Xi'an Study Tour, Monday, April 14, 1997

Getting up unwillingly at 4:00 am, still somewhat sleepy. I made my way to Kai Tak airport. Arriving at the Xi'an airport, I noticed that people stared at us strangely but in curiosity. It was a fine day with the warm, brilliant rays and occasional cool breeze. Getting into the bus, we headed for our destination. The journey was about half an hour. Along the way I noticed that the majority of occupation of Xi'an people was farming. I saw all the neatly planted green vegetables, wheat, corn and fruits among the brick houses. Xi'an's first impression to us was like a picture of a beautiful countryside. As Xi'an was an ancient city, the roads are divided into lanes for vehicles and bicycles. The road was very crowded and a lot of people ride bikes. There seems to be a lot of chaos and everyone is honking their horns. To our surprise, people now-days still uses horses as transportation. Soon as the day grew warmer we arrived at Bell Tower Hotel. As we settled in our rooms, we realized that the hotel wasn't as bad as heard it to be. However the massive amount food in our box lunches was overwhelming. Exploring the routes from west to south gates, we went to a market called "Chuang Hwang Shr Chang" which sold mostly huge varieties of buttons and everything else! Our next stop was the food market. In this peculiar place, we could taste all the scrumptious Chinese cuisine. One of the highlights of the day was the walk on the Xi'an wall. This wall was built 600 years ago. It is 14km long and we had to walk from the west gate to the south gate. Walking on it we were able to see two sides of Xi'an the ancient city on one side and the modern city on the other. Though my legs feel like they weigh a thousand pounds by now, I admit that everything we saw today was enriching and exciting and we shouldn't complain about the long walk as it was worth it.

Q: What do you do for a living?
A: I sell masks and instruments.

Q: Did you make the items?
A: No, I bought them from somewhere else.

Q: Are you from Xi'an?
A: No, I come from a different province.

Q: Why did you move from where you used to live?
A: Because here in Xi'an you can move around, which you can't do in other places.

Today I saw two Western kids with a bunch of other kids. I walked up to the two Western kids and said hello, they replied. I touched them, and felt their face, they just smiled. Then one other kid came and asked me to take a picture. I took a picture with the two Western kids. After, it was like an angel came down from heaven and gave me gold. The kids gave me the photo. It was fantastic.

Today started like any other day, sitting with the guys on our dirty brown cart, smoking stale cigarettes one after another. Suddenly, a gigantic swarm of "gwailos" came down the streets, straight towards my only possessions, a cartful of soiled clothes and a water bottle. One foreign woman came charging up and was about to take a picture of my cart, when I blew up. How could she do this? Exploiting my private property just because I was so poor! I let out all my fire and practically blew her away. I was so angry, I almost hit her. She mumbled something unintelligible and stormed off with her group. I sat down feeling hurt, invaded, and destroyed. I picked my cigaratte up off the floor and lit it again.

China is certainly an assult on the sences. The cacophony of the sound, pollution (smoky taste in your mouth, grit in your eyes), blazing sun, and sights so different from Hong Kong. In many ways, it's good to be back-to revisit things I missed last year, or didn't fully appreciate. I had an extremely unnerving experience this afternoon. Wanting to test my black and white films, I saw a strangely placed bundle of old clothes and old pumps in a cart. No one was around who seemed to own it, so.... out came my camera. I had just got the bundle in sight when an exceedingly irate man ran over to me. My Mandarin is virtually non existant, but there was no mistaking the fury on his face or in his arm raised as if to hit me. The sensible girl that I am, I put my camera away and quickly departed, his cries were still ringing in my ears. Charlie, our "swire guide," did a little detective work. His translation" those are MY belongings, MY things, she should go away, and not take pictures. Their mine!" A hard lesson learned. It tought me just how much we assume, judge, or estimate, incorrectly the value of peoples things. This is one very wary lady, who will hesitate to snap indiscriminately in the future!

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