www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM

China

China, Hong Kong, and Macau   In June, 2001, I visited Tibet, China and The Silk Road - This was at a time well before the Beijing Olympics when China's GDP was only about 14% that of the United States. In 2014 I returned for the Hong Kong and Macau Highpoints where I got a really good, indepth look at both territories.   By the time of my second visit, it was clear that the Chinese government's brutality towards the people of Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang had only worsened...

Click Here for my page about the Silk Road and the Uyghur people of East Turkestan...

There is no press freedom in China:

The BBC remains one of the world's most respected news organizations yet China's National Radio and Television Administration banned them in February, 2021.   China accused the BBC of failing to meet the requirement for news to be truthful and fair, and accused it of damaging China's national interests.   The BBC had been covering a number of sensitive issues in China, including its treatment of the minority Uighur people in China's Xinjiang province. (Including recent coverage on the rape and torture of women in "re-education" camps for the Uighurs.) Also, the BBC had recently questioned China's treatment of its people during the COVID crisis and questioned whether the government's death figures could be trusted.

Dr. Li Wenliang (RIP)

Li Wenliang was a Chinese ophthalmologist who worked as a physician at Wuhan Central Hospital. Li warned his colleagues in December 2019 about a possible outbreak of an illness that resembled severe acute respiratory syndrome, later acknowledged as COVID-19.   Li Wenliang became a whistleblower when his warnings were later shared publicly. Local Chinese police and government then accused Li, and others, of "rumor mongering" (making false comments on the Internet) and punished them. Li was forced to sign a letter of admonition issued by the Wuhan Police Bureau ordering him to stop "spreading rumors" about "SARS"   Li returned to work but shortly after contracted the virus from an infected patient (who had been originally treated for glaucoma). Li died from the disease on 7 February 2020, at age 33. Li and his wife, Fu Xuejie, had one son. His wife was pregnant with their second child at the time of his death   A group of Chinese academics, led by Tang Yiming - head of the school of Chinese classics at Central China Normal University in Wuhan - published an open letter urging the government to both protect free speech and apologize for Li's death.   The death of Li provoked considerable grief and anger on social media which became an extended demand for freedom of speech in China. The hashtag #wewantfreedomofspeech gained over 2 million views and over 5,500 posts within 5 hours before it was removed by Chinese censors, as were other related hashtags and posts.

Dr. Duc C. Vuong, MD on the Wuhan Virus

In his March 23, 2020 China Virus YouTube video, HOW COVID-19 KILLS--I'm a Surgeon--And Why We Can't Save You, Dr. Duc Vuong stated, "Don't belive anything out of China" (stated at minute 32:58).

Loss of Freedom in Hong Kong

In December, 2014, Patrick, Tom, Steve and I spent some quality time in Macau and Hong Kong exploring both countries and hiking to their highpoints. Unfortunately the transfer of sovereignty of Macau (a former Portuguese colony) and Hong Kong (a former British colony), to the People's Republic of China (PRC), took place in the late 1990s. Both were some of the world's most prosperous countries but are now considered Special Administrative Districts of the PRC. Since both Macau and Hong Kong will maintain a high degree of autonomy, for about 50 years beyond their loss of sovereignty, they're still considered separate countries by most measures (and me). HOWEVER, in 2019 China began stripping the citizens of Hong Kong their freedom and liberty. The photo, at left, is an example of some of the protests that took place during the summer of 2019...

Minorities in China

At 3.691 million square miles, China is the world's 3rd largest country in land area (Russia is 6.5, Canada 3.851, the U.S. 3.623, and Brazil 3.284 [Actually, the CIA's World Factbook pages indicate the rank order for size as: Russia, Canada, USA, China and Brazil - China and the U.S. are very close in size with America's larger water areas making it bigger]) with a population of almost 1.3 Billion (India is in 2nd place with about a Billion and the U.S. is in third with almost 300 Million).[note: the U.S. population soared well beyond 300 million a few years after I made this entry in 2001...] The majority of Chinese are ethnic Han. There are 55 recognized minorities in China but they only account for 8% of the total population. China has 23 provinces and 5 "autonomous regions" where minorities reside and supposedly self-govern. Although our respective countries will probably never be friends, we found the Han people themselves to be warm, accommodating, and generally curious as to our actions. But, sadly, most Chinese were indifferent to the suffering their government has brought to the peoples of Tibet and Xinjiang...   - Roger J. Wendell, July 2001

