While drinking tea in
Renmin Gongyuan, I met a tour guide who offered me a private day trip in the villages of Chengdu's countryside. He promised the tour would show me an authentic view of chinese life that I would not see at the tourist attractions in the city. I decided to take him up on the offer and booked a tour for 8am the next morning.
THE FIRST VILLAGE
It was a 45 minute drive to the first village on the outskirts of Chengdu. Mr. Lee, our tour guide, said the countryside was only a ten minute drive when he started giving tours. We then had a discussion about the growth of Chengdu. I was shocked by what Mr. Lee had to say, which I will paraphrase for you: "I do not like the growth of Chengdu. There is nothing positive about the modernization of the city, it has all been bad. The chinese culture has been systematically destroyed and replaced by western culture. Chinese kids do not understand what it means to be chinese. I like the countryside better. Chinese traditions remain in the countryside. The children of the countryside go to the city and do not return, so only the elderly, poor, and infants remain. The women in this country have gone crazy. You must understand because the women in your country are crazy too. Our women no longer keep the tradition of foot-binding to keep them calm."
Here are pictures from the first village. Everyone we saw seemed to be a small business owner.
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| Streetside haircut |
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| These vegetables still have the roots because they will be bought by small farmers who will replant them |
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| Street food. The sweet rice cakes were good, but the fried tofu had too much 'ma'. |
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| Teeth on the table of a streetside dentist |
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| Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This women is being treated for a headache with suction tubes |
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| Medicinal Baiju (chinese liquor). Yes the bottle on the left is fermenting with a snake inside |
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| TCM cure for impetus. In TCM you eat the body part you wish to cure. |
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| This man is being treated for arthritis |
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| This is where cotton comforters are made. |
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| This pile of garbage has been carefully sorted and will be sold as raw materials to factories |
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| This man is rubbing baiju on this women's back to cure her arthritis |
THE MARKET
What truly amazed me about this market was that despite the massive quantity of raw meat there were no flies to be seen. In the cafeteria at Siyuan there are several flies buzzing around every table.
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| Catfish |
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| Chicken |
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| Davis "Why is that chicken black?" Mr. Lee "Why is there black people?" Davis "Fair enough" |
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| Pork |
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| Bamboo and Eggplant |
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| Lotus |
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| Pig Head, a chinese favorite |
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| Pig snout and tail |
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| Pig ear, chicken feet, and other popular animal parts |
THE CATCH
While we were driving to the next village we saw people wading in a man-made lake. We made an unplanned stop which turned out to be a highlight of the trip. This lake was a fish farm for the chinese favorite--catfish.
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| The trap is set |
They caught thousands of catfish in this net
Doesnt get any fresher than this
THE BLACKSMITH AND THE HAT MISTRESSES
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| Welcome to my workshop |
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| I make butcher knives |
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| *grinding* |
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| The straw hat assembly line |
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| This straw is hand woven by country women |
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| The hat-press machine |
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The finished product complete with company logo. Just Y 15 |
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| Before heading to the next destination, we had a short rest in this quiet 400 year old village |
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| No rest is complete without a spot of green tea |
THE POTTER AND THE TOFU MISTRESS
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| Freshly spun pots |
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| Glazed pots |
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| Pots in various stages of completion |
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| The massive pots in back are over 200kg and will be used for distilling baiju |
This potter looks very young, but he is 55 years old. He said he is a lonely bachelor because no chinese woman wants to marry a potter.
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| The kiln |
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| Liquid tofu |
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| Semi-hardened tofu. Way too gelatinous for my tastes, but this women had half a dozen buyers while we were at her shop |
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| The waste product--pig feed. |
