Imperial China Day 13
Imperial China
OAT Day 2-09 - Friday, April 18, 2008 - View City Wall-Tour Jade Factory-Visit Hu Xian Farmers’ Village- Visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda-Visit Guang Ming School - Overnight Homestay in Hu Xian
The morning began for us at 6:15 for our last day in Xi’an. We had breakfast with Jeanette, the artist from the Detroit area. Last night we packed most of our things so we were ready to have one more day to see the city and then leave after lunch.
Mr. Fan was outside the hotel at 8:00 to take us to the Jade Production Company. On the way to the shop Matt told us more about the Chinese language and the characters.
He makes fun of his “Chinglish” but he does an excellent job of speaking and understanding English. He is teaching us the phonetic pronunciations; we have no idea of the spelling! Our new phrase for the day was Wall Eye Knee which means I love you!
When we reached the JJ-Jade Factory our guide, Nana, began with an explanation of the quality of jade. On the hardness scale, good jade is 8.5 with diamonds being 10. There are four colors, white, green, purple and brown.
Several people took advantage of the “bargains” here - I asked Matt when we were going to have a shopping opportunity at a “Big Boy Toy Shoppe”. He promised in Hong Kong we would see many!
Because the Chinese are so good at making “genuine looking fake” articles, you have to be very careful shopping on the street. Jade, pearls, silk, and other expensive items are counterfeit and should be avoided.
We left the Jade Shop at 8:50 for our trip across town to the City Wall. On the way Matt gave us more information on the hand symbols used for counting. Only one hand is used for all ten numerals, which are a kind of sign language.
In the process, Matt warned us about using the symbol for #7, and told us to avoid the gesture of the gay community. During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese used to call each other “comrades” - now this term is reserved for homosexual relationships.
Our next adventure was to visit the City Wall, one of the most complete structures of its kind in all of China. Constructed during the Ming Dynasty, the City Wall is also one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.
We had 45 minutes to walk the wall, take photos, and imagine the activities on top of this imposing structure when the city was under siege by the barbarian invaders. Tomorrow there will be a kite flying exhibition on the wall. Many older gentlemen were practicing with their elaborate kites.
It was pleasant on the wall high above the city, 68 degrees and 62% humidity with a nice breeze but gray skies. The weather man had predicted rain this morning. We were very lucky that the Chinese are not any better at guessing the weather than we are!
The towering Big Wild Goose Pagoda was our next stop. Built in the 17th century to house Buddhist scriptures, the pagoda also contains statues of Buddhists figures in Chinese history and notable Tang Dynasty artworks. During our visit to this beautiful garden we walked around to sense the peaceful life of the monks that still worship and live here now.
We walked back to our nearby hotel, had a little time to finalize our packing and then met our group in the hotel’s Chinese restaurant for lunch. We had until 1:15 to put our bags out in the hall and then time to relax before leaving the hotel and city.
At 2:00 sharp we left the hotel and drove south to the rural city of Huxian where we visited the Guang Ming Primary School, a community-founded school that is supported in part by the Grand Circle Foundation.
The children welcomed us at the gate waving little Chinese flags. We were able to visit their classroom and talk with many of these 6th graders. The children took us each by the hand and we were able to sit with them and write, draw, or play games.
The children and their teacher had a short program ready for us. Gennie’s guide Ann seemed to be the star pupil. Her English was very good so she read us a story The Giving Tree which was acted out by two other students.
We continued on to the Farmers' Village, where villagers welcome us to the farming community of Hu Xian. Because it was raining lightly and the forecast for tomorrow was for more rain, we toured the old part of the village this afternoon.
Life is very primitive here but most families have moved to the newer homes on the other side of the village. Many of the farmers also work in the local implement factory. Over 70 families work for OAT to host families in their homes for Bed and Breakfast which keeps the local economy alive.
We were divided into 3 groups of 5-5-4 and met our host families. We walked with Mrs. Yang to our home. Our house is very simple but roomy and the same floor plan as all of the other homes in this new village.
Mrs. Yang has a son who works in Xi’an and her husband works here in a bank. Her father, a former farmer, lives in the home also. As we talked Gennie took notes as usual. When Matt came in to talk to us he told our hostess that Gennie was not taking notes to send to the government! Everyone laughed!
We enjoyed talking with our host family and then at 6 PM we started to help cook the meal. The kitchen was very simple; a wooden table for rolling out the noodles and a two burner gas stove were the main appliances.
Mrs. Yang and her sister showed us how to roll out the dough into one very huge flat circle. We all had a chance to try working the dough. She then did a fan fold and showed us how to cut the noodles into thin strips using a 6” cleaver.
Our meal was delicious; scrambled eggs, celery with red chili and pork, onion shoots with pork, a very flat crepe, peanuts with sugar, a fried bread, and delicious soup made with our noodles.
After dinner we went to another of the three homes to all talk together. At 8:00 we left to go to the village square where the women have a community dance for their social exercise of the day.
It was 9 PM when Matt rounded us all up and told us it was time to go home. We walked back to our farm house and then said goodnight to our hostess. We took some time to catch up on the events of the day. There is no internet until we get on the boat tomorrow night so we will post the journal then.
Accommodations: Local Family Homestay - - - Meal: B, L, D
Picture 1 - JJ-Jade Factory
Picture 2 - Xi’an City Wall
Picture 3 - Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Picture 4 - Guang Ming Primary School
Picture 5 - Mrs. Yang - Home Stay Hostess
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Comments
Post a Comment!JADE! Now I wish I were with you! Having fun living vicariously! Be in touch when you get back.
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