Romy and Michelle call in fat.

Day 4 brought us back to our roots. A tour of the our high school. Our old campus had moved to brand new specially constructed facility in the Shunyi district. We visited the newer campus first and were blown away by the size and the amount of facilities. Seeing the contrast between a tiny school with a graduating class of 5 people to one that accomodates nearly 3000 students was quite a shocker. They had all the facilities we dreamt about. Swimming pool, auditorium, a huge library, a grass soccer pitch instead of the gravel rock minefield we used to have, and of course varsity sports jackets....sigh.

Thoroughly impressed and a little detached after seeing the new campus we headed off to see the old haunts where surprises awaited us.


The building facade had changed color and when we walked into the front door into the glossy lobby we were greeted by employees of 'Bodyworks'...an all inclusive health and fitness facility for obese chinese children.

As we walked around on our tour we saw some very large young girls doing stepaerobics in our old music room, 200 lb boys thundering away on treadmills where the elementary art classes were, and extremely overweight teenagers stretching out their muscles in what used to be our cafeteria. The entire facility, all four floors, was catered to these rich overweight children, including lounges, labs, medical facilities, and dining services that catered special meals to the dieting children.
Apparently obese children are becoming a cultural epidemic in the new China. Contributing factors include the one child a family policy, which leaves Grandma, Grandpa,Grandma,Grandpa, Mom and Dad to stuff only one spoilt mouth with goodies. The abundance and adoption of high calorie western fast food coupled with disposable income is apparently another factor. The fourth floor where our classes used to be is the medical wing right now. My homeroom and physics and math teacher, Mr. Marchetti used to have a saying "Push forward the frontiers of science!"...he would yell out during the middle of class.... well we went to visit his old classroom....its now a cat-scan room....looks like someone pushed a little too far....

Red Square

Day three was spent making the necessary pilgrimage to Tiananmen square. The square, the target of so many of our youthful shenanigans, as well as other more significant events remains the same. Crowds throng to see the 'Maosoleum' where the chairman lies covered in wax, the PLA honor guard marches up and down before the square opens up to the public..a not so subtle reminder of who really is in charge here. After the customary photography sessions we headed into the forbidden city where Roger Moore's voice beckoned to take a unaccented guided tour. Instead we picked the EZ pass lightning tour having seen the Forbidden City more times than the emperor himself.

The schedule called for a Hutong trip as well. Some of the group did the bicycle Hutong tour which I heard was both good and life threatening. I decided to skip that because my 43rd president was already hurting from sitting for 14 straight hours in a cramped airplane seat and I sure didn't want to get on a bicyle seat. We did a walking tour instead. Hutongs refer to the lanes or alleys, where old Beijing residents live in compounds with houses around a courtyard. They are a disappearing feature in the new expanding city of Beijing. Its too bad when I lived there 'they' frowned upon natives socializing with foreign devils...it would have been interesting to get to know China 'good earth' style.

Big Mao and Fries to go.....

In the 12 years that I had been away from China one of the most significant changes that seem to have occurred is the Great Capitalist Leap Forward. When I left in 1993, the treasure chest that is the Chinese economy was just beginning to open up to the outside world. We were there for the opening of the first Mcdonalds, a behemoth of a store , right on the corner of Tiananmen Square. In the land of the mysterious east a big mac was exotic cuisine.

"Now all restaurants are Taco Bell...." err...I mean McDonalds. 12 years have bought a level of 'capitalist' punishment you wouldnt beleive. There is a franchise fast food store at every other corner including near the hutongs in Beijing. The beijing landscape which was always unique to me with its grey, blocky communist era buildings and their colorless facades is now a neon, glittering, smorgasboard of advertising and retail. Free market enterprise is everwhere and the city seems to be bursting with economic vitality. I think they've beaten the Russian model to reform by a mile. But in some ways its a little sad to say goodbye to the old quaint city.

There is even a fast food restaurant opposite the old diplomatic quarter called Uncle Sam. The chairman is probably turning in his grave...which he isn't even in. But I do have a confession to make. After a few consecutive days of having authentic chinese for every meal, my american stomach began craving for a nice fat juicy processed meat burger and I indulged. I will have you know that Big Mac in China tastes a billion times better than the garabage they have in the States. Most be something in the meat or the fact that they cater to an audience that treats the meal as a 'fancy' one.