 |
 |
|
My Avery China Adventure project is to explore the living style and the rich culture of the Bai minority people in Dali, Yunnan Province of China. I traveled in China in May and June. I went to Bai villages to explore the living style and the rich culture of the Bai people. I enjoyed the natural beauty of Dali, Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake. I visited the house in which my great, great parents used to live. Interacting with people there allowed me to gain a broader view of Yunnan Province as a whole beyond Bai culture at Dali. I appreciate the support from Avery China Adventure Program for the wonderful experience. Here is only a part of what I saw and learned during the trip. Long History of DaliDali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, inhabited by more than 1 million of the Bai people and with a total area of 29,459 square kilometers, is a place with long history. Although having read about Dali, visiting the actual city and various historical sites around it impressed me greatly for its rich culture and long history. The Bai people lived in this area as early as 200 B.C. The Dali city was the capital of both the Nanzhao Kingdom (649-902 A.D) and Dali Kingdom (902-1253 A.D). The existing town of Dali was rebuilt in Ming dynasty in 1382. It was once the trade and cultural gateway between China and countries in the Southeast Asia, as well as the political, economical center of Yunnan Province. The ancient town of Dali is now prosperous with markets of folk crafts and a vast variety of local products. Dali is very picturesque. In Dali, the sky is very blue and the air feels much fresher to breathe than that in anywhere else. There is little air and water pollution in Dali region than in those big cities in China. With green Cangshan Mountain embracing Erhai Lake, the tranquil scenery makes one feel peaceful, relaxed, and simply beautiful. Dali has got its reputation as a paradise land and some western travelers referred Erhai Lake as the Geneva Lake in the East. The symbol of Dali, the Three Towers of the Saint Worship Temple on the foot of Cangshan Mountain, was first built during a part of Nanzhao period (824-859 A.D), and finished later during Dali Kingdom period. The small tower on the left is tilted. According to the legend, an earthquake caused a big crack on one of the towers. Amazingly, several years later a lightening strike fixed the crack so that now the tower looks seamlessly again! Foreigners’ Street in DaliThe first day I arrived at Dali, I went to the ancient town. In strong contrast to ancient style of most shops in the streets, a street named “Foreigners’ Street” with western style cafes and internet bars caught my attention. I saw lots of westerners there enjoying a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, or other drinks. Most of them came from Europe and some of them had stayed for weeks. I heard an interesting story about David and Nick, two young men from France, who came to Dali for vacation. They got to know a young lad named Xiaoqiang, from a local village but currently working in a bar in Dali. He was very diligent and quickly learned to speak English from an English teacher from Holland. During their visit, David and Nick became close friends of Xiaoqiang because they thought he had “a kind heart”. David and Nick decided to help Xiaoqiang realize his dream of owning a bar. They returned to France and worked hard to save up money. A year later, they appeared in the internet bar where Xiaoqiang worked and showed him the money as a happy surprise. The three worked together, like brothers, and finally opened a bar called “French Red”. Although David and Nick had to leave before their visa expired, they still considered Dali their second home and wanted to come back again. I was touched by the story and find myself asking this question: Why does Dali, considered a very remote place by many people in China, attract many foreigners to visit and stay? Unique and Colorful LandYunnan is a region in China with the most geographic complexity and variety. In the north, there are snow-peaked mountains as high as 6,740 meters above the sea level, while in the south, a river runs through a land only 76.4 meter above the sea level. Azalea, camellia, and Chinese orchids are blooming on the northwestern mountains with elevations above 3,000 meters, whereas elephants and monkeys play in the rain forests in the south. Three major rivers in China run closely side-by-side through the Hengduan Mountains in the northwest of Yunnan and form a unique geographic site. Yunnan is also a colorful land with rich and highly diverse cultures. Here one can meet people of 25 different ethnic minorities, out of the total 56 in China. Folk Songs, Fairy Tales and Stories Reflecting
Culture in Yunnan There many strange things in Yunnan, There many strange things in Yunnan, There many strange things in Yunnan, There many strange things in Yunnan, The husband searching cloudAlmost all mountains, lakes, and even plants in wilderness have an interesting tale to tell reflecting the creativity of the Bai. One of them is called “the husband searching cloud”. It is a well-known fairy tale. The cloud usually appears in the winter, white as cotton, beautiful, and mystic. Upon seeing such cloud, fish men in the Erhai Lake would go home right away, since a bad windstorm would follow. Legend has it that the cloud was originally a princess in Nanzhao Kingdom who fell in love with a poor hunter. Despite the objection of her father, she lived together with the hunter on one of the nineteen peaks of Cangshan Mountain. The hunter wanted to keep the princess warm in the cold winter and went to a temple in the east of Erhai Lake to get the magic outfit from a monk. The evil monk sank the hunter’s boat to the bottom of Erhai Lake and the hunter was converted to a stone snail. The princess died of sorrow and became a puff of cloud, the husband searching cloud, trying to blow open the water in the lake and look for her husband. Matrilineal communeThere still exists a tribe of Matriarchal Society, the Mosuo group living in the Lugu Lake area in northwest of Dali. They do not follow the matrimony tradition to stay and raise next generation with the husband side of family. Instead, a husband and a wife of a so-called visiting marriage, live together with the wife’s family. Every evening a husband goes to a wife’s family house while in the morning he returns to his parents’ home. If they are no longer in love, the man would stop his frequent visit to the wife’s home, and their children would be raised by the mother and her brothers. In such case, the children would not know who their father is. Our guide told us that he had a friend of Mosuo group. He was raised by his uncle from her mother side and did not know who his father was. When one visits a family of Mosuo group, one would think the host and hostess are husband and wife, but they may actually be brother and sister. A dream of becoming orchid millionairesThe four most famous sceneries of Dali are the wind, the flowers, the snow of Cangshan, and the moon over Erhai Lake. Stretches of beautiful azaleas blooming can be seen on mountains with elevation over 3,000 meters. The climate there is also suitable for cultivating Chinese orchids. Because of the market value of the flowers, some people made a fortune by possessing a nursery of Chinese orchids and some even became millionaires. According to our guide, three friends are elementary or high school teachers. They got a loan to buy two very expensive orchids of ¥40,000 (Chinese Yuan), hoping they would reproduce and thus eventually make them rich. Unfortunately both orchids died without generating any progeny. To still make their money worth, instead of throwing the dead plants away, they made them a stir-fry dish and ate it, with the comforting thought that all their money was now in their stomach, none wasted. Rich Culture
Using hot chili spices is common in local cuisines of Yunnan. The two famous dishes in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, are oil soup noodle and steam pot chicken. Interestingly, oil is added to the soup to keep it hot enough for cooking noodles, as the boiling point of water on the elevation of more than 1,800 meters there only reaches about 90 ºC. For the similar reason, a specially designed steam pot is used so that the steam will condense inside the pot with the chicken. Not only is the chicken well cooked but also the soup from the steam is delicious. Aren’t people there clever! In addition to the chili flavor, dishes at Dali often are sour too. For example, sour and chili fish is a typical and popular Dali dish. It is said that every newly wed bride must pass the test of making the dish by the mother in-law. The fish are caught from the Erhai Lake and taste very fresh. The sour flavor is not from vinegar, but from one type of papaya or berry locally produced. What I enjoyed the most are the “green foods”, the various types of mushrooms and wildly grown vegetables. Lots of mushrooms are only grown at high altitude on the mountains there. I have tasted dishes of wild flowers such as azalea and cactus flowers. Another unique and popular Dali dish is a kind of roasted pork. The pork is sliced with the skin on and roasted to half cooked and half raw. While this does not sound too appealing, it actually tastes pretty good, if you dare to try it. Because the mild climate, the natural resource are rich at Dali.
I also tasted the baked tea of Bai. The tea ceremony is colloquially called “three courses of tea”. The flavor is bitter in the first course, sweet in the second, and most memorable and long lasting in the third, symbolic of life.
White is the favorite color for both Bai women and men. The pronunciation of Bai in Chinese means white. The Bai clothes for young people usually have white background with striking color decoration and embroideries. When a young woman and a young man are dating, the woman makes various embroidery crafts as gifts for the man to express her affection towards him and to show off her skills, which are important in the daily life of the Bai. Young women also wear beautiful hats. Again, the hat represents wind, flowers, snow, and the moon at Dali. A drapery-like decoration is on one side of the hat and it swings with wind. The Bai girls I met kept telling me that only the man engaged with the woman can touch it, others touching it will be considered disrespectful and will be punished for hard labor. The embroidery flowers on the hat represent flowers at Dali. The white cotton ring on top of the hat symbols the snow on Cangshan Mountain, whereas the half moon-shaped hat when it is open is like the moon over Erhai Lake.
