As much of a history nerd as I am, most of my interest lies
in the more ancient of histories and centers primarily on the Western world
(think ancient Greco-Roman), and if you are going to quiz me on my history
knowledge, try and remember that my main historical interest lies in
warfare. When I was growing up I would
go through what I call, “history phases” during which I would get super into
one particular epoch of history for a little while, say a year or so, just
gobbling up as much information about that historical period as I could before
I eventually got tired of it or wore out all of my resources and moved on to a
new historical period. Most notable were
my Revolutionary War phases (4th grade, 6th grade, and
again in high school), my Civil War phase (5th grade-8th
grade) and my Henry VIII phase (which was really more like my Henry VIII’s Six
Wives phase which lasted the longest and carried on into my Elizabeth I phase). You know how when you are looking things up
on the internet, say Wikipedia which has all of these convenient links that let
you just jump from page to page and acquire knowledge about albino models when
you started with search words “Apple Inc.”, and three hours after you start you
realize that you have been looking at Game of Thrones characters when you
started with “Peace Corps grants”? That’s how history and I are. So when in grade school I fell into a Chinese
history phase, I made it through one book about medieval Middle Kingdom and
then was pulled into the California gold rush. That and seeing “Made in China” on a lot of
my toys was about as much as I was exposed to anything about the closed and mysterious
country that occupies a large portion of the Asian continent, and I think I had
a pretty well-rounded education. So
before I traveled to the wondrous country that produces 19% of the world’s
population and with limited internet access and electricity that is the fact of
my site, I did as much researching into China and Chinese history as I could
stomach. And let me tell you, China is
pretty amazing.
However, while history books perpetually keep me occupied
like a kid on a computer game, and though I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the more
historical aspects of the super old Beijing, it was cultural and personal facets
of my Chinese trip that I noticed more.
Maybe it was due to the fact that I live in an Asian culture right now,
or maybe it was because Cambodian culture has been influenced by Chinese
culture – whatever the reason, I took in more cultural types of characteristics
of China while I was there, more so than I have with other cultures like Greek
(OMYGOSH now if you want to study ancient history, that is the place to go! And
yes, I went there.)
Even as I admit that my favorite part of my China vacation
was seeing my parents, it did give me an opportunity to experience a culture
that has a bit of influence on the one I am currently entangled in. Granted,
since we were on a tour we went places that the tour company had decided upon
(likely influenced by the all-seeing government), and witnessing “authentic”
Chinese culture was not really on the menu.
Instead we visited places (photos posted in previous blog) of historical
significance, modern marvels, and natural phenomenons. Most of what we saw was pretty well known
throughout the rest of the world, famous or infamous or what-have-you. Though the guides we had were super funny and
very entertaining, what was most interesting was what they told between stories
of cultural magnificence, and while I couldn't help but gaze in wonder at the enormity of the Forbidden City or the
splendor of the Chinese countryside from the top of the Great Wall, the most
interesting aspects of my trip were times like seeing Chinese Buddhist monks
walk by with different colored robes on than Cambodian Buddhist monks, or
noticing the distinct lack of children playing on the streets when I am used to
seeing children everywhere in my village.
China and Cambodia have a long intertwined history, one that
I don’t really understand well enough to try and write about on this blog and
sound credible. Most of what I know
about this relationship has been told to me by Khmer people in Khmer, so even
then I might have misheard or missed unknown words between the words that I do
know during long but simple conversations.
I do celebrate Chinese New Year with my host family, and go to the Wat
with them for religious festivals. I
have also been told by Khmer people that I look more Chinese-Khmer than just
Khmer alone (which is a compliment of sorts because Khmer people consider
Chinese to be very beautiful). And while
I am certain that there is significant economical and historical significance
in Chinese influence on Cambodia, it hasn’t yet tempted me to read long
articles on this relationship or delve into the mysteries of a Chinese-Khmer
culture.
