October 1, 2007 by admin.

It was an interesting week for me as I went with my best friend to his sister’s wedding in a remote part of Henan Province, one of China’s poorest provinces in south-central China. It took a 16-hour train ride from Beijing to the regional capital of Zhumadian, Henan, then a 2-hour rough mini-bus ride followed by a 30-minute private car ride provided by the local government to get to my friend’s hometown. I had been to his hometown 3 times before, but this was the first time in 7 years that my friend, his 2 brothers and their sister (the one who was getting married) had all been together. It was nice to see all of them so happy despite the really rough conditions, and the entire trip made me realize how privileged in life most of us really are. As I was riding on the way back to catch the train to Beijing in a cramped mini-bus packed full of about 16 people (3 of whom were puking on themselves and others) I thought that I had it pretty bad until we overtook an open-backed truck crowded with probably 12 workers sitting in the back in the cold rain, with no rain gear, on their way to some most-likely hard manual labor work at 6:45 in the morning. It is one thing to hear about the struggles of the poor workers and farmers in China’s countryside but to live amongst them for a week and see firsthand what a difficult existence it is really makes you think about the tough job that the Chinese government has in balancing the exponential growth in wealth in the cities with the incredibly poor in the countryside, who are seeing only small increases, if any, in income and negligible improvements in lifestyles. Almost all the homes in this small village have no running water and no toilet, just an outside bricked-in area of about 4 square feet where you go about your business right there on the dirt, which is then left there for the next person to see and someone else to deal with later on at some point. I describe this only to give any potential readers an idea of how a majority of the Chinese people live (some 80% of the population of China lives in the countryside) and what a tremendous gap there is between the “haves” in the big cities and the “have-nots” in the countryside. To be fair, the Chinese government is pouring money into developing these areas - I saw at least 2 major highways being built that will greatly increase access to these remote areas, and a huge, gleaming new “Xincai Bilingual University” nearly completed within about 30 miles of this small village that looked like an amazing school. Whether this type of investment will lead to better lives for these poor but very hard-working people remains to be seen, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Having said all of that, the people, although their clothing and weathered faces (even on the young) clearly showed the difficulty of life in this part of China, could not have been nicer. I have known my friend and his family for around 6 years now, and I have not found better people anywhere in the world; they remind me very much of my own family. I still cannot understand hardly a word that they say (the Henan Province dialect is much different than the Beijing Chinese language, which I can at least understand a little), but the kindness that they have shown to me every time I have gone there has been amazing. They have taken me in as one of their own each and every time. I hope that through my friend’s translation to his family and the local hometown people that they know that I truly appreciated the chance to stay with them for the week and the manner in which they treated me. I know before I write it that it’s going to come across as cliche’ or overly-sentimental but I also hope that at some point in my life I will be able to do something to help this particular small village in China to improve the lives of those who have become such a big part of who I am today.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

October 1, 2007 by admin.

It was an interesting week for me as I went with my best friend to his sister’s wedding in a remote part of Henan Province, one of China’s poorest provinces in south-central China. It took a 16-hour train ride from Beijing to the regional capital of Zhumadian, Henan, then a 2-hour rough mini-bus ride followed by a 30-minute private car ride provided by the local government to get to my friend’s hometown. I had been to his hometown 3 times before, but this was the first time in 7 years that my friend, his 2 brothers and their sister (the one who was getting married) had all been together. It was nice to see all of them so happy despite the really rough conditions, and the entire trip made me realize how privileged in life most of us really are. As I was riding on the way back to catch the train to Beijing in a cramped mini-bus packed full of about 16 people (3 of whom were puking on themselves and others) I thought that I had it pretty bad until we overtook an open-backed truck crowded with probably 12 workers sitting in the back in the cold rain, with no rain gear, on their way to some most-likely hard manual labor work at 6:45 in the morning. It is one thing to hear about the struggles of the poor workers and farmers in China’s countryside but to live amongst them for a week and see firsthand what a difficult existence it is really makes you think about the tough job that the Chinese government has in balancing the exponential growth in wealth in the cities with the incredibly poor in the countryside, who are seeing only small increases, if any, in income and negligible improvements in lifestyles. Almost all the homes in this small village have no running water and no toilet, just an outside bricked-in area of about 4 square feet where you go about your business right there on the dirt, which is then left there for the next person to see and someone else to deal with later on at some point. I describe this only to give any potential readers an idea of how a majority of the Chinese people live (some 80% of the population of China lives in the countryside) and what a tremendous gap there is between the “haves” in the big cities and the “have-nots” in the countryside. To be fair, the Chinese government is pouring money into developing these areas - I saw at least 2 major highways being built that will greatly increase access to these remote areas, and a huge, gleaming new “Xincai Bilingual University” nearly completed within about 30 miles of this small village that looked like an amazing school. Whether this type of investment will lead to better lives for these poor but very hard-working people remains to be seen, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Having said all of that, the people, although their clothing and weathered faces (even on the young) clearly showed the difficulty of life in this part of China, could not have been nicer. I have known my friend and his family for around 6 years now, and I have not found better people anywhere in the world; they remind me very much of my own family. I still cannot understand hardly a word that they say (the Henan Province dialect is much different than the Beijing Chinese language, which I can at least understand a little), but the kindness that they have shown to me every time I have gone there has been amazing. They have taken me in as one of their own each and every time. I hope that through my friend’s translation to his family and the local hometown people that they know that I truly appreciated the chance to stay with them for the week and the manner in which they treated me. I know before I write it that it’s going to come across as cliche’ or overly-sentimental but I also hope that at some point in my life I will be able to do something to help this particular small village in China to improve the lives of those who have become such a big part of who I am today.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »