My first impressions when arriving in Xi'an, Xhaanxi, China were no
surprise. I had read quite a bit about the country and expected many
people, much traffic, new and re-building, some pollution, strange
toilets, and shy, but friendly, short people. Well, for one thing, at
5'1" I was usually the shortest person in the room, including my
Senior High students!
TEACHING
I went to The People's Republic of China on a combination Elderhostel
/Global Volunteer Service Project. My teaching assignment was at the
Wei Cheng Middle School in Xianyang (a city about 25 miles from
Xi'an). A new highway is being built and it usually took us an hour
to get there in a school mini-van. My students were 10th-12th graders
in a public school (called Grades 1-3 in senior middle school).
Just because it was a public school doesn't mean everyone could go
there. The students take an exam at the end of 9th grade (Grade 3
middle school) and about half of them pass and are allow to attend a
"high school". They immediately begin studying hard for their
University exam (somewhat like our S.A.T.). Chinese students must pay
to go to all public or private schools from elementary through
University. My school made most of its money through tuition because
the government (city or province) allots very small amounts only.
Different public schools cost different amounts depending on the
reputation of the school-mine had an excellent record of about 85%
testing into University. Private schools (often factories or
businesses have schools for their employees' children) also vary in
cost. Some aid is available to poor students because everyone must
attend school through 9th grade (at least in the cities.)
In city schools, children begin studying English in primary grade 3.
My Seniors had an excellent command of vocabulary, grammar, spelling
and reading. Their pronunciation and listening compensation were
amazingly good considering many Chinese English teachers have had
little access to a "native speaker." Students try to see American film
and listen to English radio when they can. I urged them not to
believe everything in the films, however. (They had some conception
of American HS students partying every night.)
This was the first year that Wei Cheng Middle School participated in
the Global Volunteers teaching program so the administrators,
teachers, and students were almost as excited as I was. There are
about 3000 students in the high school and Principal Di Wu wanted me
to visit with ALL of the English classes, because few students had
talked to a native speaker. The classes run about 70 students each
and I "lectured" to two, 2-hour classes each morning. During the 10
minute breaks in the teachers' lounge, teachers crowded around to talk
and greet me.
When I say I lectured, I really mean that I talked for about 10
minutes (using a map) about me and about America; then I asked for and
answered questions for the rest of the period. I did pass around some
picture books of San Diego and America and some of my family. We felt
it would be useful to expose them to listening and practicing English.
I was told the students might be too shy to ask questions, but that
was never the case, even with the youngest. So, my lesson plans were
easy; I just had to think on my feet, pull from my experience, use
lots of gestures and simple words and smile a lot. My only worry was
that I might not understand a question, because I didn't want a
student to lose face because of bad pronunciation. Of the hundreds
of questions, only one short question on bin Laden stumped me, thank
goodness.
The students were cheerful, studious, curious, attentive, and had a
good sense of humor. They were not little robots and occasionally I
had to call them to order (just like our students.) Most caught even
mild attempts at humor and laughed in all the right places. They
asked both serious and light questions. I tried to turn the light ones
into lessons also: In almost every class, a boy would ask about
Michael Jordan (basketball is a favorite sport among Chinese youth.)
After a sentence or two, I would go into the "family name" placement
difference in China and America and finally explain that my birth
family name was JORDAN. I would comment (stretching my hand way
above my head): "I don't think Michael Jordan and I are related
because he is sooo tall" Hysteria! I never figured out if they got
the race thing or just thought the difference in height was funny.
Of course, the students were interested in the lives and education of
American students, as well as sports, music, and world affairs.
Someone in each class always asked me to sing an American song, so I
said I would if they would sing one for me. After a short rendition
of "This Land Is Your Land" pointing to the map,I listened to their
contributions. Sometimes several wanted to sing, sometimes only one;
it was about equally divided among girls and boys. Most of them sang
American songs, but a few sang Chinese ones.
In Chinese schools (in the city, at least), students stay in one
classroom and the teachers move from room to room. So, one
enterprising class talked their mathematics teacher into allowing me
to talk through his class.
Usually one teacher would ride in the van to pick me up in Xi'an.
This gave us an hour for her to practice English and ask questions (we
found one mistake in one of their otherwise excellent English
textbooks). After classes I ate lunch with 1-5 teachers and/or
administrators (and twice with students) at a different restaurant
each day. They have a 2-hour lunch hour because most teachers and
students go home to eat. My usual hostess was Anna (Duan Yi Meng), a
young English teacher whose mother was principal of another school.
Anna and I had the same tastes in many things, including very spicy
Chinese food, so she would seek out hot food for us.
When there were several of us we would be served 4-6 cold dishes and
8-14 hot ones, plus soup at the end of the meal (never dessert). They
took me to eat Peking Duck with spring onions and sauce, because I
said I had never had it. The roast duck, after being shown whole to
the table, was cut in slices, which were eaten rolled in thin pancakes
with a dish of tianmianjiang (a sweet sauce made of fermented flour)
and scallions cut in thin lengths. Most of the food I had in China was
wonderful and extremely varied and we were offered way too much. The
chicken feet and pig ears were unusual though (chew, chew, chew, spit).
One day some teachers took me to the Xianyang Historical Museum after
lunch. They found it didn't open until 2 p.m. so they persuaded the
curator to open it specially for "their guest from America." It was a
really interesting place housed in an old Buddhist temple with
artifacts from nearby digs (burial mounds) from 3000 years ago and
also a replica (foot high) of the terra cotta warriors. All the
exhibit signs were in Chinese and English. In the gift shop the
teachers bought me a musical instrument (like our "sweet potato")
which you blow, rather like a fat front flute. I wasn't very good at
playing it, but I practiced.
Sometimes students would join us for the ride back to Xi'an from
Xianyang. Mr. Who was an excellent driver (not trained by the taxi
drivers!) and it was pleasant to chat with teachers or students as we
drove through the rather barren fall countryside of farms and
construction. I returned to our base Hotel (Orient) about 2:30-3 p.m.
from teaching, although my teammates got back at noon because they
were teaching at schools right in Xi'an--so I missed out on some of
the group sight-seeing and got to go by myself.
Near the end of my stay, a young student asked how much longer I would
be in China. I replied, "Only two more days." "What a pity!" he
murmured in a perfect clipped British accent (although they have an
American accentin normal conversation.) Students,teachers, and staff
gave me many thoughtful gifts (besides their friendship), and one of
my favorites was a drawing of a basketball player, done by a boy in
class.
I left my address with the teachers so their students could write or
e-mail me and have already heard from several. I had a great
experience in Xianyang and I do feel that I touched many lives in my
short "teaching" career in China. I know the wonderful students and
teachers certainly touched mine!
AFTERNOON EXPLORATION
As I mentioned, I found myself wandering around alone in late
afternoon, because my teammates had left to sight-see before I
returned to Xi'an. It was marvelous fun walking around the city
(except crossing the street.)
My most memorable afternoon visit was to the free Antique "Flea"
Market about 7 blocks from our Orient Hotel. The entrance is guarded
by male and female tiger sculptures (as is common). The first row
(across about 10 rows of stalls) is washing machines and old TVs.
Then the fun begins. As you walk past the tiny stalls of "junk" you
are attacked by a swarm of ants (umm, people) wanting you to buy their
wares-snuff bottles, inlaid boxes, pottery (whole or pieces), jade,
painted rocks, small stuffed animals--everything imaginable. I
planned to walk all the way through and then come back to bargain and
buy what I wanted. (By the way, these are NOT really antiques-most
stuff is good modern reproductions or at least less than 200 years
old. In China an antique is at least 1000 years old!
I came to a stall with a particularly active young man in charge. The
word had passed down the row that I was looking at bottles, so he
pulled out one and stuck it under my nose. It was very pretty, 2 1/2
inches long, made of worked metal with an inlaid design of turquoise
and mother of pearl and a tiny silver chain to hold the top (complete
with tiny, tiny spoon for snuffing heroin).
I asked how much. He said 320 yuan (about $40). "No," I shook my
head, "too high." "What you say?" he said, thrusting a notepaper and
pencil at me. I said to him, "20." "Dollars?" he said hopefully.
"No," I smiled, "20 yuan." (about $2.30). "Aiee," he said,
dramatically hitting the heel of his hand on his forehead. By then a
crowd of sellers were surrounding us as though it were a cock fight.
