Yunnan Delights and Mishaps

It's been a week since I arrived in Yunnan province. Today, we are leaving Dali and heading to the ancient town of Lijiang. The last week has been full of fun sights and crazy mishaps. Highlights of Kunming include visiting the beautiful and peaceful Stone Forest, yet being taken to four different shopping places by the tour guide. We ended up wasting a whole day from 8am to 6pm, yet only got to be in the Stone Forest itself for less than two hours.

In Kunming, I got to visit the Minority Village with 22 reconstructions of typical minority villages and houses. They also hire members of the minority to come here to dress in their traditional clothing and work as representatives of their culture. I was most impressed by the Miao Cristian cherch. I couldn't believe that inside Minority Village Themepark was a Cristian cherch with services on Sundays. I chatted with one of te Miao girls sitting doing embroidery, and she said that there's a small branch of the Miao that are entirely Cristian b/c of a missionary that went there in the 1880s. That's amazing.

While at the Minority Village, I also reflected on the social and cultural implications of a minority themepark. In America, we studied the racist "exhibitions" at the expos of 1892 and 1915, how Native Americans and chinese were cast as the "other," exotic objects to be viewed on passing, and tourists became voyeurs into their fabricated and fictionalized "local habitat." wasn't I doing the same thing by touring these minority villages, recreated for tourists with much prettier decorations than in the real villages? What about the poor girls and guys who leave their home villages and don't get to return home during New Year's b/c it's peak tourist season. They only get 12 days of leave a year and some don't return home for 2 or 3 years. Who allowed the Han majority to showcase and exhibit the minority cultures in such a gawdy, themepark way? are the minorities getting a cut of the profit from the themepark? Do they have a say in how their culture is presented? How could I have criticized the way Americans put the Chinese and the Native Americans on display when I am now enjoying a display of minority cultures in China? Is it not the same?

In Dali, I really loved the yellow fields of mustard flowers and terraced farming. All over, you see yellow and green fields, blue skies, and white Bai minority houses with their grey borders and curved eaves. The peasants wear conical hats while they work in the green staircases of their fields. The views are breathtaking and peaceful. They make you think that life can be very simple and beautiful. I also enjoyed the ancient, walled town of Dali (as opposed to the modern city of Dali, aka Xiaguan). Its narrow alleys and old buildings are so quaint and peaceful. This place reminds me of the little towns of southern Spain. The local colorful scarves, woven cloth, embroidered mats, and tie-dyed sheets are so beautiful and rich. Moreover, I found this really cool hostel for 80/night right in the Dali ancient town. It's just two floors and only has 6 rooms, but there's a sun terrace, free laundry and internet, a tv room, and great decorations from Tibet and local cultures. Everything is fabric-covered or wood paneled, adn there's this really homey, bohemian feel to the place. Even better, it's right across a cherch (gvt authorized one, of course). We're gonna visit today for sunday service.

Crazy mishaps: I left one of my bags on the bus from Kunming to Dali and didn't realize it until I got to my student's house, when my student asked me if I'd left anything. I had to ride all the way back to the bus station and ask many many people if they'd seen my bag or my bus or my driver. Apparently, there is no lost and found in China, there aren't even any signs to distinguish who are the officials at the bus station and who are the merchants. After about an hour of searching, I finally found my bag. The driver had seen it left in the overhead rack, put it with a woman at a little store, but didn't tell the lady it was a passenger's bag. So when I asked the woman before if she'd seen a bag like mine, she said no. But after I finally got a hold of the driver, he instructed me to go to the store and they had it, with all my shampoo, conditioner, clothes, and toiletries all in place.

On Levina's end (the Indonesian girl I'm travelling with), she missed her plane from Tianjin to Kunming. Then when she went by herself from Kunming to Dali, she was left behind at a gas station somewhere midway between the two cities. She had to stay at this place for a night and catch another bus to Dali the next day.