Climb the Tallest Mountains:  

Our July speaker was Jin Fei-bao, on a visit to the US from China. Fei-bao (Chinese put their family name first, followed by the given name) is from Kunming, capital city of China’s southern Yunnan province, a city of six million. He came to us courtesy of CDHSer Gregg Millett, who had befriended him over the internet, while arranging an exhibition of photographs taken by Gregg’s father in China during World War II. Fei-bao spoke in Chinese, with Raymond Ma acting skillfully as interpreter.

(For example, Fei-bao’s comments on American “Chinese” food which, as Mr. Ma tactfully put it, he labeled “different” from Chinese food in China.)

Fei-bao’s claim to fame is his quest to set a world record by climbing the highest peaks on all the world’s continents, and visit both the poles. He has already has completed most of the course, including Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest peak (now why would Australia put a Polish name on a mountain?), and Mount Winston in Antarctica. On his way here to Albany he had, just a few days ago, climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska (now also called Mount Denali), and skied to both the North and South Poles. Just two major targets remain: Russia’s Mount Elbrus, and the Andean Mount Aconcagua (branded into my consciousness half a century ago by a cartoon about a little airplane that struggles to traverse the ferocious weather that surrounds this mountain - FR.) In fact, Fei-bao has already made one attempt on Aconcagua, getting within a hundred meters of the summit, when those nasty weather conditions forced him to abort it.

These extravagant adventures have apparently made Fei-bao something of a celebrity in China, especially in his city of Kunming, and this was a particular focus of his talk. If we had been Chinese, we would have been ga-ga to have such a famous guy come and talk to us! (Fei-bao’s exploits might not seem quite so extraordinary from our western perspective, but apparently mountain climbing is not at all a commonplace Chinese “thing,” and in the context of Chinese culture, Fei-bao is doing something quite exceptional indeed.)

One thing Fei-bao noted was the difficulty of getting a visa to travel from China to the US nowadays. Apparently, the US consular officials are very concerned to get assurance that anyone traveling to the US from China will go back on schedule, and won’t try to stay in America. (FR comment: we ought to want people like this to stay in America.)

Among the other points Fei-bao touched upon were his efforts to get financing and sponsorship for his adventures (he is apparently not a wealthy man, and lives in modest circumstances); anticipation of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which is generating great excitement in China; and his pioneering not just the climbing of Mount Everest, but also the clean-up of the hundred tons of debris left on the mountain by previous climbers.

Finally, Fei-bao offered the observation that once you have climbed Mount Everest, other difficulties you encounter in life don’t seem that big.

Note: if you Google Jin Fei Bao, the first website on the list is “Jin Fei Bao, General Manager of China Yunna Exploration Travel Service,” where you will find many photographs from Mr. Jin’s travels.

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