There were some similarities that I found interesting, and
even more striking (as they always are) were the differences.
The whole world knows about China’s One Child Policy which,
due to the booming population, restricts couples to having one child and being
limited in other opportunities should more than one child be born. This policy was never actually written into
law (check out this site where I got my facts or Wikipedia, of course), but was put into effect in 1979
due to some serious social and economic problems based on China’s incredible
population growth. It focuses on delayed
marriage and child bearing, fewer and healthier births, and one child per
couple. Sidenote: my mother and I were
curious about cases of twins so we asked a guide and he told us it was
technically “one birth” so if a couple had twins they didn’t have to pick their
favorite and get rid of the other one. However
couples are at a disadvantage when they have more than one child so it was
ideal to just have one. Recently, the Chinese government has noticed certain social and economic
problems arising from their solution to previous social and economic problems
in the form of an aging population and a serious gender imbalance, to give a few
examples, and so have come up with a policy that allows couples who pass
certain requirements (they are an only child themselves, for example) to have a
second child.
Growing up in a family with 4 siblings myself and countless
cousins (well OK, I can count them but we are getting more and more all the
time so what’s the point?) due to the fact that my father is the oldest of 8
and my mother has 2 brothers herself, I cannot even imagine what being an “only
child” is like. Even though I have
friends without siblings it is still difficult for me to understand. Siblings are so great; built-in playmates,
forever best friends, they have to love you even if they don’t like you,
etc. I guess that is just my view
though, so please continue with whatever thoughts you have of your own
siblings. My point is that it is a hard
concept to grasp for one so encircled as I am with family. Even in Cambodia, I have two little host
brothers who are my best friends in my village – possibly because we have the
same language abilities and most of our communication is done via Avengers
games and me giving them candy, but whatever.
Siblings are the best.
Due in part to Cambodia’s recent Khmer Rouge history in
which about a third of the populace was slaughtered, a large part of the
current Khmer population is very young.
Working in the health center with pregnant women, it is even easier for
me to see the boom happening that results in children everywhere in my village.
Not just that, they are everywhere in cities too. All the time and everywhere I go here, I see
children playing, children on their way to school, children this and children
that, they are really everywhere. So it
was especially striking to me that we didn’t see very many in China. Of course, there are a million and one
reasons why we wouldn’t see any including the fact that we went to many tourist
places and they were probably in school, but just the difference coming from a
kid-laden country to what seemed to me sometimes as a kid-free one, it was
something I really noticed.
Something that was impossible to ignore was the food. Obviously.
If you know anything about Chinese food you probably know that Panda Express is
not “genuine” Chinese food. Delicious,
yes. Chinese, no. We were able to have “traditional”
Chinese food prepared by a village family once during the trip and not surprisingly,
it was absolutely delicious, nothing like Chinese takeout, and considerably
similar to Khmer food that I eat every night in my village. We were also fed Chinese takeout-like food on
the tour except it was not as good as Panda.
One night, sitting around a large table full of this kind of food, one
of the members of the tour asked me if I ate anything like the takeout-like
food before us on the table in Cambodia.
I said no, and then took a moment to consider the food on my plate. It was exactly the same, except for the fact
that the food before us was engulfed in sugary sauces (akin to the kind that
covers orange chicken or sweet and sour sauce) whereas for dinner in my
village, my host mom just gives me rice and veggies or meat -no sauce
necessary. What was interesting was that
they kept serving us what is commonly accepted as “Chinese food” in
America. They could have served us the
good stuff. We were there for the
experience, after all.
As with many great nations, mine included, Chinese culture is infused with a superb sense of national pride which was easy to see everywhere we went. It wasn't just that the achievements were on display for us to see, but the Chinese people we saw and met with were every bit as in love with their country as I am in love with mine. And truly, Chinese people have a lot to be proud of from their ever expansive and incredible history to changes they are making now.
xo-Amanda
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