General News
8 August, 2025
MY RECENT TRIP TO BEIJING and SHANGHAI by Joe Matthews
Former Maryborough teacher Joe Matthews recently took in all the sights during his 10-day trip to China, where he toured the Great Wall of China and took in experiences in Beijing and Shanghai. Below, he shares part two of his journey. For part one see Page 7 of our Tuesday, August 5 edition.
DAY 6
At the hotel, we all had the usual buffet breakfast in the morning. As we were all travelling from Wuxi to Suzhou, we had to check out of our rooms carrying all our baggage and belongings.
We all got onto the bus and travelled to visit a pearl factory in Suzhou to gain an insight into China’s enormous manufacturing and production capabilities and to learn about fresh water pearls — a key export commodity with great cultural significance since the Han dynasty.
While at the pearl factory, one of their factory chemists explained to us by demonstration the various tests used to distinguish between genuine pearls and fake pearls.
At the pearl farms in Suzhou, pearls are cultivated from molluscs, primarily oysters and mussels, when an irritant enters their shell.
In pearl farming, a bead or piece of tissue is intentionally inserted into the mollusc to stimulate pearl formation. Thus, Suzhou is known for its fresh water pearl farms and processing. The factory chemists explained all the chemical principles involved in the production of fresh water pearls through all kinds of demonstrations.
After the pearl factory visit, we all got onto the bus for a short drive through Suzhou, renowned for its historic canals, eye-catching gardens and all kinds of silk industries.
We all immersed ourselves in the ancient artistry of Chinese gardens at Suzhou’s Lingering Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring pavilions, ponds, rockeries and captivating architecture.
DAY 7 - Suzhou to Hangzhou
After the buffet breakfast, as we were all checking out of the hotel, we had to carry all our suitcases to the bus waiting for us outside.
While still in Suzhou, our tour guide took us all to one of the biggest silk production factories in Suzhou.
China is the largest silk producer in the world, and Suzhou is renowned for its exquisite quality silk.
One of their factory chemists explained all the underlying principles involved in the delicate silk-making process from silk worm cocoons at the silk spinning factory.
They demonstrated that the handmade quilts are as light as a feather. As a matter of fact, a lot of people in our group purchased all kinds of silk blankets, quilts, pillow-cases and scarves from the factory.
After the silk production factory visit, we were all taken to a food court in a shopping centre to have our lunch.
We all left Suzhou and travelled by coach to Hangzhou, described by Marco Polo as the ‘most beautiful and magnificent city in the world.’
Hangzhou is considered to be the capital of China and renowned for its scenic beauty including the tranquil West Lake.
Then we all went on an enchanting cruise on West Lake to discover Hangzhou’s timeless allure.
While cruising through we could see ancient pagodas, picturesque islands and lush gardens while soaking in the serene beauty that kept unfolding before us.
The optional tour was the eye catching and magnificent Impression of the West Lake show which we all enjoyed.
DAY 8 - Hangshou to Shanghai
After the usual breakfast and boarding the bus, our tour guide took us all to the massive Longjing Tea Plantations located in Hangzhou — specifically around the West Lake area.
The most famous area is Longjing Village, also known as the “No 1 Village of Tea”.
These plantations are renowned for producing the Longjing Tea, a celebrated green tea known for its quality and unique characteristics.
This famous green Longjing Tea is produced in this region and is known for its flat leaves, sweet aroma, and emerald green colour.
We were all taken to a traditional Hangzhou Tea House. We were all seated in a small hall and given a drinking glass each.
Two to three staff members placed some dried tea leaves in the glass and then they added boiling water into the glass in three lots and we had to leave it for 10 minutes and then we were asked to drink it by sipping. To our surprise, the tea tasted absolutely delicious.
It was explained all about the medicinal effects of these tea leaves and she pushed us all to buy those tea leaves. In fact, a lot of people in our group purchased large quantities of the tea leaves.
We then left Hangzhou and travelled eastward by coach to the massive city of Shanghai, a dazzling metropolis with its towering skyscrapers, vibrant street life and fusion of Eastern tradition and Western influence.
We then got an opportunity to explore Shanghai’s Bund district.
Lined with majestic colonial-era buildings, the Bund is a historic waterfront promenade nestled along the Huangpu River (a breathtaking sight to do a boat cruise for sightseeing etc).
This area offers a captivating blend of old-world charm and modern allure.
The optional tour was the most amazing chinese acrobat show which we all enjoyed so much.
DAY 9
We got onto the waiting bus and headed to the most famous Shanghai History Museum to discover China’s rich history and culture.
The Shanghai History Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of the city of Shanghai.
The museum’s collections focus on the approximately a hundred years in the history of Shanghai from the opening of the port in 1843 to the communist takeover in 1949.
Then in the afternoon, we went on a tour on the bus to explore some of Shanghai’s iconic temples, gardens and modern towers etc.
At night, we went on a spectacular cruise along the Huangpu River giving visitors the opportunity to admire Shanghai’s beautiful skyline and famous sites including the Bund, the Oriental Pearl Tower, the bustling international passenger station of Shanghai Harbour, the docks and the Wu Song ancient gun fort relics.