I thought to myself, "Two can be as dramatic as one!" He declaimed,
"250 yuan!" "No, No, No, " I shouted, "20 yuan!" Again the cry and
hitting the head. By now the crowd was roaring at each bid by either
of us. He slapped his own face several times ("You are beating me
up," I interrupted) and offered 150 yuan. I stamped my foot and said,
"20 yuan." Finally he got to 80 yuan ($10) and I wiped the tears (we
were both laughing so hard) from my eyes, sadly shook my head, no, and
went into another room to see the hangings and calligraphy. When I
came out, he rushed up to me, held out the bottle and said, "40 yuan!
END!" ($5) as he chopped his hand through the air. I agreed and he
held the bottle up in the air like he had won a trophy and his friends
all clapped. By this time they all knew my name (Lin is easy to
remember for the Chinese.) and I had to fight my way through masses of
people wanting to bargain, in order to get out and go to dinner.
Three days later, I showed two of my teammates the Market.
Anticipating a lot of hard selling, I emptied my wallet (into my
purse) and went in with an empty wallet to show when I said "no."
Imagine my surprise when I walked into the back aisle and people began
waving and calling, "Miss Lin" "Miss Lin." I waved and then pointed to
my two friends as the buyers this time. Well, I didn't actually
point. In China it is impolite to point so you sort of gesture with
your hand open. I did have to show my empty wallet to get the horde
over to the other teachers. They bought quite a bit and as we were
leaving, my friend of the bottle put an old jade butterfly in my hand.
I started to shake my head, but he closed my hand over it and smiled.
"You bring friends." he said. "You take." What a guy!
I often got (pleasant) stares, sometimes direct, sometimes out of the
corner of the eye. Westerners are not common even yet in Xi'an. I
usually walked with a smile and nodded to any who caught my eye. Soon
younger people (under 40) would say "Hello" or "Hi" or "Ni Hao". If I
replied, they would often stop to chat. I had the Chinese character
for Lin under my picture and name on the Global Volunteers card
hanging around my neck and people were delighted that they could read
my name in both English and Chinese.
Other things I discovered when wandering alone were a lovely Buddhist
temple (with many laughing Buddha statues), entrance cost 50 cents (4
yuan), literally hundreds of food stalls with everything from noodles
to Shish Kabob. (We were told not to eat from the stalls, but it
certainly smelled good.), the Xi'an History Museum which was awesome,
an internet cafe filled with long lines and smoke, a modern department
store (as overpriced as ours), shoe stores with very cheap prices for
leather square-toed shoes (all the fad in China cities), a funeral
with many large (3 foot) wreaths of paper flowers, and, of course,
friendly, friendly people. The toddlers wore pants split on the back
seam past the crouch. The first time I saw one I thought he had torn
his pants. No, that is their substitute for training pants!
Traffic thought for the day: Rules were made to be broken-get there
as fast as you can.
You literally take your life in your hands when trying to cross a
street or intersection in Xi'an! Only major intersections have traffic
lights and unless a policeman is standing at the corner (rarely), many
cars, donkey carts, trucks, buses, motor bikes and scooters,
bicycles, and people ignore them. I found the best way to get around
was to crowd into a group of Chinese and dodge along with them as
guides and protection. The cardinal rule is to keep going at an even
rate so vehicles can know how close to come without hitting you. One
time, I had successfully maneuvered through the four car lanes and was
approaching the large bicycle lane when the light turned green for
them. As I pulled in my tummy and tried to stand skinny the bikes
whisked away barely 2 inches on either side of me. By the time I
dodged through the 10 feet to the curb, the Chinese women on the
sidewalk were laughing hard and patted me on the back. (I probably
looked terrified.)
There are thousands of little red taxis (hold 3 passengers and cheap-
about $2 across a town 3 times as large as San Diego) and little green
taxis (hold 4 passengers for about $3 across town). These drivers
care nothing for pedestrians (unless they are hailing a cab). They
will dart in front of buses, drive 5 abreast on a 3 lane road, make u-
turns in the middle of traffic (barely stopping the traffic), and even
pull up on the sidewalk and drive past a block of stalled traffic. I
often saw cars trying to drive the wrong way through honking horns.
