Journal: A Weekend With Friends

Getting pissed on a Saturday night might seem so common as to not be worth writing about, but for me it was a complete change of routine. I don't have much chance to go out, because I still haven't made many friends here. Oddly, although I spend my time in either Xining or Guanting, the few friends I have all seem to come from the county seat of Minhe, about half-way between.

One of those friends is Feng Shijie, who belongs to an art troupe in Minhe. Basically he's a singer, but he called me to say that he has also started taking drumming lessons, every Friday here in Xining. So this Friday night I met up with him and some of his friends. We ate mianpian in a tent restaurant that the wind kept threatening to blow down.

They asked me about my job, how I met Shijie, and so on. One of them, Xiao Li, cracked a lot of silly jokes. It felt relaxed and natural, as if being Australian was just one aspect of my identity, not everything, which is the way that some people seem to treat foreigners. Later we went back to the room where one of them lives: just enough space for three beds, a desk, a couple of cupboards, and a very basic "kitchen" in one corner. I felt something touch my leg, and I looked down: it was a white rabbit which they keep as a pet, and feed on cabbage. I asked its name but, like quite a few pets here in China, it doesn't have one.

My boss is out of town at the moment, so I took Shijie back to our office/apartment. He introduced me to a TV serial called "No Escape" (Wu Lu Ke Tao), apparently the only one that has been produced in Qinghai to date, although it was being broadcast by the Jiangsu TV station. Just watching a little of it, I could recognise it as Qinghai: the accent, the baijiu drinking, the dry and dusty landscape. It's a police drama revolving around the underground gun manufacturing racket in Hualong County, which is one of the biggest sources of illegal firearms in China.

Kungfu Soapies On any evening, TV serials (lianxu ju) can be found on at least half of China's TV stations. Their wooden acting and melodramatic storylines remind one of Western soap operas, although some venture into sub-genres such as police drama. They differ from Western TV series in that they are not episodal, and they differ from Western soap operas in that their production is not ongoing but rather they are scripted and filmed in their entirety before going to air. Many seem to have quite substantial budgets, for example a recently aired serial based (loosely) on the life of Ghengis Khan featured elaborate costumes, horses, and numerous extras. Some serials have modern settings, while others are historical. The latter, many of which are adapted from wuxia novels (martial arts novels), are often not constrained by realism and hence can feature, between romance and intrigue, not only magical kungfu fighting scenes but also unexpected moments of slapstick comedy.

About 1pm the next day, Feng Shijie roused himself from bed, which I considered a fairly impressive sleep-in. But after lunch we headed off to find Xiao Li and the others, and I almost sat on Xiao Li's girlfriend who was still in bed, hidden under her blanket. I only mention this to illustrate that not all people in China adhere to a daily regime of morning exercise! Shijie and Xiao Li caught the bus back to Minhe, but another person from Shijie's art troupe who was also in Xining for the weekend invited me back to his family's apartment. His parents are staying at their home in western Qinghai, so he has the apartment to himself.

His name is Caiyi, or rather that is the chinese version of his Mongolian name, which I'm not sure how to spell. The first thing he did when we got to the apartment was get out some lamb to cook. I tried to stop him, after all I had only just eaten lunch, but I could not deter him. He also made me down a shot of baijiu from a wide, shallow Mongolian wine cup, although took pity on me and didn't insist that I drink three cups, which is the custom. While we were waiting for the meat to cook (boiled in water), he told me a lot of things about Mongolian culture. He's obviously proud of his heritage.

He had a few negative things to say about Han, including the fact that they eat animals like horse, camel, and dog. He was even more negative about Hui, which are China's most numerous muslim nationality. I've encountered this sentiment several times before: people think Hui are too "clever", or too shrewd in business, or keep to themselves too much. I find it sadly reminiscent of the historial prejudices against Jews in some countries. His opinion towards Tibetans, on the other hand, was more like one of brothership—the Mongolian and Tibetan cultures do seem to have certain similarities, not the least being a common religion.

Soon, some other people (of various ethnic backgrounds) turned up, and we got busy talking and drinking baijiu. A few songs were sung. Apart from occasional lapses into Mongolian, I was glad to discover that everybody spoke good Mandarin. Caiyi invited me to sleep the night there—I think that was as much for the sake of hospitality, as for convenience. I hadn't drunk very much in fact, but foolishly I did stay and share a narrow bed with Caiyi, until he fell out during the night. I couldn't wake him from his stupor, and since he had fallen on a soft pile of jackets I just covered him with a blanket and tried to go to sleep, which proved nearly impossible on account of the snoring.

In the morning, in accordance with chinese tradition, the number of empty bottles were carefully counted and reported with only slight exaggeration to anybody who telephoned. It was a good night: as far as Saturdays go it was an entirely ordinary night, and I was an entirely ordinary person. That's the reason I enjoyed it so much.

It makes a change from anight out at the pub here in Sydney!

mike 12.12.2004 , 09:04

Great blog Todd, first time I've visited... interestingly I was trying to apply for a job with an NGO in Qinghai researching Hui culture... I'm more keen on Tibetan and Mongolian though because I have Tibetan and Mongolian friends (maybe I've succumbed to their negative attitudes about Hui..)

Kaili [] [homepage] 14.12.2004 , 09:37

PS I'm a Kiwi!! Aussies and Kiwis have some bro-ship like Tibetans and Mongolians right?? Hate each other at home but happy to see each other when outnumbered by other groups...

Kaili [] [homepage] 14.12.2004 , 09:41

Very perceptive Kaili, but don't forget that I'm the big brother! A Canadian friend of mine once likened the Australia - NZ relationship to the USA and Canada, you know where Americans are mildy condescending towards their little northern neighbour. Don't know if that's true or not. I must admit that I am interested, not so much in Hui culture itself, but in Islam -- at this point in history, it would be a good idea for us westerners to learn a bit more about the world's fastest growing religion, instead of just carrying on with our handful of ignorant stereotypes.

Todd 14.12.2004 , 23:13

It would be impossible to get a true picture of Qinghai without finding out more about Hui culture. Have you visited the Muslim quarter of Xining? Xining has one of the four great mosques of China, the others being Xian, Lanzhou, and Urumqi.There are numerous Hui villages in the Minhe area as well. Interesting that Hualong County has developed a reputation as a source of illegal arms in China. I am not suggesting a connection here, but the area's main claim to fame had been the homeland for the Salar, a minority group that had originated from Samarkand.

schtickyrice [] 18.02.2005 , 08:46

Hi, Very interresing ! I was in Xining in 1992 and you can see my picture on : http://www2.photo-web.net/Chine/XiNing92/ If you can help me to find again my friends there, I shall be very happy ! Tienne (Photo-web.net webmaster)

Tienne [] [homepage] 28.08.2005 , 03:04

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