Ben Freeborn

26–27 January 2024

Names and specific locations have been changed or redacted.

Friday 26 January

I had a late start but I got to the bus station with some help from the lady from the hotel. She brought me there (it was only 3 minutes away but a little tucked in) and I tried to speak to the people standing around to understand the situation. It sounded like I may have just missed the bus. However, on further inquiries, including speaking to the person selling tickets, I was more confident that the bus that she had suggested I catch was the right one. I waited and got anxious as her promise of 10 minutes became 20-30 minutes. The bus came, I sat in the back, and it left.

I was taken aback by how haphazard it was. The ticket lady would come on and count heads, and people would shout to the driver where they were getting off and seem to pay different amounts. The coach would also stop at stops on the way and there seemed to be a system of understanding how much a fraction of the total fare each of these people was to pay. We got to He Chuan (city?) and I knew I did not have time to get another bus to the train station. But immediately as I stepped off the bus I saw 2-3 motorbikes with drivers looking for customers. The first one called to me and I said I wanted to go to the train station. He said OK. I clarified that it was the right station. I asked about the price. It seemed he was saying 46, but he was saying 16. I said sure, that seemed more reasonable. I get on and he gives me a little plastic yellow hard hat that cannot fit my head. We leave and I feel slightly off balance on the back of his bike with my big backpacking bag. It is 8km away and we chat the whole way through. The driver has moved about a bit and used to be in the military. Now he lives here with his family and drives people around on his bike. He compliments my Chinese. I get nervous as he takes one hand off to turn and speak to me as we drive. He complains about the government. He seems to be saying they are too strict. He does not seem to resent the West for Hongkong or wars in the past, but seems to say that’s how it is. We get off at the station, I thank him and pay him before hurrying off.

I get to the station, where I am told I do not need to print the ticket, so I head straight in. I find the only food stall and faced with an array of what appear to be duck parts and intestines + lotus root, I get some lotus root and duck wings. They come with a plastic hand glove for me to eat with. It seems like a pretty commercial chain. I sit down to eat this. They call my train and I hurry. I clean up in the toilet and consider buying mints. At 15 kuai I decide that is way to expensive and I leave to catch the train. The train is crowded and I don’t have a seat allocated so I am standing or squatting the whole way, reading my book. It was a good read (Henri Nouwen).

I get off the train and I am approached by someone who sees me looking around. He asks me if I need a ride anywhere. I tell him where I am going and ask how I should try to get there. He offers to take me for 400 kuai. I say I can’t afford that. He says maybe he can find a group of people going there and make it 200 kuai. I say forget it. He continues to talk the deal up to me and there are 3 others he seems to be working with. As I walk off he follows and I reiterate I don’t want his offer before he leaves.

I get to the bay of buses and ask for advice from the drivers. They point me to the city bus that is just leaving then, and I run to catch it. It stops for me. I can’t scan onto it but someone helps me and offers to pay it for me. The bus is way too crowded and I am uncomfortable. People struggle to get on, and at several stops people had to shout to be let out and the crowd had to move their luggage off for them as they wriggled themselves through. There was a lot of commotion at one stop with a lot of the bus needing to get off. I have no idea where I am going, and I am trying to work it out on the bus. I realise from the signs at the first stop that the bus is going in a loop. It will not take me even close to where I want to go (80km away). I figure out on my phone the road I want to get to hitchhike, and I get off the bus and look for another bus stop to take me to that road.

As I am crossing the road, the people coming towards me (a mother, a daughter, and another child in a pram) are hit by a car. This is 5 metres ahead of me. The mother and daughter are both hurt, the child is unscathed. I rush to them and don’t know what to do. I am inclined to pull the daughter to the street, but there are no vehicles and she seems to be in too much pain. She is standing now but her leg is clearly in pain. It does not seem like a completely disastrous injury. I seem to recall the two people being knocked to the floor but I am not 100% sure. The driver has gotten out and is helping them into the car, saying he will take them to hospital. He is apologetic, embarrassed, and also trying to smile it off. All I do is pick up a loose milk bottle that the baby had, put it in the pram, and leave. I can’t see anything else there is for me to do. As I get to the other side of the road, I see 3 bank staff stood outside the bank looking at me intently, and saying ‘hello!’. I smile and pass them but continue to watch the car and the man helping the family into the car. His wife is upset.

