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COUNTRIES and CULTURES of the WORLD, THEN and NOW, VOLUME I
[Excerpts, Countries and Cultures, Vol. I]

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Syria, Apamea, 3rd Century BCE Sri Lanka, hay cart, 2d driver sleeps in hammock under cart

[Excerpt, P. 191-199]

CHINA

Population 1.26 billion (1.1 % natural increase per year); area 9,950,000 sq. km. (3,700,000 sq. mi.); GDP $2.61 trillion; average income $2500; literacy rate 73%. Population of Shanghai 8 million, of Bejing 6 million, of Tianjin 4.8 million, of Canton 3 million, of Chongking 2.4 million. The metropolitan areas are larger.

China, make friends at the Great Wall with a Polaroid camera Chongking, Chjina, pandas in zoo

HISTORY. (See Ancient Civilizations). Chinese have long considered civilizations that failed to follow the Chinese way to be "barbarians." Chinese have invented many things or they have used them soon after others. They include: (1) before 1500 B.C., how to make a harness and use animals (water buffalo) to plow, pull carts, and do other heavy work, and to use horses to pull chariots in war. [Egyptians used oxen to pull plows by 3,000 B.C. Sumerians in modern Iraq used wheel transport pulled by oxen in 3200 B.C.]

(2) how to cast copper before 2200 B.C., bronze before 1700 B.C., and iron before 500 B.C.

(3) use of an iron-tipped wooden plow before 300 B.C.

(4) paper (writing cloth) about 2000 years ago.

(5) a crude seismograph about 2000 years ago: a frog's mouths faced north, south, east, and west. Each mouth had a large stone ball. If an earthquake were in the north the ball fell out of the mouth of the north-facing frog.

(6) early porcelain about 2,000 years ago

(7) the water-powered mill for grinding grain about 2,000 years ago

(8) gunpowder, the wheelbarrow, the kite, and the first uses of coal, about 300 A.D.

(9) printing, using carved wood blocks, probably by Buddhists in the 8th Century A.D., to produce prayers and sutras; printing was also used to make many copies of Confucists texts. In the 10th Century the Chinese classics were printed, in 130 volumes. In Europe, Germany's Gutenberg invented printing with movable type around 1455.

(10) paper money

(11) weaving with a drawloom more than 5 meters high

Chinese invented the magnetic compass, deep drilling for water, canal lock gates, porcelain, playing cards, and rudders operated by a stern post.

Chinese farmers were probably the first to grow soybeans, hemp, tea, walnuts, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, watermelon, oranges, and other citrus fruits. They were the first to domesticate and eat ducks geese, chickens, pigs, and dogs, and to feed silkworms mulberry leaves and make silk.

The Grand Canal, partly built in the 8th Century B.C., was completed from about 605 to 618 A.D. It is still the world's longest canal, some 1,900 km. (1,140 mi.) It begins in Hangzhou and goes north and west, crossing the Yangzte River, the Hwang Ho (Yellow River), and ends 24 km. east of Bejing. It is up to 60 m. (197 ft.) wide and is 0.6 to 4.6 m. (2 ft. to 15 ft.) deep.

North and South China gradually became united in culture and trade, and politically around 600 A.D. Northern Chinese tended to feel superior to southern Chinese. Most of the inventions, and the first large unified area, began in the north. Northern Chinese still feel superior. In 125 B.C. an Imperial University was established in Chang'an (Xian). In the 2nd Century A.D. it had 30,000 students. In 1088 A.D. Europe's first university was established, in Bologna, Italy.

Around 110 B.C. Emperor Wu Ti sent an aid, Chang Ch'ien, to negotiate an alliance with tribes in Central Asia. Chang was a great explorer, he brought back much information about ancient Greece and other civilizations. Marco Polo wrote that the Mongol Great Khan in the 13th Century had four main wives, but at least 300 more girls of great beauty were under the care of each wife. The Great Khan was a busy man. Beginning around 1404 A.D. Chinese ships traded in the Persian Gulf and down the east coast of Africa.

In the 17th Century Jesuit missionaries brought European philosophy and learning to China, but it did not change the Chinese. China traded with Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British, but all ports were closed to foreigners except Canton (Gaungzhou). The British East India Company became the main trader before 1834. Opium was illegal in China but the British smuggled much in. In 1839 Chinese dumped into the river 20,000 chests of opium, valued then at six million dollars. This was 100 times the value of the 100 or so boxes of tea that the Amercan colonists had dumped into Boston Harbor 63 years earlier. Two years later British won the war by getting control of the southern end of the Grand Canal. China was forced to pay for the opium and the cost of the war, plus ceding Hong Kong and trading rights.

The T'ai-p'ing Rebellion, 1851 to 1864, was organized by a Christian sect, the leader claimed to be the brother of Jesus. Peasants, unhappy with poor crops and corruption in the Manchu Dynasty, joined. The sect forbade slavery, opium, tobacco, binding of women's feet, and it advocated equality for women. The sect captured Nanking and much of central China. The armies of the Manchus finally won. At least 20 million, perhaps 60 million people were killed, and Christianity acquired a bad warlike reputation in Asia.

In 1856 to 1860 China lost the Second Opium War against French and British. France acquired much of Southeast Asia that China had claimed, particularly after another war, 1884 to 1885. Russia, about the same time, annexed northern Manchuria. China's trade with the West kept growing. Protestants from the West built schools, hospitals and established newspapers in China, but they made few converts to Christianity.

China was nominally ruled by the Kuang Hsi child emperor. However, Tz'u Hsi, the dowager empress, was the real ruler from 1875 until she died in 1908. She was interested in staying in power, not in helping China. In the late 1890s the Manchus supported the Boxers--groups of peasants in northern China who harassed missionaries and their converts, to drive them out of China. Foreign armies came in and forced the Manchus to stop the Boxer Rebellion and to pay a huge sum of money.

Sun Yat-Sen in Canton led a group that wanted to oust the corrupt Manchu Dynasty. Their Three Principles were nationalism, people's rights (democracy), and people's livelihood. Fighting broke out in central and southern China against the regime. The boy emperor, Henry Pu-Yi (P'u-i) abdicated on February 12, 1912. The Republic of China was established, it attempted to govern China until 1949. Yuan Shih-k'ai was the first president. However, warlords controlled much of China by 1922. Sun Yat-sen led the Koumintang (KMT) group. Chiang Kai-shek became one of the group's military leaders. Sun Yat-sen asked Chiang to go to Russia to study their military organization. Chiang went to Russia, returning a few months later. When Sun Yat-sen died in 1925 Chiang Kai-shek was his chief of staff. He soon controlled the KMT group and split with the KMT's communist members. Chiang became president of the revolutionary government in Nanking in 1928. He was ousted three years later but kept control of the army.

After World War I Japan was given possessions formerly held by China in and near China. The Chinese Communist Party was organized in 1920. Mao Tse-tung was one of the 11 who attended its "First Congress" in Shanghai in 1921.

Japan had part of Manchuria since 1905. (See Japan). In 1931 when a bomb went off on the Manchurian Railway near a Japanese army camp, the army quickly conquered most of Manchuria. Japanese controlled Manchuria in 1931, greatly expanding their military. They established Henry Pu-Yi (P'u-i), no longer the boy emperor, as a puppet emperor. During one of my trips to China I bought Pu-Yi's two volume autobiography, From Emperor to Citizen, written in the 1960s after the communist government had "rehabilitated" him. He describes how the Dowager Empress had controlled the government and his life until she died, how he went into exile and selected his bride from a photograph. However, he was told he must have someone else as wife, his first choice could only be a concubine. He married in 1922. He also described how the Japanese Kwantung Army set him up as "emperor" in a "Manchuko" (Manchuria) palace in 1932 but did not tell him about their war. He concluded that the policy of the Japanese had been to "burn all, loot all, and kill all." Under the Chinese communists Pu-Yi was "rehabilitated" and worked in the Bejing Botanical Gardens until he died. In 1934 and 1935 Mao Zedong (Tse-tung) and other communists made the 8,000 km. (4,800 mi.) "Long March" to safety from Chiang Kai-shek and others in China's far northwest.

Japanese invaded China in 1937, and by the end of 1938 they controlled the coast and the better farm land. Chiang Kai-shek made little effort to fight the Japanese, he concentrated on fighting the communists. Japanese shelled and bombed Shanghai, killing mostly civilians. Japanese also bombed Nanking, especially in December, 1938. The Nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek retreated from the Japanese, making their wartime capital in Chonking. When Japan was defeated in August 1945 the U.S.A. called the communists and the Nationalists together late in 1946 for several months in Chongking, and attempted to negotiate a settlement, to avoid civil war.

