...The sun shone in through the window, filling the air with its warming rays and taking away the early morning winter chill. It was 9am. The train on which I was traveling had left Shanghai station an hour before and there were 28 hours left before we pulled into Hong Kong.

My sleeping berth was one of six, three on each side of the small compartment. I was in the top bunk on the left. Under me was a middle-aged Chinese woman who spoke no English. Under her was a U.S. citizen, also in her middle years, who had been teaching English in China for the last five years. In the bunks on the right side of the compartment were a lovely family of four from Australia. Before the British colony was returned to mainland China last July 1, the mother had emigrated from Hong Kong to Australia with her husband, a Chinese citizen. Their two children, 3 and 7, had both been born in Australia. The parents had met while studying abroad in England. Although both were Chinese, they spoke mutually incomprehensible dialects, and so began their relationship speaking in English. They have since learned each othersí Chinese dialects.

...In the compartment next to us were another family and a businessman. I talked with the both father of that family and the businessman about many, many subjects. One subject we touched on was Vice-president Gore's trip to China last Fall. I asked, "What impression does Gore give to the Chinese people?" They answered that he seemed to be rather dull and gave them no special impressions. Sounded about right to me. Then we started talking about USA-China relations, a touchy subject, but one which naturally comes up often in my conversations in China. They said that the Chinese government feels that it has no choice in its relations with the U.S.; as much as China dislikes what it sees as a U.S. agenda to ëmeddle in China's internal affairsí, China knows it needs the U.S. to help it develop technologically, economically, and internationally. I only wish that 'politically' were added to the list of ways the Chinese government wants to develop. What really drives the government nuts, however, is when the U.S., or some other western power, sells advanced weapons or jets to Taiwan, which they seem to view as the equivalent of their selling weapons to, say, Alaska!

....Each stop on the train has its own famous food. As we aren't allowed to get off the train, we hang out the windows and buy from the vendors. Itís a long reach, but most find it well worthwhile. The specialty of this particular stop is Fatty Roasted Upper Pig Thigh. Yum! My one question is: If passengers aren't allowed to get off the train and nobody ever seems to be getting on, why do we always sit at each station for at least half an hour? The 'Australian' father said that it is because we are riding on an 'express' train. We catch up to the trains in front of us, so we have to wait every so often for them to get further away. I wonder why this kind of a system makes me think of Amtrak.

...Just like in Tijuana where you can pick up a $35 Rolex, fakes are fairly common in China too. The 8-year-old boy a few compartments down is wearing an interesting jacket. I never knew Charles Schulz changed the name of Charlie Brown's dog from 'SNOOPY' to "SNOOYP'.

...Hope you enjoyed a few of the things I experienced this past week as I traveled in Southern China. If you have any questions or comments, my mailbox, electronic or regular, is always open. Peace be with you. Daniel Heller