12--Festival of Lanterns


After all the activities of the new year we were taking a few days off, but always welcomed visitors who came to the door. One such visitor was Iverson, who first showed up with an older gentleman, a school principal (but we don't know which school). This man had no English and I felt bad that he couldn't join in the conversation. Iverson's English was excellent, barring his pronunciation. Somehow the conversation moved to the topic of movie rentals, and the next day Iverson showed up with some DVD's of movies we could watch in English. They could be pirated and the quality is not always good, but it's something to watch that we understand.

A few days later, when we had watched them all, he showed Dick where the rental shops are and also helped us find a few other things we had been trying to locate. This young man was a great help. He and his girlfriend, Jane, who also has very good English, are both going to a university of international law in Beijing. We took them out for supper because they had been so much help to us, but they werent' all that comfortable with us treating them.

We were now preparing for another festival, the Lantern Festival. It happens on the first new moon after the Chinese New Year, and is called Yuan Xiao, which Mr Su explained, means first night. This is also a big deal here, and we have been told that there will be dancing in the street and lots of other activities. Dick did some research and found out that the history goes back hundreds of years and the traditions changed with each dynasty, but lanterns are a big part of the celebration, possibly having something to do with the big lantern in the sky

Anyway, on the 13th we decided to go for a walk and Dick mentioned that he wanted to buy me a vase for the flowers that we had gotten at Christmas, sort of a Valentine's day present. We went to the pottery shop where we had bought a little clay baker type of pot a few days earlier. She had a vase, but it sold in pairs and we didn't like it all that much. So we walked down to the department store downtown and looked at theirs. They were nice, but way too expensive. Along the way back, we spotted another gift shop and went into it. We waited a long time for someone to come out and help us and they turned out to be a couple of young people, early 20's I'd say, who didn't seem all that interested in helping us. It took a long time for the young man to come out with a price, and we didn't like it. Then they tried to sell us something completely different from the vases that was obviously our target.

So we left and continued down the street. Then I remembered the gift shop where Mr Liu had bought us the picture and the flowers at Christmas. It was owned by Ms Cai. So we decided to go there and see what they had. The ladies were outside and welcomed us into the shop. I spotted a white vase with pink lotus flowers on it, that had a yellow and white arrangement in it, but we told them we were looking for just the vase. She said they come as a pair, and she took down the other one, breaking another vase in the process. Oh well, no biggie. She managed to convince us to take both vases and the arrangement to boot. Then she got on the phone and talked to the owner at length about a price for us. We made the deal, but we didn't have enough on us to pay today. We told her we would come tomorrow, and that was OK, but she insisted that we take the vases and flowers home today.

Then, after we had signed an IOU, she told us that we had had our picture taken with her father. We didn't know what she was saying, but there were two little girls in the shop and one of them managed to translate for us. Then we realized what she was telling us. Her father was the calligrapher, Mr Li, we had visited a few days earlier. What a coincidence! Except we know that there are no coincidences, so there is really something at work for us here.

That evening Mr Su came to tell us that he wanted to take us downtown tomorrow because there were a lot of things going on in town due to the festival. We told him that we also needed to go to the bank and then pay for the flowers, so we would meet at 9:30.

The following morning we went by bike to the bank and the flower shop. Mr Su's wife had joined us, but when we were riding she always kept her distance behind us. One of those old traditions that still lingers in the older generations. She's quite shy and we didn't get much of a chance to communicate, unfortunately. As soon as we walked towards the shop, Mr Li's daughter approached Mr Su and there were a lot of people around. Ms Cai had come to meet us and of course we had to have pictures taken. They gave us flowers to hold and put some around our necks. Quite an experience. We also all received a red silk rose in honour of Valentine's day, which they call lovers' day here.

After the visit and photo ops, Mr Su noticed that the street performers were coming closeby, so he escorted us to the street. The musicians were on trucks and the dancers were in parade format. There were all kinds of costumes, like the ones they use in the Beijing Opera. The Monkey King and the pig man, the men with long beards and so on. Mr Su convinced them to start performing so that we could take some pictures of them.

