Appooppanthaadi-27

Like any other cities in China, Harbin too has so many high rise buildings. Wide roads and so many fly- overs make the city travel so effortless. Cars ranging from Audis to Volks Wagon to the state of the art Chinese ones occupy lion’s part of the roads.


Though German cars are preferred by people in China, no car manufacturer has clear dominance in the market. Nissan’s models as well as Chinese cars along with umpteen numbers of Audis can be seen on the roads.

The black coloured Audis are a rage here. The proud owners of these sedans are not from the upper strata of the society but the people who draw a monthly salary in the range of 8 or 10 Thousand Yuans (1 yuan is approximately equa to 7 Indian rupees).

People take loan from the banks to buy big cars that will be repaid in fifteen to twenty years.

The common perception about Chinese is that they use bicycles extensively. Perhaps it is time we changed this. Bicycles face extinction here, well almost. People pedaling cycles are increasingly becoming a rarity here. Majority of bicycles we can spot here have batteries to run them.  Still, there are places like Beijing where bicycles with pedals are widely seen.


The sight of scores of men and women pedaling their way to their work place and back home was a delightful scene to watch during my stay in Tianjin city four years back.


Now, even the separate cycle lane is hard to see here in many of the cities. In Shanghai ,Shenyang and Harbin, there are cycle lanes on some of the roads, but there, people park their cars.

The countdown display near Tianenmen Square in 2007

China was giving the final touches to their preparations to host 2008 Olympics when I visited this country last time. They show-cased the nation’s growth to the outer world. Beijing looked much more than a European city. The Beijing Olympics 2008 was dominated by the Chinese is a history now...

This picture was taken in 2007 at the back drop of the
Olympic Stadium in Beijing

No wonder if the Chinese are a dominant force in the sports arena. They deserve it. They give a lot of importance to physical fitness. It is hard to see a person irrespective of the gender or age walking with a big tummy or a fat body.

A park where old men and woman are seen doing exercise

Everyone, boy or girl, woman or man all sport a trimmed body with a flat belly. They spend at least a few minutes everyday to do some exercise. In so many public places, facilities are avaialbe to do soft and hard exercises. Eeven old men and women use them extensively .

The play ground inside the Harbin electric Company campus

At work places, workers are allowed to take breaks in between and come out to do exercises. Especially after taking lunch, they occupy the play grounds with so many sporting activities.

I often felt so embarased to flaunt my tummy in public. The only saving grace was that, most of the Indians here do have the same "asset"! We all nurture  a fat body and a big tummy after attaining a certain age.

Is it not true that a man is not complete without a pot belly? The olden age concept of a perfect man includes, among many other requirments, a pot belly too.  So we shall take heart- we are more manly than the Chinese...

For more photos click : Images from the road sides of China