July 14 – Liam’s Sweet Sixteen

Happy Birthday Liam! We woke up and Skyped with Liam, who is officially 16 in China though it’s still the night before his birthday back in Indianapolis. Today is a lazy day – breakfast in the lavish breakfast buffet on the ground floor of the White Swan, followed by a tour of Shamian island with 4 families from our travel group – the Marshes, the Corns, the Vanderhorns, the Evans-Cohens, and us. We visited the shop where the babies’ visa photographs were taken, and the medical clinic where children were checked prior to returning to the United States. We then dove into the seedy shops of Shamian island, where receipts are nonexistent and bargaining is ubiquitous. I get really stressed out in such contexts, but it helped to be in a group. After our shopping was officially done (I hope it’s done – I eventually just petered out) – we grabbed a quick swim, then a quick lunch – then we just hung out and read by the pool and explored the park next door to the hotel. We’ll enjoy a dinner tonight with the families who are still here – then early to bed to be out the door by 5:30 to catch the ferry to Hong Kong! It’s been a wonderful trip.

July 13 – Shamian Island and the Beautiful White Swan

Not much of import happened en route to the train station from Maoming. Emblematic of this is the fact that my camera was covered with condensation when attempting to take photographs of our guide, Ben, and our driver Mr. Oh – they look completely shrouded in fog. I’m wallowing in a sea of mucous, which makes sharing a train with the Evans-Cohen clan rather uncomfortable. I confine myself to a corner of the ‘soft berth’ – using a saturated cloth handkerchief to try to stem the tide. Five and half hours passed relatively quickly and we were back to the scaldingly-hot and chaotic Guangzhou train station – searching for the blue Lotus flag. Our guide, Jocelyn, brought us back to the White Swan and checked us in. After a swim in the pool and a ‘German cold cut’ bread thing from the neighboring deli – we’re feeling human again and ready to explore.

The White Swan is just as it was in 1999 – save for the absence of Christmas decorations and the presence of significantly more adopted babies with special needs. We’re surprised by how many adoptive families we see – most of whom are toting older brothers and siblings, often also from China. We dabbled in a bit of shopping, but my cold is raging and we quickly gave up and retreated to our soft beds. I’ve been downing Chinese orange juice (think ‘Tang’ accompanied by a bunch of pulp) and trying to lay low to get over this weird virus.

July 12 – Back Home Again in Xinyi City

Xinyi City is a county-level city within the Prefecture of Maoming. It’s about 100 km from downtown Maoming and reached by a relatively new freeway in about 90 minutes. We met Ben and Mr. O at 8:15 to begin our journey north into the rolling hills and small mountains that surround Xinyi and that border the province of Gaungxi (ironically we were pretty close to Xinyi when we were in Guilin, but we could not reach it because there are very few roads that pass through the mountains – it is faster to fly to Guangzhou and take the train to Maoming). The road to Xinyi reminds me a bit of the roads in Florida. We are at about the latitude of Mexico City and it is very hot. The road is flanked by rice paddies, banana farms, lychee and dragon eye tree farms, and mango, and large cattle (and an occasional chicken) are easily spotted along the roads. Maoming has fewer than 1% minority groups (most people are Han Chinese) but Eliza looks so much like Rose Corn and Eve Rosenthal (both of whom were from near Maoming) that we’re pretty sure that her birth family must be from the Yao tribe (or a related tribe with more Indian/Vietnamese-looking features).

Xinyi City has benefited from China’s economic successes, which is very reassuring to see. The City has 1.1 million residents (Maoming has 7 million) and there is a great deal of construction going on everywhere. We drove by the orphanage originally without recognizing it – but then immediately noticed the courtyard where we had parked 10 years ago. Back then the courtyard was riddled with chickens and trash – this time it’s much more like a parking lot. We were escorted to the 3rd floor, where the reception area had been remodeled (and air conditioned!). We were introduced to Mr. Hu, who has been the physician for the orphans since 1984¸ and who now also serves as Director (as well as an administrative position with the Office for Civil Affairs). He was accompanied by 2 women in their late 20’s/early 30’s – who now serve as Assistant and Associate Directors (the previous men have now moved to other positions). The Evans were much more prepared than we and brought photographs from 1999 – which we spent much time going through. Just about everyone from that time has moved on, though the Associate Director had been employed in 1999 and had helped bring the babies to Guangzhou (she indicated that she remembers the trip well because their van had gotten a flat tire).




