A week-end in Xianning (3) - Landscape part

I just want to share some more pictures with you, nothing more to say at the moment :)

Very old chinese cottages

Mah jong!!

I looove mah-jong!

A week-end in Xianning (2) - Historic part

One afternoon my friend’s family took us in a very interesting place. During one hour we went back 60 years in the past while we were visiting Lin Biao’s underground bunker. This bunker had been built by Lin Biao (who was second in command under Mao’s republic) to protect all the communist authorities in case or a nuclear war against Russia would start. This bunker was really impressive and interesting to see, indeed I am not a specialist of the cold war period in our world History but being in this bunker which have been kept intact with all the furniture, all the pictures of communist army’s chiefs with their family, while they were meeting, doing their job, it was impressive. A 60 years back jump in the History (is that right?). This bunker have been built in the nowhere of China because in case of nuclear war, Russia would have attacked the big cities so it was not safe at all and furthermore, Lin Biao comes from the city nearby so he knew the region which is practical when you are doing a war I guess… This building had never been finished totally because Lin Biao died in an “accidental” place crash and afterwards there was no war anymore, Mao never even came to this place who had been built for him originally. You have more than 200 rooms for all the chiefs of the communist army and it's very interesting because all the rooms are built 50/100 cm away from the bunker's wall so in case of attack, they could just open a hidden door and run away in the long thick corridor between the bunker itself and the wooden building, everywhere you had steel doors, behing painting, behind beds, behind sofas, you could escape the rooms from everywhere, same for the bathrooms! And there was a room where the food was tasted by someone before being served to the chiefs and so to avoid them to die poisoned..!

About the description, I take the one I found on this blog (http://pacejmiller.wordpress.com) because he is an English native speaker and I can not do a better job and I have nothing more to say, obviously we had the same guide who told us the same story ^^ 


“It’s like a mini-maze, with cold, stuffy air and long corridors enforced by thick steel doors.  Paranoia must have been rife back in those days.

The story of Lin Biao’s life and his ultimate demise was also compelling to learn.  According to official reports, Lin Biao (who was second in command by that stage) attempted to assassinate Mao several times before he and his family died in a plane crash while defecting to Russia.  Despite all the battles he fought for China and everything he did for the Communist Party, Lin Biao is still officially condemned as a traitor.

Others suggest that was not that case at all.  Lin was a war hero and highly respected in the Communist Party, but had apparently become too respected, to the point where Mao got a little nervous.  The ‘accidental’ plane crash?  More like a pre-emptive strike.

Who knows what really happened? “

Here the pictures :)

A long corridor with 200 rooms

A week-end in Xianning (1) - Food part

For those who wouldn’t know, I came to Wuhan because a really good Chinese friend I met back home in Normandy comes from this city. I found out later, when I arrived that in fact, she doesn’t come from Wuhan exactly but a “small town of 2 million oh inhabitants” called Xianning. So I went to her parent’s place last week-end because they were looking forward to meet me, indeed according to them they heard a lot about me after 3 years of great friendship with their daughter ^^ So I came to say hello and to be introduced to them which is really common in China and I had been traited like a princess J Chinese hospitality is surprising me more and more every day. Basically the only thing I had to do wherever we went was to smile, to enjoy my time, I could not pay anything, I could not help the family after dinner, I could only stay on the sofa, eating more and more because the lovely mum was always repeating every ten minuts “tchi tchi” which means “eat eat”… Omg I felt like a goose before Christmas honestly, the more you get fat and the more they smile! But this is what actually made me sick… Because they cooked so so many meals for me, every sort of meals with all the animals you can find, I never had such a choice of meat on the table. Joe I thought about you! Thumb up ^^ I had beef, pork, chicken, fishes, catfish, turtle, snake, octopus, shrimps and prawns, pig tail, pig feet, duck neck, chicken feet, duck feet! Honestly, did you know that people eat duck feet? Ahahaha such a weird thing to see on the table ^^ And I don’t even want to think about the pig tail, the mum took one with her chopsticks and she put the food in my mouth with authority and a biiig smile and it was sooo strange to eat, so jelly !! I asked what it was with a bit of suspicion and my friend told me in French “pig tail” while the mum was giving me more pieces of pig tail! Glups… Fun time! I looked at my bowl and I thought a bit listless “Mum? Dad? Why did you teach me to always eat what is in my plate?? And what if it would be YOU who had to eat all these pig tails??!!” I hope they got the message in time! Honestly I am not surprise to have been so sick at the end ^^

So I said I had some turtle and snake for the dinner! We went to a famous restaurant in the city, a very beautiful one in a Zen garden, with red fishes in a pound, a little bridge made of rock, it was a really lovely place J The mum told me that we would have some snake and turtle and she was really proud of it because it’s rare and precious in China to eat turtle so I agreed and I was waiting for it when they told me to get up and to follow them. I followed my friend and we arrived in front of a big cage with alive snakes in there… And the cook told me with a big smile “chose one and we will kill eat for you, this is what you’re going to have for the dinner” What the…? No kidding, they were waiting for me, in front of this cage to choose a poor animal still alive and to condemn it to death! I refused so my friend did it for me because anyway we were going to have snake for dinner… The cook took the poor snake which he almost killed in his hand holding his throat so tightly that the poor snake could not breathe. I know it’s stupid but I asked to touch the snake and I stroke it a long moment while I was apologizing and they left. But we were not done with this poor snake omg, while we were  back around the table and waiting for all the meals, a waitress came with two glasses! The first one as red and was full of the snake blood…And the second one was full of water and in it you had the snake heart… They expected us to drink the blood and to eat the heart because it’s “good for your health” ! My friend’s brother ate the heart and my friend’s boyfriend drank the blood, omg… I was starting to wonder what I was doing in this restaurant when some waitresses arrived with the turtles. Well I am going to show you a picture.. Here when you eat a turtle it’s not like pork or beef, you have pieces and you eat without really recognize the animal, here they serve you the whole turtle on a plate with some plastic gloves and you have to take off the shell and to eat inside with your hands… Omg such a hard moment to see this little poor animal dead on the table and looking at me and everybody waiting for me, honestly I had a bit because I did not want to offend them but after 1 mn I just stopped and put the turtle far away from me while they were eating theirs greedily.  Finally a soup of snake arrived with pieces of meat and on another plate we had the crispy snakeskin cooked with some spices! Bon appétit..! This was a real introduction at real Chinese customs and I hope I did not look too disgusted because they really wanted to honor me and I knew that, her family is lovely and I will come back in this city with happiness, if they allow me to eat less :)

My friend's boyfriend :)

Heart and blood

Snake pieces

My turtle..

Some Chinese facts! (2)

1)      For one month now, I have been struggling with one major problem here: where can I find a postcard? No kidding, I have been to many post offices where I found people who told me “we don’t have here but go to this place” what I did…For nothing. I went to libraries, to some “touristic shop” where you can find a lot of things authentically Chinese that usually people buy they are in holidays and bring back to their friend, for nothing. I asked some of my Chinese students, I asked some of the teachers who have been living here for years now and because of their indications I visited a part of the city just looking for some postcards but I could not find anything. Finally on Thursday, I went to my Alliance Francaise when one of my students came to me and gave me…A postcard !! I was totally amazed!! I asked her where she found it and it was somewhere I had never been until this day so I decided to go as soon as I finished work, what I did. I finally arrived and I found a “I-Mart”, it’s a big touristic shop, they only sell traditional Chinese items and there I found some postcards, finally…! Postcards of Paris, New York, London essentially ;) The only “Chinese” postcards I finally found were 3 postcards with a drawing of a bird and flowers, they are not even pictures of beautiful Chinese landscapes. Apparently postcards are not a concept in China, or at least not in the China where I am living, which surprises me a lot because here everything is about spreading the “greatness” of China so I would have think that people would be happy to sell amazing Chinese landscapes, I don’t know..! Anyway if some of you receive some postcards from me, appreciate it, I did many kilometers just to find some Chinese drawings ^^

