Yi Festival in EShan (峨山): Dancing, Bongs, & Bees

I went to class for the first time last week—a graduate class titled “Linguistic Field Research Analysis”.  I showed up 10 minutes early just to be safe, and found the class mostly filled, from the third row on back.  I took a seat in the front row all the way on the side by the window so the professor would know that I was there but I wouldn’t be in the center.  By the time the class was about to start, there were only three people in the front two rows:  me and two girls who had come in too late to get seats farther back (they sat behind me in the second row).  I turned around to talk to the girls, but they were intensely preparing for class.

The professor was 10 minutes late, and everyone continued talking while he began.  This class, as it turns out, is a first year graduate class of about 40 students.  Since it is mid-semester already, I expected some interesting discussions about field research or some case studies or something along those lines.  Instead, the professor spent the first hour and a half of the two-hour course individually quizzing each of the students on the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)—a set of symbols and characters used by linguists to represent every phonetic sound and variation in all natural languages—and then he went into a brief discussion about linguistic tones.  While I found the discussion on tones at least somewhat useful, I was still bored throughout the entire class.  What’s more, every time a student made a mistake on the IPA, all of the students laughed, and the professor looked over at me nervously as if he had to prove himself and his class in my presence.  To be perfectly honest, I was more nervous that he was going to ask me to recite the IPA as well!  After class, I chatted with some of the graduate students and then went with the professor to his office.  There, he introduced me to a retired professor Zhang ChunDe (张纯德), who is a Yi member and an expert in the field of Yi studies.  (He has 7 or 8 books published on various aspects of Yi, including their culture, history, religion, writing, and language).

We had brief introductions, and Zhang ChunDe explained that he had been invited by the government of EShan (峨山—the first autonomous county of the Yi People in China) located in YuXi, about two hours south of Kunming, to the first annual Yi Ancestral Cultural Festival starting the next day, Wednesday, 11/25 and going through Friday, 11/27.  He said he’d asked, and I was allowed to join him.  It kind of threw me off at first, since Thursday was Thanksgiving and I had plans, and it was so soon, and I almost said no.  But, I realized after a moment that this type of event is why I’m here, and it was a good opportunity to make contacts and get involved in Yi society, which I shouldn’t pass up.  I thanked him and agreed to go.

He called me the next morning to tell me that we had tickets for a 1:30pm bus, and would meet at the bus station at 1.  I spent a little time packing, arguing with myself about how much clothes to bring for the three day trip, and eventually weeding down my extra bag, deciding I didn’t need to bring my computer and could manage with one pair of pants and a few t-shirts to wear under .  I arrived a little bit early, and waited.   By 1:20, I was starting to get a little bit nervous that I might be in the wrong place.  I called him, and he didn’t pick up.  Fortunately, at 1:28, he came hustling up to the station.  I grabbed his bag for him, and we ran through the station to find the bus.  (I also want to note that despite the fact that I was so proud of myself for bringing so little, he had with him even less, only a small bag, which it turns out was filled with books to give as gifts—no change of clothes.)

We found the bus, and he said that two other professors were supposed to be joining us.  I waited for him on the bus while he ran around looking for them and calling them.  Finally, the other people on the bus and the driver were getting impatient and threatened to leave without him, so I signaled him back, and we figured that they’d have to take the next bus.  A short two hours later, the bus stopped on the side of the highway and informed us that we’d reached our destination.  We got out and found no way to actually get off the highway (if it were just me, I would have just hopped the fence, but he didn’t seem like he had the interest or ability).  So, we walked a ways till we got to the off-ramp, and down around till we came to a toll booth where a line of girls dressed in traditional Yi costume were waiting to welcome guests attending the conference.  A man with a clipboard came up, and there was some handshaking and acknowledgments that we were there for the conference.  He ushered us into a nice SUV and drove us to another location to register.  There, we presented ourselves to another welcoming committee, who looked for our names in a registration book.  At this point, I realized that this festival/conference was much bigger and more serious than I had expected it to be.  Along with about 800 other professors, bureaucrats, and other individuals with interest in Yi studies, my name was also officially listed in the guest book as an “American Visiting Researcher”.  (It also said that I had a PhD—I didn’t correct them.)

They took us to a village about 10 minutes from the center of EShan, because they said the town was too crowded.  The hotel was nice enough.  I got my own room, and the village is known for its hot springs, so the shower water was naturally hot.  This festival, I spent a little time looking through the gift bag.  It contained a nicely sized wheel of Puer tea, a 120 page hardbound photo It was a bit awkward at first, but people were nice enough and seemed curious about my presence there.  Zhang Laoshi introduced me to everyone, and it turned out that he really knew EVERYONE; or, at least everyone knew him.  I was talking to two professors from Beijing on my own, when Zhang Laoshi came over, and they said they had his book on their desk back in Beijing.