We were presented with the ‘official folders’ for each of the girls, which contained copies of all of our adoption documents, medical records, and finding site information. We already had copies of all of these documents except for one – the police report, which Ben translated for us. Eliza was found on the Duotong bridge by a woman whose name is in the police report. She had called the police, and the police brought Eliza to the orphanage. Anna was actually found by one of the more senior nannies present in our 1999 photographs, who has since retired – this was a terrific bit of new information for her to find out. We took many photographs of these documents and the staff were very kind and generous in answering our questions. We were invited to visit one of the rooms where children were playing, but were asked not to take any pictures indoors- this was a huge treat and I think that Eliza especially enjoyed interacting with the children, some of whom spoke a few words of English. We were told that in 1999 there were about 70 children living at the orphanage – today there are about 50 (and 40 have been adopted in the United States – others have gone to Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, and Denmark). Most of the children residing in the orphanage today have handicaps, though many of these were correctable (there was a beautiful little girl who is being adopted next month who has a hand deformity – but who otherwise is perfect). The older girls were helping with caring for the younger girls and all of the older girls seemed very happy and kind. The babies cried quite a bit and some seemed quite delayed (which they probably were) – but it seemed that there were plenty of toys and food. In front of the orphanage, the staff had created a beautiful red banner which read ‘welcome back Yuxiang and Yuyu’ and we took several pictures there. Though I had been quite concerned about this visit, it couldn’t have gone better. We also learned that the older girl (of about 8 or 9) who held Eliza in 1999 in one of our pictures has now been married and is living in her own home with her own daughter – this was a great epilogue to our collection of pictures from 1999.

After leaving the orphanage we traveled to the Duotong Bridge (Eliza’s finding site) and the gate for the Ministry of Civil Affairs (Anna’s finding site) to take pictures. Both places were buzzing with people and clearly were ‘safe’ places in which babies would be found very quickly. I’m quite convinced that whoever decided that they couldn’t afford to take care of Eliza – whether it was a grandparent or parent – wanted her to be found quickly and brought to safety. We met an elderly gentleman at the Civil Affairs gate who was very happy that we had returned. He spoke to both girls at length and Ben translated that he was asking them to study hard and do well in school so that they could help to connect the US and China in the future. We received many ‘thumbs up’ signs and the director commented that they never worry about the girls who are adopted to the United States because he knows they receive good educations and are well cared for.




Following our tour of the finding sites we visited a beautiful hotel in Xinyi City that was built only 1 year ago. We first had tea in a private room, followed by a lavish lunch at which both Anna and Eliza were presented with beautiful jade necklaces (and we presented our own gifts to Mr. Hu, the Director). The lunch was lovely – though it was a bit surreal that a replay of the final game of the world cup was playing on a wide-screen TV in the background. We were able to continue asking questions of the staff…and the staff asked whether Eliza did well in school (yes), and if the babies were good babies and well behaved when we brought them home (yes, again). Eliza asked whether the children in the orphanage celebrate holidays – it appears that they do, and that local families and people from schools around Xinyi participate in these parties. Xinyi also appears to now have some foster families, which is great. Mr. Hu also indicated that most of the adoptions from Xinyi are domestic at this time – with children staying in China. We had several more toasts and photographs, and the girls were told that they would always be ‘relatives’ and welcome to visit/stay in Xinyi. The staff also seemed quite pleased that the 5 families who adopted from Xinyi in 1999 see each other every 2 years and have remained connected, even though we live far apart. We agreed that we would try to collect funds from our travel group to purchase a piece of equipment for the orphanage – they need both an air conditioner and a washing machine.




Following lunch, Ben and Mr. Oh drove us up to a beautiful pagoda on a mountain that overlooks Xinyi City for more pictures, and so that the girls could run around a bit. We also stopped at one of Xinyi’s many jade stores (Xinyi is famous for jade, fruit production, and mountain chickens). As Eliza needed to use their restroom, I felt obligated to buy something – I picked up a jade bangle for 500 yuan ($75) which Eliza thinks is fake…but that I think is a beautiful color. Hopefully she’ll like to wear it when she’s older. The tour guide (probably also worrying that it is fake) asked the shopkeeper to throw in a couple of rings for Eliza and Anna. I’m now trying to repress the potential fakeness…in a weird way, I’m a fake ‘Xinyi mother’ so maybe it’s quite fitting that my jade bangle is masquerading as well.
Back in Maoming my 2 weeks of trying to hold things together to make it through the orphanage visit completely collapsed and I have a full-fledged cold. We walked around the downtown area and found dinner in a little restaurant and looked half-heartedly for a suitcase, but gave up and returned for an early bedtime. My strategy is to drink a lot and sleep as much as possible to make it through the rest of the trip. Tomorrow morning we’re on a train back to Guangzhou and 2 nights at the incredibly lavish White Swan Hotel.

Sunday, July 11 – Back to Guangdong

At 6:10 AM we were whisked by our guide, ‘Bing’ to the Guilin airport to catch a 9:20 flight to Guangzhou. Transit was uneventful and we made it in plenty of time, munching on boxed breakfasts prepared by the Sheraton. In Guangzhou we were met by our guide, ‘Philip’ who took us through the free market. The sights and smells were as overwhelming as they were 10 years ago, though there were far fewer beggars and animals were primarily sold as pets – not food (though we cringed at the small cages holding upwards of 15 puppies in a hot cage with no water). We had lunch at a restaurant famous for its moon cakes, then were whisked to the train station for the 6-hour trip to Maoming (where I got caught up on my writing!).




In Maoming we were picked up by our guide, Ben, and our driver, “Mr. O.” – both of whom were exceedingly nice. We are staying in the International Hotel of Maoming, which has a beautiful lobby but very 1970-esque rooms…and I’m pretty sure that it’s frequented by prostitutes, as well as business clientele. We were exhausted and went to sleep early for our big day tomorrow!

Saturday, July 10 – Kung Pao Chicken and Cha

On our last morning in Guilin we started off our day at the Cloud 9 Cooking School. The adults tromped up to the roof and donned chef hats and aprons and proceeded to be taught the fine art of preparing kung pao chicken and beef with peppers and onions. I’m proud to say that it was really just like my own cooking at home, with one exception. We each had our own wok positioned over its own gas burner which gave me wonderful heat control - my own wok never gets so hot…and can never be cooled down incredibly quickly to regulate the speed at which vegetables are cooked. I also learned to fry dumplings without burning them and having them spill their contents into the wok. This was lunch. I was hoping that the children could cook, but it turns out that there are too many knives, raw scary meats, and flames for it to be even remotely safe.



After lunch we piled into a van to tour the Guilin Tea Research Institute – a tea farm developed to promote research on the medicinal value of teas and to develop new variants of tea. We participated in a formal tea tasting ceremony and spent the obligatory 30 minutes in the gift shop (again, didn’t buy anything). It was fascinating to see how tea is harvested, kneaded, fermented, and dried. I’ve also now learned that my Chinese manners are horrendous – one should never put the tips of chopsticks in one’s mouth; one should never cross one’s chopsticks; if you drink your tea in one gulp you are a water buffalo; if you drink your tea in two gulps you are a donkey; if you eat everything on your plate you’re indicating that you didn’t have enough food, etc. etc. Then back to our cushy Sheraton hotel and a pre-dinner swim in the exceedingly warm pool.



Dinner was a lavish ‘farewell feast’ at an excellent restaurant about a 5 minute walk from the Sheraton in Guilin. There were many toasts, a few tears (mostly among the children who didn’t want to leave each other), ‘Great Wall’ red wine (yuck), and excellent food. We turned in early after dinner because we need to catch an early flight to Guangzhou.

July 9 – Friday on the Li River

This morning we left the cushy Sheraton and piled back on the bus to drive an hour to the Li River where the flat-bottomed riverboats are launched. Because my group has a reputation for being spoiled, averse to heat and squatty potties, and generally a bit whiney…we were upgraded to a river boat that had western toilets, air conditioning, and a buffet lunch. I would have preferred a simple bamboo raft. The scenery was stunning and my camera really didn’t capture it (though I tried – particularly the point on the river that’s featured on a 20 yuan bank note). The people of Guangxi province include many minority groups, including the Yao, which look to me a lot like Eliza. She doesn’t notice this, and I think is generally annoyed with me any time that I point such things out. We saw many fishermen and farmers along the river banks, including fishermen that fish with cormorants (they tie little nooses to their necks and let them dive to catch fish – the ‘leash’ keeps the cormorant from swallowing the fish, which seems a bit cruel to me!). Though the air is clean and the water generally is clear, rural China is definitely more poor. The street vendors are quite aggressive and we’re perpetually warned to beware of pickpockets. Rafters would actually paddle to the riverboat and attach to it with hooks like pirates - all to try to sell us fake jade and other trinkets, and walking on streets is quite tiring – I devolve from polite smiles to ‘bu xie xie’ (no thank you) to ‘bu yao’ (don’t want it) to a scowl + sunglasses. Poor Eliza is fascinated by the beggars, which makes her a sitting duck for fiscal assaults. Wei assures us that most of them are faking it…but we saw a few people with such extreme deformities that it would be impossible to fake such things.





In the afternoon, the children swam at a rather algae-infested pool outside of the Yangshuo New West Street Hotel (we traveled 44 miles down the river so we’re staying in Yangshuo for 1 night before returning to the cushy Sheraton full of Italians and pancake breakfasts).



We had dinner for the ‘Mei You Café’ (very yummy), followed by a trip to the famous Yangshuo ‘Impression Show’, which is difficult to describe. Basically several hundred members of minority groups where traditional costumes and act out a traditional folktale, using the Li River as a stage. The music was magnificent and the use of light, sound, smoke, fire, and water was beautifully choreographed (actually, the director is a famous Chinese movie director whose name escapes me…who choreographed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics). The mountains were lit up – somehow – with beautiful colored lights and we sat outside under the stars and mosquitoes. It was particularly impressive that none of the actors were professionals – they all were farmers who also were members of various minority groups – including their water buffalo and cormorants. The children were very into it, despite the heat.

July 8 – Guilin and the Reed Flute Caves

Our American compatriots were dissatisfied with the hotel in Guilin (which was decidedly a few notches down on the hotel pole in comparison to other places we’ve stayed). A few people who are sensitive to mold got sick and didn’t sleep at all – so Louie upgraded us (at his expense) to a Sheraton hotel with 5 stars. It was a bit embarrassing (and we were totally cool with the first hotel)…but the Sheraton is much cleaner and in a better part of the city.

We first made a stop at the obligatory adopto-tourism cultural education (this time on how silk factories work) + trip to the government store (still refuse to buy anything). It was amazing watching the silk cacoons be stretched out into layers. The women who work there can do it effortlessly...but our children obviously don't have the knack:




Guilin is quite tropical and very beautiful – it is famous for its unique mountains, sparkling water, beautiful rocks, and caves. The craggy mountains are made of limestone, which erodes over time to create the beautiful shapes. Waterfalls are abundant. Rice is grown here and we’re finally seeing lots of rice paddies. The mountains are stunning – just like the picture Sally gave us that’s in our bathroom…craggy and beautiful. The reed flute cave was like nothing we’ve ever seen. Supposedly the population of Guilin was saved during attacks by the Japanese because they hid in the caves and went undetected. The only thing that was odd is that they’re a bit Disney-esque. Flute music is piped through them (which is lovely) and colored lights are positioned throughout (double-lovely), and there even was a light show inside the ‘crystal palace’ room that involved a soap bubble machine that the kids loved….but it’s too clean – too beautiful – no cobwebs, bats, or bugs (and the street vendors outside the cave entrance are very aggressive). Very surreal.





We lunched on rice noodles and had a pretty quiet afternoon – switching hotels, getting caught up on email, and swimming in the pool. For dinner I took Eliza down some streets outside of the hotel to eat at a busy noodle/hot pot restaurant (we were told to aim for restaurants that were crowded and noisy because the food would be good). Her dinner (which I just had a taste of) was 15 rmb…about $1.75 – there are perks to being in the more remote regions of Guangxi province! We also walked along the Li riverbank and saw many people dancing, strolling along the water..and swimming (I let Eliza wade in her sandals even though the tour guide warned us not to go in the water because of strong currents.) And THEN I got caught up on this journal!

July 7 – Qing and Chen Hui…Wo qing ni chi fan

In the morning Eliza went off to the Panda Preserve, armed with money, bug spray, my iPhone camera, and bottles of water (thanks to the ‘it takes a village’ mentality shared by my co-travelers, she’s well looked after). I met Qing and Hui in the lobby and they whisked me off in a cab to visit the Wuhou shrine – an incredible series of temples and gardens in Chengdu built in 161 AD, and then rebuilt in the 1600s after damage by fire. Hui hired me my own English-speaking guide and practically throws flower petals in front of me as I walk. We returned to the hotel at the time when the children returned from the Panda preserve and had tea in the bar (which Chen Hui evolved to ‘high tea’ by ordering an enormous fruit plate, cakes, and pastries for me to eat). Hui and Qing are very disappointed that they cannot take me to dinner (I can’t imagine how I could possibly do it!) so a quick consultation with the tour guide led to the decision that they join us at the restaurant we are scheduled to eat lunch in. While Eliza rode on the bus, Chen Hui took me in a private car with a driver that works for his colleague in Chengdu – who also serves as our translator. We followed the bus through crowded streets to a lovely restaurant, where the tour group sat together on the first floor. Chen Hui had arranged that WE eat in a private dining room upstairs, where he proceeded to order incredible delicacies for which I don’t know the names…but everything was shaped like something else and served on silver platters with Chinese characters written on them (using sauce) in calligraphy. I know that we ate a whole fish (delicious), smoked salmon with some green vegetable arranged to look like carrots, soup, chicken, little balls of something fruity that were arranged to look like a bunch of grapes…endless tea in tiny cups, and cake. I couldn’t possibly begin to make a dent and I hope that I didn’t insult them. They both are doing very well in their jobs – they both have homes, private drivers, and very high-ranking positions with lots of travel (Qing is responsible for the conservation budget, which is interesting – she just allotted $1 billion rmb for purchasing trees to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions). We talked a lot about the economy and how China is becoming a leader in ‘green’ construction and environmentally sound policies.









We made our goodbyes outside the restaurant – which was very sad. We must take out a second mortgage so that I can send them something worthy of the way that they treated us. Chen Hui wishes that Richard were here – he can’t say enough about how kind and good Richard is (and I agree!).

In the afternoon we visited an embroidery factory and then shopped for vegetables at the free market, which we later cooked in a ‘hot pot’ restaurant (sort of like fondue, with lots of spices). On to the airport, and a VERY delayed flight…we didn’t reach our hotel in Guilin until 2:20 AM – yikes.

