Days 3 through 6

The next few days fly by with meetings,speaking engagements, more drinking/feasting and little time for shooting.

Da Lian is an hour from Seoul and the same from Tokyo. It hosts tourists and business people from these 2 countries. Japanese and Korean restaurants and entertainment places abound.

Regular food wasnt expensive at 2 yuan for a bowl of hot tasty beef noodles or 3 yuan for a half dozen steamed meat buns. The 200 yuan for a all-you-can-eat-and-drink Japanese buffet at the venerable Da Lian Hotel was exceptional value as huge amounts of sake and local beer were consumed all evening long with great sashimi, teppanyaki, aki, sea urchins and other food that would have easily set me back 900 yuan a head back home.

I still cant get over its clean streets. Any I dont see anybody doing the famous Chinese Spit.

I?d checked out of the Furama and into the Hilton (which at US$58 a night was more than reasonable for such a fine hotel).

The city is also very well planned with heavy industry and manufacturing cleanly located to the northern end, the business district of Ren Min Jie on the southern end and the residential suburbs evenly laid out amongst the hills.

On the eve of my departure from Da Lian, my heart felt heavy with the thought of parting ways with many new found friends and good feelings that had developed for close to a week.

I went out for a walk at one of the city's many public squares in the afternoon. Sitting down on the stone bench, I watched in fascination as a group of elderly and young began a series of tai-chi exercises. Each stance enhanced by the long shadows of the afternoon sun, it embodied poetry in motion.

At 2 yuan a piece, many children were running around the square with little bottles of soap water blowing beautiful bubbles that the soft wind carried. The warm light split in many colors and directions under this blanket of spheres.

At 3 yuan for a pack of corn, families kept the resident flock of pigeons well-fed.

Well, not EVERYTHING was rosy. Children begging on the streets were a nuisance and a hazard. Many would try selling me a rose, failing which they would ask for a couple of yuan.

I made the mistake early of giving one kid a 5 yuan handout and was swarmed by 3 others who?d literally grabbed my by my legs and get on their knees refusing to let go until everyone had a fair share. I noticed their parents standing to one side.

They made a mistake or two too. I handed out 5 yuan late one night and the little brat asked for 20 (about $3)! I kept my 5 in my pocket "For your greed, you're getting nothing." He asked for his 5 yuan back "Too late my little friend, now get out of my way" as I shoved him aside.

On another day, it happened to me in the middle of a busy road with traffic barreling down on us! I could see her mother leaning against a lamp post chuckling away.

I grabbed the kneeling kid by the scruff of her 6 year old neck and dragged her at double quick pace without giving her a chance to even get up. Her yelps of pain drew a crowd?..instantly furious at the sight of a foreigner manhandling one of their little ones. I flung her at the feet of the woman I assumed to be her mother and with sincere rage, my 2 hands wrenched her by her collar up to my face and screamed into her face ?IS THIS HOW YOU TEACH YOUR YOUNG?? ?HAVE YOU NO DIGNITY OR CONCERN?? ?IS THIS GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF DA LIAN OR CHINA? ?I?m going to lodge a complaint against you with the (dreaded) Gong An!!!?

The gathering mob, ready to tear me up moments earlier, now begin hurling verbal abuse at both mother and child. 2 of her relatives (either sisters or cousins) rush into the crowd to help. They?re instead held by the crowd until a police car pulls up and takes over their custody.

My poor Chinese accent gave me away as a foreigner when they questioned me as to what exactly happened.

Rarely upset and emotional, I choked back my tears ?Yes I?m a visitor to your city, but I?m still a Chinese by descent and its just unbelievable that a mother would sacrifice her young child like this for the sake of a few coins. I?ve not been back in many many years and the old China I knew had much higher moral standards than what we have witnessed here today. I?m bitterly disappointed. You want to arrest me? Go ahead!?

Everyone fell into a moment of shameful silence, nobody daring to look me in the eyes.

?Sir I?m sorry this happened. Perhaps this is the price of progress but it doesn?t happen often. I?ll handle it from here?.and have a fruitful time in our city. Bye.?

?Men! I want these vagrants back at the station immediately!?

?What are you all looking at ??? You want to come back too as witnesses???!!!? as the crowd quickly evaporated

Life?s many slices of life.

Day 7

The past few days, news had been coming in of a deadly pneumonic virus originating out of the southern city of Guanzhou??.our final destination of the trip. The death toll continued to climb with the infected having spread the virus to Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and other countries. There was no known cure at that time. We cancelled Guanzhou and re-routed our departure back to Singapore from Shanghai 3 days earlier.