Oh, yes, the horns. It is illegal except in an emergency to honk
your horn in a city and also to make any loud noises after 9 p.m.
When I asked my assistant teacher why everyone honked constantly and
why a cement mixer was still working at 11 p.m. near our hotel, she
replied, "Oh, the policemen must have been sleeping." Uh-huh.
On the highways they speed on the straight and do Indianapolis 500
turns on the curves. Thank goodness we never drove into the
mountains. None of us wanted to take the front seat next to the
driver because we couldn't see the scenery with our eyes closed. I've
driven in New York, Boston, LA, and New Orleans and that doesn't
compare in the slightest to the Xi'an traffic. It is interesting that
you have to have a complete physical to get a driver license. It's a
pity they don't require psychiatric exams.
The pollution was terrible. Xi'an has had environmental laws for
only one year (no soft coal burning, for example), but other coal and
fuels and unregulated exhaust from vehicles pour into the air. One of
our team had to leave early because of weak lungs and high pollution.
To give you an idea of how bad it is, the children all color the sun
RED in their pictures. It is almost always shining through thick
pollution, if at all. I certainly didn't need my sun glasses. One
night day we had a brisk wind and it did clear up the air a bit. Even
in Xianyang, a smaller city, (San Diego size) it is somewhat bad.
Coming into the airport on the plane, one could see the "soup" in a
bowl made of the large flat plain among the mountains which hold in
the pollutants. Actually I saw the mountains only once, when we were
in the countryside and the pollution had cleared some. A few Chinese
use masks in the city (especially on their precious child.) I didn't
have a real problem with it.
FOOD, OH MY
Food in Xi'an and Xianyang was delicious and was served in large
portions. We had breakfast in the Western restaurant in our Orient
Hotel most mornings. The buffet included 7 or 8 kinds of fruit and my
favorite, Lychee nuts; 5 kinds of bread or rolls, French toast with
honey, English bangers, scrambled eggs, bacon, broccoli, boiled beans,
pea pods, cold cereal, yogurt to put on cereal or to drink (it was
fairly thin so you jammed a sharp straw through the top and drank it.
Very good.) Also good coffee and Chinese tea.
I ate my lunch at Xianyang where I taught, but the other team members
were introduced to different restaurants in Xi'an by GV. In the
evening our team was taken to eat in outside restaurants or at the
Hotel in the Eastern or Western or Revolving restaurant on the 20th
floor. (That restaurant revolved faster than any I have seen-I think
the taxi drivers planned the mechanism!)
In most restaurants, food was served to the whole table, family style.
Serving dishes were placed (over a half-hour period) on a huge glass
"lazy Susan" in the middle of the table. We pushed the tray around to
get at the dishes we wanted. I can not remember having any dish
exactly the same twice (except Peking Duck). Many good greens, hot
and cold and vegetables, fruit, soups, regular rice, bean curd/tofu,
wheat, rice and potato noodles, lots of pork, some beef and chicken,
and mutton for the Moslems who are alarge part of the population. And
there was the coffee gum served after lunch at one restaurant.
We had southern China cuisine at the A Peng Boo Restaurant, Ho Bei
food at another (where a talented waiter, with a 3ft spout on the
teapot, poured faultlessly from the door of our private dining room),
and Silver and Gold bread rolls (silver steamed, gold fried).. One
night we went to the Tang Dynasty show and restaurant and were served
over 30 kinds of dumplings (shrimp, meat, or vegetables twisted into a
thin square of dough and steamed or fried).
After a trip to the Moslem market, we ate at the Tong Sheng Xiang
Moslem Restaurant. They gave us a big fat partially-cooked biscuit to
crumble into tiny pieces in our bowls. It was hard work, but we
couldn't eat until all were done. The waitress then came and filled
our bowls with broth from a huge teakettle and added noodles and
vegetables and mutton. It is often served to entertain heads of
states.
On the next to last night, we went to a Mongolian "Hot Pot" Restaurant
(The Favorable Wind Soupoxen). There you each get a huge metal pot
full of broth with shell fish, boiling over a fire. Throughout the
evening you are served many dishes of everything from paper thin
pieces of mutton and beef, to fresh spinach/other green leaves, to
thin potato slices, to vegetables, to tofu, to noodles. All to place
in your pot to cook for a minute or two and then to eat--with chop
sticks, of course. They do allow the small porcelain spoons for the
broth. When I was on the plane coming home I held my first fork in a
couple of weeks and it felt strange.