DAY 10 – Time to bid farewell to China
After the morning buffet breakfast and the check out from the hotel, we were all taken to Shanghai Airport to catch the departing flight to Singapore, and then on to Melbourne.
We all arrived at Melbourne Airport at 11 am on Thursday, June 26. We got through immigration and customs without any dramas.
My daughter, Jerrie, was waiting outside to meet me. I was exhausted and went to bed straightaway at Jerrie’s place. I travelled back home to Maryborough the next day.
Some of the things I learned about China while I was touring around Beijing and Shanghai, when we talk about China, most people tend to think that China is a poor country, over crowded, less or under developed, has limited health care and education, high unemployment etc.
But if you tour around some of the big cities in China like Beijing and Shanghai for a few days, your overall perception about China will completely change.
While we were travelling on the extremely fast-moving bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, we could see thousands of modern high-rise buildings and skyscrapers and massive long bridges.
We also saw thousands and thousands of hectares of highly mechanised agricultural farms (corn, cotton, all kinds of fruits, hogs, peanuts, potatoes, rice, soybeans, sweet potatoes, tea, tobacco, tomatoes, wheat etc) and paddy fields using the most advanced machinery and technology including the use of massive tractors, combines and digital technologies like robotics and other specialised equipment for various tasks like tilling, planting, irrigation and harvesting to optimise farming operations and to increase efficiency.
The Chinese civil engineers are quite easily the very best in the world. They are most highly skilled and certainly at the forefront of innovation and construction particularly in large scale infrastructure projects.
While we were travelling through Shanghai on the bullet train I heard one of the ladies in the group saying, “Oh my God, after seeing all these thousands of skyscrapers in Shanghai, when I think of Melbourne, it is only as big as a small country town! Shanghai is quite easily at least 10 times more advanced than Melbourne!”
Virtually all the hotels we were staying at in Beijing and Shanghai were 10-15 floors of the most advanced five-star hotels you can imagine. While staying in the room, if you ring up the front desk (hotel reception) and order some Chinese food, they will contact a restaurant and the food will be delivered to the front desk in a matter of minutes.
If they are short of staff, they use robots to deliver the food to your room.
While sitting in the room, say, you ring up the hotel reception and say, “Hello sir/madam, just letting you know that the AC in my room is not working.” The front desk will send a robot to your room straightaway and fix the issue with the AC in a matter of minutes.
In all the 5-star hotels we stayed at on this tour, the buffet breakfasts consisted of at least 200 most delicious dishes.
In China, virtually all the cars they use are the most modern Chinese made cars as well as quite a lot of European cars like Mercedes Benz, Audi, BMW, the Indian made Land Rover cars, and quite a lot of sophisticated EV cars as well.
We noticed most of the cars in China are sedan type cars; the SUV cars are not that common in China.
The tourist coaches they are using in China to transport tourists to different places are fully air-conditioned, most advanced and comfy. The only drawback is unlike the most modern tourist coaches in Australia, there are no toilets on the coaches in China.
Some of the shopping centres in Shanghai like IAPM Mall and SOGO Shanghai are known for being multi-storey buildings with 10-15 floors dedicated to shopping and dining (with big food courts).
These shopping centres are at least five times bigger than the Westfield Northland or Southland shopping centres in Melbourne.
One of the striking aspects I noticed about China was wherever you go, public spaces (e.g. footpaths, roads, public places etc ) are found to be extremely clean with dedicated 24-hour street cleaning services and peoples’ efforts to maintain cleanliness. You won’t see even a single piece of rubbish on the footpaths and roads and so on.
Now let me talk about a couple of negative aspects of China.
We all noticed that nearly 99.9 percent of the Chinese people can’t speak or write English. The moment you try to talk to them, they use their mobile phone’s Mandarin to English translation tool.
However, people like the sales people in a factory or company can speak good English. Our tour guides both spoke beautiful English. The drivers of the tourist coaches could not speak English. The front reception desk staff at the hotels can speak English but not the other staff.
Another negative aspect is about the toilets in China which can be broadly categorized into an ancient type.
That is, the most commonly used toilets are the squat type toilets and not the Western style toilets.
At some of the public places like gardens and museums if you are lucky, one out of 10 toilets could be Western style toilets. In all hotels, however, the very best Western style toilets are used. Toilet paper is not always provided and is often disposed of in a wastebasket rather than being flushed, due to concerns about plumbing.
Hence, our tour guides always reminded us to carry toilet tissue with us all the time while travelling to different places.
When you go to Chinese restaurants for dining, you will be provided with bamboo chopsticks, and not steel forks and knives.
If you are not used to using chopsticks, you will find it extremely hard to enjoy your meals at the restaurants in China.
In my case, I am not used to chopsticks; so, I ended up using my fingers for eating at some of the restaurants in China.
In one restaurant, the waitress felt so sorry about the way in which I was eating and she managed to find a fork and knife for me to use. So, if you are going to China on a tour and if you are not used to using chopsticks, do make sure you carry a fork and knife with you and of course toilet tissue.
In conclusion, I must say that my tour around Beijing and Shanghai was extremely productive and informative in the sense I got an opportunity to study about China in great depth. The total expense of this tour through Flight Centre was of great value. I encourage each of you to go on this tour to China visiting Beijing and Shanghai. You will love it.