I get the next bus and take it to the end. At the last stop I get off and a boy asks about me. He says I’m foreign, aren’t I. I say yes. He said he wanted to talk to me as soon as he saw me. He is 15. We talk for a few minutes and take a selfie. I ask him if he wants to wait for a car with me. He says that was all he wanted, and he’s going to go home now.

I go further down the straight to attempt to hitch a ride. I do not have to wait long. A man rolls down his window and picks me up even though he’s not sure where I’m going. I say I’ll just go with you till it’s the wrong way. He drives slowly. His car seems to make a ‘zap’ noise every few seconds. I can’t understand what he works as, but he lives in a small village or town a couple hours away. It is the most beautiful drive. We talk, and while he still seemed reserved, he softened. He can’t quite understand what I’m doing here but he does not push too hard. He has two kids, one 22 and one 3 – with different wives. I can’t quite remember much else from the conversation, but it was pleasant. I also understood most of what was being said. He makes a left where I need a right about 10-20km on, and I say I have to get off here. I offer to chip in for gas. He says no and he wishes me well.

It is snowy and cold. There are some houses around and it seems a school complex too. I need to pee. I approach the first lady I see outside her home and ask her if I can use her toilet. She seems annoyed and says she lacks a toilet (?) and then sends me to an older lady in the house below (lower down the hill) who is hard of hearing. I can’t communicate anything to the second lady who seems amused. And I end up walking off to pee behind a truck. As I am walking the first lady speaks with some concern to a younger man as they watch me. They are not there when I come back from the truck.

I wait again for a car. I have worse luck this time. I do get picked up, but the driver says he is a taxi driver (didi probably) and I need to pay him. I’m not in a position to say no really, and so I don’t respond to this. He also can’t really ask where I want to go. Unlike the first driver he speaks poor ‘pu tong hua’ and has a thick dialect. I cannot understand much of what he says. He tries to understand where I’m going and tells me off. It is late, and it will be dark, and the people in this village won’t accept me – where will I sleep? He seems to think I am nuts out of my mind. It feels like he is scolding me the whole drive. I agree it is late (maybe coming to 5.30 at this point), and we decide that he will drop me off in a town on the way where there is a hotel. He tries to pick up a delivery on the way, there is an issue and he cannot pick it up. I ask him about his profession and he says he is a driver. He says this is such a drive. I ask if he is charging me, and how much. He says 60 kuai, I say 50. He agrees. We get to the town and he asks me what kind of place I want to stay in. I say the cheapest. We get there and from the window the man calls out to the owner and asks him the price. “50”. I agree. I get out of the car and bid goodbye to the driver. The owner shows me the room upstairs. It is bare but fine. However, there is a catch. If I want the AC for heating it will be another 40kuai per night. I say I won’t do that now, I’ll have a look at the other places first. He says I won’t find anything below 100. He promises that I can trust him. I say I’ll look anyway. As I leave he says he will make it 80kuai all up. I say I’m going to look anyway.

I find the next place quickly. It is 100 kuai per night and much nicer. I ask if I can make it 80kuai per night if I stay 3 days. The lady agrees. Her husband later seems a bit annoyed. I can’t quite tell. Importantly, the hotel has a washing machine. I help to move the old one out and bring a new machine they have into the room. The lady then helps to teach me how to use it. As I wait for my washing, something goes wrong. Someone new comes in to talk to me, he is the person who runs this place – Rong (not his real name). We talk, he checks the machine. He is very friendly and we get along. We talk for a while as I do my laundry and wait for the police to come. The police eventually do come and they question me and what I’m doing here. They are satisfied and they register me. They take photos of me being spoken to by them. Rong asks me if I want to join him for dinner. I say yes. We go to another hotel he owns, and downstairs his in-laws and wife are sitting around a table eating nuts. They welcome me and I join them. They prepare dinner and we eat. Beer comes out and there is toasting and a constant attempt to clink cups lower than the other. It is agreed that Rong will bring me to the village tomorrow (his wife encourages him) – we had mentioned it a couple times already but he was hesitant because of his commitments.

The dinner is incredibly warm and I feel very fortunate. Then Rong brings me for a walk and we walk down the main street. He tells me when the newer buildings were built (and how) — apparently people would group together and build them themselves! This is in the last 10 years. He shows me the bridge and how it has changed. The river had flood recently. As we walk, we talk politics. How China has prospered and Africa has not. He speaks about the roles of leaders here, and he has a lot of reverence for them - a stark contrast to my motorbike driver earlier. The point is made about how badly people here want to join the army. There is not enough space for them. People are patriotic. We talk about aging population, life expectancy. We talk about other countries – he has negative views of Korea and Japan. He would encourage his children to learn Russian, he says their people have nothing to do with the war. He says China does not want war, war is bad for the economy, but China has to be very prepared for war. I say that is a stable attitude to have. The point is made a few times about how China is happy isolated and does not need to interfere internationally, but it gets picked on by others. It is a good walk.

