this is *really* China
by the Mama
Xi’an, China
I peeked out the window, wondering if yet again a train journey would bring an entirely different morning view. Sure enough! We seemed to be in a desert with towering sanddunes, many of which with dark caves cut into the sides. Thinking they might disappear any moment, I urged everyone, “Look! Come and look!” But there was to be no shortage of caves or sandy hills to keep us pondering. Manmade or natural? Purpose? Size? (hard to tell from a distance, and maybe small entrances would open up to large interior caverns?)
Although the landscape was dotted with trees, nothing was green. Apart from white blossoms, everything was brown and looked barren, desolate. We wondered again. How do they irrigate? (we notice an aqueduct in part-answer to our question, but it is considerably lower than many of the orchards and garden plots). Does it rain much?(annual rainfall 50cm) It’s the end of winter- shouldn’t the ground be wet? (not when the rains come in summer).
The sandy hills give way to a deep canyon. Rocks line the almost-dry riverbed. Way off in the distance I notice one of the fast-disappearing hills is sliced in half – a road is being put through.
Then there are trees. Acres and acres of them. While many are still winter-dormant, others are heralding spring’s arrival. Their trunks stand in bare brown earth and we marvel at the mystery of them being able to blossom and bear fruit in such a bleak environment. A miracle that reminds us to take note of God’s hand everywhere.
We notice the earth some more. Dabbed on houses, rammed into walls surrounding garden plots and entire villages. Often crumbling away.
The towns are full of the characteristic sloping roofs. Buildings huddle together; they have survived another harsh winter.
We are looking at the picturebook image of rural China that we had subconsciously been carrying. And when we reach Xi’an someone verbalises it, “This is what I thought China would be like.”
Our hostel is just inside the walls of the old town, the oldest remaining intact city walls in China. Substantial they are, walls built to keep invading nomads out, and all surrounded by a moat.
The hostel itself is a converted Chinese courtyard house, sympathetically decorated with antique furniture and local cloth doorway hangings. Inviting clusters of cushion-filled chairs are arranged in the interior-but-open-to-the-sky courtyards. Looking up we see kites flying.
Outside on the street, all the buildings are old. And they just *look* Chinese.
See what I mean?…….
Tags: children, craft, God, housing, learning, postcard: China, transport
rayres
This was exactly out experience as well when we visited Tianjin… So bleak and grey, but when spring arrives, everything comes to life!