A group of men gather outside a newly reconstructed home in the earthquake-stricken area north of Chengdu. In contrast to entire towns that are being reconstructed, cookie-cutter-style, by state-owned construction companies from faraway places like Hunan and Guangdong, many of the individually reconstructed homes feature traditional styles as well as intricate woodwork and colorful designs.
By Evan
The Sino-Tibetan fusion family of Emasiji, Duosiji, and Mr. Sun, by Andy
It’s been only six days since we left Chengdu, but it feels like a year ago already. Fat reserves replenished and bikes passably maintained (poor Andy’s bar-end shifter crapped out in a part of the world where only mountain bike parts are available), we made our way to Dujiangyan (都江堰). That city, located in the northeast corner of the basin, is named after one of the engineering marvels of the ancient world. It is a complicated flood relief system that redirected the tempestuous Min River (岷江) into the irrigation system that allowed the Chengdu plain to become “the Garden of China.” The plain is now so covered by sprawl and industry it could be called the “New Jersey of Western China,” but the irrigation system works today just the way it was designed to way back in 256 B.C. Sweet!
From there we headed north on G213 following the Min River valley up through the scads of giant green mountains that delineate the low basin and the high plateau. The road, the only one for hundreds of miles around, happens to be the preferred biking route from Chengdu to Lhasa, and so we were repeatedly asked if we were on the classic Chinese “prove your biking mettle” path. Andy pointed out that a long time ago, a pilgrimage to Lhasa, was a deeply significant affair reserved for devoted Tibetan Buddhists and the occasional Brad Pitt. Nowadays it’s the destination for all self-proclaimed badass bikers. That is to say that basically any pedaler worth his spit has either been there, is en route and already ran into us over the last few months, or is planning to go just as soon as he gets his chance. We met several groups making the month-long trip, including four cool dudes from the Beida (北大) cycling club and a bunch of old folks from the Chengdu Retired Persons Association — power to them! (more…)
An ethnic Qiang (羌族) survivor of the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which killed some 68,000 people, sits alone outside her husband's convenience store. The couple's home, originally on the slope of a nearby mountain, slid into the canyon during the earthquake. Fortunately, neither husband nor wife was home, although the wife was injured and now walks with a cane. The couple is awaiting the completion of their new home in the reconstructed village in the background. For now, they are just "maintaining the situation (維持狀態)" by running the convenience store/wholesale rice warehouse, now the focal point of what remains of the original town. The woman was still shaken and wouldn't talk to us, but her husband described "thinking the world was ending" as he collapsed on the convulsing earth, vision obscured by thick clouds of dust and deafened by the clamor of the mountains collapsing around him.
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