July 6 – Farewell to the Qu Family

In the morning Mrs. Qu cooked another lovely meal with fresh fruit and vegetables from her garden. Eliza was feeling a bit sad this morning and Mrs. Qu smothered her with hugs and kisses and told her how beautiful she was. We showed Mrs. Qu pictures of our family on our computer, including pictures of skiing and Tortolla, which she and her husband admired. We learned a bit about the community from our tour guide, and it appears that so much of the wealth of the village is due to Mrs. Pan, the original folk artist who’s trained many farmers in ‘peasant painting’ – we bought several of these prints in Guangzhou in 1999 and they’ve become very famous, even appearing on postage stamps. Mrs. Qu and several of her friends accompanied us to the town square with our tour guide and when the tour guide asked if any of us had questions for the others, Mrs. Qu asked that the tour guide tell us how much they appreciate us adopting our daughters, and that it is clear (from our pictures) that we treat our daughters even better than our biological children…which made most of the mothers cry – which then subsequently led to Mrs. Qu crying and hugging everyone again! We toured Mrs. Pan’s art studio and I bought 2 of her original (small!) prints for Eliza. After a quick (very hot!) game of basketball with some of the local children, we returned to Mrs. Qu’s house for a tour of her lovely vegetable/fruit garden and another delicious lunch – much better than the restaurants we’ve been visiting. We also learned that our pillows were made of the husks of buckwheat seeds – everything here is reused and made into other things –Mrs. Pan had even created some beautiful art from corn stalks that were dried in the sun and flattened with irons. We were sad when it was time to leave the village – this was definitely a highlight of the trip.





Moving 34 people anywhere quickly is nearly impossible, so we began our trek to the airport for the flight to Chengdu shortly after leaving the village in Xi’an. Chengdu was less than an hour away by plane, and also one of the cities that is farthest West in China. The flight was fast and we were soon off to the Tianfu Sunshine Hotel – where Zhang Qing and Chen Hui were waiting for us in the lobby.

No words can express how welcoming Hui and Qing are, and how good it is to see them so far away. They literally showered us with beautiful gifts and had great plans to show us the Szechuan opera and have a lavish dinner (at 9:30 PM) – but I apologized that I needed Eliza to get to sleep and that I needed to stay with her. We agreed to meet in the morning…stay tuned.

July 5 – Biking on the Wall, Terra Cotta Wonders, and the Faux Farm

This morning we discovered that the formidable city wall of Xi’an actually has a road on top of it (this is hard to see from the ground) and you can stroll along it…or rent bicycles! (which we did) Eliza and I took off with Benjamin, whose parents were worried that they couldn’t keep up with him. We originally thought we could do the entire city wall in the 35 minutes we had…but when we learned it was 9 miles, we gave up (these were 1-speed bikes with deflated tires and we rode on cobblestones). It was great to exercise for a bit – and the children had a great time.
We then went to a factory to learn about how terra cotta soldiers (and now, their replicas) were made. The factory actually had huge brick ovens that were walled over for 6 days to bake the terra cotta – we saw the contents of one for which the wall had just been broken. Still can’t figure out why a nice oven door wouldn’t do, but maybe that’s part of the mystique. The children got to make their own soldier using a mold and fresh clay…but Eliza’s fell apart when the mold opened up and all of them were promptly squished, given that we couldn’t hang out by the oven for 6 days. We were quite amused by the opportunity that one had to send the factory a series of photographs of one’s head, from which a mold could be made – yes, there’s even a terra cotta President Obama:



Obligatory shopping was next, seduced by ‘5 star western toilets’ (I got Eliza one of those black ancient instrument blow-ey things that we heard in a concert yesterday and that I could tell that she’d been coveting…and we got a few things to give as gifts.). Following a delicious Xi’an lunch that included traditional noodles, sweet potatoes, and chicken, we were off to the Terra Cotta soldiers museum. We learned about the history of the emperor who created the terra cotta army to guard him after death, as well as the farmers who happened upon the buried soldiers when digging the well. One of these farmers, Mr. Yang, is now 80 years old and works part time at the museum (as ‘honorary Vice President’) we were able to meet him and have him sign a book about the archeological site (which alleviated my need to take constant pictures) ¬for a mere 150 yuan (23 bucks). We were able to enter 3 of the ‘pits’ where the pieces are still being excavated. The size (life-size!) and scale of the site was amazing, though it was dampened (literally) by the steaminess – there can’t be air conditioning around the pieces because they must remain the temperature of the earth around them. Pretty sticky.




