Hitching Success

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Tianshui_and_Maijishan

Anna was clearly interested in Galen, which made my asking for a ride easy. She had wanted me to ask.

While we were weaving our way through the Buddhist caves at Maijishan, we were approached by three young women. This was nothing unusual; we had already twice been asked to take pictures with people since we had arrived at the caves. When this group of three approached us, I was in the middle of making a video. I quickly waved them over, just to get the photo over with, so that we could continue with getting another video started.

We never got that other video.

Anna, clearly the alpha of the group, began instructing us to follow her through the caves. At first, we were amused at this twenty-two year old fitness instructor telling us what to do, so we obeyed her, giving up on the other video I had wanted to film. For a while, she was entertaining in a spazzy way, though, for me, it wore off quickly. Yet, we continued to follow her.

I talked more with the two girls who I had thought were her friends only to learn that they were not really her friends but two high schoolers who had just met her. Like us, Anna had shanghaied them into being her friends.These two ‘friends’ left us when Anna decided she was too frightened to go any higher up. We stayed behind with her for a few minutes until Galen was able to convince her to go up the stairs. It was clear she was enjoying flirting with Galen, and I was enjoying watching it, even though I translated almost nothing for the two of them. Watching two people who do not speak a mutual language flirt together is as fun as watching giraffes struggling to swim.

I was starting to get annoyed with Anna, but Galen continued to find her amusing and I kept playing along since she had a car and a driver. I thought we would be able to get a free ride and I did not want to be accused of being a poor wingman.

We did get that free ride. Although it was only kind-of hitching, we were able to get her to get her driver to take us on an hour-long ride. Galen found her interesting enough. And in the end, everything came together.

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Maijishan

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Tianshui - Along the Silk Road

Tianshui – Along the Silk Road

America has two kinds of national parks: one is a place of natural beauty, a Yellowstone or a Yosemite. Another is a place of historical significance, a Gettysburg or a Governor’s Island. In America, natural beauty and historical importance segregate themselves from each other naturally, like oil and water, as if a place cannot be beautiful if history has occurred there.

Buddhist Caves High above an Altar

Buddhist Caves High above an Altar

The Largest Carvings

The Largest Carvings

China, on the other hand, is often able to combine nature and history, and Maijishan is one place that does that. Maijishan is a collection of carved Buddhist caves sprinkled along a series of cliff faces in the green mountains in the very east of Gansu Province. There are one hundred and ninety four caves, ranging in size from a foot and a half to more than forty feet high. Caves were being carved here as early as the fourth century A.D. and most of the caves were completed before the Tang Dynasty, beginning in the early seventh century.

Cliff Side Caves behind a Temple

Cliff Side Caves behind a Temple

Cave

Cave

The images carved into the cliff face are entirely Buddhist. The caves location in Tianshui, one of the first stops along the Silk Road, is no accident. Today, Tianshui is a backwater, but this path was the route along which Buddhism entered China from the west, from India and Afghanistan, and these hand-carved caves were one of the ways that minor rulers in the area expressed their fealty to the new religion.

Buddha and bodhisattva

Buddha and bodhisattva

Silk Road Influence - This woman does not look very Chinese.

Silk Road Influence – This woman does not look very Chinese.

Indian Influence

Indian Influence

No Hands

No Hand

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Shouting

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One of the things I found most troubling at Huashan was, despite the fact that we were hiking up through this gorgeous granite mountain, it rarely felt like we were “in nature.” We were constantly surrounded by thousands of other climbers. Along the way, there were stalls where old folks were selling trinkets.

Most annoying was the need of locals to constantly yell at the mountain every chance they got. Along the steepest part of the climb, hardly a minute went by without someone shouting as loud as they could from some high point. It bothered me because, when hiking, I, like many Americans, enjoy the opportunity to commune with nature. I like to take the opportunity to sit back, be silent and listen to a world that came before human civilization.

The Chinese look at nature differently. They see nature as something that is waiting to be filled with human activity, something that is waiting for civilization. Shouting allows them to pour human activity into those parts of nature that are still untouched. This view of nature is not really all that different from the pre-Romantic view of nature, pre-nineteenth century. If you look at early texts from American Literature, nature is a place of darkness waiting to have its trees chopped down, waiting for the light to be brought into it. The only difference is that Americans and other Westerners have let go of this perspective while the Chinese are still holding on to it.

