Thursday, June 12, 2008

China Day 13: Displaced

Grand Circle Travel arranged another visit for us with local people, this time a farmer and his dour wife
China-1381
whose lands were lost to the rising waters from the Three Gorges Dam. They were relocated to this city and now live in an apartment building.

China-1383
Through Fred as our interpreter, we talked with them for awhile: "Do you like your apartment?" "Yes." "What do you think of the One Child Policy?" Baffled silence. Fred: "Of course nobody likes it but everybody acknowledges that it is necessary. There are over 1.3 billion people in this country!"

I'm making light of it, but it got to be a bit much the way every single time we got to meet with the Chinese people, somebody in the group had to ask about the One Child Policy. Couldn't anybody think of anything else to talk about? I guess I shouldn't complain, since I didn't have any better questions of my own, but... Hey! I should have asked if she knits!

We were given a tour through their ground floor apartment, which struck me as functional, if spartan:
China-1385
China-1386
China-1387
They have a pet koi in a bowl
China-1384
which gives the place a touch of life.
I get the impression that in the summer months they prefer to do their living outside as much as possible. They have a sort of open-air kitchen area just outside their back door:
China-1388
and the husband hasn't given up agriculture completely; he has put in a nice little vegetable garden beside the exterior stairs:
China-1390

No comments: