Placing China in a new era

gzlaser

CHINA'S places embody the country's transition from ancient empire to modern superpower. Ben Smith, a 24-year-old Chinese Studies master's student, recognizes the Great Wall as \"a symbol of China's ancient supremacy\", but also as a reminder of \"the fragile nature of power\".

Perhaps this is because the empire the wall once protected is now a thing of the past. Like the statue in Shelley's famous poem, Ozymandias, which bears an inscription hailing the power of an ancient king long since dead, the wall is now a reminder of how quickly power can slip through the fingers of those who wield it. It is also China's top tourist attraction, due both to its international fame and proximity to the capital, Beijing.

The Forbidden City is China's second most well-known historical site after the Great Wall and another reminder of how quickly China has changed. Many Westerners were first introduced to the city through the movie The Last Emperor, a biography of Puyi, China's last imperial ruler. It is hard to come to terms with the fact that less than a century ago, Puyi was running around behind the city's walls as eunuchs bowed before his every step.

The recent controversy over whether or not a Starbucks should be allowed in the Forbidden City shows how rapidly China has changed since it opened up to the outside world. Many Westerners find it incomprehensible that a symbol of American commercialism could ever be allowed to tarnish the Forbidden City's ancient architectural and cultural heritage. The controversy is, though, emblematic of a new China, where ancient and modern clash with increasing regularity.

This clash can also be seen at the Shaolin Temple. Many Westerners believe China is full of marital arts masters and students, and that pretty much every Chinese knows something about taijiquan or kungfu. Yet as British kungfu student Nick Careswell suggests, \"Everyone recognizes Shaolin monks, even though most have no idea what Shaolin means to its students.\"

The hugely successful Jet Li movies, the innumerable kungfu schools now open in the West and the steady stream of foreign students traveling to China to visit one of the schools around the Temple, are all SYMBOLS of Shaolin's rapidly rising popularity. Yet some also say that this interest has led to the commercialization of kungfu and the obfuscation of Shaolin's founding principles of contemplation and self-improvement.