We come back to the hotel and I go to my room.

• • •

Saturday 27 January: Visit to [redacted] Cun

The plan is to start the day with me meeting Rong at 8am downstairs. I roll out of bed about 7.40. Around 7.45am, Rong knocks on my door to see if I am awake, and I open it with a toothbrush in my mouth and kettle in my hand. He says he was just checking, and I’m like: “Mmmm mmm mm!” I am a bit slow and I meet him downstairs about 8.01-02 and I apologise for being a bit late. I wonder if it bothers him. He is waiting in the car. He tells me we are going to have breakfast first. We go to a baozi place and I am asked if I want big baos or small baos. I ask for small ones. And then he asks what kind of soup I want – I don’t understand either option but I choose the one that doesn’t seem to include the word ‘mi’, figuring this will be less likely to be savoury and less heavy. I am right, I get small baos and sweet soya milk – with the chilli and red carrot it is a perfect breakfast. Rong criticises their red carrots a little – I think saying they don’t ferment them enough. We eat and he takes out his phone, I think he isn’t a morning conversation person. I suggest that I should pay, he’s going through all the trouble of taking me out for the morning. He says no, let him – ‘they won’t let you pay’. I defer to him. He says every morning he has the same 3 big baos – 2 savoury and 1 sweet.

We finish our food, he scans their code on the way out and pays without telling them. As we get in the car and drive off he stops at a shop and shouts across me to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper doesn’t hear him at first and we wait a few seconds. He shouts again and a shopkeeper emerges through the plastic sheets with hand outstretched holding a pack of cigarettes. Rong takes it and thanks her. He does not pay. I ask him about that. He says he gets one a day. I presume there must be a system of trust – both with the breakfast place and with the cigarettes. I wonder if this is what home feels like.

We get out of the town, [redacted] Zhen, and we start driving towards [redacted] Cun. He has music playing, mostly Chinese, but occasionally English. He says he can’t understand the English but likes the tune. We talk about hobbies. He used to play basketball in his youth, but now just fishes. The fish here can be worth up to 80-100kuai per 0.5kg (I think, or per kilo). They used to go only for a few kuai – but the water here is a good quality he says. He doesn’t enjoy watching most sports, sometimes some pingpong.

We end up needing direction to get to the village, it has been 20 years since he has been on some of these roads. We do get to it and we park. We get out of the car and we start walking around. The village is more or less as seen in the photos. It does seems very small, and we would be able to walk through it quite quickly. There is a community centre and basketball court that we walk towards. We follow the road from there. All around are houses of the same build. Interspersed in the middle are some wooden structures. These seem to be old houses. The town existed before the relocation, but it was all spaced out with just a few houses here. The relocation meant that more houses were built and infrastructure was installed. As we are walking we get to the first group of people, who are all of one family. There are two men and two women. I am keen to try to talk to whoever we see. Rong seems a bit surprised at first but soon catches the drift. The men are more invested in speaking to us and the women seem to stand behind and watch. They are also curious about me, and that seems to be the talking point that enables most of these conversations throughout the morning.

Major Conversation 1 — 4 people, not moved

I ask the older man if he has moved here or he has always been here. He replies that he has always been here, has not moved. I ask if the relocation of people here has affected their lives in any way. Their immediate answer is no not really. But as I probe a bit more it seems they think it is nice to have people around more. In addition to that, the roads are better now. Their lives have not gotten worse in any way.

Continued walk
We say goodbye and carry on walking. We get to close to the end of the village and we see houses a bit further off. These are loosely connected to the village. They perhaps were not so far that they felt it necessary to move. These also seem like pretty decent brick houses, not like the other wooden ones we have seen. There is a man on a ladder that we pass who is fixing thick wooden poles together, seemingly to make a roof. I call to him to say good morning. We exchange a quick hello and he says he had not had to relocate to get here.

Major Conversation 2 — Inter-generational home!

