Love at First Sight

The most memorable trip was the one when I went to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia for our project meeting. Mr. Zhou and I went to Beijing first, I went to see the Great Wall. There, I had my first camel ride. I wished that it was a horse so I could run back and forth on the Wall like an ancient warrior, watching over the North.

Although it was the first time for me to ride on a camel, I was very comfortable sitting between the two humps as if I was on the Silk Road

     We then continued our journey to the capital of Inner Mongolia, which was founded by the Mongol ruler Altan Khan in the late 16th century. It is also nationally known as the home of China’s dairy giants. Like several other meetings, I was one of a few women at the meeting. Most of the people were middle-aged men. A few were recent graduates. This time, there were two recent male graduates. Soon, we started to talk away at the hotel where we stayed. Like others I met at the meeting, it was easy to make temporary friends. You met them at a meeting and then they were gone, even though we exchanged business cards or addresses, and we could meet again at future meetings.
     Later that afternoon, another young man came in representing the Department of Forestry, the funding agency for our project. His name was Wang Lin. Everyone was looking at him because he looked too young. The older people hoped he had been an older person who could really make some decisions. The two other younger graduates were a little jealous. He was very handsome, not a strong muscular type, but delicate, very quiet, and tried not to get my attention. When our eyes met, our eyes were sparkling. At the meeting when it was his turn, everyone challengingly watched him. I hoped the best for him. He did fine. He was very calm and firm. Like a supervisor, he told us the requirements or standards from the department. His voice was soft, but there was no room for negotiation. Everyone was impressed.
    The meeting lasted one week including field trips. Later in the week, it started to rain all day and we had to cancel a field trip to the northern grasslands. We stayed inside all day except for going to the dining hall for our three meals. As usual, I didn’t bring an umbrella. I did end up buying one in Shanghai on one trip since the pounding rain welcomed me there. Anyway, Wang offered to share his umbrella. We walked together to the dining hall and back. I could feel electrical shocks every time his shoulder bumped mine. We talked about nothing except work. My work at that time dealt with spruce seedlings and subalpine forests. Somehow, I gave him the impression that the only thing on my mind was trees, specifically spruce, and of course, my hometown.  I did not know anything else.
     The next day was a beautiful sunny day. Since we didn’t go on the long field trip, it was a free day for us to wander around. So, Wang and I decided to see the greenhouse in the city after lunch. On the way there and in the greenhouse, we tried to identify the trees, shrubs, and flowers that we knew. For the ones that we didn’t know, we just joked around.
     Then, we visited Wang Zhaojun’s Tomb (王昭君墓).  She was born in Zigui County (in current Hubei Province) during the Western Han Dynasty. She was beautiful, intelligent, and well educated.  Emperor Yuan of Han Dynasty (48-33BC) was selecting his concubines again. Wang’s portrait was not presented to the Emperor because Wang did not bribe the artist.  She could have ended up living in the Emperor’s Palace for the rest of her life without actually seeing the Emperor like thousands of others.  In 33 BC, Huhanye, the Chanyu (Khan) of Hun, came to the Han capital to request a Han princess as a bride.  Emperor Yuan presented five women from the imperial harem; one of them was Wang Zhaojun.  Wang was chosen.  Her beauty shocked the Emperor so he wanted to know why he never got her portrait when he selected his concubine.  The Emperor ended up killing the artist for his deceipt. She was credited for peace between China and the Xiongnu for more than 60 years.  Wang had always been portrayed as a model for Chinese woman, to put your country and your family first.

Wang Zhaojun’s Tomb (王昭君墓)  

