This is one of the posts I was unable to post on my blog while in China during the period that blogger was blocked:
One of the language partners I’ve been meeting with invited me to attend her friend’s wedding in Ma Anshan (Anhui Province), and then go visit her home for a couple days. This seemed like a unique opportunity, as I had heard that Chinese weddings are definitely not something to be missed. Also, my friend’s home is in the countryside, which I have been dying to go to since I came to China (since I’m not normally a huge city person anyway). Finally, this seemed like a good opportunity for improving the Chinese because this particular friend, Wang Fei, can’t speak a whole lot of English, so I’d get lots and lots of practice speaking Chinese.
The wedding was pretty crazy. After arriving at Ma Anshan I immediately took a cab to a city park were the festivities where beginning. I just missed the actual ceremony, so when I arrived I found the rather large groom stretched out in the grass, without a shirt on, various articles of clothing lined up behind him trying to reach the bride: wedding games.
After nearly throwing the groom into the park’s lake and taking a considerable number of photos, we made our way to the hotel where the reception would be taking place. However, there were still a few hours before the reception began, so I lounged around with the younger of the wedding guests in the reception hall. When I say ‘lounge,’ I actually mean answer an endless stream of questions from all the Chinese buys sitting at my table. They were all from Ma Anshan, and I’m pretty sure I was the first American, possibly the first westerner of any kind, that they’d had the opportunity to talk to. All were about my age, nearly all had already been working several years (the guy sitting next to me was a cab driver) and several were married. Here are some examples of typical questions:
What is the minimum wage in the U.S.?
How much is American currency worth? Do you have any we can see now?
Do you drive in the U.S.? Do you have your own car? What kind is it? How much can you get a car for in the U.S.? What’s the most expensive car?
How are the girls in the U.S.?
And so on…
These are fairly simple questions, but please factor in that my Chinese is not that great and that my Chinese is actually Mandarin, the official “Chinese” used in conducting business and between people from different parts of China. In reality, every area has its own dialect, which is often completely different from Mandarin. The guys at my table all spoke the local dialect of Ma Anshan, which to me first sounded like the language of some aliens in Star Wars, a mix of Chinese and Russian, or both. A few could also speak Mandarin, but they had an accent, so basic bits of information often took considerable amount of time to communicate. However, with time, I believe most questions were answered to everyone’s satisfaction.
Finally the reception started. Now, I’ve only been to one wedding in the states, so I don’t know how well I can compare, but I’m thinking that perhaps Chinese weddings tend, in general to be slightly more sizable affairs. There were probably around 300 people at this one, all sitting at enormous, round, 10 person tables. There was a very energetic, enthusiastic MC making sure that the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement the entire time. However, this probably wasn’t an issue as everyone that I met while in Ma Anshan and the surrounding area already seemed very lively. Add in some extremely large confetti poppers, whistles, a stage and runway lined with Christmas lights, and of course, alcohol, and you’ve got a Chinese wedding reception.
After the bride came down the runway under a shower of confetti and to abundant cheering kissed the groom, the feasting began. Our table was hidden under stacks and stacks of various dishes. There was so much food that the 10 people at our table probably finished only half of it (Chinese believe that if there is no leftover food, then the guest didn’t get enough to eat). There was also abundant toasting. At a typical dinner out with friends there are many group toasts and also an infinite number of toasts between just two or three people. It is definitely a continuous process, and on this evening it was performed with Baijiu, a kind of hard liquor made from rice. I was pleased to discover that this particular group I was eating with did not extend the tradition of draining the glass after every toast, as is done with beer, in the realm of hard liquor, for the results would’ve certainly been disastrous. Also, the groom, as well as the father of the bride go around and personally give a toast to every table. Both looked completely exhausted by the time they made it to ours (keep in mind were probably about 30 tables).
During the dinner the MC had all sorts of activities to keep the atmosphere alive, indoor fireworks, various games, and throwing stuffed animals to an exuberant crowd. People were cheering, standing on chairs and jumping over each other to get a hold of the prizes. Some individuals were injured in the process.
How can you follow up this sort of event? Perhaps with a peaceful retreat to the countryside…
The next day I went with an exhausted Wang Fei (she had been the bridesmaid and been involved in wedding preparations for a whole week) to her home, in a small village located amidst some small mountains outside of Ma Anshan. When I say her home, I actually mean the multiple homes of her extended family. I never actually made it to her house, which was rather crowded because a bunch of workers were staying there with them. The whole experience was really awesome, because I exposed me to an entirely different lifestyle that I’ve read a lot about, but never actually seen myself.