The communists continued to win most of the battles, taking more and more of China. Late in 1949 Chiang Kai-shek and most of his Nationalists army fled to Taiwan. They took many valuable artifacts with them. Many of the officers moved to northern Burma, where they took over part of the opium trade. The People's Republic of China was proclaimed on October 1, 1949. At least 800,000 opponents of the communists were executed in the next five years. China was in bad shape, it needed help. Mao went to Moscow late in 1949, negotiating a treaty for massive help from the Soviet Union. Soviets helped to build dams, roads, and improve factories and agriculture, plus "showcase" buildings in China's cities. China supported North Korea in its 1950 attempt to take over South Korea. Tibet had been independent since 1911. China invaded in 1951. Two years later China set up a communist government in Tibet and began to discourage the Buddhists who worship the Dalai Lama, and to close monasteries. Mao and many others went to Moscow in 1957-1958 to get additional help. Mao said "the East Wind prevailed over the West Wind." Nikito Khruschev had just become premier of the Soviet Union. He apparently decided that the Soviet Union could not afford to give much more help to China, help was needed at home in the Soviet Union.

Mao and his group returned to China. They decided not to follow the Soviet Union's example. They began the "Great Leap Forward" in 1958, to increase agricultural production, and to industrialize on their own, making steel in village furnaces. The steel was of very poor quality. The plan was a failure and was abandoned. Agricultural production increased in 1958, with more land being cultivated, but production dropped drastically in 1960. Some 30 million people died of starvation, 1960-1962. Soviet technicians and officials left suddenly in the middle of 1960, leaving projects half-finished all over China, taking plans and blueprints with them. Late in 1962 China's army took high plateau land in northern India's Himalaya Mountains. China exploded its first atom bomb in 1964. Zhou (Chou) Enlai, prime minister, died in 1966. Mao was losing control of the public. He established the Red Guards in 1966 to begin the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution." Hundreds of thousands of Red Guards roamed in bands in cities and the country, destroying schools, hotels, and more, harassing teachers and leaders, waving little red books with Mao's sayings. Universities and other schools were closed. The educated were forced to go to village communes and feed pigs, do stoop labor, and similar work, for many years. The Red Guards were out of control. In 1967 Mao asked the army to stop them, in 1969 they were brought under control.

In 1969 a border war began at the Ussiri River between Soviet and Chinese troops. Lin Piao, Mao's apparent heir, was killed in the mysterious crash of a plane in 1971. He and Mao had quarreled, he was apparently going to Moscow after an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Mao.

In the late 1970s the communist government tried to increase the status of certain workers. Songwriters were hired to write about them. For some reason "The Night Soil Workers Are Coming Down the Mountain" never became a big hit. Night-soil workers empty the millions of potties from city homes that do not have plumbing. It is pushed away in tank carts.

Henry Kissinger of the U.S.A secretly visited China in July, 1971. President Nixon followed, in February 1972. The U.S.A. and China re-established partial diplomatic relations. The People's Republic of China joined the United Nations and received the seat on the U. N. Security Council. Taiwan was ousted from the U.N. Mao Zedong (Tse-tung) died on September 9, 1976. A few weeks later his 3rd wife, Jiang Qing, and her friends, the "Gang of Four" (Wang Hong-wen, Zhang Chunquio, and Yao Wenyuan), were put on trial and imprisoned. Deng Xiaoping became the leader but within a month he was replaced by Hua Guofeng. Deng was given other positions. Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, although its cruel government, Pol Pot, was an ally of China and the U.S.A. In 1979 China invaded Vietnam to "punish" it. However, after a few months of fighting the two armies were equally matched and China withdrew. In 1979 the U.S.A. abrogated its defense treaty to protect Taiwan. China and the U.S.A. then established full diplomatic relations. In 1981 Hua was replaced with Hu Yaobong, a friend of Deng. Mao was blamed for the Cultural Revolution. Deng soon became the official leader. He died in February, 1997, leaving Jiang Zemin, at least temporarily, as president. In May 1989 large groups of students and others demonstrated in Bejing's Tean'anmen Square for democratic reforms. On June 3 and 4 the army attacked them, killing at least 5,000. China's economy grew in the 1970s and since then. Experiments on market reform began in the 1980s. An economic zone was set up near Guangzhou, bordering Hong Kong. A big industrial center was built between Suzhou and Shanghai.

BACKGROUND. Ten percent of the land is arable. Two-thirds is desert or mountains. There are about 1,200 people per square km. of arable land, it is crowded. In 1953 China had only 583 million people. Population more than doubled in the next 42 years. In 1971 it had 761 million people, the population increased more than 57 percent in the next 24 years. If present trends continue there will be mass starvation, as there has been in various periods in China's history. It began to import massive amounts of wheat in 1994.

Han Chinese are 92 percent of the people, minorities are 8 percent. China is 28 percent urban but it is rapidly becoming more urban as people move to cities for higher-paying jobs. Northern Chinese are usually taller, heavier, and they have lighter color skin, more pointed noses, and smaller eyes than southern Chinese.

There are 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 3 city regions (Bejing, Tianjin, and Shanghai). The island of Hainan off the southern coast is almost as large as Taiwan. The southwestern 40 percent of China is mountainous, the far west is mostly desert.

Bejing has a January average high of 1 degree C and an average low of minus 9 C. It has a July average high of 32 C and an average low of 22 C. June through September are the rainy months. Guangzhou (Canton) has a January average high of 17 degree C and an average low of 9 C. It has a July average high of 33 C and an average low of 26 C. March through September are the rainy months.

The chief crops are grain, rice, cotton, and tea. There are 83 million cattle, 380 million pigs, and 111 million sheep. The annual fish catch is 13.1 million metric tons, the highest in the world. Estimates of crude oil reserves vary from 24 to 63 billion barrels. There is much newly-found oil in the western Xianjiang Province but local people are not very friendly toward the majority Han people. Other minerals are natural gas, coal, marble, limestone, iron, lead, manganese, tungsten, and antimony. In 1994 imports of 80.6 billion dollars yearly come from Hong Kong (26 percent), Japan (17 percent), and the U.S.A. (11 percent). Exports of 84.5 billion dollars yearly went to Hong Kong (44 percent), Japan (14 percent), and the U.S.A. (10 percent). Estimates for 1995 are that exports to the U.S.A. were 45 billion dollars and imports were 12 billion. Exports to the U.S.A. have been increasing fast, despite charges that Chinese have been pirating computer software from the U.S.A. Since the 1970s much of the dry northern China has been irrigated with deep wells. However, the water table is dropping. Much of southern China now grows two crops of rice a year. More chemical fertilizer is being used. Much farmland has been lost to housing and roads. The big agricultural communes have reportedly been split up. Most of the farming is done on land leased by individual farmers or small groups. Production per hectare has greatly increased.

China claims to spend only 6.8 billion dollars annually on its military of 2.9 million or more men and women. Other estimates go much higher. The Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. estimates 30 billion dollars. Some estimates are that China spends more than Russia for the military.

The urban unemployment rate is around 2.3 percent. The inflation rate is 20 percent or more. China's economy is booming. The GDP increased 11.8 percent in 1994 and about the same in 1995. Most of the East Coast, with 300 million people, is now a booming economic zone. Chinese are abandoning their villages to look for work paying much more money in the economic zones. Estimates are that 15 to 20 million men are homeless in cities. Typically they came from a rural area, looking for work but did not find it. A few years ago any Chinese traveling to another area required a pass. A uniform identification was tried. Now the internal migration is out of control. According to the South China Morning Post, the Chinese say: Ren ren chuchu zhuanqian. (Everyone is out to make a buck.) Corruption is said to be common. Some prosecutors offer money for tips about corrupt officials.

The National People's Congress has 2,978 deputies, elected for four-year terms. It elects the Premier and deputy premiers and the ministries report to it. The State Council, headed by the Premier, has executive authority. The Communist Party controls the government, it is the only party. There is much speculation as to who will really control the government since aging Deng died in February, 1997. He was apparently born in 1905.

The public school system usually has six years of primary school and (in the cities) six years of secondary school. In villages students usually start school at age 6, in cities at age 7. Cities have kindergartens. The school year varies from 6 to 9 months. Large factories operate an entire school system, through high school. There are many universities. Admission to a university may be easy for graduates of a "key" high school, it is more difficult for others unless they enter by "the back door" (with "pull"). University students have enjoyed free tuition and dormitory space but they pay for books and food.

Women have been permitted to marry at age 20, men at 22. Waiting time for an apartment is usually at least two or three years, despite massive construction of low-quality high-rise apartment houses. Rights to an apartment have been based upon the number of "points" the man has earned. A year worked in a rural area is a point. Each year over age 20 is a point. Marriage before the man is 25 has been rare. In villages, parents still often select the husband or wife. Matchmakers are common in villages and cities. Many women, especially the educated, refuse to marry unless the man meets high standards. Many female babies "somehow" die at birth or soon thereafter. Each family wants a son to support the parents when they are old, and they have been allowed only one baby (three for some minorities). A woman with a child who is known to be pregnant "will" have an abortion, we were told by many Chinese. There are only around 88 young single women for each 100 young single males, and the ratio may become more lopsided. Recently many young village women have been in demand to work in factories near the coast. Since they send home part of their earnings, girl babies are again in demand. Recent reports are that in villages, where most people live, two babies are permitted per family. A son is sometimes registered with officials as a daugh- ter, and agreement is given for the couple to have another baby, a son. Some couples manage to have three children, though they are penalized (such as paying for school) for more than one. Divorce still requires the consent of both husband and wife. I have seen government-sponsored "matchmaker dances," to encourage marriage. Some women have said "I won't marry unless he has 48 legs of furniture." A bed has 4 legs, a table or a stool each has 4 legs. The woman usually brings only bedding and her personal things to the marriage. Some men (and women) have turned to robberies to acquire wealth. Several women who are university graduates told me in China that the choice among men is poor, they had rather stay single. Recent reports are that homes and apartments are getting larger, as more people have a greater income.