I needed about one month to realize that people here are not poor and that it’s maybe us, European who are way too rich. Indeed, when you look at these people in the street, they know nothing about all the things we are used to but does that mean that we are right? Indeed when I see them, they are living and they seem doing it in a right way. How can I say that? People are working all day from early morning until very late at night but they are living while they are working, they have a nap after lunch, they play cards together, mah jong while they are waiting for customers, they joke and discuss with customers, they share moments and well I don’t see something wrong in that, indeed they are living. At least merchants in the streets do. Compared to people who work in companies like European and American do, it’s really stressful, they have such a big pressure on their shoulders, I can see that with my flat mates, sometimes they don’t go back home all night because they are preparing something for their company and they sleep at work, on the desk or elsewhere if by chance they find a sofa. The week end the only thing my flatmates want to do is have a rest, they look very tired and they are happy to chill out, to distress just playing cards and watching tv.

Maybe that’s why children are considered like kings here, it’s the only moment in their life when they are free, free of pressure, free to do what they want without thinking about consequences, free to be themselves. Children are the future, this is a sentence I often hear during my classes, it’s really interesting to talk with students who are from 20 years old to 30 because they have a lot of things to say about their own culture and they all agree, whatever I say “children are the future, we must protect them”. Example, in the bus, people don’t give their seat to old persons, fact which shocks me everytime I see it but they do leave their seat to children when they go into the bus and sometimes even old people do that as well. I am used to leave my seat to older people because I was educated like that and because it’s obvious for me as my legs are younger and so stronger but in Wuhan they don’t think like that, they only think “we have to protect kids, they are the future” and so they give their seats to children and they don’t stand up when eldests arrive..  At least not the youth from 15 to 30.

Here you have very few beggars! At the moment, in one month, I met less than 10 beggars in the streets which is absolutely “nothing”, compared to France for example… When people beg it’s because they always have a physical problem which is obvious and which makes the person unable to work. I met this guy who was begging and who had no arms, another one who was missing one leg, etc and I met few old people. Actually very old people don’t get a lot of money from people, I don’t know why, Chinese people give money when people obviously can’t work but when a very old person is begging, kneeling on the floor and praying, they often pass and don’t even look at this person, it’s something which shocks me. Indeed, if they are doing that it’s because obviously their children don’t help them, either they can’t or they don’t want to, I don’t know… I always thought that Asians were willing to help elders but obviously not as much as I thought or maybe it’s just in Japan or South Korea. Honestly I don’t think it’s good to be old in China because you have no retirement rent so either you keep working until the end of your life, or your children help you and keep you at their home or you have to beg... But I cannot blame Chinese people because charity is such a complicated question…

I did a game with my students one week ago. I gave to all of them a particular work situation or  a family situation (there were a doctor, a fireman, a president, a mother of 8 children, a 6 years old kid, miss universe, a famous dress designer, a policeman, a cook, a young musical prodigy and a student in master degree). They were in a hot air balloon but there was a problem and someone had to die because the weight was too heavy, so they had to decide who would jump and die to save the others! They had to defend themselves or to accuse others and it was really interesting.

First they criticized a lot the president (“but we agree it’s not our president at the moment, we would not criticize him”) telling that he is useless, he takes wrong decisions and blah and blah, that was an interesting part. Then they accused each other but they did not want to kill either the little child (who according to me “had no skills yet so it would not be a big waste” I was obviously provoking them J ) , either the mum who had 8 children (I tried to say she was irresponsible but they were shocked and said “children need their mum, they are the future if you want them to grown up healthy they need their mum”) and I agree actually but what interested me the most was their strong desire of saving miss universe! Of course I tried to say “she is just beautiful, it’s the only thing she can do in her life, she has no skills, no education and blah and blah” but they refused strongly this choice “she is beautiful!! You cannot kill beauty like that!!” and me “but you have so many beautiful women on this earth and far more cleaver” and their reply “she is the most beautiful, we’re not going to kill her, omg madam what are you talking about?”. It was a really interesting thing to see them fighting altogether against me to save the beautiful woman and finally they decided to kill the cook because even if it was a very very good cook, everybody can cook by himself. I liked this activity it was very interesting to see the degree of their priorities, obviously we don’t have the same. I don’t know, who would have you killed? (It's a part of the game, you have to chose someone)

