Forcing Respect for Chinese Anthem

Can one impose the national anthem on people who don't care much for it?

Sorry I have to interrupt my Silk Road tour coverage with the breaking news that China has imposed a national anthem law on Hong Kong. It just smacks of the further mainlandization of the city.

It is also partly Chinese President Xi Jinping flexing his muscles in the name of nationalism...

So now Chinese law states that if someone abuses the national anthem or the flag on the mainland, they can be jailed for up to three years.

Hong Kong football fans turn their backs while the Chinese anthem is played

While the same punishment does not apply in Hong Kong, the local government has issued a statement that it will implement the measure in an appropriate way consistent with Hong Kong's constitution or the Basic Law.

The city's lawmakers have called for public consultation and to have clear guidelines on how the law should be enforced without infringing on freedom of expression.

This latest development comes after football fans last month booed the playing of March of the Volunteers during international games in Hong Kong. It is the second time in two years. Twenty years after the handover and this was not the reaction Chinese officials were expecting from local footie fans.

"In recent years, incidents of disrespect against the national anthem have occurred in Hong Kong, challenging the bottom line of the principle of one country, two systems and social morality, and triggering rage among Chinese, including most Hong Kong residents," said Zhang Rongshun, deputy director for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.

"It is urgent and important to apply the national anthem law in Hong Kong in a bid to prevent and handle such offenses."

Really? The majority of Hong Kong residents? Did he survey all 7 million people? It's just like using the "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" argument.

Anti-Chinese sentiment continues to simmer whether Beijing realizes it or not and these football fans are voicing their frustration through booing, turning their backs or even raising the middle finger when March of the Volunteers is played.

But now pro-Beijing forces are making a strong push back -- there are expectations now in Hong Kong that when the national anthem is played, people need to stand up -- and stand wherever they are, even if they are crossing the street.

"When the law takes effect, people will have to stand up and show respect when the anthem is played. That's for sure," said Ip Kwok-him, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC and member of the Executive Council that advises the Chief Executive.

"Someone asked me whether people who are walking with have to stop. Yes, just stop."

We'll have to see how detailed the measures will be, but in the meantime, how can anyone blame Hong Kong people for not having respect for the national anthem? First they had God Save the King/Queen and now March of the Volunteers. These songs are hardly anthems that mean much to them and now they are being forced into respecting them instead of out of genuinely accepting the anthem.

Just in case you wanted to hear March of the Volunteers, here it is:

Silk Road: Friendly Reminder

Who says the Chinese aren't considerate of others?!

 

After visiting Tianshan Lake near Urumqi, we we to the loo and when we closed the stall door we saw this sign.

I have never seen such a friendly reminder before which is why I had to take a photograph of it!

All bathrooms around the world should have them!

Silk Road: The Massage Report

Just around the corner of the hotel on the left side is the massage place

On our Silk Road trip, we did quite a bit of walking everyday, and my mom and I (and some other tour members) were keen to take advantage of any massages we could get in the evenings.

We managed to get a few -- with some interesting stories in between.

In our first stop Lanzhou, we were unable to get one -- the place that other tour members had gone to, all their staff were busy by the time we arrived. The receptionist asked us to wait for 20 minutes or half an hour and since it was already late and we would have to wake up early the next day, we didn't want to wait another minute.

But then when we arrived in Wuwei, we discovered our hotel had a massage place on the third floor and my mom and I decided to check it out.

When we expressed interest in a massage, they took us down to the basement floor. The staff asked us if we wanted new slippers for 10 kuai or just clean ones for free. Excuse me? I had never heard of that before. We opted for the clean ones. They basically took our shoes hostage.

Then we had to decide on a 260 kuai massage for 80 minutes or 298 for 90 minutes. We pick the former and then we are led down to a changing room that has some lockers and the staff patiently wait outside while we change into some clothes they gave us.

After we're done, they take us back up to the third floor where we passed by a massive room filled with chairs (and smoke) and we entered a room for two people. There weren't any massage beds, but a raised platform for us to sit on.

We waited for a long time before two girls dressed in black short shorts and high heels come in. Obviously they are dressed for the opposite sex and were disappointed we're women.

While soaking our feet in very warm water, they massaged our heads, and then they moved onto the shoulders, neck and legs. She even used her feet to massage my inner thighs -- how creative.

One interesting move was me putting my feet on her knees and holding onto her hands and she was able to lift me up! Another was pulling me up from behind! Crazy.

