Ancient Fenghuang: And a river runs through it
Also: The other Great Wall … and one wonderful wall of water
FENGHUANG, Hunan — Here’s something you should never say — or think — while traveling in rural China: “Oh good. Looks like we’ll have the bus to ourselves on this ride.” Because even if the bus is empty at 7:18 a.m. and your scheduled departure time is 7:20 a.m., other passengers will come. They always come. In bunches. All at once. Out of nowhere. Carrying roosters and crying babies and buckets filled with eggs.
Run out of seats? No problem. Put these plastic stools in the aisle. Run out of those? Stand right here. But please try not to step on the roosters, the crying babies or the buckets filled with eggs.
If the last-second rush doesn’t occur before your scheduled departure, it doesn’t really matter. Because the bus will wait for the rush. Could be 10 minutes, could be 20. The bus isn’t leaving until it’s well beyond full. Times printed on the tickets — if you are at the bus terminal that actually gives tickets — are only guidelines, suggestions, the way things would happen in a perfect world.
And this, my friends, is not a perfect world. This is western Hunan Province in southern China. This is the trip from Jishou to Fenghuang. And soon the teenage girl sitting in the seat in front of you will be puking out the window. And you’ll be breathing through your mouth, hoping that none of the vomit flying out of the bus finds a way to fly back in.
08.10.2004, 6:07 PM · Hunan, The Trip · Comments (6)
I am a Chinese tourist (and I love Mao)
SHAOSHAN, Hunan — To most outsiders, one contradiction in Chinese society stands high above the rest: The people’s adoration of Chairman Mao. Ask a Westerner about Mao Zedong and you’ll hear about more than 20 million dead and the dismal failure of the Great Leap Forward. You’ll hear about millions more dead and the draconian Big Brother policies of the Cultural Revolution. Ask a Chinese about Mao and you’ll hear about a great leader. You’ll hear about the founding father of modern China.
The official word around China is that Mao was 70 percent right and 30 percent wrong. We can — and should — quibble about that ratio. But, whatever the wrong portion is, the youth of China seem to know or care little about its details. And many who lived through the wrongs have somehow forgotten, been “re-educated” or just keep their thoughts to themselves. Sometimes you’ll hear indirect references — like my Chinese instructor lamenting the fact that the government forced her to stop studying English back in the 1960s — but never does anyone come right out and blame Mao. That would be blasphemous.
Mao has assumed a sainthood of sorts. To speak ill of him is unimaginable. It is sacrilege.
A trip to Shaoshan, Mao’s hometown in Hunan, has become a pilgrimage for many Chinese. In the 1960s such trips were “encouraged,” and the government had a paved road and railway line built to connect the small village with Changsha, Hunan’s capital. Now, folks flock to the site voluntarily. Got to pay your respects to the supremely beloved Chairman Mao.
I decided the best way to visit Shaoshan would be the way most Chinese visit Shaoshan (or any other tourist attraction, for that matter) … I joined a Chinese tour group.
08.05.2004, 10:21 PM · Hunan, The Trip · Comments (11)