Dinner was interesting.  I was very gracious, (though a bit out of my element) and I admit that I still don’t fully understand Chinese toasting culture.  I had never been at an event or dinner like this before, and at first it took me by surprise.  During dinner, people would get up with a bottle of BaiJiu and their glass, and walk around individually toasting specific people, then refilling both glasses in preparation for a later toast.  Making it worse, everyone was speaking very quickly in either really heavily accented Southwest Mandarin or in Yi.  Having communication difficulties and not really knowing my place, I stayed quiet.

After dinner they took us to a sort of opening ceremony.  The term opening ceremony may even be quite appropriate since they stole some of the music from the Olympics, and the event was held in a large outdoor stadium, with over 2 million USD in lighting, sound, fireworks, and other theatrics invested in it.

The next day we got up early for the unveiling of a large statue of Abudumu (阿普笃慕), the ancestor of the Yi people.  Abudumu apparently lived about 2200 years ago, and had 6 sons with 3 wives.  This festival was dedicated to him.  The large statue of him, along with statues of his 6 sons, was built in April or May of this year, but this was the official unveiling.  It was an interesting ceremony.  The Yi people have a rich culture and writing system, which comes from their shamanistic religion, Bimo.  A group of shamans were on hand to “bless” the statues.  There were also horn players, drummers, firecrackers, and a lot of people.

Later in the day we took part in the Yi Cultural and Economic Social Development Conference.  The first speaker was a Yi woman named Wu Xia.  She had obtained a PhD from a university in Hong Kong, and a second PhD from the University of Michigan.  Her presentation was on comparisons between the Yi people and native peoples of North and South America, with a focus on sun calendars.  (The Yi people use a 10-month sun calendar.)  Her talk was very interesting, and one of the only ones that I really understood, since she spoke in fairly clear Putonghua.  Everyone else was speaking with strong accents.

Later that night, we went to the finals of the Yi Flower Drum Dance (花鼓舞) competition.  The Flower Drum Dance is a famous dance of the Yi people, which includes (you guessed it) flowers and drums.  Often, the men dance with flowers while the women dance and play drums, but there are variations.  The competition included 11 teams, a singing performance, and a Guzheng (Chinese harp) performance by 4 young girls.  The dances were interesting and very enjoyable—a few of the teams included fusions between the traditional dance and modern dances such as hip hop and break dancing, but on the whole, I liked the more traditional dances a lot more.

We were originally supposed to go home the next morning, but the event coordinators offered to give us a VIP tour of the region, so we agreed.  They first took us to the YuanTian Bio-energy Development Company, where the president of the company gave us a tour of the hills growing the plants they use to produce bio-diesel and other oils.  It was very foggy out early in the morning, and there wasn’t much to see.  Later, we visited the Yu Lin Quan BaiJiu (Chinese alcohol) factory/brewery (?).  The company has been around for hundreds of years, and it was interesting to tour the facilities.  I was talking with the Vice President of the company, and he offered to let us all taste one of their very high quality baijius, which had been sitting for 20 years.  They poured it right out of the jugs, and it was very strong.  A bit spicy on the tongue with a strong warming feeling—it burned for a few minutes.

Next, we visited a tea mountain famous in the region for its Puer, green, and oolong teas.  We had lunch there, during which there was much drinking and more toasting.  It seems that the Yi tradition is to sing to each other when making a toast.  I was asked to sing an English song, and couldn’t think of anything appropriate, so I sang a song in Hebrew.  Afterwards, went on a tour of the mountain and tea gardens, and then got to taste three of their teas:  a green tea, a roasted green tea, and a Puer tea.  Normally each glass can cost up to $20 USD, but since we were VIP guests, it was of course on the house.  We all drank a lot, and they kept filling up our glasses.

While tasting the teas, the offered me a bong.  In Yunnan, it is customary to smoke a cigarette or straight tobacco through a large bong.  You can see it all over Yunnan, and it really is quite remarkable the first few times you see it.  I politely declined.

Dinner that night was interesting.  I really regret that I didn’t bring my camera.  On the table, there was a dog meat stew, a bowl of chicken heads, and a plate of fried bees.  I have seen bee larvae served in China before, but this was new to me.  It was literally a plate piled high with bees.  They had apparently been lightly breaded and fried quickly.  Many of them were bread-less.  After a bit of encouragement, I stuck a couple in my mouth.  They were fairly crispy, and not bad.  I was told that it’s an expensive dish.  Based on the trouble it must take to get the bees, I’m not surprised.  After eating a few, someone asked me, “you’re not allergic to bees, are you?”.  I said, “hmm… I really hope not!”

