One of my favorite parts about being in Zhuhai is learning about Chinese culture, with its thousands of years of history. Last weekend, I travelled to Jin Tai Si, a historical Chinese site. With my host family and my dad, I climbed a mountain and visited many of the beautiful temples with Buddha statues inside. I offered some incense and rubbed the lucky foot of a lion statue, as well as prayed to every Buddha I came across inside that my classes (both English and Chinese Dance) would conclude successfully. My twins helpfully informed me that it was very rude and disrespectful to take photos of the Buddhas themselves (after, of course, I had already taken several such photos that I then had to delete), and cheerfully showed me the stunning view of the “five-fingered” lake.
The very next day, I traveled to Doumen, a cultural preservation site exhibiting many aspects of Chinese architecture and culture. We were lucky enough to witness a traditional “water wedding,” with the beautiful bride dressed in red floating down the river. We were also able to actually walk inside an ancient house in a Southern village, which was absolutely fascinating. (When crossing the threshold, we learned that a man had to step with his left foot first and a woman with her right foot, and if you stepped on the threshold itself, you would invite bad luck upon yourself.) Although it was so hot that I felt like melting, the cultural aspect was still very cool to see in person. Witnessing how people used to live a long, long time ago was somewhat jarring, because the majority of my experience in China has been in big, modern cities that are honestly not significantly different from American cities, but I’m glad to be able to view a different side of Chinese culture.
Another somewhat unexpected source of knowledge about Chinese culture has been my host father. He seems to have made it his personal mission to educate me in the different types of tea and how to properly brew them (although his lessons have thus far proven to have no results, although he assures me it takes many years to actually distinguish between the subtle flavors of tea). Each night, he’ll brew a pot of a different kind of tea, from green to chrysanthemum to Iron Maiden, and the two of us will sit down and chat for hours about the differences between American and Chinese culture. Sometimes, communication can be somewhat of a struggle considering I only ever understand at most 70% of a given conversation, but I’ve still learned a great deal about Chinese culture. We’ve discussed the different holidays and festivals in China and America, how the education systems differ, and his hometown of Dongbei, among many other things. I think my host dad is also beginning to learn more about America through these conversations as well. I even opened up Google Maps and showed him exactly where I lived, where I went to school, and where my favorite places were (or at least I attempted to as best I could with my computer’s incredibly slow connection to the WiFi). Lately, these nightly conversations have grown to become one of the moments of the day I look forward to the most.
A few days ago, it was the Dragon Boat Festival. My host family was originally planning on going to Zhongshan, a city named after Sun Zhongshan, a prominent leader in the Chinese revolution, but our plans ended up being cancelled due to a family emergency. My host dad also wanted to go climb a mountain at the crack of dawn as part of a Dragon Boat Festival tradition, but somewhat predictably, no one (not even my host dad) got up early enough to actually carry through with it. Coupled with the fact that both my twins are sick, my host dad is busy with work, and my host mom had to return to her hometown to help her hospitalized parents, this year’s Dragon Boat Festival was unexpectedly gloomy. Nonetheless, although our plans went awry, we all ate zongzi together, played Chinese chess, and sang karaoke, trying our best to have a good time. In the end, I spent the Dragon Boat Festival together with my host family (and my actual father, who came down to visit), and that’s what this festival is all about: being together with your family.
I’m constantly amazed by the depth of meaning and history behind every Chinese tradition, custom, cultural practice, and historical site. America is a beautiful country with many awe-inspiring places to visit, but despite its extremely fast development and status as a world power, it is undeniably an extremely new country. While American culture certainly exists, its history and culture cannot be compared to a country as ancient as China, and I’m immeasurably grateful to have this chance to witness China’s culture with my own eyes. In the coming weeks, we will be able to visit Xi’an and Beijing, two of China’s cultural centers, and I cannot wait to continue to learn about this beautiful country’s history.