Well, I have left Shanghai now, but this is a bit more about our adventures in Shanghai...
Some parts managed to charm us, especially the French concession, a large district where the French built their mansions, houses and apartment blocks and other buildings the community needed. Wandering around there it almost felt we'd arrived in another country! The (1900-30's) European architecture felt oddly familiar, there were Indian restaurants, French cafes, Irish bars...More like Sydney than China! We enjoyed going into one cafe 'Paul's' where the pastries and tarts were delicious and better than what you find at the average bakery at home. Half the patrons seemed to be speaking French!
It was a strange mix of cultures- a couple of Russian Orthodox Churches with their meringue roofs, upperclass Chinese boutiques, restaurants and expat hangouts. Communism mummified the area, rather than destroyed it, so now it is has a historical feel (especially in comparison to Pudong across the river!) and has been gentrified. This is hopefully the way it will survive!
The worst part of our visit to Shanghai was, for me, the annoying and sinister people approaching us to 'make friends', They chat for a while, then ask if you want to go to a tea ceremony (which after you go and enjoy some teas, ends up costing hundreds of dollars- we heard of people charged over 9000Y, which is 1500 Au dollars). We had been warned of the scam, so common is it that it is even on the DFAT website for China. People must still get tricked though, as the numbers of people trying to do this was unbelievable. In one square- near the museum and art gallery, we were approached about half a dozen times, although by the end we were cutting them off before they could try- and warning them we knew what they were doing. It was obvious that they weren't simply people who were friendly and wanted to practise their English (-and there are plenty of nice people like this in China!).
It was just horibble watching tourists come out of the museum and seeing these sweet seeming students who wait near the entrance come up and start talking to them- why do they use their English skills for such mean intent!
Anyway, still plenty of nice people in Shanghai! I met up with Xiongyin, a friend whose studying at Sydney Uni, and we went around to a few places together. It was nice to see a familiar face!
One of the highlights (excuse the pun ;) ) was Jinmao tower- the tallest (although soon to be overtaken by the building in progress next door) in China, and has the highest bar in the world. We went up at duskish time- saw the sunset, and the city getting dark. Truly got a different perspective on things! From the cosy lounge, sipping cocktails, the world down below of tourist touts, crowded buses and unruly drivers seemed almost an illusion...we could see it all, yet couldn't see it at all! It was quite dizzying being so high, although the view would be improved by better air quality. It was a relatively clear day but I think the height of the tower puts the top bit in the smog layer. One drink was all we could afford up there, and so after finishing two bowls of the free peanuts :), we descended into the real world- exiting on foot rather than the conventional taxi (the building housed the Hyatt from the 57th-87th floors) to take a ferry back over the river to the Bund.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Shan Da- first impressions
Arrived in Jinan!
I got in at 7am yesterday after an overnight train trip from Shanghai. Last night, my first night, I slept for 14 hours! Didn't feel so tired yesterday, but at 8pm I tried reading and realised I would be better off sleeping- and was so surprised how late I slept! Must have needed it!
Anyway- my room is alright, I was initially a little shocked, but woke up feeling better about it. At least it is cheap! The floor is concrete, with some pieces of lino covering 3/4 of it. That is the worst thing actually. The shock of how dirty is was- when I wiped my finger along the surfaces it came off black!, has been remedied with a trip to the shops for cleaning products! It seems Jinan is a dusty city. The floor also need cleaning- and we have to all do this ourselves- with our own things! Luckily other students have left mops and things in the common kitchen area.
I tried to mop the floor but just made large blackish puddles on the floor, and had nothing to dry them up with. In a fit of despair I left my room to find internet- but the internet room is apparently closed on weekends and has limited opening hours. I ended up going to the supermarket, and buying a 12Y towel and some other stuff, running into the other girls from Sydney Uni, found out that their rooms are just as bad- perhaps worse as they didn't have any lino on the floor and feeling much better.
I did not feel so welcome when I arrived thus- and did not unpack my bags or really relax until I had wiped all the cupboards and things.
I have my own room though, with a small bathroom (toilet has passed the 'number two test') so when I shower the whole room gets wet!, a phone, a TV that doesn't work yet..., a desk, bookshelf, bedside table, cupboard. Thus plenty of space for my limited belongings! Feel I need to buy more to fill it up, but that will just lead to problems later on!
I was thrown into a 90 minute test in the middle of the day yesterday too, and don't think I performed to my potential, but having not done any written chinese for a year, I'm a bit rusty! Apparently classes don't start till Wednesday, so I've got a couple of days to settle in, and learn where the good places to eat are!
I got in at 7am yesterday after an overnight train trip from Shanghai. Last night, my first night, I slept for 14 hours! Didn't feel so tired yesterday, but at 8pm I tried reading and realised I would be better off sleeping- and was so surprised how late I slept! Must have needed it!
Anyway- my room is alright, I was initially a little shocked, but woke up feeling better about it. At least it is cheap! The floor is concrete, with some pieces of lino covering 3/4 of it. That is the worst thing actually. The shock of how dirty is was- when I wiped my finger along the surfaces it came off black!, has been remedied with a trip to the shops for cleaning products! It seems Jinan is a dusty city. The floor also need cleaning- and we have to all do this ourselves- with our own things! Luckily other students have left mops and things in the common kitchen area.
I tried to mop the floor but just made large blackish puddles on the floor, and had nothing to dry them up with. In a fit of despair I left my room to find internet- but the internet room is apparently closed on weekends and has limited opening hours. I ended up going to the supermarket, and buying a 12Y towel and some other stuff, running into the other girls from Sydney Uni, found out that their rooms are just as bad- perhaps worse as they didn't have any lino on the floor and feeling much better.
I did not feel so welcome when I arrived thus- and did not unpack my bags or really relax until I had wiped all the cupboards and things.
I have my own room though, with a small bathroom (toilet has passed the 'number two test') so when I shower the whole room gets wet!, a phone, a TV that doesn't work yet..., a desk, bookshelf, bedside table, cupboard. Thus plenty of space for my limited belongings! Feel I need to buy more to fill it up, but that will just lead to problems later on!
I was thrown into a 90 minute test in the middle of the day yesterday too, and don't think I performed to my potential, but having not done any written chinese for a year, I'm a bit rusty! Apparently classes don't start till Wednesday, so I've got a couple of days to settle in, and learn where the good places to eat are!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Shanghai Shanghai II - The Lantern Festival etc
Yesterday was the lantern festival, the last day of the Spring festival and a full moon night. My textbook lessons had described it as a night where people walk the streets carrying lanterns, hang lanterns on their houses, look at the full moon and eat tangyuan- sweet glutinous rice dumplings which are round like the moon and symbolise reunions or something like that!
Step out of the textbook and into real China, and just hanging out in random areas you would have practically zilch chance of seeing people walking round with lanterns, not see any decorated houses (people live in apartment blocks now anyway), possibly see a few moon gazers, and possibly find an eatery serving tangyuan. But Shanghai has a special district where lanterns are hung up- the restored part of the 'old town'- none of it is actually old, but is a garden/ bazaar area with traditional Chinese buildings and lanes, chock a block with chinese-y nick nacks, souvenirs, and expensive dumpling vendors (for the famous Shanghai xiao long bao). It was extremely crowded when we visited the first time and a bit of a nightmare actually!
When we went back there on full moon evening we found that the whole new-old-town was gated off and you had to pay 50Y to get in, just to wander around the shops area! We could see in and see some of the lanterns over the streets, they were impressive but they weren't candle lanterns or old style. Outside that area there were also lots of red lanterns hanging up along the streets immediately around the new-old-town, so we contented ourselves with looking at that.
As for families wandering round with lanterns, well the 'lanterns' are not the romantic paper ones I imagined, the trend was for battery operated plastic light up toys of all kinds, most of which sung some sort of high pitched tune. They were quite simply HIDEOUS!
You could see the full moon above the town, and we were probably not the only ones who noticed it, but we didn't actually see people selling yuanxiao outside the paid area. What we did see being vended, on market tables in the middle of the street were red new years undies, for men women and kids. You could get ones with little gold rats, the happiness symbol, etc. Quite amusing!
What was fun was the hordes of people, perhaps without lanterns, but all just wandering about watching the 'renao' (hot and noisy). Some, clearly out of towners- probably migrant workers etc, looked as bedazzled as us! When it gets crowded in China it gets really crowded!! There were also fireworks going off and light displays (with lots of advertising) on some of the buildings.
Step out of the textbook and into real China, and just hanging out in random areas you would have practically zilch chance of seeing people walking round with lanterns, not see any decorated houses (people live in apartment blocks now anyway), possibly see a few moon gazers, and possibly find an eatery serving tangyuan. But Shanghai has a special district where lanterns are hung up- the restored part of the 'old town'- none of it is actually old, but is a garden/ bazaar area with traditional Chinese buildings and lanes, chock a block with chinese-y nick nacks, souvenirs, and expensive dumpling vendors (for the famous Shanghai xiao long bao). It was extremely crowded when we visited the first time and a bit of a nightmare actually!
When we went back there on full moon evening we found that the whole new-old-town was gated off and you had to pay 50Y to get in, just to wander around the shops area! We could see in and see some of the lanterns over the streets, they were impressive but they weren't candle lanterns or old style. Outside that area there were also lots of red lanterns hanging up along the streets immediately around the new-old-town, so we contented ourselves with looking at that.
As for families wandering round with lanterns, well the 'lanterns' are not the romantic paper ones I imagined, the trend was for battery operated plastic light up toys of all kinds, most of which sung some sort of high pitched tune. They were quite simply HIDEOUS!
You could see the full moon above the town, and we were probably not the only ones who noticed it, but we didn't actually see people selling yuanxiao outside the paid area. What we did see being vended, on market tables in the middle of the street were red new years undies, for men women and kids. You could get ones with little gold rats, the happiness symbol, etc. Quite amusing!
What was fun was the hordes of people, perhaps without lanterns, but all just wandering about watching the 'renao' (hot and noisy). Some, clearly out of towners- probably migrant workers etc, looked as bedazzled as us! When it gets crowded in China it gets really crowded!! There were also fireworks going off and light displays (with lots of advertising) on some of the buildings.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Shanghai Shanghai 1
A brief interlude in Kunming was a sort of buffer zone between the regional somewhat backwaters of China in Yunnan, and Shanghai, which in comparison seems like another planet. Kunming felt pretty modern and cosmopolitan when we got in from Tonghai...Now is seems positively provincial (which is exactly what it is ;) ). Shanghai, more of an epilogue to a China trip, is very distinct from the rest of China.
It is partly the colonial history- Shanghai doesn't have a long history as a Chinese city, and didn't exist as a city until the Europeans came and settled it as a strategic port. So it has a really different feel with all the European (French and British mainly i think) buildings from the early 20th C. The new part of Shanghai- Pudong- the one you probably see in postcards with the distinctive skyline, is on the other side of the river, and was only built from 1991!
We spent the first night wandering along the Bund, looking across the river at the spacey skyline, with the old Banks and Cutsoms Houses, and Gentlemans club type buildings on our side. We found a cafe/ bar in the old signal tower building. Walking inside to the heating was great after a month of cold weather yet nowhere to get out of the cold (Yunnan is the warm province right, how come it's still 1 degree at night!). We felt it a bit surreal having creme brulee and coffee, overlooking the city, in a plush cafe...thinking how far away this seems from the villages we went through in the same country so recently.
Yesterday we looked at the Bund in the daytime- got accosted by people selling junky gadjets and toys, the latest novelty crazes in China, people selling photos etc...Some of them a bit annoying. We saw some people making BBQ squid on a small BBQ and as we thought of having one, saw them run off with the BBQ, squids still sizzling! Some of the toy sellers with frames for selling things also ran off, others just shoved everything into their bags probably. Then came the police! Three chubby men in a little buggy car came along looking for all the illegal vendors. None to be found of course, and there was no way the police were getting out of their buggy to find them. Had a peaceful 10 minutes with no one trying to sell us stuff, and then, like bacteria recolonises as soon as you washed your hands, they came back! It would be so easy to crack down on this activity that it seems the police don't really care, or aren't trying seriously (or a completely incompetent!). Everywhere in Nanjing Donglu (a particular street) people come up and try to sell you fake bags, clothes, dvds, cds etc. Haven't done any serious shopping yet, have to get mentally prepared first!
In a cafe, shall continue with Shanghai later...just letting you know that I'm having great fun here. It's quite exciting being in a city of 15million people, has a real buzz!
It is partly the colonial history- Shanghai doesn't have a long history as a Chinese city, and didn't exist as a city until the Europeans came and settled it as a strategic port. So it has a really different feel with all the European (French and British mainly i think) buildings from the early 20th C. The new part of Shanghai- Pudong- the one you probably see in postcards with the distinctive skyline, is on the other side of the river, and was only built from 1991!
We spent the first night wandering along the Bund, looking across the river at the spacey skyline, with the old Banks and Cutsoms Houses, and Gentlemans club type buildings on our side. We found a cafe/ bar in the old signal tower building. Walking inside to the heating was great after a month of cold weather yet nowhere to get out of the cold (Yunnan is the warm province right, how come it's still 1 degree at night!). We felt it a bit surreal having creme brulee and coffee, overlooking the city, in a plush cafe...thinking how far away this seems from the villages we went through in the same country so recently.
Yesterday we looked at the Bund in the daytime- got accosted by people selling junky gadjets and toys, the latest novelty crazes in China, people selling photos etc...Some of them a bit annoying. We saw some people making BBQ squid on a small BBQ and as we thought of having one, saw them run off with the BBQ, squids still sizzling! Some of the toy sellers with frames for selling things also ran off, others just shoved everything into their bags probably. Then came the police! Three chubby men in a little buggy car came along looking for all the illegal vendors. None to be found of course, and there was no way the police were getting out of their buggy to find them. Had a peaceful 10 minutes with no one trying to sell us stuff, and then, like bacteria recolonises as soon as you washed your hands, they came back! It would be so easy to crack down on this activity that it seems the police don't really care, or aren't trying seriously (or a completely incompetent!). Everywhere in Nanjing Donglu (a particular street) people come up and try to sell you fake bags, clothes, dvds, cds etc. Haven't done any serious shopping yet, have to get mentally prepared first!
In a cafe, shall continue with Shanghai later...just letting you know that I'm having great fun here. It's quite exciting being in a city of 15million people, has a real buzz!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Mongolians in Tonghai, and how we got to ride in a police car
In the county of Tonghai, there are, reputedly 14 000 Mongol descendents of Kublai Khans army from when he came down to conquer the south. Some of the army got left behind, i'm not sure how, and these Mongols fished the lake there and then more recently turned to agriculture as the lake receded. They still retain some elements of their traditional dress, which obviously wasn't suited to the climate and was shortened and altered.
We visited a village (Xingmeng) where about 5000 of these supposedly ethnic Mongols live, still speaking their own language (which I'm certain is nothing like what is spoken in contempory Mongolia). It was hard to figure out who was who in terms of facial features though. The area also had a huge hui population, Muslim Chinese, whose features seem to differ subtly from the Han. We think we saw lots of different looking faces though, and a distinct dress- blue tunics, red scarves on the heads of women, and different jewellry, although while i think the community had distinct dress, i am unsure how mongolian it can have remained after so many years of isolation from the 'mother culture'. We only stayed in the village a couple of hours, but we found the people a lot shyer than where we'd been- people didn't look at us much, even though the town had no tourist infrastructure and would see little foreigners coming through i would say. It must be hard being the ones who got left behind.
