The Great Wall of China Story

1987

A trip into Communist China

Written 4/2011* 2,375 Words

Copyright 2019

By Howard Yasgar

On Dec 21, 1987, my wife Katherine and I were on vacation in Hong Kong.

We had just finished a weeklong business trip to Taiwan and we had come to Hong Kong to spend a few days there before returning to the U.S.

Once we were in Hong Kong, we decided to stay in the Regent Hotel that was in Kowloon, it was a first-class hotel with a big picture window in our room that overlooked Kowloon Bay and Hong Kong.

One reason Katherine had decided that we should try the Regent hotel, was because she had read that they would pick you up at the airport with a Rolls Royce Limousine.

Well, they did pick us up at the airport with a Rolls Royce Limousine, we thought it was a free service, but I later noticed a $60.00 extra charge on our hotel bill.

Let me tell you, back in 1967, it was a stiff price for such a short limo ride.

After spending a day or so in Hong Kong, we heard that it was possible to travel to

Communist China as a tourist.

It was intriguing, and a little scary as the U.S. has always told us how bad the Chinese Communists were.

We spoke to the hotel concierge, and he confirmed that travel to China was possible but it needed to be specially arranged by a travel agent.

That evening, the Concierge sent a special travel agent to our room.

He confirmed that a seven-day guided tour of Beijing and Shanghai was available and the cost would be $1800.00 and that included everything, Air Fare, Hotels, as well as meals.

He also said that we shouldn’t be concerned about the Communists, as they loved American tourists.

We signed up for the trip that night, and the next day we put our extra luggage in storage with the Regent Hotel.

I was still not 100% comfortable about how strict the Communist Regime in China would be considering all the bad things our government always has said about them, so I asked Katherine to leave her jewelry in the safe at Regent hotel.

We headed to the airport where we got aboard a Russian Aeroflot airplane for the flight to Beijing.

This was our first flight ever in an Aeroflot airplane, so we looked at everything closely to see what the Russian workmanship was like.

We were sitting in the left front row of the plane and to the right of us was a drape separating the passenger area from the stewardess’s area and the pilot’s cabin.

Every time a stewardess passed through, she had to handle the drape.

We could see the drape was greasy with handprints, you would have thought someone would have taken it down and washed it occasionally, it was disturbing to us to have to look at it.

Next, I noticed that one of the Philips screws holding our seat together was made off center, and I wondered if some of the airplanes engine parts might also be off center.

Despite our concerns, the flight took off and landed in Beijing safely, so we assumed the engines had been built in Russia with better screws than the ones in the seats.

Once we were in Beijing, we were pleasantly surprised to find all the Chinese Soldiers and Customs Agents at the airport very friendly, and we passed right through Customs quickly and we were driven by taxi straight to the Beijing Hotel.

We quickly noticed that there were very few cars on the road, but there were hundreds and hundreds of people all on bicycles.

When we arrived at the hotel, and we were again surprised, we expected the Beijing Hotel to be old and decrepit, but we found it modern, neat and clean, as good as any First-Class U.S. Hotel.

We were taken up to our room by a bell hop, and as we entered I could hear that the television was on, and I recognized the music. It was a “Rambo” movie and he was killing all the Communist soldiers in Vietnam.

Our room had a nice view of a main avenue below us, and a large park across the street.

In the park there were several hundred Chinese soldiers all practicing rifle drills.

Well, so much for the Communists being secretive, they didn’t appear worried that we might be spies.

The next morning, we met our young Beijing guide, his name was Han Lee.

Han Lee was about 20 years old and he was just as friendly as he could be.

He spoke excellent English, and he was all personality.

Han Lee rented a cab for us and he took us on a Beijing City Tour.

Naturally I was very curious as to how the Communist system worked so I asked Han Lee a lot of questions.

At first he was hesitant to talk, but after spending the day with us and watching me remove a stone from the wall of the Forbidden City, ( It was for my mother in law’s rock collection), he then realized I was neither a Communist spy nor an American spy, and he became more talkative.

Han Lee eventually told us all about his personal situation and his problems in dealing with the Communist system.

Han Lee said that after grade school, the Government had mandated that he go to the local

university, but there was a long waiting list, so he then became what they called a student in Limbo, he had to wait home, and he was not allowed to work.

After a few months of just hanging around, he became bored and his family got him an illegal job working with a relative.

He said his job was sweeping the floor in a store, and it paid nearly nothing.

So, he soon became bored, and he left the floor sweeping job disgusted.

Then a friend told Han Lee about a new Canadian Company that was looking for English speaking Tour Guides; however, it was illegal for Han Lee to apply.

Han Lee went and applied anyway.

Because of his excellent English and his personality, the Company faked some papers for him so he could work.

But Han Lee said he was always afraid he was going to get caught and arrested.

In 1987, being a tour guide was probably the best job anyone could have in China. The salary was controlled by the government at only $8.00 per week, but European, Canadian and U.S. Tourists would leave the guides with hefty tips and that is why the job was so good, all the tour guides soon became wealthy people.

Han Lee said that foreign money was illegal to have in China, but it could be used if he ever

left China for another country.

Another good thing about being a tour guide in China was that you met a lot of foreigners.

Han Lee told us he had met a lady from New York who promised to help sponsor him to immigrate to the U.S.

That evening we asked Han Lee if we could go to see the Great Wall of China.

He said yes, he knew there was a small town a few miles out of Beijing that offered the best access to the Great Wall, it had several souvenir stores and a restaurant especially for tourists.

