…about not posting again before I got back to Harbin. Picking up where we left off…

The nightmarket in Kaifeng was nothing to write home about, which is odd because Lonely Planet was very excited about it. My guess is that it’s more active in the summer and generally anytime it isn’t snowing, but still, disappointing. I did get some kind of fried egg thing, though, so I didn’t have to go to KFC again.

Yesterday, I got up, checked out of my crap hotel, and headed back to Zhengzhou, my present location, by way of bus and a couple cabs. The hotel in Zhengzhou is nice, although it occured to me last night that my idea of “nice” is pretty forgiving. Does the room have hot water? A shower? A toilet? As long as it does and there aren’t also strangers living in it, it’s nice, despite evident burn marks on the wall and my realization that the facilities I’m so impressed by come standard at Motel 6. Anyway, I’m enjoying it.

I took a shower (crap hotel in Kaifeng had no shower facilities), a nap, and then set out in search of a supermarket or convenience store, a search that was doomed to failure. It was also raining so, sans umbrella, I gave up after a while and went back to my room, where I took a bath (why not) and watched some Chinese TV shows (including one apparently filmed in Harbin) and a dubbed version of Antoine Fisher on TV (surprisingly, pretty good. I’ve never seen it in English, but it seems like the sort of movie you’d think wouldn’t work well dubbed into a different language).

This morning I was woken by the “bells” (i.e. tape recorded) in the nearby pagoda blaring the refrain of a classic patriotic tune before announcing that it was 9:00. I caught a bit of another movie on TV (some movie where Leonardo DiCaprio lies a lot?), then headed out to the Henan Provincial Museum.

Like the Shanxi History Museum, it was surprisingly free, but the reason appears to be that most of the exhibits are currently closed. There were basically only two rooms to explore, but luckily, there was some pretty amazing stuff in those rooms. I did indeed see some oracle bones (cracked turtle shells that contain the first traces of writing, some 9000 years old), Shang dynasty bronzes and pottery (if you think Ming vases are valuable, try the ones that are 4000 years older), and some pretty intricate jade carving, as well as some pieces from tombs I studied in school. Unfortunately, since there were only two rooms, that took less than an hour. My flight doesn’t leave till Sunday and I’ve now basically seen everything I wanted to see.

I went back to the hotel and, after inquiring at the front desk, found a supermarket that will provide me with delicious foodstuffs later tonight. Having found it, I wandered east in the direction of a Daoist temple (Ming dynasty, reconstructed), and found it a half hour later.

It was small, and generally pretty unremarkable save the curator who wanted me to give him 400 RMB for him to give to “the gods” to ensure my good health. Needless to say, I declined, noting that if I were concerned for my health I’d see a doctor, and reflecting that it’s really no wonder the CCP has taken the attitude it has toward religion. People like to talk about how they are threatened by it — threatened by any large organization that might rival them — and there may be some truth to that, but that sort of “religion” (giving money for health/whatever) is common in folk religions/daoism and some kinds of Buddhism as well. It strikes me as not particularly good for “the people”. On the sheet the guy was trying to get me to sign, there were lots of other names with large sums next to them, 600 RMB, 800 RMB. These are huge sums for the average Chinese person, and since most wealthy Chinese don’t believe in that kind of “superstition”, I suspect most of those donations were made by lower class people who could be spending that money on their kids or something.

Of course, in America, people have the freedom to throw their money away on religious nonsense, as they do in China. Still, it’s not that difficult to understand why the Party would be opposed to it for legitimate reasons having to do with the welfare of the people. Not everything they do is self-servingly evil.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure Laozi, Zhuangzi, the Buddha, etc., would not approve of this sort of “worship” (or any kind for that matter), just as Jesus would probably balk at many of the things done in his name. Once again, we see that people are the same everywhere.

MASS TRANSPORTATION STATS:
Planes taken: 1
Buses taken: 14
Trains taken: 1
Cabs taken: 23
Private vehicles taken: 3