Lyndsey's Strange but True Sightings:
- Last night I had an interesting cultural exchange with my room mate, Sharon. I opened her eyes to the "country culture" of the US. Yes, that's right. I told her about rednecks. I can now proudly claim that I have spread my Midwestern culture by introducing the Chinese to words such as "redneck," "white trash," "cracker," "tractor pull," "WWF," "Indy 500," "trailer park," and, Sharon's new favorite, "monster truck rally." We also got to view a colorful sample of heavy metal music and country ballads, including the all-time best "She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy." Thank you, iTunes. To drive home the significance and implications of redneck glory, we also surfed Google for some visual aids. Let me tell you, there was nothing funnier than seeing her gawk over a "redneck swimming pool" - a pickup truck that had been filled with water in the back - and try to determine exactly what constituted a mullet (Sharon also now loves the phrase "party in the front, business in the back."). Priceless.
Last week was a Chinese holiday, Qingming Jie. Literally meaning "pure brightness festival," this holiday is one of the kick-offs for the spring season. Usually after the holiday passes, the temperature starts to get warmer and the weather becomes nicer. Most notably, though, is the second name for Qingming Jie, "grave sweeping day." Traditionally, families go to the graves of their loved ones and sweep and clean the tombs. Often flowers and fruit are also left on the grave, and, depending on how traditional the family is, family members may sit and share a meal with their departed loved ones. Such snacks usually include small cakes, fruit, some meats, and, of course, baijiu, the Chinese version of moonshine. Incense is sometimes burned as well.
The holiday snuck up on me and I didn't find out that it had arrived until my teacher mentioned it in class. Intrigued, once class let out I found Sharon and drilled her about the holiday. Now, Beijing is a very large city and it's extremely crowded, which doesn't make it the best place to host graveyards. When I asked Sharon about it, she spoke of a large, public graveyard not too far away from the university called Babaoshan. What the hell, I thought, I've got nothing else better to do. So, I hopped in a cab and let my driver lead the way.
The drive wasn't far, but it was long enough that I got to ask my driver some questions about Qingming Jie. It's a national holiday, so everyone gets the day off. However, lots of people living in Beijing have migrated from other cities and provinces, meaning that their families aren't buried in the city limits. So, lots of Beijingers don't celebrate the holiday since there isn't enough time to travel home to their relatives' graves. Those who are native to the city usually celebrate in the morning or the afternoon.
"Why don't they go in the evening?"
My driver turned and looked at me. "Would you want to be in a graveyard at night?"
"...good point."
Now, there are a lot of things in Beijing that aren't technical tourist sites, but are great places to visit. However, since they are not official landmarks, the procedure and requirements for entering can be a bit fuzzy. Sometimes a standard is held and entrance is regularly denied or allowed; sometimes it all depends on the competence and mood of the guard at the door at the time; sometimes no one has the foggiest idea and anything goes. In all the above cases, we expats have a great approach policy: walk straight through the entrance with your head held high as if you were expected and had a purpose. Don't speak Chinese, don't make eye contact, and, if someone starts to say something to you, KEEP WALKING. Usually this works very well. Chinese guards are usually pretty informal and don't feel like dealing with a non-Chinese speaker. After making a brief attempt to stop you, they usually give up and don't think it's worth the hassle. If you REALLY aren't supposed to be there, though, they will come after you and then you do actually have to leave. So, when I arrived at Babaoshan, I just waltzed my way in.
Now, for those who are familiar with me and my mother's side of the family, you'll know that we have many quirks, one morbid one in particular being our hobby of grave-hopping. For some reason, we find grave sites to be rather, well, cool. Don't ask me why. So, it shouldn't be surprising that I had a blast at Babaoshan. I had a great time strolling between the graves and looking at all the tombstones. Overall, they were rather different than those you'd find in the US. I was surprised to see that many people were actually buried in the ground, something that I thought was illegal in China. Given the large population, there simply isn't enough room to burry the dead. This is a bit of a problem for those who follow traditional practices, which dictate that bodies must be buried in an area with favorable feng shui in order to appease the deceased's ghost. Hence, it's not uncommon for rural dwellers to secretly bury their family members in open plots of land and hope that developers don't raze the area for high rise apartments later. I later discovered that in Babaoshan, the fact that individuals were buried was a sign of great resect and only those of high social, and often political, standing could afford this luxury. The graves were much narrower, however, since the dead were usually first cremated and then buried. Spouses were usually buried together with the one to passed away first receiving the larger, primary headstone. Once their husband or wife passed away, they received a smaller stone in front of the larger one. On the back of most graves was a epitaph describing the deceased, their profession, the major events in their lives, and their birth and death dates. Most had a photo of the deceased on front. The headstones themselves varied in shape, style, and size. Some were huge monoliths, others were more traditional, others were very abstract and modern, looking very Western and out of place. There were even some Westerners deemed to be "friends of China" that were buried inside the graveyard as well.
Towards the center of the graveyard was a crematorium, which of course I just had to see. I'd never been in a crematorium before, and I was curious enough as it was. So, I whipped out my usual "march in and conquer" strategy...only to smack strait into a friendly, but firm guard.
"I'm sorry miss, but this area is off limits and is not for visiting."
Now normally this is where you count your losses, turn around, and go home, but before I could stop myself...
"Oh, me? Oh I'm not visiting."
"..You're not?"
"Of course not. I'm here to celebrate the holiday. I'm living with a Chinese homestay family and they invited me to help them take care of our grandfather's grave today. They thought it would be a great opportunity to better understand Chinese culture. However, since I'm foreign and didn't get the day off from school like most Chinese college students do, I couldn't arrive here with them. I just got out of class and am trying to find them. They're inside waiting for me. Could you let me in please? They can't start taking care of grandpa without me."
100% solid, high-grade bullshit. Something else I've inherited from my mother's family is the ability to crank out on-the-spot excuses that usually let me weasel past blockades and guards. It's a gift, really. I could tell the guy was still a bit skeptical, which was probably due to the fact that I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. Not exactly the most typical mourning clothes, but the guard still conceded. Pointing to the left, he said I could find an entrance and walk in. Bingo. So, I strolled over, found a door with an idle guard that wasn't paying much attention, and slinked through the doorway.
The crematorium was really fascinating. There were rows and rows of black marble plaques etched with the deceased face, the birth and death dates, and a couple short descriptions of the person's life. Usually there were also some decorative designs, such as flowers, mountains, clouds, cranes, and the communist sickle and hammer.
On that note, I thought it was particularly strange how many graves I was encountering with communist symbols etched onto the headstone. Often it was a large, prominent red star. Other times it was the typical sickle and hammer. My suspicion mounted as I began to see more and more stones that had the characters "同志," meaning "comrade" in English. This term is most often heard when soldiers refer to the Red Guards or those that served in Mao's army during the Long March heydays. Even stranger was the apparent heavy presence of PLA soldiers at the graveyard. Why was the army and police force patrolling a graveyard? I wondered. Later when I got back to campus and did some research, I realized what all of the symbols meant and the overall significance of Babaoshan. I nearly choked.
According to the findings I came across later, Babaoshan is the equivalent of our Arlington National Cemetery. Not just anyone could be buried inside. First, you had to go through an approval process and receive permission to receive a grave. Permission was only granted to high ranking CCP party members, soldiers, revolutionary heros, and maybe some VERY pro-China, prominent foreigners. No exceptions. This meant that some of China's most famous historical figures and leaders were buried at Babaoshan. In other words, it wasn't your average cemetery (click here for more).
To be honest, I'm really, really surprised I wasn't thrown out of Babaoshan as soon I stepped within the grounds. The CCP is remarkably touchy about two things: political landmarks and dates of revolts and uprising. Celebrating Qingming Jie at Babaoshan combined both.
Symbolism is everything in China, and is always taken extremely seriously. So, when an act of political violence or heavy significance occurs, from that date onward there is a strong military presence to make sure that a) there is not a repeat occurrence, b) no one uses the symbolism of the date to promote an insubordinate ideology that goes against CCP approval, c) foreigners stay away and can't witness any possible violence or talk to native Chinese, or d) all the above. During a past Qingming Jie, mourners gathered to mourn the recent passing of former Premier Zhou Enlai. The sheer number and passionate nature of the mourners was seen as a criticism against Mao, and so the next day all the offerings and flowers were swept away. The people were outraged and lashed out against the government, resulting in arrests and violence (click here for a better, more detailed description). As a result, the government becomes relatively nervous whenever Qingming Jie comes around. Their nervousness is compounded by the nature of 2009 in general, which is riddled with politically sensitive anniversaries. Unfortunately, this sense of anxiety is often prematurely acted upon, resulting in more violence caused by local governments. Evidence of this fact is seen in the recent case of Sun Wenguang.
A 75 year-old retired professor, Sun was known for being a supporter of the late Zhao Ziyang, a former CCP prime minister and general secretary, who was sympathetic of the demonstrators present at Tiananmen. As a result, Zhao's name is considered a taboo and he is never acknowledged by the press as even being a former leader of China. Although Sun has visited the grave every Qingming Jie since Zhao's death in 2005 with little hassle, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of a certain event occurring in Tiananmen. This year Sun was beaten by five thugs hired by the local government, resulting in three broken ribs and a trip to the hospital. Like I said, never underestimate the power of symbolism in China. So, you combine the slightly turbulent history surrounding Qingming Jie, the political nature of Babaoshan in general, plus the fact that I'm a foreigner and you get something that would make most guards, soldiers, and government officials very, very, nervous.
Now before you throw up your hands and scream at me for putting myself in this situation I want to make a defense. First off, it's rare that violence comes about as a result of such situations, and when it does it's usually done by the local government in less prominent areas (ie: not Beijing). Second, when it does happen it's VERY rarely against foreigners. Arrest, while a possibility, is also rare. Generally speaking the worst that will happen is that you will be promptly escorted away from the area and your camera will get snatched. You see, the CCP isn't stupid. They know that arresting foreigners and interrogating them attracts much more negative attention and criticism abroad. The easiest solution, and the quietest one at that, is simply to boot people out and carefully restrict entrance. That's not to say that you should go messing around with the PLA and CCP. They can and they will cart you off if you push the right buttons, but generally that takes a very serious, special kind of series of circumstances for that to happen. Me going to Babaoshan at Qingming Jie was not one of those.
In regards to the actual holiday, Babaoshan was a perfect place to see how the Chinese celebrated the holiday. Flowers were strewn along the head stones, bouquets were placed on top of the tombs, and baskets of flowers and potted plants lined the grave sites. Sometimes offerings of food, typically pastries and fruit were offered as well along with sticks of incense and bottles of alcohol. Such offerings were relatively rare at Babaoshan, probably due to the graveyard's political nature. Generally speaking the CCP frowns upon traditional folklore and religious practices, meaning that such offerings probably wouldn't be common at a government gravesite. I also watched at a distance as family members carefully swept dust and debris off of the tombs and washed the ground with water. The crematorium also received attention. Often the plaques were surrounded with flowers, both real and fake, and sometimes little trays would be placed in front with offerings of food. Apples, clementines, nuts, and pastries were most commonly given. Sometimes notes and letters would also be tacked on as well.
For those of you wanting to know more, I encourage you to visit my Facebook. I was sneaky and managed to take some photos of the graves. I had to be careful, though, since I didn't want to get thrown out. So, there aren't too many for you to look at and the quality isn't the best. I also didn't take any photos of people actually celebrating the holiday. I didn't want to disturb or disrespect anyone, so I just centered my photo taking on the graves themselves.
Enjoy!
