Ch 38: The Center of It All

August 5-8

It's never occured to me how close Japan is to China. The flight from Shanghai to Tokyo took less then 3 hours. It's nice to know that two of my favorite cities are so close to each other. China is close to EVERYTHING however when you think about it. Your never more then a days trip away from anywhere in Europe/MiddleEast/Asia/Pacific Islands. I suppose the name "Middle Kingdom" has a reason for being. I always thought the "middle" part was a mistranslation. "Zhong" can mean middle. It can also mean "central" or center and I think this is the more appropriate translation.

In the Chinese tradition everything begins from the center and China is smack in the middle of that center. Many of the major cities and even the smaller, older ones follow this them. There is a city "center" from which the sections of the city grow out from with additional boundaries being made up of circular roads that progressively increase in size further away from the center. What a parculiar and organic way of thinking.