The Road to Shanghai

Henan was the cultural and political center of China during the Song Dynasty, roughly 1000 years ago, but it was also the site of important developments long before that. We went to the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, primarily to visit Jianxia Zhao, with whom we became good friends when she was studying at the University of Kansas several years ago. It was great seeing her. I especially enjoyed a chance for a relaxed card game and just "catching up" on everyone's lives.

Jianxia sister has a good job (apparently quite good) with a Singapore company and lives in a modern three-story townhouse that had enough room for us, Jianxia, her husband, her daughter and her daughter's visiting college roommate. Further, our hosts commissioned a van and a tour guide for the three full days we were there. So, our touring was highly efficient!

The first day, we went to Luoyang. There, we visited a world-famous Shaolin martial arts school and saw a performance by a group of the students. Next, we went to a special cemetary for Buddhist monks. The place is know as a "forest of pagodas," because there are dozens of these monuments -- one for each of the most highly esteemed monks and two where the more ordinary monks' ashes are mingled for burial. We also learned a Chinese "yanyu" (saying) -- to the effect that it is better to do good deeds than to have a big pagoda -- that resonated pretty well with our Jewish teachings. We started the afternoon with an all-vegetarian lunch at one of China's wonderful Buddhist vegetarian restaurants, then went on to see the thousands of Buddhist statues in the Longmen (Dragon Gate) caves. I think they are over 2000 years old.

The second day, we went to Kaifeng, the Chinese capital during the Song Dynasty. It is also the city to which several dozen Jews immigrated during that time, in a much-studied event, considering its small scale. The prevailing story is that the last of the descendents of these immigrants had fully assimmilated by some time within the last century, but a handful of people who claim to be descendents are apparently try to reclaim their Jewish ancestry. We were hoping to see a small Jewish exhibit in the Kaifeng city museum, but the museum's entire contents were in storage because of vandalism a couple of years ago.

Instead of making any connection to the Kaifeng Jews, we saw a beautifully scenic city on a lake and got to view some lively street entertainment. A troupe of local actors were putting on an outdoor play about Song-era young scholar who was being fought over by the fathers of two would-be brides. We also saw several impressive memorials to Bao Zheng (a.k.a. Bao Gong), who (as we learned) was a thoroughly honest judge during the Song Dynasty. I was impressed and wanted to buy a Bao Zheng poster, but couldn't find one for sale. Our guide informed us that most of these exhibits were built within the last 5 years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a national campaign to "emulate Bao Zheng" as a way of eliciting support for the current government policy of honest-but-authoritarian governance. (My allusion is to periodic mass campaings in years past to "emulate Lei Feng," a selfless revolutionary.)

The third day, we stayed closer to home, driving less than an hour to the Yellow River, historically the geographic cradle of Chinese civilization. We took a cable car ride to a hilltop where we saw a statue of Da Ye, the heroic figure who first tamed the Yellow River about 3000 years ago. We also enjoyed an elevated view of the river itself and took a hovercraft ride on it and some of its sandbars. Several photos of our trip (including this day) are posted on our Photo Gallery, but apparently one didn't turn out that depicted (on a hilltop behind us) the two characters that denote the board-dividing river in xiangqi (Chinese chess). The last day, we drove around Zhengzhou and saw the new campus of Zhengzhou University, where Jianxia is a teacher and an administrator. The campus is part of a pervasive trend of modern campus on city outskits replacing or supplementing older city-center campuses. Terry's school is doing the same thing. On the one hand, there is a need to do something to accommodate the burgeoning population of college students. On the other hand, some foreigners as well as locals as put off by being physically displaced from the commericial, historical, and cultural centers of China's cities.

All in all, we had a great time. If possible, we'll go back again before we leave China. Next time, we'll see the Zhengzhou Museum (the third biggest in China), but otherwise probably just relax among friends. -- Norty