     The next day, it was time to return home. It happened that we ended up on the same train sitting next to each other. Mr Zhou flew back, I took the tran instead since it was cheaper.  We had a chance to talk a little more. I enjoyed talking with him. On the train, he had all kinds of ideas for entertainment. For example, how to use six toothpicks, breaking two of them in half, to make three identical squares.  He would also have me think of a number then ask me to add this, and subtract that, ending up so that he knew what my number was.
     I was stupid not to figure out the following simple riddle. “A boy was helping push a very heavy loaded wagon from the back and a person was pulling in front. Another person came along and asked the person in front, “Who is helping you push the back of the wagon?” The person in front said, “He is my son.” Then the person asked the one in back, “who is the person you are helping push the wagon?” and the boy answered, “That is not my father.” The question is who is the person in front in relation to the boy.” I just let my imagination go too far. “Maybe, the boy was too tired and upset, so he said that was not his father” or “Maybe the person in front is his stepfather or maybe a bad person forcing the boy to work for him.” I just did not even think that the person in front could be his mother.
     Then we talked about the coming weekend that was our traditional Moon Festival. He said it was going to be September 10th that year. I was so excited, “Oh, really. That is my birthday.” And it turned out that he was one year older than I was, even though he seemed like he was much older to me.
     When we reached Beijing, he helped me go to the hotel run by the department of forestry but it was full. He talked to his friend there and asked him to buy me a ticket home. His friend said, “tomorrow there is going to be one person checking out so she could move into her vacated bed in the room tomorrow (usually 2–4 beds per room). I will try to get her a ticket.” I started to feel nervous. “Where am I going to stay tonight?” He scared me by saying “good night.”  He took me back to their dorm at the department of forestry. It was designed for single persons or couples. A couple could have one room. For others, three or four people shared a room just like in a college dormitory but with half the number of people. So, I was placed in a woman’s dormitory room since one person was out for business.
     The next morning, he cooked eggs for breakfast. The eggs were still runny so I could not eat them. He said that I was picky and moved me back to the hotel. Later, he delivered the ticket for me the next day and went back to work. I went out shopping. I bought some fresh grapes from the market and invited him over after dinner for grapes. Instead of eating inside the hotel with my roommates, he suggested that we go to the Altar of Earth, Ditan Park(地坛) for an evening walk. I was not sure at first because it was going to be dark soon. Then he said he would take me back after dark. He talked about how his colleague was trying to find him a girlfriend. I did not want to let him to know whether I had a boyfriend or not. I told him that I didn’t like matchmaking. Then it was getting dark. I was shocked to see that many young couples had just started coming into the park to find their favorite benches. I saw this couple pass by our bench and then come back. I told Wang that this must be their bench. We got up and walked back to the hotel. The next day, he accompanied me to the train station and said goodbye.
     I wrote a thank you note to him after I got home. A few weeks later, I received his letter saying “happy birthday and happy Moon Festival.” Traditionally, families get together to share moon cake. For those who cannot get together, it is a special time to remember your loved ones while eating moon cake. Unlike the letters that I usually received from boys, his letter was very short and simple. I didn’t like it when people used too many beautiful phrases or words trying to please me in order to ask me out, although most girls liked that. All those phrase and words put me off because I did not think they were sincere. This was the first letter that I liked. So I relied to him a letter asking him if there was a full moon he could see?, and if he went outside to eat moon cake while looking at the moon thinking about me?  The moon supposedly transmitted love between people no matter how far away they were.
     So, we began to write to each other about our work and our families. He had an older brother. His father served in the army until 1980. His mother was a homemaker at the farm, until 1980 when his father moved her out to finally settle in Nanjing (南京). I told him about my parents, and how they worked in separate places until 1970. I told him that the engineer in my department was 45 years old and was still waiting to be reunited with his wife and children, implying our future prospects if we wanted to get together. We discussed that if he came down from Beijing to the provincial local area, it would be easier than if I tried to go to Beijing since everyone wanted to reach higher and better places. There was one moment when he considered the option to come down. But I replied with a discouraging letter asking him to think it over really hard. We only met once and we didn’t know how we would get along if we really got together. If we did get along, we would be happy, but if not, he would be stuck in my city alone. There wouldn’t be any hope to redo it. And I would be unhappy all of my life if that happened to him.
     That letter changed his mind and that made me sad. I was alone in my room talking with his picture that was on the back of my mirror. The frequency of our letter writing dwindled. One day, I received a letter from him telling me that he was coming to my city for a business meeting. I was so excited that I did all the possible planning to show him that Chengdu was the best city for everyday living. We had the best vegetables, fruit, and meat of all the country. The weather was nice too. I always loved my city and I really disliked it when I heard people say anything bad about my city. The forest research institute was the largest local institute in the country with about 500 employees. So, I hoped that he would see my city and institute and change his mind.  I knew that there was no way he could take a special trip to come here because we didn’t have vacations. The longest holiday was the Chinese New Year that lasted only three days. It took about four days round trip by train from Beijing in the northeast to Chengdu in the southwest, not to mention the cost of train tickets, about two months’ salary.
     I told him about the tours and famous dishes in a letter. He was very excited to hear and looked forward to seeing my city for the first time. But when the time for his visit came closer, I received another letter telling me that he couldn’t come because all of the party members had to stay around for two months of intensive training and study. I was shocked that he was a party member and the time had to be just right. We were both very disappointed.
     Time passed by. Every now and then, I received a letter from another man or an introduction by others. I always told them that I had a boyfriend and showed them his picture. In my heart, I didn’t know how we could get together. In the meantime, I was working very hard and that kept me busy so I did not have any free time thinking about him.  My bosses were pleased with my work and decided to send me for intensive English training for possible graduate study abroad. I was one of three studying English. My possibly going abroad really moved Wang and one day he told me that he was preparing for tests to go to graduate school.
     Both of us realized that it would be hard for him since he graduated from college four years earlier. He had to take all of the subject examinations. Newer graduates would have the advantage. But that would probably put us in a better position to get together. I was studying English while he worked during the daytime and studied at night for his exam. I often wrote to him encouraging him. Finally his day came to take the exam. After that, especially when the results should have arrived, I didn’t get any letter from him. I thought that maybe he didn’t pass and that he must have been very sad. So, I wrote him a long letter to comfort him.
     Two weeks later, I received a letter from him saying that he was selected to go abroad also. He said that I didn’t have confidence in him and didn’t think that he could pass. He was excited and I was too. At the same time, I was one of the top students in our class. Everything was going very well. I was ready to apply to graduate schools in the U.S. I wanted to know where Wang was going first so that I could apply to go to the same school. Finally, I received the disappointing news that he was going to Japan, not to the U.S. He had given up on us. We were not meant to be together. I did not give up; I was so busy applying to U.S. schools and always thought that if we were outside of China, things would be easier for us—we could control our own destinies. He could come to the U.S. and I could go to Japan freely.
     I applied to three graduate schools, which my friend recommended.  I had the highest hope in the University of Minnesota since our Professor Li, who received his Ph.D. there in the 1920’s, wrote me a recommendation letter. The other two, I would just try my luck. Surprisingly, the State University of New York acted very quickly. Professor Dan wrote to me sending me some papers right away. The Chairman of the department encouraged me to attend their graduate school as well. So, I went along. I quickly got my passport, visa, and was ready to go.
     During this time, I received a letter from Wang who said that his father had introduced a woman to him at work and that he agreed to get to know her. I was so excited that we could be free that I didn’t even pay attention to what he wrote. I couldn’t believe that he could consider the girl his father found. Soon, he was in intensive training for Japanese in Dalian (大连) for a few months to prepare for his studies in Japan. He had studied English only, so Japanese would be a fresh start for him.
     The director of my institute decided to send me to Beijing for a special business trip.  He especially let me go on the trip so that I could meet my boyfriend there. Unfortunately, I told him that he was not there anymore. He was studying Japanese eight hours away by train in Dalian. Dalian (大连) is in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province next to Shandong, China’s northernmost seaport.  I had never seen the ocean or beach, I was very close when I went to Fujian, and an overnight train could take me there, that would be my second time and last chance to see him and say goodbye. 
     It was the second time for us to see each other in two years and a goodbye for us. I didn’t have time to tell him that I was coming because I did not think I was going to see him.  I sent a telegram asking him to meet me at the train station since I had a free weekend. He was so surprised that he thought there was something wrong at his parents’ home, since people usually don’t send telegrams unless there was an emergency. He came to meet me at the station.  We were both excited that we could see each other again. We wandered around the city a little. In the evening, he took me to a nearby park.  This was the second time I was in a park after dark.  The only two times in my life, the first time when we met and the second time when we said goodbye. We walked around without talking, and we kissed. We did not want to face reality. I was surprised that there were so many young couples out there in the park at night.  We could not even have an uninterrupted kiss without people passing by. We ran into people almost everywhere and we had to keep moving around.
     The next day, we took a bus to the coast. It was the first time that I saw the real ocean. It was a beautiful day and was crowded with people. We had a picnic lunch by the beach. We had a serious discussion about the future. Most times, he said that we should be friends for life. Other times, we talked about getting married and forgetting all those problems before us. But the reality was that we didn’t even have time to get married. Finally, we decided that we would still be friends. We would still write to each other. I asked him about the girl whom his father introduced to him. He didn’t have many comments. I joked that she must treat him like a king or a god since he was so smart and going abroad. I did not feel threatened by the new girlfriend. We had a whole New World before us and we worked hard for that. We both were going abroad and would be free. He told me that his mother was a housewife all her life and she was looking forward to taking care of his child while she could. I told him that my mother and father were classmates in college and that they worked all their life. They always helped each other out like a full functional unit. I hardly remember them ever arguing.
     He didn’t object to the fact that I was going to America. But he believed that I would change when I went to America and maybe become someone he could not stand since American woman were known to be independent. He suggested that it would better if I went to Japan instead. He said that at least Japanese women would be a better influence on me. I was trying to tell him that I would not change and I was like a water lily that grows out of mud but was spotless (in Chinese: 莲花出淤泥而不染). I was confident that he was not an old-fashioned man who would take a match from his parents, plus he was not even going to be home anyway. When he went to Japan he would see how modern Japan was. He would make up his mind to come to join me in the U.S. where we could study together. Then we could get back together and work somewhere together just like my parents.
     The next day, it was a few hours before I was to leave.  We were locked in his dorm room alone, he undressed me and just look at my body for a long time,  then he kissed my body gently as if I could easily break into pieces.  It was daytime, I hoped there was a hole in the floor where I could hide.  He was never undressed.  I did not know what to do and I did not dare open my eyes.  I never felt that embarrassed and helpless all my life.  No we did not have sex and I really had no clue about sex at the time.  Then, he took me to the train and I took the train back to Beijing and then to my city with mixed emotions of sadness and happiness. Soon it would be August and time for me to go to the United States. I refused to believe that I would be there alone long before he came to join me especially after this trip.

The first time that I was standing by the ocean at Dalian (大连).

Travel East - Fujian (福建)

Transportation in China was very poor. Sometimes it was so difficult even to get a ticket or a place to stay. That was frustrating. My parents always helped me out. Their oil company had better connections to obtain train tickets and they often asked their friends where I was going to help me arrange a place to stay and a ticket to return.
     There was one time though that I went to the East Coast for a meeting in Fujian Province. I had to take a train to Shanghai and stayed overnight. Then I continued to take another train to Fuzhou and then a long distance bus back to the Wuyi Mountains (武夷山) (I did not know yet that my ancestors had settled here in the foothills when they came from the North) where the meeting was. I had a broken window by my seat. Even though it was not that cold, the evening wind blew on me for six or seven hours. I was very cold, plus hungry. I never felt that cold before and I thought that I would catch a cold that night. When we reached our destination finally and sat at the dinner table, my hands were still shaking. I could hardly pick up my food with chopsticks. I soon warmed up after dinner, and I was amazed that I did not get sick.
     The Wuyi Mountains have 4,000 years of history. This was the place of the ancient city Chengcun, the capital of the Minyue Kingdom. In the seventh century, the Wuyi Palace was built for emperors to conduct sacrificial activities, a place for Taoism and later Buddhism. The highest peak in Fujian was at 2,158 meters, the lowest elevations were around 200 meters by the sea. This was one of the most beautiful mountains I ever visited. On the field trip, first, we sat on a raft of big bamboo sticks. Our feet were in the water and the raft was floating. There was little room for us. We sat so we would not fall into the water. The water was so clear, you could see everything on the bottom of the stream. Every now and then, we saw a school of fish swim by.

Hanging Coffins in Fujian's Wuyi Mountains

Then, we landed and started to climb a high peak. We saw the vegetation change with elevation from rainforest, subtropical (the largest remaining tracts of humid subtropical forests in the world) to temperate coniferous forest. It was hot and sunny. I got very tired at one point. I couldn’t move and my face was pale. After I rested for awhile, I was fine again and for the rest of the trip. It must have been too much for my body to handle the fast changing altitude from 200 to over 2000-meter.

The tablet next to me means “walking in the clouds on Mt Wuyi

     While I was there, my roommate, who was a few years older than I was, quickly visited Zhuxi’s (朱熹 1130-1200) place where he used to study and teach, then we went to the local market and I saw this ivory white puppy. He was so cute and I just couldn’t leave. So I asked how much even though I wasn’t suppose to buy or own one in the city. The farmer said, “one Yuan.” I said that I was not buying. He thought that I considered one dollar too expensive and said, “fifty cents and he is all yours.” So, I got the puppy. We took him back to the hotel where we stayed. We didn’t tell anyone though. 

