Tai-an

Day 8 - Tai'an & Mt. Tai'shan

The train ride from Xi'an was pretty tough. It was the longest one we took (18 hours) and had no air conditioning. I suppose it reflects the tough existence that the residents of Central China lead.

After arriving in Tai'an, we went straight to Mt. Tai'shan. Historically, this mountain was one of Buddhist China's 5 holies mountains. Emperors would conduct pilgrimages here to climb its 6,666 steps to the top at 1,500 meters.

A few of our group elected to take a cable car to the top. The rest of us started climbing from the bottom. We who made it to a rest station half way up and decided to take a separate cable car from that point to the top. Unfortunately, the mountain was shrouded in clouds, so we had very limited views. Although, the fog at the top lent a mystical aura to the area. From here, Confucius is reported to have remarked that "the world is small".

We took a cable car down and headed to the hotel for a quick shower. However, we were not staying in the hotel. Instead, our tour led to a farming village on the outskirts of Tai'an for the night. We met the villagers in the town hall and paired off with local hosts who took us to their homes. Justin, Richard, and I were assigned to a family that spoke no English. We greeted them as best we could. However, we found ourselves making well intentioned though thoroughly useless hand gestures and eventually fell to talking among ourselves.

The house was a cement structure with individual rooms arranged around a central courtyard. Everything was cement - walls, floors, courtyards. The house was simple. A TV seemed to be the only apparent luxury. No air conditioning, only a couple of overhead ceiling fans. One of the side rooms housed a coup with chickens - the roosters of course began crowing at about 4:00 the next morning.

The neighbors later stopped by for dinner and brought Hanna and Stephen with them. Fortunately, the neighbors spoke some English and were happy to translate for us. Dinner was magnificent. Great variety. Many different garden vegetables and dumplings. We watched a little of the Japan / China Asia Cup Football game and then turned in to our straw beds.

Day 9 - Tai-an Farmstay

Woke early to the sound of crowing roosters. It did not appear that anyone was afoot in the household until an hour or so later. At that point, Justin, Richard and I played some cards to pass the time. We eventually headed over to the neighbor's house for lunch. Their residence was pretty much the same set-up and the meal proceeded pretty much like dinner the night before. Lots of good food and our hosts attempting to ply us with lots of beer.

After lunch, we toured the village. We first visited the kindergarten and watched the children play games. The local retirement home looked like a pretty tough place to live. Our guide mentioned that the town runs it for elderly who don't have children or whose children lack the means of caring for their parents. The local clinic had two wings - one offered treatment in Western medical practices; the other provided traditional Chinese medicine. Judging by the state and size of each of the wings, it seemed that the local citizens relied on both forms of treatment at about the same rate.

Absolutely, the single most asked question I heard on this trip is whether it is true that there is no limit to the number of children that a US couple can have. As a Chinese national, you can have one child (subject to limited exceptions); the fine for having a second 10,000 Yuan (exorbitant to 99% of the Chinese population); there are stories of families whose house was pushed down for having a third; and I thought I heard a reference during our visit to the clinic to mandatory abortion for any pregnancy in the first trimester after a couple has their first child.

After the tour, we grabbed our bags and boarded our bus to the train station in Tai'an. We traveled by soft sleeper again (with air condition working), though the trip was only about 6 hours long.

Go to Nanjing for more