From China with love

We are now in Northen China, in an amazing little fortified town named Pingyao, placed on the UN World Heritage List, that comes right out of medieval times.
In addition to its obvious attractions for tourists, we love it for being a small town, the first one under a few million inhabitants since we entered the country.
China has surprised us again and again. Our expectations and preconceived ideas have been blown away, in proportions not matched by any other countries.

Major constructions seem to compete everywhere. We saw impressive brand-new highways with just a few cars on them, new buildings, and not to forget the publicized projects we won't have time to see, like the Three Gorge Dam (largest in the world; 1.5 million people relocated) and the recently completed railroad to Tibet (a feat of engineering, great PR for China, although may be not that good for Tibetans). Beijing is said to be under major work for the Olympics of 2008.
Cities are huge, with broad modern avenues that make one wonder how many people were relocated to create that (I saw this sad reality in Lhassa, Tibet, a few years back; how an old historical city can be defaced. Of course, the Baron Haussmann was both hailed and lauded for doing the same to Old Paris). For instance the town of Xi'an, famous for its terra-cotta army, has now within its ramparts a broad avenue that reminds me of Paris' Champs Elysée, with most luxury brands present. That in a country that massively produces cheap copies of all products displayed in their windows. Who here can afford the originals?

More to say, but I won't bother you with it. I will just finish this post by mentioning that the language barrier sucks! Although one nice aspect of "Chinenglish" is found in signs like the ones posted here.