Dong Ming - Day 5 (11.28): Tie a Yellow River

The days are getting so filled with relaxation and casual socializing with friends that my blog entries are going to start getting smaller and smaller until I head off to Beijing. That is probably a welcome relief for some of you who complain about the length of my blog entries (well, just one of you, but Wu Di is just being fan si le) or it’s a problem for those of you who use my blogs to fill up the lonely hours you spend in the office waiting for something interesting to happen online.

In any case, on with today’s entry. I woke up around 7:45, which surprised me since I went to bed so late. One thing that happened last night I should probalby mention.

Before heading to bed last night I went down to the lobby. I didn’t quite feel tired so I just decided to walk around a bit and ended up there. As I was sitting there I saw a police van pull up to the front of the hotel and 4 policemen came in and asked the receptionist for some information. This one guy who seemed to be in charge was flashing his badge and they seemed to want someone’s room number.

They went up to the room and after about 5 minutes two of the officers came down, each one leading a woman through the lobby to the police van. The women didn’t look very happy about it. After 5 more minutes the other two came down with two guys who looked a bit like gangsters (most likely because they were?), each holding a cigarette and looking somewhat nonplussed. Then after a while they took off.

It looks like what happened was that those two girls were “ladies of the evening” and they were running some sort of scam from their room. Many hotels in China have a “sauna” or “salon” (which is a fancy name for … well, you know) and in the evenings they’ll call the rooms in the hotel to see if anyone needs a “massage”. Sometimes people will rent out a room and call up various rooms in the hotel pretending to be affiliated with the hotel but actually just send the girls in, and then the guys will pose as cops or possibly just come in and rob the person or take pictures or something. Or they might just be pimps. In any case, they run this racket and usually make off with some poor person’s money. But it seemed that these guys got caught doing it. I have to be honest, it was nice to see the police doing some solid police work. With the system here it’s much easier for them to enforce the law (when it’s necessary), but of course, I suppose the opposite could be said too. It was nice at least to see some justice being served.

Anyway … on to this morning. I spent some time on my computer and then took a shower. I was picked up around 10:00 and taken back to the Wang’s home to help them video tape another ceremony. On the third day after the wedding the bride kao tou’s to the parents (who then give her a hong bao (red envelope)) and to the aunts or female relatives (in this case Jennifer, who also gave a hong bao). The reason for this is, the bride is supposed to be the most lucky during the first three days of her marriage so she does this to give them luck, and they give her money in exchange.

bowing to the parents

Receiving the Red Envelope

After that the bride and groom, along with a group of the groom’s friends, were to go back to the Bride’s family to show that she is well and that everything is going smoothly. The tradition here is that they will all eat together while the Bride’s family tries to get the groom completely plastered. They then try to get him to promise all sorts of things concerning the daughter. But the groom has an out. He brings his friends along to help absorb some of the alcohol as he can have some of them drink in his stead. It’s an interesting tradition, but you can see how it would have it’s roots in the old system of dowry’s and arranged marriages. Some of those old practices, while not necessarily practical in today’s world, really do reflect the culture in which they originated.

After we saw Wang Fei and Xiao Yan off on their outing, Wang Fei’s friend (and it turns out their distantly related cousin) Xiao Lu (which I renamed “Da Lu”), drove us out to see the Yellow River (Huang He). Actually, Jennifer got to drive us out there, and I got to drive us back. There are two things that made this possible. The first is that there is zero traffic regulation in this part of China so having a driver’s license out here is about as necessary as having an igloo in Jamaica. The second thing is that the car belonged to Xiao Lu’s uncle, who was the number 4 police officer in all of the Heze District. That meant that this car was equipped with a siren and lights, but was also a very posh sedan. It also meant that the license plate on the car told every other police officer who saw it that they did not want to mess with anyone inside the car for fear of losing their job. It was like the automobile equivalent of Air Force One.

The Yellow River!

Note the license plate!

Hanging out on the Da Tiao (big bridge)

We stopped at a bridge over the river and took a look. We tried driving down to a place near the shore, but part of the road was washed out from the rain so we couldn’t make it. I did get to drive through this very rustic country-side farming village. This place was super-old school China. A single muddy dirt road and houses that looked like they were straight out of a history book. This particular village worked on cotton and corn production. And without a cotton gin even. That’s pretty hard core.

We also bought some nice slip-on shoes along the side of the road as well. Just 12 RMB, but they’ll probably last about as long as my next cold.

