Vincent Avanzado and Magni Gomez / Contributors
Vincent: Visiting the vast sandstone mountain formation and UNESCO World Heritage Site most people call the “Avatar Mountains,” (from the fact that it inspired the famous blockbuster film “Avatar”), was the heart of the Zhangjiajie tour.
Commerce and the Avatar Mountain
It was not easy getting there. We had to deal with long lines and multiple bus rides, and a winding, monkey-dwelling 150-step stairway leading up to the mountain’s elevator shaft, the Bailong Elevator, literally translating to “hundred dragons sky lift” in Chinese, known as the tallest outdoor lift in the world at 1,070 feet.
Even at the mountains’ feet, where we gathered to take the bus, gorgeous natural scenes appeared from every direction. The thrill ramps exponentially upon taking the lift, after the long staircase, where you get the first glimpse of a cinematic view. After reaching the summit, we hiked along a long trail, dropping by stalls to buy ice cream, snacks and souvenirs. When we finally made it to the area with the mountain formation’s best views, we relived the euphoria during the Glass Bridge walkabout, adding to the feeling that we were finally experiencing what we all came here for.
These limestone-esque formations cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. From time to time, as we gazed into these captivating pillars, we recalled how difficult it was to get here in the first place, and it made us appreciate the place much more. The foggy weather amplified the glorious scenery, making it feel like we were even up higher and amid the clouds.
It may come off as a surprise, but the Avatar Mountains uniquely represent the Chinese way of commerce. The world’s highest-grossing movie, "Avatar,” was set in these mountains, and the Chinese decided to magnify this fact to attract attention. They linked a natural site to a significant achievement in the cinematic world and built the infrastructure to provide accessibility.
And commerce is widely seen throughout the vast Chinese population. It spawned all the rapid developments in the past century. They kickstarted industries, markets and businesses, utilizing their plentiful resources, vast lands and diligent workers. China is a land known for its large-scale production. As we traveled along the city streets to get to the next destinations, we saw large clusters of high-rise buildings, also known as communes. Everywhere, we see shops displaying various products and food. Most of our products at home are from China. Nowadays, China has the most billionaires. In the past several decades, it has been one of the nations with the fastest developments, and it all came from their way of commerce.
Magni: Now, this was Day 4. The day we were asked that fateful question. “So, what’s your opinion on China?”
At that time, we believed we already had our answer: that China was simply misunderstood, and that all the stereotypes are misconceptions that can be easily explained. Do the Chinese have no manners and bump into people way too often? They’re an overpopulated country almost constantly in survival mode, and their perception of “manners” may differ from yours. Is the Chinese population largely brainwashed? We believed they were given as much choice as you and me, but their cultural pride may come off the wrong way to other people. We naively told ourselves we would write the article as a defense and a love letter to China.
Of course, things weren’t so simple, and our next stop would soon challenge our stance.
Resourcefulness and the Jewelry Shop
While the Glass Bridge seemed to be the birthplace of this article, this particular stop — the jewelry shop — is where all the pieces began to click together.
Intended to be a mandatory shopping stop, we were shown marvelously made sculptures and pieces of jade, and we were eventually led to a large white room with just enough seats to fit the whole group.
After what seemed like 20 minutes, we were interrupted by what quickly became the highlight of our jewelry shop visit — a wide-eyed, casually dressed man walked into the room in slow, confident steps. From how our guide looked at him to how the air changed as he entered, we could tell this man was important.
He was the shop owner and after telling us his name, he told us the reason he chose to be with us at that very moment. His father nearly died years ago in an earthquake, he told us, if it weren’t for a Filipino man who saved him from what he was sure would have been certain death. After this event, his family remained eternally grateful to all Filipinos, so much so that he believed it was destiny that he met us on that day, a tour group of Filipinos.
As he dramatically narrated his story, the whole group would let out the “ooh’s” and “aah’s” like moviegoers in the theater. He smiled at our reactions, cherished them, even. Then he gave us a personal tour around his shop, something he claimed not to do for anyone else. He dropped the price of some of his jade pieces by thousands of yuan, just for us. Then he would plead for prayers for his newly born twins, who were not in the best of health, it seemed.
Most first-time visitors to China usually lap this all up and indulge themselves.
But one of our tour group’s members began to research this encounter, and he stumbled across a blog about a previous tourist who visited a jewelry shop in Zhangjiajie. Now, imagine our utter dismay to find out that the shop owner told an extremely similar story to that tourist, and how much worse it became the more we found multiple articles and blogs about the same scam, the Jewelry Scam, as some people called it.
This was disheartening, but it was a much-needed mind-clearing experience. The stereotypes we set out to disprove were not all that true, but they were not so invalid either.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson this trip taught us is that, as writers, not every piece needs to have a strong agenda. Sometimes, all you need is the truth of your experience. It’s a mature idea, but it’s hard to grasp how the world isn’t black and white until you begin traveling. Maybe that’s why people travel in the first place—to learn. To experience and to understand. Incredible scenery and entertaining shows aside, this was the real highlight of our China trip.
Coming back home
On the last day, Cloud bid his goodbyes to us while on the bus. Of course, he made sure to sneak a joke about how he needs a girlfriend. And as we looked out the window to take in a beautiful country, a country full of, as Cloud put it, handsome boys, beautiful girls and good people, but also of scammers and con artists, we found ourselves accepting of the fact that China is just like any country. It has flaws, strengths, a history and a beating heart of pride at the center of it all.
The trip heading back home was much shorter than the trip that got us to Zhangjiajie.
After waiting, eating dinner and boarding the plane, our airplane dinged to signify it was time to put our seatbelts on, and as we did, we were already scanning and running through the memories we made on that trip, deciding which ones to keep to ourselves, which ones to tell others, and which ones to write about, but they were all valuable.
As the plane took off, one of the tour group members near our seat was approached by a Chinese man, who wanted to converse with him to practice his English. The man said he was visiting the Philippines for the first time and was excited. While it made us wonder what our little archipelago had to offer someone from the great China, it also made us smile. Somewhere in our country, maybe still right now, that man is having a similar adventure.