On the street, small restaurants and temporary food stands serve quite
cheap snacks. With so many rich snacks, a lot of local people do not
prepare meals at home and are willing to eat at food stands. We were
told not to eat at stands for our tummy's sake.
None of us got sick from the food or water (we had bottled water even
to brush our teeth) although some of us did eat the only dessert ever
offered (an unusual light burnt-orange colored ice cream which tasted
vaguely of chrysanthemums), and shell fish at the Hot Pot. (Milk and
shell fish are both a "no, no" for Chinese visitors to eat.) On a
couple of evenings we had a local beer called Hansi which was very
light (3.1) and very good. Does it sound as though we were eating
continuously? It seemed that way-meals were fairly long and leisurely
and so tasty. (And so full of fat-but I weighed myself the day I got
home and I had not gained one pound. Amazing!)
THE WEDDING
On Sunday we went to Huxion (county seat of Shaanxi province) to tour
the Peasant Painting Exhibition Hall. The government encouraged poor
farmers to take up painting pictures for extra money. At first they
painted propaganda pictures (people working hard), but now they are
free to paint as they wish. Farmers still make up 67% of Shaanxi
province. Every type of painting is included and the paintings are
wonderful in style and color. We met several of the artists and they
signed the work that people bought. As we were leaving the hall for
our lunch at a restaurant nearby, the curator told our guide (An Wei,
president of the Sino-American Society) that a painter friend of his
(Li) had a son who was marrying that day in a traditional country
wedding. He invited our group to attend. We protested at first
because in America you just don't rop 10 people uninvited into a
wedding and reception dinner. They assured us that it would be fine.
And it was!
It was at a home in a large village-Ger Er Zhuang (Cut Off Ear
Village). We went into the old farmer house to greet the bride and
her mother surrounded by gifts in the bedroom. We muttered our
congratulations and then the bride wanted pictures of us with her.
She was wearing a traditional red and gold dress and elaborate red
headdress. She grabbed me around the waist and had her picture taken
with us-then the groom came in a western suit and wanted more
pictures. They both spoke a little English and assured us that they
were honored to have us attend. We left our gift and were taken on a
tour of the village. The children were clogging the doorway completely
so it was hard to get out. Many of them had never seen a westerner up
close.
We walked down cornhusk covered streets past mostly "farmer" houses
built together with a common wall on each side. Occasionally we saw
much better homes of more affluent people; these were probably the
farmer artists and the village leaders. Most houses had long rows of
drying corn on the cob hanging in the trees or from hooks on the
house. Sometimes there were many corn kernels in the street where
people walked over them to get them from the cob. All this corn was
to feed the livestock, because people in this province rarely eat
corn. Birds don't eat this drying corn because there are very few
birds in Shaanxi province. The only reason we could get when we
asked, "Why?" was that there were too many people.
Most of the livestock and the farms were outside since farmers live
together in a village and then walk to their pigs and cows and sheep
and fields. One farmer proudly showed us his 6 very large pigs kept
in a courtyard back of his house. They were so clean that there was
no "pig" smell at all. I tried calling "sooey, sooey" but Chinese
pigs only come for a click, click, click of the tongue. This farmer
had the only dog I saw in the village.
Others invited us into their homes to see their warming bed (an oven
under the bed where firewood or corncobs are burned to keep the bed
warm on very cold nights. One family made noodles and hung them out
to dry in front of their house. They invited us in to see the
"machine" where they placed a ball of wheat dough and it rolled it and
cut it into about 8 foot long thin noodles. They were hung on hangers
on a sort of clothesline in the front yard and when dried, were cut
into 12 inch strips and packaged with a band of paper around the
middle. Villagers bought them, but I don't know the cost. Across the
street was a home where they made the wheat flour in the village.
Again they had a machine which was quite labor saving, bt still had
some hand work involved. I'm sure there were other mills since this
was a large village. Next door was the home of the lantern-maker.