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Climbing Huashan Mountain

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Moonlight above Huashan

Moonlight above Huashan

It was the first time we could see the stars in China. They twinkled lightly above the granite outcroppings that loomed above us in the midnight sky. During the day, we had been sweating on the streets of Xian, but, here at Huashan, the night air was cool and got chillier as we worked our way more up the hill. The beauty of the night sky never left us as we journeyed deeper into the shadows of the peaks of Huashan.

Finished with High School

Finished with High School

 

Galen and Lee

Galen and Lee

Of course, we were still in the middle of China, so, though we could, for once, see the stars, the hike up Huashan was not very nature-focused. Huashan Mountain is located a two hour drive east of Xian, in the heartland of China. As we cut up the ten foot wide concrete path, we passed and were passed by pockets of ten to twenty students climbing the mountain, shouting and laughing at each other.

Daylight Mountain

Daylight Mountain

A few days before, most of these students had sat silently, heads down, in classrooms, enduring the Gaokao, the leaving exam for all high school students in China. The test lasts for two days and determines what university students get into and what degree they can pursue in their university. It is the most important test in the lives of a country that treats tests as a way of life. Success on the Gaokao is equated with success in life; failure is no different.

Sleepy

Sleepy

Which explains why they were laughing so much now, their shouts exploding every few seconds from the tops of viewpoints. A few days before, they had been struggling through the Gaokao. They would not get their scores back for another two weeks, when their high school cliques would split apart as they went off to different universities. But, that night, as they climbed the face of Huashan, their past was something they could do nothing about and their future was still too far ahead of them to do anything about. For only these two weeks, they were allowed to not think about tests. They had nothing to do but concentrate on the present.

Galen and the Boys

Galen and the Boys

It was necessary to concentrate on that present, because Huashan, unlike other famous mountain hikes in China, is a difficult and even dangerous climb. The first hour was a steep walk along a mountain stream, but, after an hour, we moved out of the valley and began the ascent up Huashan’s face. In the three steepest sections, from the Cloud Gate up the Thousand Foot Face, through the Hundred Foot Valley and finally into the Old Aristocrat Carves a Furrow, we calculated that the trail was six to eight hundred feet straight up. Imagine climbing a ladder up a sixty-five story building.

Ladder-Like

Ladder-Like

Although Huashan was traditionally one of the five most important mountains in China, it was rarely climbed because it was just so dangerous. Today, they have installed railings to keep climbers from plummeting a thousand feet to their death as they climb up the steepest parts, but, this has added another danger factor. The relative safety of the climb has made it more popular, meaning we made the sixty-five story climb while negotiating a crowd of teenagers. We have not been able to substantiate any numbers, but we have seen statistics suggesting one hundred people die on the mountain every year. The steepness of the mountain climb, coupled with the availability of alcohol at parts of the climb, mean this number of deaths is possible. We saw no deaths, but small injuries were common; we saw one teen looking somewhere between annoyed and concerned as his girlfriend sat on in the middle of the Thousand Foot Face crying, her right knee a bright, blue ball. We just climbed past them.

Rock-Climbing for Real

Rock-Climbing for Real

We had begun climbing at ten in the night. We got to the top sometime around four in the morning. Galen and I found piles of fairly flat dirt and napped for half an hour before our final ascent to the East Peak to watch the sunrise.

Sunrise

Sunrise

 

744A1422

Sunrise, we had been told, would happen at 5:25. When we got there at five, there was already a swarm of people on the East Peak. By the time the sun rose, fifteen hundred Chinese people were packed onto the top of the East Peak in a space about the size of a basketball court. It was as densely packed as a rock concert. Turning inevitably involved elbowing someone.

Packed

Packed

The sun emerged from the horizon’s clouds at around 5:20, along with the “Oohs” and “Ahhs” and smartphone screens of fifteen hundred people. The sunrise was not all that impressive. Galen chalks this up to all the pollution in the air. The dense haze meant we did not really see all that much of the sun. But we had come for the experience, not the sunrise. Along with several thousand Chinese kids, we had spent all night climbing this precipitous, holy mountain. By that time, we had been awake for more than twenty-four hours, five of those hours climbing six thousand feet up the face of the granite peaks of Huashan. I did not feel any closer to nature, but I understood the Chinese people a little better.

Crowds

Crowds

Captured

Captured

Sunrise

Sunrise

Sunrsie

Sunrsie

Sunrise in the Crowd

Sunrise in the Crowd

Naked Terra-cotta

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The Terra-cotta Warriors are Xian’s biggest attraction, but the Han Emperor Jingdi’s smaller tomb on the outskirts of Xian is as impressive, if not as grand. Hundred foot tall tomb-mounds dapple the burial site just across the Wei River from Xian. Beneath these hills lie the tombs of the Emperor, his wife and others.

Naked Terra-cotta Servants

Naked Terra-cotta Servants

Inside a series of pits surrounding the tomb are Terra-cotta servants, not unlike those in the more famous tomb east of Xian. However, no one looking at the two could ever confuse a picture of them. Unlike its larger cousin, Emperor Jingdi’s tomb is filled with small, naked, armless clay figurines with little detail to distinguish them, alongside a number of other figurines, pigs, lambs, household items. Deeper in the tomb, the naked terra-cotta figurines give way to terra-cotta farm animals, pigs, lambs and, strangely, wolves, along with some household items.

Animals

Animals

Jingdi’s tomb is less grand than the Terra-cotta Warriors, but the place feels like Chinese history is real, and not a tourist attraction. The smallness of the tombs give it a more intimate nature. Staring down at his naked terra-cotta servants, I feel like I know Jingdi better.

Fossilized Wheel

Fossilized Wheel

Emperor Jingdi is also important to our project because the first signs of the Silk Road emerged around the time of his reign. Emperor Jingdi is contemporary with the mid- to late Roman Republic, and it was during this time when trade from China into Central Asia began to emerge. Xian today, the Xian of the Muslim Quarter, the Xian with clear signs of influence farther west, began around the time that these naked terra-cotta servants were interred into these pits.

Recreation of the Gate Entrance to the Tomb

Recreation of the Gate Entrance to the Tomb

Hitchhiking Fail

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So, our first hitchhiking attempt was an epic fail.

We knew we had to get out of the city, so, looking at a map, I figured that we could take the subway line to the northernmost station and walk to a bridge that would take us where we wanted to go. From there, I figured, we could pick up a ride.

But, in the last four years, a city’s worth of suburbs had been built on the other side of that bridge, and it was now essentially urban. We stopped at the bridge’s entrance and waited, trying to flag down drivers while cabbies hollered at us, waving us towards their vehicle. I talked to some people who had pulled off the side to check their tires. They were kind enough to look up where we were going, but not kind enough to take us across the bridge (I’ve lived in Taiwan for too long; in Taiwan, they would not have thought twice about taking us there).

Going Nowhere

Going Nowhere

After a while of standing and waiting, a driver pulled up to us, asking in hardly understandable English, “Where you are want to?”

“Han Dynasty Emperor Jingdi’s Tomb” I said in Mandarin.

“Okay. 100 r.m.b.” he said, switching to Chinese. 100 r.m.b. That was about $17 USD.

“Um. Way too much.” I knew that hitchhiking in China sometimes involved paying for rides, but this was highway robbery. I offered him a tenth of the price.

“No way. I have to make money.” He responded.

“Thirty,” I said, trying to negotiate.

“Fifty,” he responded. “Take it or leave it.”

Having waited for a while, I decided we should take the ride. We entered, and I put my best face on it. It wasn’t ideal for hitchhiking, but at least we had picked up a ride on the road. I guess it counted as hitchhiking, right?

Listening to the driver talk to the other passengers about us, I realized that hitchhiking in Xian was difficult, if not impossible. Everyone there is so keyed into making money through tourists. No one is willing to pick up a rider, particularly Westerners, for free. We will have to get a little bit farther out to do hitchhiking.

Lesson learned.