Zhu_Xi (朱熹 1130-1200) and MT Wuyi

     We had our traditional three meals, eight to ten people sat around the table. We shared everything except our own bowls of rice. So, we had to hide some meat and take it back to our room to feed the dog. When we got to our room, the puppy had made a mess and didn’t eat the food we brought. It was obvious that he was still drinking his mother’s milk and he cried all night, so none of us could go to sleep. The next morning, I got some milk for him to drink and some bread to eat. He ate some of the bread and milk.
The second night, we started to feel itchy all over because the dog had fleas and cried again at night. We were miserable. The next morning, the hotel worker came to clean our room. She saw the dog and said, “I did not see that. I did not see anything.” Finally, I had to give the dog away to local people. It was difficult to find a home for him. I certainly learned my lesson.
      On the way back, It was easy to get to Shanghai because of help from the meeting hosts. I had a place to stay with the help of my parents; however, I had to get a ticket to return home. When I went to where the train tickets were sold, the place was filled with people lined up for tickets. I thought I would try to get a ticket for the next day or two later, but people were in a line a few blocks long. Most of them either had a blanket or coat to stay there overnight. I heard of people lining up overnight for the next day’s ticket, but I never saw such a line until then. Well, I guessed that I had to line up. So I found the end of the line and more people came after me even though the line didn’t move. After I stood there awhile, I asked people standing in front of me how long they had been there. They told me that they had been there since the day before. That really shocked me, “You mean you are still here.” I wasn’t going to wait that long. I was going to the train station and try my luck. Maybe, someone would try to sell his or her ticket due to a change in schedule.
     I took a bus to the train station and the station was full of people. I saw people sell their tickets to other places, but not to my city. There was only one train to my city each day. So I waited and walked around to see if there was one person who would sell a ticket to Chengdu. Finally, I gave up. Well, I would try tomorrow. While I walked out of the station, a man was holding two tickets to Chengdu. I was so excited, “please sell one to me.” He wanted to sell two. I said, “please sell me one. I have been here all day waiting for you and I haven’t had anything to eat or drink. You will have no trouble to sell the other one.” He looked at me and seemed to say, “Okay. Poor thing.” He did sell me one ticket for the next day.
      On the way home, I stopped in the city Hangzhou (杭州) that was founded about 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty. It was one of the Seven Ancient Capitals in Chinese history. Hangzhou is at the southern end of the Grand Canal finished in 609 and extending to Beijing. It was one of the three great centers of culture in southern China during the tenth century, along with Nanjing and my city Chengdu.
     I went to West_Lake (西湖), famous for its picture-perfect gardens, ancient buildings, and stones. To my surprise, I noticed four kneeling statues in front of Yue Fei(岳飞) which I had never seen anywhere in China. Wanqi Xie (万俟軼), Zhang Jun (張俊) Lady Wang (王氏) and Qin Kuai (秦桧) kneeling before Yue Fei’s tomb by West Lake for centuries. Qin's descendents tried very hard to remove the kneeling statues, still no luck today. Yue Fei (March 24, 1103 – January 27, 1142) was a famous Chinese patriot and military general who fought for the Southern Song Dynasty against the Jurchen armies of the Jin Dynasty. He was not killed in battle but by betrayal of the four. Han Shizhong (韓世忠), another general threw his helmet and sword on the ground, and attacked the Emperor for not following through in kicking out the Jurchen.
誰急著給奸臣平反？「秦檜遺囑」是個假新聞

Front entrance to Yue Fei's tomb in Hangzhou

Statues of Lady Wang (秦王氏) and Qin Hui (秦檜) at the Yue Fei Temple, Hangzhou caption

Statues of Moqi Xie (万俟卨) and Zhang Jun (張俊) at the Yue Fei Temple, Hangzhou

The Tomb of General Yue Fei, was built by Emperor Xiao Zong (1163 - 1189), rebuilt in 1715 in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) and repaired in 1979.

     On the train back home, the woman next to my seat was going back to her hometown for a visit. She had one little boy in her arms and another older boy by her husband. She was a typical “Sichuan Girl.” She spoke our Sichuan dialect with us, but spoke mandarin to her husband. I heard stories about how Sichuan girls were married outside of the province for economic reasons, or sometimes by a kidnapper who sold them to farmers. We did not know why this young woman married out this far. She told us that it was her first time to go home after so many years away. The Sichuan men sitting around her started to feel jealous for the outside husband who took this fine young woman away from them, even though I am sure that some of them were already married. They started to talk to her about her hometown and how much it had changed since she was gone and how much better the farmers’ life had become. I could see from the young woman’s eyes that she missed her home. Those men made her feel worse. She started to order her husband to get this and that for her children so she could talk more. Her husband could not understand Sichuan dialect, but he nicely followed her orders and went away for whatever she wanted.

                                                                  Blind_Mountain
   When I traveled alone on the train, we talked a lot to occupy the long hours on the train. I met a lot of interesting people on the way. You could tell who were the frequent travelers. Every now and then, someone on the train asked whether I was single or married (because Chinese people didn’t wear rings to indicate that they were married). I usually told them that I had been married for a few years. They were usually surprised by my answer and I didn’t want to get into any trouble either. The scary thing about traveling alone was when I reached a city where I would have to transfer, I had to find a place to stay overnight. Once in Beijing, everywhere I went there was no room. Every place was full. I had to take a bus or walk to find a hotel. Finally, I was lucky to find a place in the late afternoon. One woman just checked out. I could not imagine where I would stay if I could not find one.

Ecology Training - Yunnan University

The head of my department Li and the director of my institute Yang were really happy with my work. They sent me to Yunnan University for training in a special ecological topic. I stayed in Kunming for about three months. With a nearly 2,400 year history, Kunming served as a transportation hub in Southwest China, linked by rail to Vietnam and by road to Burma (Myanmar) and Laos, the southern Silk Road running to Burma and India. In World War II it was a Chinese military center, American air base (Flying Tigers fighting Japanese), and transport terminus for the Burma Road. The famous Shangri-La is located in the west. Twenty-five ethnic minorities live in Yunnan. That is nearly half of the total number of ethnic minorities in China.
     The city was called the “Spring City” where it was mild year-round although we did encounter heavy snow—the first in one hundred years. Most trees on the streets were down. It was cold and no one had enough clothes. I had to buy a winter coat there for that week long winter. Local people were so excited. They all went out to take pictures and play in the snow. Most had never seen snow their whole life. Camera film was even sold out in the city temporarily.

A once-in-a-hundred-years snowstorm in the Spring City, Kunming

     I remember a few different cultural aspects from the Han people. Although they were our neighbors, they ate rice noodles instead of rice most of the time. You could see pickles sold on street corners as a snack. At the market, farmers tied up their eggs on straws so these looked like a necklace. I always wondered how they did that. Also they sold “milk skin” which was similar to cheese but dry. Those who smoked had a huge bamboo that looked like a cannon or little chimney that they put almost their whole face into. When they smoked, you heard water inside make a “gou gou” noise.
     For youngsters to choose their future mates, sometimes they had huge singing competitions where young men and women were in separate groups and while they sang, they observed their possible choices. They asked questions and answered them in song.
     We ate our three meals in the dining hall. Sometimes, we went out to have some local specials. Most memorable is the one place where dog soup was sold. I never had dog meat before. I never had any other meat except beef, pork, chicken, duck, and fish. I heard about people, who had tried cat, dog, bear, etc. We heard that dog meat would keep us warm since there was no heat and it was very cold because of the snow. So, I went along with my friends. Surprisingly, it was like an evening market crowded with people. We had to wait our turn. The soup was in very small bowls about the size of a coffee cup with two or three tiny pieces of meat and the soup sprinkled with cilantro on top. Surprisingly, it was good and the meat was lean. The soup was delicious. It did make us warm. We went back a few times. There were several traditions for eating exotic foods. I was not interested in eating those things though. Some ate silkworms. They said that they were highly nutritious. I just felt too sick too eat silkworms and snakes. I knew that most farmers refused to eat beef because cows were esteemed for their help. They were one of the family members.

