In Jinan, one-upmanship goes without saying--谦逊的济南

Now and thena person just has to get out of the big city and breathe some fresh countryair. What better opportunity than the first weekend of the new year?

My wife and Ileft the hubbub of the Beijing-Tianjin metro area, with its 40 million people(give or take), and headed for the quiet, bucolic life of a small countryvillage in Shandong province called Jinan — sparsely populated at just over 7 million.

I like to describeChina in these terms to people in the United States. It gives them a quicksnapshot of the massive scale of Chinese cities. I can watch their eyes glazeover on WeChat.

My brother,who recently moved to Dallas, Texas — the fourth-largest city in the US (also 7million) — spoke of the new challenges of life in a large urban center. Ourhometown, metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, would be swallowed up in onesection of Dallas, he told me.

This was theopening I was looking for. Sure, Dallas is big, I said. But Dallas would beswallowed up in Beijing. Your fish is lunch for my bigger fish.

Of courseit’s impolite to resort to the “Mine is bigger than yours” brag. But I couldn’thelp it. Major Chinese cities are called mega for good reason. 

Utah — one ofthose rectangular states east of California — has a grand total of 3 millioninhabitants, or just 14 people per square kilometer. My Chinese colleagues gaspat that low number (not to be confused with gasping for air in the smog) — andthis provides an opportunity for me to brag that “Mine is cleaner than yours”.

To prove it,I will be happy to serve as a guide on a visit to Utah, which is packed withsome of the most spectacular natural wonders on the planet.

If you tireof the massive stone arches and crisp blue skies, the remote slot canyons andspectacular waterfalls; or if you’re bored by Utah’s thousand-kilometer views,or the Milky Way at night ; or if you’reworn out hiking alpine mountains or skiing the best snow on Earth — then I’lldrive you to nearby Sedona, Arizona, which the New Age gurus says is a portalto another universe. That’s where my guide service ends and you’re on yourown. 

So it’s awin-win scenario for me: I can amuse myself with one-upmanship on either sideof the Pacific.

Then therewas Jinan.

Jinanfeatures famous springs, neatly tended small hotels, a pleasant walk upThousand-Buddha Mountain and a gigantic golden statue with a prodigious bellythat practically cries out for residents to proclaim: “Our Buddha is biggerthan yours”.

Yet thepeople we encountered in Jinan were invariably modest, genuine, kind andhonest. They didn’t indulge in one-upmanship. Instead, they showed true warmth,treating us like family at every turn. It was a comfortable visit — like goinghome.

And that’ssomething that simply can’t be one-upped.