Bao Mansion

Our final stop on the whirlwind tour of Henan Province was Bao Mansion/Court in Kaifeng. Kaifeng was another of the ancient capital cities of China (so I’ve now been to 3 capital cities in China; Beijing, Xi’an and now Kaifeng). Kaifeng has many tourist sites but the site that was selected for our trip was Bao Mansion. Bao is a famous judge in China that was widely known for his integrity and honor. As with many of these tales in China, this one takes on mythical proportions as many of the stories of Bao have seemingly been embellished to increase the stature of the man (similar to Lei Feng mentioned in my post on Obamao). Regardless, he is a very well known figure in China and many people come to the mansion to pay their respects to this judge. Now, much of this knowledge was not known to me until after we made the visit since all of the information was given verbally in Chinese. I knew we were visiting the home of a famous judge and that was about it.

This was the coldest day we had and it was actually hailing a little when we arrived. There was a Chrysanthemum Festival going on in the city at the same time so around the mansion were many flower arrangements shaped like dragons, peacocks and other animals. Other than that, the area was pretty dull. There was little signage to indicate where you were in this area so I was pretty much lost the entire time. What I did find interesting were the statues of the judge that had small kneeling stools and offering pots in front of them. As I watched, every once in awhile you would see someone kneel in front of the statute and pray. I wondered what they were praying for but I would guess it was for justice in some shape or form. Anyhow, this area didn’t really appeal much to me since I had no idea what was going on the entire time but I took photos and looked around. To me, it was nothing special; there was nothing inside or outside that made it stand apart. Perhaps the locals thought more of it but I thought it was pretty boring. We only had 90 minutes to be here and then it was off to lunch so there wasn’t a lot of time anyhow.

What was interesting was that when you walked out of the area, there were the obligatory gift shops but not once did anyone even try to talk us into looking at their stuff (looka-looka). Steve and I walked past and they just let us be. Normally they are always trying to talk you into looking in their shop on the way by. It was actually kind of refreshing. So, then it was off to a relaxing 15 minute lunch and head to the train station to take the high speed train back to Suzhou (only 6 hours!). The train station was by far the most crowded and disorganized place I had been in China. They had one waiting area for everyone and it was obvious that they didn’t see many foreigners in this place. Steve and I got stares that I hadn’t seen in a long time, especially from young kids. We were about 90 minutes early for the train which made for a fun time to sit and wait.

The bathrooms were a little primitive. The men’s room had a trough for the urinals and a nice 1 meter high wall cubicle for a public squatty. Just so we’re clear, it was a 1 meter high wall separating the men that needs to use the squatty from the urinals but there were no walls in between the squatting men so you just lined up there and did your business (you finished reading the sports page?). I was a little stunned (and I was happy that I didn’t have a large fiber intake during the trip, I’m sure my skinny white butt would’ve gotten some real attention) but we are in China and if you gotta go, you gotta go.

There was a lot of confusion about the trains because we were on train 178 and there was another train 78 that was due to leave just before ours. Both trains were leaving through the same gate. Now there was the cramped general waiting area and then there was a smaller, more cramped waiting area for your specific train. You basically herded through one door into the smaller room to wait when you were called. This is when the fun started. We moved into line when our train number lit up. Well, there was no room in the smaller waiting area so we stood in line. Well, train #78 was called to board and here comes a wave of Chinese to get through us to get into the small waiting room (which led to the platform). Although I haven’t been in one of those soccer stampedes, this had to be close. A wave of Chinese just started pushing through and everyone was moving forward whether you wanted to or not. We were able to slide to the side a bit to give room to let them pass. We were barely able to get out of the way as the masses moved forward. Steve came along with the crowd and then slid to the side and held his ground. It was so strange, they had a double door but only opened one of the doors to let people through so some were getting their luggage caught on the doors and made a big fuss about getting through. You would’ve thought it was a herd of cattle. They didn’t slow down or stop to create some kind of gap to help each other out it was just push, push and push (and shout). It got really bad, enough to cause me concern about if I would be crushed in this madness. It’s a friggin’ train people, what’s the super rush! It got bad enough that Steve put his hand on my shoulder to give him some extra balance/leverage to hold up. He was getting pushed pretty hard by one guy trying to get through and he decided to push back and stuck his arm into the guy’s chest and just kept on pushing him back. He neared tipped him over but the guy made it through and I think he learned that he couldn’t just bull his way through. It was crazy! There was no thought process just “move with the herd” regardless of anything or anyone else. The train station workers could’ve opened the second door to ease the panic and congestion but they did nothing to stop the madness. When it was our turn, we made it through the doors but the secondary waiting area was too small and it was even more cramped. Then, you see the train pull up and it’s time to move.

