Saturday 15 September

Waiting at the bus stop

China today - hand carts to businessmen.
Pedal power rickshaws and electric scooters

I’m slowly learning my way around Quzhou, which bus to catch to go where,  where the main supermarkets are and what they sell.

There is virtually no western food available. An acre of isles and only one set of shelves for the exotic foreign stuff such as cereal, Perrier water and European biscuits.

Typical urban traffic scene in Quzhou

Of course one could go to a tourist information centre and get a local map and information about local tourist attractions – if there was one. Quzhou is off the tourist trail. I’m using a print-out from Google Maps to find my way around - there are no maps of the city.

As one student asked "Whatever made you decide to come to Quzhou? There’s nothing here". Quzhou itself may lack tourist attractions, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to understand what it’s like to live and work in China – of course it’s through my own set of cultural filters.

I spent a lot of Saturday just walking along the river, and looking at that part of the city. There is still so much to absorb and understand about the modern Chinese culture and how it all works. Some aspects are so deeply embedded that it may take generations to change if at all.

College accommodation clothes
drying arrangements

Clothes rack on new apartment building
 

New apartment building opposite the
college entrance

Every apartment building has a clothes rack mounted on the balcony. The rack is set high so that if it rains, the clothes are unlikely to get wet, and it also allows for semi-unobstructed views.

This is the case for the high density student accommodation as well as new apartment buildings. Energy consumption (and carbon footprint) = zero. Aesthetically, well that’s another story.

Another cultural example. People move house in the dead of  night so that no-one sees them moving. However, their arrival at the new location is marked by a huge fireworks display. Consequently the mornings are punctuated by the noise of very big fireworks going off – far bigger than anything allowed in Australia. I don’t know the death or accident rate, but probably incredibly low. The Chinese have been using fireworks for centuries.

Electricians at work

An adjacent building, older,
with  ad hoc electrical wiring

Building codes – it seems everything is compliant, at least to someone used to a high level of building controls. The urban electrical wiring is interesting and I doubt would pass any of our safety codes, but it seems to work.

Also, almost every building has barred windows, even to the upper levels. There must be some very agile burglars here.

Anyway, back to the walk. The main part of the city is across the river from the college and  lots of apartment buildings, so it’s fairly heavily trafficked.

Dredging the river

The photo at the left shows the bridge, looking north from the city side with the brown apartments adjacent to the college (white buildings) and stone relief carving in the foreground.

Living by the river is the local equivalent to a Sydney water view, so that’s where a lot of the newer well-designed apartments are.

Today there seemed to be something happening, with a large crowd gathered on the city side and police in attendance. They appeared to be dredging the river under the bridge, but I was unable to find out what was going on.

Along the river, and on many of the bridges are panels of  low relief stone carving. Most depict traditional themes, but some are definitely more contemporary.

Traditionally themed low relief stone
carving

Less-traditionally themed stone carving.
Micky Mouse playing soccer!

Another stone carving along the
riverside

More to follow about Quzhou in another post.