Journal: Life As I Know It

At SDA, it's easy to establish a weekly routine, but to maintain it for a second week is difficult! For a little while, it was just me and Yang Ying guarding the fort at the Guanting office. Mr Zhu was in Xining, and Jin Baoyuan's appearances have become rarer and rarer. For a long time he and Mr Zhu were the only full-time staff of SDA, and he used to come every day and often stay overnight, but recently there hasn't been much work for him to do. I worry for him, because if he loses this job then he might have to return to the life of a migrant worker like a lot of the able-bodied men in the villages. Before he started working for SDA, he had already been to just about every place in Qinghai and Xinjiang that my guidebook mentions, panning for gold, collecting caterpillar fungus, or working as a labourer. He might not have Yang Ying's education, but he speaks the local language and has the local knowledge that Yang Ying (and I) lack.

Jin Baoyuan and relatives
Some of Jin Baoyuan's relatives, including his wife (on the right) and his son (standing). Inset: the man himself.

Actually, none of us were very busy in Guanting this month. I translated a few documents, and drafted an application for a training project in greenhouse agriculture. And of course, converted SDA's project log into a database—once a geek, always a geek, and a computer geek can always find something to do! Apart from meeting up with some friends for Mid-autumn Festival (we went to a disco!) and visiting Mengda mountain lake during the National Day holiday, I spent most of my Guanting days in the office and the kitchen, then retired to my bedroom to read in the evenings. After finally finishing the classic modern novel Wei Cheng ("Walled City") by Qian Zhongshu, I have started reading a book of short stories about Bao Gong. Based on a real figure from the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127 AD), Bao Gong is an honest and just official amid a world of corruption.

Then Mr Zhu arrived back, and there was quite a rush for a few days: a visitor from Guizhou Province, dinners to attend, alcohol to drink. We also heaved a stove out of storage and set it up in the office, ready for the coming winter.

After that Yang Ying and I came back to Xining with Mr Zhu. Mr Zhu's parents came too, so that his father could have some medical tests. He has been sick, and the cause turns out to be Hepatitis B. Not uncommon in China, which is why I had a vaccination before I left Australia.

Chinese Acronyms

A common way to abbreviate long names in english is to make an acronym from the first letters of each word, but of course this is not possible with chinese characters. However, there are alternative methods to make shorter names in chinese, the most common being to pick out a few key characters. For example, Hepatitis B is yixingganyan ("B type liver inflammation"), but it is usually called yigan ("B liver"). "University" in chinese is daxue, literally "big study", hence Beijing University is shortened to beida, meaning "north big"—remember that Beijing means "northern capital"! And the mere three characters tuanweihui take the place of 14, the official name being "China Communist Youth League Grassroots Committee".

Mr Zhu's mother has gone home, but his father is still staying here. So Mr Zhu and I have to share a double bed. Zhuoya asked me if this was awkward, but I am so used to coping with anything new that China throws my way that I never stopped to consider whether it was awkward or inconvenient. Perhaps Zhuoya has lived in the city for too long, and has forgotten that in the villages several people often share a kang at night.

More awkward, although admittedly the most interesting thing that has happened this week, was going to the sauna a few nights ago—Mr Zhu's treat. It's not the first time that I've showered in front of a room full of people ("Look! A foreigner having a wash!"), but the full-body rub-down with an exfolliating pad was new to me. Lying there naked in the middle of the room, I wondered whether or not rub-downs in Australia are this "full-body". I accept that, since the fellow already had my knees fully spread, it would be a pity to miss the spot underneath my scrotum. But was it really necessary, when I was lying on my stomach, to conclude the rub-down with a quick exfolliation of my bum crack?

Last night it snowed. I still take photographs of snow. And mountains.

Today I went with Mr Zhu and his father to visit Mr Zhu's "monk uncle" at Xiazong temple not far from Ping'an. It seems that religion is alive and well in Western China, among the minority nationalities at least. It's not uncommon to see red-robed Tibetan Buddhist monks on the footpath in Xining, or to pass one riding a motorbike along a mountain road. Xiazong temple is no bygone relic. It was built by Mr Zhu's uncle himself, and only recently completed.

Standing in front of Xiazong Temple
Mr Zhu's father, Mr Zhu's "monk uncle", the other monk at the temple, and Mr Zhu.