Wuxi

Wuxi

According to a website, Wuxi is "Crowned with the name of 'Little Shanghai'" and "is one of the origins of Chinese national industry. The open reform has witnessed its dramatic economic development and made the city a glittering economic star in the coastal areas. The fascinating landscape, first-calss investment climate and best financial refund have turned Wuxi into a hotbed for foreign investors."

If you ask me, Wuxi is nothing like Shanghai. Ok, in terms of rude people and ethics, maybe. But culturally and economically, I doubt so. But I'm saying this from an outsider's view. Let me share with you what Wuxi is like in my eyes.

1. Wuxi residents are rude and arrogant. Our driver, being more of a speedster than a sign reader (like me), occasionally loses his way. This is quite common as you go on two-to-go trips like mine. Drivers are assigned to travellers regardless of their knowledge of the roads and terrains. So, poor Mr Wang made a wrong turn at the toll gate exit and instead of telling him how to get to the right place, the toll fee collector simply waved him away. When Mr Wang persisted in seeking directions, the irate fellow simply barked, "Can't you read the signs above? Go! Turn right."

"Yeah, right!" I thought. Another feature of such small tours is the absence of a full-tour guide, the additional pair of eyes for the driver. The full-tour guide follows the group for the entire trip and is often quite familiar with the common routes. They also communicate with the drivers and sometimes lead the way. Often, the drivers are plucked from nowhere and asked to drive a group of tourists around the places based on some itinerary. If there are many places where the driver is unfamiliar with, good luck to all of you.

So we turned right and the road seemed to lead to nowhere. We had to stop by the roadside to ask another rude fellow, only to be told to "follow the road". So we did. And we paid another round of toll to make the U-turn.

Small wonder the car in front of us before we got into this trouble actually reversed from the toll gates to change to the correct lane. We should have done the same.

The speed of change in China has changed the landscape faster than expected. Two months off the road and everything would have changed.

2. Wuxi people are money grabbers. They build the Lingshan Big Buddha on the hill and while trying to build the large broze statue, built many small replicas along the way. And now, for an auspicuous sum of CNY 88 888, you can bring home one of the small buddha statues to your home or office.

They even have instalment plans to help you pay for them. And they also show your name on the outer walls of the temple so that everyone knows you have paid for a statue. Don't ask me where the money goes, but I am rather disgusted when faith can be measured in monetary terms.

3. Wuxi people think they know a lot. God! Even as you point out the inconsistencies in their explanations and share with them why such gaps appear, they still do not think that they need to rework their information. How arrogant.

4. Wuxi food is poor - for a place that wishes to be "Little Shanghai", the food needs improvement. Of course, while food in Shanghai is not exactly good, there are good tasting, cheap fare along the streets. We would have done well to forget about meals in Shanghai and take care of them on our own. But hindsight is 20-20.

5. Wuxi is a dustbowl. Enough said.

Wuxi means no tin. In the past, they were called, youxi, which means full of tin. The place has its tin resources largely mined away. But little does one expect that their good sense and upbringing were lost in the process as well.