Clouds Coming From the South

Friends, We are posting an account of travel to the Yunan province of China by one of our friends from IGNOU. Mr. Vats went to China from IGNOU about seven years back. Since then he has taught at the Beijing university and not only learnt the Chinese language but also is now engaged in translating Chinese literature. In the process he has made many friends and was even nominated for an award for promoting India-China friendship. Currently he works at the China radio international. He has travelled extensively in China, keenly studying the issues of development and the questions of harmony in the Chinese experiment.As you know, recently the ethnic riots in Xinjiang province recently placed these issues centre stage in the context of China. There have been analyses pointing out departures from Mao Zedong's approach towards minority- majority communities' relationships in the current day China.Mr. Vats has decided to study the situation himself. His account of travels in Yunan(which in Chinese he tells us means 'clouds coming from the south') is at the moment a page from his diary. He is open to your comments.You can write to him directly at c/o Mr. Rakesh Vats, China Radio International (we will subsequently post his email address)or you can query him through this blog.It is perhaps these issues of harmony and development which have enhanced interest in Asian studies and China in universities such as the Australian National University, as reported by the ABC news on 8th Jan. 2009.This news report also suggested that one of the factors in this interest is the dream of the Australian PM, Kevin Rudd (who speaks the Chinese language fluently), that Australian children will learn Chinese to reach out to the region.Mr. Kevin Rudd, who was in India recently in the context of race attacks on the Indian students in Australia could perhaps also include these Indian students in such dreams of multiculturalism. "Development in the border areas of Yunnan in China
Run up to the much awaited celebration of 60th anniversary of People’s Republic of china on October 1st ; CRI gave us an opportunity to travel to the vast border areas of south western part of Yunnan province inhabited mostly by minorities of china. The purpose of the travel was to observe and see the development taken place in the last thirty years after china implemented reforms and open policies in those far flung areas that usually don’t shine in the cities neon lights. We were flown from Beijing to Kunming the capital of Yunnan province from where we had to start our journey of two weeks mostly by bus. Yunnan province is the sixth largest province of china and home to two third of 56 minorities, half of the total plants and animals found in china. If someone travels to Kunming and want to see the cultural varieties of these minorities, one can visit minority’s village in the city which showcase the cultural diversity of almost all the minorities in one place. On 12th August early morning we started our journey by bus and our destination was 700 km far away in the mountainous region a small town Manshi which is a town under the jurisdiction of Luxi,which is the capital of the Deihong Dai & Jingpo nationalities autonomous Prefecture. I was very apprehensive before the travel and was sure to get all the joints of the body loosen by the end of day’s journey in the mountainous region. My experience of traveling in the hometown mountains in Himachal Pradesh, India was an indication of the trouble ahead. As our bus journey progressed I was utterly surprised to witness the wide four lane road in the lap of the serpent shaped mountain track, and the minimum speed of the vehicle is prescribed 60 to 80 km for heavy vehicle and 100 km for smaller one. By cutting open the hearts of mountains, by erecting tall pillars, by cementing and iron netting the slope of the mountains, hundreds of tunnels as small as 50 meter and as long as 3900 meters, a wondrous straight highway has been made till Manshi. If you drive on this road and in case your car’s breakdown, there is a safety net on this mountainous highway, after every ten twenty kilometers there is a bifurcated safety road peace going up and been filled with sand and rubber tier wall, it can save the life in the emergent situation. And there were also signs on the road of the length of the descent and ascend lying ahead, and numerous water stations on the way.
It’s not only the highway and vehicles whose speed was a matter of surprise, but the overall development of the region which lay both sides of the road was an eye opener. Village by village we witnessed the progress of rural areas of minorities in the mountains. Even traveling in the bus and seeing from the window, we could clearly recognize which minority village we are passing by. The well built houses of the villages clearly have some symbol painted on the walls of each and every house which indicate their identity.
Next four days we spent in the border towns of Manshi, Baoshan ,Ruil, Wanding, talking with the officials, meeting local peoples, criss-cross the border market and enjoying the local feast in the minorities villages. In Manshi,we found the language, the costumes and the customs are more like those in Burma, Laos and Thailand. Even the sign board in the market, road sides are mostly in three languages, Chinese, Burmese and Thai. After reforms and opening up these areas have witnessed an unprecedented growth in the border trade which has benefited people’s income and their life. Most of the minority’s villages in this region enjoy all the facilities accorded by the central government’s policies for minorities, school with in radius of four kilometer for every village, electricity, health care center, nine years compulsory education, tax rebate and insurance for the farmers. Normally where a couple can have only one child as a rule in China, minorities can have more then one. To protect their languages, and to curb drop out rate in the schools, the teachers are appointed after giving them training from their own communities so that the children can get basic education in their mother tongue. When you pass through the city, you tend to forget that you are walking through the streets of a small border town, the streets are as wide as in Beijing and all the facilities of modern city town can be seen here. ATM, Carrie four, KTV, net bar and high rise buildings. Ruili also has the largest jewelry market of china, mostly jade articles and jewelry is being traded here.
Our next destination was Tengchong County which lies at the western foot of Gaolinggong Mountains, in the western part of Yunnan province. Bordering on keqinbang of Burma on the west with a boundary of 148.7 kilometers. The population here consists of more than 10 ethnic groups, such as Hans,Dais,Bais,Huis,Lisus,Achangs and others, each with their own rich and colorful culture and traditions. Tengchong is a famous historical and culture town, known as “The hometown of Overseas Chinese”. It is situated in a border area and is a town of strategic importance. During the anti-Japanese war Tengchong was a main battle field in the western part of Yunnan Today It has seen much development, thanks to the bubbling border trade and it has emerged as a famous tourist attraction for scientists, and inland Chinese travelers for “Geological Museum”,” Natural Botanical Garden” and” a “Natural Museum”. Anti-Japanese war memorial is a new edition in the city’s tourist spots which attracts nearly a 1000 visitor everyday.
Our first leg of travel was coming to an end and we traveled back from Tengchong to Kunming, a day’s journey again by bus. In the last six days we had seen many new places, unknown to us before and our purpose was to know first hand how far these places have benefited with the reforms and open policies of the Chinese government of the last thirty years. And how much impact these policies have made on the life of so called ‘Aam Admi’ (common man) .Is he getting ‘Roti,Kapra aur Makan’ and other facilities, such as electricity, clean water, roads, schools ,hospitals and social security? How can we do that? To know about all this firstly we need to talk to those, who have power and responsibility to provide all these things, and we did talk to those people, although we also know its not sufficient but the fact remain that a society which has zero tolerance for corruption, government officials tried to do their job with a sense of responsibility, honesty, hard work and with utmost transparency provided us all the figures and information we needed. .secondly, we should look around with open eyes and ears and try to see those forms of development which don’t require any discussion or figures and information. They speak for themselves, such as basic infrastructure in the city, roads, transport, market,etc.We can clearly have an idea after seeing this if the society is moving ahead or not. Third, we need to talk to those who are the recipient of all this development. We tried to use all these three methods to see how much developed has taken place in these areas. I met with a 14 year old girl of Jingpho minority in her village named Lucy and she for me represents the new face of upcoming generation of these minorities. She likes English, can use Internet and after graduation she want to work in a media. The new generation of minorities in this region has got a chance to dream and to fulfill it also." (Pages from Mr. Vats's diary.We are grateful for sharing his thoughts with us.).(SFC, PG with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Matthew)