Loudi

---

Loudi (low-dee) Hometown of friend, Huan Li

The whole reason I chose to travel to China was because I was invited to be the Best Man at the wedding of a former colleague of mine, Huan Li. Huan and I were Master’s students together at UC Davis.

I landed at the airport in Changsha on Chinese New Year's Eve. Huan and his fiance, Sheng Nan, picked me up in their brand new, sporty red Ford Focus. We drove 2 hours South to Huan's house in Loudi to meet his family for dinner. Huan's house was kush! It had two stories, all concrete, and had a rounded entrance. His house had no lawn but instead featured a large pond and adjacent garden with a pomelo tree and a fig tree. When pulled up, Huan's father's family invited us inside to join them in praying to Huan's grandfather who had passed away 1 year ago. As tradition, below the grandfather's picture they had placed bowls of fruit, cooked food, snacks, candles, and incense. We took turns burning paper "notes", symbolic for sending money to the afterlife. A neighbor had also stopped by to demonstrate how to properly pray. First, you must kneel on a clean piece of ground, then you bring your hands together in prayer to you chest. Next, you touch your hands to the ground and then bow your head all the way down. You rise and then repeat this 2 more times. Next you come up onto your feet, bring your hands together in prayer to your chest again and then bow 3 times from a standing position. Huan's family were literally beaming when I voluntarily stepped forward to pray to their grandfather.

After praying, we all walked down Huan's driveway to his Uncle's restaraunt. We were were seated at these AMAZING tables that warm your legs and were served a plethora of traditional New Years snacks; sunflower seeds, mandarin oranges, individually wrapped pieces of spicy tofu or spicy fish, watermelon seeds, pecans, apples, peanuts, and hot tea. Huan, Shengnan, and I were served dinner and afterwards we played a card game called "Niu-Niu" to pass the time until 12 midnight. When the hour approached, Huan and I ran back to his house to pull out 5 massive boxes of rocket-type fireworks and a few giant coils of M80s. Minutes after midnight, I remember looking out at the sky and seeing fireworks bursting in every direction. The sound was deafening - it was like a warzone!! You should've seen Huan and I giggling to ourselves like kindergarteners as the sky rained burning embers and bits of exploded paper. After a few minutes, we were forced to retreat under the porch awning for cover! You can see it all in my video: Fireworks Over Loudi

Huan booked a hotel for me that evenning since his house was full with his other relatives. The Loudi hotel told us that I would be the first foreigner they'd ever had stay there. Apparently, foreigners have never before come to visit Loudi. I would be the city's special guest all week!

The following 3 days after New Years were spent making visits to Huan's relatives and also Shengnan's relatives. We would go have lunch at one gathering and then we'd all drive together to have dinner at the next gathering. Everyone was SO delighted to have an American spending the Spring Festival holiday with them! The kids would yell "mei guo ren!" (American) when we'd arrive. It was a welcoming experience. Huan would greet his relatives by saying "Xinnia kuai le" and then they'd trade a cigarette. Everybody in China smokes so this was customary. I wasn't carrying smokes so instead I'd give out my halloween candies. The Uncle's loved the gesture and would crack up laughing and throw a welcoming arm around me.

Spring Festival is the one time of year that the Chinese use to focus on their family and the coming year. At each gathering, we'd all walk together to visit the gravesites of the family's ancestors. In the United States, when we visit the tomb of a family member we bring flowers, thoughtful poems, and push brooms to honor our deceased by making the tomb more beautiful. (We also bring the "quiet" during these visits). In China, the people do just the opposite. When the Chinese go to visit the grave of an ancestor they bring fireworks, paper "notes" to burn, and noisemakers used to "wake" the ancestor from their sleep to bring good luck and fortune to the family. With Huan's family, we'd hike with fireworks up the hill to the burial grounds and set off more New Year's rockets and M80's! To pass by a burial mound littered with shredded paper and piles of smoldering ash means that person's family has wished for good luck in the coming year. I can't think of a more patriotic way to visit a gravesite. Note to my children: When I encourage you to honor me with rockets and M80s. Just sweep up the mess and leave some flowers when you go. Thanks y'all.

When all we'd go back to the houses for mealtime, I was frequently invited to sit with the elders. We'd eat deliciously spicy homecooked Hunan dishes and drink Baiju (wine spirits) until the Uncles began slurring their words. Hunan dialect being as complex enough as it is, makes no sense when factor in the baiju. After meals I really had no chance of understanding what was being said! Our meals would usually consist of dishes of fish, spicy pork, fatty pork bacon, some mixed vegetables, chicken in soup, and pork gut stewed with longan fruit .

From what I've drawn from the experience, Spring Festival is very similar to our Christmas. It's the one time of year that the Chinese get a long holiday to spend time with their families and when together they spend lots of time visiting, eating, drinking, and playing games (Mahjong primarily). People working in the cities leave to return to their families in the country and as a result, the weeks surrounding Spring Festival (Chunyun) is also recognized as the world's largest annual human migration. Elders are the VIPs of the holiday and much attention is given to paying respects to ancestors passed in hopes of a fruitful new year. Maybe the ancestors will send some good luck my way too! Fortune and a good job for when I return to the US!

---

Photos

New Year's Day
Me, Sheng Nan Zeng (Huan's Wife), and Huan Li

Huan's Mother's Family
Huan's Mother shown at front left, wearing black.

Picture with the American
Huan's Great Grand Uncle, Huan's Sister "Xia", and her Baby

Children for Sale
A sad yet true reality of China's "One Child Policy". Just kidding.

Hunan Hello
Breakfast noodles with fried egg and a bowl of Huan's mother's special red, spicy raddishes.

Hunan "Stinky Tofu"
Looks awful, smells terrible, yet tastes absolutely delicious! Cilantro, garlic, chili pepper sauce makes it taste like Mexican.

Comments

[michael warfield]

best posting yet!
awesome marcus!