Getting used to :)

And finally you realize…you’re at home. It’s the feeling I’ve got today, for the first time, when I went out. J The morning I took a taxi to go working and I could say where I wanted to go in Chinese, the taxi driver understood me and even tried to talk to me, in a nice way. He asked me where I came from and what I was doing here, simple things and I could understand and finally when he tried something more complicated, the language barrier cropped up and I had to say that I couldn’t speak a good Chinese and we ended the conversation nicely J After, the afternoon I took a new bus and I went to a huuuuge markets in Wuhan without getting lost ;) it’s so big..Insanely big… 1365 meters of shops*5 because it’s got 5 floors, I don’t know if you can imagine, it’s very big for someone from France at least. I went into many many shops doing some shopping for family and friends when I realized that I was happy to be there and that I did not feel aggressed anymore by sellers when they are coming to me willing to sell something. Indeed now I am able to say “I just want to have a look”, I can ask questions about the prices, trying to make it lower when it’s way too expensive, I know how to say who I am, where I come from, what I am doing in China, I know how to say “I could hear you but did not understand” and finally “I don’t speak Chinese” and all the basic sentences you need to know  to live in a country when people don’t speak English and here I swear...They don’t.  Something funny happened in a small clothes shop. I came there and I started to look at the dresses when the woman  seller came and told me something, I replied in Chinese “thank you but I just want to have a look” what she understood and left during 2 mns,  later she came back with a dress and shown it too my while she was saying something that I obviously didn’t understand, I looked at the dress and replied straight “thank you but I don’t want it, I am too big”, she denied and tried again to show me the dress but I insisted “I am too big for this dress” and I turned back. Then she started to talk to me and I couldn’t understand so I said “I am sorry I can’t speak Chinese’ but I told it in…Chinese ;) The woman started to look at me very weirdly but she did not insist and she started a discussion with another woman…about me! “Where does she come from??” – “She must be American! Or English maybe English!!” it made me laugh so I looked at them and said “No I am French” and at this moment the glance of the first woman was priceless lol, she looked at me like “what the hell are you kidding me?? You say you don’t speak Chinese and after you understand when we talk about you?!!” and maybe this was what she was actually saying in Chinese while she was looking at me ;) Anyway I  couldn’t understand so I apologized and I left, trying to stop myself laughing. This was priceless ^^ Finally I went back home by bus and when I got off I saw this smiling old man, which sells Chinese pancakes in front of my bus station every day and who told me “helloo” with a big smile like everyday since I came here. Sometimes I buy him something just because his hello is very warm and I always take it like a “welcome home” after a hard day of working and I really appreciate that J Well I arrived in my flat and I saw my flatmates in the living room waiting for me before eating the dinner they had prepared, I said hello and they told me about their day while I was taking off my shoes and having a quick drink, then I went upstairs in my room, I set down on my bed, looking at all the pictures of you on my wall and yes…I smiled and I felt home J

