6 april 2015, and finally, the middle kingdom

Other half and kids in budapest; I'm back from china. An experience. Once through hong kong, spent time first in schenzen and then in chengdu - cities that no-one in europe has heard of, with populations of some 15 and 10 million. The first is probably the more remarkable, as while chengdu has a rich history of 3000 years, schenzen, a fishing village of 30 families in the 1980s, is a growth "unprecedented in human history" poster (only) child of various global "special economic zone" aspirations. I was privileged enough to stand in the city's nasa-style integrated command and control centre, and see a massive bustling metropolis of finance, industry and all means and manner of commerce, plus skyscrapers as long and as far as the eye can see. Its a rather drab version of hong kong cubed, with some fabulous gems interspersed, such as an amazingly designed airport (serving 36m a year) and some curios, like our hotel. It was nothing to our lodgings in chengdu, supposedly the biggest building in asia and a little world in itself. At restaurants, shops and markets we had a small glimpse of the prosperity dipping down ever deeper into the layers of chinese society, not that there aren't those layers below on whose backs, as in every society, wealth is built. We flew back to hong kong on an airline again no-one in europe has heard of (sichuan, with a fleet of around 100 planes, flying to a dozen international destinations, though mainly domestic). Chengdu airport was similarly impressive behind the scenes. This is a country bursting to break out into the world, as the aiib story, which broke while we were there, totemically shows. It was an eye-opening, and mouth-watering, few days. Photos here.