At Jiayuguan, we spied some massage places near our hotel and checked one out after dinner. It was on the second floor of an old building that was quite dark, but since there were five of us we thought it would be OK. A Chinese woman followed us up because she was scared to go up on her own.

It turns out the place was run by a group of women and our first impression was seeing a half naked little boy running around. How professional.

They seated three of us in one room, two in another and the masseurs chatted among themselves while we stared at the TV.

At one point they started talking to us, asking us where we were from and even asking my mom's age. They were shocked to find out she was older than they thought because for them, someone who turns 60 is old.

The massage was done on a massage chair that could be flattened for us to lie on our stomachs, but it wasn't too comfortable. But for 108 kuai, what do you expect?

Our best massage was in a place in the same building as the Hilton Urumqi but around the corner, above or below a karaoke place. The massage place was very classy, the staff very polite and gave us the clean slippers for us to walk into a room big enough for five of us.

They gave us pink outfits to wear that looked like pyjamas and we could have slept there too it was quite comfortable. We were given tea and fruit, and our clothes stored in a Chinese cupboard while we sat in giant lounge chairs with mini duvets too.

Each of the young women had strong hands to give us really good massages working out our individual tight spots. They even gave us heated bean bags to put around our necks. Premium service. We were all in massage heaven.

Silk Road: Chinese Hotels' Version of "International"

The Hilton Urumqi -- the gold standard in hotels along the Silk Road

During our Silk Road trip, we checked in and out of a number of hotels and I can barely remember their names. These local hotels claimed they were at least four star with "international" in their names, but they were far from western standards.

"Slip Carefully" in a hotel in Lanzhou

Many of them were relatively new hotels, but inside the rooms they looked dim (not enough electricity for the lights), the water pressure was very low, and in many cases things were installed crooked.

And what's with this obsession with having a glass window in between the bedroom and the bathroom! We don't need to see what the other person is doing in the loo...

Here are a few observations with photographic evidence of these hotels missing the mark.

One of the first hotels we stayed at in Lanzhou tried really hard to give clear explanations in the bathroom. The glass shower door had a sign that said: "Jog gently pull", and nearby a sign that read: "Slip carefully". Yikes! How does one "slip carefully"?

The lever on the left wasn't installed straight

Another fancy hotel had a marble bathroom which was impressive, but the lever to turn the water on for the shower was installed crooked. And in the room by the bed there was a sign instructing guests not to smoke in bed, but next to it was an ashtray... how about advising guests not to smoke at all? It was supposed to be a non-smoking room anyway.

On the tour I was the odd person -- I didn't have a travel partner to share a room with. Usually I had a single king-sized bed. But in Zhangye, in this impressive-looking resort in the new part of town, I was given a suite! It was massive complete with a living room and one and a half bathrooms. My mom insisted on staying with me that night to have some space...

At Jiayuyuan, after our trip to the Great Wall, we settled into a hotel that again looked flashy with new fixtures, but the markings were still there on where exactly to install them, and the plastic not taken off the frame of the shower door...

Our best hotel on the entire trip was in Urumqi where we spent the night before flying to Kashgar -- it was the Hilton Urumqi.

Markings were left after mirror was installed

The room was clean, the towels weren't damp -- some hotels didn't have completely dry towels -- the water drained from the shower and didn't flood the bathroom, light switches were in English and Chinese,

Our breakfast buffet spread the next morning was also top notch. Usually the Chinese hotels had only Chinese dishes -- various vegetables that were mostly spicy, along with congee, millet congee, fruits, boiled egg, salad, yoghurt in plastic cups and steamed buns.

But at the Hilton Urumqi there was all the above and western-style food, like bacon, eggs fried how you wanted, noodles cooked a la minute with garnishes of your choice, even waffles. Needless to say we loaded up.

Finally in Kashgar, our hotel room was quite nice, two large double beds, with a big bathroom that included a shower and a bathtub. We were given a fruit plate once a day, though a complaint about the toilet paper rolls is that they were so small -- one third the size of a usual toilet paper roll. On top of that they were thick so they ran out very quickly. We went through at least three rolls per day.

Hmmm the button for the 8th floor is missing

And in the elevator, the buttons on the left side worked, not the ones on the right. Some elevators even had holes where numbers should have been that was further evidence they were a facade and didn't work!

Chinese hotels still have a ways to go in reaching international standards. They really need more exposure to Western ones and understanding where the gaps are and fixing them. As more Chinese travel within the country, they are going to expect better facilities and service. It's a challenge that should be tackled the sooner the better.