Virtual China '98

Over a period of four days we have biked through rice paddies, banana tree groves, tomato fields, and tall trees that towered high above us on either side of the road. Although the scenery was beautiful and dreamlike, it also got monotonous. The green vegetation and old villages became a blur of something more familiar, more real, less incredible, each day we cycled through the streets of China’s Guangdong Province. But, one thing that knocks me down in awe and joy is the people that we have met over the past few days. Before, aliens to the western culture, now, bonded with harmony and happiness. Their smiles and laughter brought a touch of sparkle to our trip.

A group of people that we, as children, can relate to is the students that we have met in different schools on our journey. It is hard to describe the feeling you get when you walk into a school and interact with people you have never met. You sense a feeling of familiarity and safeness all around you and you know that the students of the school are happy to see you. But there are also mixed feelings. It is hard to tell if they are mocking us because we look different or if they are just very excited to see us. But you can’t blame them for being a bit intimidated at first because, afterall, they have lived in China all their lives and rarely meet foreigners; the typical Chinese kid.

Of course, we have also met the opposite of young people . . . the elderly. They are the roots of the village and just by looking into their eyes you can see so much wisdom and experience. Most of them ache with the pain of hard work that they had to endure over their difficult lives. Perfect examples of that pain were the old women who have stooped over the rice paddies all their lives and now are hunchbacked and crippled.

In between the young and the old there are parents, farmers, factory workers, sellers in the market and truck drivers. They are your everyday people and to the villagers they have important roles, from caring for the children to delivering loads to the city. Most of the people that we interviewed were in this category of people. Many of them were factory workers. One managed a brick factory. We asked him questions about his everyday life, such as how much money he made and what he did each day for a living. He told us that his yearly income (not his profit) was 50,000 to 80,000 Yuan in a good year (US$ 10,000) and he had many workers to help him with his business. He also said that the bricks that he makes are a big contribution to the community. It is incredible that one cottage industry can be so important and help so many people. And that really is what the small villages in China are like; one big family where everyone contributes and helps with chores.

A strong old woman beckoned to us, as she thought we were lost. She was carrying a hoe, and had been working in the rice fields. She asked, "Why do you go here?" I answered her, a bit loudly because I thought she might be hard of hearing, "We are tourists, and we were just biking up this lane to see what might be back here." "Come to my temple and pray to the gods for good health." She repeated this several times. I was translating this to my group, as the only Cantonese speaker I was trying to understand her local dialect. I did not want to follow her because we were just looking around and I didn't know where her house would be. She then proceeded to yell at me, so we decided to follow her. The surrounding countryside was so peaceful. There are not many farm machines in this country, so nothing makes any noise! We walked further down the ox-cart path, and suddenly came upon a large temple, consisting of three or four rooms, with a few other buildings in the complex. We entered the temple, standing face to face with the god of good luck. The old woman then took us back into another room of the temple, and we prayed to the god of good fortune by lighting chim. Then the old women shook the sticks on top of the candle and another stick with numbers on it came out. We took the number stick to the front of the temple, and gave it to an old man who solves the chim. We were told all our prayers would come true! The buildings were well taken care of, and there were five other women and one man living there. "Can you stay for dinner?" our old woman asked us. "We would like to, but we cannot because we need to go with the group." I told her this just to make her feel better. "Can you spend the night?" she then asked me. "We have to go to the hotel, but thank you very much." I thought she was very nice to me, and hope the people in Hong Kong can be, too.

Today we went to the Wu Xi Middle School. This school is a boarding school. I felt really strange as we walked in because everyone was staring at me, but I wonder how they felt about us. We all sat down and sat next to random partners. We started by talking with each other. I thought it was nice to have a chance to use Chinese with the people around my age, most of them were around the age of 15. We taught them how to do the hokie-pokie, and the Macarena. It was really hot in there, because they only had ceiling fans, and we were dancing really fast! The kids are really nice and friendly, and they seemed approachable. They gave us gifts, like address books, and little Titanic postcards. In return, we sang three songs for them: Waterfalls, Walking on Sunshine and I Feel Good! I think they thought the songs were really cool because we had three guitars playing as we sang. The guitars were played by two HKIS students in our group (Mark Dayton and Steve Estep) and Ms. Featherstone, a LA and Social Studies teacher. We also did a relay race, with a small obstacle course, and had to answer some riddles. If you gave a correct answer, you got a fan, which was a good gift because we were hot! I asked my new friend why she was not answering the riddles, and she said her teacher asked them not to, so that we could have fun! I was a little scared when I first saw them, because the girls were holding hands, which would never be done at our school. But after I had a chance to talk to some of the girls, I realized they were very nice, and it was fun making new friends.