January 13, 2015

The voices of ghosts
breeze through the air
military everywhere
standing in
Tian'anmen Square

    It was strange to stand in the place where students and citizens had been killed.  And, I don't know if security was heightened because of the shootings in Paris, or if this is a normal way of life for Chinese citizens, but it seemed there were security check points everywhere.  To get onto the subway I had to run my purse through an xray machine, I had to step through a metal detector and then be wanded by a person dressed in military uniform.  To get on to the Square I was screened again.  Leaving the Square our passports were checked.
Before we got on the train to travel from Shanghai to Beijing my purse and luggage were screened and me too.  To get into the museum in Shanghai we were screened, even when we took a boat tour around the harbor in Shanghai we had to be screened before we were allowed on the boat.  That is a lot of screening and a lot of security.  So, I did feel quite safe except for crossing the street.  I walked right behind a policeman at one crosswalk because I figured no car would dream of hitting a policeman.  I got across quite safely that time. But there are a lot of cars and traffic in China, and of course, all those cars make pollution.

copyright 2015, Joy Acey