Then we got back on the bikes and went closer to downtown. We noticed that strings of lanterns had been hung accross the road and there were a lot more people in the street again. Vendors had come back out of the woodwork and there were all kinds of treats available. Ice cream, cotton candy, all sorts of fruits, nuts, and those little white balls that Helen had told us about. They are called Yuan Xiao, just like the name of the holiday, or Tang Yuan . They have a fruit or nut filling and this is covered with glutenous rice until they look like small snowballs. We had bought some the day before, and Dick had offered them to the old man at the school gate, but when Dick took a bite out of one, the old guy whisked it out of his hand and put the other half back in the bag. Then he motioned that they needed to be cooked first. Mr Su later told us that they are boiled just like dumplings.

So now we were closer to downtown and parked our bikes. Mr Su knew that I liked taking baby shots, so he talked to some people and had their little boys pose for me. Well, that started a snowball effect, because there were a lot of people in town from the surrounding villages and they had never seen us before. So they all wanted to have their picture taken. I accommodated them and went through quite a numbe of disks. Don't worry, I won't post all of them, although there are some character shots that are worth looking at.

For a good while we were the main attaction and there were times we figured the police were wishing we would go away because we were really tying up the traffic. But even they always treat us with a smile and are friendly and helpful.

We thought maybe there might be a performance today, but Mr Su talked to some policemen who were parked in front of the bank, and they told him that the dancing would happen tomorrow morning, between 9 and 10. So we started to head back towards home, taking pictures of the sights and enjoying the sounds and smells along the street.

Dick mentioned lunch, and so we slowly sauntered over towards one of the market streets. We went through the park of the Sun Wu museum, and saw some little boys sliding down the stone slab separating the stairs. These kids don't have a lot of fancy playground equipment available to them, but they manage to have fun anyway.

We walked around the pond and noticed a sign on one of the buildings. Can't remember the exact words, but it was a training centre for the military. We asked Mr Su about it, and he said that the military will send soldiers there for a week of training which incorporates the teachings of Sun Wu. Apparently there have also been foreigners attending that course.

We continued around the pond and came out on one of the market streets. A man approached us and asked if we believe in God. He asked us questions, and I think he liked the answers we gave. Then, further on, at the intersection of market streets, there was a lady selling some sort of insect. Dick looked interested, of course, and Mr Su told him they were silk worms. Dick tried one, and liked it, but we didn't buy any, we were on the way to a restaurant.

We had never been on the other side of the market street, so this was new to us. To our surprise there was a beautiful restaurant there, quite large and very clean. We were escorted to our table and Mr Su did the ordering. We had some really tender chicken breast with red and green peppers, a salted vegetable that we haven't identified, sweet corn soup, and goat meat in a broth. Dick had been talking about goat, actually kid, meat a day or so before that. He really liked it when he had tried it in Greece years ago, and it is so tender. This wasn't quite as tender, obviously not a very young kid, but it was good nonetheless.

The staff offered us western cutlery. Since this was the first time it had even been offered to us, we decided to use a knife and fork for a little bit, just to show them how it's done. But we both prefer eating Chinese food with chopsticks. Mrs Su mentioned how skilled we are with them, so that was quite a compliment.

Then Mr Su told us that this restaurant is owned by the "electricity company" and that there are some lanterns on display next to the building. So after lunch we strolled over there to have a good look at them. They are beautiful, very artful. Apparently most of them are handmade, and some of the panels are painted with scenes from famous Chinese stories. Others have decorations that depict ancient Chinese coins which offer a wish of success and prosperity. They are really quite a sight to see. In addition to the lanterns, there were also different animal shapes like the sheep, the horse, fish, dragons, a lion, and so on.

We wandered around the complex to see all the lanterns and took a lot of pictures. Then it was time to go back for the bikes. When we got back to the park, we found that there were all kinds of people flying kits. Everyone gets into kite flying, adults, kids, grandparents with the babies. I took more pictures, but kites are another item best experienced in real life than on film. We wandered through the park and looked at all the people enjoying the spring day.

Then back through the market and onto the main road. We retrieved our bikes and started heading for home, or so we thought. Along the way, Mr Su noticed a group of performers who were practicing in one of the courtyards. He approached them and talked them into letting us in to take some pictures. Some of the performers knew Mr Su, so they had no problem with it. This group was all seniors who seemed to enjoy life and certainly had no problem posing for me. We were told that they would be performing tomorrow morning in the main intersection of town.

Now we headed back home so that we could have a little rest before coming back out in the evening to watch the festivities again. I managed to recharge the batteries on the camera before going back out to the streets.