Since we’d stayed the extra day, it was decided that we’d go home the next morning.  All in all, it was an amazing trip.  I met a lot of people, learned a lot about the Yi, got VIP treatment, and had a good time.

On Sunday, I went for lunch at Zhang ChunDe’s house.  I showed up at 9am, and we spent three hours in his study reading books and discussing my research.  He lives with his wife, his daughter, and her husband and son.  His other daughter and her family, and two other couples and their children also came for lunch.  I must say, the boys who were around 7 or 8 were quite the小皇帝(litte emperors—spolied).  They wanted what they wanted and wouldn’t listen to their parents or grandparents without a big effort.  In any case, their parents made them perform their English, which they’re studying in school, in front of me, and then perform the piano.  I also played for them for a moment or so, and one of the boys played the accordion really quite well.  Zhang ChunDe invited me to the Yi Ten-Month Festival this upcoming Saturday, and also offered to take me to a village next week to begin my field research.  We are planning to go out to the village on Monday.  He said he’d go with me, find me a translator, a place to stay, make my arrangements and then leave me up there for the week.  I’m very grateful that he’s been so much help to me.  He’s a great contact to have made.

So, things are getting going.  I have already posted photos from last week, and I have a lot of videos which I will upload at some point.

New Video Gallery, Settling In, & Banana Smoothies!

**Before I begin, please notice that there is a new link above called “Video Gallery”, where I have posted and will continue to post videos from my trips.   (Also, I’ve posted a bunch of new photos in the “Photo Gallery” section.)**

I woke up this morning to the sound of elephants, followed by a lion roaring in the distance.  Despite the fact that I’m in Southwest China, there are no jungles within earshot; rather, it’s my proximity to the zoo that woke me.  It’s not always that loud, but every now and then a lion or elephant can be heard mildly in the distance.

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The night I moved in (last Wednesday), I met the agent and his coworker, the landlord and her parents at the apartment.  They treated me as a guest in what would soon be my home—asked me to have a seat, handed me a glass of water.  The father of the landlord, a very cute old Chinese man, then proceeded to take me through the apartment, showing me every knob and contraption as if I were an alien.  I let him have his fun.  “These are the light switches,” he said, flicking them on and off to make sure I knew that they controlled the light.  “This is the toilet.”  He flushed it.  “And this,” he began with an excited tone, “this is the television.”  I went to press the button on the TV to turn it on, showing him that I knew what was what.  “No!  You don’t need to do that.  You can use this!”  He was holding the remote.  He then sat down on the couch, and motioned for me to sit next to him, which I did.  He showed me that pressing the right arrow would make the channels go up, and pressing the left arrow would make the channels go down.  And then the whole system could be shut down like that, with the press of a button.  Truly amazing!

I signed another contract, noting all of the furniture in the place and specifying that I was responsible for paying what utilities I used.  I thanked them all, and then they left.  I was alone.  I have traveled on my own.  I’ve been by myself for long periods of time.  But I’ve never lived on my own before.  It’s a scary feeling to suddenly realize that you are alone in a place.  I immediately went to work putting out some of my own stuff, trying to make it feel like it was mine.  The next day I did some shopping, had the internet set up, and so on.  I spent the rest of the week getting used to my new apartment, cleaning, shopping, and consulting with experts in my research field, trying to more specifically plan my research project.

On Friday, I went to a pickup game of ultimate Frisbee at the Yunnan Nationalities University.  The game is organized by a group of expats—students and English teachers—who get together three times a week to play.  It was really nice to be around people, and get some exercise.  Though, it reiterated that I’m still very out of shape.  Interestingly, three of the people who play are friends of one of my friends from Harbin, and one of the girls is from my hometown, Cherry Hill.  It is truly a small world.  When it got too dark to play, we all headed out for dinner at a Muslim restaurant on WenLin Jie (the main expat street).  It really was a good feeling to not be eating dinner alone, and I think that I’ll probably go play ultimate with them at least once a week.

