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Jinzhou is the closest city to the Development Zone (where I reside), in fact it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins (apart from the toll booth on the highway, I mean). Yet I had never been there before, because the larger and glitzier Dalian is not much further away. So I was slightly surprised to find a genuine chinese city right on my doorstep. Unlike the infant Development Zone, Jinzhou actually feels lived-in. Wandering around the apartment buildings, I also saw small vegetable gardens, which I've never seen in the Development Zone.
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| Nothing growing in winter, of course. |
In the middle of town is a big round-about, with the largest department stores clustered around it. Some people were watching a man in leather sing pop songs as part of a promotion for some kind of beauty product, but I was more impressed with the rooster I found nearby. Perhaps a fugitive from the chopping block, the cord tied to his leg was not connected to anything. As I knelt down to take a photo, a passing woman commented, "Haven't you ever seen things before?" I don't know if she expected me to understand her or not, but I cheerfully replied, "No I haven't!". At this, this boy trailing after her asked if I was from England, which is a nice change because people usually guess that I'm either American or Russian.
A further difference between the Development Zone and Jinzhou is that the latter has a park. Chinese parks are typically large areas with paths, trees, lakes, games, and even fairground rides in many cases. People go there to walk, talk, exercise, sing, or just hang out. The Development Zone has a few nice hills which are a good place for a stroll, but I think their function is different to a park. Until recently, there was a small area of grass and trees not far from my home where I once saw somebody practising taiji, but now it has been bulldozed to make way for apartment blocks. Jinzhou's park looked a bit drab in the winter, but there were still a few people there playing on the frozen lake.
I didn't have a map for Jinzhou, I just walked, got lost, and then somehow made it back to the bus station with the help of some directions from a street cleaner who greeted me in chinese and then seemed surprised that I understood her.