The family all made paper lanterns especially for Spring Festival, but
others on demand. They were making 3 large funeral lanterns when we
were there. (They are burned at the burial after use.) The lanterns
consisted of a frame made of bamboo strips covered with paper or thin
gauze and then painted over to be attractive. Out on the street again,
I passed a very old woman sitting on a chair in front of a house. She
saw me and came screaming with joy toward me, grabbing both my hands
and shaking them, all the while beaming. I never found out why she
was so happy to see us.
We then went into their temple. China is officially atheist, but the
villagers are allowed to worship and build traditional temples if
they wish. This temple looked very much like a Buddhist temple, but
was not. They had statues of three historical people, a warrior and
two women whom they had deified. I never did hear the names, but they
represented ower and kindness and good crops. In a side "chapel" was
a fierce-looking statue of a man with a rope, waiting to pull the bad
into the netherworld. Beside him was a kindly woman, who we assume
was helping the villagers to higher plains.
As we walked through the village, the children at first followed with
caution and frank curiosity. They began to warm up and parrot our
greetings (endlessly) "hello" "hello". Finally they were holding
onto our clothes (try dragging 7 Chinese children down the street!)
and laughing and jabbering Chinese. One mother carried her 11 month
old over to see me. I said, "Hello," and he took one look and broke
into the loudest wails you ever heard. As she took him away he looked
over her shoulder at me, screwed up his eyes, and cried even harder.
Oh well.
An hour after we arrived, it was time for the traditional
dinner and ceremony. A large tent had been raised in the street in
front of the bride's home. Each table was already set with chop
sticks, paper cups, small dishes and bowls and bottles of rice wine
(strong), grape juice (tiny bit fermented) and beer. We were shown to
a table of honor among the painters who came to the wedding. As we
looked around we realized there were enough tables for over 500 people
and more outside the tent. And they were filled! Chinese villagers
will go into debt to have a grand feast at their child's wedding.
Several speeches were given by family members and others, and then a
red and gold traditional sash was placed over the groom's suit. The
couple bowed together to his and her parents repeating something about
honor and respect and then they more or less married themselves and
sat down. At one o'clock the meal started with nuts brought in on
trays by uniformed young boys. Then the bride's relatives chased the
groom's mother dow the aisle hnd painted her face with red stuff (this
is traditional). She squealed and threw rice wine on her pursuers.
The bride and groom came to each table to drink a toast. Usually only
one per table drinks the small bowl of rice wine given by the bride.
When our team saw what was happening they all muttered low, "I don't
want to drink it." They looked at the ceiling or the food and made
sure the bride didn't catch their eye. Finally, guess who got the
toast? Of course! I smiled and took the bowl and tossed it off like
the people at the other tables had. Oh wow! Fire big time! It was
really strong! I managed not to choke or gasp and bowed back as the
smoke rose from my ears and out of my toes.
Then came the meal in earnest: cold dishes (salads, pickles, etc.),
then hot vegetables, then the first entrée, then....well the
meal was four hours long! Your table had to eat the food on the
dishes brought to the small table so girls could pick them to make
room for the next course. There is a traditional order to the (80?)
courses, but I lost track after the 4th rice wine. (I am kidding--I
drank the grape juice.) After two hours we were finished with the
first fish course and our guide said we would have to leave to get to
our other stop: a visit to farmer painter Li Feng Lan. She also had
been a distinguished Senator in the Party Congress. The wedding party
would go on into the evening so we didn't see the dancing or the
fireworks.
SIGHTS TO BEHOLD
MAUSOLEUM OF QIN SHI HUANG AND MUSEUM OF THE QIN TERRACOTTA FIGURES:
Lin Tong is the site of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb with over 6,000
terra cotta warrior figures. The burial mound with the soldiers is
enclosed in three buildings, but the tomb itself has not been opened
(and may never be-much superstition prevents the opening.) What can I
say? You have seen pictures, but that does not do justice to the
amazing work commissioned by the Emperor to guard him in the
afterlife. Sadly, the colors disappeared weeks after exposed to the
air. The horses and chariots are especially fine as are the
individual soldiers with all different expressions and facial
characteristics (7 races have been traced) and clothes.
