GOLDEN WEEKS - Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism - page 213

“fireworks” doesn't begin to do justice to the curtains of coordinated light that flooded the
sky. The performers were polished and acted in astonishing unison. They repeated a sim-
ilarly spectacular closing event after the world had watched more than eleven thousand
athletes straining for a gold medal. Finally, China won fifty-one gold medals, topping all
other competing nations.
There were more than a few problems: severe government censorship, pollution and
the heavy-handed reconstruction of Beijing that turned it into a modern “Anywhere” city.
But the Olympics went off without a hitch. The world applauded China's vitality and its
modern image framed by reminders of its old culture. (Unfortunately, the Olympics were
held as the global economy went into a recession, and it took several years before tourism
rebounded, negating the short-term benefits the government had expected.)
Despite all of the hoopla over the Olympics and the daily reporting about China's eco-
nomic miracle, many of today's tourists to China are surprised, if not starry-eyed, at what
they see. For example, I met three couples from suburban Washington, D.C., on a cool
October morning for tai chi lessons on the grounds of the fifteenth-century Temple of
Heaven, a masterpiece of architecture and landscape gardening now surrounded by the
city of Beijing.
It was the last day in Beijing for Herb and Ellen Herscowitz, Donald and Susan Poretz,
and Arthur and Amy Kales. They are all professionals; the men are medical doctors highly
regarded in their fields. They are near retirement age and grew up with all those contra-
dictory images of China. They subscribe to the Washington Post and the New York Times
and read the articles about China's modernization, yet they were flabbergasted at what
they had seen on their first trip to China.
“The size of the buildings, the way people dress is unbelievable. So is the hustle, the
commerce, even the airport. When we landed it was like being any place in the U.S., only
not as crowded,” said Susan Poretz.
“We can't believe how modern this country is. And we haven't seen any police. I
thought this was supposed to be a police state,” said Arthur Kales.
The three couples began their tour visiting the must-see classics: the Great Wall and
the Forbidden City. They ate Peking duck at a restaurant where they had had to order the
duck one week in advance.
Amy Kales said, “I thought the people would be solemn, dreary. They aren't.”
Another Washington couple was just as impressed after their three-week trip to China.
Rick and Jewell Dassance are retired and spent months diligently reading travel books on
China as well as histories and novels. They thought they were prepared for their first visit
to China. Instead, they said they were blown away by the country.
“I don't know what I was expecting—I think I thought China would be like Senegal,
you know, a Third World country where you might be staying in a nice compound but
right outside is squalor. But I didn't see squalor. The roads were good, the plumbing, elec-