In the town of Tonghai itself, we immediatly noticed the Hui population- heaps of street vendors cooking mutton kebabs, roast sweet potatoes, BBQ tofu stuffed with chilli, a mosque- (hard to figure out it was a mosque though), and women with headscarves, men in pillbox hats. We only stayed one night, and went to see the ancient temples on the holy buddhist hill in town. This would have been a pleasant experience- saw some trees that were hundreds of years old- pistacios, camellias, magnolias. When we arrived at the top, it seemed to be snowing or sleeting- but that was impossible as just outside the temple at the top it was not raining or anything. Then we saw there was ice falling out of the super high trees inside the courtyard! It was 1pm, and there hadn't been ice in the trees on the way up, although the day felt bitterly cold and even the locals were complaining. So it was a surprise to see ice falling as if it was snowing in the top courtyard- those trees must sit up in the cloud and stay cold most of the day!
Anyway, it was up in the top temple that i realised I was missing my camera, and we spent the next hour or two going back down and up the hill (the chinese call it a Shan which is technically a mountain) looking for it, and finally accepting it lost or stolen. I may have left it somewhere, but where-ever that might have been it was no longer there a bit later. I am quite baffled as I don't feel like I would have left it somewhere, and we hardly stopped anywhere where I would have put it down.
Today (this happened yesterday), we went to the police in kunming, a pretty big city, to make a report, hopefully my insurance will cover this. This is how we got to get driven from one station across to another one, to get a report, in the police car. Very priviledged service- at first I think they were just going to tell us to go to the other one ourselves, but then I must have managed to look/ sound clueless enough! I signed my name on the report in the space labelled 'Loser's signature'. After that we got dropped off at our hotel in the police car! It was much less intimidating and stressful than I was fearing.
Luckily I only had a few days worth of photos stored on the camera, but the worst loss is the photo of the lady with bound feet. As I itemised the value of the batteries, memory card etc, I could not but help think of the mastercard ad, that picture: 'priceless'.
We visited a village (Xingmeng) where about 5000 of these supposedly ethnic Mongols live, still speaking their own language (which I'm certain is nothing like what is spoken in contempory Mongolia). It was hard to figure out who was who in terms of facial features though. The area also had a huge hui population, Muslim Chinese, whose features seem to differ subtly from the Han. We think we saw lots of different looking faces though, and a distinct dress- blue tunics, red scarves on the heads of women, and different jewellry, although while i think the community had distinct dress, i am unsure how mongolian it can have remained after so many years of isolation from the 'mother culture'. We only stayed in the village a couple of hours, but we found the people a lot shyer than where we'd been- people didn't look at us much, even though the town had no tourist infrastructure and would see little foreigners coming through i would say. It must be hard being the ones who got left behind.
In the town of Tonghai itself, we immediatly noticed the Hui population- heaps of street vendors cooking mutton kebabs, roast sweet potatoes, BBQ tofu stuffed with chilli, a mosque- (hard to figure out it was a mosque though), and women with headscarves, men in pillbox hats. We only stayed one night, and went to see the ancient temples on the holy buddhist hill in town. This would have been a pleasant experience- saw some trees that were hundreds of years old- pistacios, camellias, magnolias. When we arrived at the top, it seemed to be snowing or sleeting- but that was impossible as just outside the temple at the top it was not raining or anything. Then we saw there was ice falling out of the super high trees inside the courtyard! It was 1pm, and there hadn't been ice in the trees on the way up, although the day felt bitterly cold and even the locals were complaining. So it was a surprise to see ice falling as if it was snowing in the top courtyard- those trees must sit up in the cloud and stay cold most of the day!
Anyway, it was up in the top temple that i realised I was missing my camera, and we spent the next hour or two going back down and up the hill (the chinese call it a Shan which is technically a mountain) looking for it, and finally accepting it lost or stolen. I may have left it somewhere, but where-ever that might have been it was no longer there a bit later. I am quite baffled as I don't feel like I would have left it somewhere, and we hardly stopped anywhere where I would have put it down.
Today (this happened yesterday), we went to the police in kunming, a pretty big city, to make a report, hopefully my insurance will cover this. This is how we got to get driven from one station across to another one, to get a report, in the police car. Very priviledged service- at first I think they were just going to tell us to go to the other one ourselves, but then I must have managed to look/ sound clueless enough! I signed my name on the report in the space labelled 'Loser's signature'. After that we got dropped off at our hotel in the police car! It was much less intimidating and stressful than I was fearing.
Luckily I only had a few days worth of photos stored on the camera, but the worst loss is the photo of the lady with bound feet. As I itemised the value of the batteries, memory card etc, I could not but help think of the mastercard ad, that picture: 'priceless'.
Jianshui
This town where we've spent the last few days, 3 nights has been lots of fun. Can't get over how uniformly friendly people are here- maybe it is because relatively few foreigners come here, though at the moment, during the Spring festival there are lots of Chinese tourists.
Historical Tourism Chinese Style
Most of the interesting things to do here are historical cultural things, like the 2nd biggest Confucian Temple in China, a 19th century old Chinese style courtyard mansion (with 17 courtyards!!), and other old buildings. People flock to see these things now, but it is sad because a lot of the history has been lost- in the Confucian temple alot of the halls had blank white walls, where they originally would have been painted I think, and the statues looked new. Out in one of the gardens we saw some broken old statues pieces, that looked more like they might have been 'original' just lying in the grass. One of them was Confucius without a head, so it seemed like it might have been cultural revolution damage.
