Shaoxing am Wochenende

Chenjie hat mir freundlicherweise einen wunderbaren, aber auch (einmal mehr) sehr traurigen Bericht über unsere kleine Reise in Lu Xuns Geburtsstadt geschrieben. Hier lest Ihr unsere Erlebnisse aus chinesischer Sicht. Viel Spaß.
Sie schreibt wie immer auf Englisch.


"I went to Shaoxing with my 3 foreign friends last weekend. I just know one of them, but soon we get well along with each other. This is the first time I went out for trip with friends. My mother always worries about me, so I rarely have chance to go out. You must come back before 7:00h, she often told me, before I began the evening school. And some day, I suddenly felt, that I knew just a little about the outside world, which made me felt at loss. I don´t know how I can change the thinking of my mother, but I tried my best to do that. I began an evening class of English interpretation, so that I can come back later. Now I come back at about 8:30pm.

Because she always says, that I am just a child, which my face and behavior has showed. I tried to change myself, such as earning money by doing some part-time jobs. And I started to cook during the labor holiday. I thought perhaps by doing such things I can be independent from my mother both in terms of money and life.
This time it was just the same. I wanted to know more, so I promised my mother, that I will earn money by myself and spend it by myself. Please don´t interfere with me. But the day before we set out, she told me not to go. Whenever I stay overnight at other place, she would not be able to fall into sleep, just thinking about me. But I told her, that I must go. I should do whatever I had promised. She said nothing more.
I know her feeling, she doesn´t want to lose me. Because she has three brothers and 2 sisters, she won´t feel lonely. But in our generation, because of the one-child policy, if we get married or something happens, my mother would have felt very lonely. I do know that, but some day I will separated from her.

Keyan
I think Keyan was the most interesting place during this trip. We got off at the keqiao station and then took a tricycle to Keyan. Because we arrived at 12:00, we finished lunch and went to wicket, where we were surprised by the high price. 50 Yuan, perhaps it is the most expensive place in China. We even doubted if it was a snatch. After we hesitated for a while, we decided to enter in order to see if the rocks were worth this price. Yes, it satisfied us, very much. Westerners like sunlight very much, but why south-east Asian just as me hate the strong sunlight? Because I'm a girl? Then we climbed the mountains and realized that there is more than rocks there. You know, the rocks there have changed their shapes and functions. They turned to bridges, Buddha, temples, which interested us very much. The most inconceivable place I think was yuenuchunxiao (Yue Girl in the Spring). The body of the girl was made by the lake, the narrow islands and stones formed her eyes, ears and even the necklace. There is a yudaiqiao (Jade-belt Bridge) in the middle of her body, which made her more charming.
I was always in a hurry, if you don't go quickly, we can't visit all the views in two days, I said.But they were so calm and told me not to be so anxious because we went out for a leisure trip, not for study, we should relax. That's true.

Because it was a very hot day, the waterfall was very popular by tourists. Girls from other place of China took a lot of photos near it, perhaps they were also moved by the artificial nature. There is a lot of carvings of the famous people born in Shaoxing. For example, calligrapher Wangxizhi, a poet of ancient China whose name is Luyou, writer Lu Xun and so on. At first I thought that it was only rocks in the Park, but to my surprise, I could feel nature in the man-made place. I should say, it was a perfect combination of nature and the artificial world. Especially when we stood on the shouyingshan (Fingerprint Hill), gentle breeze stroking our face, that was great, we even wanted to stay there forever. In the end, we missed the last bus, because we were too leisure. We had to took a three-wheeled automobile towards Shaoxing.

The night of Shaoxing
After we found a hotel, we went to the Lu Xun road (it's the busiest street of Shaoxing, like Nanjing Road in Shanghai. But of course the latter is more flourishing) and had supper there. In China, when you talk about Shaoxing, people will often imagine Shaoxingwine. In most cases, people from other place get tipsy because of the high alcohol. We chose beer for supper because there are two friends from Germany. And I was made to drink by my friend. He told me that I should learn to drink because it will promote the relationship during my late work.
(Na ja, zur eigenen Verteidigung muß ich sagen, daß das nicht ganz ernst gemeint war, die Art von Ironie ist in China aber schwer verständlich)
I just drank one glass of beer. And I did it after the girl sat close to me had promised that if I was drunk, she would send me to hotel. Though I 'm already reached twenty, I won't touch alcohol unless it is necessary (lach, böse).
I was surprised to find that shaoxin dialect is close to Shanghai dialect, so I was always mistaken for the local people. If they speak slowly, I can catch the point, but if the one who I meet speaks it in fast speed, perhaps I know nothing and just be dumbfounded. Do you know the most famous hotel (restaurant) in Shaoxin whose name is xianheng? I knew it from the story written by Lu Xun. After I went there, I found there are two named xianheng, one is for accommodations, and the other is a restaurant (old teahouse). The function is different but the famous one is the latter. It is full of Shaoxing characteristics. Guests in the restaurant were in very leisure dress (just like the dress in feudal society), sat cross-legged or with an ankle on a knee. Because it was full of alcohol smells there, we felt a little uncomfortable and dropped the idea to have supper there. There is a very astonishing thing in Shaoxing that the drivers of the three-wheeld cycles don't know the way and always ask guests. But, finally, we arrived at the hotel and sampled the Shaoxing Wine, with our face turning red, we forgot the tiredness and fell asleep (diesen Trick muß ich mir merken).

Second day in Shaoxing
In the morning, we had breakfast at the train station. The menu was dumplings(Chinese ravioli) and fruits. We took wupengchuan (black-bitter fleabane boat) and enjoyed ourselves. You know, the boat is the other characteristic of Shaoxing, it is moved by a single arm and leg-technique. Just as the name told us, it consists of black fleabane under which we can hide ourselves though it is narrow. Perhaps it was used to conceal one from enemies' bullet but now, I use it because of fear of catching tan. We went to Lu Xun museum, his former residence, his studio and so on. I felt that he was such a great writer and especially as a translator he translated more than ten languages into Chinese. Even now, it is not a easy job.

I felt very happy when I came back from the trip. When the friend from Argentine told me that she would like to stay with me for more time, when they said thanks to me, something made me moved. I've never thought that I could make friends in such a short time. And because I'm shy, I hardly talk to someone if he (or she) is as shy as me. But you know, it needs courage when you study a foreign language. If you just hesitate to talk with others and miss some chances, you can not manage it.

On the bus to my home, I recalled what happened during those two days. I began to like studying English but when I came back home, when I find only my father at home, I was surprised.
´Where is mum?´ I asked.
´Your grandmother passed by at about 5:00, your mother hurried to your grandma's home. She was so anxious and forgot something for several times (go out and come back, go out and come back), just like that.´
When I heard that, I was very calm. Last time when I lost my grandpa thirteen years ago, I had been very sad. How could I be so calm this time? I cannot believe it. I just go out traveling for only 2 days, and I lose my grandma. But I talked with my father about the things happened during these two days, just like not having heard that news. When I was talking, I was happy; but when I stopped, something strange attacked me, which frightened me but I couldn't express with words.
Yes, I had a perfectly good time these two days, but when I thought that when I traveling happily, my grandmother was suffering from the disease and approaching death, I felt pained. Tomorrow is the funeral of her, I think perhaps I will have a lot of things to tell her, which I hadn't said when she was alive."

Schlimm, nicht wahr? Ich bin immer wieder erstaunt, wie ruhig und gelassen sie diese Ereignisse in Worte fasst.