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Dragons on the Great Rail by K Murai w/Dust Jacket 1996 China
Dragons on the Great Rail by K Murai
Hard cover with Dust Jacket
Copyright 1996
207 Pages
Since ancient times, the-dragon has been loved by the Chinese as an imaginary, propitious animal. A gigantic, long monster which wends its way in a wavelike motion It is the very symbol of power and fortune. There are many things which can be compared to the dragon in China: the Yellow River, the Yangtse River and the Great Wall, to name just a few. In addition to these, even railroads and trains are called dragons. The part attached to the front of the train is the "dragon's head" or "fire car" in Chinese, namely, the steam locomotive.
No one could have imagined that scenes of steam power in their golden days, which had vanished from our own world more than ten years previously, would be seen on such a scale, until China accepted foreigners in accordance with its open-door foreign policy. Before our very eyes, they are still in active service as the key form of land transport. However, China does not seem to be so willing to deal with the peculiar visitors called "steam enthusiasts", who are quite different from the ordinary tourists who only see what they want them to see. In the first place, steam locomotives have an image counter to the modernization they are aiming for. This very fact is the root cause of various problems which have obstructed the movements of steam lovers.
Nevertheless, groups which visited China in the early days of its opening its door to foreigners were treated to a series of welcome parties hosted by local government offices and depots of the places they were visiting. Ordinary tourists would have gratefully accepted such parties with pleasure, but because such parties cut into the time to photograph steam locomotives, enthusiasts continually worried about how to make arrangements to set aside time for photographs without appearing ungrateful.
In addition, getting along with guides is a source of anxiety even now. Suppose you have arrived at the airport. There you will be met by the guide who will accompany you throughout your entire trip. However, when you travel somewhere, you will have another local guide from the province you are visiting. In addition, a guide from the railway bureau of the province or a guide from the local line will join you. If now you think you've got everyone you are supposed to have, you are not finished yet. When guides cannot communicate with each other, an interpreter for the guides themselves will accompany you! And, of course, you should not forget to hire drivers, with the necessary number of cars also. When you travel in a small group, you may even encounter the bizarre situation where the guides outnumber the tourists. When traveling alone, you feel even more like a VIP or a member of royalty, but if you are a less outgoing person who has never been such a distinguished figure, you will be totally bewildered, and compelled to follow the pace of your guides in everything you do.
The pace of the guides is tricky. They expect us to behave in the same way as sightseers. In particular, they expect us to take leisurely breakfasts, have lunch at classy restaurants in the city, and finish early in the evening in order to get back to the hotel before the restaurant staff get irate. However, what enthusiasts expect of their guides is far beyond the imagination of the guides.
The ultimate goal of most steam fans is to photograph a loco using all of its power, climbing up a grade in a location of scenic beauty, that is to say, when it is producing much smoke. That should also be at a time when the loco is bathed in the oblique light of the rising or setting sun, making the most beautiful picture. As for places where one can take such pictures, they can be found only in a windswept wilderness or on a desolate mountain far from town. What is worse, one leaves the hotel in time to reach the top of the mountain before dawn, and can only call it a day on leaving the photo spot after sunset to return to the hotel.
Guides put up desperate resistance out of sheer fear of the possibility of their going without lunch, not to mention breakfast, or even supper if they are unlucky, if they accompany such foreigners as requested. However, one does not always have clear days when the rising and setting sun can be seen, or trains do not run within those times in all the places visited. Besides, it is steam enthusiasts who are gratefully happy after taking superb shots, no matter how terrible the meals are, or no matter how inconvenient the accommodation or transportation is. In addition, after arriving at a location, the guides have little work to do other than chatting or taking a nap in the car until the next train comes along. Weighing up all the pros and cons, steam enthusiasts believe that they are far better customers than ordinary tourists who need to be attended to every single minute. However, the trip continues with tour guides who attach great value to going at their own pace having different expectations from ours.
Those guides sometimes change their way of thinking. This could be because they see the image of people practicing asceticism as if they were bordering on insanity, or the image of pious believers in the view from the rear of us waiting for trains to come, standing on freezing hills or valleys for hours without moving. We are neither churchgoers nor believers, but the truth is we are praying: "We beg you, clouds, to let the morning sun appear," or "Please, setting sun, don't go down before a train comes." and so on. While they are moving around with us, they begin to understand the meaning of what we are doing, which was incomprehensible at first. Sadly, it is always at the time when the trip is almost over that they understand the feelings of steam enthusiasts, and really become cooperative.