Other Photos from Xian

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Here are some additional photos from Xian. There is no particular order or theme:

Kite Salesman

Kite Salesman

Stretching up into the Sky - A dozen people sold kites at the entrance to the touristy part of the Muslim Quarter. Their sales strategy: have their kites stretching twelve stories into the air.

Stretching up into the Sky – A dozen people sold kites at the entrance to the touristy part of the Muslim Quarter. Their sales strategy: have their kites stretching twelve stories into the air.

Strangely, another occupation at the entrance to the touristy section of the Muslim District: Astronomer. Several men with giant telescopes on the back of their motorscooters stood at the Quarter's entrance, trying to convince people to take a look at the stars, something Chinese people rarely get the opportunity to see. These men did not have an astronomy background, but instead appeared to be just a few years off the farm. That did not matter though, because they only had to convince Chinese yokels visiting Xian that they were authorities. This they did admirably well.

Strangely, another occupation at the entrance to the touristy section of the Muslim District: Astronomer. Several men with giant telescopes on the back of their motorscooters stood at the Quarter’s entrance, trying to convince people to take a look at the stars, something Chinese people rarely get the opportunity to see. These men did not have an astronomy background, but instead appeared to be just a few years off the farm. That did not matter though, because they only had to convince Chinese yokels visiting Xian that they were authorities. This they did admirably well.

Trying to study English

Trying to study English

Swaying

Swaying

Brewed Together - After we had visited the Forest of Steles, we shared two bottles of the local brew. It was some of the worst tasting tipple I ever had. It is so local and low-quality, that they do not have their own bottles, but they use bottles with the labels of other companies cast in the mold of their glass bottles.

Brewed Together – After we had visited the Forest of Steles, we shared two bottles of the local brew. It was some of the worst tasting tipple I ever had. It is so local and low-quality, that they do not have their own bottles, but they use bottles with the labels of other companies cast in the mold of their glass bottles.

Shishkabob Remains

Shishkabob Remains

Xian's Meat Sandwich - The closest traditional Chinese food comes to burgers.

Xian’s Meat Sandwich – The closest traditional Chinese food comes to burgers.

Streetview

Streetview

Barbery

Barbery

 

Part of China's propaganda promoting what the Communist leadership believes are "Chinese Values."

Part of China’s propaganda promoting what the Communist leadership believes are “Chinese Values.”

Part of China's propaganda promoting what the Communist leadership believes are "Chinese Values."

Part of China’s propaganda promoting what the Communist leadership believes are “Chinese Values.”

This ad is part of a propaganda blitz pushed by Xi Jinping to revive 'traditional' Chinese values.

This ad is part of a propaganda blitz pushed by Xi Jinping to revive ‘traditional’ Chinese values.

The propaganda selectively pushes the greatest parts of Chinese culture, like this poem by Wang Wei, one of the Tang Dynasty’s three most famous poets.

Hotel

Hotel

Terra-cotta Warriors and Technological Failures

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Created around 215 B.C., the Terra-cotta Warriors are Xian’s best-known attractions. At the time they were created, they were one of the most impressive technological wonders of the period. Thousands of soldiers with individual faces stare back at us across the millennia, each face painstakingly formed into an individual with what was then cutting-edge technology.

As I look at what, at the time, was a technological wonder, we begin to think about the role technology plays in our own society. Looking across the holes filled with terra-cotta men, I wonder: Was this elaborate burial process, burying the Qin Emperor with thousands of his soldiers and retinue, recreating, in death, the empire he maintained in life? Is this whole thing just a giant, grand, solipsistic selfie, a momentary shot of the Qin Emperor’s life at the time he ruled? Is technology really just a burden that limits us rather than expands us?

These questions were still with me when, later that evening, Galen began saying things to his camera that cannot be repeated here, for the sake of my more delicate readers. His CF card had experienced a complete failure. Every photo he had taken that day was lost. All that remained were the handful of photos I had taken on my phone. Hence the poor quality.

I am not sure whether technology plays a positive or negative role in our lives, but I do know that some times we rely on it too much. The Qin Emperor relied on technology to get him into the afterlife, and we relied on it to try to get good shots of his afterlife attempt. Both appear to be total failures.