Page 8 RAIN February/March 1981 What an opportunity! Last December, people from New Alchemy, the Farallones Institute, RAIN, and other A. T.-oriented organizations had the adventure ofa lifetime exploring rural south China. The tour, which was jointly sponsored by Farallones and by the Chinamerican Corporation (San Francisco), was unusual in that it allowed us to bypass the usual quick circuit of major' Chinese cities in favor of spending the majority of our time in a single county (Taishan). This proved to be a tremendous advantage, as it allowed • us to settle in, get to know local people, and develop a·real feel for how social, political, economic and technological elements work together in China at a commune and small town level. Our own complementary diversity proved to.be another great advantage: among the twenty-one people in ourgroup were specialists in plant propagation, legal systems, mudstove construction, communal social structures, architecture, solar technology, and horse farming. Persistent pursuit of information in all these areas (and more) made for mutual stimulation and a more rounded perspective for everyone. It also assured a case of fatigue for our China Travel Service guide! The artide which follows, conststing of my impressions of Taishan County, is meant as a general introduction to our China/. A .T. experience. Christopher Szecsey' s article elsewhere in this issue and articles from other tour participants in future issues.will elaborate on various facets of our adventure-an adventure most of us are determined to continue whenever we can work om a way to return! TAISHAN J.OURNAL by John Ferrell First Day Our China Travel Service mini-bus is running a harrowing, hornpounding course through a stretch of rural Guangdong Province. We have crossed the border into China from Macao and our exp 0 ected destination tonight is Taishan City, seat of Taishan County, · where we will be spending much of the next two weeks. At least that is our expected destination when we are not passing large trucks on blind curves; hopes dim perceptibly at such moments. I note how the road we are traveling narrows sharply at many of the bridges we are crossing. I also note the tendency of drivers approaching the bridges from opposite directions to ~peed up. "What traffic rule governs who crosses first?" I nervously ask our China Travel Service guide. "First come, first serve," he replies blandly. In our calmer moments, we stare out the windows of the minibus at a-succ~ssion of fascinatingly unfamiliar images, pointing wildly and snapping cameras randomly. It's all information overload at this point, and hard for us to even frame'a coherent question about what we are seeing. "The boat over there-yeah, on the left, in the pond by the little brick building-a privy? Is it for aquaculture? (The pond I mean)." What we are sure we are seeing is a landscape with virtually no natural features, meticulously plowed, planted, and weeded, like someone's prize backyard flower garden-but extending for miles in every direction. We see virtually no mechanical equipment in - operation. The term "labor intensive" is already taking.on a whole new meaning for us. • Morning in Taishan City It is 6: 00 and the sounds invading our hotel room window are pro.:. nounced enough to make alarm clocks superfluous: people's voices, the jingle of bicycle bells, the pounding rhythm of hundreds of jogging feet. I pull aside the mosquito net over my bed and rea:ch for my clothes, When I exit the hotel a few minutes later, it is still dark, but the outlines of the joggers trudging around the Working People's Lake are already dimly visible. As the sun rises, the silhouettes of people performing tai chi or doing calisthenics can be made out. One man is lifting weights (a concrete park bench serving as a weight) and two young women are preparing to play badminton without benefit of net. Exercisers everywhere: women and mt:;n, young and old. The whole town seems to be organized into a YMCA dawn patrol. • One by one, the exercisers mount their bicycles and head off for work or school. The·sights and sounds of fitness give way to the • sights, sounds and smells of Market Day. Every fifth day people stream into Taishan City from the countryside bringing their pigs, chickens, dogs, monkeys, produce, furniture, craft items, and a sometimes am~zing etcetera, and set up shop on the streets of the business district. It seems very odd indeed to be witnessing all of this bustling free enterprise in the Peoples Republic, but we are only beginning to understand the remarkable changes which have come to China since the death of Mao and the fall of the Gang of Four. Not only are we finding people in the countryside cultivating ·private (in addition to communal) plots and sel_ling their produce for a profit, but we are learning that a number of the small shops in town are now privately owned and operated.
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