The Dragon has awakened!

I first set foot in South China ten years ago when it just started to convert its landscape from farmlands to factories. Hills were cut to give way to superhighways and industrial parks built over swamp lands.

When I arrived in this place I expected to see brick houses, folks in their old Chinese costumes, and Kung Fu kids as I saw in Chinese movies. But what struck my view were the countless towering cranes building high rise apartments and offices.

One of the longest suspension bridges (the Xihoumen, 1,650m) crossed one the the longest and widest rivers (the Yangtze). The biggest hydro-electric power was built with the biggest dam (the Three Gorges).

Cities sprouted in the hinterlands!

That same year that signaled my adventure, I found the first McDonald outlet in mainland China at a busy peddle street called Dongmen near the Hong Kong border. This was established in 1990.

The sight of bicycle overcrowded streets amazed me. Locals on the go, the young and not so young and even the ladies in their formal attires. The bicycle was a way of life then. Today, the crowded streets are turned into an eight-lane boulevard. Though bicycles are visibly gone the roads are now flooded with cars and the traffic has remained as heavy as before.

The street shops are transformed into classy shopping centers. Bars, western-type cafes, discos, beerhouses and live bands are all over the place. Modernization happened overnight. While folks hold on to their deep-rooted culture and traditions, they try hard to catch up with modern times. The dragon has awakened!