Back to China - Pandas and Politics.

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China. I'd really just meant to pass through on my journey south but somehow I got stuck. Three and a half months had not done this vast red land anywhere close to justice and there were still several regions I wanted to see. Also I'd been going on about China so much to Alex over the last few months it seemed only fair he got a taste of the action now he was here.

China is a fascinating place. In many senses its very developed. The buses have air-conditioning, the houses are made of bricks, the people want to go into business. But in many senses it is still developing. You can see the changes happening, fast. Everywhere, there are buildings being built, bigger and grander than before, businesses are springing up and there is a growing gap between rich and poor. As far as I can see, China today is essentially a capitalist system under the name of the Chinese Communist Party. With what seems to be a total lack of social welfare all it has in common with communism is the unfortunate fact that communist governments tend to occur in the form of oppressive dictatorships. Although my Chinese isn't up to discussing politics, it is apparent that the current system is highly unfair. Some people become filthy rich working in business, others toil relentlessly in rice fields and have nothing. It is not unusual to see women of 70 bent double carrying bricks or baskets of plums to market. China is meant to be a society which respects age as wisdom but perhaps this is one tradition that is slipping away, as withered old ladies beg to earn a few pennies for carrying fit young tourists bags up mountains.

For much of the last century China was closed to the world but in the last 30 years, it has been opening up. Unfortunately its a bit of a one way mirror. The great firewall of China, a government run web shield prevents access of websites from BBC news to facebook in an attempt to keep its population satisfied with what they have. State run media is moderated, subjects such as the 1989 Tienanmen Square massacre are taboo, and many human rights activists and reporters have been imprisoned (or worse) for speaking outside the official party line. Ignorance is strength. Even in the educated middle class the naivety is astounding and the efficient brainwashing scary. Party slogans are regurgitated and histories I know to be untrue are swallowed. One of the most scary pieces of misinformation is the reverence still applied to Chairman Mao. The father of modern China, his portrait actually still hangs on peoples walls, the fact that his oppressive and ruthless policies were responsible for the death of around 58 million people (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm#Mao) is somehow skirted over. But then, how do you know what's true if you have no chance to cross reference?

From Hong Kong, we aimed west. First we took a train to Yangshuo, where I'd previously been teaching English. It was nice to see some of my friends again and also to show Alex all the things I'd been telling him about on the phone. We rented bicycles and had a knackering day riding around the countryside. We also took a day trip to Xingping, a picturesque town, home to the landscape scene pictured on the Y20 note.

Unfortunately, as well as catching up with friends, I caught a nasty bug which had me grumpily consigned to bed for the next week, with Alex on noodle run duty. I can't really tell you much about our next stop, the karst stone forest at Zhangjiajie. as I was too ill to visit and spent those three days firmly asleep. I can tell you that Alex says it was beautiful however and that his photos support this conviction!

Hunan Province where Zhangjiajie is located is one of the poorest regions of China, and, when I was a bit better, a trip on a local train made the day of several carriages of Chinese people who obviously don't get a glimpse of white people too often. One boy got up the courage to try some of his rusty English and after exalting the legacy of Mao Zedong and saying I had pretty hair, he helped us understand some of the murmurings of the interested country folk. One excited old man sat diagonally from us awed his audience with the tale of the last time he had seen a white man- apparently when he was young there had been one of them helping to build a bridge near his home. So much anticipation, I hope we didn't disappoint! When we got off our young friend was desperate for us to come and eat dumplings with him, but we had to decline in Order to catch a connecting sleeper train to Chengdu, in Sichuan Province

