pictures, mostly...

I thought it would be fun to put up some of my pictures from the last couple of months that don't actually fit into any of my blog posts. So, here's what life in China is like....
man deep-frying bread sticks

old man watching a street performance

another old man watching a street performance

view out of my window at night

grandmother showing her grand daughter some flowers

Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an

man in Xi'an showing off his calligraphy skills to an admiring crowd

he is using a giant brush dipped in water

another view of the Wild Goose Pagoda

beautiful wall painting on one of my favourite little temples in Xi'an

calligraphy market in Xi'an

view from the top of the south wall in Xi'an

Danjiang River in Danfeng

woman carrying wood near Danfeng

(I think she's laughing cos she's never had her photo taken before)

traditional family tomb near Xi'an (about 6 feet tall)

wall painting in the Danfeng Museum, showing what Danfeng looked like a couple of centuries ago

men playing cards outside their shops while waiting for customers

(the man on the right is my pal who always says hello and gives me a running commentry on what I'm doing - "ah, off to work then" or " been buying vegetables" or "on holiday today?")

flower arrangements that signal the opening of a new shop (always accompanied by the obligatory firecrackers!)

clover in China is HUGE!

street food in Danfeng

statue in a temple in Danfeng

Dragon Boat and other celebrations

This has been a week of celebrations. Last Wednesday was the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie) so the schools were closed from Monday to Wednesday. As the name suggests, across China there are boat races using dragon headed boats, though sadly there were none here in Danfeng. All Chinese festivals seem to have a special food to celebrate them - and this one was no exception. Zongzi are small piles of glutinous rice, usually with a filling of bean curd or meat, wrapped in bamboo leaves and then boiled or steamed. I bought a pack from the supermarket but was also given a selection as gifts from my neighbours.

zongzi
The festival is on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese calendar and commemorates a 3rd century BCE Chinese scholar, who was falsely accused of conspiracy by courtiers jealous of his wisdon, and was banished from the kingdom. He killed himself by jumping into a river clutching a rock.

On Thursday, I was invited to a wedding by my boss at work. We arrived around 9am and to my delight the wedding was in the old part of Danfeng where the houses are very traditional (often made of falling apart wood) and each home is made up of a variety of structures and courtyards.

I usually go to these things as a hanger-on - knowing no-one but my boss (who is usually the one that invites me.) However, this time it turned out that I knew the "best man" (who works at my school) and the groom's sister (who is a teacher at one of the village schools I work with.) It was nice to feel that I wasn't entirely intruding for a change!

We spent the first hour wandering around the house and courtyards, watching the food being prepared and drinking tea.

the wedding banquet being prepared

vegetables cooking in the courtyard of the groom

whole chickens boiling

The bride's parents were being dressed up - supposedly with the mother looking like a man and the father looking like a woman, though I couldn't see it myself...

the bride's parents

We all went out into the street (there was a crowd of about 50 by now) and watched while some family members tried to get the mother to carry water and the father to carry a burning log (something to do with pretending to be poor peasants.)

Then the bride's parents and a small group of musicians set off to welcome the bride. The wedding itself consisted of a lot of party-popping, silly-stringing and fire-crackering!

the reason it looks like a war zone is all the fireworks that have been let off less than a foot away from the wedding guests

waiting for the food
After that came the food, with 70 tables set up in the street - all the neighbours contribute by bringing out their furniture - and we settled down to enjoy the feast!

this stuff didn't look very appetising but was actually strips of ginger and rice noodle and was lovely

thousands of troops killing to get across a single log bridge

Last week was the gao kao - the two day exam that all Chinese students must sit if they want to get into university. In China, it's a HUGE deal.
Last Monday, I was getting the bus back to Danfeng from Xi'an and once we got into town the bus stopped on the outskirts and the conductor burbled something to me. I realised that, for some reason, the bus wasn't going any further but I had no idea why. Anyway, as I grabbed my bags and began to walk home, I realised that there were police blocks on all the main streets in town (which was obviously why the bus couldn't go any further.) Why the roads were blocked, I still couldn't understand. The next day at work, I was told that it was so the students could sit the exams in peace - without the constant noise pollution that is inevitable in China.
Here, most students in their final year in high school will literally study from 6.30am until midnight every day. Parents commonly take a few months off work in the run up to the exams to cater to their child's every need (cooking, cleaning etc) so that their child can spend every second of their waking lives studying without other interruptions. (If someone is there to cook their meals, they can keep studying while they eat!)
Also the next day, I read a few stories in the China Daily about the exams - some amusing, some sad.
In Beijing, a mother was driving her daughter to the exam when her car broke down. There was only 50 mins till the exam started so, panicking, she called 110 (the UK equivalent of 999.) Not only did the police NOT tell her to stop wasting police time, they arrived at the broken down car within 5 minutes to drive her daughter to the exam - lights flashing and sirens blaring! That's how important the exams are in China.
There were also a few sad stories of 17 year olds committing suicide minutes before the start of the exam as they were afraid they would let their families down. In China, education is hugely important and seen not only as something to be desired by the individual but also a way of improving the status and lifestyle of the whole family. Chinese children don't study for themselves alone - which obviously puts added pressure on them in the run up to this most crucial moment of their lives. In contrast, once you're in University (so my Chinese friends tell me) you can relax as, no matter what you do, you're almost guaranteed to emerge with a degree.

The title of this entry is a common saying in China to describe the exam. It is, literally, the most important moment in a Chinese person's life and is frequently perceived as the only route to a successful future...

Dealing with problems the Chinese way

In the news in China recently, there's been a huge amount of coverage of a company called Foxconn based in southern China. In the last few months, a dozen employees have committed suicide (mostly by jumping to their deaths from their worker-dorm windows.)
The suicides themselves do not come as a surprise to me. The workers' conditions in the company (whilst nowhere near the worst in China) are still poor, with 10 workers sharing a dorm and many work such long hours that they don't even know their dorm-mates names.) They aren't allowed to leave the company complex without permission and can even get into trouble if they consistently fail to finish all the food on their plates in the workers' canteen!!
What is incredible though, is the company's response to the problem. After the first few suicides, when the media first became interested, the company decided that the best thing to do was to call in a group of monks to conduct some ceremonies to "ward off bad fortune."
Clearly this didn't work and after the next few suicides, the company had a more practical plan and put railings across the outside of the workers windows to prevent any further jumps from the rooms.
It's only now, with the 12th suicide (and that doesn't include the other 4-5 who tried to kill themselves but failed) that the company have decided to give its employees a 20% pay rise. Whether this will make up for the living conditions and lack of humanity towards the workers remains to be seen...