Since Shenzhen was bestowed Special Economic Zone status over 20 years ago, growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. With the proliferation of the Made in China tag on everything from shoes and electronics, to my new bride, the region has transformed from a sleepy collection of rice paddies into vast tranches of factories, high rise apartments and more factories. This is the birthplace of the Chinese economic juggernaught.
But at what price? A pall of ghostly smog permanently blankets the city. Skyscrapers anything more than a few blocks away only appear as faint sillhouttes against the palid grey backdrop. The entire city reeks like a giant petrol station forecourt. So who's ready to sign up for the scenic tour? No takers yet? Well here's the clincher. Apparently the organ blackmarket is alive and well here. Lurking in the smog needle bearing thugs are supposedly waiting to deliver a quick jab to happless victims. Once unconcious they are wheeled away to have their organs chopped out alive and flogged off to the highest bidder... Urban myth no doubt but nonetheless Rock spent most the time glancing over his shoulder hoping that his size XL organs were too big for the local market :)
Before we leave this rather sordid half-way point, a few observations on Chinese skyscraper design. On the whole very impressive, except for a strange fixation with afixing flying saucers to the roof of any tall building. Either Tom Cruise and his scientology buddies are the leading property investor in these parts and are trying to entice the alien Maker back to earth, or there's a few too many bootlegged copies of the Jetsons floating around.
Next stop, assuming that dubious looking China Eastern out the window makes it off the tarmac, is Kunming. Clean air is the number one attraction.
Regards,
Rochester Cahan
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment