lin

Living in Nanjing

One weekend, we went to the park in the middle of the city. The park is Xuanwu Lake Park and in the Ming

Dynasty was surrounded by a 100 foot wall. In fact the whole city was originally surrounded by a wall, with

several gates. Parts of the wall still stand, and there is about a 4 K stretch around this lake, which was the private

preserve of the Emperor, right up to 1915 (see pictures of Nanjing). Built next to the wall is a 1200 year old

Monastery. For a small donation we went in and climbed 9 stories to the top of the temple. Female monks were

chanting and ringing this huge bell. I bowed three times to a huge statue of Buddha and then the monks

permitted me to ring the bell three times (you bong the old brass bell with a huge hanging club made of

hardwood) (see picture of me ringing the bell)….a good blessing for a prosperous and happy life. The

architecture was such, that upon climbing the stairs the outside noise was gradually dampened, so that by the

time you reached the 5th level, a peace had descended and all you could hear was the chanting of monks.

We then walked through one of the gates into the park and strolled around the lake. I saw several old guys

fishing with long poles…they were catching a whitefish, like cod…but also saw many of these fish floating belly up

in the lake. Apparently up river some factory dumped chemicals into the watershed and many fish died, but this

did not stop the guys from catching and eating the fish. Several groups had small charcoal braziers and they

flopped the catch onto the grill right there under the trees. No such thing as cleaning the fish first or filleting …

That evening we taxied to a large department store, the Jig Ling. Just like a modern Eaton’s with all the up scale

products. The latest fashions and all very expensive. The average Chinese cannot afford to buy there, and

neither can I. Hundreds of sales girls just waiting to serve you and all of them very well dressed and very petite.

The top floor was a Western food section including liquor at twice the price we would pay in Canada. It’s a good

thing I don’t drink.

When I arrived here, there was an 8 story apartment block across the street from my hotel. A huge place and in 5

days I watched as it was demolished completely, mostly by hand labour. Imagine an 8 layered cake and then

take vertical slices off it, one by one. That is what they did. First they stripped the place of everything, like

plumbing, doors and marble. Then the labourers sliced by hand through the top 5 floors, by slowly sledge

hammering the ceilings and floors. Then they just dynamited a slice off. Huge great clouds of dust and debris

would fly up, with chunks, stones and pebbles of cement raining down. No one seemed to get hurt because the

pedestrians seemed to know to steer clear just prior to the blast. The workers stayed on the roof during the blast

and took great delight in the explosion as they watched their hard work disappear into a choking cloud. The work

went on day and night and within 5 days the building was just a pile of rubble. At which point a large high hoe

arrived with a pneumatic drill on its arm and proceeded break up the larger pieces of concrete. The workers also

loaded the crushed brick and concrete into wheel barrows and pushed the loaded barrows up a ramp and

dumped into waiting trucks to be carted away. Also dozens of elderly women sifted through the remains for

marble tiles that were in good shape. These they loaded onto panniers slung across their shoulders and carried

their goods away, to resell in the street side building supply stores. I was told that these gangs of workers are

from the countryside and are hired at very low wages to do all the dirty work. I was amazed at their ability to

continue the backbreaking work during the heat of the day.

There are numerous squares where mostly elderly women exercise doing both traditional moves of the

gentle Tai Chi and a mild form of aerobics to blasting Chinese music. In one small Park, I found the bird sellers.

These merchants sell small canaries and starling size birds in delicate bamboo cages. All the birds sing, so the

combined sounds are quite delightful. At night the cages are covered and the merchants seem to live in the park.

Many people are self employed and very ingenious at the same time. I watched an old couple on a bicycle

stop outside a very large apartment complex to set up shop. They propped up the back wheel of the bike,

attached a simple drive shaft on the back sprocket, which turned a pulley and belt drive. The elderly wife peddled

the bike, while the husband controlled the drive, enabling him to either polish shoes with a buffer head or sharpen

knives with a grinder. He also repaired shoes with a set of very simple tools. The wife took care of the money,

kept the customers I line and pedalled the bike, while the old guy just very efficiently carried out the stitching,

polishing or grinding.

My Journals

China Pictures