A special look at life in rural China
My name is Joan Zou and I was born in Chongqing, the biggest city in China. While I was young, I loved to play the game of digging holes in the ground with the other kids. And my parents used to warn me: “If you continue to dig the hole, you’ll get to America.” At that time, I did not have any idea about America—it was just “the end of the hole.” When I attended middle school, I finally realized how far America is from China.
I became a tour guide in 1992. This job offers me a chance to introduce my country to foreign travelers. With the development of the Chinese economy, more and more travelers are coming to visit us. Most of them love our delicious food and beautiful scenery. All of them are very interested in China’s history, customs, people, and great economic change. Fortunately, I experienced Mao’s time and Deng’s time. I witnessed every important event during these 30 years. China has a population of 1.3 billion and 67% are farmers. You have to witness a farmer’s life if you want to really understand this country.
OAT arranges an overnight stay in a farmer’s home in order to help our travelers have a deeper understanding of China. Because from the movies and magazines, many travelers have gotten the idea that it’s very poor and dirty in the Chinese countryside. They are nervous and a little bit excited about staying overnight there. I have many stories from my previous groups, and I’d like to share one of them with you.
I took one group to a village of about 1,000 people, in 246 households. In China, farmers build their houses on assigned land and each village looks like a community or settlement. Every household has some land to farm. Of course, the farmland for Chinese households is much, much smaller than that of farmers in the United States. Travelers are also surprised to see the houses’ clean rooms, Western-style washrooms, and comfortable bedrooms for them (the hosts have Chinese-style brick beds and stone pillows).
The hostess made tea for us and showed the travelers family pictures and taught them how to make local noodles. The host family spoke Mandarin, so the travelers and hostess communicated through body language and a dictionary. At dinnertime, a 7-year-old girl entered the house—the daughter of the host family. She was in Grade 1 of primary school, and had just started to learn English. As she tried to help her mother set the table, she ran into another lady. The little girl was very shy and she said, “I’m sorry.” The lady answered, “I’m sorry, too.”
The girl seemed very confused. She hesitated for a while, and then said, “I’m sorry three.”
Experience life in a rural Chinese farming community during our Imperial China, Tibet & the Yangtze River Small Ship Adventure.