Han Lee said we could rent us a taxicab to get there, but that was only if it wasn’t snowing.

He said that if it snowed, the government had a law that would not allow any cars to travel on the highway.

So early the next morning he rented a Cab for about $1.00 U.S. and we left for the great wall of China.

In the early morning, all the roads in Beijing were clogged with thousands of people, all going to work on bicycles.

The only vehicles we saw on the road were antique looking “Liberation Trucks”, they were loaded with laborers on their way to work.

A Liberation Truck was quite a sight for us to see, because they are exact copies of a 1947

American International Harvester truck.

The truck is manufactured in China from plans, that the Communists stole from the American International Truck factory, when they had confiscated it years ago.

To us, in 1987, it looked like everyone was riding in an antique truck.

We were only a few miles out of Beijing when it started to snow.

Suddenly, an armed soldier stepped out into the middle of the road and made our taxicab pull over into an empty gravel parking lot.

I have no idea why, but the soldier started acting very belligerent towards our cab driver and demanded to see all his papers.

I asked Han Lee what was happening, but he motioned for me not to say anything.

So, we all just sat in the back of the cab freezing. We were watching, as the nervous cab driver kept unfolding more papers.

I noticed that outside there was a path leading up a hill and it looked like there was the Great Wall on the top.

We all got out of the cab and we acted like we were stretching our legs, and we slowly walked towards the path going up to the wall.

Once we were at the top of the hill, I looked back down and I could still see the soldier, he was still reading the cab drivers’ papers, and he was not paying the least bit attention to us.

Once we were all behind the stone wall, we just kept walking and soon we were out of sight of the soldier and the cab.

Han Lee said the Chinese countryside was loaded with similar rock walls, but they were not the great wall of China.

Once I heard that, I pried a few small rocks out of the wall for Katherine’s mother’s rock collection.

We walked along the path, and the wall seemed to run parallel to the highway.

After a mile or so the path headed back down to the Highway, so then we started walking along the highway.

The snow had stopped but it was bitter cold, and Katherine had no hat so Han Lee took off his hat with ear flaps and gave it to her to wear.

Katherine was also still wearing leather shoes and they kept making her slip on ice patches.

We must have walked for several miles without ever seeing one car on the highway.

I kept asking Han Lee how much farther to the wall, and he said we were very close.

Soon I started to think Han Lee really didn’t know where we were.

In the distance, I could see a train chugging along and we could read the writing on its side, it said Mongolia.

Because we were getting very tired and it was freezing cold. I jokingly asked Han Lee if he was taking us to Mongolia, but I don’t think he got my humor.

Out of nowhere, suddenly there was coming from behind us a Volkswagen Van.

Han Lee flagged it down and we could see it was filled up with six big Mongolian looking, laborers.

After a brief animated conversation in Chinese, Han Lee motioned for us to get inside the Van.

The laborers all pushed together tighter and we managed to fit in the back seat of the van.

Han Lee, quietly said to me, it would cost us $2.00 U.S. for the ride.

I don’t think any of the workers appeared very happy about us getting in.

Katherine later confided with me that she would have paid any price for the ride, and I agreed with her.

When we finally arrived at the small town next to the Great Wall, we were surprised to find

it full of Japanese tourists.

There were about six large private chartered buses there, all with their engines running, and their heaters on.

We followed all the Japanese tourists to the entrance leading to the Great Wall.

Then for several hours we walked up and down the Great Wall, taking in the amazing sight that it was.

Katherine was still slipping and sliding in her leather shoes, so after our walking along the wall, we were all worn out and nearly frozen, so we went into the government’s tourist restaurant for a late lunch.

Both Katherine and I thought the food was very good, but for some reason Han Lee chose to raise his voice making a big issue about the food.

We never really knew what Han Lee was complaining about. But all the Japanese Tourists were staring at him, and us as well.

Han Lee later said that he felt the food was below standard, and he had told them so.

Katherine and I both left the restaurant a little embarrassed.

We then walked into a very large government run souvenir store.

Han Lee went to the parking area to see about getting us a ride on a bus back to Beijing.

In the store we purchased a Panda Pillow, and then we happened to hear a very frustrated Italian couple that was trying to buy something.

As we got closer to them, I realized that the couple spoke only Italian and the salesclerk spoke Chinese and English. So, I interceded, speaking to the Italians in Spanish, and the clerk in English, both were appreciative, as the Italians bought what they wanted.

Outside the Store, in the parking lot, Han Lee recognized another tour guide that he knew.

He said, she was a girl that he had gone to school with.

Han Lee said he was afraid she would report him to the Government for illegally working as a tour guide.

Han Lee did a smart thing, he told the girl that we were his personal friends from America, and we were visiting him in China.

She agreed to let us on her warm chartered tour bus, which was loaded with Japanese tourists. So, with lots of dirty looks from all the Japanese sitting on the bus, we walked to the only two empty seats.

Han Lee stayed up front talking to the girl, and eventually we arrived at the parking area where the Soldier had pulled our Cab over.

The Soldier was gone, but our cab and the driver were still there freezing, he had waited there all day in the extreme cold for our return.

The next day we prepared to leave for Shanghai, but not before we said goodbye to Han Lee,

and we gave him $100.00 U.S. as a tip; we knew that made him a very rich man in China.

Back in Kowloon the Regent Hotel had our room waiting for us, and that evening a bottle of champagne and chocolates arrived at our room with a welcome back note.

Several months after our return from China, Katherine received a strange call from a lady in New York asking if we had heard from Han Lee.

Katherine said we had not, and that was the last we ever heard from her.