In a very far-sighted move, the government had archeologists peek at
the whole mound, but bury at least half of it immediately. They are
waiting for technology to find a way to preserve the colors before
proceeding. Almost all of the figures were smashed by marauders and
the falling wooden beams when the rooms were burned by the Emperor's
enemies.. Since the floor was completely paved, no pieces have been
lost, but it is a tedious and exacting job to piece all the figures
together. They have done a magnificent job, and the statues look
whole even up close.
FOREST OF STELE
Steles are smooth, polished stone/marble tablets (often over 6 feet
all) which were used as "books" to describe places, or tell a story,
or mark graves. Several hundred have been gathered into a museum to
create Maan interesting history of the past in Shaanxi province. It
is located on the site of the ancestral temple of the Tang Dynasty and
was first founded in 1090 A.D. during the Song Dynasty. It is the
oldest and richest collection of steles in China. The stele are
numerous enough to be likened to a forest, thus the name. This museum
consists of six large exhibition halls, seven corridors and a stele
pavilion. There are more than 1,000 stele of eight dynasties from the
Han down to the Qing. They are of great value to historians and for
the study of calligraphic development.
BANPO VILLAGE MUSEUM
We visited the museum of the Yanshoo Stone-age culture of 6,000 years
ago housed at Banpo Village near Xi'an. We saw examples of their
matriarchal society in agriculture, hunting, fishing, knitting and
weaving, pottery making, and tools in the Neolithic period. An Wei's
commentary was very helpful. Much of the archeological dig is
enclosed by the museum and one can see the foundations of the round
and square structures of the old village, just as they were
discovered. The site covers an area of 60,000-square yards. It is
divided into living quarters, a pottery-making center and a graveyard.
PAGODAS: BIG GOOSE PAGODA AND LITTLE GOOSE PAGODA
Although guide books say the Big Goose Pagoda (Xi'an's emblem
built in 653 A.D.) is the most beautiful and a masterpiece of Buddhist
architecture, I liked the Little or Minor one even better. It is
quiet and peaceful in contract to the streets and the tourist places.
The pagoda was damaged by a series of earthquakes and the two top
stories were almost destroyed, but it is very attractive. It has 15
stories. Ivory designs and Buddhist figures are carved on the entrance
doors. Many crafts are made and sold there on the grounds and the
wooden sculptures are particularly nice. Non-pirated CDs of Chinese
music, paper cutters demonstrating their craft, stuffed cloth dragons,
fans, and many other crafts are made and sold there. There is a large
building with a collection of match box labels and stamps and several
steles.
JADE FACTORY
The Jade factory was a really interesting study in hand-crafting
methods. We saw diamond drills used by artists to carve beautiful
items in the best hard (8-9 on a scale of 10 for diamonds) jadeites
jade. One item the guide showed us cost $10,000 and she handled it
casually. Huge ships (3 feet long) in full sail carved out of one
piece were fairly common. Every color from pure white to splochy
green to lavender, red, or brown was exhibited with unbelievably
beautiful fine carving. The white was sometimes carved into large
Chinese cabbage with frilly leaves. Most of the pieces in the store
were fine Jade (7-8 point hardness, which cuts glass) and were out of
our price range. They did give discounts because we were
"volunteers," but otherwise there was no bargaining there. They
taught us a little about identifying jade: translucent, cold to touch,
no bubbles, texture, and weight. Most of us bought nephrites (3-6
softer jade) in the street markets.
MOSLEM MARKET AND MOSQUE
I spent only a short time on the 5-6 winding streets which comprise
the Muslim market near the Drum Tower. I would like to have returned,
but it was too far away for the time we had. A bit like the Antique
Market, but more variety in types of things and quality, and much
larger stalls. Some of the team purchased silk robes and pajamas, and
some good jade.
The market sells all day into very late evening and includes food
goods and vegetables as well. A quick tip: Mary's Store at the start
of the Market, and the one across the street are the cheapest of all
the stores. Several of the sellers have been collecting the Global
Volunteer name cards, so I left mine at three stores. We were there
mainly to see the Great Mosque and arrived right at sundown when the
prayer rooms were filled (with late-comers scurrying to the Mosque as
late schoolboys). A school and some residences are also in the yard
of the Mosque.
