TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

After visiting China, the Hamburgers and the Kofflers have a good idea

of how those farmers must have felt 26 years ago when they made one of

the greatest archeological discoveries in history.

Going about their day. Shoveling, probably sweating. Intent on digging

a well. What do they find? The beginnings of an awe-striking collection

of life-sized terra cotta soldiers ordered to be built and buried in the

Yellow River valley by emperor Qin Shi Huang Ti 2,200 years ago.

Imagine that. An army of intricately painted and sculpted warriors,

servants, horses and chariots that an ancient emperor wanted to take with

him to his grave, for protection.

“The pictures do not do justice,” said Lynne Koffler. “To be there

among 4,000 to 6,000 figures that they have reconstructed in 25 years.

They rebuilt all these damaged soldiers and horses.”

Historically, architecturally and culturally, Newport Beach’s Lynne

and Steve Koffler and Chuck and Doreen Hamburger were rendered speechless

and stunned through much of their recent trip to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai

and Suzhou in China. They walked through Tiananmen Square, visited

elementary schools, danced, breathed the morning air with native seniors

doing tai-chi in the park, and, of course, walked the Great Wall.

But thinking back on their trip, the group’s reaction now is

unexpectedly reassuring.

“Parents and people are the same all over,” Koffler said.

Children attend special after-school programs for everything from

music instruction to art classes. Parents stand in the back and watch,

most with pride.

“They were fifth-graders, I think,” said Chuck Hamburger, a retired

college professor. “They were playing Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ on the

harmonica . . . Here we are 7,000 miles away in a different culture and

it’s just like ours.”

Steve Koffler, a pediatrician, was also touched by how anxious the

kids were to speak English with their visitors.

“They’re precious,” he said.

Shanghai -- a contrast of old and new -- boasted a move to modernize

with the times and the rest of the world. Architecturally historic

landmarks stood on one side of the water and “Jetsons-style” buildings

were on the other, some designed by I. M. Pei.

“We were told that 10 years ago, that area across the river in

Shanghai was all farmland,” Koffler said.

In Beijing, the travelers learned of an effort to keep things natural:

a city project to plant a million trees to help with air pollution.

People also got around mostly on bicycles because motorcycles, the

Americans were told, are being phased out.

“All the cities are relatively polluted because they burn gold, and in

Beijing, there’s dust coming in from the Gobi desert,” Lynne Koffler

said.

But they even loved the noise and sight-pollution. Big billboards,

aboveground telephone wires, busy-city sounds and clothes hung on the

balconies of high-rise apartments gave them a welcoming taste of Chinese

life.

“And English is becoming more widespread, so they understood our sense

of humor,” Lynne Koffler said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.