Again, although there were 6 doors to allow the crowd to flow out on the platform, they chose to open only one door. There were 300 of us plus however many of the locals on this train so it was slow going. This was more organized because we all knew each other and it wasn’t like the panic mode that set in with the previous crowd. However, once through the doors the race was on! The kids were yelling at me to run to my train car and everyone was in a near sprint. I thought it was dumb but did it anyhow. Then the horn sounds indicating that the train is going to leave. They yell to me to get on at the nearest car and walk through to my seat. I only made it to car #10 and I was in car #4 so I had a lot of waiting and walking to do. I wanted to keep going to car #4 but they were yelling like the train was leaving so I jumped on board. So I had to wait for others to put up their stuff and take their seat (much like on a plane) but there were some Chinese who insisted on trying to get around me and push their way through. It was so stupid! Just hold on for another 10 seconds, they will be gone and I will move. Nope, he has to try and push around me and then step over the bags and through the maze to get to his seat. I’ll never understand how this works but it is what it is. I got to my seat after about maybe 7-8 minutes and sat down for the long ride back to Suzhou. The train was high speed but due to the many stops, it took 6 hours for the journey.

One note about the train ride that was probably the one “blog worthy” moment. It happened to be when Coris (a co-worker and a female) moved to the seat next to mine (the guy in that seat left to sit next to a friend) and started to talk to me. There was a group traveling together of older folks near us. The look that they gave to us as we talked was something I wasn’t familiar with. I can only assume that they thought that she and I were a couple or something because they didn’t give us the “ahh, young love” look, it was the “damned foreigners come here to corrupt our women” look. We weren’t making “googly eyes” at each other. We were actually talking about raising kids, divorce rates in the US and China and marriage in both countries. I know that many foreigners (that have families back home or in China with them) come to China and take the opportunity to “sample the local culture” and because of that, there are many locals that don’t trust the foreigners because of this (How do I know this? It was the topic of discussion on the bus to work one morning. I didn’t understand the conversation but it was told to me in English once the ladies in the front office got off the bus.). I understand it because I feel the same way but perhaps for different reasons. I've made comments about seeing older white guys with younger Chinese women before and perhaps I give them the same look. It's an interesting dynamic here as almost every time you see this (especially when the guy is like Grandpa Simpson old and looks like Grandpa Munster) you automatically assume that there is a monetary reason for them to be together. I guess you have to feel badly for those that meet and have a true relationship becuase they have to go with the stigma attached to this situation. I mean, you don't see many Western women with Chinese men so why would you see so many Chinese women with Western men? Anyhow, a topic for another day but I got a taste of what it must feel like to be in one of these "relationships", you would have to have a pretty thick skin or learn to ignore the looks.

So we finally arrived home and then were taken by bus back to our apartments. Thus ends the company outing odyssey for me. It was very interesting to be a part of this experience and although we were rushed through most of the trip, I enjoyed the trip. I’m not sure if this would be a trip for the family and I to re-create but it is an option. Yuntai Mountain would be very worthwhile and if I went back, I would spend the majority of my time there. I guess for the Chinese, they want to see as much as they can in a limited time despite any travel distances between the place. It would be like going to Maine for a three day trip and wanting to see Bar Harbor, Mount Katahdin and Stephen King’s residence all on the same trip. Anyhow, it was good to get a feel for how they travel and watch how they interact with each other. It was definitely to an area of the country that I would not have visited otherwise so it was a good experience. I was very tired (as were most of the others) when I returned but it was back to work the very next day.