Women are still entitled to time off with pay for the birth of a first baby. However, it has been reduced to 56 days in most places. Most big factories have a nursery and kindergarten, as well as other schools. Perhaps the main reason for the big increase in population is that, with good health care for all, the death rate for babies and children has dropped.

The huge population of people becoming more affluent developed a great demand for building materials, consumer goods, and space for housing and wider roads and streets. Pollution is getting worse. Many more trees should be planted. More laws to control pollution of the air and water are needed.

Prostitution was still punishable by death during our last visit. Reports now are that it has become common. Young women hang out around tourist hotels and go to dances where Western men are likely to attend, looking for a customer and the wealth they have.

A few years ago household furniture had few luxuries other than a radio, a black and white TV, and a sewing machine. Now color TV, a washing machine, and even a refrigerator are becoming common. Young men are buying a motorscooter or motorcycle instead of a bicycle. Private cars are said to be clogging city streets. Private cars were rare in the mid-1980s. Cellular phones are becoming common, not only for drug dealers.

"Free markets" began around 1982 as an experiment in a few cities, selling fruits and vegetables from private garden plots. During my last trip to China they also sold furniture and clothes. They are very popular. Now they apparently sell anything. China had help in drafting laws considered necessary for selling to and buying products from "capitalistic" countries. Many attorneys from the U.S.A. helped China to draft codes of law dealing with contracts and payments, as well as factories, labor, energy, marriage, divorce, family planning, and civil procedure. However, Chinese and many other Asians do not strictly follow a contract, they consider it to be only a rough guide.

White and blue are the colors of mourning, not black. In Chinese the clan name comes first, then the surname or family name, the given name comes next. Chinese, like the people of northern Europe, the U.S.A., and Canada, are punctual. When a meeting is scheduled for 7:30, anyone arriving at 7:31 is late.

The characters of the Chinese language, developed before 1700 B.C., and the spoken languages, have done much to unify China and to spread the Chinese culture. The literate can read the uniform characters, but they may understand only one of the four major spoken dialects. Mandarin is the official language, spoken in northern China. Cantonese, Shanghai, and Szechuan are the main dialects. Many people in Xianjiang province in the far west speak a Turkic language. The language has been reformed and standardized, but the greatest help for foreigners is the expanded use of the Pinyin system, using Roman letters. The older Wade-Giles system of using Roman letters is not so accurate, experts say. Many Chinese places are still called the archaic Wade-Giles name as well as the Pinyin system. It is confusing.

[Excerpt, Countries and Cultures, Vol. I, P. 244-247]

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Population 74 million (1.9 % per year natural increase); area 330,000 sq. km. (127,300 sq. mi.); GDP $83.5 billion; average income $1,140; literacy rate 88%

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Hanoi, Vietnam, street scene Agra, India, Red Fort, with view of Taj Mahal

History. Viets probably came from central China. In the 3rd Century B.C. modern Vietnam became part of a kingdom in southern China, Nam Viet. It was a province of China for 1,000 years, but there were many rebellions. In 939 Vietnam became independent. Kublai Khan's army attacked in 1288 but was defeated. In the 15th Century Vietnam fought and defeated the Kingdom of Champa in the southwest, taking part of the area. Catholic and other missionaries arrived in the 16th Century and later. For periods of time up to 150 years, Vietnam was split into northern and southern halves. In the late 18th Century the southern ruler won a long war, with the help of France. All of Vietnam was under French control by 1889. In the early 20th Century France controlled modern Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, together called French Indo-China. France tried to modernize the area, and received many exports from the big colony. Uprisings continued. The communist party became active in the 1920s. Japan occupied Vietnam in 1940. France's wartime Vichy government tried to cooperate with the Japanese but they were gradually eliminated. The Viet Minh ("Independence") was organized to fight a guerrilla war against occupying Japan. China and the U.S.A. helped the Viet Minh. After Japan was defeated Chinese troops entered northern Vietnam in October 1945. France re-entered the southern part. Late in 1945 the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established in the north, led by communists. In 1946 France recognized the Viet Minh government in the north. Late in 1946 war began between the French and the Viet Minh government. Most of the people did not support the French colonists. On May 7, 1954 France lost a major battle at Dien Bien Phu, and ended the war two months later, leaving the area. The 17th Parallel was established as the boundary between North and South Vietnam.

North Vietnam received much help from the communist governments in the Soviet Union and China. In July 1954 Ngo Dinh Diem took over the government in South Vietnam, making communist activities illegal. The U.S.A. provided much economic aid. In 1957 communist guerrillas became active in South Vietnam. The U.S.A. began to send "military advisors," to South Vietnam. After 1961 many more troops were sent. The Vietcong began to win battles in the South, and North Vietnam's troops also invaded. Supplies were brought from the North into the South on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just inside Cambodia, to the west. In early November 1963 South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem was ousted and killed. His successor, a general, was overthrown two months later. More military men took over for short periods. In 1967 General Nguyen Van Thieu was elected president but his government was soon unpopular.

In August 1964 U.S.A. President Johnson said that North Vietnam's patrol boat had attacked a destroyer of the U.S.A. in the Gulf of Tonkin (east of the Vietnam peninsula) on August 4. He persuaded Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, providing funds for bombing North Vietnam and a great expansion of troops in the war. Some sailors on the U.S.A.'s ship denied that it had been attacked. Thirty-one years later, in November 1995 the 1964 secretary of defense of the U.S.A., Robert McNamara, and the 1964 military commander of North Vietnam, General Vo Nguyen Giap, met. They agreed that there had never been an attack by North Vietnam's patrol boats on the U.S.A.'s ship on August 4. They agreed that there had been an attack on a ship on August 2 when it was close to the shore.

In February 1965 the U.S.A. began to bomb North Vietnam as well as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The U.S.A. soon had 550,000 troops in Vietnam. Soldiers on both sides suffered great hardships and many casualties. Politicians in the U.S.A. said it was "winning the war." In February 1968 North Vietnam and the Vietcong organized major attacks in 102 cities of South Vietnam, the "Tet Offensive." The Tet is the Lunar New Year, when people expect to have good luck all year if they are lucky at the beginning. More people in the U.S.A. did not believe the war could be won by military action. The people in South Vietnam did not seem to be interested in fighting for their government. Peace talks began early in 1969. President Johnson did not run for re-election in 1970, knowing that opposition to "his" war was great. Newly-elected President Nixon secretly ordered heavy bombing of Cambodia and Laos, as well as Vietnam. Most ground troops of the U.S.A. were removed before the end of 1971. [Nixon was forced to resign as president on August 9, 1974, due to shenanigans of some of his supporters in an office rented by Democrats in Washington's Watergate building.] When the North's army attacked in January 1975 the South's army fled. President Thieu fled from South Vietnam to the U.S.A. on April 21, 1975. A few days later the U.S.A. evacuated its remaining troops, leaving much military equipment. North Vietnam occupied the South on April 30. The date of reunification was July 2, 1976, with Hanoi as the capital.

Ho Chi Minh was president of North Vietnam, he became president of unified Vietnam. He was probably born in a village in North Vietnam in 1890. In 1930 the French sentenced him to death because he led guerrilla activities. In 1931 British agents in Hong Kong captured him, but refused to give him to the French. He spent many years in China, where he was jailed in 1942. He promised to help guerrilla fighting against the occupying Japanese army, and was released. He used many names during his guerrilla activities. He gradually became North Vietnam's leader. He died on September 3, 1969, of a heart attack.

The war killed 58,000 soldiers of the U.S.A. and around 3.2 million people in Vietnam, at least one-third were civilians. It cost both countries many billions of dollars.

Vietnam joined the United Nations in 1977, without opposition by the U.S.A. Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, fighting the repressive Pol Pot regime, forcing it to flee into Thailand. Many Chinese left Vietnam in the 1970s, alleging that they were discriminated against. In February 1979 China attacked Vietnam. After a few months of fighting, Chinese troops withdrew. The Vietnamese began a campaign against the "bourgeois" Chinese, many fled to China or the West, taking their skills and most of their money, at a great loss to Vietnam.

