Gig Harbor High School teacher Pat Kurz continues on special assignment in China and has sent us another travelogue so let’s hop on her bike and take a ride with her as she pedals through the semester. Even Classic KING FM has taken notice of her journey. ~Stephanie

I have the sounds of the Pacific Northwest constantly surrounding me.

As I jetted off for another bicycle excursion today, I noticed my front tire was getting a little soggy. As there are bicycle repairmen every block or so, I figured I would stop at a less busy one and just pump in a little air. They charge 1 yuan for that service. That’s so little money it’s not worth straining my brain to think it through or even to click on a handy conversion web site. As I reached the south gate of the campus without having stopped, I looked for a bike doctor; there’s always one near a school gate. Sure enough, there was a guy there. As I rolled to a stop, my tire just happened to stop moving so I could see that it wasn’t air I needed; it was a new tire. There was a split in the center of the tread. The repairman was got busy with my tire, and I looked around at his “shop.” His workspace is just a patch of pavement lying next to a huge bicycle parking lot for a large university building. There is a small building at the back of the pavement. It has a small covered area in front, about 3 feet by 5 feet. In this small porch area there was a small table, like an end table, with some tools, some food dishes, an ashtray, and a tiny, scraggly, dirty, mewing kitten with bright blue eyes. The kitten was trying to get down from the end table. It had probably been placed there by the man’s little boy. He looked to be around 4 or 5. As his dad worked on my bike, he had his own diminutive bike, complete with a plastic saddle bag at the end of the fender, and he was working on it like a pro. When mine was upended, he upended his. When his father oiled mine, he oiled his. It was really cute.

I wondered if this was a family business. They obviously lived in the tiny house. I noticed the wife appearing in the doorway off and on. Then I wondered what kind of a living it gave them. It’s 12 yuan for a new seat, labor and all, 14 for a new tire, 1 for air, and this guy took 20 for everything he did for me, new tire, complete checkup, tightening all my loose fittings, fixing my kickstand, adjusting my brakes and giving me a new bolt on my seat. I don’t think it’s much of a living. On the other hand, he has a prime location. Then I looked more closely at him and his surroundings. His clothing was ill-matched; there were tears here and there. Some of the child’s clothing seemed rather small for him. No, location notwithstanding, this man was barely eking out a living.
China sometimes appears to be a nation of limitless minions. Everywhere you go there are people doing jobs so simple they can’t even be called menial. In a bathroom, there might be a woman there whose job it is to hand you some toilet paper and turn on the faucet for you. Seriously! There are people whose job it is to pick up leaves that have fallen from the shrubs. The stores have endless people in the aisles to help shoppers. All ypu have to do is look at a product and a minion will be right there at your elbow to explain everything you’d like to know. It doesn’t seem like a hard sell, although since I do not understand them I could be wrong; they just talk very nicely and point at the product meaningfully. I looked at a really cute lamp once; it was a kid in a karate uniform doing a high kick and his outstretched foot morphed into the light source. This poor guy with a name tag was immediately at my elbow giving me the lowdown. He was so earnest, and I did not know how to say, “I don’t speak Chinese,” so Iistened very politely until he finished, then smiled and walked away. Our dorm has people who sweep, people who mop, people who collect the trash, people to greet you, etc.

It’s a nation of minions, or so I thought until one lunch last week when I ate with the school’s tech guy who had helped me with my connectivity issues. His English is excellent, having spent some time in Portland. I think it was Portland; what he said sounded like “Poland,” but somehow, I think it was either Oregon or Maine. It was the day that the feature dish was pigs’ knuckles and peanuts. I commented that one big difference between the US and China is being served meat products that were mostly bone and gristle. We might get a bone with ribs or a steak, but that’s about it. If we were served some of the items they consider delicacies we’d complain to the management, loudly. He explained why those cuts were served so often. The country has been so poor for so long they have never been able to be picky about what they ate. I interjected with the stereotype about eating dogs and cats. He said “Cat! I don’t think so; is too difficult I think, but dog, yes. Koreans like dog. Some restaurants serve dog. Men like it. They think it makes them…”he searched for the word, “stronger, because it gives heat.” I think he wanted the word virile. It usually comes down to that. He continued, “but these dogs, they are grown, like pig, not dog like pet.” Somewhere in northeast of China and in Korea, there are dog ranches, fattening up dogs for people whose agricultural gleanings are scant, or for men looking for “Chinese” fly.

I asked him about all the workers I had seen in the cities. He told me about the grim realities of rural life in China. People in the provinces, out on the hard-scrabble farms, are extremely poor. They plow with donkeys and use hand implements, each village may share one or two donkeys. Their income translates to about 100 yuan per month-less than $20. If they come to the city and work as unskilled labor, they may earn 100 yuan per week. Buying meat and vegetables for one meal at the expensive store came to less than 10 yuan and you can buy a meal on the street, ready-made, for 5 yuan, and you’ll be helping another person eke out a living as a street vendor. He told me that 10 years ago he made 1000 yuan per month in IT. Now he makes enough not only to own a car, but to upgrade his car every 3-4 years. