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@themiddlekingdom-blog
With all the stress about trying to finish our portfolio before friday me and a classmate decided to finally try the Korean place at foreigner street. I regret not visiting the place earlier because the food was cheap and so very tasty. You really got your monies worth. 10/10 would recommend.
So me and some classmates finally got the chance to check out the newest bar/restaurant in the city center, the Humdinger. I have to say that so far, this is the best western-style restaurant I’ve visited in Kunming. They had a great open space, live music, home brewed ale and very fresh and tasty food. Just in all it was a great experience.
After the performance we went out to celebrate at moondog, our favoirte bar in Kunming. It’s located within walking distance to kundo (the party lane) and if you don’t like to drink you can surely enjoy their food.
The culture course so far
A summary of the academic themes during the year.
Departure
It started with a countdown
How many days since then?
I can't remember.
How many weeks?
I don't know.
How many months?
9
9, that's where we'll start this time.
With the silent wanderer, traveling the world one step at a time.
The person who always seems lost to everyone else,
but really is just one step ahead.
9 is Arrival
Then comes the living songs.
With the everflowing melody of a northern star.
The composer of galaxies and obscurity,
who in reality just sees what we cannot.
8 is Energy
Breathing laughter and a silent smile is next.
With rythm pumping through her veins with every beat.
The friendly dancer who sleeps like the world is already gone,
yet is always there when we need her most.
7 is Kindness
Time to move on with silent sarcasm.
With things to do and places to be and people to see.
The one who never has time for anything, but does everything.
A puzzlepiece we would be homeless without.
6 is Leadership
In the middle we have a silent observer.
With talent so great that you can't spot it, unless from a distance.
Someone who shows you what you didn't know you needed.
The only one who notices all the details.
5 is understanding
So, we move to the one masterful at tones of all kinds.
With a care so deep that it almost reaches too far.
The second part of stories of everlasting lovers.
A girl who reaches only for the best.
4 is Motherhood
Here comes the story that's still untold in pictures.
With a sorrow and faith that mixes into invaluable masterpieces.
The old soul who has lost too much way too early,
A survivor of the best kind.
3 is Hope
A heart of pure gold marks the start of the end.
With a temper mellow enough to tame beasts of all kinds.
The one who walks a thousand miles when the rest go ten.
Yet never stops finding a way back.
2 is Peace
Last is the poet and writer.
With too many words flowing through thought and mind
The princess from the city in constant conflict.
One last word from someone who's never really anywhere.
1 is Departure
Some funny pictures from backstage of our farewell performance. We had a friend of ours record everything, except the first number. It will be up on my youtube eventually under the same name. I composed all the videos seen in the performance as well as the poem read towards the end. Considering how much of a newbie I am at preforming in general, I am pretty satisfied with the result. I really hope you will check it out.
As requested we finally got to have a class about massage with Pearl, the same teacher we had for chinese medicine. She taught us about how to manipulate the energy lines (the nervous system) according to chinese tradition by demonstrating on volunteers then taking turns doing the massaging. Personally I would have loved to have an other class since we didn’t have time to finish. Not everyone got their turn at massaging, but sadly at this point it was the day before our farewell performance and there just wasn’t anymore time.
We had a tea ceremony class as part of the course. I can testify that it’s much harder than it looks. While wetting the pottery I managed to burn my hand pretty badly, but don’t judge me because to become a certified tea ceremony leader you have to study the art for 3 years at university. You study about all kinds of chinese tea and learn everything from how to angle your wrist to how you take care of the pots.
Something interesting I learnt from the master was also that not only is there a traditional way to drink tea (All in three sips, with one sip with the tip of the tongue, one for texture and one to warm the throat), but the whole ritual differs depending on your gender including how you hold things.
Let’s move on to the shows for the full bizarro experience, shall we? There was a guy climbing fake knives for about 5 minutes, then a rusty ring of death with two motorcyclists who were too cool for helmets and lastly a “dwarf performance”; which had no read thread and was just people doing whatever they wanted. This performance also ended in a tightrope demonstration because why not?
Even more off, there was an abandoned park of fake dead trees and an animatronic dinosaur parade, complete with an ‘electrical’ fence to keep curious people out. At this point I gave up trying to find anything that made sense in this place.
After visiting the less than impressive butterfly garden we took the car to the one and only “dwarf village”. It was a poorly made set with great resemblance to the smurf village looking out to a oversized auditorium. I know that disabled or non typical people in general in China are persecuted unless they work as entertainers, but this felt really humiliating. The only place where I could even consider working was the shop at the foot of the village (which functioned more as a grocery store than the restaurant it was advertised as). We also visited the picnic fort, which was the most bizarre place I’ve been in. It was a barely standing structure in which they hadn’t even bothered to cover all the cast iron with concrete and which in general lay very off from everything on a hilltop for no reason. Not to mention that the picnic tables had been fashioned to look like corals which not only did not fit the theme but left them completely useless. Also they had just covered up holes in the castle walls with oak doors??? Regardless of your ethical stance this place just in general felt poorly planned and executed.
So onto the very sad dark side of the butterfly garden. There was an alarming number of dead butterflies everywhere. Honestly, there were more dead ones sold in their gift shop than live ones. Said gift shop still had christmas decorations too, which just speaks about how shoddy everything felt. There was empty cages with broken glass and dead butterflies everywhere with pedals for PEOPLE to stand on. At first we wondered if people had been held captive there, but then we saw a sign that claimed you could have your wedding pictures taken there.... Although that doesn’t explain the broken glass and torn of roofs.
So my classmate Aneta did some research about things to do in Kunming and found something that sounded bizarre; a butterfly garden and dwarf village combo (as in a village of people with dwarfism). Obviously, to us westerners, this sounds insane for ethical reasons. However this village was actually not built in an attempt to isolate people but to protect them from a very judgmental society and a chance to show people . The road of good intentions though... We felt like we needed to see the village for ourselves and off on the craziest bus ride I’ve experienced within Kunming we went.
The place is both closer and more remote than you think, it lies within the heart of a village barely on the outskirts of the city. When you first enter, you enter through the butterfly garden, which is small but very standard. It only went downhill from there.
Later the same day we went and visited a Chinese architect who explained the process of urbanization in China. Here the leaders have a lot more control than back home, they don’t just approve or disapprove, they can change details in the plans regardless of wether they have an education in construction or not.
The government can also order any building to be demolished as they please, regardless of it’s purpose or age. In doing so they will also pay a small fee to the owner of the property per square meter. This is why many buildings are placed very densely as the property owner wants to cover all the space on the land they have, so that they get as much money back as they can in case it has to be demolished.
As part of culture class we visited a school for deaf and blind kids. In China it is considered to difficult to adapt the normal school system to include the disabled, so disabled kids are sent to special schools instead. At these special schools they are taught sign language/braille and different types of crafts so they may support themselves in society by creating their own business, as applying for jobs are difficult as most chinese don’t know sign language at the moment. We were assured that even though the situation for the disabled is hard at the moment, it is steadily getting better thanks to the governments support of these schools.
This fruit seen above is a moulded pear, it may look like a buddha but it’s supposed to be a baby. The reason people mould the fruit into this shape is because there is an ancient legened about a fruit that only grows every 300 years and naturally has the shape of a baby, one sniff would give you 600 extra years and if you consumed one you would live tens of thousands years more. With this kind of backstory, me and Annie just had to try it. The taste was not too great though, as it tasted like cucumber but sweet.
We visited a norwegian charity that is working with China's government to create systems for helping people in need. Some of their projects include teaching farmers about sustainability, educating workers with disability and managing organisational workshops for continued missionary work with local organisations.