Today, I slept in, and then decided to go to the Second Hand Market to look for a bike and an electric oven.  It seems that the majority of the second hand markets in the city have already been closed down and demolished.  The only one that I could tell for sure was still standing was one by the airport.  I hopped on a bus, and headed for the market, forgetting that the street approaching the airport is currently under construction.  After being at a standstill in traffic for quite some time, I finally made it to my destination.  The Second Hand Market was not quite what I had expected.  There were rows and rows of crap:  cheap crap, broken crap, fake crap, stolen crap, old crap, and pornographic crap.  I tried to haggle for a bike, but the prices they were asking were ridiculous, and they looked at me like I was crazy when I told them what I was willing to pay.  What’s more, there were no ovens in sight.  (Chinese people are not too big on the whole baking thing, and microwaves seem to have filled their heating of food needs.)  So, I left slightly defeated, and pushed my way onto another bus to wait in traffic.

After getting home, I had a banana smoothie across the street from my apartment.  The good news is that they deliver.  So, if I am in desperate need of a banana smoothie, and I’m too lazy to walk downstairs and directly across the street, they will come to me!  I plan to start attending a class or two this week, as well as posting ads for a language consultant to help me begin my research.  I’m slowly getting used to life here, and I’m also planning some trips (research-related, of course).  As I mentioned above, I have posted a bunch of photos and videos—look for the new “Video Gallery” link on the interface above, or click “Videos” on the sidebar!

Snow in Beijing(?!?) & Coming to Kunming

My week in Beijing was spent with friends—drinking, eating, exploring.  We went to the Olympic area to take photos of the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube.  I met a friend’s friend’s friend there, a Chinese guy named Jack, who had volunteered during the Olympics.  He said that his job had been to explain to people how to use a western-style toilet (not the most glamorous of jobs).  In WuDaoKou (a popular expat area near the Universities), what had once been carts selling pirated DVDs, were now carts selling pirated books!  They’re probably onto something.  Nowadays, movies can easily be downloaded for free.  No need to spend Y5-10 on a disk that might not even work.  Books on the other hand!...  Who wants to sit in front of their computer and read a book?  Besides, DVDs are all equally priced, but it seems perfectly logical to pay more for a larger book (even though they probably pay an even cost).  Their selection wasn’t bad at all, actually.  Copies of Dan Brown’s newest novel, along with actually good and interesting books filled the carts.  I bought copies of Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, and Lolita by Nabokov for a total of Y40 (about $6 USD)—not sure if I overpaid.  I would have bought even more had I had more room in my luggage.

Halloween was fun but not so Halloween-y.  I went out with some friends for drinks and then to KTV (karaoke).  Every expat club and bar in the city seemed to be having a Halloween party, and flocks of people crowded the streets dressed in the typical costumes—fake blood, lots of makeup, sexy goth for many of the girls, and so on.  In my friend’s apartment complex, many of the Chinese children were enjoying the Western holiday as well, storming through the halls trick or treating.

It was a rainy, cold night.  My last night in Beijing.  I woke up the next morning to a blanket of snow covering the rooftops of the city.  Snow in Beijing?!?  On Halloween?!?  Something didn’t seem right.  As far as I knew, it hadn’t even really snowed in Harbin yet.  Well, as it turns out, something wasn’t right.  The Chinese government had been seeding clouds (making it rain) since just prior to the Olympics, in the hopes of clearing out some of the pollution then, and ending droughts.  Beijing had recently been seeing a dry spell, and the government meteorologists saw fit to take action.  Unfortunately, someone forgot to check the temperature.  What they hoped would be rain, changed overnight to snow.  Check out this article for more details.  (And just in case you’re wondering, despite the pollution, the snow still falls white.)

While I normally enjoy snow, the timing wasn’t very good, as my flight to Kunming was scheduled to leave at 2pm.  After some goodbyes and a two-hour delay, during which time I got to reading my new books, I was on my way to Kunming, with no place to stay, and very little concept of the city.  We landed at around 7:30pm.  And I shuffled out of the airport to find a taxi.  The Lonely Planet guide came in handy, and I found a hotel just by the Green Lake Park (a nice park in the center of the city right near the universities).  It seemed like an ideal place to start out.

The next morning I went to my school to report my arrival and begin my registration.  I had a government-mandated medical exam on Tuesday.  It cost around Y320, and I’d heard that it can be a long process.  Fortunately, I had the luck to arrive a half-an-hour prior to lunch.  Everyone, therefore, seemed to be rushing me through.  They gave me a form to carry around, and I went room by room until there weren’t any more blanks to be filled in.  They began by checking my blood pressure, then down the hall for an EKG (they put metal clamps on my ankles and wrists, and a bunch of squeeze-suction sensors on my chest—I felt like I was about to be tortured).  Next door, they instructed me to take off my shirt for an UltraSound—she squeezed the gel all around my abdomen and quickly checked all sides of me. I asked her if I was pregnant, to which she responded with a perfectly serious face that men could not be pregnant and that my uterus wouldn’t be in that place anyway.  Across the hall, I had a chest X-Ray, then upstairs for a urine test.  A flimsy clear plastic Dixie-like cup with no cover was provided, which I then had to fill up on the next floor up and carry back downstairs (I did my best not to spill).  Finally, a blood test—5 vials and no Band-Aid.  Overall, it took 20 minutes and gave me an interesting view of medical exams in China.

