   |
SUSAN’S CHINA JOURNALS #4 We took
the train into Zhengzhou -- it took about seven hours, but it was a very nice train.
Soft seat. I am so grateful for the Vietnam experience -- Allie has been sick
for three days. She slept for fifteen hours yesterday and said she did not have
enough sleep. I really doubt she is going to be able to make it, between missing her
little girl and her husband, and being sick ALL THE TIME, I doubt she can hang here with
the rest of us. The hotel we are staying with (are you ready) is the Communist Party
headquarters -- they have turned some of the offices into bedrooms. The room we
have is luxurious compared to the one I had at Loralai's grandmother's house in Vietnam
last Summer, but it is still very primitive and is a great experience -- no shower
except for a long hose from the wall. The beds are hard as rocks,
but that is good for your back. There was an interesting bug in my water
this morning, but the breakfast was good. I gave the bug back to the waiter and told
him I was a vegetarian. The first day we were here they asked what we liked to eat. I said, "watermelon." There has been watermelon at every meal...isn't that cute? The interpreters picked us up at the train-station yesterday -- they are college students at the local university and just as accommodating as they can be -- they are treating us like royalty and won't allow us to pay for a thing (very unusual in China). They even bought this Internet card so I could use the Internet place while we are here. They had another press conference here today and it was huge. There were about ten reporters and photographers and we were sitting around a huge table like something you would see at the UN. All of the village government officials were there -- there must have been about 50 people altogether -- Dr. Hansen made a speech and the village elder welcomed us and told us that the Lonquan Village people were at our disposal. It really is a big deal around here that we are here and it is thrilling to be treated like a celebrity. This is the second most exciting experience of my life. The first was graduating of course; this is just an amazing, thrilling, incredible, opportunity. The Chinese have gone out of their way to make us comfortable, and they are just wonderful, wonderful, people. There is
such a difference between villages like Longquan and the huge cities like Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangdong, etc. where city governance is primarily administrative focusing on
security and national policy while at the same time the social and economic forces are
increasingly becoming more independant. The structured village, however, is one where
a close body of organizers co-exists for the purpose of commercializing and
administering those forces in the area. The village is like one big gregarious family. I
did not realize how much money the Village came up with to make sure that we could make
this trip. Recording the history and progress of Longquan Village as an autonomous
regional economic center away from Beijing is an important goal for the powers that be
here. They are recording the next three weeks and incorporating it into their own
documentary for posterity. Regarding funds, there was quite a shortfall from Cal State
Fullerton and the village came up with the rest of the money for our trip, plus.
Everything is paid for. We have each been assigned an interpreter and they are responsible
for our safety, comfort and making sure that we get what we need. My interpreter's
name is Yvonne and she takes me everywhere. I picked her because
her English was the best. We walked around town and everyone comes out and wants
to say hello and welcome. The Mandarin we learned is useless here because they speak
another dialect called Hennan. It has been so educational to meet
such interesting Chinese students from Zhenzhou University as well as the professors
and administrators. You are going to love the pictures. My time is not my
own -- today we had the reception, press conference and banquet, tonight there is
something else, and tomorrow we are going on a tour of the village. I only brought
one skirt to wear...yikes! Anyway, everything is great -- we are safer than
safe and Dr. Sun, Dr. Hansen, Dr. Shen are here now with the other students so we can get
to work. We have to start keeping field notes, but there just does not seem to be
any time to do anything, there are so many scheduled events. |