Virtual China '98

Day 3

Mrs. Lewis' group

From the Peninsula Hotel in Kai Ping, 4-29-98

The day started out very early since today was our last day at the hotel we were staying in Long Shan. We had to pack and get ready for the long journey that awaited us. Most of us made it down to breakfast on time at 7:30 and ate a delicious meal of assorted Chinese delicacies. Everyone finished eating breakfast and headed out to load our luggage on the bus.

Since Jamie's mom was leaving that day because of her injuries he said goodbye to her and then we all loaded on to the relatively cramped bus and set off. After a drive of 45 minutes, we unloaded our bikes and collected our packed lunches, put on sunscreen and made last minute preparations.

We were supposed to go in a certain order but since Mrs. Zahn's group was slow getting started we all passed them and set out to bike towards a cookie factory we were supposed to visit, sadly we were forced to skip it. The biking was a bit tough and Angel, who had hurt her knee yesterday was having a lot of trouble with it. Although she managed to keep up at the head of the pack for around half an hour she soon had to get on the bus as the first casualty of the day.

We stopped on the top of a hill and waited for everyone. Then, we biked down the hill really fast. Good thing it wasn't raining because last time it rained Kenny's brakes were not working and he nearly rode into a ditch. We rode down and up a bunch of hills, but it was mostly uphill.

It was hard for Kenny to bike (asthma) so he fell behind. He went up this really big hill and at the top, it was flat. He saw a downhill sign. The hill was so far down he rode on the same speed for a long time.

Then after a few hills, there were all these evil factories billowing smoke into the atmosphere. It was visible from miles away. The stench was sickening. They were burning tires and other assorted bits of rubber. We were not sure exactly what they were doing, but it must have been something worthwhile, because they were really screwing up the air.

Fortunately the group waited for Kenny. But after he got where they were waiting, they took off. Fouad was nice to wait for him and they sat down. We were outside of a small village with a dirt path leading up to it from the road.

A few handfuls of local children came rushing out to see us. We thought that they were going to stare at us and laugh like so many other nice children did. They screamed "gwai lou" (which means 'white devil man') and flung various objects towards the cranial area.

Fortunately most of them missed. Kenny jumped up and chased them away, but sure enough, the little vermin came back. Fouad and Kenny left in a hurry in fear that the more hand-eye-coordinated of the village would come. We biked to a small town called Chong Shing and stopped to eat lunch. Everyone looked tired.

Ashley Kelly & Helen Ho

Tuesday 28, April '98

Long Sing

PERSPECTIVE FROM A VILLAGE CHILD

My name is Ming Bai Song and I am an 8 year old boy. I live in the village of Hum Dai Chun along with my family and friends. My family consists of 7 people. I am the youngest. I have a mom, dad, 2 sisters and a brother, along with my grandma who lives with us and we all take care of her. I go with my dad on long walks every morning and evening to walk the oxen. We have many oxen including a lot of baby oxen too. We use their excretion for our fields to help it grow and get fertilized. Mom says it is helpful to us so we can have better growth. During the day my mom does most of the farming and my older brother and sisters help her for some of the time. I walk with her to the fields after walking the oxen because I don't want to stay home with grandma. She makes me take care of her non stop and clean the house like crazy! At the field I only watch - not work, I do this so I will learn how to take care of the fields when I grow up. As I was walking the oxen one morning I saw many strange people. Why were some white? Why was their hair different colors? I had many questions about them but not all could be answered. Throughout my life many strange people come to my village and my parents could not explain everything. I don't know were they came from and I hope to see them again even though I was quite frightened. I did not know what they would do. All the children in the village came to see these people. We shouted the only English word we could say hoping that was their language. Hello! Hello! They surprisingly shouted it back, I was glad they understood. In my free time I enjoy watching TV with my brother and sisters. Not my grandma though because she always wants to watch something that none of us children are interested in. When dinner comes my mom tells me to eat sparingly. Father does not have a job so he sells our crops in the market. We also have to support grandma because she is too old to support herself. We eat small meals because we are a little poor but father says it is nothing to worry about and he will get a job. Even though we have a small house made of mud, brick, clay, and wood we made it according to Feng Shui, that way we will achieve good luck and fortune. Even though our house is small and we are not wealthy I do not care, I have my family and that is all I need.

There were a lot of people in red shirts when I saw them. There was one in white so he must have been the leader. As they walked around in my village I wondered about different things. Why were they interested in my village? You could tell they were interested because they seemed curious and confused. Maybe these foreigners wanted the land to build an advanced structure like a shopping mall. I was scared these demons would use me for their dark, evil rituals to the only God.

I knew I could not charge and kill them because my master would get angry and kill me for dinner or for a new shirt. The main reason I knew they were foreigners was because they looked like they disliked the smell of the manure my friends and I give. Well, this will teach them to trespass onto my property. Brrff.

The foreigners were very strange in many, many ways! They had strange looking eyes and hair and couple was the color of water. Some of the foreigners had hair that was like the color of the sun. I can't wait to see my friend's face when I tell them how I saw strange people in my village. My day was very exciting.

Being an ox is a very hard life in China. We have to pull and tow very heavy objects. We do make the people happy but I just hate it when they beat us with those sticks very hard. Sometimes I cry at night because the wounds hurt and sting when I sleep. The village may not be very beautiful but it is home to me and my people. Yes we may do things on the side of the road but remember, we are nothing but dumb stupid animals on the outside but we will take over the earth someday with our hidden intelligence.

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