At the time of our visit Beijing was competing to take on the 2008 summer Olympics. We were surprised, later, when the IOC (International Olympic Committee) finally awarded Beijing the summer '08 games. Our amazement even went beyond China's horrible human rights record and its treatment of the Tibetan and Uyghur peoples - we were astonished that athletes would even want to compete in such a crowded, polluted city! In 2001 the air in Beijing was so bad that our eyes and lungs began to burn immediately after stepping off the plane and walking over to customs - really! So, how can athletes be expected to perform and stay healthy in such an environment? Doesn't the IOC, or sports world in general, take into consideration the health of the participants AND spectators? And, it wasn't just me at the time - a number of athletic organizations around the world were very concerned about the air pollution issue in Beijing at the time.

(People from the outer provinces like to have their photos taken with foreigners!)

Click on any of these "thumbnail" images for a larger view:

Mao rests here!

Marching with water

Photographing Mao*

Great Wall of China

On the Great Wall

Forbidden City	Emperor used the middle	Dressing up for a fun!	12-yar-old Jeshua	I drink Future Apple!
Streets of Beijing	Streets of Beijing	Environment Cigarettes	Pottery Maker	Military at Tiananmen Square
Jody, our guide	Tiananmen Square	Tiananmen Square	Statue	Classic China

My Police Troubles and Hospital stay...

(Click on map for larger view)

While in the Tien-Shan mountains, nearly 1,500 miles west of Beijing, we were able to sneak into a military area where few Westerners had ever stood before. Although we were successful in reaching that rare spot the police found us out and took us in for the night. Unfortunately they were not in the mood to allow any picture-taking in and around the jail. Nevertheless, I was able to preserve pictures of the "Out of Bounds For Foreigners" sign (And boy did they mean it!!) and the shot of me and my brother on that rare and remote Tien-Shan mountain real-estate where few westerners had ever stepped before. The following morning, after being released by the police, we left the restricted area via an 11,300 foot pass through the Tien-Shan mountains. Unfortunately, on the way down, we came into a head-on collision with a utility truck that completely totaled our car. Our driver's face was cut, pretty badly, with Ray, Jeshua, and my brother sustaining a variety of bumps and bruises. I, myself, hit my head and shoulder really hard as I was leaning out the window taking a GPS reading at the time of the collision. I think I went unconscious, briefly, but was definitely disoriented and dazed for awhile. According to my GPS we were doing about 40 mph when the truck hit us head-on as we both rounded a curve along the mountain road.

I was taken to what I believe was the region's only hospital - nearly six hours away via unpaved road to Kuche, still well within the huge province of Xinjiang. The hospital staff treated me well although I do recall some chuckling as they kept trying to stand me up in front of their X-ray machine and I kept passing out and crumpling to the floor. Many of the other patients, and their visitors, found me to be a curiosity - some asking if my nose would ever stop growing while they stared smoking next to me in the hallway and hospital room (Many Chinese are fascinated with blonde hair, something I don't poses. They're also distracted by what they believe to be very large noses on the faces of Westerners - I'll have to agree with them - my nose, and that of the majority in North America, is pretty darn large when compared to Asians!)

Me and my brother on some very rare and remote Chinese ground...

We were in a head-on collision coming down from an 11,000 foot pass in the Tien-Shan mountains...

A crowd almost immediately gathered out of "nowhere" as I didn't recall seeing any villages or people in the area...

The Chinese were able to X-ray my skull and arms where they found fractures my left shoulder.

More China Photos:

Me in China

The crowd takes our cue inbetween some immitation Terra Cotta warriros at a restaraunt near Beijing (34k) There are a lot of yurts throughout western China (24k) Here's a Power Point presentation on where we were... (It's a BIG 857k) I found the toilets of China, despite their lack of cleanliness, to be much more healthful than what we're accustomed to.   This is because a natural "squatting" position is required that doesn't entail touching your bottom to anything.  This particular photo is of a typical train toilet and is a stainless steel version of what can be found in all kinds of different forms around the country. My Toilet Matters page has more info on this delicate subject... (5k) There are more photos from our trip on my Tibet and Silk Road pages...

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