My trip to Fuzhou in March 1989

March 10, 1989. Friday, 10:55 p.m.
Well, after time spent waffling I decided to go with the rest of the foreigners to Fuzhou to see an American couple who teaches in Fuzhou--they are the only Westerners in Fuzhou, and they get lonely. Thirteen of us took the bus trip there.

The bus ride was 3 hours, and kind of fun. It was a “road trip.” Some interesting sights were lots of water buffalo being used to plow fields; Chinese architecture that was relatively new-looking, but in a somewhat traditional style (e.g., whole towns made of gray cement blocks with oriental roofs); a place where the bus stopped and people came along to sell such things as cookies and sugar cane; a big hill with a temple on top; lots of rice fields--quite small; fields with a yellow-flowered plant, apparently rape; people raising vegetables on very small plots--maybe five or six cabbages on a little plot of land; and concrete telephone and electrical poles. I enjoyed the views.

[1996 update: A new road has been built between Nanchang and Fuzhou, and the trip is much shorter now.]

When we got to the bus station, it was like we were celebrities arriving. People looked and stared. We stood out on the steps of the bus station, and a crowd of 50 gathered (I counted). People inside the station also looked and went out of their way to look. I’m sure we were the subject of a few conversations over dinner tonight!

March 11, 1989. Saturday, 11:30 p.m.
Friday night I didn’t go to bed until after 1:00 a.m., and I didn’t get to sleep until about 2:00 a.m. The loudspeaker on campus [encouraging people to get up to do morning exercises] woke me up at 6:30 a.m., and though I didn’t get up until about 9:00 a.m., I never really slept after that. So during the day I was tired--but had lots of fun. After lunch we shuttled downtown to be stared at by the masses, and to stare at Fuzhou. Whenever we’d stop, the crowds would gather--one place we stopped was at a bookstore where several of us bought bizarre posters (e.g., a nude boy surrounded by such things as Mickey Mouse and a fish singing into a microphone). From there to the Catholic church--apparently the third or fourth largest in China. The church was near the river, in an area with lots of older, tiny homes. I took lots of pictures, and have never seen such crowds of starers. Easily 20 would gather, and when we went into the church gates, I counted something like 45 people who followed us in to stare. One of the people on our road trip spoke Chinese, and it seems like whenever one of us would speak in Chinese to someone, that was the cue that it was OK to move in tightly. I took several photos of the crowds. Some interesting things that I saw in that area of Fuzhou were people playing pool at a table in the street, and people playing cards, and of course the markets. Some kids were following me talking--all I understood was Meiguo (American). None of the other foreigners seems to want to “do the hellos” with the masses, but it doesn’t bother me. Maybe I’ll change, but now I keep thinking that I have an obligation to make a good impression, since I may be the only foreigner they will come in contact with.

March 12, 1989. Sunday.
Three people decided to go to the Catholic service that morning, and while attending Mass in Chinese didn’t sound appealing, a chance to walk by the river and the houses there made it worthwhile to be ready at 7:30 a.m. to leave. And so I was, and so I did. What fun I had! I’m sure for many of those people I was the first foreigner they’d seen, and I couldn’t have been more strange if I’d come from another planet. The area is poor, and the houses looked small. There were several women doing laundry in the river, and I went down there to photograph them. My “trip” to the river, however, put me at a disadvantage. The curious children--and a few curious adults--followed me down to there, and I was at a dead end. I think that I counted 37 people who were obviously following me. So what could I do? I got out my camera and took a picture.

I saw lots of children taking their potty breaks in the street, with Mom or Dad holding them up. The houses often had red antithetical couplets hanging on each side of the door, and many houses were made of wood. (Wood is a “rare” item in parts of China--there was an extensive deforestation program in the 1950s--I think that’s when it was--and so things made of wood are unusual. Poles are made of concrete, and generally speaking, you see fewer wooden items than at home. I’d wondered why people didn’t have fireplaces to beat the cold, and apparently the lack of wood is one reason.) Also in the morning I went to a market, which was fairly typical except for the baby chickens which were being sold. I saw someone with a pig’s head he had just bought--I wonder what they do with them.

Our group decided to take a mini-van back to Nanchang; lots make the trip, they are privately owned, and leave when full. We found one, and all put our stuff on, but they noticed that one tire didn’t look good. Li Wei [a Chinese man married to an American woman] was able to tell that the van people were concerned about it and planned to stop to fix it after we were all on and “stranded” with them (he understood the local dialect). And so we all got off and chose another van--for one yuan less per person. I sat by the door, which wouldn’t latch, and so the guy who took people’s money wedged a stool in to prevent it from opening. The van at one time had about 28 in it, even though there were seats for perhaps 15. They brought out stools for people to sit in the aisle. I felt so impatient with all those getting on and taking my space--at one time I even wanted to prevent (by force) someone from getting on. Not a good emotion to have. Sights along the way were the Buddhist Temple on top the mountain, and lots of the yellow-flowering plant--rape--which is used for oil. Because of road construction we had to stop once for probably 45 minutes. We were at a country-side village. Lots of people came by selling sugar cane and other stuff. We had about 50 people standing around looking at us. I got off the van, and held someone’s baby, which was a bit fun.

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