After relaxing in a hot spring called “The First Spring” (天下第一汤-安宁温泉) outside of Kunming

     Yunnan University was founded by the warlord Tang Jiyao (唐继尧) in 1922. Since Kunming was not directly involved in the fighting during World War II, many excellent Chinese scholars were there from Beijing and Nanjing. They had returned from well-known American universities and had moved away from the northern war zone.

Tsi-Tung Li (李继侗) received his PhD from Yale University in 1925 and published “Soil Temperature as Influenced by Forest Cover” in 1926.
Zou Bingwen (邹秉文) received his BA from Cornell University and PhD from the University of Michigan.
Hou X Y. (侯学煜) received his PhD in 1949 from Pennsylvania State University
Liu Shen-e (刘慎谔) received his PhD from Université de Lyon in 1929. He published his book "Trees of Northeast China" in 1955.
Hu Xian Su (胡先骕) received his BA from University of California Berkeley in 1916 and PhD from Harvard University in 1925. He started the first edition of Flora of China.
Chen Huan Yong/W. Y. Chun (陈焕镛) received his MS from Harvard and worked together with Hu Xian Su.
Qian Chong Shu (钱崇澍) studied in University of Illinois, University of Chicago, and Harvard University from 1910 to 1916. He finished Forests China in 1950.

庐山植物园内的三老墓，左为陈封怀墓，中为胡先骕墓，右为秦仁昌墓

     Raymond Laurel Lindeman (林德曼) at the University of Minnesota did his thesis work on the history and ecological dynamics of Cedar Bog Lake in central Minnesota. He collected massive data and could not figure out what it meant.  His Chinese roommate's book of Chinese proverbs were like light bulbs for him.  He suggested food chains/webs from “大鱼吃小鱼，小鱼吃虾米，虾米吃泥巴 (which means the big fish eats the little fish, the little fish eats shrimp, and shrimp eat mud”和“螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后 (which means mantis preys on cicada, mantis did not notice the oriole behind him)”. He also suggested ecological trophic pyramids are from “一山不存二虎 (which means one mountain cannot hold two tigers)”.  I found out later that none of these things were even mentioned in Western literature.  However, Chinese text books stated that Lindeman thanked his roommate in his acknowledgments of his thesis. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University and with the noted limnologist G. Evelyn Hutchinson, he submitted his thesis for the journal Ecology that outlined the Ten percent law. His manuscript was initially rejected, so Hutchinson and others had to convince the editor of the paper's merits. This classic and landmark paper publication appeared in 1942, shortly after Lindeman's death caused by a rare form of hepatitis at age 27.
    After training, I went back to my institute and presented a seminar on my studies. I especially stated that many of us were still very proud of our ancestral heritage and historical achievements. I felt ashamed for not being able to do enough to stop destroying our environment. We were far behind in taking effective measures to protect our habitat for future generations. We needed to do something for our future generations to be proud as well. My seminar was well received and I had made myself known to everyone in the institute.

Fighting for Fairness

A year later, a boy named Liu (刘) in the same department was in the hospital for TB. He was from a farm family in Shaanxi (陕西). I felt very sorry for him. He was in the hospital for a very long time because of the disease. Finally, he was ready to return to the institute for a complete recovery. The head of my department told us he arranged a room for him just by himself. Usually two or three shared one dorm. He asked us to prepare his room to welcome him home.
    We went in and found that the room was the worst on the whole floor. His room faced outside toward the busy street with heavy traffic and there was a bus stop right below his window. We all thought that it was not good for his recovery because it was so noisy and dusty.
     We recommended that the head of the department should try to find another room or switch with others who didn’t stay overnight but only napped at noon. (The institute also provided a bed for those who were far away from home for a nap after lunch). I had a bed for napping and I knew most people who had a bed did not even nap. The boy was so weak and his lungs need to recover. His window should face toward the inside of the institute where it was quieter, with trees and flower gardens and clean air for his recovery.
     My boss Huang said that he did his best already and that was all he could do. I insisted that he could do better if this boy had some special background like if he was the director’s son, not only a lonely farmer’s son from a poor remote region. He was upset. I had hoped that the rest of my colleagues would back me up because we all had agreed to talk to my boss about the matter. But they all just sat there and watched. They said, “Ying, back up, don’t say any more. Our boss has done his best and he is very busy…” and they all stood by my boss.
     I was so shocked that my colleagues who talked more before we saw our boss did not say anything. It seemed that I was the one who caused the trouble. I had explained what we had all discussed. I thought that I was going to pay for this for the rest of my life. I started to cry after my boss left our office. Then all my colleagues tried to comfort me again by saying that I was too young, and I had just graduated from college, so I would learn after this. Fortunately this boss was transferred to another department later. We had a new head of the department, and his surname was Li (李).

