I rousted myself from a catnap a few Fridays ago to head out into the grim winter evening. I was on the way to the Shanghai South Rail Station to meet Allen Zhang, a close friend of my girlfriend’s. He lives in the LA area now, but I had jumped at the opportunity to join him on a trip to his hometown of Haining.
I found him waiting for me near a private taxi at the station. Although we had never met before, I knew it was him instantly – he had a big smile on his face. Gaby had told me time and again about how kind and positive Allen is and it was apparent from the get-go.
We set out in a beat up old Santana, and after an interlude on the shoulder of a busy toll stop, we were on our way in a brand new Lexus 4x4. The driver was berating Allen for the first part of the ride. He thought Allen was not treating the guest well enough by taking this private car, not realizing that I lived in China, while Allen was now a foreigner. After about an hour we got off the highway, drove into Haining and found the hotel, a slightly used affair next to the rail station.
The next morning I met Allen for breakfast and then we took a taxi to go to see his family. Now Allen has known Gaby for a long time, but she has never been to his family’s place. He was incredibly gracious throughout the trip, and at breakfast was obviously excited to be going home and to be showing a guest where he grew up.
Allen is an impressive person and it is immediately apparent that he has a great depth of character. Kind, considerate, and humble, he has risen from extreme poverty in the Great Leap Forward era countryside to run his own successful shipping business with his wife Becky. He comes back to China at least once a year, and as the eldest brother in a family of four, always makes sure to stop in and see his family.
We set out from the hotel and I discovered that Allen’s family did not live in Haining, a small city near Hangzhou known primarily for its leather and textiles, but in Xiaqiao, which is a rural town about ten kilometers distant form the hotel. On our way in the taxi, it turned out that the driver, a lady in her 40s, had had the same middle school teachers as Allen – small world!
We arrived after 15 minutes and Allen’s two brothers, sister, and parents were all visibly excited to have their son/brother back for a little while. They have all carved out good lives for themselves, far from the poverty of Allen’s youth, but Allen is obviously the successful eldest brother that everyone looks up to. We soon settled in to a modest lunch (modest being about a dozen dishes for a group of eight of us) served at his sister’s house. The family was all smiles towards me, but was very quiet even when I tried to speak Mandarin with them. They were, however, very gracious and concerned for their guest’s wellbeing. I had the chance to try some new dishes, including pig’s heart and as usual surprised people that I would eat everytyhing they did.
Getting up from the table, we relaxed for a few mninutes, Allen’s brothers had a cigarette apiece and then we set off for a walk around the town. Now I still get stares in Shanghai, so in a town of maybe 1,000 people that is far, far off the beaten track, you can imagine how people reacted. Most everyone smiled, but we were definitely drawing a crowd as we walked around. I even heard some comments of “laowai,” which, in spite of my travels I had not encountered. Although it was good to take a venture around, for me the most interesting part of the afternoon was listening to Allen talk about how things had been when he was growing up in the 1960’s.
The town had been true countryside then and his family peasant-farmers. They were poor and had to often sleep in the open, using husks from the crops as protection from the chill of the night. Allen did not seem sad about this harsh childhood, but was rather distressed at the sight of the stream he, his brothers and his sister played in as kids. It was now a dried riverbed with stagnant pools of garbage-strewn pollution.
China has so many visible signs of its development, both positive and negative. After a while, you just get used to it even if it is hard to fully accept. Still, I could not help but feel sorry for what had been lost. Here we were in Allen’s hometown, looking at his childhood playground on a horribly polluted, cloudy day. And there were obvious improvements all around. It had taken just a short taxi ride on the new two-lane highway to get to his sister’s home from Haining. In his youth, Allen told me that the same trip required a boat ride or if you were lucky, you might be able to get on the once-daily train. And this was to Haining, not Hangzhou or Shanghai. Those other places might as well have been in another universe. But I guess it had been too long since I had seen the sun and my melancholy got the better of me; I was soon pondering the cost of China’s rapid development. Every country goes through it – I cannot imagine living in the polluted fog of Industrial Revolution era London was very pleasant – but the ills of development are still hard to swallow.
After our stroll around town, we returned to Allen’s sister’s home to have an early dinner. Again we had way too much food. Allen’s nephew Michael had studied environmental engineering at a university in Shanghai and had been excited throughout the day to practice his English and spend time with his uncle from America. While we ate dinner we continued to use a mixture of Chinese and English to talk about a variety of topics. Michael is a smart guy and is a rarity in China in that he prefers his hometown to a big city like Shanghai. He has a very good head on his shoulders and I am sure will be a great success.
We finished dinner after a time, and Allen made his last rounds of goodbyes to the family while I thanked them for their immense hospitality. We all walked through the darkness out to the road and after a few minutes the taxi arrived. On the way we saw some fireworks and I teased Allen that the local government had organized them in his honor. Soon after, we arrived back the hotel.
Xiaqiao was about as opposite a place as one can get from Shanghai. For me it had been a great experience. In spite of the pollution and cold (I forgot to mention that there was basically no heat anywhere), I had had the privilege of spending the day with a kind, warm-hearted group of people who had opened their home and their lives to me for a little while. I am always happy when I meet more of the good people spread all over the world.