Jianshui used to be a knowledge centre- it's Confucian school was really succesful and half of the 'juren' (people that do well in imperial exams) in Yunnan used to come from this town! Since it was a successful town, there were lots of rich families about, and we visited one old Mansion in town that is now a tourist attraction. The Zhu Family Gardens was much worse at preserving history- the family was on the 'wrong' side in 1915 and had their belongings confiscated and over the years 2/3 of the house was destroyed. Their lifestyle (they were wealthy merchants, making money from tin and opium) was the antithesis of the Communist ideal, and houses like this just did not survive the century.
Now however, it has been completely rebuilt, and as we went through in peak tourist season, guides dressed in Qing dynasty clothes, scenes that looked like they were from Chinese historical soapies were enacted in some courtyards, there was dancing on the floating stage, and performance calligraphy was auctioned off at 300Y ($50) a piece. You did not feel like you were looking at a piece of history, more like a set at Movieworld or something! The museum at the back just said that the fate of buildings like this over the century was 'inevitable', and did not say how it came to be destroyed or anything, only explaining that although they were on the 'right' side in 1911, the Zhu family were on the wrong side later. Any evidence of the role the CCP had in the destuction of what is now celebrated is covered over. People won't be able to remember what happened, as the history is all painted over and rebuilt. Going to look at the house was not about history, but more about theme park entertainment- they may as well have built the whole thing brand new!
We did go out of town to visit another mansion- actually a village full of mansions, though not as big as the Zhu's. This was a fascinating experience, and not as 'disneyfied'. Many of the houses were still being lived in by the same families (I think the same families, since 70% of the village is surnamed Zhang!), and the woodwork and paintings looked old and original. On the wall of the Buddhist temple in town there were paintings of warfare and revolutionary slogans (which I couldn't really understand)- but found out from someone that they were done during the cultural revolution. We later saw similar paintings on the wall of someone's house. We spent 4 hours or so in this village and found it much more interesting- the history was still there to see, and i guess the houses seemed real since people still live in them. The courtyard house we had lunch in was beautiful (Emperor Kindness House), and the people had beds you could stay in, which we would have if we'd known beforehand!
Speaking of living history, in this village we saw a couple of old (over 80 they said) ladies with bound feet! We also saw a few in Jianshui too! We had heard that this area still had quite a few, as it was a wealthy town, and I guess more conservative than the east coast (we're talking about girls born in the 1930's!). I didn't think there'd be anyone still alive with bound feet, yet here we seem to see so many! The first day we were watching out for bound feet on the old ladies, and thought we'd seen some- a rather old lady whose slippers seemed to swim on her and feet seemed very small. When we actually saw bound feet they were unmistakeable and we realised foolishly that us big-footers had no idea what we were looking for (it was just a petite woman with small feet!) The venerable old ladies wear special handmade shoes, and their feet are unnaturally small. After we'd seen 5 or 6 I worked up the courage to ask one if I could take a photo, thankfully (I was a bit uncomfortable about doing this) she was quite happy to oblige. It is my own small memento of history, and something that will only be alive in photos in 10 years time (thank goodness!- remembering history does not have to be about celebrating it, although that's how it's done in China!). Two of the ladies we saw were walking, one actually quite well, but both had sticks, and the other was going painstakingly slow. Most were just sitting on the side of the road, and seemed to have some muscle wastage around their ankles maybe because they avoided walking.
Anyway, I really reccomend Jianshui as a different place to visit in China, maybe like Dali 15years ago?, Maybe not quite...Oh and the BBQ Tofu is great- sounds unglamorous though :).
Saw a dog get run over by a bus last night, felt a bit sickened, at least it died quickly! You see dogs running loose on the streets and it's almost a wonder you don't see more roadkill :(. Poor unloved little doggies, in this area- Jianshui and Yuanyang, I have also spotted a few dog restaurants too.
Historical Tourism Chinese Style
Most of the interesting things to do here are historical cultural things, like the 2nd biggest Confucian Temple in China, a 19th century old Chinese style courtyard mansion (with 17 courtyards!!), and other old buildings. People flock to see these things now, but it is sad because a lot of the history has been lost- in the Confucian temple alot of the halls had blank white walls, where they originally would have been painted I think, and the statues looked new. Out in one of the gardens we saw some broken old statues pieces, that looked more like they might have been 'original' just lying in the grass. One of them was Confucius without a head, so it seemed like it might have been cultural revolution damage.
Jianshui used to be a knowledge centre- it's Confucian school was really succesful and half of the 'juren' (people that do well in imperial exams) in Yunnan used to come from this town! Since it was a successful town, there were lots of rich families about, and we visited one old Mansion in town that is now a tourist attraction. The Zhu Family Gardens was much worse at preserving history- the family was on the 'wrong' side in 1915 and had their belongings confiscated and over the years 2/3 of the house was destroyed. Their lifestyle (they were wealthy merchants, making money from tin and opium) was the antithesis of the Communist ideal, and houses like this just did not survive the century.