In 1987 Vietnam's government made many economic reforms, to begin to permit private agriculture, industry, and foreign investment. Trade relations began in February 1984 and full diplomatic relations between the U.S.A. and Vietnam began on July 11, 1995. A comprehensive labor law passed in 1994 gives Vietnam's workers more rights and better protection than in other countries in eastern or southern Asia.

[Excerpt, P. 348-364]

REPUBLIC OF INDIA

Population 952 million (1.9 % per year natural increase ), about 80 percent are Hindu and 15 percent are Moslem; area 3,180,000 sq. km. (1,223,000 sq. mi.); GDP $1.25 trillion; average income $1360; literacy rate 48%; 25 states Population of Bombay (now called Mumbai) 13 million, Calcutta 11 million, Delhi 8.4 million, Madras (Chennai) 6 million

HISTORY. Dravidians have lived in southern India for thousands of years. Around 1500 B.C. Aryans speaking Sanskrit from Central Asia, probably modern Uzbekistan, moved into northern India. (See Ancient Civilizations.) Asoka established Buddhism in the 3rd Century B.C. However, the Brahmin and priest class resisted it, and with the Gupta Kingdom, from the 4th to 6th Centuries A.D., Hinduism again prevailed. In the post-Gupta period there were many kingdoms. Islamic Mogul emperors, beginning with Babar, then Akbar and others, ruled from the 16th to mid-19th Centuries, when the British had gained control.

After many years of efforts by Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, who encouraged non-violent acts, Britain agreed to grant independence to India, on August 15, 1947. Efforts by the Moslem League persuaded Britain in 1947 to split Pakistan on the west and east off from India and to grant it independence. In Pakistan people are predominantly Muslim (Moslem). There were mass migrations of Moslems from various parts of India to Pakistan, and of Hindus from the new Pakistan to India. However, many were killed in the 1947-1948 and 1965 wars. Another war between India and Pakistan in late in 1971 killed hundreds of thousands. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 by a Hindu extremist. Late in 1962 China invaded the northern Himalayas, causing war with India. China has kept some of the territory. Indira Gandhi, prime minister, was assassinated during her 2nd term, on October 31, 1984. Her son Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated May 21, 1991 when he sought reelection. In 1992 a group of Hindus led by the fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) destroyed the important Babri Mosque in Ajodhya in northern India. They said the mosque had been built on the site of an earlier Hundu temple. The destruction of the mosque resulted in much rioting between Moslems and Hindus throughout India, with many people hurt and much property damage. In elections in 1996 the Congress Party, in power since independence, lost, due to claims of corruption. India has refused to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty because the five major nuclear powers (Russia, China, England, France, and the U.S.A.) have refused to agree to eliminating their nuclear weapons.

BACKGROUND. India's constitution recognizes 16 languages. In general a different language is spoken in each of India's 25 states. There are some 800 dialects. There are seven union territories. Hindi is the official language, English is the alternative official language. When I ask someone who lives in India where he is from, he answers "I'm from Bombay," or "I'm from Goa," or some other place. They don't say "I'm from India." There is no strong feeling of a national identity or patriotism. One reason for this is that only 150 years ago there were more than 500 kingdoms in modern India and Pakistan. Each was controlled by a maharajah, who had absolute power. They often fought with neighboring kingdoms. The British gradually took control, weakened the maharajahs, stopped their ability to collect taxes, and created a modern nation, which split into Pakistan and India.

Sugar cane is believed to have originated in India or the South Pacific. Eggplant originated in India, it has been cultivated there for more than 4,000 years. The name of most towns and cities in India end either in pur or bad. Men are taught not to make eye contact with women, not to flirt.

Eighty percent of the people are Hindi, 14 percent are Muslim, 2 percent are Christian, and 2 percent are Sikh. Some 72 percent are Indo-Aryan (with tan, brown, or dark brown skin), 25 percent are Dravidian (with black skin and straight hair), and 3 percent are Mongols.

India is expected to have more than a billion people by 2001. It spends far less per person on education than nearby countries such as Indonesia or Thailand, where the rate of population increase is lower. India has more than three times as many people as when I first began to study geography in the 1930s. There are wealthy Indians and a large middle class of perhaps 200 million, but most people are very poor. India has 193 million sacred cows, 44 million sheep, and 118 million goats. Growing enough food is a major problem. Many unprofitable industries are government owned or receive government subsidies. They are politically better than a higher rate of unemployment that would result if the industries were closed. Indian universities graduate around 10 million each year. Few can find appropriate jobs, and an "educated" person is unlikely to accept a technician's job or a job involving manual labor.

Inflation is high, around 10 percent. Some 55 percent of the land is arable--unusually high. There were 544 people per square kilometer of arable land in 1995, and there will be more, with the population explosion. Food shortages will be common if the weather changes a little. India is the world’s no. 2 rice exporter, after Tailand. Some 20 percent of the exports go to the U.S.A., 25 percent to the European Union, and 19 percent go to the CIS--the countries of the former Soviet Union. Some 10 percent of the imports come from the U.S.A., 33 percent from the European Union, and 8 percent from Japan. Imports are only slightly higher than exports.

New Delhi's average January high is 21 degrees C, the average low is 7 degrees C. The average July high is 36 degrees C, the average low is 27 C. July and August are the rainier months. Madras' average January high is 29 degrees C, the average low is 19 degrees C. The average July high is 36 degrees C, the average low is 26 C. July through November are the rainier months.

Indians, especially the poor, have many health problems. TB (tuberculosis) kills more Indians than any other disease. Dysentery from impure water or food, malaria, and cobras also kill many.

Cricket, learned from the British, is a popular sport. The old practice of suttee or the cremation of the living wife with her dead husband, is now illegal. Likewise, laws have been passed in India to improve the status of women. However, newspaper articles report that many women die each year from "accidental" burning, usually over disputes concerning payment of the dowry by the woman's family. In 1994 dowry disputes are reported to have caused the death of 6,200 women. Gandhi attempted to improve the status of Untouchables, calling them Harijans, or Children of God, now called Dalits. By law "untouchables" have equal rights with others. However, in 1995 a schoolteacher assaulted a little girl "Untouchable" for drinking from a public fountain, according to a news report.

TRAVELS. My first visit to India was not ideal. We arrived in the airport near CALCUTTA, Bengal, at 1:00 A.M. We had reservations at an expensive nearby hotel, I could see it in the distance. My wife and I could backpack our bags but we finally agreed to pay the higher night rate demanded by the taxi drivers. In the hotel we had to insist that our bed's dirty linen be changed. The next morning we had an interesting walk in nearby DUM DUM village. The British colonials manufactured a dum dum bullet there until it was decided to be inhumanely destructive. Wandering cows and goats ate trash and coconut husks. Cows are dangerous for vehicles, they need a taillight--a light on the tail at night. Women followed cows to gather fresh patties, drying them in the sun, saving them to cook food. Overloaded pedicabs mingled with big three-wheel motorcycle taxis, oxen with painted horns pulling a cart with big wheels, and push cart vendors who carried stalks of sugar cane with a squeezer and glasses for juice. Men wearing loose white dhotis and turbans, or wrapped skirts, mingled with brown-skin women in saris, loose pants, or dresses, Children were usually unencumbered by clothing. When a girl reaches puberty she changes from a skirt to a sari, except for the school uniform. Some women wore a gold or brass nose ring, and a red tika mark on the forehead, a symbol of the third eye of knowledge. Women make a black circle with kohl around the eye to keep away evil spirits. When local West Bengal people shake the head from side to side it means yes.

Some newcomers to the Calcutta area lived in lean-to shelters, more-recent newcomer families lived under a cloth along ditches. Men and children urinated as freely as the cows, without bothering to hide. Along a stream women washed clothes of the family, as well as a hotel's linen, beating it against rocks, then spreading it on grass to dry quickly. We saw a Hindu temple with a front of white cloth, with several people inside. A university professor explained that a five day religious festival, Diwali, was just ending, that it was in honor of Durga, considered in West Bengal to be the most important goddess.

The Ganges flows some 150 km. (93 mi.) north of Calcutta, then into Bangladesh and the sea. India has built dams on the Ganges. Bangladesh claims that it no longer gets enough water from the Ganges for its big irrigation project. It also claims that reduced fresh water flowing into the Bay of Bengal is making it saltier, resulting in fewer fish.

After a visit in Nepal we returned to Calcutta, staying at the big old Great Eastern Hotel. At the airport we fought off boys who tried to grab our suitcases. Our taxi driver almost hit another taxi that surprised him by actually stopping at a red light. They cursed each other in Bengali. Calcutta has perhaps 70,000 man-pulled rickshaws. Reporters say that no new licenses have been issued for rickshaws for many years. Only about one-fifth are licensed and legal. The other operators may be required to make frequent payments to the police. Only two other cities use this degrading means of transportation, Durban in South Africa, plus a few in Hong Kong for tourists. A wallah (rickshaw operator) rings a bell when he approaches a possible customer. Some blocks have dozens of families who live for years among the rubble of what once was a sidewalk. In 1922 the British moved the capital to New Delhi, it is doubtful whether any maintenance has been done on Calcutta's streets or buildings since the move. Our safari from the check in counter to our room through the winding halls and stairways included two men each carrying a suitcase on the head, two desk clerks, and several hangers-on whose function was vague. When I walked across the old carpet of our room the soles of my feet became black. Men rearrange dirt on carpets with a damp mop, I saw no vacumn cleaners. Our ceiling lamp was as bright as a candle. Crowded Calcutta has a water shortage, the cold water tap barely ran, the hot water didn't. Other than that, our large room with a ceiling fan was comfortable, with a bottle of pure (?) water. We always carry iodine tablets and a purifying plastic drinking straw.

