Happy 60th Anniversary China!

Yesterday, October 1, 2009, China celebrated its 60th Anniversary as a Communist governed country.  There were phenomenal displays of pride and strength around the country.  Beijing was the obvious starting point.  I can honestly say I am probably the most ignorant expat when it comes to Chinese politics.  The presidents name is something like Hu and he seems well liked by the people of this mystical country.  I can say that he is much more photogenic then Chairman Mao.  That isn’t saying much but I judge by the way people make me feel, their aura  if you will. 

Here in Nanjing there were numerous activities around town to celebrate the day.  Parades and dinners during the day but the night was all about the fireworks.  One of the main displays was at Yuahaiti Nan Den, Rainflower Terrace, which is also the site of the Communist Martyr Museum and but a quarter of a mile from our apartment. We watched the fireworks from our north side terrace.  The fireworks were amazing and huge.  The display started at 8pm, remember 8 is a lucky lucky number and as it was the 60th Anniv. the fireworks went for 60 minutes.  Crazy I tell you.  I get bored with the boomers so I kept going out the the south side terrace to watch the show on the bridge that we overlook.  1000’s of Chinese lined up on the bridge to watch the show.  Bill and I choose to be  observers and not participate.  As American’s it just feels a bit bizarre celebrating communism.  My grandparents and great grandparents would never understand that option.  I can celebrate thought the advancements that the Chinese have made in the past 60 years.  My understanding of just the past 10 years the changes have been astronomical.  A kin to being a caveman and waking up in 2009.  The things that we think of as common place are still l ooked at here with mystery and unease.  

Take my bread machine.  I just inherited it from a family that was returning to the US and I was using it for one of the first times…my cleaning lady (Ayi) watched me pour all the ingredients into the machine turn it on and walk away.  I glanced back and she was standing on a chair and peering into the viewing window watching the paddle mix the dough.  For the next three hours every time the machine beeped she would come running to find me….yelling “T! T!”.  Once the loaf was done I had to send it home with her so she can tell her family about the magic machine that makes bread.  

These are things that happens often enough to remind us how different our world is from what the common Chinese person experiences. 

If you go out into the rural areas something as normal as a digital camera is interesting….special video cameras.  Bill was recording this older gentleman playing his flute, one of the homemade bamboo flutes.  Bill recorded several minutes and was asked to show the footage back to the player.  This old man, Bill guessed his age at around 80, got to hear himself play for the first time in his life.  Bill had an interpreter with him so we are sure of the sentiment.  I would love to present the man with a copy of the footage but what is he going to play it on? His laptop?  DVD?

My take on this whole communism thing for the time is that it is doing the best it can for Modern China.  The things lost during Mao’s regime cannot be replaced but the lessons learned are priceless.

As much as I may complain or ridicule about my experiences here, under it all, I love China.  I love the simplicity of the people, I love the fact that everyone here wants to learn, I love when I speak in Chinese to an older person and their eyes just light up because the freaky westerner is saying Hi, I love when the older person speaks back to me in English – maybe I can learn something from them and how is it that they, the generation that lived through Mao was speaking English?  I love the Chinese food, well, most of it.  I love the monasteries and the temples.  I love the kids following me around wanting to practice their English and I love the little babies with their chubby cheeks and onyx colored eyes.

Happy Commie Day to all my Chinese friends and family!

 

The government building by our house.