Now however, it has been completely rebuilt, and as we went through in peak tourist season, guides dressed in Qing dynasty clothes, scenes that looked like they were from Chinese historical soapies were enacted in some courtyards, there was dancing on the floating stage, and performance calligraphy was auctioned off at 300Y ($50) a piece. You did not feel like you were looking at a piece of history, more like a set at Movieworld or something! The museum at the back just said that the fate of buildings like this over the century was 'inevitable', and did not say how it came to be destroyed or anything, only explaining that although they were on the 'right' side in 1911, the Zhu family were on the wrong side later. Any evidence of the role the CCP had in the destuction of what is now celebrated is covered over. People won't be able to remember what happened, as the history is all painted over and rebuilt. Going to look at the house was not about history, but more about theme park entertainment- they may as well have built the whole thing brand new!
We did go out of town to visit another mansion- actually a village full of mansions, though not as big as the Zhu's. This was a fascinating experience, and not as 'disneyfied'. Many of the houses were still being lived in by the same families (I think the same families, since 70% of the village is surnamed Zhang!), and the woodwork and paintings looked old and original. On the wall of the Buddhist temple in town there were paintings of warfare and revolutionary slogans (which I couldn't really understand)- but found out from someone that they were done during the cultural revolution. We later saw similar paintings on the wall of someone's house. We spent 4 hours or so in this village and found it much more interesting- the history was still there to see, and i guess the houses seemed real since people still live in them. The courtyard house we had lunch in was beautiful (Emperor Kindness House), and the people had beds you could stay in, which we would have if we'd known beforehand!
Speaking of living history, in this village we saw a couple of old (over 80 they said) ladies with bound feet! We also saw a few in Jianshui too! We had heard that this area still had quite a few, as it was a wealthy town, and I guess more conservative than the east coast (we're talking about girls born in the 1930's!). I didn't think there'd be anyone still alive with bound feet, yet here we seem to see so many! The first day we were watching out for bound feet on the old ladies, and thought we'd seen some- a rather old lady whose slippers seemed to swim on her and feet seemed very small. When we actually saw bound feet they were unmistakeable and we realised foolishly that us big-footers had no idea what we were looking for (it was just a petite woman with small feet!) The venerable old ladies wear special handmade shoes, and their feet are unnaturally small. After we'd seen 5 or 6 I worked up the courage to ask one if I could take a photo, thankfully (I was a bit uncomfortable about doing this) she was quite happy to oblige. It is my own small memento of history, and something that will only be alive in photos in 10 years time (thank goodness!- remembering history does not have to be about celebrating it, although that's how it's done in China!). Two of the ladies we saw were walking, one actually quite well, but both had sticks, and the other was going painstakingly slow. Most were just sitting on the side of the road, and seemed to have some muscle wastage around their ankles maybe because they avoided walking.
Anyway, I really reccomend Jianshui as a different place to visit in China, maybe like Dali 15years ago?, Maybe not quite...Oh and the BBQ Tofu is great- sounds unglamorous though :).
Saw a dog get run over by a bus last night, felt a bit sickened, at least it died quickly! You see dogs running loose on the streets and it's almost a wonder you don't see more roadkill :(. Poor unloved little doggies, in this area- Jianshui and Yuanyang, I have also spotted a few dog restaurants too.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, etc
My blogging is a bit out of order, but I thought I should write about Xishuangbanna before I forget. Banna is in the very south of Yunnan, bordering Laos and Burma, and the first thing we noticed was how South East Asian it felt (lots of Burmese in town selling jade too), and a lot warmer than where we'd come from (Dali), I was in sandals and T shirt a few days, which was lovely. Back in the cold now, but was good to thaw out a few days!
We spent a lot of time looking at tropical plants! Two botanical gardens, one several hundred hectares big, and one huge rainforest reserve (Wild Elephant Valley).
One day we went to the Blind massage clinic. Massaging is the traditional occupation for blind people in China. We had 1 hour full body massages, but only my masseur was blind, Mum's could see, and kept complaining about how tight Mum's neck and shoulders were. She spent so long on the neck and shoulders that she had to add an extra 1/2 hour of time! My masseur could somehow think I was 'piaoliang' (pretty, but...blind, what?), and when he took my arm, he said 'zheme duo mao (hair), hen ke-ai' (so much hair, very cute). Never been flattered about my hairy arms before, not quite sure what to think! ;)
The wild elephant valley was a bit dissapointing- didn't see any elephants- only elephant dung and footprints...We also booked a van to take us there through CITS, the Chinese travel agency, and ended up with a guide to take us along the very clearly marked concrete paths through the jungle. Thus there was no time for exploring. The chair lift was great though- it went for 1/2 hour over the tops of the trees and was so peaceful and relaxing- made up in part for the annoyance of having to follow a guide (who spoke no english and wasn't particularly informative- she kept on pointing out the elephant prints and dung, which we could also see!) along a concrete path. The reserve is huge, but you can only go in a part of it, and the elephants probably avoid that part during the day when heaps of tourgroups go there.
