and for Andrea and I an opportunity to visit her Chinese friends who
live 5 hours away by train. The couple had gone to Germany to study
German and a masters degree a decade or more ago and got to know
Andrea and her family then; and now both teach German at the
university in their city (Zhengzhou, a provincial capital). Their
daughter is almost 2 years old and her presence featured strongly
during our visit. For the most part, as is typical with most Chinese
we spent a lot of time eating and visiting their parents and
grandparents -all of whom dote over the girl.
The couple bought a new apartment several years ago but currently live
in an older apartment with one of their mother's who is retired and
thus helps look after the child. Though the apartment building is old,
the interior is nice - almost the same as the apartment buildings of
the various other relations that we visited, even though their
buildings are newer.
The few days we spent with them were stereotypically typical... The
big meal with all the family with toasting and drinking, each putting
food on the other's plate so they would eat more, an afternoon nap for
the adults whilst the elderly played mahjiang (a Chinese board game)
and so on. Zhengzhou is a typical provincial capital city, with
several subway lines and many apartment buildings under construction.
A new business district was recently built centred on an exhibition
centre, concert hall and several malls. Life is fairly quiet and in
the apartment complexes fairly tranquil. Old people sitting around,
street sellers a regular siting, kids playing between the few cars
parked inside the complexes etc. So far most people seem to suffice
using electric scooters and there are no tourists since there is
nothing to see.
As if to prove my point from earlier in the week, when we got to
dengfeng (next to the home of Kung Fu, shaolin temple) we ate a meal
with 12 dishes T our hotel, even though we were only 4 people. Andrea"
friend's brother's friend's job was related to looking after VIPs in
the area so the meal and hotel were free. As was the evening'
performance which we drove to in a convoy behind a police car. All of
us just put our hazard warning lights on and tried to keep up as the
police car led us to the VIP parking lot. This is the land of guanxi
(relationships) after all where who you know can get you anything.
The show in the evening did not involve much Kung Fu unfortunately as
it was more focused on the story behind it (which was fairly boring)
and on the lighting, stage and visual effects. They were impressive -
the show was set at the top of a hill where a stage and seating had
been built facing a valley with a stunning mountain backdrop. The
stage was 100m wide and almost as deep going up the mountain complete
with 8 storey pagoda, rocks, a gulley and a bridge!
The next day we climbed a mountain that I have fond memories of,
having been here 5 years ago. It was just as impressive due to the
winding path half way up the cliff-face which was a cliff full of
vertical fissures from geological and tectonic plate movement 1.8
billion years ago. At the end of the walk we came out to Shaolin
temple and a million tourists (due to the public holiday). We skipped
the crowded and overpriced temple and went to see some kung fu shows
and students practising.
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