Jie received the book “Snowflower and the Secret Fan” written by Lisa See, from Karin as a gift on her graduation. The book is about women´s life in the 19th century rural China. In this blog Jie reflects about today´s life in rural villages.
Kai Ning ni hao,
I finished the Chinese version of Lisa See´s book “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” in the late evening. As breath-taking as the English version I finished months ago when I visited my family’s hometown. Hundred years have passed, but the past is still haunting in rural China. In April this year I visited my family´s hometown for the Qing Ming festival, (which is the tomb sweeping holiday in China). It is a time when people go out to the countryside to their ancestral homes, to worship the departed ones and enjoy the greenery.
My ancestor´s home is a small village not far from Lisa See’s ancestor´s home, (which she writes about in her book “On the Gold Mountain”). The two days of my visit was filled with ceremonies of ancestor worship, family gatherings, storytelling from old family members, small hill climbing and tough road walking.
Playful girls at the ancestral temple
It was raining heavily and the roads were muddy. There were about 100 people going up to join the ceremonies in spite of the rain, and we climbed the hills to worship our Chen ancestors at their graves, burning paper money and other stuff we believed they might need underground.
A muddy road to the ceremonies
After the ceremonies we had a meal at the Ancestral Temple in our village. I saw cars parked outside the temple, which was quite rare in past days. Even some of my relatives had their own cars and had bought decent houses in small cities nearby. Some family members came back to join the ceremony from overseas.
Cars parked outside the temple pavilion
The village women were busy serving the meals and doing the dishes in the temple.
'The women were busy cooking the meals...
...and doing the dishes
Have the rural traditions changed a lot? Well, there is no more foot-binding and Nü Shu (a special women language Lisa See writes about) is vanishing. There are cars on the roads. But women are still serving in the kitchen while men are having meals outside (although Mother and I didn’t have to work because we were considered guests from the cities). This is far away from the Shanghai men who cook the meals in their families!
Will urbanization bring changes also to the villages? I am sure it will, though it takes long to change beliefs and attitudes…
A girl at the end of a narrow lane in the village
Regards, Jie
Jie&Karin
Swedish eyes, Chinese mind 