Jinghong BBQ was another highlight of Banna- for the first few nights we were kept awake until 3 or so in the morning with noise coming from BBQ's set up behind our hotel. Man Chinese can be loud! We pondered whether the sound of a crowd (sort of a background noise of laughing and talking/ shouting) sounds different in different languages, I still don't really know, I just think that Chinese are in general noisier people! We had to find out what all the fuss was about- and went for BBq on both our last two nights- it was delicious! We had lemon grass wrapped fish, eggplant, sweet potato (cut and roasted into chips and served with condensed milk!), a whole, smallish chicken which had been brushed in spices, mmm, all washed down with Lancang valley beer. We still went to bed to the sounds of BBQ though!
Chinese New Year and Yuanyang- land of beautiful rice terraces!
I have seen the most beautiful sunrise yet in my life in this place! However can you do justice to a sunrise using words I don't know..so I promise pictures (which are also a cheap imitation)..but I will try. When we arrived at maybe 7:30am at the lookout (on a hill overlooking a steep valley covered with rice terraces) we were surrounded by thick white mist, and doubted we might see the sun at all. The mist got brighter but we could still not see a single rice terrace. Some other people left, but there were enough professional looking photographers hanging round, setting up their tripods to keep us somewhat optimistic that 'something' would happen...
and then suddenly the mist started clearing below and you could make out glimmering terraces, filled with water reflecting the light so that they looked silver and gold. It was amazing. Below there was still a thick cloud layer, settled in the valley, we could see the mountain tops on the other side of the valley poking up. That cloud didn't clear the whole day, and in the evening (which was Chinese New Year's Eve) we saw fireworks coming from beneath the cloud- some of them coming all the way through and exploding above the cloud, and others exploding beneath the cloud so that all we could see was the cloud lighting up in different colours sort of like the way storm clouds light up with sheet lightning.
We shared the sunrise experience with the pro's, each with enormous lenses, trying to get the best spot, with the best angle- luckily there was plenty of space for everyone. These are meant to be the most beautiful terraces in China, and perhaps Asia- they cover the whole hillside- which is a pretty steep valley. They all left at around 9-10am when the lighting was changing and perhaps not as photogenic. We stayed in the area the whole day and overnight as well- the tops of the hills were so sunny and beautiful, and we could see the cloud sitting down in the valley so we didn't want to go back to Xinjie- the main town which just sits in the middle of the cloud and you can't see anything! I even got sunburnt (didn't realise till the evening).
That day we wandered around a few villages, and watched the new years preparations...It was hard to decide which was more disturbing- the fear of having a fire cracker thrown at you by a 6 year old boy being silly, or the half dozen or more pigs we saw being, or in some stage of being slaughtered. :(, Every family seemed to be killing their own pig, and some of them were not dying quickly as they drain the fresh blood out of the neck and coagulate it for eating. (yes we saw this.. :( ). Then they burned the hair off the skin and smoked the ouside of the pig a bit (dead by this stage). We could hear the screaming pigs from other villages from hundreds of meters away.
All the pigs were dead by the end of the morning though, and in the afternoon the noise coming from all around the valley- kilometers away was astounding. People let off alot of bangers and crackers in the countryside in China (in the cities there are more restrictions), and you could here was sounded like machine gun fire everywhere! "How's the Serenity" we thought as we sat on the terrace of the only guesthouse in the villages looking out.
The evening was great fun! There were about 9 other guests staying, well off people on holidays from east coast cities, who created a very "renao" atmosphere (hot and noisy). We had hotpot, cantonese style as the owner was cantonese, Mum and I tried to avoid the chicken head, feet and pork intestines (was a bit turned off pork that day!) that went into the pot! We were drinking beer and ganbei'ing (toasting), and pretty soon the chinese started to sing some songs. I knew it was coming, it didn't take them long to start shouting at us to sing something too- with everyone egging us on, we decided to sing Waltzing Matilda, everyone clapping along and cheering at the end (we only did one verse!). Then the guest house owner- a lady of about 65yrs or so jumped up and started pointing at us and falpping her arms chicken dance style. Oooooh Nooooo, that afternoon some village girls had been playing with us and getting us to do the chicken dance which they learnt off some French people some time ago. Now we were being dragged (literally, the lady was pulling Mum off her stool!) up to do the chicken dance in front of all these people!! So we did the chicken dance, making our own music singing Na nananana... That certainly got the blood rushing to my cheeks! Then the lady got everyone else to stand up and we all did it together, with much hilarity!
At midnight we all rolled/made dumplings- some of us more beautifully than others, and then cooked them in water and went back to the dining room to eat them. It was a great night!
The next day (yesterday) we saw the sunrise again, then went on and lokked at some different places, different villages with terraces, eventually hitching a ride with some Chinese tourists with their own car and three spare spots (we were with a Chinese American Peggy- she grew up here and did here high school here, but has been in New York for 20years or so). Stopped at a village that had been 'zoo-ified', had a ticket gate to go in and people dancing in the square, and the houses were all traditional (unlike the one's we'd been through) but it felt really uncomfortable and wrong, and we didn't like it at all. Would not have gone in at all if we weren't sort of attatched to these Chinese people and following them.
The people in this area are Hani, and the women still wear a lot of beautiful traditional clothing (not the men though), at least around New year evryone seemed to have their finest on. When we were walking along the road some girls following us asked peggy to send them some clothes- 'like yours' meaning western=modern=rich, it is mainly when you are in poor places that traditional dress has been maintained. A double edged sword for travellers who want to see something traditional, but you don't want to romanticise poverty.
