Lots of love for the rural Chinese folk (Patreon)

In the above photo (taken close to my wife's ancestral village, more about that in a bit) I'm holding a vegetable of some sort which was given to me by a rural farmer who I simply had a conversation with on the side of a dirt path... So let me explain the situation that led up to this.

During the Grave-Sweeping day holiday I went with my wife and in-laws to burn paper offerings to their grandfather at his grave (also paper clothes and various bits and bobs), alcohol is poured on the grave, food is laid out for the dead and it's a fairly bizarre yet fascinating affair. 

That aside, the most bizarre part of this process was that we had to climb into a completely overgrown jungle and cut all the vines and vegetation that had grown all over the graves during the past year, turns out that the village that Sasha's grandfather grew up in has been all but  abandoned due to the forced urbanisation policies of the local government, we had to drive through miles of construction sites to reach what's left of the village which is not only overgrown but soon to be torn down to make way for some or other low quality ghost city apartment blocks.... This is a huge pity in my view and I hate to see it happen, the villagers however seem content with their government compensation and low cost urban housing that they have been provided with in trade for their ancestral land (money is after all more important than god or tradition in modern-day China).

On the way out of the jungle my wife and I struck up a conversation with an old farmer lady on the side of a dirt path who was harvesting her small crop of random vegetables that she was growing at the side of the road. I was curious as to what she was growing as I couldn't recognise the vegetable and she handed a massive bunch to me and said I could have it and should try it, I tried to politely refuse but as a point of pride she would accept nothing other than me taking her vegetables, I offered to pay and she shooed me off laughing. I didn't eat the vegetables and to be honest it was really annoying carrying around the equivalent of a tree all day until we got back but my mother-in-law was delighted and sprung upon those vegetables as a man dying of thirst in the desert would spring upon a cool glass of water. Glad she liked them anyway.

The point of this post is that I have very often experienced this genuine hospitality and kindness in the rural parts of China and sadly it's difficult to find in the bigger cities and urban centres of China where the pursuit of wealth comes above all else.

China very often leaves me conflicted as I have witnessed the worst greed and selfishness I could ever imagine and yet at the same time the most genuine and open kindness too. 

The reason why I will never turn my back on China is because of people like her.

- Stay Awesome

SerpentZA