The next morning I looked past the noisy air conditioner to count 11 sleepers on the sidewalk near our room. With the added nuisance of beggars, Calcutta in some ways reminded me of an American city. It is a fascinating city in which to walk, vendors and rickshaw operators are often not too aggressive. It is one of the world's most-crowded cities, yet there are few tall buildings. Howrah Bridge connects the Howrah Railway Station and "BBD Bag" (Dalhousie Square), they are "musts" to see. We watched a big group noisily carrying banners and placards, "On Strike." Police watched them carefully. Almost anyone with a pocket full of India's crumpled small bills can soon hire a big group to demonstrate. We walked to the Esplanade, running mostly east to west. Office and government buildings are nearby. The Maidan Park adjoining on the south is big, with many people passing through. Vendors wait for customers. Fort William, built by the British, is inside. A little zoo is at the south end. The park is on the Hooghly River, separated only by the Strand. The Victoria Monument, tall and white, is in a corner of the park.

After a few days in Calcutta we flew south to MADRAS, in Tamil Nadu. It is not so crowded as some Indian cities. Fort St. George and a big park are near the east center of the city, near the beach. The Beach Road along the shore provides a good view of the harbor in the north and beaches to the south. Our hotel was a few blocks south of busy Poonamallee High Road, which runs mostly east to west. The airport is in the southwest. Mounts Road has modern buildings and traffic, but monkeys scamper not far away. Valluvarkottam has a realistic chariot made of carved stone.

We took a "temples tour" with a bus load of Indian tourists to the ancient cities. (See Ancient Civilizations). The Dravidians of southern India are dark, with straight or wavy but not curly hair. India's government has done a good job of getting a windmill or hand pump in each of the 560,000 or so villages, and electricity in most of them. A village TV can receive by sattelite programs for farmers, students, teachers, and others. We ate breakfast in a buffet-style restaurant. While the Indian tourists quickly shoved food into the mouth with the right hand, we found silverware and searched for food that wasn't too spicy. Most Indian restaurants have a wash basin for washing hands, especially the left, before eating. (It is used as a substitute for toilet paper.) Sapattis (wheat tortillas puffed with air) and italys (rice balls with curry) were adequate, with bananas. We had the same problem for lunch at a restaurant on the beach of the Indian Ocean. Sharks discouraged swimmers. The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust has a collection of crocs, with a wider jaw than the "American" alligators.

Local women wear strings of jasmine in the hair to attract a man. They also consider chicken drumsticks to be an aphrodisiac for men. Many people chew paan after meals. It is a mixture of betel nuts, cardamom, and cloves. It is also considered to be an aphrodisiac.

When we returned from Sri Lanka for a few more days in Madras the northeast monsoon rains had begun. Vehicles had to go slowly in the water on most streets. Our hotel put sandbags at all entrances to keep out water. We borrowed a saucer and milk from the hotel's restaurant to feed a stray cat. A crowd watched the river slowly rise. A boy dove into the floodwaters to rescue his pet duck. When they both made it safely to shore everyone cheered. Water a meter (three feet) deep on streets isolated us. Some 200 slum settlements along the river were evacuated. Walls of the adobe huts crumbled in the water. A day or two later water had gone down enough to get to the airport.

Throughout India one sees a "snake charmer" at tourist sites. The "charmer" brings a flute and one or more cobras in a basket with a lid, to tourist sites. The cobra is permitted to crawl out of the basket. The rhythmic motion of the flute, not the music, keeps the snake "hypnotized." Tourists are expected to leave tips. Our guides said the poisonous fangs of the cobras have been removed.

At the BOMBAY airport I bought a taxi ticket to go to our hotel at JUHU BEACH. The receipt has the license number of the taxi. The driver naturally tried to collect more. We soon left the quiet tourist area for "downtown" Bombay, staying a week in a hotel popular with Asian tourists. I always negotiate a rate for a taxi before accepting a ride. I repeat the rate. Bombay, under pressure from taxi companies, does not permit the cheaper three-wheel taxis in the city. They would conflict with the idea of a modern progressive city. Women and boys beg for money from vehicles, especially taxi passengers, stopped at red lights. In hotels air conditioning is turned off at 6:00 P.M., except in expensive hotels for Western tourists. However, most hotel rooms have a ceiling fan. Many of our hotel's guests were Arabs from Persian Gulf countries, often with their four wives wearing the black head-to-foot burqa. When we walked fast on the sidewalk beggar children held our arm, reaching down to lick our shoes. Local Brahmins had warned me never to give money to them. I once made the mistake of giving a coin to one and soon attracted an army. Bombay attracts many of the very poor from villages, they have a good chance of finding work. Officially, it has around 13 million people, other estimates are 20 million. On sidewalks I stepped over many men and a boy, at various times, who were either dead or dying.

Bombay is on an island formed by the Mahim River in the north, but it seems more like a penninsula. Bombay is India's busy commercial city, with beautiful Marine Drive. It has manufacturing, textile mills, petroleum refining, chemical factories, cottage industries, and banking. Other cities also have much industrial activity. India is large and has much variety. Muslims may work in slaughterhouses but Hindus do not. Hindus don't eat beef but some eat pork, fish, or eggs. Muslims may eat beef but don't eat pork. One of the marvels in Bombay is the system of distribution of hot lunches to workers in factories and shops. One often sees in the late morning an individual or a bicycle carrying a dozen or more covered metal dishes with food. Each catering firm may have several meals choices going to many customers in a variety of locations. Yet, mistakes are rare.

Bombay is growing fast. There are some 100,000 per square km., it is one of the world's most crowded cities. Estimates are that up to one-third of those are homeless. The area near Falkland Road in South Central Bombay is said to be the world's largest red light district. Many of the women and girls are sold by their parents in Nepal or rural India. A high percentage of them are said to be HIV positive. AIDs (SIDA) may kill as many Indians as people in Thailand and Central Africa in a few years.

Travellers on Britain's P & O Line tried to get shady shipboard POSH rooms "port outside, starboard home." In Bombay they arrived at the Gateway to India, now a national monument, in the southeastern part of the city, called Fort Bombay. It looks something like a mosque and a castle. Nearby is the Prince of Wales Museum, with a collection of artifacts from India's great past. The natural history section includes stuffed King Cobras that eat other snakes, and huge pythons--to keep from getting squeezed to death, unwrap the tail. Billboards list the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of various city departments, it should be helpful for residents. More cities should do this.

On our last visit to Bombay in 1985 my wife and I were scheduled to fly to Cairo. On Saturday, the last day in November, I walked to Air India to reconfirm. In much of the world, outside of North America and Europe, reservations must be reconfirmed 72 hours or more before the flight or they may be cancelled. I walked because I had been unable to reach them by phone, which is often not in working order. Traffic was bad, I could walk the four kilometers (2.5 mi.) almost as fast. On the street I met a bellhop that I knew. He worked in an expensive tourist hotel, where tips from rich foreigners were good. Before his uncle retired he secured the job for his nephew. In India the extended family or clan "owns" the job, as it owns the home. He persuaded me to go with him to his Hindu temple, "nearby," where more than 100 bodies were being cremated. They had been killed in the collapse of an apartment house. The ruined building was nearby, survivors and friends were crying. As we arrived he asked me to make a 100 dollar donation. I told him I didn't have that much money to spare and I had to get to Air India before its noon closing for the weekend. He said "You're an American. You have money to travel far, to India. You can spare it." Rather than argue, I gave him a few dollars and rushed to Air India's office. It, like nearly all airlines, had just cancelled all flights to Cairo because terrorists In Egypt had killed 59 passengers. However, Egypt Air had a Sunday flight with two seats vacant. Air India endorsed our tickets, I rushed to Egypt Air and got the reservations just before their office closed for the weekend. Our flight left at 3:05 A.M. Sunday morn-ing, not my favorite time to fly.

