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I had no idea that the simple act of hanging around our hotel courtyard on the day of mid-autumn festival would create such an experience, but then I suppose you never really do see these experiences coming.  Mid autumn festival is a day in China where strictly speaking is on the 15th day of the 8th moon, or the autumn equinox.  If you are able to view the moon through the haze or not does not matter, what you do see is the entire country shutting down at the same time to celebrate the occasion.  Families get together and friends unite, like many cultures who have a celebration near harvest time.  The staple treat which everyone must consume are moon cakes, 3 inch circular discs which are similar to fruit cake in density and taste.  

Our hotel, or luguan, which is usually a family run smaller and cheaper accommodation was found down a quiet maze of back alley complexes.  Meshed together over the ages it is difficult to tell where one house ends and another starts, doors decorated in red fu characters for good luck and fortune lead you to our place. Most places open up behind these doors into an open courtyard with a few rooms attached.  At our particular luguan this mid autumn festival Jim was shooting the breeze with some old men in our courtyard who are part of the family which run it.  A graying woman cooked lunch while the men sat and talked.  I was in the area organizing some photos and when the food came out was invited to join the gang.  Jim, myself, three elderly men, and one woman all sat down to a feast of fish soup, chopped chicken (which was running around the courtyard just that morning) green veggies, sweet tomatoes, and of course, as any Chinese feast goes, baijiu.  Baijiu is the Chinese rice spirit which usually runs both too strong in a number of categories, most overwhelmingly being the taste.  As the meal progressed we seemed to be getting along very well and I really wish I could have understood the thick accent of the old man with the surname of Jia to at least know the subject he was talking about.  He was giving very serious lectures, or telling stories, or talking about us I’m not sure but all Jim and I could do was nod and say we agreed.  The woman was telling us that the yellow river valley was the cradle of human civilization and was asking us if this is what we were taught.  I told her I wasn’t sure and that there are many ancient civilizations in the world, although it is much older than the American civilization of where I come from.  Perhaps she was talking about existing civilizations, I am unsure.  

After an afternoon nap we decided to bike to the town square and play some music.  Squares in China are places people go to in the evening to dance, sing, play instruments, Rollerblade, meet friends, and just hang out.  It always seems to be a great commune of both traditional and modern culture.  Nakia, Drew, and Peter took out their instruments and instantly drew a crowd.  Reception to our music along the way seems to change depending on the situation but people last night were genuinely interested.  We sang a number of songs each with applause, Nakia particularly drew applause with her vocals.  After singing a few we told people about our trip and mission then asked if anyone else in the group could perform.  A tiny man, about 5 feet tall and missing most of his teeth jumped in from the back and demanded the attention of the crowd, people seemed to know him.  He belted out a couple of songs with hand motions, great eye contact, and a beautiful voice.  He could sing incredibly well and everyone seemed very entertained.  A woman soon starting singing Peking opera as well and they would go back and forth.  Jim stepped in with the Chinese song “The Moon Represents my Heart” and “Zai Nali”  With the help of the woman and the man the trio sounded great.  People seemed extremely receptive.  I meanwhile explained my bike to the many Chinese examining it, which seems to happen wherever we go.  ”Yes it is made in America, those are to hold water bottles, those are bags I put my things in, that is a pump to put air in my tires.”  People always ask how much it cost as well but I usually lie and tell them it is much cheaper than what I payed.  Sometimes it is an issue that I don’t want to run the risk of getting it stolen, but more often than not it is because after converting it’s price to RMB it sounds like a lot and I feel somewhat guilty I guess. 

The evening was rounded out with skewed meat called Chuar, today we start biking into the mountains.  Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhong qiu jie kuai le!   

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Adam's Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.