Portrait of an LBX

By Evan

As you might know from following the Twitter stream, I’ve been nailed with a nasty Henan stomach bug, which aside from the usual colorful and musical pageantry, kept us in backwater Taikang for two days and yesterday afternoon struck me down through intense abdominal pain. We sit in a bathhouse hotel in a tiny little town called Dingcun 20 km from the Anhui border, which we had anticipated crossing a little after noon yesterday. Oh well, that’s what today is for, as long as Andy doesn’t get sicker.

As a result of our unintended extra stay in Taikang and on the road recently, we’ve been exposed to a great deal of curious jargon that for me has been harder to stomach than even more Henan noodles. Now generally the response I get from Chinese when I call features of their society “nonsensical” or “illogical” is that I, a foreigner, am incapable of understanding the deep complexities of China. Since I’m thus culturally incapable of rendering judgments, today I call them simply curiosities.

Without further ado, here is what I’m talking about:

- In a restaurant in Taikang, two middle aged farmer men struck up a conversation with Alexis. “China is poor, and your country is rich!” If I had a yuan for every time I heard that… “But,” he added, “China is now very developed (中国现在很发达)!” I was startled to hear him call China developed since most LBXes we’ve come across deny it religiously. What’s your definition of developed, I asked from across the room. “The economy is growing, and we have more things than before.” What does all that matter if the times aren’t good for you? “We are in great times right now. You think it’s different because you’re American, but – I’m telling you – everything is great now. We have a lot of freedom, and we all love our leaders!” Eventually they started saying how free they were with their land, that they could choose what they grow and sell, etc. Could they sell their land or build a house on it? Can they use their land for collateral on a loan for a tractor? No, of course not. But there is a 13% government rebate on electronics bought in the countryside! My, how loyalties are bought.

- Later in the same restaurant, after a curious 30 something man struck up a conversation with me, I asked him, “Where is the prettiest place in Henan?” I was of course thinking about the rotten streetscape outside in Taikang, and was hoping we could find some parts of Henan that more closely resembled the “Visit Henan” ad campaign pictures I had seen in the Beijing subway. “Zhengzhou (big, filthy provincial capital) is the prettiest place in Henan,” was the answer. As Andy pointed out, you should imagine asking where California’s top scenic spot is and being told, “Los Angeles, of course!” Later as I talked to the boss of the establishment, I found out he was from Zhimawa, the quaint little village we had camped near the night before. Do you notice much difference between Taikang (super sprawled and disastrously loud and dirty city we found ourselves in) and Zhimawa? “Oh, they’re about the same.” Why did you come here? “The SOE farm machinery company I sold for went bankrupt, and I had to find a new living. So I moved to the county seat here to open this restaurant.” What differences do you see in those two lives? “Oh they’re pretty much the same too.” So do you have children? “Yes, I have a son in high school.” Where is he now (it was after 8pm)? “Still in school. He’ll be back after 9.” After probing for a while, I gathered that his son went to school 5:30am to 9pm M-F and a half day on Monday, with a 2 hour break at noon. Doesn’t that seem a little much for children? “Well, he has an hour of free study every day from 5:30 to 6:30 when he can study whatever he wants. Anyway, in China the competition is too stiff. It’s just the way it is for children these days.” Wow, what a way to write off somebody’s entire childhood – stiff competition and that’s just the way it is.

- Owing to our mutual digestive incapacities, Alexis and I decided to seek out Chinese massage to ease our muscles and pass the time in Taikang. After a brief search we found the hole-in-the-wall Chinese Medicinal clinic of one Dr. Huang.  The doctor was nice enough, and he gave us a mean massage / electro-accupuncture treatment that made our backs feel better. There was something funny about the decor though. On his wall were a bust of Mao and several pictures of female soldiers, and everywhere he had party slogans and pictures of old leaders posted up. “Your countries are rich, and China is poor,” he finally started. I swear Pavlov’s dogs couldn’t produce the same response better every time. “But,” he continued, “China is much better than your countries. You like to fight wars (I’ll give him a point there), but here everything is harmonious!” Where had I heard that before? “All the people here love the leadership. Everything is better than before.” He also told us that several members of the leadership graced his hole-in-the-wall massage room since he provided better service than the hospital. His beds were so old and full of mold I couldn’t stop sneezing the whole time I was in there. I wondered how the leadership took to it. “You should know, in China, we are all about friendship. Chairman Mao once said, ‘The more people you are good to, the more people will be good to you.’” You mean like ‘Great Leap Forward’ good to people or ‘Cultural Revolution’ good to people? In any event, his intense massage and electro-shock treatment did make us feel better. Comically, before we left, he told us to try to soak our feet in hot water for half an hour every night before sleeping in the tents to increase circulation and then tried to push a bunch of nondescript pills wrapped in old newspaper on us. Nice try, Doc.

