Day 8: Shuhe

Well, I have an internet connection today. We've had a somewhat busy
last few days. Last night we actually stayed in our guide's village at
her family home. She introduced us to her parents. They were born in
the mid 1950s so both of them were teenagers during the Cultural
Revolution. Having lived through that they became adults and spent
most of their lives during the Reform Period, a sharp contrast to
Socialist China. It was interesting to think about their lives with
them having born witness to some of the most drastic changes in
China's history.

Yesterday we left Shaxi and spent a long stretch of our road time next
to the Yangtze river. It was market day for the local villages, so we
checked out one of the larger ones on the way but it wasn't that busy.
We think it's due to the fact that most farmers are tending to their
crops right now and don't have much to sell.

Last night we took a long winding drive up to an ethnic Yi people
village. They are primarily hill people, and retain their own
traditions (such as ritual tattoos) despite being surrounded by the
lowland Naxi. As an ethnic group they're incredibly poor for the most
part. Their villages in the mountains has kept them isolated for most
of their history and the occasional difficulties that arise in raising
crops so high up has generally made them less prosperous than their
Naxi neighbors. Due to their poverty, the Yi have struggled with
education and with alcohol/drug addiction. However, the government has
redoubled its efforts in aiding these tribes. The village we visited
has had electricity for about 10 years now and their children receive
subsidies for school fees toup to middle school. Medical care has also
increased as the lower villages have developed.

I learned what I know about this village from an interview we had with
a Yi family in their home. There was an interesting point when one of
the older women remarked about our status as students, inferring by
our clothing and the fact that we were there studying her home that we
must be wealthy and lead "comfortable lives". It was an interesting
moment of self-reflection. For these people, the things I have access
to must seem unimaginably wealthy. College education, fresh food any
time of the year from a supermarket, access to new clothing, travel,
leisure... All of these things are mundane to most Americans and
Europeans, and yet only pieces of these things are within reach for
these peoples. I came to this country being prepared for what I'd see,
but confronting something you've only read about gives you a different
knowledge than what you had learned before.

Today we visited a Tibetan Buddhist temple. We rented bikes and
travelled there by dirt road. I tried Yak-Butter tea for the first
time at  their monastery (tastes like popcorn). Over the next few days
we'll be continuing our travel along the Tea Horse road as we hike
through the beginnings of the Himalaya. We'll be climbing Jade Dragon
Snow Mountain and visiting the villages that are located along the
ancient road. We'll be beginning our mountain travel after a day in
Lijiang tomorrow.