My First Tibetan Hospital Stay - Wild Mushrooms

On most field trips to the west, we stayed in a local hotels.  One day in Aba, a town with a Tibetan majority, we went to the Tibetan market and saw these delicious-fresh looking wild mushrooms sitting on her scarf on the ground. She must happen to see them on the way somewhere and did not have a basket to put them in.  I always loved mushrooms. We had two women and three men in our group. The other woman was a local school teacher and she said, “you could cook them in my apartment.” I was hoping she would say that. So, I bought all the wild mushrooms this Tibetan woman was selling. She was delighted and thanked me again and again since I bought all of the mushrooms she had. She could go home. Then, I went to the store and bought some canned pork. The five of us went to her apartment for dinner. She and I cooked dinner. The mushrooms smelled so good that we just couldn’t stop tasting them even before they were done. Needless to say, the two of us had the most mushrooms.
     After dinner, she and I went out for a walk. The three men decided to play cards and drank beer. She told me that her stomach didn’t feel so good and she threw up. She said, “you know those mushrooms you bought were mixed. I usually only buy only one kind. Maybe one of them was poisonous.” I felt fine at the time. But it was the first time ever that I bought wild mushrooms from a Tibetan market without an expert around to identify them first. On the safe side, I suggested that we walk toward the local hospital just in case she was unlucky from that one poisonous mushroom. She agreed since it was getting dark and we didn’t have any other way to get around except by foot.
     When we reached the local hospital gate, my stomach started to bother me too, but I couldn’t throw up. The hospital was quiet and most doctors had already left except for one office that was still open. We went in and told the only doctor about what had happened that afternoon. He said that we had to stay for further observation. I was surprised and asked why because I didn’t feel that bad. He said, “This is just starting and we don’t know what is going to happen to you since you ate all the mushrooms and you don’t know what kind you ate. Tonight is going to be a long night for you so we just have to wait and see.” I started to get nervous. “You mean we could die.” He did not look surprised. “Every year there are people who come in here and die from eating poisonous mushrooms, even those who had collected and eaten wild mushrooms for most of their lives. You know how many poisonous mushrooms look exactly like others that are not?” He continued to fill out admission papers for us. He checked our eyes and handed us the papers. “The in-patient complex is behind this clinic. Walk to the back of this building, give these papers to the doctors there and the nurses will show you to your beds. Tonight will be critical. Good luck!”
     We walked out without a word. It was dark already outside. We stood at the corner of the clinic and tried to locate the in-patient courtyard. We couldn’t see anything except the darkness ahead of us. I felt my knees weaken like that one time when I encountered the snake at a farm in high school. We stood there for a long time not knowing what to do. Then a man from the back of building walked toward us. When he came closer, I asked him for directions to the in-patient courtyard. He said, “follow this path from where I came. Can you see that little house ahead of you?” “Yes,” I said, “but there is no light, that is why we didn’t go forward.” “That’s the morgue, but after you pass by the little morgue, your will see the light and you will see the in-patient courtyard.” He answered us and walked away.
     We both felt scared and we just stood there. Should we proceed? The morgue seemed to be carrying us one step closer to death. Going back to the hotel, we knew that we couldn’t even make it and probably would be even worse. The evening wind blew, and we shivered and I felt it was hard to stand. There was only one choice and that was to go ahead. “Come on, let’s go.” I held her hand while we walked toward the morgue in the dark. I felt my legs getting weaker and weaker as we walked slower and slower. We held our breath quietly since we did not want to wake the dead, and we held our hands tighter and tighter. As we walked, we put our feet down so gently so that the morgue would not know we were close to it, so its black door would not open and swallow us.
     When we finally reached the front of the morgue, we could see the lights from the in-patient compound on our left. Though the light was very dim, the light was like a far away lighthouse. It felt like we had been wandering days in a dark sea; we had been surrounded by death. Like the light of life, the urge and hope of life made us suddenly strong. For a moment, we didn’t even think we felt sick; we raised our heads and sped up our walking.
     We walked into the courtyard. The nurse took our admission papers and said, “follow me.” The hospital was just like any other in Chengdu from where I came. It was filled with sick, suffering patients, only here they were all Tibetans. There were beds also in the hallway with patients and their family members around making this hallway so crowded that we could hardly get through. I tried not to step on anyone’s personal belongings. A strong, overwhelming, bad odor mixed with the usual hospital smells made me run to the nearest garbage container. There I threw up for the first time. Most of my dinner was out. I felt lighter right away. I was surprised that the nurse found us a private room since I thought we would stay in the hallway like the people we saw. Our room was by the east-end of the hallway and had two beds. The nurses let us settle down in our beds and put two large basins by our beds. At this time, a male Han doctor came into the room. Never had any male doctor gotten that close to me. Now he bent over me while I lay in the bed hopeless. I felt like I wanted to scream. He pressed down on my stomach and asked, “does that hurt?” I said, “no.” He checked my friend and told us that we would throw up all night long but probably would not die.
     The doctor was right; we kept throwing up all night long, but nothing came out except that yellowish bitter liquid from our stomachs. When we threw up, we had nothing in mind except trying to throw our own stomachs out. While exhausted waiting for the next time to come, we watched our door since we could not close it. We worried as if the Tibetan patients outside in the hallway would come in and throw us out the window. I had never been in the hospital before. I had come so far, so high, almost 3000 meters above sea level, and I felt alone where none of my family or friends knew what was happening to me. I never felt that bad but I could not even cry. By the crack of dawn, we stopped throw up; I was so tired and weak that I didn’t even care what was going to happen to me. I fell asleep.
     A tall, strong male Tibetan nurse woke us up around noon to give us each an IV that would make us feel better. I couldn’t believe that big needle would go into my arm. My grandmother used to have bruises from an IV when she was in the hospital. I started to feel nervous again. How skillful was he? Was I going to see him use a needle to poke endlessly at my arms trying to find a vein like what had happened with my grandmother? I was still here; at least I was not throwing up. What if he gave me a wrong bottle of something that would slowly kill me? I was trying to tell him that I did not need any IV; I wanted to get up but I couldn’t. I lay there hopelessly awaiting my fate.
     Soon he came back with a metal rack that he pushed by my bedside. I saw a bottle hanging from the top, upside down. “What is it?” I asked suspiciously. “Your breakfast,” he smiled and said, “This needle looks big but it will not hurt after I put it into your arm. Just a little pinch when I put it in,” he said in Chinese with a slight Tibetan accent. Just as he said, he finished everything in a moment. “Now, try not to move too much so it will not leak. I will be back before the bottle is empty,” and then he went out. I kept awake for a few minutes watching the drops of liquid run down the tube and just wanted to make sure that I was not hurting. Then I fell asleep.
     We woke up in the late afternoon and I did feel much better. Then we realized that the three men were still back at the hotel. They must be sick too. We were so busy taking care of ourselves that we didn’t even think about our colleagues. We asked the nurse to call the hotel to check on them. They were probably wondering where we were at breakfast and lunch. When they rushed to the hospital to see us, they did remember that they did not feel great after playing cards. Two of them threw up once, but one did not. They thought they might have drunk too much alcohol. They went to bed after the first round of cards. They were fine in the morning. We thought the reason the one did not get sick and the other two only a little was because they did not eat that much mushrooms, but mostly pork and drank the liquor.
     We went back to sleep shortly after they were gone. The next time I woke, I saw that our IVs were almost empty. I started to worry again. I heard that if air goes into your blood vessels you would die. There was no sign of the doctor or nurses so we waited and waited and I saw that my friend’s bottle was empty with only the tube with liquid still in it. Mine was almost empty too. I got up and out from my bed and took down the bottle and held it in my hand, and started to walk to the doctor’s office passing by the Tibetan patients in the hallway again. I had to say it was much easier than when I came in the previous evening. The Tibetan nurse saw me right away when I appeared by his office. “Why are you out of your bed, What do you think you are doing here? You really want to die.” He said. “My friend’s and my bottles are empty,” I said. “Yes, yes, now your blood is replacing the empty bottle,” he said with a very upsetting tone and came over and took the bottle from my hand and raised it much higher. “Wow, I didn’t notice my blood in the bottle when I walked here,” I was horrified when I saw my blood out in the tube as he dragged me back to my room.
     “Obviously you are better and I don’t think you need any more IVs.” He said and started to take care of my friend at the other bed. Then mine. We checked out the next morning. While we walked out the in-patient courtyard, we passed by the little morgue. We started to laugh, and we laughed so hard for a minute that we had scared ourselves the night before because we felt a force inside. We walked out the hospital gate, and I did not tell my family. 
     We did not have a penny and no one asked any money so I think it was part of  free care. 

