Yiling Village and Humble Pie

Today Jane took us to a local Zhuang village. China is made up of 56 different ethnic groups. The majority for all of China is the Han people. But, here in Guangxi the majority is made up of Zhuang. The first time we met Jane she told us that she took one look at Qi Fu's picture and knew right away that he was Zhuang by his features. She said he is very Zhuang. She also claims that at least 2 of the girls in our group are Zhuang also.

The Zhuang people are known for their ability to do fine embroidery and sing. They have festivals where there are extemporaneous signing competitions and the boys ask girls out by singing to them! We seriously hope Qi FU has inherited this singing ability! They are also pretty small people - very slender and shorter than most - totally explains his size.

Yiling village is a very typical village for rural China and since all but one of our children came from rural orphanages, Jane really wanted us to see what life is like there. Let me just say, it was a very humbling experience. But it was also very eye opening for me. I just kept thinking that these people had very little, but their children were still loved and taken care of. There is no crime - everyone in the village trusts one another and they never lock doors. The children run around the whole village by themselves because everyone looks out for everyone else. The sense of community is very strong. It is too bad we have lost these traits. I think church is probably the closest thing that remains.

Most people in China live on about 1500 Yuan a month (about $200), but people in these villages live on a lot less. They still adhere to very traditional practices. Jane warned us that we would see the women working very hard doing their laundry on rocks at the watering hole, farming, carrying heavy loads, etc, while the men will be sitting around playing games like chess and checkers. She was right. (But to do the men some justice, she did point out they too work hard during the week days in the cities or on farms, but after work they get to come home and relax while the women's work is never done!) And the men help out with children very little in public. The men think that carrying a child or changing it, etc, will make them look weak. So, it is left up to the women - although they may help out in the privacy of their own home. As matter of fact, Eric went up to some men playing a game to take their picture and they laughed at him because he had Qi Fu on his shoulders! It was pretty funny.

We were also told to bring candy with us for the village children. Chinese people are constantly giving children candy - Qi Fu always has a piece or two stored in a pocket that some random stranger gave to him. And it is usually hard candy that he tries to bite. I really don't like this practice! Anyway, I do not know what we expected, but it certainly was not the mobbing we got when we showed our bags of candy. There were children everywhere grabbing and laughing and running away and then coming back for more. At one point we had to shew them away so that we could walk.

After we started walking again, we noticed a little boy about Qi Fu's age standing with his grandma watching us. He looked very shy and would not come over even with his grandma's prodding. Qi Fu noticed him and took one of his own candies from his pocket and walked up to the boy and gave it to him. It was so touching! I hope he keeps this type of compassion and generosity throughout his life.

I wish I could describe the smells in the village. They were...not that pleasant - a mixture of animal, fire, cooking flesh, and typical farm life. Trust me, I did not do it justice. And the flies were something from a horror film - they were EVERYWHERE. I have never seen so many flies in my life and I grew up on a pig farm. And speaking of pigs, we visited the home of a lady in the village who was the "richest" person there because she raised pigs and sold them. She had a typical 2 story home where her adult children and their families lived on the second level, and she lived on the first with the pigs. No joke. (Note: here in the countryside - especially among the Zhuang - the people are allowed to have more than 1 child, that is why this woman had 3 children - 2 daughters and 1 son.) Her house was made of cement and was still very humble by our standards, but a mansion according to theirs. It was pretty neat to see and she was very gracious.

Since a picture can say a thousand words, here is a slide show of our visit. I really hope you can get a feel for the village and the people there.