Bai houses are constructed by materials such ad earth, wood, and stone. The traditional houses I visited are usually a three-room structure of two stories. The beautifully proportioned “three rooms with a screen wall”, “symmetrical quadrangle with five skylights”, and “six rooms connected by two courtyards” represent the main architectural style. The houses are decorated with clay sculpture, woodcuts, stone carvings, paintings, and various designs of colorful bricks. The doors are capped with amazing decorative pavilion and screen walls. I had never seen such artistically decorated residential houses in countryside of other parts of China. I am glad to know that some of the typical local residences in the village of my great, great grandfather’s home are chosen to be on the list of national assets for protection.
Singing and dancing are part of daily life of the different ethnic groups in Yunnan, such as Bai, Yi, and Dai people. It is said that anyone who speaks can sing and anyone who walks can dance. Several times at the dinner table, some young girls started to sing to the guests and then the guests would sing back. Singing and dancing are also important ways of communication at festivals to make new friends, to get to know someone better, and to expression affection between lovers. In addition to the happy tones of their life style, I can also feel the freedom reflected in their tradition.
Dali abounds with natural resources and local products. Because marble was originally produced there more than 1,000 years ago, it is called Dali stone in China. I like very much the Batik and wax stained patterns or paintings on cloth. To make Batik patterns, the colorless cloth is sewed together in the place not to be stained. After stained with dark blue juice extracted from a type of plant root, the sewing thread on the cloth is cut and beautiful symmetrical patterns appear in the dark blue background. Looking at so many different patterns, I was amazed by the creativity of Dali people.
We also visited the Shibaoshan Caves in Jianchuan, a county in the Bai district, where the carvings on the rocks are artistic masterpieces exhibiting the incredible creativity and skills of the ancient Bai people. These carvings have import historic and religious values, as both the Kings and Buddha are the subject of rock carving. Bai people honor the harmony between humans and gods, as well as that among gods of different religions. The Goddess of Mercy has been popular since ancient time of Dali. Most Bai people also worship their communal gods as well as Buddhism.
My great, great grandfather, Mr. Qiren Zhang, lived in Dali. I knew there were still Zhang’s descents in a Bai village in Dali but never had the chance to meet them. This trip allowed me an opportunity to get in touch with these remote relatives of mine. I tried to find them as soon as I arrived at Dali. I obtained the telephone number and a vague address of Mr. Yuanding Zhang, a descent of my great, great grandfather’s younger brother. After a riding on some narrow dirt roads, I finally found his house in a Bai Village and met his family. He and his wife prepared delicious local food to entertain us and told their life stories. He experienced hardship when communists took over the power as he was considered as a landlord with private properties of land and houses. His family was only given one room in the old house to live for more than 30 years. Their situation started to improve in 80s as the result of Deng’s open-door policy. They have three sons and the whole family worked diligently to open their own business. They are doing very well now. On the side of their old houses, which are still standing, they built a new three-story house. I was impressed that how political environment could dramatically change a family’s life. In the long history of the Zhang family, several scholars emerged; one of them is my grandfather, my mother’s father.
On the last day of my stay in Dali, I visited the Museums of Dali Bai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture. The exhibits start from the Bronze ware made as early as 475-221 B.C. It was a shocking moment when I entered the exhibition room of modern history, and saw a big picture of my grandpa appeared in front me, although I had seen it before. I never had a chance to know my grandfather in person, as he died young in 1938 at the age of 53. As I mentioned in my proposal, although short lived, my grandfather certainly made an impact on the modern history of China. He conceived and drafted in large parts the first ever constitution of China, known as The Nanking Provisional Constitution, and later The TianTan Constitution. Revisiting the past, scholars today have recognized my grandfather as an outstanding political and legal activist and philosopher in the early process of the founding of the Republic of China. The more I know the past and the present of China, the more I read his works, the more I admire my grandfather’s courage, vision, and dedication to the establishment of a democratic system in China with social justice. It comforted me to see he is remembered for all his contributions. In front of his picture, I told him in silence that his selected works on civil law system would soon be published. |
|