Traffic Accident

The number of traffic accidents was very high in city. Every now and then, I would go to the public bulletin board to look at the pictures of road accidents. Most were bicycle and car accidents. I heard from friends who in turn heard from traffic police in the city that an average of 8.5 persons died from traffic accidents each day. Bicycles were the main form of transportation in my city since the land was so flat. I would see farmers carry their two huge baskets on each side of their bicycles as they came to the city market to sell their produce. The baskets had to be a few hundred pounds. I even saw people put a whole sofa on the back of their bicycles. Just name it and it could be carried on the back of bicycles.
     I never really saw any accidents except once when Mr. Zhou and I went to the western part of my province to do some fieldwork. Not far out of a small town, we were on a public long-distance bus. The truck in front of us somehow bumped a farmer and his son who were on a bicycle. There was no dividing line separating cars and bicycles. The farmer lay on the ground with his head bleeding. His son didn’t cry but both of his legs were shaking while watching his injured father.
     The traffic stopped in both directions. Soon cars piled up in long lines. We thought that the farmer was dead. I was so scared that I could not even go close to the sight and I felt I was like the boy shaking inside. We had to wait until the police came and we didn’t know when because there was no way to contact them. We saw the farmer moving again. He struggled to stand up. It seemed like no one knew what to do. Most people on our bus were farmers or villagers. I started to ask the cars heading the other way which stopped to help take the farmer to the town hospital since they were going that way. I pleaded with the people for help in about ten of the cars. No one was willing to do so. They all said that we should ask the bus driver to turn around and take the farmer to the hospital because it was public transportation. Finally, we asked the bus driver. The driver said that if the passengers didn’t mind we could go back to town. I asked, “would anyone mind if we go back to the town hospital to just drop off the poor farmer and then continue to our destination?” Everyone was angry at the cars that were going to town but not helping. They said, “No, we do not mind saving our brother.” So our bus turned around and took the farmer to the local hospital. We don’t know whether he made it or not and what happened to his son or what happened to the truck driver.
     I was very upset that those smaller cars didn’t want to save a man’s life. Later on, I read a paper reporting a similar event someplace else. They reported the license number. The driver was punished for not picking up an injured person who needed medical treatment. We didn’t have fast communication in China at that time. The best way was whoever was there. For example, if police do not have a car, they could stop any car for a ride in order to chase a criminal, usually a robber in the city.

Getting to Know Tibetans

I spent 4 years working in seed studies in Aba (Ngawa), Gansu and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Aba (རྔ་བ་བོད་རིགས་དང་ཆང་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་; 阿坝藏族羌族自治州), is located in northwestern Sichuan Province, the eastern end of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It neighbors Qinghai and Gansu provinces to the north. Tibetan people are the majority 54%, while the Han, Qiang, and other 8 minorities make up the remaining 46%. I also helped study bamboo flowering in the Wolong National Nature Reserve, since Panda were dying without food.
     Traditionally, Tibetan people usually lived high in the mountains. In the past, the tribes fought each other, so when they were up higher, it was easier for them to see their enemies. Secondly, it was safer because of landslides. Third, they did not get sick since there were fewer germs. However, it was very difficult for them to carry water up there. They could do that job that the Han people couldn’t. They simply carried a full bucket of water on their backs, even without a cover. They climbed the hill to their house without spilling any water.
     Another amazing thing they did was that they built their houses with stones of different sizes and shapes without any adhesive to hold the stones together. Stones could be piled two stories high, including in a variety of styles. I was always amazed at their building skills.  Every summer from June to August, the Tibetan people usually came down to the valley to build a camp. It was their “Flower Holiday.” Most flowers were in bloom. It was party time for them. They collected firewood for the night. At night, they built a fire and sang and danced around the fire. Their voices were so beautiful and strong. You could hear them from miles away.
     Problems sometimes happened between Hans and Tibetans around this time when the Tibetans were down in the valley partying. Usually young kids were too lazy to go up the hill to collect their firewood. Sometimes, they stole wood from the nearby Han people, along with vegetables from the gardens. The Han people usually let it go since they didn’t want to get involved in any unnecessary conflicts. They told me that the Tibetans were in the valley only once a year for few months and they would be up in the mountains again soon.  They bring joys down too since they could hear them singing and watch their dancing.

 

Just imagine all this happened at night, around a camp  fire which is the only light.

