An unfinished diary, between vertical cities and slow rivers, in the heart of a country in motion.
I certainly can't imagine understanding a country as vast and complex as China in just a few days. Not even Italy, which is much smaller, could truly do so fully. I'll limit myself to sharing my impressions, what I saw, what I heard, and what left an impression on me. I saw many different aspects: an ancient and imperial China, a dazzling and modern China, and a rural, authentic, and slow-paced China.
We are We set out from Beijing, a city that struck me as austere and orderly, where the presence of central power is strongly felt. Yet even there, among the austere neighborhoods and grand avenues, I found daring spaces, like the 798 art district, a lively, youthful corner, full of young men and women who seemed to have stepped out of Tokyo or Berlin, with a style that reminded me of my son. In the end, young people all over the world are alike; they speak to each other without speaking, through music, the way they dress, the way they behave. Then there are the great works, the Forbidden City, the Summer Temple, the imperial palaces, places that tell of a thousand-year history, a history that still coexists today with the legacy of communism, in the gray neighborhoods, in the identical buildings, in a certain idea of order that, however, cannot erase the beauty of the past; in fact, perhaps it makes it stand out even more.
And then there's nature, like that of Guilin, for example, a dreamlike landscape, slow-flowing rivers, mountains that seem sculpted, a beauty so perfect it almost seems fake. And rural China, the one that moves forward at its own pace, with its own faces, with its hands marked by work. Meanwhile, other parts of the country are racing toward a future that advances at an incredible pace, building, changing, but not everything moves at the same pace, and perhaps that's precisely the point: China moves, but not all at once.
Shanghai struck me deeply—a modern, open metropolis, perhaps the most Western-esque I've ever seen, with towering skyscrapers and superfast trains like the MagLev, reaching speeds of 431 km/h! Yet even there, I found humanity at its most simple, in the parks, where older people dance, play, do tai chi, and live, all with touching serenity and joy.
And I also saw a China that transcends stereotypes—not just chinoiserie, but beautiful, carefully crafted objects, a love of writing, characters, and art, a profound, ancient, and refined culture. And then, the security, the order, the feeling of being in a place where rules exist and are respected, perhaps also thanks to a very strong system, which has its limits, but which in such a large and populous country manages to ensure stability.
Of course, not everything is perfect. The public bathrooms and the hygiene in certain places often leave much to be desired, and the cuisine, while interesting, seemed a bit repetitive after a while. There are other aspects that are difficult for us Westerners to accept, but I suspended judgment to get closer to them. After all, this is also part of the journey; not everything has to be comfortable or easy to be beautiful, and not everything has to be shareable.
There's so much more to say; I don't want to write a treatise, just gather these impressions so I don't forget. It was an intense, profound journey, which left me wanting to understand more, and perhaps even return in a few years to see how things have changed, with this rapid pace of modernization.