Anyway, Also saw sunset over rice terraces going down maybe a thousand meters below us. Also a beautiful experience- but as we went to the 'best' sunset lookout we also had to jostle with the photographers (it's a selfish hobby one of them admitted who we'd hired a van to go round with) for a good spot again! And then we came back to the main town perpetually in the cold and miserable fog, where you wouldnot know that such a beautiful warm sunny world existed just ten minutes drive away.
Yuanyang has been great- a highlight of my China experiences!
and then suddenly the mist started clearing below and you could make out glimmering terraces, filled with water reflecting the light so that they looked silver and gold. It was amazing. Below there was still a thick cloud layer, settled in the valley, we could see the mountain tops on the other side of the valley poking up. That cloud didn't clear the whole day, and in the evening (which was Chinese New Year's Eve) we saw fireworks coming from beneath the cloud- some of them coming all the way through and exploding above the cloud, and others exploding beneath the cloud so that all we could see was the cloud lighting up in different colours sort of like the way storm clouds light up with sheet lightning.
We shared the sunrise experience with the pro's, each with enormous lenses, trying to get the best spot, with the best angle- luckily there was plenty of space for everyone. These are meant to be the most beautiful terraces in China, and perhaps Asia- they cover the whole hillside- which is a pretty steep valley. They all left at around 9-10am when the lighting was changing and perhaps not as photogenic. We stayed in the area the whole day and overnight as well- the tops of the hills were so sunny and beautiful, and we could see the cloud sitting down in the valley so we didn't want to go back to Xinjie- the main town which just sits in the middle of the cloud and you can't see anything! I even got sunburnt (didn't realise till the evening).
That day we wandered around a few villages, and watched the new years preparations...It was hard to decide which was more disturbing- the fear of having a fire cracker thrown at you by a 6 year old boy being silly, or the half dozen or more pigs we saw being, or in some stage of being slaughtered. :(, Every family seemed to be killing their own pig, and some of them were not dying quickly as they drain the fresh blood out of the neck and coagulate it for eating. (yes we saw this.. :( ). Then they burned the hair off the skin and smoked the ouside of the pig a bit (dead by this stage). We could hear the screaming pigs from other villages from hundreds of meters away.
All the pigs were dead by the end of the morning though, and in the afternoon the noise coming from all around the valley- kilometers away was astounding. People let off alot of bangers and crackers in the countryside in China (in the cities there are more restrictions), and you could here was sounded like machine gun fire everywhere! "How's the Serenity" we thought as we sat on the terrace of the only guesthouse in the villages looking out.
The evening was great fun! There were about 9 other guests staying, well off people on holidays from east coast cities, who created a very "renao" atmosphere (hot and noisy). We had hotpot, cantonese style as the owner was cantonese, Mum and I tried to avoid the chicken head, feet and pork intestines (was a bit turned off pork that day!) that went into the pot! We were drinking beer and ganbei'ing (toasting), and pretty soon the chinese started to sing some songs. I knew it was coming, it didn't take them long to start shouting at us to sing something too- with everyone egging us on, we decided to sing Waltzing Matilda, everyone clapping along and cheering at the end (we only did one verse!). Then the guest house owner- a lady of about 65yrs or so jumped up and started pointing at us and falpping her arms chicken dance style. Oooooh Nooooo, that afternoon some village girls had been playing with us and getting us to do the chicken dance which they learnt off some French people some time ago. Now we were being dragged (literally, the lady was pulling Mum off her stool!) up to do the chicken dance in front of all these people!! So we did the chicken dance, making our own music singing Na nananana... That certainly got the blood rushing to my cheeks! Then the lady got everyone else to stand up and we all did it together, with much hilarity!
At midnight we all rolled/made dumplings- some of us more beautifully than others, and then cooked them in water and went back to the dining room to eat them. It was a great night!
The next day (yesterday) we saw the sunrise again, then went on and lokked at some different places, different villages with terraces, eventually hitching a ride with some Chinese tourists with their own car and three spare spots (we were with a Chinese American Peggy- she grew up here and did here high school here, but has been in New York for 20years or so). Stopped at a village that had been 'zoo-ified', had a ticket gate to go in and people dancing in the square, and the houses were all traditional (unlike the one's we'd been through) but it felt really uncomfortable and wrong, and we didn't like it at all. Would not have gone in at all if we weren't sort of attatched to these Chinese people and following them.
The people in this area are Hani, and the women still wear a lot of beautiful traditional clothing (not the men though), at least around New year evryone seemed to have their finest on. When we were walking along the road some girls following us asked peggy to send them some clothes- 'like yours' meaning western=modern=rich, it is mainly when you are in poor places that traditional dress has been maintained. A double edged sword for travellers who want to see something traditional, but you don't want to romanticise poverty.
Anyway, Also saw sunset over rice terraces going down maybe a thousand meters below us. Also a beautiful experience- but as we went to the 'best' sunset lookout we also had to jostle with the photographers (it's a selfish hobby one of them admitted who we'd hired a van to go round with) for a good spot again! And then we came back to the main town perpetually in the cold and miserable fog, where you wouldnot know that such a beautiful warm sunny world existed just ten minutes drive away.
Yuanyang has been great- a highlight of my China experiences!
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