Knock-off Culture

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When we flew out of Shanghai we landed in Yichang. From the airport we drove through the countryside. There is canola everywhere you look. This area is also famous for tea and oranges. I feel like I am in the middle of a Leonard Cohen song..... The canola is easy to spot and you can see patches between houses, on hillsides, beside businesses, etc. If there is a small bit of arable land someone will have planted canola (and maybe an orange tree in its midst). It would be like walking through your neighbourhood and seeing potatoes growing beside the house and corn in the front yard.

We stopped at a "convenience store" for the folks who needed liquor for the cruise. I think that turned out to be everyone but me. It was a governement run store and it was extremely clean -- as was your wallet when you left. The chips I bought that morning in Shanghai were Y3.50 and here were Y8.50. Whatever, we stocked up and paid up.

Yicheng is the site of the Three Gorges Project. There was an island that was used as a royal burial ground and it will be submerged when the river is flooded. When they dug up the ground they found a large number of artifacts - some dating over 3,000 years ago. We went to a museum that was built just for all the new-found objects. The part some of us found disturbing was sthat some of the objects were for sale. So, one of 2 things: either they are selling off part of their cultural heritage to make some cash or else they're knock-offs (which means the governemnt-run museum is in the business of selling knock-offs). Who knows! I was tempted by a bronze bell. It was 100 years old and sounded lovely. They were asking $100. For $300 they had a gorgeous wine cup with a tripod base (for putting a fire underneath to heat up the wine) and a carved dragon design. It had two tiny balls on each side near the middle. What for? To rest against your nose. Why? The explanation taxed my Chinglish skills. Besides, $300 was a bit steep. The bell on the other hand...... nope, I still think it fit into the category of "dustables".

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