GUANGZHO: MARTYRS FOR PEPSI

1. CHINA TRAVELBLOG:
HONG KONG - SHANGHAI EXPRESSED
Click to advance slides. Shot on cellphone, so use your imagination to fill in the pixels.

2. MARTYRS FOR…
PART ONE

3. A one-hour train away from my base in Hong Kong,
Guangzhou is the former Canton - the hometown of the
Cantonese language, although Mandarin is now the official
tongue.

4. Guangzhou is the crown jewel in the Pearl River Delta MegaCity.
How many people live in the area?
10 million?
25 million?
40 million?
The answer is: 40 million.

5. The inhabitants look cheerful, prosperous and busy.
There’s a lot of SHOPPING to do.
From the vast malls and giant designer logos,
you could be pretty much anywhere.

6. After a night in one of the few hotels allowing non-Chinese,
I go for a jog through Martyrs Park.
But fortunately, not all is lost in consumer homogeneity.

7. The park is adorned
with statues and
monuments to the
5700 who died in
the Guangzhou
Uprising of 1927,
two decades before
the eventual
Communist triumph.

8. I was not familiar with
Comrade Lavatory, but
I’m sure he performed a
valiant service..
Meanwhile, this
Sino-North Korean friendship
is now being questioned
up in Beijing.

9. The park is austere but peaceful. Lovers stroll hand
in hand, men contemplate in solitude.

10. Elderly patriots perform karaoke versions of
revolutionary songs.

11. Nearby, the People’s Revolution is being
celebrated with considerable poise and skill.
And what symbol of proletarian brotherhood is
that at the center of the racket?

12. Ah yes, the glorious Pepsi logo.