     I witnessed two such occurrences. We watched the firewood being taken away. They watched us somehow knowing that we were outsiders. Hans and Tibetans were friendly with each other and respected each other in most cases. There were some interracial marriages too. The Han people there always told me that the Tibetan people were very warm and honest. They let you know when they were happy or angry. From a local Han person’s description, “Tibetans could be your best friend or could kill you with the knife hanging by their belt.” Han people did not allow to have knife hanging like them and they did not have any weapons to defend themselves.
     There were lots of stories of mysteries and mysterious people in those remote harsh regions. I met a Tibetan who had blended into Han completely. You couldn’t tell that he was Tibetan unless he told you so. But he still kept in close touch with his own people. I asked him how much he believed in about the Tibetan religion and traditions. He thought for a moment and said, “let me put it this way. I believe there are lots of things that need serious research. I don’t believe a lot of things. Some things in the Tibetan culture changed with time. Some things are gone. Some things are new. But be careful here. There are some things that would not and have not changed for thousands of years. People believed in those things in their hearts. I believe those could pass the test of time.”
     I asked why Tibetans didn’t take regular baths, they smelled so bad and you could see dirt on their skin. He replied that it was a kind of natural skin protection from harsh sunlight and wind since they didn’t have any sun block or lotions. “But how about their clothes,” I continued. “Yes, you are right, they do need to take better care of them through education and communication from the outside.” I also told him my shocking observation one day while we were waiting for a bus. Suddenly, this Tibetan next to me pulled out a naked newborn baby boy out of his front pouch. The wind was blowing very strong, he handed the baby to the mother and both were playing with their baby. I was worried about the baby getting cold. He explained that they were used to it. The baby would be fine.
     Unlike city grown-ups, I always admired people, even kids, in the poor remote regions. They had acquired many skills to survive under those harsh conditions. They knew all of the useful herbs, food, and animals. Even a little shepherd boy could use a simple spindle about “foot size” to make wool yarn while he walked around the hills watching the sheep. They were so alert and knew everything happening around them in their natural world. And they knew where almost everything was, as if they had these big homes with everything in them.  They are truly independent.
     Once I was in the capital of Barkam (马尔康), the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Mr. Zhou and I went with two local foresters to a local Tibetan fair. I was walking with three men on the street, while another group of young Tibetans passed by on the opposite side. The Tibetan next to me flicked one of his fingers on my face, touching my face when he passed. I was so furious because no one had ever done that to me. So I turned around and was ready to chase the boy; I wanted to punch him or break his finger. I wanted to tell him that his behavior was not welcome here. The local foresters grabbed me by the arm, they almost left me in the air, and dragged me back even before I could get any attention from the Tibetan teens. They scared me by saying that no one would come to look for me if the Tibetans decided to take me away, because the land is so vast outside of this tiny city. Han Chinese is the minority here. If you want to survive, you stay low. Sometimes Han Chinese girls disappeared, even Han Chinese men disappeared. Some Tibetans loved Han Chinese, for them it is okay to steal someone they love (抢婚). It is rare, but it did happen every now and then. Mr. Zhou’s face changed too, he decided to take all of us back to the Hotel instead even though we had just started.
     I also met some professors from Sichuan University who studied Minority Cultures. I did learn a lot from them. I was shocked that the Tibetans I saw were not all Tibetans. They actually could divide into a dozen of smaller nationalities. Most of them only had oral languages, no written language. They just discovered one tribe whose population was so small and they were more precious than the Giant Panda. The project involved helping their culture survive. They had only an oral language. One thing that puzzled me so much was that this professor and his group were going to help them create their own written language. I didn’t understand why. If they had one fine, but if not, why wouldn’t they learn the ones already available or just let them develop one on their own. Governmental aid and no restrictions on childbearing were for non-Han Chinese.
      Most Tibetans did not have education especially the older ones. They had their own ways and traditions just to fit their habit. I used to see one older Tibetan every morning when he came down from his mountain house to the Forest Station clinic for his shot. He told me what a wonderful clinic it was and it was free of charge. Too bad that few people about his age believed in using Western medicine. They only trusted their traditional Tibetan medicine as practiced by their herbal doctors.
      One thing I tried to convince the Tibetan people was that we didn’t have many forests left. We needed to plant trees, protect them, and let them grow instead of letting sheep and cows roam through them, and not cut the growing tips of trees just for fun while walking through the woods. The funny things was the boys were so proud of themselves; they would let me take a picture next to the tree tip they just cut off with their knife still in their hands. They even let their animals into our enclosed experiment sites in the remote mountains, took apart our instruments, and took them home as their toys. For them, anything outside without people watching they could take home, meaning no one wanted anymore. They did not think they did anything wrong, they told us that they took them home or took them apart just like anything else in the mountains was free to take.
      The trees couldn’t become healthy mature trees anymore after that, and couldn’t become a tall dense forest. It took the Forest Station workers a whole day of climbing to carry up the tree seedlings. The Tibetans always laughed at us. They thought it was funny and foolish to plant trees because trees grew by themselves. I was trying to tell them that the trees could not grow fast enough now that the trees were part of the timber industry. Just like the food in their farm. They just didn’t understand why we put so much effort into growing them in the nursery, transplanting the trees up on the hill, and cutting back the competing shrubs to let the trees grow.
      I also met other minority groups in other places. Since China is a large country with more than 50 nationalities, I was very interested in all of them, their culture, and their wisdom. We could be good friends to each other, to learn and help each other. Nature and time are much more powerful than humankind’s efforts as a whole even though we are pushing our limit every minute. We often ignore the cries of nature and forget Time. Only Time will tell, might not be in our lifetime, but will tell our children or our children’s children. I realize it is our challenge to educate people that we need to balance everything we do, take it out and put it back. One cannot just take; otherwise, we are going to disappear just like the dinosaurs. Maybe that is the eventual fate of humanity. At least, we could delay that happening instead of bringing it on sooner.
    TED offers some interesting ideas Is There A Better Way To Be Buried? And it looks like marketing is being done: What Can Happen With You And Your Body After Death? More people accept the idea of letting mushrooms eat their body. I used to help grow shiitake mushrooms in college, but it was not easy. We are full of germs which means our bodies would have to be treated first to kill everything alive. And our bodies are not meant to grow mushrooms, which usually grow on wood, too much fat and meat, and not enough fibers. People are too high on the food chain to fall to the bottom. Even if we could cultivate a supper fungi for the dead human body, the same fungi might escape and mutate and attack the living body. As bad as it looks, I think the Tibetan Sky Burial is the most cost effective, the most clean and natural way to return back to nature. Tibetans are model citizens on Earth. They take the least away from the food chain and return the most back to the food chain. They also do the least amount of damage to the Earth which makes it possible for them live on fragile habitats. Also, they make it possible for 1.4 billion Chinese people, many Indians, and people on the other side of the Himalaya to be able to drink clean water since both the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers originate in Tibet; the Himalaya and the Karakoram ranges in India.

56 Ethnicities of China!

Tibet, Reaching the Sky
Haibei Tibetan
Tea & Horse Trail One
Tea & Horse Trail Two
Tea & Horse Trail Three Three
Rdiscovering Yangtze River
Tibet: The CIA’s Cancelled War