TravelMag - le Forum des journalistes du tourisme ! - Shanghai... 51st Congress of FIJET

by Norjanah

51st Congress of the International Federation of Journalists and Travel Writers (FIJET), October 2009. My very first Congress! How exciting; meeting travel writers and journalists from all over the world. First time I've been to a Congress where neither agenda nor list of participants is available. No special speakers to give participants an overview of the state of world tourism, especially in this period of economic crisis. Nobody from the World Tourism Organization came to grace this auspicious event.

The overall programme of the Congress included the General Assembly of FIJET. Those office bearers on the podium; how are they elected, or have they been nominated or co-opted? If so, by whom? Being a first-timer at such an event, I felt rather disappointed. The one-and-a- half -hour assembly heard mostly jaw-chewing speeches from the podium. Then, it was time to go to lunch.

The Chinese authorites had laid on a very intensive programme for the six-day Congress. Needless to say, the main attraction was Expo 2010 which promises to be quite a spectacular event, judging from the model of the site. Of course, it was still at the preparatory stage; only the red Mandarin hat -- the Chinese pavilion -- was visible. All the other pavilions had yet to spring up. My first impression was -- my, my, all that concrete, to be added to the existing mass in and around Shanghai!

Shanghai, a megapole of 19 million people, with its fantastic array of skyscrapers, each new one more eye-catching than the previous. Most of the buildings in the city are so new that one has to look real hard for a typical old Chinese house one sees in the museum. A first glance gives an impression of an ultra-modern place, with its fair share of traffic congestion and noise, as well as blinding neon lights. Around the hotel which housed the participants of the Congress were shops carrying all the big names in international fashion. Yet, there were just as many vendors of counterfeit goods bearing the same names.

A definite must on a visit to Shanghai is the acrobatic theatre. There were some breathtaking numbers, like the guy juggling huge flower pots on his head, but the best was one of about a dozen motor cyclists racing in a revolving globe. I had expected to see them broken to pieces when they come out of the globe, but they did come out whole... and smiling!

The next visit on the programme took us to Suzhou, Venice of China and a UNESCO world heritage site; a most interesting place from a cultural point of view. The meandering waterway that ran through the city was most welcome after the hustle and bustle of Shanghai.

My favourite city on this trip is Hangzhou. It is said that "in heaven there is paradise, on earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou". The city, with its famous West lake -- the only natural lake in China -- its lush rolling hills, its fragrant tea plantations, oozes out a sense of tranquility that can be seen often in old Chinese paintings. The area around this city of some 6 million people is considered the rice-bowl of China and the peasants the richest in the country. I was lucky to watch the water pageant on the West lake. It was a Romeo and Juliet à la chinoise, a splendid performance and a poetical delight, with hundreds of performers who seemed to be walking or dancing on the water. This was certainly a treat.

So that's it on the Congress -- six days of daily banquets, punctuated by visits to prescribed destinations, and not much time for participants to really discover places on their own. Personally, I would have loved to walk around the cities and meet locals. Incidentally, I met only one Chinese lady journalist who was able to be with us for only a few hours. However, I was very happy to see the number of solar panels on buildings and individual homes along the road from Shanghai to Suzhou and to Hangzhou. The green wave is happening in China after all. The number of electric bicycles and scooters was also a welcome sight after the mad rush of lorries spitting out black smoke from its diesel engines.

I look forward to the next Congress in Turkey in October 20l0.

Norjanah