I met a woman from the Church I go sometimes (I told you in my first post, I go there to meet international people and to sing J ) and so this woman told me something which made me thinking a lot. She said “when I arrived, at first I thought I was not going to do charity at Chinese people, I have enough with the French ones, Chinese people should care about their own beggars”. Honestly, it amazed me to hear that, especially from someone who is Christian. I don’t know, it’s neither about religion nor about nationality, if you see someone who needs help and if at this moment you can bring this help, there is no matter of nationality. We are travellers,   we all leaved our country to go very far away from where we come from, we travel again and again and we are not going to stop somewhere before a while. She is a French teacher like me and she is going to move out in different countries again and again, as I will probably do myself and once you get the idea, once you are fine with it you are not anymore French or Chinese or American, you are a citizen of the world as we all belong and I would say all beggars are yours if you chose to see them and to do not pass through. I don’t really know if you get my point… I am French and I am extremely proud of this, I am proud of my History, of my country and of my life until now, I try to assume everything and I never forget where I come from, my city, my friends who are waiting for me. But now I don’t feel only French, I shared so many things with “foreign people” that I feel as well English, German, Korean, American, Scottish, Mexican, Venezuelan, Ethiopian, Taiwanese, Japanese, Chinese too because these are all the nationalities of places I have been or of people I met and who by sharing ideas, stories, experiences made the girl I am today. It’s not easy because I often get lost, lost in my life, lost in translation but I don’t regret it and I don’t understand how this woman could say “I have enough with French beggars” because she is not only French anymore, she’s got some Chinese cultural aspect in her mind, in her way of living and obviously she still doesn’t see it, it’s a pity.

Here two videos of Wuhan by night :) I downloaded them on youtube, blogger is too long about videos! 

The Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower

On Wednesday I went to the most touristic place in Wuhan, the Yellow Crane Tower :) 

cf www.travelchinaguide.com  for the description :-) 

" According to legend, Yellow Crane Tower was built by the family of an old pothouse owner living in Wuhan City long ago, named Old Xin. One day, a shabbily dressed Taoist priest came to the pothouse and asked for some wine. Old Xin paid no attention to him, but his son was very kind and gave the Taoist some wine without asking for money. The Taoist priest visited the pothouse regularly for half a year when one day the Taoist said to the son that in order to repay his kindness, he would like to draw a crane on the wall of the pothouse, which would dance at his request. When people in the city heard of this, they flocked to the pothouse to see the dancing crane. The Xin family soon became rich and they built the Yellow Crane Tower as a symbol of gratitude to the Taoist priest.

The Yellow Crane Tower has a very long and complicated history. It was first built in 223, during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). Due to the ideal location, it was built by Sun Quan (182 - 252, King of Wu) as a watchtower for his army. After hundreds of years, its military function was gradually forgotten and the tower was enjoyed mainly as a picturesque location.

During the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), many popular poems were written in praise of the Yellow Crane Tower. It was these poems that made the Tower so renowned and induced for people to visit. During the following centuries, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times. During the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) Dynasties alone the tower was destroyed seven times and rebuilt seven times. In 1884, it was completely destroyed in a fire and was not rebuilt until 1981.

The tower had different architectural features in different dynasties. However the tower which stands today is based on the one designed during the Qing Dynasty. It stands 51.4 meters (about 168 feet) high and has five floors. The appearance of the tower is the same regardless of the direction it is viewed from. The roof is covered by 100,000 yellow glazed tiles. With yellow upturned eaves, each floor seems to have been designed to resemble a yellow crane spreading its wings to fly.

The Yellow Crane Tower offers visitors an abundance of things to see. The exhibit on each floor has a theme, for example, the theme of the first floor is about legend. On the wall, there is a nine-meter (about 30 feet) long and six-meter (about 20 feet) wide painted porcelain picture which depicts clouds, rivers and cranes to represent a romantic mood in the heaven. The third floor mainly shows poems written to praise the tower in different dynasties. On top of the tower, visitors are treated to a fabulous panoramic view of the Yangtze River, its bridge and the surrounding buildings in Wuhan City. Outside the tower, there are bronze yellow cranes, memorial gateways and pavilions."

The entrance

What a nice garden

A hard-working policeman :-p

Some korean ! How wonderful to be able to understand :)

Ajouter une légende

A very nice board on the wall

The Yellow Crane Tower

A view of the city..

Trying to be ironic?

The cutest chinese little boy ever!

I love this statue!

Left : my friend's brother . Middle : my best Chinese friend that I met in France. To the right : her French boyfriend