Yinan Province
This is one of my favorite photos that I took while in China. I took it during my first trip to China, which was in October 2005.
"Chinese Fire Drill"
We were working with a factory in Yinan Goffa. Our driver had just picked us up at our hotel… which was an interesting experience in and of itself because this farm area was just starting to be developed. The hotel gave the appearance of being a “fancy spa hotel” but it was still not quite there. The building seemed grand, but it lacked certain amenities. For example, we were given a key card for our room, which gave the appearance of modern. But, as it turned out, everyone received the exact same coded key card… which we found out when a group of not-so-sober Chinese men came into our room late at night! And we were only given one very small toilet paper roll, the “paper” being more plastic than paper. I’m not complaining, we had our own tissue and at least the room had a real toilet and not the squatty kind. and, there was not enough water for two showers. Which we figured out too late… Lupe finished washing her hair with bottled water! Before our English speaking person left the room, we asked her to wait to see if the Internet was working. It wasn’t. So she called the front desk and I can only assume the entire staff showed up in our room. It gave a whole new meaning to the words, “Chinese Fire Drill.” And it still didn’t work. Anyway, lots of laughs.
So, we left our “world class” hotel and immediately came across a road block. The local residents were sorting peanuts in the road! I took the opportunity to jump out of the mini-van to take some photos. This was with my old Sony camera (of which I can’t even remember the model nor number of pixels).
I wonder if this farming village still exists. The last time I went back to this area was in the Spring of 2008 and by this time a small city had blossomed near where this factory is… I know there is still a lot of farming and rural life in China, but I suspect its been edged out of this place.
I still enjoy looking at the details in the photos.
Judi, these are really amazing. You’ve taken me on a little journey to someplace I will never have the chance to visit. It must have been an amazing experience! Each of these shots is wonderful, showing so much detail and atmosphere. My favorites are the peanut sorting lady and the red vehicle on the road. Would you say this is a typical Chinese factory town? I think it is kind of important for us to see how the people live who make…..well, just about everything we buy. Thanks for sharing this photo essay!
Thanks for posting these — It is one place I was interested in going but don’t think we’ll ever get there. I think at this time in our life we’re probably done with overseas!
Julie…. I was lucky to see this village because I believe that before the factories were built this is what life was like. I find it interesting that they have electricity and you can even see a satellite dish but yet they are maintaining their old style of life. You’ll also notice the clothing that everyone is wearing looks to be left over from the Mao days. Men in the city often dressed like this, too. But things change so rapidly there, that each trip (every 6 months) was different, more advanced. I’ll never forget sitting in one of the local airports during my last trip… and seeing everyone, men and women, being better dressed than Lupe and I and the general American population. If we didn’t know better, we would have thought we were in Korea, where people still dress up everyday. We were shocked. It was like they had taken an exponential leap forward in civilization… while Americans seem to be taking a step back.
Sheila, I hear what you saying – it is much more civilized to travel in your own motor home! Getting to China from the East coast was hard. It could take 24 hours or more! Some trips we were able to upgrade to Business class, but if we booked too late, we got stuck back in coach. Painful!