Earlier, in November 1985, my wife and I flew to SRINIGAR, in Jammu and Kashmir, the far north. Our planes stopped at the AMRITSAR, Punjab air-ort on both of our flights between Delhi and Srinigar. I had a great view of the Sikh's Golden Temple, built in the middle of a great pool to clean believers of sin. In 1984 Indira Gandhi, the prime minister, ordered the army to invade the temple to arrest alleged Sikh terrorists who were taking refuge in the temple. A few months later a Sikh bodyguard assassinated Gandhi.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir was 90 percent Moslem when the maha-raja decided in 1947 to stay with India rather than Moslem Pakistan. Our visit in November 1985 was during a lull in the fights between Islamic militants and the Indian army, but there was sporadic fighting between India and Pakistan at the disputed border in the Himalaya Mountains. Kashmir looks more like Central Asia than most of India, with beautiful mountains, large masonry metal-roofed homes, fences, sheep and goats, horse-drawn carts with wooden spokes in the wheels and a roof and seating like a buggy, light-tan handsome people with green eyes, and shops selling carpets and brass containers. At Srinigar's airport we resisted touts for houseboats, staying the first few days in a hotel, of attractive local architecture. In our hotel's restaurant our regular waiter was only 18, he had just graduated from school. He was Buddhist, his father and several others were in Tibet, invited to return home by China's government. Some 150 here were exiled in 1959 when China suppressed Buddhism in Tibet, which it had occupied a few years earlier. The group would try to determine how conditions would be if they return home. I never heard whether they decided to return.

A majority of the residents of Kashmir apparently would like to be independent. India does not want to grant independence, fearing that other religious, language, or ethnic groups would want to split off from India, and that Pakistan would take over an independent Kashmir.

Srinigar, with about 800,000 people, is on the banks of the Jhelum River, which goes west, then south to meet the Indus River. It is cool, 1,600 m. (a mile) above sea level. Many canals provide irrigation water. Shops make beautiful wood carvings, metal work, and carpets. Men wear trousers, often with business coats or Nehru jackets, and women wear long skirts, often with a shawl. A long wool pullover protects against cold and dampness. In southern India men wear the lungi wraparound, farmers wear only a dhoti white sheet wrapped around the legs and tucked up front and rear. Both men and women all over India carry things on the head, resulting in beautiful posture. The Muslim women often wear a pants suit, a shawl over the hair, some also wear a veil. On public buses they take off the shawl, revealing beautiful black or brown hair.

We moved from the hotel to a fancy houseboat, one of hundreds on DAL LAKE. Shikharas are small water taxis, paddled by men or older children, usually singing. They make regular runs to the houseboats. Kids often threw a flower into our shikara and asked for baksheesh. We threw the flower back or they pressed their claim. In much of Asia and Africa, when one accepts a gift there is an obligation to give something of greater value in return. During the 19th Century summers British left India's hot lowlands for cooler hills. The maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir wouldn't let the British own or lease property, so they built elborate houseboats on the high shallow lake. Our houseboat, 14 meters (46 ft.) long, had two bedrooms, a living-dining room, and upper deck. Each night we shivered under damp blankets so heavy that I thought an elephant had crawled on top of us. Early in the morning the boat boy built fires in the little wood stoves to thaw the ice. Other guests had come from Europe, Africa, and Australia. Men cut the dense seaweed growing in the lake for cattle or for compost. Fields of rich Kashmir pala, a kind of spinach, grow in the shallow water, as ancient Mayan and Inca cities once irrigated their crops. The "government electricity" in the Srinagar area was turned off during the daytime.

We went on long walks near Srinigar. A waiter in the Vegetarian Restaurant chased out five goats that wandered in, looking for vegetables. Small baskets are sold to carry a can of charcoal; when lighted and placed near the feet a person covered with a robe has a private heating system. The owner of our houseboat also owned two others and several businesses, he flew regularly to Delhi or Bombay for business. He wore a business suit but he had bare feet, even when light snow fell. Stores sell hookahs, with a short pipe and funnel for tobacco, a place for the filtering water, and a long pipe for smoking. Old Town has narrow streets, shops, pony carts, and push carts. Many families live on houseboats on the Jhelum River. We climbed on a rough trail to the top of Changra Carya hill. The Shiv Jee Hindy Temple, built around 300 B.C., is on top. There are great views of mountains all around. The Shalimar Gardens, with fountains for hot summer days, was built by Mogul rulers several hundred years ago.

The Shri Pratap Singh Museum in Srinigar on the left bank of the Jhelum River has many local exhibits showing life in Kashmir. It has natural history, pottery, textiles, other arts and crafts, and archaeology. Artifacts from a 3rd Century Buddhist Temple at Harwan are shown. There are statues of Shiva, Vishnu, and other Hindu gods.

We took a public bus to Harwan and walked to the DACHIGUM NATIONAL PARK. Moguls preserved it for hundreds of years, with stags, leopards, Himalaya bear, big grey monkeys, and birds--mynah, magpies with long tails, and more. Pheasants, partridge, and musk deer were in cages. Our guide, who was also a park ranger, saw several women carrying bundles of brush on the back. He chased them, but they lived in a nearby village and had permission to gather fallen wood. With India's huge population it is difficult to save any wood, and there is often a severe water shortage.

On each of our all-day excursions the drivers permitted my wife and me to sit with him in a small separate compartment, away from the smoking of the Asian passengers. We first went to PAHALGAM, elevation 1,980 m. (6,495 ft.). We first went south, along the Jehelum River, it drains into the Indus River, then the sea. Women carried on the head cans of water or baskets of vegetables. Men also carried things on the head. Women and girls washed clothes on the river bank. Men and women sat in turnouts near the road, carving statues in stone. One long straight road lined with poplar trees is often shown on India's television. Fields of saffron spice are in small irrigated patches. Pony carts with large wheels with wooden spokes have a roof like a buggy and padded seats for up to nine people. In AVANTIPUR we stopped to see the Avantisuamin Temple, dedicated to Shiva in the 9th Century. Vendors sold local nuts of all kinds, and dried raisins and apricots. Stacks of wood cut about 60 cm. (2 ft.) long were drying, it will become bats for criquet. In AVANTNAG we visited a temple where Shri Anatnag is said to have killed the devil Jalutbawa in Hindu mythology. Vendors sold wool shawls and long pullovers. Muslims in Kashmir celebrate their day of rest on Sunday, not the usual Friday. Police stopped trucks loaded with logs or firewood to check papers. Signs encourage the planting of trees. A sheepherder watched his flock near a water-powered mill. Hay is piled into the fork of trees to keep it away from animals. Most fences and houses are made of stone. Low pushcarts about 1.3 by two meters (4 by 7 ft.) with two small wheels in the rear and one in front are used for hauling everything along the road.

In PAHALGAM we waited for others to leave the bus and to be surrounded by hawkers of pony rides. The 12th Century Mamaleswara Temple, dedicated to Shiva, like many others, has the usual tank outside for washing hands, face, and bare feet before entering. The three and four-floor stone buildings "downtown," with shops on the ground floor, look almost European. During lunch outside at the hotel we looked at blue water in the nearby Lidder River. Later, sacred cows watched us eating apples on the grass. They ignored the snowy mountains all around.

Another bus trip in Jammu and Kashmir State was to GULMARG, with "the world's highest golf course," elevation 2,730 m. (8,955 ft.). Educational signs in English include "Darling, I want you, but not so fast," "If married to speed, divorce her," and "Your hurry may cause others worry." Mulberry trees grew along our Old Silk Road, going from China to Europe. Many large local farmhouses still grow silkworms in the attic. The wife and daughters spin silk from the cocoons. We passed a silk factory, shops selling colorful carpets and textiles, brassware, and locally made farm tools and implements. Women carried two or three water cans on top of the head, one on top of the other. Other women carried sacks of grain or bundles of hay, straw, or firewood on the back. School kids were always in uniform. Many do not go to school because of the cost of books, lunch, and uniforms. At a rest stop men waited patiently outside their low concrete pit toilet built by the Indian government, for the cow that blocked all four stalls. I wanted to chase her away but the patient Indian men said "the cow also came here to pee." At the summit we again waited for salesmen to pressure others for pony rides, then my wife and I walked 11 km. (7 mi.) on a beautiful high trail along woods, where monkeys scampered ahead of us. Hills with pine and spruce rose high above us. We had great views of peaks, including snowy Nanga Parbat, elevation 8,125 m. (26,660 feet), some 70 km. (43 mi.) north. We stopped for a tasty lunch of shami kabob (mutton and vegetable patties), chutney (spicy vegetables), shoma (chicken baked in a sauce), karan ka saag, dhal (lentil soup), rice nan (tortillas), and dessert of katherine wheels (coiled baked flat bread) with molasses. Kashmir tea is sweet and served without milk, unlike most of India. During other meals in Kashmir we ate a lot of kabobs, or mutton and vegetables on a skewer, and tandoori chicken, baked, glazed with a sweet sauce, with nan, like tortillas made of flour. Butter is sliced very very thin, it is easy to spread.

We flew to NEW DELHI, in Uttar Pradesh. We again stopped in Amritsar, Punjab, home of the sikhs. A large percentage of the buses, trucks, and taxis in India are driven by Sikhs from Punjab. They are identified by the "five ks": the kesha or long hair in a turban, the kangle or comb, the kacha or knee-length breeches--often replaced by a business suit, the karm or steel bracelet, and the kirga or sword, often small and symbolic.