I’ll try to do a good job describing the houses; I didn’t want to take any pictures of them as this seemed impolite. The first house I went too, that of one of Wang Fei’s aunts, was pretty modest, having only a kitchen, one central room, a dining room, and a bedroom -- each smaller than my dorm room. There was only one bed, which was frequently occupied by multiple napping relatives. However, the house stayed very warm on cool nights, was cool during the day, had electricity and running water (not for human consumption), and the bare plaster walls and ceiling didn’t seem to leak too much during the heavy rains we had on Saturday. The second house, one of another uncle, was much larger; the main building had two stories, with a second smaller building which housed a kitchen/dining room, shower and tool shed. A courtyard in the middle overlooked a pretty bamboo grove (planted by Wang Fei’s grandfather) and a garden. It seemed like there were chickens, geese and goats wandering around just about everywhere outside. In both houses, furniture was pretty minimal.
In China, the family is generally a much tighter, larger unit than in the U.S. Not only did Wang Fei have a bunch of relatives living in this village (I saw 2 aunts, an uncle, 3 cousins, father and mother, grandmother and another unidentified old lady who has not yet been identified, but presumably part of the family), but multiple generations lived all in the same house, and the houses weren’t exclusively used by any one part of the family. Wang Fei’s mom seemed to reside in the aunt’s house during the day helping cook. This is also where we ate at, but at night all the relatives would disperse to different abodes to sleep.
The economy of the area around Ma Anshan is largely driven by industries associated with the large deposits of iron in the area. Wang Fei’s father, along with a ton of other villagers worked the local factories. All the factories I saw were much smaller than most in the U.S., but the whole countryside was riddled with them. Many families, including Wang Fei’s, also farmed. These farms are also incredibly smaller than in the U.S. and from what I can tell were mainly for the family’s subsistence. It seemed like Wang Fei’s parents worked really hard; I only saw her father at dinner time. She said when she was little she and her sister were often by themselves while the parents were off working. However, I would’ve say that her family was poor by any means, as they as they managed to live quite comfortably and send two kids to college, a daunting feat even in the U.S. And yes, I said two children. Apparently in China, the one child policy only applies to those living within the city.
After eating lunch, meeting relatives, and a brief siesta, we got to cruise around in the countryside for awhile in the evening. The area was incredibly beautiful, especially after being in large cities for the last 3 months. This was really the first time that everything seemed still: I couldn’t see a million other people around me, and I could enjoy nature a little bit. There were lots of good bird calls to be heard, the fish in the nearby lake were busy trying to avoid consumption by some ducks, and there were tasty berries growing along the road.
The beauty of the place was definitely marred considerably by the iron industry. Several of the mountains had been torn open, factories littered the countryside, and several dams had been built to assist factory operations. One such dam held a small pond, which was constantly being hosed down by factory workers trying to clean is of a black scum that was the waste from a factory perched above the village. This pond happened to be disturbingly close to several houses. There was also a small creek that ran by Wang Fei’s Aunts house, which was always jet black. All of this had happened during Wang Fei’s lifetime. She said the countryside was much, much more beautiful before the factories came in.
When we returned from the walk, we enjoyed a delicious dinner, prepared by Wang Fei’s mom and aunt. It was pretty cool knowing that all of the food used to prepare the meal had come from within a mile of where we were eating. The dishes were a lot different than anything else I’d had in China so far -- each part of China has their own style of cooking. I can’t really describe all the dishes, but there were sweet green peppers, boiled goose eggs, fish, chicken soup (I mean soup, with half a chicken inside), a bamboo dish, among several others. Also to be noted, on the second evening I consumed my second chicken foot, as well as another unidentified organ that was quite possible the chicken’s liver.
Just as we were finishing dinner the first evening, two ladies from the factory came to visit and went crazy when they found an American sitting at the table. When they asked me if I wanted to drink beer with them I said I better pass, as I’d already had one bottle (which, by the way, are twice as large as those in the U.S. and can be purchased for about $0.50 US). However, drinking beer with an American was not an opportunity they were going to miss, and so more bottles were handed out. I quickly decided these ladies were definitely badass. Working at an iron factory helped the image, but what really sealed my decision was when one used her teethe to pop the top off her beer bottle. Damn. Naturally, a continuous stream of toasting followed.
After the lively dinner we walked down the dirt road past the iron factory to Wang Fei’s uncle’s house where I’d be spending the night. I chatted (or attempted to) with him and his two children over a couple glasses of tea. The uncle’s son, Wang Zheng was pretty adorable. Wang Fei told me he’s normally pretty lively, but when his uncle encouraged him to read some of his English textbook to me, he was very, very reluctant. I was probably the first American to enter this village and was apparently slightly intimidating. However, by the end of the evening Wang Zheng built up enough courage to show m
e some of his family pictures right before we went to bed. As there weren’t many beds in the house, Wang Zheng and I had to share one, which reminded me of when Tom used to sleep in my bed all the time when we were little.
The next day, after breakfast, we went back into Ma Anshan where Wang Fei had to run some errands. One of the highlights was hanging out under a tarp in front of a tailors shop, chatting with the two workers repairing clothing while it poured rain outside. They were using the old iron sowing machines that you power by pumping your foot back and forth.
The next night after dinner I again retired to the uncle’s house where I watched, television with Wang Zheng, his older sister, and their chain smoking grandma, who kept bringing me tea and food. I got the impression that this was one of the only times in the week the kids were allowed to watch TV (it was Saturday night) and perhaps got to stay up a little later because I was their with them.
On Sunday I went with Wang Fei, her older sister, her sister’s husband and their baby boy to Nanjing. We checked out Sun Yatsun’s memorial, took lots of pictures, and did the typical tourist thing. The highlight for me was going into the room containing Yatsun’s sarcophagus, where everyone, including myself, blatantly disregarded the signs and yelling of guards forbidding picture taking.
After eating a tasty lunch and cruising around Nanjing a bit, we went to watch the film Nanjing Nanjing, as this seemed like the thing to do while in Nanjing. Nanjing Nanjing is about the decimation of the Chinese living in Nanjing by the Japanese during world war too. The movie was excellent, though extremely depressing. I found it especially interesting because A) I was able to follow the movie pretty well despite it being all in Chinese B) everyone else in the theater was Chinese and all seemed deeply moved by the film. Many people were crying and making remarks to each other throughout the movie. The Japanese occupancy in Nanjing is still an extremely sensitive topic as many people in Nanjing had relatives who were part of the 200,000-300,000 massacred by the Japanese. Most Chinese still despise Japan (and Japan, China). C) It was weird to see the movie and then walk back out into the streets of Nanjing, where all these atrocities occurred, and see a bustling city going about business as usual.
When I finally made it back to Beijing on a rather dry, toasty Monday morning I was confronted once again with the incredible crowds. We probably waited as long to get into the subway station as we did actually riding the subway. That morning I decided maybe I don’t really like Beijing as much now that I’ve been to other parts of China. Nearly everywhere is more beautiful, less crowded and has more character than the parts of Beijing I’ve been too. But I think the main cause for the change in heart was exposure to China’s countryside. Experiencing the slower pace and peacefulness of the countryside definitely made coming back more difficult.
When I told this to one of my other language partners, also from the countryside, she said, roughly, “of course it’s more peaceful in the country side. But could you access the internet? Did you see any hospitals nearby? How many young people did you encounter? When I was little, I loved to walk down this one road, dirt, not paved, in my village that was lined with peach trees. My friends and I could eat them as we walked. Now the road has been paved. The wonderful sand along the river beaches is gone – the sand was used to construct more buildings. The peach trees and bamboo groves are slowly dying. There’s no one to take care of them. All of the young people go off to the cities the universities or to find work. Only the females, elderly, and small children still live in the villages. I don’t really want to go back home now, it’s not the same anymore.”
I found this thoroughly depressing, and revealing of the direction China is currently heading. The richness offered by the countryside, beautiful land, a substantial portion of China’s traditional values, family unity, and natural resources are all being sucked up and processed into something completely unrecognizable for consumption in China’s cities or to be shipped abroad.
The most disturbing part is the role that I have played, as well as the U.S., in this process. The degradation of China’s countryside and the utilization of the cheap labor offered by rural workers flocking to the cities is a huge part of what’s keeping China’s economy growing, and why its products are so cheap. I’d already heard this several times, but it was very different to actually be sitting and talking with the people that were being affected. Another disturbing part of this picture is that it’s the same thing as has already happened in the U.S. –the brain drain of the country side, the degradation of the land -- except the severity is much greater because of China’s greater population. For instance, right now it’s estimated that 60% of China’s population lives in rural areas. Right now a large portion of that population grows food on small, carefully managed plots of land, often for their own consumption. If they all start to leave, this will inevitably lead to the slow industrialization of agriculture in China, reliance on fossil fuels and other chemicals to compensate of the loss of labor and to feed the growing number of people residing in the cities. If the U.S. hasn’t been able to handle this population shift in a sustainable manner, how will China?