- All throughout Henan we’ve seen rampant propaganda on the walls of small villages supporting the “4+2 Work Method (4+2工作法).” Curious as hell to figure out what that could possibly mean, we asked as many people as possible for

"Implement the 4+2 Work Method; strengthen the construction of village level democratic government!"

enlightenment on the subject. The result? Nobody knew what it was. One man thought it had something to do with inspections of farms, but even he wasn’t too clear. Today among the blase “Implement the 4+2 Work Method” signs, we saw two glowing appraisals: “Implementing the 4+2 Work Method is the golden key to solving farm village problems (推行4+2工作法是破解农村问题的金钥匙)” and “Implement the 4+2 Work Method. Strengthen the construction of village level democratic government! (推行4+2工作法，加强村级民主政治建设！）”  After that I had to get to the bottom of this mystery and looked it up, finding a good description here. It turned out to be a Henan homegrown method for reaching decisions on “important village level matters.” The 4 roughly translates to 4 approval rounds (四个议), and the 2 translates to 2 “overts (两公开).” Here’s a rough breakdown:

1. The village Branch Party Committee raises an issue. First they take in widespread opinions. Afterward they seriously research the matter. Finally they make sure it conforms to the requirements of central, provincial, prefectural, and county governments, the realities of development, and of course, the wishes of the masses.

2. The two committees discuss. “Two committees” (this term typically means the local Branch Party Committee and Village Residents Committee, a supposedly independent organization self-administered by locals) are organized to debate and critique the initial findings of the Branch Party Committee. For issues that are rather divided, committee members may express opinions vocally, by hand raising, or by silent ballot. The opinion of the majority shall prevail in coming to a conclusion.

3. A plenary session of party members deliberates. A plenary session of local CCP members deliberates on the opinion handed up from the “two committees.” Before the session is opened, the item for deliberation must be passed to all local party members, who should stew on the issue and ask for opinions from village residents. During the deliberations, at least 2/3 of local party members must be present. All findings of the deliberations will be decided by a majority vote of those party members present before handing the matter to the village representative council. After the plenary session, the village “two committees” must seriously take in opinions and suggestions of party members and revise the proposed matter to perfection. At the same time they should organize extensive propaganda campaigns to explain the matter to local peasant households.

4. The Village Residents Representative Committee or the Village Residents Committee decides on the matter. Any items passed up from the party members plenary session, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and under the leadership of the village party organization, will be decided by a Village Residents Representative Committee organized by the Village Residents Committee. The number of people on the committee must adhere to legal requirements. Resolutions will be passed by majority vote of the committee.

5. The resolution should be overt. Any resolutions thus passed must be publicly announced in places of public activities and on the bulletin boards of all village government offices. In principle, the time that resolutions are publicized should not be less than 7 days.

6. The outcome of implementation should be overt. Under the leadership of the local Branch Party Committee, all resolutions will be carried out by the Village Residents Committee. The outcomes of said implementation must be made known to all village residents in a timely manner.

So that’s what democratic government is! And to think I had overlooked the golden key for so many years!

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Sarcasm aside, I should note here that I personally value the “I’m going to be happy no matter what” attitude. I get that you have to make the best of your circumstances and go forward resolutely regardless of what’s going on around you. What gets me here is how people not only say that they’re happy, but that everything around them is perfect, when I, the barbarian, would say that nowhere is perfect, and probably here is a little less perfect than a lot of other places. At least in the US we can vent about how stupid the leadership is! It’s the dazed, stupefied, and rehearsed reactions of everybody that really freaks me out around here.

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