In New Delhi we stayed in a hotel near Connaught Place, the "hub," with nine streets going away like spokes of a wheel. To the north is Old Delhi, with narrow twisting streets and great monuments built by Moguls (Muslim rulers) three to five centuries ago. The Palam International Airport is southwest of the city.

The tongue of carts is attached to the hump on the shoulder of steers. Horns of the white bullocks are often painted, some have colorful paint spots, reminding me of some women with rouge on cheeks. Pedestrians have to watch their step, avoiding open manholes, but India's capital gets a big share of India's construction budgets. Cars and motorcycles driven on sidewalks are also a hazard. At stop signs drivers look for a bigger vehicle nearby on the through street; if there is none and there are fewer than six pedestrians, many drivers blast the horn and ignore the stop sign or red light. Pedestrians run for their life. People donate money or flowers at the small black sidewalk shrines. Pedestrians must also be careful not to step on things spread out on the sidewalk by vendors. I walk a lot in most cities. Once a group of 10 or 12 dark gypsy women, two each carrying a baby, suddenly surrounded me. They tried to go through my pockets. One appeared to thrust a baby upon me, so they could go through my pockets. I ducked away, then thrashed out with my hands, shouted, and pushed through the group. Another man saw us and shouted. They let me leave, pockets intact.

India and many other Lesser-Developed Countries suffer from a chronic lack of small bills, even banks say that they can't get enough. The smaller a bill's denomination, the more likely it is to be dirty, wrinkled, and torn. Tourists often receive the worst bills, but merchants may not accept them. I carry transparent tape to repair a torn bill. Apparently even coins are counterfeited--merchants sometimes bounce a proferred coin on the sidewalk, rejecting some because of its sound. When I mailed a package of books home at the efficient post office the clerk gave us his cup of tea while he completed the forms with carbon copies.

New Delhi's Dances of India program included great classical dances from several areas (including a man dressed as a tiger and a woman in red), a man dressed as a peacock, a sword dance, a dance that was popular with Moguls, women who danced with seven pots stacked on the top of the head, a harvest dance from Punjab, and a dance by tribal hunters wearing dhotis, like a diaper. Since it was Saturday, we saw several wedding processions, with pedestrians carrying lights, a horse with a jeweled blanket, and the bride and groom. A pot (pottery) is often broken ceremonially at a wedding, also to celebrate a birth, a death, or a religious festival. A woman with the red tika or tilak dot on her forehead is married, if she wears 10 red bracelets she is a recent bride. A married woman wears only one ring, on her left hand. The thin silk saris worn by married women leave little to a man's imagination, even though the cloth is wrapped several times.

It is often difficult to find an appropriate spouse for a high-class or educated son or daughter. Men and women may choose to remain single rather than to marry someone from a lower or different class. Indian men and women have told me it is simpler to marry a foreigner, where class and status are less important. Newspapers such as the Hindustan Times have hundreds of ads, often listed under headings such as Grooms Wanted for Working Girls, NRIs, Others, and For Brides and Grooms. Nearly all ads are placed by relatives of the girl, listing her age, height, education, employment, and background (religion, father's education), and listing the types of husband sought. Girls often state their color (honey or wheatish) and virgin. There are almost as many ads placed by "boys" or their relatives under their occupational heading (engineers, doctors, businessmen, etc.), describing the type of bride sought. Brahmin often act as matchmaker. When parents of a girl approach him he asks the girl's date of birth and her caste, then negotiates with the boy's father the amount of the dowry.

Many people believe in the evil eye. If a local person has bad luck, he goes to an old woman who knows how to exorcise the evil eye. She wraps sugar, salt, pepper, rice, and perhaps other ingredients in an old cloth, carries it around the unlucky person five times, then she burns it. Some children have a big black ring painted around each eye to protect them from the evil eye. On "Brain Day," a Sikh holiday, our hotel had a big Sikh wedding, with hundreds of guests. Little boys, well dressed, wore turbans.

Tourist sites around New Delhi include the Jantar Mantar Observatory built in 1725 by Jai Singh, with a big sundial and other instruments to show the 30 days of the month, latitude, longitude, and movements of the sun. The big Rajpath is a wide park with government buildings, like the Capital Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. Our city tour also took us to the National Stadium, the huge 16th Century Red Fort built by Moguls, the big Jama Masjid Mosque, and Humayun's Tomb--prototype for the Taj Mahal. His main wife was a Jew, she had Stars of David carved on it. The Gandhi Memorial marks where he was killed in 1948, at the home of a rich friend. Rooms and figures show main events in his life. He is said to have slept with beautiful young women to show that he could resist temptations, he must have been quite old then. The large Qutab Minar Complex has a 13th Century Tower 71.5 m. (235 ft.) high, closed since 50 schoolkids panicked and suffocated in it in 1948. The Iron Pillar is a rustproof metal column 7.3 m. high, 40 cm. (24 ft. and 16 in.) in diameter. I reached around it backward, so my wish will be fulfilled. The Birla Temple, "most beautiful in India," has three main and two minor towers. It is used by several religions--a good example of cooperation. However, it does not have the cute painted Hindu figures found on temples in southern India.

The National Museum has a great collection of carved statues. The women and goddesses are voluptous and almost nude, "anatomically correct." India never suffered from a Victorian period. It has paintings, manuscripts, weapons, jewelry, and pottery. The second floor has artifacts from the Indus River and other ancient Indian civilizations. It has tapestries, miniature paintings, and it shows the ancient silk routes in Asia. Statues show females playing the harmonica and the flute. There are Stone Age tools, and artifacts from the Copper Age (1500 to 1200 B.C.). Exhibits show how bronze "Buddhas" were made using the "lost wax" process. Human bones at least 150,000 years old have been found in India. The third floor has exhibits from North and South America, weapons, and musical instruments.

We flew to AGRA, Uttar Pradesh, to see the Taj Mahal, one of the "Seven Wonders of the World," built from 1632 to 1653 by Emperor Shah Jahan (grandson of Akbar) in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. The reflecting pools and gardens add to the beauty of the white marble mausoleum with four minarets. A red mosque is at each side. Inside, plants and flowers have been carved on the white marble walls. They originally had diamonds. The Cenotaph Chamber has red marble caskets. The royal family ate from green celadon dishes, they are supposed to change color if poison is added to food. Upstairs we saw a man writing his name on the beautiful marble walls, we asked him to stop. He didn't. We reported it to the ticket takers and the guards, who said we would have to fill out forms for the "complaints department." The Taj Mahal's upper floor was unfortunately closed to visitors in 1991, perhaps too many others had written grafitti.

In 1991 my wife, a physician, worked in Agra's Shanti Mangalick Hospital for two months, I traveled in the area for 10 days. The founder of the new hospital had emigrated to the U.S.A. many years earlier. He founded a carpet business, worked hard, and the business prospered. When he was around 70 he discovered that he was a millionaire, but he wanted the money to help his home country. He put almost all of his savings into the hospital. When my wife asked him if he had lost his security for old age, he replied that his sons would take care of him. In much of Asia sons care for elderly parents and needy siblings. My wife learned to appreciate the well-trained physicans with whom she worked, their deep spirituality and love of humanity. We rode from Delhi to Agra in the evening. During the three hour drive we stopped at an outdoor restaurant for dinner. Two busloads of high school girls, returning from an excursion to the capital, soon surrounded us. They had pigtails, nose pins and earrings, and wore saris. Many were pretty, with dark skin. We talked with several. They were shy, their English was poor. In a few more miles our taxi had a flat, one learns to expect a flat in Lesser-Developed countries. However, our driver and guide quickly changed the wheel in the dark in a field of sugar cane.

The hospital linen was washed by a family living on the premises. To dry it was spread out on bushes. Even luxury hotels send linen out to be washed in a stream, it dries quickly in the hot sun on grass or bushes. Somehow it looks clean even though the streams are usually brown. The hospital had beds for patients and a cot nearby for a family member. Someone from the family provides most of the nursing care and buys the food from nearby vendors. Hospital rates were so low that even the very poor could get help. The delivery room cost 10 Rupees, a normal delivery cost 100 Rupees, including a stay of eight days for the mother to rest. We exchanged Rupees at more than 25 per U.S.A. dollar. At the beginning of each workday physicians in the hospital (nearly all were Hindi) had a short religious service, with a prayer. They acknowledged the Hindu "five elements," but the short service could apply to almost any religion. My wife learned to appreciate the deep desire of the physicians to help others.

India has beautiful red sunrises and sunsets, caused by dust, and smoke from hundreds of thousands of cooking fires. Women and girls often spend several hours each day looking for wood, brush, straw, dried cowdung, or anything that will burn. Some city families cook with kerosene. Private and government aid organizations have helped some village families to build a covered concrete storage tank, cow dung is collected for it, water is added, and the resulting methane gas is piped to a burner for cooking. Five cows are said to provide enough dung to provide cooking gas for a family. Foreign aid organizations also help villagers to build cookers that reflect the hot sun onto food, cooking it. Both methods save scarce wood or expensive kerosene. Few villagers have electricity. If available, it is too expensive.