We then piled back on the bus for an hour and twenty minute drive to the countryside, where we were scheduled to stay in farmhouses. Eliza has been harboring visions of milking cows, feeding chickens, and picking corn…which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Here’s my understanding. In the 1990s, the farmers living in this region began to create and sell folk art, called ‘peasant prints’ (we have several at home that I picked up in Guangzhou in 1999). This brought great wealth and fortune to the communities who sold them, who were then able to upgrade their homes to include more space. Shortly thereafter there was an introduction of the concept of creating ‘country retreats’ for foreigners and urban-dwelling Chinese who’d like a breath of fresh air after working in the cities. These farmers adapted their homes to become ‘certified hosts’ – sort of like our ‘bed-and-breakfast’ concept. Thus, our tour bus of 34ish people…plus one group of ‘People to People’ student ambassadors (I think) are staying in this village of about 130 people, distributed across about 30 homes. The homes typically are occupied by older adults who no longer actively farm (although they own a seed-planting business, using machinery). Many of them care for grandchildren visiting during the summer break.

We are staying with Mr. and Mrs. Qu, who couldn’t be kinder or more welcoming. We are here with another single mother, Mary, and her daughter Hannah, which works out great. The house has a living room, dining room, and bedroom on the first floor and a detached kitchen (to keep the house cool). We stay upstairs, where there are 2 bedrooms and a bathroom with western toilet and rather primitive shower (attached to a solar tank on roof) – i.e., it’s a Chinese mansion by typical ‘country’ standards. But it’s clean and comfortable and it’s clear that the people in this community fully embrace the notion of helping outsiders to appreciate life in the country. Mrs. Qu taught the girls to make dumplings (again, we were impressive with our knowledge of how to do it…and to pronounce jiaotze). Eliza and I were also able to translate fairly well, as communication is a challenge. We ate a delicious dinner (way too much food) and then gathered in the town square at 8:30 for folkdancing (again, Eliza and I knew all of the popular songs!). The girls danced…I did not – instead I talked with a lovely 15 year old girl with impeccable English who had all sorts of questions about how we lived in the United States…and Eliza played. It was a bit jarring when they switched from Chinese music to the ‘hokey pokey’, the Electric Slide, and the Macarana…but that really got the Americans going (again, not me). We then showered (interesting experience…only a washcloth to towel off in) and then slept – in a room with air conditioning and no winged insects at all..though the beds are very simple – I my pillow contains buckwheat husks (or something like that). Not much sleep for me…but that at least creates another blog entry for you to read!

July 4 – No Fireworks For Us…Independence Day in Xi’an

Xi’an is an ancient ‘small’ city (only 8M people) built within an enormous and intact city wall, one side of which is flanked further by a river. It contains ancient bell and drum towers, neighborhoods of minority groups (formed when people from Persia travelled along the Silk Road, helped to fight for the emperor, and then rewarded with the privilege of marrying Chinese women and settling in Xi’an). These minorities still practice Islam and eat no pork. Today was a whirlwind of art – first to an art museum to learn about calligraphy, traditional painting, and folk art (followed by the children being taught calligraphy). Eliza was the only one who knew how to hold a brush and paint characters (thanks to Chinese Culture Camp) and so she was invited to help the teacher. We then had a delicious lunch at one of the oldest hotels in Xi’an (where the Clinton family dined in the 90s)..then off to the Muslim neighborhood where we toured an ancient home replete with courtyards, female sleeping quarters, male sleeping quarters, and even an ‘introspection room’ where children were sent if they were naughty, to think of their bad actions – for 3 days! We heard a beautiful concert by 4 girls playing traditional instruments (2 wind, 2 string), then went to see a shadow puppet show about the monkey king. The children were told of how shadow puppets were formed (out of donkey skin) and how watching shadow puppet stories was like ‘TV’ for the emperor and his family.







Tonight all of the families except us are attending a traditional musical show, with 18 courses of dumplings served. We were surprised at the hotel by Lincoln (Zhao Fengjhou), one of the Finance Ministry officials who came to Indianapolis in 2004 and became our good friends. Lincoln is truly one of the nicest men we have ever met – he reminds me of Chen Zhe, from graduate school. He drove us in his car to a shopping square near the ancient bell tower to an incredible dumpling area, where we chatted (his English is excellent, despite his protestations to the contrary). He gave us beautiful gifts of calligraphy and paper cuts and basically treated us as if we were princesses. He delivered us back to the hotel, told us what an honor it was to see us (to which we pathetically tried to out-honor his honoring), and then he insisted on escorting us to our elevator car. Worst (best?) of all, we called my friend Qing (Zhang Qing) on his cellphone (it’s so good to hear her!) and she will be meeting us in Chengdu at our hotel (which I knew) …but will be joined by David, Scott, and Chenhui - - 3 other friends from 2004 – who are flying into Chengdu to see us as well. My pathetic stash of Indiana State Museum stationery is dwindling, and I fear we are the object of some ‘face-gaining’ competition…not to mention that we look like celebrities to the rest of our tour group. Eliza is being a trooper about all of this (despite the fact that she couldn’t swim when all the rest of her friends went to the pool). If the Chengdu entourage indeed assembles, I’m going to see if I can squeeze her into the Evans family for a day so that she can see the pandas…and I’ll hang out with Qing, etc. If they ever come back to the United States we will need to deploy Dylan in a plane to fetch them from New York (or wherever) and fly them back to the Conrad Hotel for caviar and champagne …or something.

