Day 2 in Country

9/23/2010

Today I'm heading to wan shushu's younger brother's wife's laojia. i am told that the conditions here are considerably different than those that wan shushu's laojia. we're taking an suv to the mountain this time, accompanied by wan shushu's wife (referred to hereafter as xie aiyi), the younger brother and his wife. (and various others as it turned out)

the ride to the village was rough. much worse conditions than wan shushu's laojia. we rode up a snaking, single lane, mountainside road for 45 minutes, precariously squeezing past countless dumptrucks carrying the treasures of the mountain down to be thrown into china's economic machine. arriving at the top, we climbed up some steps carved from the ground and fortified with stones, and then entered the courtyard of wan shushu's younger brother's wife's family (whew). stepping over clucking chickens and ducking through twisting tomato patches, we came to sit in the courtyard. we sat on small stools again and exchanged pleasantries with teh family. i'm not sure what these people of the mountain are eating or drinking, but despite their brutal lives and robust smoking habits, they are all in fantastic health. the grandmother was approaching 90. if i had lived the life she did, i wouldn't have made it past 30. then a group of us went out together in to woods, armed to the teeth with shovels and rakes, to forage for mushrooms. i was extremely skeptical about this venture and wondered who among us would be deemed knowledgable enough to discern which mushrooms went well with soup and which went well with famalihaid (stuff you put in dead people). it turned out to be the two 10yr old nephews. that put my heart at rest. we climbed with scarred patches of land and i quickly learned the ropes and landed my first big catch of the day. after we had sufficiently gathered enough for the upcoming lunch, we meandered thru the bush, chewing the fat and taking in the surroundings. wan shushu showed me some abandoned step fields and remains of the homesteads that had once cared for them. finally we went back, but stopped first and the neighbor's house. i was confused by the family structure. there were two uncles, a grandmother, and then two young children. i learned later that the uncles were keen on the bottle and took it out on the young 6yr old at times, resulting in his left currently being swollen and black with remnants of a laceration down across his eyebrow. the farm life is not always and happy and carefree as it seems, despite the comely appearance. upon returning, they stuffed me beyond recognition with delicious meats and vegetables raised/grown not 30 meters away. there's nothing like good fresh farm cookin'. afterwards, we assumed our usual position on the stools built for someone half my size and chou'd yans and talked about the economic situation of the rural half of the family. indeed, they echoed many of the concerns from the last visit. this family said that they would move into the city and live with their children but the money that they would get for their land wouldn't be enough to sustain them in the city. and apparently, no matter what, after you turn 60, you get at least 80RMB per month. the grandfather had paid for his own health insurance his entire life so now it is supplemented given that he's 66. so each month he gets 120RMB. after that, we just went down the mountain and bumped back down the mountain. these few days have been fantastic for my research and understanding of the real situation on the ground in china's rural areas.