Karst Country (or Hello Banana Land)

• Lraleigh's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Yangshuo

Trip Start Mar 21, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Ongoing Next
Entry

  Yangshuo, China
Sunday, May 15, 2005

What do you see when you think about China?

For many, I would imagine, the image of knobby limestone mountains rising from meandering rivers and villages surrounded by rice fields comes to mind. That place in your mind exists at Yangshou, where painters have water-colored the karst topography since water colors were invented. Yangshuo makes dreamers dream of a land that may have existed long ago, where nature and man were inseparable, where the land bestowed a cornucopia of crops, and where you could meditate on a mountain named Moon as it changed phases.

Yangshuo is also "hello banana" land.

The irony is that "hello banana" snaps the dreamers awake, sweating profusely. But "hello banana" also gives a little extra money to people who have very little.

Walking down the streets of Yangshuo, you will undoubtedly hear people say "hello" to you, not just to say hi but also to sell you something. That "something" follows the word "hello"--"hello banana?" "hello tee shirt?" "hello drink?" They say the same thing to the urban Chinese tourists as they walk by, only it's probably more elaborate and it's in Chinese. This morning, the hotel owner woke me up to see if I wanted to go on a tour: "hello tour?" Saying "no" here is a necessity. If you didn't know how to say "no" you'd be stuffed full of bananas, taking the boat tour in the morning, the bike tour in the afternoon, the Cormorant fishing tour in the evening, and getting very very drunk. If you have problems saying "no," quit your therapy at home and get Yangshuo therapy.

Li River and Karst Peaks

At the same time, the "hello banana" people are trying to make a living the best they can. As a rule of thumb, if I want a banana I go to my favorite "hello banana" person. If I don't want a banana, I say "bu xie" (no thanks) and move on. Yesterday I wanted a banana.

I also found a farmer/english teacher who wanted to be a guide, so we went around for the day. The scenery was amazing, but it was more interesting learning his take on the scene here.

When the rain falls in Yangshuo, it trickles through the karst limestone topography, picking up rich calcium and other minerals and infusing into the soil. The rich mud of the rice fields that slides through the farmers' toes produces two crops a year, harvested in mid-July and October. Millions of rice grains to feed the 1+ billion Chinese is the result of one farmer's labor: planting, weeding, tending the plants, applying pesticides to fend off the worms. These millions of rice grains come from a patch of land 15 meters by 25 meters and weigh 200 kilograms. Twenty kilograms of rice tax feeds the army and prisoners. Back in 1982 when Deng Xiaoping privatized land, effectively ending communism for millions of farmers (nong ming), my new farmer friend and his family members each received one patch. A head farmer (nong chang zhu) reports to the government and represents the farms (nong) in each village (320 farmers live in Li's village). The farmers eat meat once a week, but they eat large amounts of rice and vegetables. Meat is a luxury; most of the livestock and fish is sold in the markets and restaurants.

Li says: "the life of a farmer is hard.

Yangshuo Woman

We are poor. The farmer girls sell flowers to the tourists to help. It's better now. Before when land was communal, everyone paid the same. Lazy people too."

So now the lazy people can be lazy with their own plot of land and other people can be productive with theirs. No one needs to starve because of lazy people, as happened during the Cultural Revoluion.

Basically, China has a communist past, but there's not too much collectivized in China anymore. China Mobile, the largest cell phone company in the world, can be bought and sold as stock on NASDAQ. Land is private. Hotels are owned. Gore and others have manufacturing plants. If you could label China, socialist capitalistic authoritarianism would be more appropriate. As always, its a good idea to use separate words to describe the monetary/land system (socialism, capitalism, communism...) and the form of government (democracy, dictatorship...).

Back in town, the streets are vibrant and change throughout the day, filled with tourists and locals selling their wares. A street you would easily recognize at noon looks completely different at 7 pm. Once-empty plazas become stir fry restaurants, all lined up, dozens of them, lit with incandescent lights under large tarp tents. Hot chilis and oil in woks send spicy, cough-inducing smoke through the air. Live chickens, live river fish in tubs of water, live crawfish, vegetables, rice, spices, vibrant colors get stirred togeter in the wok. Young people meet, Chinese tourists mingle with English tourists, chickens are defeathered, fish are decapitated, children sell flowers: "hello flowers?"

The "hello flowers?" children are an annoyance to the stir fry people as a "hello flowers" child will stand behind a table of tourists until they buy a flower. The
"hello flowers?" child was just trying to make a living but left despondent and unwanted. In China's new socialist capitalistic authoritarianism, is there a better job awaiting the "hello flowers?" children?

In my brief stay here, I hiked to the summit of a mountain called moon and watched it change phases. I hired a bamboo raft for a river journey. I ate river fish cooked in beer, ginger, garlic, and hot peppers--excellent. I talked with a dragon boat festival man, art students painting the landscape, and other people around the town. Finally, after a fried rice meal at a stir fry tent, I went over to the "trendy part of town" and had a few beers with some fellow travelers. People are from all over here, though mainly Chinese.

Now it's time to find another outdoor stirfry guy: "hello stirfry?"

Slideshow Print this entry Share Yangshuo hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry