Based near the Cheng Yang Bridge, I walked to the a nearby Ji Chang village today. While I enjoyed the scenery, the highlight was the market scene in Da Zhai village along the way. I was lucky to have struck market day.
It is relatively unspoilt here and the village was unpretentious and authentic, down to a dusty coffin in someone’s front porch … I dared not ask whether there was a special offer at the time of purchase, if it was the wrong size or maybe the sick person recovered. Obviously they don’t share the same taboo as ethnic Chinese people about keeping such items in the house.
As I was settling into bed around 1930, the landlady told me the village is having a traditional dance evening at their Drum Tower. It was an interesting performance which I felt was done with pride; the afternoon one was done for tourists. It ended in some sort of a Dong line-dancing and best of all … a big Dutch man being tossed into the air then landed back on the arms of the villagers.
At the performance I met several interesting people. In particular, a Belgian tour leader, Christophe, who spoke fluent Mandarin. Yes, shame on me … but Europeans rarely get the tones quite right.
Christophe explained that the Dutch earn a lot of money, get lots of annual leave and have very tiny living rooms … hence they’re all in China 🙂 Being a tall Mandarin-speaking Westerner, he was most popular with the schoolgirls. They crowded around him giving him hugs and had their photos taken. He was treated a bit like a sex object really. He says that being based in Beijing, the local Beijing girls don’t care about Westerners anymore … money talks louder than colour and height.
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- The more authentic (and less preserved) bridge behind the town.
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- See your name set in stone for a small donation of CNY10 (EUR1).
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- The Drum Tower of the village is the tall structure; it is quite new.
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- Babe, Piglet and Miss Piggy.
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- Just been to the market.
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- Lather, rinse, repeat.
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- The Cheng Yang wind and rain bridge.
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- Zhuang dancers.
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- Zhuang dancers.
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- Old Drum Tower.
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- Locals relaxing in the town centre.
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- I wonder if that’s an opium pipe.
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- The Drum Tower of the village is the tall structure; it is quite new.
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- The more authentic (and less preserved) bridge behind the town.
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- The Drum Tower of the village is the tall structure; it is quite new.
