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Suddenness Happens: Nineteen Days in China Russell Banks
Suddenness Happens: Nineteen Days in China Russell Banks
By Russell Banks
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Copyright 2010 by Russell Banks. All rights reserved.
Portland, Oregon
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“Please don’t cross any railings
lest suddenness happens!”
Warning sign at the Beijing Zoo
From the time we set out in the morning until we fell into bed at
night, I tried to stay open to the possibilities each moment offered,
to be ready when “suddenness” happened.
Journal, page 5
Photographs, page 17
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Journal
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Arriving in Beijing on a dark and drizzly aernoon aer
three days in Kyoto, Tommie craved more familiar food,
so we walked to a Pizza Hut near our hotel. It was very
popular with the Chinese, and more nicely decorated than
those at home. e young waitress poured the canned
beer into our glasses more slowly and carefully than I had
ever seen.
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is was our day to visit the legendary Great Wall. e toll
gates on the way had signs advertising a local country club
with the slogan, “Flawless life beyond comparison.”
at sounded good to me.
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Aer 30 minutes on board the plane to Hangzhou, we
disembarked and were told the airspace there was re-
stricted due to “military maneuvers.” Box lunches were
brought out, and we waited in the departure terminal for
three hours. en we re-boarded, and sat on the plane for
another hour. Some of the Chinese passengers were get-
ting upset. ey wanted off because they’d already missed
their meeting in Hangzhou. en, when finally given a
chance to get off, they refused, asking that the airline first
give them a refund.
Finally, the cabin door opened and two men in suits with
walkie-talkies came on board. Aer more discussion, a
few passengers le and the others seemed pleased.
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At breakfast, a 100-year egg. e white was firm and clear,
like brown glass, and the yolk was dark yellow-green. e
flavor was unremarkable. But it was the best day of all,
including a rare bus window that I could open for photos.
We rode to the lush Lingyin Buddhist Temple, where we
watched people lighting huge bundles of incense, holding
them as they bowed in each direction.
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Our walk-in shower at the Regent was a dreamlike cave,
with dark, rocky tiles and water that fell from the middle
of the ceiling in a warm, tropical rain. e aroma from the
lemon grass shampoo completed the illusion.
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Sacrifices are made so that children, outside their regular
school hours, can attend enrichment schools, or “children’s
palaces,” like the one we visited in Shanghai. Government,
donations and parents share the cost, and classes include
musical instruments, calligraphy, dance, painting and clas-
sical Chinese opera. We saw parents bringing their chil-
dren, mostly on the back of bicycles. Education is prized
in China, and exams decide who goes to a university and
who goes to vocational school.
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While we were docked at Fengdu, our guide offered a trip
to a local village. is was not an affluent place. Quiet,
colorless people ate their noodles in front of unlit shops in
the cool morning streets. We visited a family that had been
displaced from land submerged by the dam and relocated
into drab, concrete apartments like we’d seen all along the
Yangtze. eir business was processing wheat to make
dried noodles and running rice through a hand-powered
husking machine in the garage.
It’s sad, but in Egypt and Jordan, and oen in China, it felt
like all people saw was a bag of money when I passed by.
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Again, we woke early to enter the Wu Gorge, second of the
ree Gorges and site of the famous Goddess Peak. In
Wushan, we docked to get onto a smaller boat for a trip up
the Lesser Gorges, then moved to the smallest boat for the
Lesser-Lesser Gorges—a narrow portion just wide enough
for the boatman to turn around. He wore a traditional
costume and sang with conviction, but his bright orange
life vest limited the effect.
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On our way to the Guilin airport, we stopped at the Reed
Flute Cave, a 240-meter pathway of stalactites and colored
fluorescent lights. You could hire men at the mouth to carry
you through the cool darkness on a decorated sedan chair.
And with time on our own in this last full day in China,
we wandered through Kowloon Park, lush and busy with
families on a warm Sunday aernoon, and ate cool, sweet
ice cream from the McDonald’s stand.
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Photographs
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Forbidden City, Beijing
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Forbidden City, Beijing
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On top of the city wall, Xi An
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Water calligraphy, Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou
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Salesman, Hangzhou
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Hangzhou
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Selling yams, Beijing
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Hangzhou
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Carrying produce to the market in Fengdou, early morning
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Selling oranges near the docks, Li River
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Fengdou market
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Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai
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Hangzhou
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Gateway Tower, Kowloon
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Walkway, Repulse Bay Beach, Hong Kong
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Beijing Zoo
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Locks, ree Gorges Dam
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Cargo ship in the locks
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Morning exercises at the Wild Geese Pagoda Park, Xi An
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View from our room, Shanghai Regent Hotel
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Drying towels, Zhou Zhuang water village
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Zhou Zhuang water village
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Hangzhou
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Rug factory, Shanghai
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Early morning, Shanghai
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Bus passenger, Shanghai
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Xuan Wu district, Beijing
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Hangzhou
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Inside the city walls, Xi An
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Summer Palace, Beijing
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Xi An
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City wall, Xi An
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Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou
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Incense, Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou
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Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou
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e Yangtze
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Garden, Shanghai
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Ginkgo tree, Ming Tombs
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Lesser Gorges, near Wushan
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First light on the Yangtze
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Tea plantation, near Hangzhou
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Tea and forest, near Hangzhou
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Lesser Gorges, near Wushan
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Yangtze cliffs
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Yangtze cargo boat
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Railroad crossing, Yangtze
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Souvenir salesman, Li River
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Passengers disembark so tour boats can pass through low water, Li River
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