The Dayal Bagh Temple has the ashes of the founder of the Radhosami Faith. It is being rebuilt, with beautiful inlaid and carved marble of various colors. The nearby tomb of Itmad-Ud-Daulah is sometimes called the "Baby Taj Mahal." His daughter, Nur Jahan, was the mother of Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan. He built the Taj Mahal in honor of Mumtaz Mahal. The white marble mausoleum is low, wide, and beautiful. The red entrance has designs of grapes and wine glasses in stones of five colors. Monkeys enjoyed playing on and around it. Fat sow pigs wandered nearby.

The huge Agra Fort was built by Akbar the Great, beginning in 1563. Later additions turned it into a palace. A son of Shah Jahan imprisoned his father in the fort for 12 years, until he died. The father, Shah, could see from his room his beloved Taj Mahal, a few kilometers down the river. Inner rooms are like a maze, easy to get lost in. The fort has a red outer stone wall and moat, and an inner wall some 16 m. (52 ft.) high.

In a nearby town, SIKANDRA, we saw the tomb of Akbar the Great, 1542 to 1605. At least 100 monkeys also enjoyed the tomb. Agra's Red Fort was built by Akbar. Akbar built a large capital city, FATEHPUR SIKRA, in 1554 to 1569, with dozens of magnificent buildings. It had to be abandoned in 1584 because there was insufficient water. India has no more water now than it had in 1584, but it has 10 times as many people! The big court has an outdoor chess patio where beautiful girls were used as pawns, one moved with each play. The fort was connected with another fort by a tunnel 26 km. (16 mi.) long. Akbar and his successors always tried to have a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Christian wife. Each wife represented a group of his subjects. Each had her own room and a key to the tower, 54 m. (177 ft.) high, to catch any cool breeze.

My wife and I spent a day in 1991 in a pleasant village near Agra. Friendly village boys showed us their temple, with doll statues of their favorite gods, Rama and Seeta, plus Ganesha the elephant god, and Hanuman, the monkey god. Two boys proudly took us to the home of their grandfather. A generous host, he invited us to sit on the charpoi (a cot with the resting area suspended by ropes), his wife served tea, and sent a boy to buy cookies. As in most Indian families, the wife and girls hovered in the background, they do not mingle with guests. They normally do not shake hands with or touch male visitors. It is usually improper for a man to talk with a lone woman in India in public. Our host was an educated retired civil servant who is always looking for ways to improve conditions for people in the village of a thousand people. He took us to the nice homes of his married three sons and two daughters, taking us, strangers, into each room without knocking. There is no sense of privacy in many cultures. He emphasized that all peoples are brothers and should help each other. A grandson raises pigeons in cages on the flat roof of his home. Several times a day he releases them to fly in the neighborhood, their flapping wings are said to "purify the air." The smoke. dust, and industrial pollution must ruin the pigeons' lungs. After stirring up the haze they return to the cages. A few years ago the village began a cattle fair, where cattle, goats, donkeys, pigs, and other animals are brought from miles away to sell. The village gets a small fee for each animal brought to the fair. It had become so profitable that the village had an income of perhaps five thousand dollars a year. Villagers disagreed as to how the money should be spent. Some wanted to improve the school, others wanted to improve the temple, others wanted to distribute it among the residents. Someone filed a lawsuit, so the money will go for attorney fees and court expenses.

The simple room near the hospital where my wife and I stayed in 1991 had window screens, rare in most of the world. However, the room also had several mosquitoes. I managed to kill most of them in 10 days, or our salamander (lizard) ate them. However, one bit me. I regularly took mefloquine, recommended for India to prevent malaria. A mouse in our room got too greedy, so I suspended our bread and fruit from a string. One night the mouse got tangled in my hair. Ants in the room could jump as high as fleas --many times the size of their body. A houseboy swept our room with a broom made from a tree limb, several times a day he rearranged the dirt with a damp mop that had never been cleaned. We bought the Times of India each day. Occasionally on my little radio I found a news program in English on All India Radio or All Pakistan Radio. We helped our houseboy learn English, he helped us learn Hindi. We let him have the newspaper when we had read it. He carefully tore out pages with a small blank space, saving them for scratch paper. He always forgot to close the door when he left the room. Privacy and closed doors are almost unknown. Our electric light bulb was sometimes very bright, at other times almost as dim as a candle. The swamp cooler usually worked but at times the motor raced so fast that I turned it off, I was once an electrician and I was afraid that the motor would burn out. Sometimes there was no electricity, but we had candles. City water was often shut off for a few hours at a time. The hospital had several water storage tanks, but we learned to shower and live with a few liters each day. Plumbing was not hooked up quite right in our community bathroom. The shower and sink had only cold water, but the toilet flushed with hot water. In a bazaar I bought a pretty bar of red "toilet soap." It would be good for cleaning toilets. It also doubled as sandpaper.

Each morning a man brought us cups of cardamom tea flavored with fresh buffalo milk. We then rode a three-wheeler to a hotel some four kilometers (2.5 mi.) away, where we ate chappatis and eggs. At first we tried to walk but we were plagued by at least 20 requests to ride a three-wheel pedal taxi. We rode them regularly. They soon knew us and we no longer had to bargain to get the rate for local people of five Rupees, rather than the 10 Rupee tourist rate. We regularly ate dinner at the same hotel, owned by a relative of the founder of the hospital. I once counted 10 primary-school children riding in one pedal taxi, the little man had to stand on each pedal when going uphill. I became acquainted with the head of the three-wheelers' union. He said a few operators own their three-wheeler, but most rent. They have to pay 10 Rupees daily rent for the machine. A few months earlier a radical Hindu had led a group of radicals to destroy a mosque that had long ago been built on the site of a Hindu temple. This caused rioting between Muslims and Hindus throughout India, but especially in Agra, where nearly half are Muslims. The riots scared away tourists and everyone suffered. Both groups realized that more riots would cause all of them to starve.

Going to the restaurant, we regularly passed a muddy, smelly pond. My wife, trained in preventive medicine, proposed that it be drained, since it bred many mosquitoes. Local physicians pointed out that the pond was badly needed as a place for farmers to wash their buffalos. The pond was as important as a car wash in the U.S.A. In the evening we usually passed 30 or 40 parked big trucks with painted decorations. Drivers and their assistants line up, sleeping in the cab, to get the first hauls in the morning. A nearby brothel did a thriving business, the girls were willing to do outcalls. Donkeys and ponies pulled heavily loaded carts. A boy seemed to nap on the back of a donkey, leading several others loaded with a sack of 20 or so bricks on each side. We often saw several men wearing turbans riding on an elephant, or a camel pulling a cart loaded with construction materials. One day my wife found a dead camel in the middle of the street. The next day the body was claimed by the owner for the valuable hide. Does he eat or sell the meat? We usually ate food such as masala, chicken tika, and raita, made of curds made from buffalo milk. Many foods have curry, too spicy for me. I discovered that their chop suey was good and tried it several times. Then I ordered chicken chop suey. The only difference was that it had a hard-boiled egg on top. At least it got close to a chicken.

When I rode some 10 km. (6 mi.) in a motor three-wheel taxi to the airport we passed hundreds of thousands of people on streets in the cool evening, and Agra is a "small" city! If present trends continue India will have more people than China in 20 years. The operator ran out of gas but he carried extra gas in a pop bottle. I flew to London, using two blankets, the plane seemed to be cool. I checked into my hotel. A few minutes later I was shivering, even with all of the bed covers. I took aspirin, and in 24 hours I was close to normal. My wife and two other physicians later agreed that I probably had malaria.

My wife and I in 1985 flew to JAIPUR, the Pink City, in Rajasthan. Arriving in the evening, our motor three-wheeler operator stopped at several hotels for us to inquire about a room for two nights. We made a great choice, on a busy street in the Old City. From our balcony we had a great view of the passing parade of camels, elephants, pedicabs, and pedestrians. A sign in our room read "Beware of monkeys, keep window closed." We saw several scampering around, one sat on our window ledge. Asian monkeys don't use the tail for climbing. We ate dinner in the hotel's magnificent Laxmi vegetarian restaurant. Secrets have been passed down several generations to make the tasty "meat" dishes without meat. Dessert was rasmalli, a cheese ball cooked in milk, flavored with saffron and pista. Many Indian restaurants follow the great custom of serving a small plate of anise, little seeds, at the end of the meal. The Hawa Mahal or Palace of the Winds, has a pretty pyramid-shape front, but the many lattice windows of stone permit women of the harem to watch the busy street without being seen. On a hilltop the Amber Palace has "The Hall of Pleasure," with a ceiling tank feeding a waterfall, through which natural breezes flow, providing air conditioning hundreds of years old! Unfortunately, the girls who entertained guests have been gone for several centuries.

Peshawar, N.W.T., Pakistan, Tonga carts

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