DRUM TOWER AND BELL TOWER
The Drum Tower has many drums (of course) which visitors may pound as
well as huge ones hanging from the ceiling. They were used to send
messages and mark the time for the area around the temple. The
ceiling in the second floor of the large tower is wonderful, painted
in bright colors and abstract design. The Bell Tower is nearby and
has chimes played at noon.
TANG DYNASTY SHOW
The re-created Tang Dynasty Music and Dancing at the Shaanxi Grand
Opera House in Xi'an China is full of beautiful costumes, wonderful
singing and instrumental music and. surprisingly, humor. The graceful
dances (ribbon, feather, Lotus flower), the fierce Masked Warrior
dance, and the instrumental strings, horns, and percussion
performances were delightful. I especially liked the "Quarrel Between
Ducks" instrumental which had the audience in stitches.
In the Tang Dynasty Empress Wu, was the only woman ever to actually
bear the title 'Emperor' (or, in her case, Empress). The Empress Wu
was not a nice person. She makes Catherine the Great look like an
angel of mercy. While Empress Wu was still a concubine in the
imperial Tang household, she deposed of a rival by murdering her own
son, and then claiming her rival did it. In her own vicious, ruthless,
scheming way, she was absolutely brilliant.
CITY WALL
The Xi'an city wall has been restored and it is higher and wider than
the Great Wall of China. It is very impressive, especially the South
Gate.
BOTANICAL
I was not able to visit the Botanical Gardens in Xi'an, but since it
was late Fall, most flowers were gone anyway. I did see ONE set of
bromeliads (Gusmanias) in our hotel lobby.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
1. Never sit with your feet pointed directly at another person (under
the table--not showing--is ok). Also never point with one finger at
someone.
2. If a person asks a negative question, such as, "You don't want to
go to dinner, do you?"; one answers, "Yes" if you agree and don't
want to go; but "No' if you disagree and DO want to go. Very
confusing to both Chinese and Americans! I began monitoring my
questions to positive. (Try that, it is hard to do.)
3. Loud firecrackers were set off a couple of times. I was happy to
be inside then.
4. The rule is that students are banished from University (forever) if
they marry or have a love affair, smoke, or drink alcohol. Most
young people do marry earlier than the 28m/26f ages once set as
minimum by the government.
5. Crime is growing as is drug use (just as in most countries). One
of my teachers was mugged (purse stolen) in daylight the week before I
came. Everyone locks up bicycles, "or someone would steal them."
6. Chinese medicine (herbs and acupuncture) are used mostly, but some
western medicine is gaining acceptance. We heard a lecture from a
Chinese doctor. Their medical massauge is great! (My roommate had one
and pronounced it "Super".) I received a medicine pouch as a gift.
7. The first question I was asked by a citizen in the Hong Kong
airport was "How old are you?" This turns out to be a very common
icebreaker in China. Discussion of income was NOT proper.
8. Children are not named after older members of the family, even if
deceased. "It is too confusing," I was told. One child of 13 had to
change his first name because it was discovered he had a great uncle
with the same name. Boy, I wish my German ancestors had that rule!
9. Communications: The TV in our hotel room had about 40 channels
with one in English. It was very good, but we didn't have time to
watch much. Chinese Opera, learning English, news broadcasts, and
cooking shows were a few of the programs. Another team member and I
were on a call-in radio talk show on the largest music station in
China. The host, Andy, was a DJ who sponsored an hour talk show every
afternoon. On Wednesdays he tried to have an English speaker. We
received and answered many questions about Education although it was
obvious that the chance to practice English was more important that
the questions. Telephones were fine and we accessed the internet
through my room mate's laptop and a cheap special phone number. I was
also on China TV and interviewed for two newspapers.
10. We saw many men playing Chinese Chess on the streets with boards
and stones. Mah Jong was also popular at outside tables. A professor
gave us a two-hour lesson, but I think I need more practice. We also
saw Tai Chi and dancing on the sidewalks at dawn from our hotel window
12 floors above. Our team leader gave two of us Tai Chi lessons, but
again, I need to work on it.
11. A funny question asked by one student was: "Our old people like to
sit at home in peace and quiet and wear dark colors. Why are you
different-are all American old people like you?
Check out some pictures of my China trip at: China Pics
e-mail Lynn ...(lynnd@adnc.com)