As I boasted in a prior post, I am a "cultured man of the world." Heck, when you have experienced sitting in your car at a red light in NYC, and watched someone crossing the street who's pants were so shredded up that his butt was totally exposed, it takes a lot to shock you. My bus ride in Wuhan was not as much shocking, as it was horrifying. The swastikas in Taipei were briefly shocking as is the following event I will soon describe.
***
March 27, 2012: Longhua, China. After a week in Taipai, it was time to go to our main office in Longhua, mainland China.
Longhua is a "suburb" of Shenzhen (pronounced Shen-jen). Shenzhen is a fairly new city located just to the south of Hong Kong. Shenzhen had a population of 352k in 1982. Today, it has a metro population of over 10 million, from which about 60% are migrant workers that leave the city for their small villages and other cities on weekends and holidays. The area is a ghost-town during the Chinese New Year Festivities. Shenzhen's growth (besides for foreigners) is due to the influx of people from all over China. As most of these newcomers speak Mandarin, there is a modern pressure on historically Cantonese-speaking Guandong province, where Shenzhen is located, and Guandong's largest city, Guangzhou (formerly Canton and population almost 13 million) to swtich to Mandarin as their first language.
While Shenzhen at least tries to be a cultural center of south-central China and has downtown restaurants offering such authentic western classics as real brick oven pizza and Irish bangers and mash, Longhua is often disparagingly referred to as "a backwater town" despite its large population and extensive industry. Longhua certainly has a wild-west (east?) air to it.
In Longhua (as in much of China), most drivers are new to "driving". These new drivers don't seem to believe that the pedestrian is always right, are willing to make left turns from far right lanes, and will certainly scare the bejesus out of you whether a passenger or pedestrian. I also get the impression that bus drivers feel the roads are almost exclusively their property. Longhua is also known for its heavy industrial pollution. While Longhua is not quite a company town, if you are at restaurants or stores and mention you work for Foxconn, you will often get a discount. It was in Longhua that I tried goat, which I now have little recollection of, and was going to try turtle, but they were out of turtle that night.
Longhua is where most Iphones come from.
Longhua is also known for its rumors of terrible crime. There are stories of fake buses which pick people up at normal bus stops and then just go off to someplace where all the passengers are robbed. There are also stories of knife attacks to cut-off arms from which bags are hung. Cab drivers are usually in a caged off area from the passenger and rear seats.
The Treasure Hotel is where we are put up when we visit Longhua.
 |
| Treasure Hotel, Longhua, China |
 |
| View from the hotel entrance of the lightrail station to Shenzhen |
When I was there, they had a very young bellman/doorman to help you with your bags. He wore a uniform out of an earlier era, with the round box-type hat. If this would have been NY or LA, you would have thought the uniform very corny, if not ridiculous.
Against Longhua's terrible reputation for crime that I mentioned above, the hotel's internal security was quite sophisticated. Not only did you need your key card to unlock the elevator to take you to your floor, you could only go to your floor. So, if you were on one floor and a friend on another, you would have to meet the friend in the lobby or arrange some other common meeting place to get to their room. Furthermore, uniformed guards roam the street and parking areas near the hotel.
***
Anyway and for the punchline to this story, the bellboy carried up my bag and brought it into my room. Since you do not tip and I could not speak with the guy due to language, I just stared out the window while I expected him to walk out. However, he seemed to be trying to say something, so I looked at him. It was at this time that I saw something I have never seen anywhere in the world, including prostitution-crazy Amsterdam.
With a young giggly-nervous laugh, he made a circle with the fingers on one hand and then put his pointer finger from his other hand through the tight circle. It took me a few moments, but I realized he was asking me if I wanted a prostitute (hopefully that was a symbol for female prostitute). His signal was not as blatant and obvious as this one. I said no, without even thinking if I actually wanted one. I was just in complete shock and regret I will never have any grand-sons to tell that story.
With a young giggly-nervous laugh, he made a circle with the fingers on one hand and then put his pointer finger from his other hand through the tight circle. It took me a few moments, but I realized he was asking me if I wanted a prostitute (hopefully that was a symbol for female prostitute). His signal was not as blatant and obvious as this one. I said no, without even thinking if I actually wanted one. I was just in complete shock and regret I will never have any grand-sons to tell that story.
Sara, my translator and assistant, did not get such an offer from the bellboy.