In the evening we decided to walk, since it would be too difficult to manoeuvre bikes around with all the crowds. We walked to the first market and turned right. About halfway up the street there was a crowd gathered around a small stage where musicians were playing traditional Chinese instruments. We took some pictures and then Mr Su escorted us to the back of the stage, where he talked to the band. It seems he knows everybody in town here. Then he told me that I could go onto the stage to take more pictures. I got some good ones of the wind section on stage, the Suena and the instrument that looks like a bunch of flutes tied together, but the pics of the percussion section down in the pit turned out a little too dark, unfortunately. Also, there really isn't a good one of the Erhu, the two string violin, who was hiding in the pit with the percussion section. But, hopefully, I might be able to get more shots of one some other time.

After they performed a few tunes, the firecrackers started coming out on the sidewalk close to the stage. I had to cover my ears because being this close to them was really hard on the ear drums.

Then we continued on down the street towards the electric company to look at all the lanterns. As we were walking, we watched fireworks in the sky from the other end of town. I tried to take some pictures, but they weren't very good. I tried all kinds of ways to take the pictures, but I think the street lights interfered with the shots.

The lanterns were all lit up, of course, and some of the animals, like the sheep and the horse, were actually moving. It was a neat display. We wandered around and took some more pictures, but it's another situation where real life is much better.

Well, we had had a full day, so we were ready to go back home and relax. We would come back tomorrow morning to watch the dancing. It was decided that we would leave about 8:30.

In the morning, Mr Su had us take our bikes with us, because he knew someone who would repair them for us. We went to the corner close to where Mork and Mindies used to be and there was a man in his 40's who seemed to have a much better supply of tools and parts than the old man we had been going to. We left our bikes with him and were told that he would take the bikes home with him when he's done working at that location. Mr Su said the man lived right by the school.

The first place Mr Su took us to after that was a little shop that we have walked past for months now, but didn't realize what was there. It's a little bakery shop that makes a sort of bun which is filled with whole wheat dough. The lady was busy rolling the whole wheat filling and then she would put it inside the white dough and shape it. The man would take over from there and add some oil and then place them on the roof of the woodburning oven. We were given four of them to take with us and they are really tasty. Another myth dispelled, they do have whole wheat here!

When we got to the street corner, we decided to take the bus, which showed up in just a few minutes. We were told that it might be difficult for them to get to the city centre in the afternoon because of the crowds, but we weren't too concerned with that. They let us off close to the main intersection, which was lined with people.

There was a troupe of dancers that were all in colourful costumes and seemed to be a traditional wedding party. These were nurses and doctors from the hospital and they appeared to be enjoying themselves tremendously, hamming it up for my camera.

Then we made our way through the crowds to the main intersection. There was a truck with musicians parked there, and of course I had to take their picture. When the performers started to dance in the intersection, Dick took some pictures by holding the camera high above his head. We couldn't really see too much. That's when Mr Su decided to talk to the musicians on the truck, and we were allowed to climb aboard and that's where we watched the entire show. It allowed us to see everything. First the truck started pushing its way through the crowd and circled around. This cleared a path for the dancers and they started doing their thing. The truck continued circling around in the intersection and then parked when it got back to the edge of the crowd.

After the hospital staff finished their performance, we got off the truck and started heading down the street in a westerly direction. There were a couple of women in front of us with a toddler. All of a sudden the little tyke stopped and squatted down. In China there seems to be no problem potty training. They have slits in the crotch of their pants, including the quilted ones, and they can simply squat down and go, right on the street. I've observed it a few times before, but never had the camera with me. This time I was able to get a shot from behind, but didn't want to embarrass anyone by taking it from the front, although that scene would have been much more explicit, puddle and all.

We walked down the street and went into a courtyard of a building. This is where the seniors group was performing. Mr Su again got us to the front of the crowd. It seems he knew the director of the group and they chatted for a few minutes before the performance began. First there was a lively dance performance by the ladies in the red vests and the men in white. Some of the men are farmers, and they just wore a white towel as headdress. Dick mentioned later that this must be much like Chotachwa's that were popular during the 30's. His Dad would have loved this type of performance and given half a chance would have been in there!

Next it was the drum corps that entered the circle and they did a very intricate march to the rythm of their drums. They would weave in and out and do a little curtsey or give a little kick. These ladies were enjoying themselves, probably more so than the crowd. Mr Su proceeded to tell us about some of the performers, that the minimum age for the group is 50, but their average age was 65. One of the women had been ill with cancer, and had surgery about 4 years ago. But she was dancing up a storm! We were really impressed with the performance.

Afterwards, we lingered on the square, and Mr Su spotted an old woman with small feet. He had mentioned that "condition" to us the day before. His mother was one of them, but she was 96 and suffering from dementia. I took a picture of the old woman from accross the square and then walked up to her to show it to her. Her daughter and the other women who were with her really liked that and told us that she is 92. She chatted to us for quite some time and she seemed to be quite spry for that age. She told us that her son in law had brought her to watch the performance, since she really likes music. She invited us to tea and told us she still does a little housework every day. She couldn't see the picture on the camera very well, because her eyes were going, as were her ears. She was really a special little lady to meet. Mr Su told us that she would have been born during the Qing dynasty. Amazing, no? We did some research on foot-binding, and apparently it was abolished by the Empress Dowager in 1902, although the practice did continue in some circles for some time after that.

We tried to find another area where there might be performers, and ended up at a different building. Unfortunately, it was the same performance we had just watched, so we decided to head back home. We took a shortcut down an alleyway where we heard some music. We passed a house where someone had just died, that's what the music was all about. People were outside the home who were obviously waiting to go in to offer their condolences, or had just been in to do so. We continued down the alley and ended up back on the main road.

We walked down the street and Mr Su showed us some different things, one of which was the blacksmith's cart. A blacksmith here still makes tools that are used by construction crews and farmers. They sell shovels and other common items.

There was a man roasting chestnuts alongside the street. What we found interesting is that there was some black material in with the nuts. Mr Su told us that this was brown sugar and it doesn't necessarily do anything for the flavour, but it enhances the smell. I also had to take a picture of one of the many fruitstands on the sidewalk. This is February, and they have grapes, bananas, pineapples, oranges, apples and more, outside! Couldn't do that at home.

Continuing down the street now, we were approached by a young lady. She was a university student from Chengzhou and had very good English. We talked to her at length, and drew a huge crowd. She told us she wanted to be an interpreter and we gave her some ideas and a lot of encouragement.

More young people stopped us along the street to try out their English, and we can never turn them down. They get very little opportunity to really use the language, and after all, isn't that why we're here? So we let them ask us questions and they give us their phone numbers and email addresses. Sometimes we contact them, sometimes we don't, but it's a nice gesture.

On the way home we went to pick up our bikes at the repairman's home, which was right outside the school gate. We sat down and Mr Su chatted to the man for a while. His wife came out, she had really long hair which was tied back. That's the way pretty much all women wear it. Mr Su told us that she works at one of the local factories, textile I think, and that her husband used to work there too. But he lost his job a few years ago and so had decided to repair bicycles. I'm thinking that his job must have been mechanical in nature, because he knows his way around a bike quite well.

We got home around lunch time, and were really pooped. We decided that for the rest of the day we would be couch potatoes and had nicely settled into that position, when the phone rang. It was Mr Zhang. He asked us where we were in the morning, and we told him Mr Su had taken us to the festival. Then we were asked if we would meet the journalist who had come out from Binzhou to tape us for the news. They wanted to take us to see the lanterns. I couldn't tell him that we had already seen the lanterns, so we obliged.

They picked us up in the car, which we didn't object to at all. We ended up parking on the street close to the electric company, and the two young ladies who were part of the crew grabbed each of us us by the arm. They escorted us through the crowds and we ended up in some sort of arena. We followed the camera man, but when we got to the crowd around the arena, the going got a little tough. But the two young ladies never once let go of us. They managed to get us through the crowds, and we walked accross the arena where there was a drum band performing. We ended up in VIP seats, just behind the local officials, and got to watch the show from there. After the drummers, the fireworks began, and I finally figured out how to get a shot or two of it. The two young ladies were sitting next to us, and I asked one of them if she had an English name. She didn't and we offered to give her one. This one was a Michelle to us, and she liked it a lot. Then we asked the girl with glasses the same question, and she ended up being called Andrea.

When the fireworks was over, we were again escorted back accross the arena and now we were looking at all the lanterns, so they could capture it on film. We walked around and shot some more pics of the lanterns, and when we got to the door of the main building, we noticed a crowd on the steps. We asked what was going on, and the girls told us that it was a game. The lotus lantern we were at had a ribbon attached with some Chinese writing on it. Apparently it was a riddle, and quite difficult to solve. Those who figure out the answer, get a prize.

After our stroll around the lanterns, we headed back to the car and were taken back home. We took one last picture from the inside of the car, of Michelle and Andrea bidding us goodbye.

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