The Exchange - National Committee on United States-China Relations

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Many people, Chinese and foreigner, discouraged me from traveling last week. However, my friend was arriving in Beijing from America, so of course I had no choice but to head off into the breach. My only hope was that blind fate and dumb luck would be my guides. I was able to get to Beijing, but the only means available was hard seat. Eleven hours in a crowded car (with people sleeping under the seats), sitting in a 90 degree upright position is not something that I would recommend to anyone. I toughed it out. Getting tickets out of Beijing was nearly impossible. My friend and I wanted to go to Qingdao, but there were no tickets to be had. Instead, we went to Ji’nan, hoping to make a connection to Qingdao. While in line for tickets in Ji’nan, we were informed by a very friendly man who we were queued with that unless we had a reservation number, we had little chance of getting a ticket. Apparently, these reservation numbers could be had by calling a certain phone number – which would be no problem if I spoke and understood Chinese. Although our situation seemed futile, May Day Travels Timothy Reyes we were saved by the hospitality of the Chinese, as the fellow we were standing next to used his reservation number to buy tickets for himself and us. <strong>The</strong> next day, while on the train, it became clear that we had no means of getting back to Beijing from Qingdao. Our seatmate (the same gentleman from the queue the day before) mentioned that his uncle could possibly help us. <strong>The</strong> next day, his uncle picked us up at our hotel (in his new Jeep Cherokee), drove us to the train station, parked in a restricted lot and disappeared into the station. Twenty minutes later he returned with two hard sleeper tickets for us. It was in quite an old train that must have been taken out of storage for use during the holidays, but it got us where we wanted to go, and allowed us to sleep as well. When we arrived at the station I went immediately to arrange for my return to Nanjing, hoping that there would be something available. <strong>The</strong>re was. Hard seat again. On a slow train. Yet, hope springs eternal, and I was able to upgrade to a sleeper once I was on the train. So, it is possible to travel by train in China during May Day week – it just helps to have a little American can-do attitude mixed with some Chinese guanxi. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Day-Trips around Yangzhou Bill Bronski This weekend, my colleagues from school took me, Jack, and our friend Dr. Ding to Gaoyou. <strong>The</strong>re we saw East Lake, the Grand Canal, a lovely little village, and went to an amusement park. All the activities were self-operated, like a slide ride, a teeter-totter, a rope bridge, etc. On the way back we visited the home of the poet Qin You (Su Tungpo’s brother-in-law). We had a driver who is always great fun, a music teacher, and Dai Qinghua with us. It was a wonderful time. We are also planning to take a picnic to the Han Tombs here in Yangzhou soon. <strong>The</strong>y (my colleagues at Yangzhou University Affiliated Middle School) are so good and kind and thoughtful that they can turn even an old curmudgeon like myself into a school cheerleader. Mexico Bound Sun Hao I bought the airticket online when Delta had the fare sale to Mexico City last month and I will be in Mexico from the 13th to the 22nd. Everybody is worried about my travelling alone without any knowledge of Spanish and has bits of warnings for me, but strangely I am getting really excited instead of scared, more excited than going to Europe. I hope I will have enough time to explore the archaeological sites around the country, although people say it is not easy to get to Cancun from Mexico City. Anyway, whatever happens, it will be a precious experience for me. And the whole meaning of life to me is nothing but experiencing. . . . I have arrived in Mexico City safely and am ready to explore it. <strong>The</strong> plane was late yesterday and I got to the hostel at about 2:00 a.m., but the hostel is nice and I am now using the computer here to say hello to everybody. . . . I had a good time here in Mexico though it didn’t go quite as I had planned. Instead of visiting the Yucatan area and the Maya ruins for some time, I stayed in Mexico City all the time as I lost several days being sick. But as soon as I recovered, I made different side trips from the city. It was fun to explore without knowing any Spanish! 28
<strong>The</strong> Caves of Sanmenxia Carmen De Yoe This past weekend I was invited to tour the caves of Sanmenxia. I taught a group of about 50 students and then spoke about my elementary school with a group of teachers. Both groups had enough English to make my presentation more meaningful and three of my colleagues translated when needed. After lunch, we drove to the caves, which was about an hour’s trip. This gave me a chance to photograph some beautiful hollyhocks along the road: stalk upon stalk of rosy reds and pinks with red centers and magentas in their glory. I envisioned the caves to be above ground as I have seen from the train window many times. But they are about twenty by twenty foot holes in the ground about twelve to fifteen feet deep. When you look into the hole you see four walls, each having two doors with three surrounding windows, and a center courtyard with a lower square level to catch rain water. You View into a cave courtyard must understand that the reddish brown soil in this part of China is almost as hard as rock, so there are no worries of it caving in. <strong>The</strong> color of the earth is so lovely, like in our Southwest . . . a nutty tan. Now, how to get down to the caves <strong>The</strong> stairway, about ten feet away from the hole, is simply a long narrow, oval opening in the earth with one layer of bricks surrounding it. One walks down the gently sloping, smooth rock steps, turns a little round corner and there you are in that courtyard looking up at the sky. It is quite amazing. Even more amazing is that these caves are about 400 years old and some are being lived in today. We toured some of them and saw very interesting daily life. An old blind woman sat on her bed with her legs folded under her and let me take her photo. Dogs and chickens roamed the courtyard. Corn husks were being dried to hold food while being cooked. Cooking pots were on the stove, etc. <strong>The</strong> whole house is in one room which is about thirty feet by fifteen feet. As you enter the cool contrasting 65 degree temperature hits you! <strong>The</strong>re is ample light near the door and three windows, but the further you walk in, the less light there is. <strong>The</strong> ceiling is rounded. <strong>The</strong>y do have electricity. Cooking shows black smoke stains on the earthen wall and there were no chimneys. Usually there were two beds in each and dressers and other furniture. Each set of eight caves plus its courtyard was used by one extended family. Luoyang teacher colleagues Zhao Lili, Guo Limiao, and Li Caixia in the doorway of a cave dwelling 29
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