The rest of my week was spent eating and apartment hunting.  This week I’ve had Indian food, Thai food, Yunnan-style hotpot, some traditional Kunming noodles, Hui muslim cuisine, pizza, and so on.  Apartment hunting has not been a fun process.  I think that I’ve looked at about 20 apartments.  I wanted to be relatively close to the center of the city, near some expats, and someplace with at least one separate bedroom (preferably two).  I looked at a number of places to the northeast of the city center, which I later deemed to be too new and too far.  Then, I found a complex just to the west of the city center called ThinkUK, with a good balance of expats and well-to-do Chinese families, some restaurants, a café, and plenty of security.  It seemed like a good bet, but the only suitable place I could find was on the first floor, and it didn’t seem that safe.

I also looked around the Green Lake area (closer to the universities), and saw a lot of old, Chinese-style apartments, many with only squatter toilets.  Finally, yesterday, after consulting about 8 agents and being ready to settle for the first-floor place in ThinkUK, I got a phone call from an agent about a place near the universities.  I told him I didn’t want to meet, because I was too busy, and he guilted me into it by explaining how hard he’d worked to find this place for me.  (In China, agents only make money if they find you a suitable apartment, in which case you pay them one month’s worth of rent.)  I agreed to look at it, even though I wasn’t expecting much.

It was off of YuanXi Road, a crowded food street right by the east (?) gate of YunDa (Yunnan University) and right up the road from Yunnan Minzu Daxue (Yunnan Nationalities University—where I’m affiliated).  The building was set back from the main road, and was actually fairly quiet.  It backed up to a tree- and flower-covered hill, which I believe (on the other side), is home to a temple and a zoo.  The apartment was on the 5th floor with no elevator, and I was beginning to regret meeting the agent.  When we arrived, however, it was actually quite nice.  Spacious and comfortable, three bedrooms and a bathroom with a western toilet.  The kitchen seemed old but usable, and it had a brand new washing machine and refrigerator.  The back windows look out onto the hill, covered in trees and flowers, but still letting in some light.  They quoted me a monthly price, and I left and considered it for a while.  I called the agent a few hours later, and offered him a monthly price Y500 lower than their quoted price.  He consulted with the landlord, called me back and told me it was too low.  So, I raised my offer by Y100.  He said they’d talk it over and let me know in the morning.

This morning, I called him and he said they didn’t want to rent it to me anymore.  My offer was too low, and I wasn’t staying for long enough time to make it worth it.  I told him to raise my offer by another Y100, and then ask the landlord again.  A few hours later, I still hadn’t heard back.  I texted the agent and told him to let me know as soon as possible, because I was going to make an offer on another place.  (Negotiation games are frustrating.)

Meanwhile, I went to a Bird & Flower Market in ‘Old’ Kunming, filled with caged birds, cats, and dogs.  Some of the animals seemed very scared and it was kind of sad.  Oddly, I failed to locate any flowers.  A man on the street told me the market was much smaller now than it had once been.  A bit later I found a piano hall, and practiced for a little while.  I was beginning to lose hope.  About halfway through the third movement of moonlight sonata, however, I got a call from my agent, and he told me that if I agreed to pay all ten months upfront they’d rent it to me.  I told him that wasn’t possible, but that I’d like to meet with him in his office to discuss it.  I cut my practice session short and headed back to his office by Green Lake Park.  After a bit of waiting, negotiating, mutual lying, and explaining how I didn’t have so much money because of the distribution of my scholarship, we agreed on 3 months upfront, I put down a security deposit and scheduled another meeting for the following morning to sign a contract.  This is the first time that I’ve looked for an apartment, and it didn’t help that the whole process was carried out in Chinese in an unfamiliar city.  All in all, it’s been a frustrating week, and the sooner I can move out of this hotel and into an apartment, the better.

(I owe photos and more interesting descriptions/stories.  I’ll find time after I move in on Monday or Tuesday.)

P.S.  The weather here is amazing!!!  Blue skies (mostly), mild temperatures, and lots of sunshine.  I really enjoy this city, and once I settle into my apartment and finish registering, I’m sure I’ll have a chance to explore it and really enjoy my time here.