When we got back to the Wang home the family sat down for some lunch. The parents had made home-made dumplings, along with several other dishes. 2nd Aunt (the police officer from Zhengzhou) and the Grandmother came over to eat with us too. But after the meal I had a serious food coma and started to doze off. I crashed for a cat nap on Jennifer and Wang Wei’s bed but was woken up after about an hour to go out again.

Making Dumplings

Wang Wei likes his dumlings

By this time Wang Fei and his bride had come back and Wang Fei didn’t look drunk at all. In fact, he looked perfectly fine. I guess his friends got the brunt of the alcohol. It turned out that my clothes were done! We got in Da Lu’s car with Wang Fei and made our way to the clothing area. 2nd Cousin was there to greet us and I tried on the clothes.

First I tried on the Chinese traditional jackets. They were both quite comfortable and everyone said nice things like “You look so great!” and “It’s beautiful”. They also said some more disturbing things like “Now, you’re ready to get married” and “We’ll find you a Dong Ming wife soon”, but I just went with the flow. After that I tried on my suit. Can I just say that a tailor-made suit is the best fitting suit in the universe? It felt so good it was like a second skin. I couldn’t believe the difference. The overcoat was equally comfortable. I found out later that the price for this, including a suit that Wang Fei had done, turned out to be just around 800 RMB (300 was just for the fabric for my suit and the overcoat, so 500 RMB for everything else, including labor!). My portion worked out to around 500 RMB, which is something like $65 U.S. 2 Chinese jackets, a suit and an overcoat, all tailor made, for that price is almost unheard of. I decided that I would definitely be coming back to Dong Ming in the future to get some more suits done.

Lots of clothes for sale on the street

Taking a picture withe shop owner and tailor

The price actually made it easier for me to accept the fact that the suit and overcoat were being paid for by Wang Wei’s parents. They wanted to give me something and decided to pay for the clothes. From a Western standpoint it’s a bit uncomfortable having everything being paid for and being given gifts when you’re a guest at someone’s wedding, but from the Chinese cultural standpoint, the guest from out of town is the person who shouldn’t have to pay for anything and should be given something for the trouble of visiting. I’ve heard of problems with other foreigners who have visited places like this and had hard feelings with the people they were visiting when they wouldn’t let the hosts pay for their accomodations or food, and the hosts got upset because they felt they weren’t being allowed to provide for the guest. In any case, I knew that the rule was “when in Rome” so I bit my lip and just said thank you to everyone. I know though, that if they should ever come to Shanghai (or wherever I’m living) it’s my obligation to take care of everything for them. I dont mind though … they’re really nice people and have been wonderful hosts.

After getting the clothes we got in the car and went for a massage. This was a place just around the corner from the Wang residence. It was very … “local”. In that it wasn’t heated and was basically a concrete room with several beds in it. But the massage was actually quite good and lasted at least an hour, if not longer. But the best part was the price. Just 10 RMB!! That’s about $1.25 for an hour massage. I was flabberghasted.

Super cheap massage

Then it was back to the Wang’s for dinner. To be honest, no one was really hungry. Some more of the family’s cousins and aunt’s also came to visit, but most of them weren’t hungry either, so just a few of us ate. I only had some soup and a little bit of bing, which was plenty for me. I’ve come to realize that the huge amount of food I ate over the first 2 days, has caused a reaction in my system to want to fast (or at least greatly reduce the amount I consume) for the time being. As you’ll recall, before coming to Dong Ming, my whole meal was a bing or two … or maybe some sort of small dish of something. But then I came here and got fed to the brim. It’s just my body’s way of trying to maintain equilibrium. Homeostasis can be a good thing sometimes.

Jennifer and Da Peng’s (2nd aunt’s son’s) wife

2nd cousin, 3rd aunt’d daughter and 3rd aunt

After dinner we hung out with the family for an hour or so until it was time for me to head back to the hotel. I worked on burning more copies of the VCD that Wang Wei and Jennifer had made in the U.S. for their family while the two of them used my shower and plumbing to it’s full advantage (no showers or non-outhouse-facilities where they’re living). After a while they headed back home and I worked on my blog. It’s already almost 1:00 a.m. so it’s time to put this bad boy to bed and get some shut eye.

Just one more full day in Dong Ming before our trip back up to Beijing on Thursday! Time sure does fly … Homely Roast Duck, here I come!

(Didn’t I say my entries would get smaller? Ah well, I guess one can hope, can’t they?)