An American in Cologne
Laura Robertson
CBN News
May 27, 2007
I didn't find a new Chinese art gallery in Cologne, but I did notice a few Chinese footprints throughout the city. One of my favorites was a Chinese restaurant called Peking City situated right above McDonald's. While this restaurant was probably not a big fast-food chain, it made me wonder, could Chinese fast food chains be far behind?
Time Magazine had a great article on this dynamic about two months ago. Now that KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonald's have conquered the world, fast food chains from Japan, the Philippines, and Guatemala have opened their own versions of fast food within the U.S. Essentially, they're taking the American fast food concept, putting their own spin on it, and sending it back to us. I haven't
seen any Chinese fast food chains in the U.S., but can this be too far behind? Who knows?
I didn't go into Peking City to get to the bottom of the situation, but I did notice The Cologne Wailing Wall, a few hundred feet outside the restaurant. In contrast to the
Western Wall in Jerusalem and dwarfed the
Cologne Cathedral nearby, this wailing wall isn't overly impressive.
It consists of several cardboard cards in different languages, including several in Chinese, calling for "peace on earth" or an end to war. The wall initially began during the Gulf War, but is currently showcasing the Israel-Palestine conflict.
From the English articles on the wall, founder
Walter Hermann seems to have a pro-Palestine slant, but given that he has been severely beaten by neo-Nazis, he seems to be more anti-war than anti-semitic. Though
critics say the wall is anti-Israel, Hermann believes that the wall is "building bridges to other cultures."
With cards from China to North America to Brazil calling for peace on earth, or 和平, he definitely has a strong international showing, but for some reason, I left the wall with an unsettling feeling that provided more questions than answers.
While the expressed point of the wall is to advocate "peace on earth," what's the actual cost of this peace?
I couldn't even begin to provide an intelligent answer for this question, but I did walk away from the experience in Cologne feeling a new respect for the power of globalization.
In just one block, you have globalization in a nutshell: war, peace, religion, and of course, fast food.
CHINA CONNECTION Main Page >>
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