The flight touched down in Pudong, the new Promised Land. Compared to the freezing temperatures in Beijing and Da Lian, the 10 degree C weather in Shanghai was extremely comfortable.

The taxi ride to our service apartment (Ascott) in Pudong area took 50 minutes. Pudong has changed and really caught up with the times. With truly impressive and sky-scraping architecture, New Shanghai held the dreams of Modern China. Premier Zhu Rong Zi had left his legacy in concrete in Pudong.

The day passed quickly with appointments.

In the evening, we were invited to one of Shanghai?s top nightclubs. I cant remember its name, just that it had 250 plush KTV rooms, 800 hostesses and 500 waitresses serving every man?s whim and fancy.

Even the toilet attendants were high class. I?d dropped a 5 yuan (60 cents) tip into the plate after relieving myself. The attendant promptly picked it up and stuffed it back into my pocket with a ?Oh keep the change Sir. You have a good evening.? My, my, my??..

The hostesses, many of them seemingly beautiful beyond words, would have little difficulty holding their own in a Miss World beauty pagent. Money has lured scores of China?s most beautiful women into the new Chinese night life.

And get this?? the waitresses and hostesses PAY (800 and 400 yuan monthly respectively) for the PRIVILEDGE of serving clients at these night clubs.

I shake my head?..only in China have they turned a cost overhead into an actual revenue flow!!!

These women make their money purely from the generous tips of clients.

My hostess, 21 year old Li Miao, was a breath-taking 1.68m stunner (I'm not much taller at 1.74m) and a local Shanghainese. With long satin hair that melted in my calloused palm, round almond shaped eyes and complexion of light pink snow, this gem of a songbird and man-pleaser epitomized a soul-mate, stress-killer, slave-woman, seductress, whore and wife all rolled into one. Her one sole aim was to keep her man happy and be paid for it.

I tested her after an hour. ?I?m only a staff photographer for my bosses sitting over there. Why don?t you hang out there with the rich ones instead?? I was wearing a white short-sleeved tennis shirt, black pants, a cheap $15 Casio watch and brought along my camera bag and sure looked the part.

Expecting her to drop me like a dirty tissue of no worth, like what the club's toilet attendant did, her words warmed my heart.

?My brother?s a road-side cook on the East side and I?m a rich man?s thing ??.you?re fun and I?m happy with you? So what?s your problem? Your bosses will take care of everything here so just relax and let me serve you!? she retorted sincerely.

My respect for her gained. I missed my wife and little girl. I always pack a picture of Genna in my name-card holder when I travel to beat the homesick bug. I decided to share it with Li Miao.

?Oh my goodness! She?s so cute! Luckily don?t look like you! Mummy must be really beautiful!? she squealed.

?Yeah, she?s a real sweetie?. I cant wait to get back home to Singapore soon?

?Really, thanks so much for sharing her picture with me. You know, not many men do that here??c?mon where?re those dice?? as we continued our drinking games.

We became bosom friends for those few hours away from the cold.

Cai Yun, one of 3 waitresses serving our room is from Anhui province and while not quite up the beauty scale of the hostesses, was nonetheless a tireless workhorse, running errands like keeping everyone?s glass filled, cleaning up after our mess, picking our karoke songs, getting hot face towels and tea for the drunk and cleaning up my host's barf.

Her job wasn?t easy??and she too has to pay the management of the club 800 yuan a month to serve us. She lives on the generous tips of the club?s patrons. Her mother runs a noodle stall in Hubot in Inner Mongolia while her father works in northern China on his own ?Ha-Ma? farm raising frogs for sale to medicine shops and restaurants for consumption.

I left the club at 1am happily abuzz and singing. I?d paid Li Miao and Cai Yun 300 and 200 yuan respectively for 4 hours of pampering and luxurious make believe.

With a shortened program cutting out Guanzhou, news of the first military actions in Iraq came live over the TV on Thursday morning.

Day 8

Singapore called and ordered our return on the next available flight. This first steps into China after so many years ended abruptly. However it did re-open my eyes in many ways and I vow to be back soon.

This is a China that has moved forward in more ways than one, paying some social prices along the way.

At 4.00pm on Thursday , March 20, my flight takes off for home. I look out the widow for one last glimpse as the events of the last 8 days flashed through my mind. The land was bathed in a warm glow of gold and for a moment I could feel its smile on my face as I said one last goodbye?.. but not farewell.

The End.