Peaceful Fields

 Our trip to Fujian is still one of my favorite vacations, even if it only lasted a few days. After spending three years in the ever-expanding city of Shenzhen, it was calming to be away from the crowds. There were a few times that we were confronted with crowds--when I stepped off the bus, a group of motorcycle taxi drivers pushed themselves against me and shouted "taxi" as loud as they could, forcing me to shove a few out of the way and run for cover in a storefront that I didn't realize was also the entrance to our hotel.

After that shocking encounter in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, our journey quieted. Jia and I took a stroll down the road and through fields that were devoid of other tourists (and even few locals). Once we stepped away from the center of town that housed our hotel, two convenience stores, a restaurant with no menu, and a mobile phone shop, we were struck by silence. We didn't want to head back to our hotel, but we were forced to do so as the sun was setting and we had no light to find our way. 

Going Slow

It's been a busy week since I last posted. I've finally gotten myself back into a reasonable creative writing routine and I'm trying to work my way up to consistently higher daily word counts. Rather than going about in my usual fashion of working on a dozen manuscripts at once, I'm taking the time to focus my attention on one until it's finished. This also means that I will limit my distraction time on this blog and social networks.

Though it was finished a few weeks ago, the new issue of Terracotta Typewriter is online. As always, I'm looking for new work to publish in the next issue, which I hope to have complete in May.

I've also been refocusing my attention on my Chinese studies. Listening to Chinesepod as background noise and reading the same chapters of my textbooks again and again have not helped me make progress since returning to the states. Since Jia convinced me to start a new Web site to teach non-Chinese cooking to the Chinese, I've decided that I need to learn more vocabulary and grammar related to cooking (mostly because Jia doesn't have a lot of time to translate the site between work and studying). So, I'll do my best to start translating the posts at Laowai Kitchen on my own and ask Jia to edit my attempts at written Chinese. A lot of the posts on the site are about traditional foods that we take for granted, but I'm also experimenting in the kitchen--usually with positive results.

And because it is Friday, here's a photo of the inspiring beauty of the Fujian countryside. This group of tulou on the hillside was our first stop on our morning journey through the region. Most tourists have photos from above and below the group--the Chinese think it looks like four dishes and a soup from above (I agree, it does resemble a Chinese table setting).

Friday Temples

I realized I haven't posted a photo on Friday for quite a while. So, today I bring you Nanputuo (南普陀) Temple in Xiamen. Jia and I stopped into this temple on our short trip through Fujian province in October. It was beautiful but overly crowded for the holiday.

Another Holiday

Jia and I are leaving in a few hours for Bali. I'm looking forward to eating my way around the island. We'll be there for four days and then head to Hong Kong for a couple more before returning to Shenzhen to celebrate Spring Festival with friends. This is our last big holiday for a while--we need to save some money to go to the US and search for jobs (those plane tickets ain't cheap).

Helping J. yesterday plan his trip to Fujian got me reminiscing about our last holiday back in October. Here's a photo from one of the Hakka villages with a tulou in the background. I don't know what the flowers are, but they are supposedly used in tea and are very fragrant--the fields emit a wonderful aroma.

This Old House

No, I'm not using this photo as a metaphor for the world's economic problems. I just thought this old, dilapidated house in the Fujian countryside was interesting enough for a photo. This was definitely not in the touristy area, although there were a couple of the wonderful Hakka tulou nearby. In the opposite direction there was also a beautiful view of the rice fields and mountains.

On the Island

The last day of trip to Fujian province was spent in Xiamen. Jia pointed out that there were a few nice tourist spots to venture through while we made our way to the city. It's a very pleasant city with European architecture that reminds me of Malacca--and some sections are being completely rebuilt in the same style, which is a rarity in any city. Unfortunately, the sites we headed for were overcrowded with National Day tourists--the Buddhist temple was packed with noisey people throwing garbage everywhere.
We decided to escape the crowds and take a ferry to Gulangyu, an island that is officially part Xiamen. The island was also packed with noisey tourists. After our time in the quiet fields and Hakka villages, we weren't ready to see such swarms of people. We were highly disappointed.
Wherever we went, we chose the streets that didn't appear to have more than a dozen people. We were ocassionaly successful, but it was too much effort.
Gulangyu is a beautiful island with winding roads and European-style mansions. There are quite a few museums and parks, but there is an entrance fee for all of them--so, we skipped them. It certainly seemed like a place I'd enjoy at any time that isn't a national holiday in China.
For anyone interested in staying on Gulangyu, I would recommend it. There are a few guesthouses and small hotels scattered around the island. Unlike in the countryside, the restaurants on Gulangyu have menus.

Country Living

One of the great things about taking a trip to the countryside, besides relaxing in nature, is watching the way of life. For the Hakka people in Fujian, it's not much different from years past. Many in the tourist-friendly villages now have satellite dishes, TVs, and other modern amenities, but they still have a lot of traditional ways, especially when it comes to farming.


Many of the tulou in Fujian had older tools and machinery around--some of it was for the tourists' benefit, but others were still in use. Unfortunately, the ones I took pictures of were not being used at the time, so I'm not entirely sure what they're for. I would guess most of their tools would be used for rice, as it takes up more than half their farm land.
I thought this shot was interesting because of the generations all together preparing the tea leaves.

Since most of the Hakka diets consist of rice, vegetables, eggs, and chicken, there is little meat in their food. Only some villages have land that can support water buffalo or other anmials--many of the villages are on mountainsides. At the first village we entered, there was a man on a motorcycle delivering pork to the families. He cut the meat on a wood board on the back of the motorcycle and weighed it with a rather old measuring tool. With the customers surrounding him, this was the best picture I could get.

Inner Circle

Some of the tulou in Fujian have unique architectural characteristics. This was one of the last ones we visited on our trip, and probably the most impressive. At the center is a family shrine, surrounded by concentric circles of rooms (mostly for storage and livestock). There are various paths to go between the concentric circles, but only one path that leads directly to the outer structure--it was almost like a maze to walk through. I would not suggest this one for anyone who is claustrophobic.

Into the Tulou

We stayed in a cheap hotel in Shuyang (书洋), which wasn't the best decision, but we didn't know before heading out. We should've stayed in a guesthouse or converted tulou in Taxia (塔下) village. Taxia is probably the largest village in the area and is quite picturesque (it looked like at least one restaurant even had a menu). Overlooking the village is the Zhang ancestral temple, which is surrounded by dragon poles built to honor successful family members and provide aspirations for the younger generations.
I probably could've spent a couple days in Taxia, staring at the architecture and the mountains, but we had the day planned for visiting all the sites. There are quite a few tulou that tourist stop at for one reason or other--the largest, the oldest, slightly different architecture, etc. There were a few that were definitely worth stopping in, like the oldest at Yuchang.
Of course, after visiting so many tulou in Fujian in a day, it's easy to get tired. It's a good idea to take some time and wander off on the paths through the villages that aren't inhabited by tourists and watch the residents harvest rice and tea crops. And occasionally, a few water buffalo will stroll nearby.

What's in a Menu?

The greatest difficulty Jia and I had on our trip to Fujian province was the food. We can always find food to eat, but it wasn't quite so easy in the countryside. None of the restaurants we tried had a menu. We were both dumbfounded--they expected us to go to the cooler, pick out what we wanted and tell them how to cook it. Now, we're not experts on Hakka (ke jia) food, so we couldn't just tell the staff what dishes we wanted. We ended up with some fairly bland dishes on those days.

At the first restaurant we stopped in, Jia looked in the cooler and hastily made the decision to leave. "It's all wild animals," she said. Apparently the animals in the cooler were cut up in any way, and sat atop all the vegetables. I'm just glad I didn't have a look.

Looking back, we should have consulted Mr. W about food as he is Guangdong Hakka and enjoys the food. Had we been prepared, we might have enjoyed eating a bit more. Instead we suffered.

Fujian Field Notes

The Fujian countryside is one of the best destinations of my three years in China (others include Jiuzhaigou and Xinjiang). I knew I'd be impressed by the unique Hakka architecture of the region, but I still wasn't prepared for what I saw.

Though it was a bit hazy during the morning of our journey, the air was certainly cleaner than almost anywhere I've visited in China. The Hakka tulou (土楼 earth houses) were more prominent in the scenery than I had expected--I thought there were just a few of these. These structures made of rock, mud, and wood were amazing to see from outside and inside. Best of all, the people were friendly and, even in the more touristy areas, not pushy when it came to selling souvenirs.

We avoided most of the crowds at the tulou as we departed early in the morning in a private car through the mountain roads. We weren't so lucky when we got back to Xiamen, where the streets were packed with noisy tourists for the Golden Week.My only regret was that I didn't change my camera settings and ended up with the stupid time stamp (with the wrong date) on all my photos. On some of them, I can crop out the date.