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From Beijing's Forbidden City to Shanghai skyscrapers

Photo and story by Jack Souther "Hello! One Dolla! Hello, Hello! Three for one dolla!" My attempt to get a photo was frustrated by a swarm of aggressive street hawkers and by the time I had the camera put away my group had disappeared.
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"And then, before panic set in, the reassuring voice of our guide and leader" Jack Souther on negotiating China

Photo and story by Jack Souther

"Hello! One Dolla! Hello, Hello! Three for one dolla!"

My attempt to get a photo was frustrated by a swarm of aggressive street hawkers and by the time I had the camera put away my group had disappeared. Buffeted by a surge of people streaming into a narrow street I searched vainly over the heads of the crowd for a glimpse of Brian or Gary, the two tallest members of our group. And then, before panic set in, the reassuring voice of our guide and leader —"Hanson travel this way. Keep to the right. Stay close together. Blue and yellow follow Ivy, orange and grey stay with me."

We were a group of 33 friends, and friends of friends, who teamed up with Hanson Lau for a custom tour of China. Before leaving Vancouver we got together for dinner and a pre-trip briefing where Hanson collected our passports for processing, warned us about pickpockets and scams, and divided us into four colour-coded platoons, each responsible for keeping track of its members. By the end of the evening, wearing my blue identity tag, I began to wonder whether we were embarking on a holiday or a trip to bootcamp. But it took less than a day in China for me to appreciate Hanson's no nonsense leadership style. In the teeming cities of China where you can't understand either the spoken or written language, not even the street signs, it helps to have someone in charge who knows the ropes. And Hanson, a veteran traveller who has led trips to the "middle kingdom" since 1974, knows his way around China.

I rejoined my blue platoon and followed Ivy, Hanson Travel's local guide, out of the Forbidden City, along a crowded sidewalk lined on one side by small open-fronted shops and on the other by a jumble of parked bicycles and motor scooters. A stream of two, three, and four-wheeled vehicles, many piled high with boxes, bags, and baskets, moved erratically along the street. I had no idea where we were. Ivy pulled out her cell phone, talked to our driver in the local dialect, and led us down a side street to our waiting bus. We piled aboard and headed for dinner, first along a crowded four-lane elevated freeway, then down a multi-ramped interchange and into the restaurant parking lot. Hanson directed us to our tables — "blue over here, yellow the one in the corner" — and we sat down to a sumptuous dinner of Chinese food washed down with an endless supply of good local beer. Later, in the lavish foyer of our five-star hotel, Hanson handed us our electronic keys and ensured that the bellman delivered our bags to our immaculate air-conditioned rooms. This was the tone of our 21 days in China — hassle-free luxury travel in the Hanson style.

After years of travelling on our own or in small adventure-tour groups the Hanson style was a big departure from our usual routine of camp sites and B&Bs. But it didn't take long to get used to the luxury and there are advantages, particularly on a first trip to China. Hanson, who is incredibly well organized, looked after all the logistic details, from tipping and dining to transportation and entertainment, leaving us free to take in the sights. Despite the large size of our group the tour was fast-paced and varied, each day packed with sightseeing activity and evening entertainment. And in China, where bargaining is a way of life, Hanson got group discounts and VIP status wherever we went. In the end we probably saw more and paid less than if we had tried to do it on our own. But there is a down side to travelling in a large group.

We had virtually no contact with ordinary Chinese people and never ventured off the carefully groomed tourist path. Rural and industrial China were seen only in passing and at a distance. Due to the size and varied interests of our group everyone had to compromise. The "shoppers" would like to have spent more time buying stuff and "non-shoppers", like myself, spent far more time in malls and glitzy factory showrooms than we wished. Local guides made a point of taking us to at least one "factory" — places producing fresh water pearls, salt water pearls, jade carvings, lacquer ware, embroidery, furniture, silk clothing etc. Each factory included a brief visit to a demonstration workshop followed by a sales pitch and "free time to browse" in an expansive showroom where the product could be bought, packaged, and shipped. Not my cup of tea but some of the group lapped it up.

Using a mix of busses, riverboats, and local airlines we followed Hanson from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in Beijing to the Great Wall at Juyong Pass, to the Terra Cotta Warriors of Xian, and up the Yangtze River through the three gorges. From Guilin, in central China we cruised up the Li River through the surreal karst landscape that has inspired so much of Chinese art. We explored the waterways and streets of Hangzhou, which Marco Polo described as "the most noble and the best that is in the world" and took a small boat along the Grand Canal into the narrow waterways of the Venetian-like town of Suzhou. And after a final three days in the throbbing metropolis of Shanghai we were treated to a farewell dinner in the revolving restaurant atop the Oriental Pearl, high above the blazing lights of the Bund and the skyscrapers of China's second largest city.

Along the way we were joined by local guides, young university graduates who spoke good English and were eager to share their perspective on life in China. I was amazed at their openness, candor, and sense of humour. Whether discussing the cost of living, the social impact of the "one child one family" policy, or the problems of crime and corruption they were completely forthright. But it was Hanson himself who gave us the most probing insights into modern China. Articulate and knowledgeable his commentary was loaded with historical facts, tales of political intrigue, and humour spiked with a liberal dose of his personal philosophy.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hanson worked briefly as a street musician and preacher on the streets of his native city. As a young adult he came to Canada in 1966, got a degree in English literature from UBC and moved up to Kitimat to teach school. "Too damn much snow and way too cold for me," he says with a laugh. After returning to Vancouver he started broadcasting on Cantonese radio and for 20 years provided the Chinese community with a radio voice in their own language. As an outspoken advocate for those who paid the Chinese head tax he rallied hundreds of those who were forced to buy their way into Canada and, on their behalf, he interviewed politicians right up to Martin and Harper, seeking redress for this past injustice.

Hanson still broadcasts a regular travel program on 1470 AM and frequently does special shows but, as the owner and principal guide of Hanson Travel, he spends most of his time on the road. His ability to read Chinese script, to switch effortlessly from Mandarin to English or Cantonese, and his network of friends and colleagues throughout China give him, and his clients, a huge advantage.

Like many of his countrymen from Hong Kong, Hanson is an unabashed businessman with a great admiration for private entrepreneurs and a distaste for big government. As we travelled through China he repeatedly drew our attention away from the towering skyscrapers to the rows of tiny, privately owned shops and cafes that line every street of every city we visited.

"Those," he says, "are the foundation of China's new economy — small entrepreneurs and their clientele have made China a stable, functioning country."

I asked what he personally saw as the greatest change in China.

"A change of attitude," he answered without hesitation, "a change from inward-looking isolationism to an openness to new ideas and a willingness to embrace western technology."

According to Hanson, "The government doesn't meddle in local affairs. Only central policy is controlled. People are free to solve their own problems and it is working."

It would take several lifetimes to really understand China, but as I look back on our trip and reflect on the things we saw and learned I realize how much it has changed my own perception of that vast country and its 1.3 billion people. It may be a communist regime but the slogans and Mao-suits have been replaced by advertising billboards and designer jeans. In its dazzling, neon-lit cities there are more Starbucks and KFC signs than portraits of Chairman Mao. In every sense, from the ubiquitous street hawkers, to the private shop owners, towering office buildings, and modern factories with their glitzy showrooms, China has become a burgeoning free market society.