We turn left to loop around the village in the other direction. We come across 4 old people sat outside a couple homes. Some are eating and they are talking. They are curious about me and Rong always introduces me as a foreigner who has come to see and learn. They invite us to eat and we say we have eaten. We chat for a bit (mostly Rong in dialect) and one of the old women invites her to her home. Rong looks at me, I say sure. We cross the street and head into her home. The home is orderly, with white tiles and stacks of bottles (I think) in a row next to the staircase. There is a backroom that we go into. Inside is a table with a (wood-fired) heater below. There are lots of nut shells on the table that are being eaten. Adjoining seems to be a small narrow kitchen. We sit on wooden benches around the table and differently shaped chairs. There is a stack of wood for the fire. Sat there are 3 men, each of a different generation. Young, middle-aged, old. We have a seat with them and are offered oranges. I start asking questions and Rong says I’d better take some of this down – I think great! Not weird! And so my notebook comes out. Rong offers the men cigarettes (I notice he does this a lot, and is also offered cigarettes sometimes). Only the middle-aged man smokes. The lady who has brought us decides she doesn’t want to sit and stands with her hands on a chair. She is positioned with her back to the doorway we had come through. The room is dark, there is a small window away from me. There seems to be a chimney like tube from the table to the ceiling, but the room is still smoky. In the centre of the table above the fire there is a pot. It is covered but simmering. Later I see it has sweet potatoes that have been cut up.

I begin asking my questions.

From notebook:

We get invited to the young man’s home for food – the men all follow. The lady comes eventually, I imagine she has to deal with the sweet potatoes. We get to the other house and the living room is really messy. The floor and walls seem to have much more dirt and clutter than the previous ones. One of the men explains to Rong that there was a death recently and they have not had time to clean the place up. We get to the backroom which has a similar set up of table and more wood for the fire. The cooking seems to be done outside, without a kitchen set-up because I see the young man’s wife, squatting/bending often, presumably to tend to food being cooked. The men all sit down and wife slowly brings food in. Having just had breakfast Rong and I say we will just sit. I have brought the oranges from the last house. However, I am given a bowl and say that I will try some of their food. It tastes very good. I also eat my oranges. We do not ask many questions here.

We exit the house as the young and middle-aged man have to do something work-related. They get into a car. It is a big white SUV. There are quite a few cars parked around and I can see how you need them to get around here. It still surprises me and Rong says the young people here will have cars. It seems that the older ones have motorbikes or motorised-three-wheeled vehicles with space for cargo at the back (like kuaidi ones but without a roof). Rong also comments on how the young man is the main breadwinner for the family and he must be doing so much to have all these people relying on him when he is so young. I concur. I do get the sense that he seems to view me with more disdain or seems to be less interested in me than the others. I wonder if it is indignifying for me to be asking questions about his home life. I also wonder if he feels an element of unfairness in the different lives we lead (my lack of responsibilities) or he feels above me for that reason (like I am a silly child). I don’t know – I may be overreading here.

Major Conversation 3 — Discussion in street, pointing to hills

We leave them as they take off in their car and walk back in a circle in the same way we came. We meet 4 men, but other women and men come in and out to see what is happening. The people all look at me with curiosity as I approach. One of them is from the first family we met and I gather he has explained where I am from to them, which stirs their curiosity. We start talking on the street and I hop into asking questions fairly quickly.

From notebook:

Slowly the people have peeled off and we are just talking to 2 people. As one man had been pointing to the hill he used to live at the top off I say I am going to take a photo of it and I come back. We say goodbye to them and I thank them again for their time.

Major Conversation 4 — Man with llama slippers

This time we loop back in the same direction we had come. I tell Rong I want to speak to younger people. There is a gap in the houses and we see (and hear) on the other hill across the valley there are fireworks (or firecrackers) – one red light goes into the sky and pops loudly at a time, they go up at regular intervals of a few seconds after each other and continue for a while. Rong explains someone has died and it is a funeral ritual.

We meet an older couple at this clearing and the man is curious so we speak to him.

From notebook:

He starts to turn his feet away from us and I sense he is looking to go, so I say goodbye and decide we should find one more, preferably young, person.

Major Conversation 5 — 29 year-old back for 春节

We turn left and head back up the street. I had seen a young man in an apron here earlier and I am hoping we will bump into him. Next to his house there was a group of 4-5 young / teenage children who were very excited to see a 外国人 and I said hello to them as we went by.

We get to next to the house where there is a clearing and there are two old women. We look down the clearing and there seem to be greenhouses. From what I had read before coming I saw there were mushroom plantations that were built to help people earn money. I ask if those are for mushrooms and Rong says yes.