July 3 – A Peek at Ordinary Life

Today is our last day in Beijing and we began it with a rickshaw ride through the Hutong area. Hutong is a traditional Mongolian word that means ‘deep well’ though now the word has evolved to be synonymous with alley. The deep wells were at the center of each Hutong, both for the water they provided for drinking, bathing, and washing (today, pipes are used, tapped into city water), and 400ish years ago – for their ability to keep fires under control. Hutong are neighborhoods that have remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years, with traditional homes built behind gated walls with courtyards. The number of posts on each gate represented the hierarchical position of the family (the emperor has 12 posts…middle-generals had about 4, and common people have 0 or 1 – meaning that when arranging marriages in historical times, one needed to stay ‘within one’s posts’. Only 25 Hutong have been preserved by the Beijing government at this time, and they are very valuable historically and financially (a large home within a Hutong could fetch $1 billion yuan…though people rarely sell or move, as by law a family can keep its residence for 75 years before moving/selling it to the government. We visited three homes --- one that had also served as a ‘model home’ during the Olympics. Our hostess was a 59 year old woman whose 92-year-old father owned their home (prior to that it had been owned by the uncle of the last emperor). It was a beautiful home, with pomegranate trees in the courtyard and several separate rooms – including the ‘happy room’ (private bathroom) – most people living in the Hutong must use public toilets, which is why younger generations tend not to live in them. We then entered a second home in which the children were taught about the art of kitemaking…and then they were able to make their own kites.




The third home was owned by a family of kung fu masters – the eldest son teaches martial arts in Houston and has appeared in several commercials (his dad showed us his picture on a water bottle). Half of our group (about 15) ate lunch at two tables in the family dining room, which we agreed was one of the most delicious meals we’ve eaten since arriving. There were tons of fresh vegetables, which had just been purchased at market stalls set up within the Hutong. It was a treat to get a glimpse of what everyday life is like, at least for some Beijing families. We see many many older people in the neighborhoods, some taking care of grandchildren, and others just chatting and playing mahjong. Compared to the last time we were in China, there are many very plump people – which is not healthy, but at least suggests that there is plenty of food.

The day was sweltering, so next we went to the government Pearl market…which was brilliantly organized. We started with a demonstration of how freshwater pearls were harvested from an oyster (and we each got to keep a pearl as a gift). The children were then whisked away to make beaded necklaces so that adults could shop. Ordinarily I hate such things, but the public restrooms were clean, ‘western’ (i.e., no squatting over terrifying holes in the floor), and the buildings were cool and very clean – with comfortable chairs, cool drinks, and smiling women everywhere. Though I am decidedly not a shopper, even I fell into gift-purchasing mode – so grateful to be cool, clean, and not needing to go to the bathroom. It was a terrific way to make it through the hottest part of the day.



Did I say hottest part of the day? That actually came next – when we were deposited at the Temple of Heaven to fly the earlier-before-crafted kites. The Temple of Heaven devolves into a Tower of Hell when the temperature is over 100 degrees and one’s water bottle tastes as if it had recently been heated in a microwave. The children gamely trotted about for several nanoseconds with their kites (which flew easily in the little heat thermals that bubbled up from the scalding courtyards). Older adults – seemingly oblivious to the heat – danced to popular music in a lovely park and played cards and mahjong along the long corridors of the temple – very fun to see. Sort of like a Knights of Columbus or Senior Center plunked down in the middle of an ancient historical monument – it’s clearly a popular hangout for retired folks. We learned that women in China can retire at (get ready) 45-50 years of old…and that men retire between 50 and 55, leaving a bunch of years (in this economy) for mahjong, dancing, and cards.




Dinner seemed to occur about 3 hours after lunch – no one was very hungry and the children were decidedly cranky. Though I had no intention of eating I just can’t resist tasting…everything looks so good. And when you ‘taste’ a chopstick or two full of each of 8-9 dishes….suddenly you feel like a not-so-happy Buddha in need of a nap. My general culinary caution has succeeded in weaning me off of the Tums, though poor Eliza rides the bus after every dinner. I hope it’s not bad to give her an adult dose of pink pepto-bismaley medicine, but it works like a charm.
This evening we experienced the largest train station in Asia…on the Saturday following the outset of the summer vacation break (which begins July 1). This translates to throngs of people taking trains out of Beijing, and another subway-like crowd experience, though this time with all of our luggage in tow and a cranky, overtired daughter. Our sleeper car (where I’m writing this now) is tiny, but cozy and clean. Although a pajama party is erupting around us – since all of the families traveling with us are in adjacent cars – I’m disregarding Richard’s voice in my head to let Eliza stay up, and making this child go to bed! We arrive at Xi’an at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

