Xining

Xining is a small city by Chinese standards (only about 2 million people); it is popular among in-country tourists because it enjoys a relatively cool summer, situated as it is on the edge of the Tibetan plateau.  Its history goes back over 2000 years as a major stopping point on the Silk Road.

There is a sameness to these cities.  Although each lays claim to a different chapter of history and to a blend of  ethnic cultures, they are mostly defined by their modern landscapes of broad public plazas, numerous shopping malls and high- to mid-rise apartment buildings.  

The toilet paper in China is superior to that in Western countries; Henry was happy to find some with the heft and lack of paper core he likes in Xining’s Walmart equivalent – along with a mannequin dressed in the same exquisite product:

A local car show was also in progress; one of the French cars was decorated with a likeness of Charles DeGaulle and I was told (in French by the quite excited salesman) that we could get very favorable financing:

A trip into the mall itself revealed a number of stores carrying clothing, shoes, children’s toys and cosmetics… and not much else….  and no customers. 

It’s really hard to understand what is going on from an economic prospective.  We know there are many millions of people and that their spending power is exploding.  But brand-new buildings are empty; we have been told they cannot afford to buy or lease the space.  Huge shopping malls offer goods for sale, but seem to have no customers. Massive public concert halls have not had a performance for months.

Ah well, ours is not to reason why….  maybe just a mystery of the East.

Cherry, a hotel employee from Inner Mongolia, was good enough to join us for a jaunt into the countryside around Xining.  Beautiful fall wildflowers appeared to have been cultivated.  And a lady in one of the villages helped us gather some seeds for possible introduction into the Douglass, Texas eco-system.

We also got near the Ta-er Monastery to look at the prayer flags.  We by-passed the monastery itself, which is quite a tourist draw (see photo below of the poster with Chairman Mao and happy visitors to the monastery).  Cherry helped us negotiate the purchase of just a few prayer-flag strings to decorate (and hopefully get some blessing for) the Sunda homestead.  

And we burst through the mountains to an area near the Tibetan plateau with jagged mountains, pristine air, an unusually clear part of the Yellow River… and a yak (dressed up for the tourist biz):

Xining was an interesting spot; wish we could have ventured further west to Urumqi, but that would have required a much greater investment of time.  Instead, we will be moving back to Xi’an on our way to Nanjing.