As we stop and look at the greenhouses further down the hill, the sidedoor to the backroom of the house swings open and we are invited to sit – the young man’s head is poking out the doorway. We go in with one of the women.

Once again there is the same wood-fired table. Sat at it is a child in primary school who is doing homework. The workbook asks him to identify how many months in a year and how many days in particular months. The young man, it turns out is 29, and he is helping the child, I think his son, with his work. He actually lives in Fujian where he makes shoes and is back for the new year.

There is a narrow kitchen adjoining the backroom I learn that this backroom was not built by the government, but people are able to build attachments to their homes with permission. But permission is vital.

From notebook:

Back in [redacted]

After coming back I am on the phone for a bit and later leave to find out how to take a bus to Shizhu Xian so I can then get a train to Chongqing City. The bus stop is just two parked buses by the side of the street. As I arrive one of the buses is leaving. It needs to be pushed to get a jumpstart and the driver calls out to the street asking for people to help. 5 or 6 men do. They push it successfully, but the driver then declares they are going to need to push it backwards to get the engine going. They comply and as they do so the bus almost reverses into a car behind that seems to almost squirm, honking and quickly manoeuvring to the side.

I decide I want to walk up the hill. I meet a couple of women who are on a walk on the bridge, and we speak for a bit. They are very open about talking to me, I am surprised by this.

I depart and start on my walk, but as I do this I hear loud music. I follow the music and eventually see what seems to be an extremely loud (but small – 5 members?) brass band playing wind instruments in the street. No one is gathered around but their speakers mean a huge proportion of the town can certainly hear them. Later I realise there is a wedding going on and this is customary to play loud music in the vicinity.

As I walk away to continue my walk a motorcycle with two teenagers pull out shouting ‘hello’. I smile and reply. We talk for a bit. They have limited English so I switch to Chinese. They are 17 and on holiday from school (there is no high school in the town and so they must attend a boarding school further away).

They ask where I am going and ask if I want a lift. I say I am fine but ask where they are going. They are going to play basketball. I ask if I can join them and they say yes. I am now on the back of their motorbike, the 3 of us, driving to the basketball court. I am awful at this game but we play with 6 of us. They are amused by me. Everyone is quite shaken by the fact that I attend Tsinghua. They behave as teenage boys do – they say things often like “he’s not going to make the shot”, and they say many words in English in bemusement amongst themselves (presumably because of my presence). They know I am bad but I am their guest and they want me to feel included. Eventually, after missing an incredible number of shots, I finally score a 3 and that is a nice feeling. Meanwhile, this bunch are incredible at this game. So many 3s, so many layups.

The game ends and they smoke and take photos. They ask if I have plans and I say not yet – they invite me to join them to eat. I say I may have dinner later on but I will sit with them. I sit again on the back of the bike and they end up going back to the loud music. Now on the street nearby there are tables and people are eating dishes. The boys say they are all invited to the wedding reception, and as their friend so am I.

As this is happening one of them has lost his phone and is calling his number with my phone. Someone at this wedding has it and is answering the phone to find him. With the other person with the phone on the line, the boy approaches someone to pass them my phone thinking they will have better luck identifying who is carrying his. There seems to be a community of trust and openness – the way that a lost phone is not the biggest deal because whoever finds it will probably return it, and the way wedding receptions seem to be free and easy. People are not dressed in particularly nice clothes at all. It happens on plastic tables and chairs in the street. It does not feel inaccessible at all.

I end up not sitting with them as Brooke is free to have a call. After speaking on the phone for a bit I eventually wind up back at Rong’s hotel to have dinner with him and his family again. There is a young couple this time who eat with them. They do not say anything, but eat quietly and leave when they are done. There are also 2-3 staff eating with them. They also are rather quiet as they eat. There seems to be a hierarchy here. There is generosity and people can come together, but there is still a sense of who’s more comfortable with the environment. Maybe this is normal.

Later Rong’s friend arrives and they call another friend urging him to come. They spend maybe 20 minutes on the phone just laughing and joking about the same joke – that he should come. I find this quite incredible.

After dinner I get a haircut next to where I stay. There is a mother and grandfather and two year old sitting around a table eating. They are related to the barber. The barber shop is large but there seems to be only one barber. There are hair products stacked up around the shop. The barber has moved across China cutting hair, but he wanted to move back here. He is 32 now. He married at 28 and said that was ‘late’. I disagreed.

26–27 January 2024