day 36: 阳泉 (yangquan) = 0km

I decided to stay for another day, because my friends, the 杨 (yang) brothers, wanted to take me to a place called 大寨 (dazhai) in the south of 阳泉:

I don’t think that a lot of young people in China know about this agricultural showcase from the 60s and 70s anymore.

For the older generations though, it remains the unique place where – according to public belief – a handful of Chinese farmers under the management of one certain 陈永贵 (chen yonggui) transformed a barren hill into one of the most successful farming areas in the country . And all this with little more tools than their bare hands!

Now, the whole site is dedicated to tourism:

To me, it is always interesting to see how today’s people interact with their socialist legacy from only 30 years ago.

Can there be a way to express a mixture of nostalgic and cynical feelings?

Nostalgic: 周恩来 (zhou enlai), respected and beloved first prime minister of the People’s Republic. When he was staying in 大寨 to observe the agricultural methods applied by 陈永贵, this was the radio receiver he used:

Cynical: 江青 (jiang qing), publicly despised last wife of Chairman Mao, held responsible for the terrible destruction dubbed “Cultural Revolution” in the 60s and 70s. This was her toilet seat:

“In a society of squat-toilets, why would she insist on having a velvet seat like this? Physical problems?”

The tourist guide just shook her head and smiled. No answer.

It’s really hard to grasp, this mixture of feelings I sense here sometimes…

The last thing we did was: one of my friends got an own personal Chairman Mao:

I’ve been talking about it before: the idol and the accessory.

And I still find it fascinating whenever I see it.

Soundtrack: Aram Khachaturian – “Gayneh: Sabre Dance”

—total: 503,4km