cultural displacements

It's been a few days since I last posted. The rate of change has been so fast that it is difficult to keep up with the flow of experiences let alone report on them. From one day to the next, from one moment to another the feeling and sense of everything is shifting. To keep a bit in order I will try to stick to the chronology, which might keep me a bit out of sync but it seems to be easier to write with a few days distance.

As our trip to Guizhou progressed the set up began to unravel - the visit to the villages, the minorities and their customs, gave way to the spectacle of a growing tourist industry and the mise en scene of a traditional culture rapidly facing the pressures of a modernizing world. In retrospect it was all to be expected, but when everything is so new it's hard to see the global picture because of all the details. And China is an overwhelming wealth of detail.

The fourth day we visited one of the largest Miao villages, over 1000 houses (5000 people), where we spent the second day of the New year's celebration. Our hosts organized a venue for us and initiated us into several Miao rights - killing a chicken for dinner, pounding sticky rice until it becomes a paste and drinking rice wine until you can't see straight anymore. At lunch time we had our most adventurous meal until now, including fried intestines, black chicken, pork fat dipped in chili paste and various wild vegetables.

In the afternoon some of us continued on with the program, visiting other Miao homes to drink more rice wine, while others went off to discover the rest of the village. The organization of the whole event and the blatant display of the Miao culture for us visitors began to feel uncomfortable and like many others I felt the need to take some distance. However, wandering the streets filled with handmade jewelery shops and embroidery sellers, it was impossible to escape it. Before I knew what was happening I found myself being dressed in a Miao headdress and skirt by a local street vendor. He led me into the central square and photographed me a dozen or so times, putting me into different positions against the backdrop of the village. In the same square I came across the camel I had seen being led down the street earlier that day. Standing in the middle of the crowd, he was probably brought over from the Gobi dessert as an attraction for the more local visitors. We didn't see any dance and music displays, but I felt like the whole town was performing itself at every turn.