Yesterday we ate breakfast of Beijing Kao Ya (roast duck), which I and yeye washed down with baijiu. The three of us then had a rest, and slept for most of the day. After we woke up, while Miao showed her grandparents some photos of our UK trip I went around and took some photos of their rather big house and garden. They grow sweetcorn, cabbages, turnips, grapes, and other things.
They don’t have plumbing and draining in the house, which means 2 things: outside toilet (literally hole in the ground), and a well which they need to pump to get water. They do have a small coal burner powered central heating system as well electricity in their home and some mod cons such as a TV and telephone. Dish and clothes washing must be done outside. Hot water is heated by electricity in the morning and kept in big thermus flasks. Face washing and teeth brushing is done out of a bowl. If you need the facilities during the night, there’s bed pans available.
To me, it feels like going camping, which is fine for a short time but I couldn’t easily imagine living like this all year round. Many people are like this here, and they are by no means the worst off in China. I’m sure they’re living better than the migrant or unskilled workers in Dalian, but the area feels poor, I wonder what it’s like in poorer areas.
In the evening yesterday, we again ate the Beijing roast duck that we’d brought from Dalian, then went on a tour of Miao’s mother’s friends and relatives in the area. I felt a little like I was being paraded around myself. One of the farmers had done very well with himself and had a very nicely done up house, a big tv, indoor plumbing, and even had a computer, although probably no internet connection. Most of the houses we visited were quite simple and were basically places to sleep and keep out of the cold.
Of the three children I met, all seemed shy to speak English to me, one was shaking with nerves to sit next to me and hold a conversation, another had been given incorrect medicine to deal with a bad bought of flu as a child, which had adversely affected one side of his body. Even so the feeling about the kids future were quite optimistic as the level of education in China has gone up a lot. Though I don’t know how they will pay for university education, or maybe the government will help them out with that. I just hope that they can do well for themselves. I feel the same is true in the UK as here, money begets money, education begets education.
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