Two banquets today. The first with Xiao Jing's shirt-tail cousin on her mother's side, an environmentalist who's an official with the government & travels the world. He says the world is now using our grand children's resources and that chemical fertilizers are to blame-the land is barren. Terraced hillsides that once provided successful farming now lie fallow. They are evident as we drive across Beijing. There was much talk of the Cultural Revolution and of corruption in government and of the need for all government however corrupt. All that from a government official!
The dining room was private, beautifully appointed, with serene and effective service.
An expansive couch and coffee table under a huge mirror was the starting point of the dinner. Appetizers of fruits placed on a tray, small napkins, something not often seen.
I was presented with a gift, a statue of a god holding a gourd (signifying what?), four flags placed behind him and two metal feathers in his head costume. It's heavy and unusual. Michael's not seen this one before.
The meal was expansive, too many dishes to remember, expensive settings, chop sticks with metal tips, too long for my taste, I find them harder to work with.
There were 2 soups with this meal. The first was bland and of no interest. The second had golden noodles and some tomato in a broth.
Our host had visited Michael and Xiao Jing about ten years ago in Buffalo while on official business. Michael remembers that he took a photo of Xiao Jing and him while with them. Also recalls that the man was exhausted during the visit. His wife is a tiny woman, very friendly and obviously very proud of her husband. Their son is a student, well-mannered and comfortable in his quiet way.
Xiao Jing's other cousin had driven us to the restaurant. He's a bear of a guy, an economics professor. He first met Xiao Jing during the cultural revolution. He'd been sent to the countryside near where her parents lived and he stayed with them. They became close and this relationship started at that time.
After we left the restaurant (after three hours of talk and food and after we were photographed ("immortalized", Michael said), Xiao Jing said, "We've been asked to have dinner with second cousin!!" She was so happy being with them I could only say, "Then we need to accept". Xiao Jing rode with first cousin. His son drove the VW in the Beijing traffic as smoothly as silk. I was impressed by that. It seems a driving license is purchased after taking a required 45 hour course and all citizens take this. Most youth drive if able hence more one car drivers. We drove to visit third cousin's mother first. She is sixty or so, a retired army veteran who joined at age fourteen because she was filled with national patriotism and wished to fight the Japanese. She met her husband then. During the war she was almost killed by a bullet that grazed her forehead from above her right eyebrow across to the other. She continues to get headaches from this injury. She gets monthly checks now from the government and her health coverage is free.She had a minor stroke recently which has left her still a bit stressed with excitement such as this. Couldn't find the teapot. Her son is a writer, has no job, writes on paper, no computer. He's just published a book about his father's experience during the Cultural Revolution.
The apartment: entered through a guarded gate (most communities are) opened by a soldier. We entered the complex passing free market stands, & a group of men playing chess. Up to the apartment by a tiny elevator operated by a young woman sitting on a tiny seat. Many fragrances-cabbage was prominent. Entered the apartment to the living room with a table and four chairs to the right, an anteroom beyond it (pantry), bedroom next to this off the living room. Couch and chair and coffee table for guests. Next to the couch a water cooler. This is the living quarters of a retired soldier. Xiao Bai (the writer) entered in his pajamas to welcome us. Tea was offered (hot water) and much talk ensued of American writers, Xiao Bai always addressing Michael as "Maikal" in a jubilant sort of voice. Fitzgerald, Twain, O.Henry, etc. Strange to hear "Fitzgerald, O. Henry, Twain" in the English language while couched in Chinese.
Michael and mother talked of her pain. She held my hand. Her husband's picture hangs over the anteroom door. I asked if she had met him during the war.
Soon we left . Xiao Bai was now in street clothes. We drove to the second cousin's, (Xiao Nan) apartment. This was a step up. Interior was spacious, a view of the sky line of "the new Beijing". Cranes reigning over all. Plenty of room here. And light.
The second banquet is again in a private room. Much talk of the "environmental disaster" progress has caused and the goals of the young to make money and be successful without any dreams for the world.
I missed Xiao Bei's mother. What control would she have been able to have over this endless holding forth? Xiao Jing was even unable to make second cousin's daughter understand that what her Chinese education has given her was short of one thing, a personal goal and a personal real dream. The girl is unable to think through issues on her own. She's been fed for twenty years on how to follow, not lead.
