This is the twelfth in a series of articles and images from NDH correspondent, David Sand, on the road in China with John-Roger, John Morton and 106 traveling peacemakers.
August 26
We finally boarded our Yangtze cruise ship at 1:00 in the morning (flight was delayed into Chongqing), due to set sail at 9:00am.
I woke up realizing that if I could get to a hotel onshore before 9:00am I’d be able to email out. I found a guide who got me to the Chongqing Hotel, emailed the 8/25 report, ran back with him at top speed dodging cars on Chongqing streets, and got to the dock to find that the ship’s horn was blowing as it was preparing to depart–and the small cable car that led to the docks was jammed with Chinese people so I couldn’t get on. It was an Indiana Jones moment. Luckily my guide knew a short cut, and we ran over a couple of docks and across two other ship decks, and I trotted up the gangplank just as they were untying it to leave.
We have an orientation on the cruise ship, a lecture on the history of the Yangtze, and a demonstration of oriental medicine (the subject is my sherpa, Clark Franke, exhausted from days of carrying me through the Chinese countryside).
The Yangtze basin is huge–it’s home to 1 out of 12 people in the world, and it’s scheduled to be dammed over the next 10 years in the largest construction project in human history, necessitating the relocation of 1.4 million people. The river is a muddy brown color; the banks are bright green farmland and hills. All over the banks you can see older dwellings near the shore, and brand new highrises at higher elevations–the new homes that people will be moved to by the government when the dam floods the lower elevations.
We get settled onto the boat, the kids find a drum set, and a cruise begins that’s reminiscent of the PAT IV Nile cruises. The shores are greener and more lush, the river is narrower and more shallow, but the feeling is the same: We have a boat all to ourselves, just us in our little spiritual hideaway, drifting lazily down the river, eating & laughing, going ashore occasionally to see some sights, then back onto our boat with our extended family of Travelers. It’s life exactly as it should be.
Our first stop is Fengdu, the” City of Ghosts,” in the afternoon. We disembark, go through the town and ascend to the ghost town by chairlift.
We visit a temple complex with Buddhist and Confucian elements.
There’s a lot of superstition woven into the temple functions (walk across a certain bridge for health or wealth, lift this rock to prove faithfulness to your spouse, etc.) There are even large statues of demons to keep the local population in line.
We return by chairlift with a last view of Fengdu and set sail again. Now that we’re in the interior of the country, we’re definitely in a developing country once again. Water buffalo are a common sight; cars are fewer; houses are more rundown.
The evening’s entertainment is a fashion show put on by the ship’s crew, featuring dress from various periods of Chinese history. There are some dance numbers as well and the skill of these untrained dancers is surprising.
The Chinese, especially the women, have an innate sense of grace and physical poise. It’s as though they really shine whenever there is any sort of choreographed routine. However, in my experience, there’s usually trouble if the routine is altered in any way. Then there seems to be a great uneasiness, a little fear, odd control patterns. For example, at our last hotel I wanted some fresh pineapple juice while we were in the oriental restaurant section. I was told that it was unavailable in that section, after my waitress conferred with some other service people. I was told that it was available, however, in the western restaurant section next door, but I had to go there, buy my juice, and it would be served in the oriental section. This sort of thing is common whenever there is a break in the routine; it’s as though the people here are brilliant at making already-created forms work, but maybe not in creating the forms themselves.
Of course we’re not to be outdone in the fashion department, and we put on a show of our own, graced by a visit from Paulo. The evening ends with dancing after the show.
Click here to view Children of China Special Feature
Click here to view Day 12 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 11 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 10 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 9 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 8 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 7 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 6 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 5 of the China Trip
Click here to view Day 4 of the China Trip
