My Name is Zhuy Yu Ping
On the way to Tengchong, the bus climbed high up into the Gaoligong Shan Mountain Range on a winding narrow two lane road…dropping down and then higher up again…beautiful valleys down below terraced with jigsaw fields of green winter vegetables. At the top of the Gaoligong Range you can step Eastward onto the European Continent and into the Indian Continent just a step Westward. Hundreds of millions of years ago, when the two drifting continents collided, the Gaoligong emerged from the deep bottom of the sea stretching itself from north to south, according to a Tengchong picture book, becoming majestic and mysterious.
The Range has a vertical climate…that is to say that if you climb from the bottom to the top you will find all four seasons in one day. Traversing the tall rain forest you see Azalea trees, the largest in the world discovered in 1982…25 meters high with a 2.5 meter branch span and a canopy 61 meters across…and Rhodendendrons as tall as trees. Then you see Bamboo groves and finally Pines, Spruce and Fir…snow-laden at the higher elevations.
We were headed to Tengchong, once China’s terminus of the ancient “Silk Road” leading to the Chinese/Burma border. By the side the road you could see weather beaten tomb slabs and deserted pillboxes left after the War with the Japanese. Sitting next to Jana on the bus was a nice Chinese man who suddenly turned to her and asked where she was from. He would ask a question and then become quiet and then ask another question…shy to speak in his little English.
Finally he wrote Jana a note with his name and address and asking her to be his friend. “My name is Zhang Yu Ping…I live in Xian Wei Yunnan of China…I work in factory of Skyworth TV…I want to be your friend…I don’t speak more English…I’m sorry…wait: I study more English…I will write (picture of an envelope) to you of my country and my home anything; and good news to you. I will call you and your home.”
When Jana showed him her picture of her and John by the ocean at Crescent City California he gestured with his hands toward his chest that he wanted the picture…and Jana, feeling like she had no choice at the moment, reluctantly gave it to him…writing her and John’s names and address on the back. He wrote his name on a 10 yuan bill and gave it to her…send to a friend…my name is Zhuy Yu Ping. I live in Xian Na in China…2002-12-19 and gave me a 5 yuan bill…send to a friend…my name is Zhuy Yu Ping. I live in Xian Na in China…2002-12-19. Then Jana gave him some stamps of Sun Yat Sen, the father of the Revolution, that her co-worker, Al, had given her to give to someone in China. I gestured tears coming down my cheeks with my fingers and he shyly smiled. When the bus stopped for gas a lady sold Jana’s friend a half dozen fresh hot boiled eggs through the bus window giving Jana and I each one. And who says the Chinese aren’t friendly!
Tags: China, Conversations, Touching Experiences, Yunnan
Zoe