In his novel Noble House, author James Clavell put it simply using his main character Ian Dunross as a sounding board, "The Chinese are very practical people. If the price is right anything is possible." A very true statement to a westerner and valid, because to those outside of China the ancient and complex culture cannot be understood through a novel or first-hand account, one simply has to meet the experience head on and with a clean slate of values.

I enjoy quoting Clavell, as his historical fiction can take one on a journey hiking up Victoria Peak in Hong Kong or enjoying Jatsu from a street vendor in Peking. Obviously, there exists more accurate and thorough texts, however using a popular author as a beginning for true understanding is more logical at this juncture.

The easiest way to gain a quick appreciation of Chinese society is to compare it to American pop-culture. Eech year in the United States new ways of individual expression are invented in music, writing, fashion and language. This phenomenon has been occurring since the formation of the nation, roughly 220 years ago. On the other hand, China has experienced her third dawn of a new millennium. For 10 times the duration the United States has been existence, the Chinese have enjoyed the building and demolishing of trends in society. None forgotten, only perfection and simplification occurring over a period of centuries.

From the jewel of Chengdu in the heart of the fertile Sichuan basin, South to the jungles and China's last bastion of tropical rain forest, near Mengla, my journey lasted five months. Though the whole experience ended abruptly as the backlash from the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade reached the Mekong basin, my next excursion will be measured in years, and my understanding slowly awakening.