China 2017, day 8: Dayi

We had a full day planned by the family. First, we all drove to Liu Manor in Dayi. Liu Wencai was a rich landlord who leased land to farmers and cheated them in order to keep them in a constant state of debt. After the communist revolution, his manor was turned into a museum, with items from the estate on display, and a set of sculpture depicting the injustice done to the farmers. It’s an impressive exhibition, even if the facial expressions of the sculptures is extremely exaggerated.

Then we walked around in the old city of Dayi. You know this video?

So they were selling these in the souvenir shops. I grabbed a bunch of rubber chickens that were hanging from a hook and tried to recreate this fantastic effect. Instead, I חן managed to drop the chickens and toys from some of the other hooks. I tried to hang them back and instead dropped more toys. Then I accidentally made eye contact with the store owner. Then I ran away. Then I saw the expression on Julia’s mom’s face. I thinks it was disappointment. I’m not sure, because she wears that expression a lot.

Next stop was the Jianchuan Museum Cluster. Julia and I like to take our time when we visit museums, but this is not the way the family, namely the Xiaos, does things. Julia and I were constantly pushed to move faster so we can see as many museums as possible in the two hours we allotted to the cluster. Fan’s (Julia’s mom) rationale is that it’s the same thing spending an hour or four hours in a museum because you’re going to forget everything anyway, but if you come back it will all come back to you. I don’t understand this woman at all.

So we saw the Earthquake Museum, dedicated to the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, and a couple of museums dedicated to the second Sino-Japanese war. I sat out of the fourth museum. This whole ordeal took only two hours or so.

For dinner, we met with Fan’s high school friends for hotpot. Julia and I sat at the kiddies table with Lili and his wife and two other couples in their late twenties. They spoke no, or limited, English, which I was OK with as it gave me the opportunity to concentrate on my food.

As you come in, they give you a bowl, an apron, and a small bag of sesame oil, and send you over to the dipping sauce making station, where you put the oil in your bowl and add vinegar, garlic, oyster sauce, and other goodies.

Then you go to the giant fridge and pick the meats and veggies you want. These come in little trays or on skewers. Most of the veggies are unidentified leafy greens. The meats range from simple chicken and beef slices, through tripe and kidneys, and all the way to pig brains.

Then you sit at your table and start cooking your food in the broth. At the end of the meal, all the skewers at your table are weighed to determine their amount, and the trays are counted. Then, as the custom in China goes, you physically fight for the right to pay the bill for your table, unless you sit at the kiddies table, even if you’re over 40. Then you get to sit back and watch grownups fight.