July 2 – The Forbidden City…and a Night on the Town with Wei

Tiananmen Square at 9 AM is buzzing with throngs of people – truly resembling the ‘largest public square’ that it has been built in any of the world’s cities. There is absolutely no mention of the student demonstrations of 1989 and we were actually instructed not to speak of them, except when alone on our bus. We felt like we were on the scene of a movie set, as the landmarks around the square are so iconic. We didn’t join the very long line to view Chairman Mao’s body, but instead went directly to the Forbidden City, which flanks Tiananmen Square. Chairman Mao’s huge face wears a benign smile as he views the entire scene from the wall around the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City truly has been a movie set (we must remember to watch The Last Emperor again on Netflix). But no movie has done it justice. The palace contains 1000 rooms, most of which are in the process of being restored. The detailed roof tiles, many sporting intricately carved animals that represent the ‘worth’ of the individual residing underneath them, were stunning. Visually appealing though all of this was, our pleasure was dimmed slightly by the sweltering heat and the crowds of street vendors eager to tackle a tour bus full of Americans – clearly in need of paper fans, colorful umbrellas, and sun hats, given the saturation of our clothes and hair. The gardens were full of ancient trees, flowers, rock formations, and pathways leading to pagodas…and thankfully, our cushy air-conditioned bus.

Lunch was traditional Beijing fried noodles made of wheat, vegetables, and fruit, which gave us a nice burst of energy that permitted us to tackle the Bird Cage and Water Cube in the Olympic Village despite the fact that the temperature had ratcheted up a few notches to ‘beyond-sweltering.’ Again, I’m going to resort to the picture-being-worth-a-thousand-words strategy.

In the evening, everyone in our group except for us went to view a Chinese Acrobat show…we met Wei Hao – the best Chinese teacher in the world…and ‘mei-mei’ to Sally and I. Wei is teaching English in Beijing and it was such a pleasure to spend time with her. Best of all, she released us from ‘tour-mode’ and we became ‘Beiging-ren’ (Beijingers) for the night. We started by stuffing ourselves (quite literally) into subway cars and heading back to Tiananmen Square to watch the nightly ceremony of the lowering of the flag. This ritual occurs every morning at dawn and every evening at sunset, with the time shifting ever so slightly each day as the earth revolves around the sun. Wei said we were so lucky, as yesterday’s rain had eradicated the smog, cooled the evening air, and provided us with a beautiful and rare-for-July blue sky dappled with cirrus clouds (see Eliza’s picture, below).




Quite a crowd gathers each time this ceremony occurs and Wei told us that it’s a ‘must-do’ whenever Chinese citizens visit the capital – it’s quite patriotic and Wei feels very proud of her country when she is there. We waited for about 45 minutes in our prime spot near the flagpole – during which I shot a particularly good photo of a little boy on his dad’s shoulders:



The ceremony begins with a squadron of soldiers marching in synchrony from the Forbidden City, across the street (where traffic is stopped) and up to the flagpole. Wei indicated that she thought all of the soldiers were incredibly handsome (I agree, but in a ‘son’ sort of way…guess that’s age)! The chief officer twists the flag into this beautiful shape that’s hard to describe, and then is joined by the remainder of the soldiers as they march again in synchrony back to the Forbidden City – singing a traditional marching song. It was a beautiful ceremony, with the sun setting and the people singing and waving flags. Several people asked to take a picture with Eliza and I (okay, just me) – which suggests that westerners typically don’t attend this ceremony. We’re so glad we did! We then had a lovely dinner of noodles and a broth with very smooth tofu in it, that Wei said is quite traditional in Beijing – and very healthy (a good antidote to heavy Peking duck). It was a perfect night and we’re so glad that we got to see Wei!

Apres Great Wall

Following the Great(est) Wall, there was the obligatory stop at the cloisonné factory. We learned about how copper pots and plates are fused together and painted with beautiful colors, then sealed in gold leaf. The government store prices were tempting, but I dread the thought of hauling stuff around for 14 days – so we abstained.

After a quick rest (which meant a dip in the pool for Eliza and email-checking for me) we were off to dine on Peking duck. Now Eliza has a bit of a thing for ducks, which is bordering on an obsession. She cringed at the big ovens (which were reported to cook 1000 ducks per day – this is one of the oldest duck recipes in the city and the founder was the chef for the emperor (i.e., the last emperor). She claimed that the happy-looking duck standing outside of the restaurant…and here, next to Eliza – had ears, which made it a freak. The restaurant was very fancy and we were treated to a delicious dinner…and I am sorry to report that Eliza relished every bit of duck that passed her lips (except for the duck jelly, which looked kind of gross). Benjamin, one of the children in our group turned 11 today, so our lovely dinner ended with a magnificent birthday cake covered in fruit and whipped cream. It was lit with what looked like a torch, which then proceeded to unfold into a ring of lit birthday candles shaped as the petals of a flower, which also played the birthday song – they’d sell like hotcakes in the US, but I’ve never seen anything like it (which probably means they’re not allowed, for some reason).