The Lianshui Dance

My First Impressions of a Chinese County

Ongoing clatter of children, always busy ping pong tables and basketball courts, random flowers being given to their foreign teachers, smiles, the melodious bell ring; my soft bed where you want to sleep longer and longer, a little dusty windowsill, my newly bought mug with green liquid inside (a unique design) and quite spacious and luxurious apartment with a Chinese painting on the wall, soft carpets, perfect bathroom. They say it’s 4 stars. Hunger for Facebook or Blogspot which are blocked here… desire to update my status... crowds flowing to dining hall, crowds sitting at classes, crowds, crowds, crowds. I have arrived in China. I have arrived in Lianshui, a very small county of 1 million people, a part of Huai’an city in South East China. I have arrived at school where I will be teaching English.

One might wonder what changes I am going through if compared to my previous teaching experience at a private school in India/Hyderabad. Quite a lot:

- from small school with modern facilities to a very large school with quite poor facilities;

- from around 500 students in total to thousands of students

- from around 10-12 students in each class to 40, 50, 60 and even 70 students in each class;

- from students whom you teach literature and writing as their first language is English to students who have almost ZERO level in English;

- from juniors and always unpredictable and interesting-to-observe teenagers to smiling primary kids’ faces.

In fact, my life here is all about school. I live at a school campus, I see students out of my window, I teach here at school, I eat at school cafeteria. I always skip breakfast though which is at 6 in the morning (too early), but get down for lunch at 11 am and dinner at 5 pm. Even when I go out of the campus, I would always meet students roaming in the streets... Just like me... Even when I go to the local supermarket, I would meet fellow teachers checking new products, thinking of what to buy and finally not deciding on anything because it seems there is nothing better to do in this county than to go to a supermarket, meet people and somehow contribute to the collaborative shopping.

What I like here are people: shy, timid, smiling, blushing, leading to confusions and misunderstandings...just like me? Maybe... And when I get out of my room in the campus - busy with students who play ping-pong, basketball, roam around or treat themselves with ice-cream, march in lines when necessary - I would always face endless „hello-s”, „hi-s”, shy smiles and great excitement and pride in their faces once I have smiled or wished back. And it’s not only about students. People everywhere seem so genuine, so curious to say random „hello”, to smile at me, to touch me. Everywhere: at the supermarket, in school’s canteen, on streets as I am passing by. They help me without knowing how, without understanding what I want. They would get me in the car and drive me back to my school not understanding clearly where it is, but sympathizing with the fact that I am lost. And they would seem so proud of having helped me that after the ride they would treat me with snacks. It seems I should want to get lost in the streets more often to ‘taste’ this Lianshui culture even more.

The thing that fascinates me here (and I guess also elsewhere in China) is the very normal unity and harmony that you can observe in the evenings. People just come together in an open-air fields and dance, practice teiji or do other kind of exercise. It’s so normal just to follow the music rhythms and perform the same dance together in a perfect harmony turning it into such a normal habit as having lunch or dinner; so normal that they don’t even smile as they dance. I notice some seniors wearing serious, life-experienced faces with deep, thoughtful eyes. I look at their feet and they move with ease. They know the steps very well. Life has been a long dance for them.  

Some blocks further, there is a local teenage popstar performing on a stage. He illuminates the local area with sparkles of dance, joy and cheers. The young people still need to learn the steps to dance well. This is the charm of this tiny Chinese county. This is the charm of a life-long dance; The Lianshui dance.