To begin with, no matter how low the cost of labor is, the matter of cost cannot be neglected under such circumstances. If many people participate in a tour, each person's share of the cost will be small. However, if you go on a tour in a small group, and someone asks you what on earth you yourself are doing after having mobilized all those people, you will be hurt a lot more than just the amount of money you have spent out of your pocket. And when you travel alone, this will be even more true. Therefore, after making several trips, railfans short of resilience and money decide to travel alone without a guide.
However, the fact is that the tourist industry even in capitalist countries cold-shoulders people traveling alone, because making arrangements for a solitary journey is inefficient when compared with organized group tours. More so in China, it appears that they are far from concerned about efficiency, because they even go so far as to physically restrict solitary journeys. To begin with, it is safe to say that there is no system which allows foreigners to travel alone. Because a letter of introduction is required to obtain a visa even now, it is impossible for individuals to directly apply for visas except through an agent. This tells the whole story.
Since China reformed its dual monetary system in the past few years, Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) for foreigners have been abolished and the currency unified into Renminbi (RBM). However, this does not necessarily mean that the unfair discrepancies between foreigners and Chinese, which arise when using money, have been eliminated. We can live with the fact that we receive the same treatmentas Chinese but are charged the rates for foreigners, which are twice those for Chinese. However, although foreigners were obliged to use FECs before they were abolished, some small stores and providers of transportation in local areas also refused to take FECs. This was an impossible situation. Without RMB, we could not move, and would probably starve. Besides, in those days, RMB had the bizarre habit of being hard to come by when badly needed, and coming in by the dozen when not needed. It's too fate, but since tourists can at fast obtain money which can be used throughout the country (it should be a matter of course), it seems one of their problems has been removed.
In the meantime, the difficulty of obtaining tickets for transport is beyond the imagination of those who have only traveled in groups. What makes matters worse is the incomprehensible information provided at ticket counters. This is not only limited to ticket offices. Information provided at focal airports, while possibly instrumental in hijack prevention, is intentionally designed to mislead passengers. Under such circumstances, the confusion and inconvenience experienced at stations or airports under construction or reconstruction are such that one feels like throwing away everything and just running away in bare feet.
China's reformations and open-door foreign policy have been accelerated, and peoples of all different ethnic groups and people of every class comprising China's enormous population are now able to move about in their country without discrimination. With this, China faces a serious situation just in maintaining order. It is true that there are places where some stations and trains have been improved and changed beyond recognition. But on the other hand, there are also many places which have remained exactly the same for the past five or six years, even though the number of passengers has increased dramatically. Recently, boarding hard seat coaches often results in a sore throat. This is because the author fights with people who try to cut into the line at the ticket office, struggles with other passengers at the ticket gate, pushes and shoves when boarding, engages in a hand-to-hand battle when moving inside cars, and on all of these occasions, the author raises his voice to protest and yell in a way the author has never done so in his own country.
In any case, those who travel alone in China now need considerably more energy that they used to. On top of this, if you act following what would be common sense in your own country, you may get involved in unexpected trouble. It's too early to rejoice that things have been quickly taken care of, and it would be better to consider what might happen next. You can only celebrate when you finally have your films developed after returning home.
Despite the fact that those who use organized group tours become fans of China without exception, those who have tried to travel alone in China say, in many cases, they will never go there again. However, if they are steam fans, that's another story. Before they" know it, steam enthusiasts will soon open a map of China or turn the TV to the Chinese language course, all the while muttering about their terrible experiences. Why is this? Well it is because no matter what the trouble or distress, enthusiasts will be rewarded when they find more fascinating scenes than they have hoped for. Extremely long, packed steam-hauled passenger trains, double-headers meeting each other, rear-end helpers, triple-headers, heavy freight trains slipping and stalling It's really hard to believe that we are able to see with our naked eyes this fantastic drama not available in our own world however much we crave. It is neither staged nor restored, but is the world where real steam locomotives exist every day.
Any steam enthusiast wants to take pictures which prove this is neither dream nor illusion, and tell the story with photos from generation to generation: the story that we fived in the days when steam locomotives really sparkled, and we were lucky enough to be there.
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