03.14.09
Another Brief Update…Anhui -> Nanjing
It’s Saturday afternoon in Nanjing, the pre-Mao capital of China, and here’s another brief, raw, update from the road.
Tex and I just finished a 2 hour walkthrough of the Nanjing Massacre Museum. In terms of layout and information, it was probably the best museum I have ever seen in the Middle Kingdom. It did come with the typical Chinese propaganda to ensure that viewers believed 100% in the facts which were already plainly obvious from all the images and artifacts (not to mention general worldwide historical consensus), but that’s a topic for a later post.
Before arriving in Nanjing this morning, Tex and I spent the past two days wandering around Northwestern Anhui, one of the poorest regions of the PRC. Our goal for this trip was to experience locales which had nothing extraordinary about them, thus no tourism industry, and very little contact with outsiders. Our first day was spent wandering around Fuyang, the poorest (in terms of per capita GDP) city in Anhui. Fuyang was surprisingly much larger than we had anticipated, but indeed quite economically disadvantaged. The locals were quite friendly to us, but absolutely baffled at why we would ever come to Fuyang, with most thinking we were either secret businessmen, journalists, spies or some combination of the three. One interesting little catch to Fuyang is that it is virtually impossible to find a restaurant with a menu. Instead, sit-down restaurants consist mostly of ramshackle little abodes where you simply pick foodstuffs out of a refrigerator, tell the cook how to make it, and then get quoted a price. There was however, an absolute cornicopia of street food, which is mainly what we subsisted upon. But I’ll save more elaboration for Fuyang until I get back to the US, and have more time to write.
From Fuyang, we traveled to a small town （县城）called Tianhe, where the locals were equally baffled at these two strange tall (I am 6′1 and Tex is 6′5) white men who had descended on their humble town. Like Fuyang, Tianhe was much larger than we had anticipated as well, containing by our estimates, at least 100,000 residents. We spent the day scowering the town on foot, consuming local snacks, and chatting with the locals, many of whom had never before seen a foreigner. At one point, when we happened to pass by an elementary school gate around lunch time, we were accosted by a mob of eager sixth graders watching us eat street food. After one of them pulled out his notebook and a pen and asked us to sign it, the others followed suit, and we spent close to half an hour signing autographs. It was difficult to go anywhere without making a scene.
I’ve taken several hundred pictures on this trip, and learned a lot about life in the Central Chinese Plain, which I’ll be sure to write up once I get back to the US. We plan to spend 2 or 3 days here in Nanjing, and time permitting, may head out to a 县城 in Jiangsu (one of China’s richer provinces) to experience the contrast between small town life in Anhui and Jiangsu. Until then, I’ll try to keep up with the quick updates.
ZHU Xiaoping
said,
March 14, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Hi,
My hometown is in Jiangsu,and I’m really curious about which part of Jiangsu you will go to visit.Well,Jiangsu province could divide into 3 parts,the south part is one of the richest area in the nation,but while you’re taking a view from the south to the north part,you’ll find the huge difference about people’s living.Maybe it’s a small picture which reflects the gap between rich and poor in this nation.Anyway,enjoy your exploration, I’m looking forward to your update,and you did a very good job!
ouyang
said,
March 15, 2009 at 4:10 am
I associate Anhui with troupes of acrobats. The travel to richer provinces to perform. Did you notice any unusual 把戏 or street performers?
Benjamin Ross
said,
March 15, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@zhu xiaoping
I’m not really sure where all we will end up in Jiangsu. We’ve been in Nanjing for a couple days now, and are really enjoying it. Definitely a wealthy city, and it’s very interesting to see the contrast from Anhui. Like you said, I think it might be interesting to head up North as well. We are considering a possible day trip to Yangzhou (gotta try that fried rice), but are still undecided. It would be nice to see a different city in this province though.
@ouyang
Didn’t see any acrobats in Anhui, I guess they’ve probably all gone out east to make more money. Didn’t see many construction workers either.
ZHU Xiaoping
said,
March 16, 2009 at 12:29 am
Good,try to enjoy your trip! And by the way,I’m going to Anhui next week to do some research,definetely,coincidence.Now it’s my turn to feel the contrast.I haven’t been there before:)
sylvia
said,
May 7, 2009 at 10:40 am
Hi there , i was born in Anhui province and now studying in Guangzhou for my master degree, well, i have to admit that some parts of anhui province especially north is pretty poor , but i think its better than the northwest provinces in china , have been to some provinces there before ? most small cities in anhui province is like the same in china , they have supermarkets and various foods to provide, life is convinient and citizens has multiple choices to live their life,except, they usually don’t have MD and KFC like cities in jiangsu province , maybe i’m a little overreacted but i think the ecnomic situation there are pretty above the proverty line , so there’s no way to say , a Big contrast exists in anhui province and jiangsu province …i live in hefei over 20 years and i feel its the same like nanjing,also as an independent interpretor , i had went to fuyang with a group of delegation before, i know that city is dirty and comparably poor, but i disagree with your idea of “poor anhui , rich Jiangsu “story. Thanks for this wonderful article, i really like it .