Chengdu was quite a typical Chinese City in its appearance. When we were there, a layer of smog smudged the skyline into greyness and there was a feeling of constant construction with most of the main streets coated in bamboo scaffold. Alex was excited, as this was his first Chinese City, and even for me dodging the sea of motorcycles to cross the four lane roads was an adventure. I was still recovering from my mystery illness, so we had a few days of taking it easy. Gentle strolls, postcard writing and plenty of barbecue street food. We also took a trip out to the Giant Panda breeding sanctuary, one of a number of bases set up in china in an attempt to prevent extinction of this lovably pathetic animal. I'm sure the story is more complicated but here is the gist; Pandas mainly eat bamboo. Because this is such a poor energy source they need to do it pretty constantly (between naps, obviously). The trouble is bamboo forests have a short life cycle, usually about 7 years. So, reasonably regularly, the pandas bamboo fridge becomes empty and they need to find a new patch. With deforestation and the building of roads this becomes more difficult and they're ability to be constantly stuffing they're chubby faces is vastly reduced. Starvation, combined with a low reproduction rate means the population just isn't self sustaining. Until the visit to the research base, I was largely unconvinced by these fluffy giants. But I have to admit, I am converted. The adults lounging back on their bums, dexterously de-sheathing and munching bamboo shoots remind me of old men chewing tobacco outside dodgy jazz bars in the southern USA. All that is missing is a faded straw hat. The baby pandas too, can't fail to inspire. These stars of the research base are kept in ridiculously cute incubators, where they spend all day training in the important panda art of snoozing.

Whilst in Chengdu we also tried the legendary Sichuan hot pot, a boiling vat of soup in which you cook your own meal piece by piece. Sichuan is know for its fiery food, but contrary to what we expected the focus was not on chillies. These were of course present in abundance, but more interesting was the Sichuan pepper. These little pods, totally unrelated to either chilli peppers or peppercorns, have an odd, but in my opinion, pleasant taste. Not so much spicy as tangy and mouth numbing, they make your tongue tingle in a similar way to cloves. Although China initially appeared to be a gastronomes heaven, there were certain areas in which it was lacking and not all the things I tried were for the best. There was the preserved chicken and the gristle sausages that could be bought at any railway station. Not so good, in a sort of cat foody way. There was the pigs penis, which I shared with a friend on a drunken night in Yangshuo. Once again, memorable but a bit like eating plastic string. Then there was stinky tofu. At least I assume that's what it was. I assume this because I'm reasonably sure it was tofu (I dont know what else it could have been) and it really did stink. With a texture and taste disturbingly akin to rotting flesh, is is something I am still hoping to forget. In one instance, it was the only food available on a long journey and me and Alex managed to force down half a bow. Alex shudders when I mention the tofu.

Negative experiences aside, food has however been one of the most memorable things about China. The whole culture is centred upon it, and rightly so. In Chinese, the phrase, “Did you eat yet”, is used to greet neighbours, in a similar way to “Hows it going”. There's a wonderful mix of flavours, with each region having its own piece de la resistance as well as some key dishes that have made it nationwide. Hong Kong's dim sum is right at the top for me. These, in no particular order, are my other favourites: Guilin rice noodles- a spicy rice noodle soup topped with sliced meat, soybeans and an add-your-own variety of pickles. Any of the fried aubergine (eggplant for the Americans amongst us) dishes cooked at roadside vendors. Hot soy milk and chinese donughts- the perfect legitimate way of having cake for breakfast. The northern staple of fried egg and tomato- simple but delicious. BBQ mutton skewers and their exquisite MSG based marinade. The fruit. The dumplings. Its a tasty choice.

After a while though I found it got heavy, the food does tend to be greasy and although I really do love rice, the thought of bread regularly made me salivate. Good crusty bread. And cheese. Oh don't talk about cheese! I think one of the problems is that in my normal life I am so ridiculously spoilt in my choice of food, so one type of cuisine however delicious it may be becomes dull after prolonged consumption.

I think there is never enough time to fully get to grips with a country but one area that's invariably accessible is the food. I tried my best to get to grips with Chinas food and I think I did well. It was good. Very good. But in the end, I was starting to crave something different.

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Photos

Mao Zedong
Saviour of the people

The hostel kitten
Chengdu

Comments

[mummy]

at last!
worth the long wait - your food notes rang many bells from my travls in the far east - I had to carry cheese to english friends in the japanese countryside - having been told to find the smelliest available in Tokyo I was probably the only person with elbow room on the commuter train...... - photo of you on the railway station tugs a mothers heartstrings, photo of panda has not been shown to teddy! love from mummy xxx

[The Papa]

welcome back
A welcome return to the blog. The WPF is keeping up to date via other means but the descriptions are not nearly as graphic and we don't get photos.

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