiring. In addition, the drive thru Chengdu on our way back to TFU airport left a powerful impact on me. I recorded my observations the next day and have included them below. [2:30|v801|2026-01-14] I was blown away by my day in China. It was like a trip to the future ! … a bit of a wake-up call. My driver/guide drove me through the city of Chengdu in western China on our way back to the airport after visiting the mountains. Chengdu (with a population of 22 million) is the fifth largest city in the country. Here are 10 things that impressed me the most: 1. Stunning architecture - ultra modern buildings, several with space age design 2. Well organized and well maintained urban landscape 3. Low crime - no burnt-out areas, no homelessness 4. Abundant modern highways and roads: even during rush hour, the highways - including 5 concentric “ring roads” around the city - moved smoothly with only one traffic jam that I experienced 5. public transportation - extensive metro system throughout the city, high speed trains for inter-city travel, bus rides are free in the city centre. 6. Clean - no litter anywhere - not one dirty automobile, let alone a junker, on the road 7. Green - many parks, trees and shrubs - in the medians and lining many highway ramps - all well trimmed and maintained 8. Open spaces - high density residential complexes - typically clusters of several buildings, each 40 or 50 stories high with expansive green spaces between them 9. Pace of construction - I saw sites where up to 12 of these high towers were being built simultaneously 10. New huge, modern second airport - accessible with both metro and high-speed train, plus excellent highways. I know my exposure was limited. I asked a lot of questions. But what a jolting (but pleasant) experience to see the difference between what I expected and the reality of modern urban China ! On the downside, housing is too expensive for most young people to enter the market (sound familiar?), university is not free, and medical care has cost limits after which individuals must pay. Is China overpopulated at 1.4 billion ? Not that I could see. And the government is encouraging larger families again. One friend responded to the above with “yes that’s great but is it worth the price of Communism ?” From what I saw and what I’ve learned from a couple of Chinese friends, China is not communist, except in name only. People earn salaries and own property. It is a burgeoning democracy. In reality, it may be more of a participatory democracy than Canada. Local (volunteer?) councils make decisions for their community and receive funding from the government to put approved projects into effect. And Canada is as socialist as China !! In some ways more so. We have more government paid health care at least. I don’t know all the details, but it’s obvious most folks in the west are misinformed about China being a backward country which is not true, at least not in the urban centers. The urban standard of living is much higher than in rural areas. With 100s of millions of farmers living in poverty or at least a simple sustenance lifestyle. And there are serious charges of corruption and human rights abuses against the government. I'm now more committed to learning more.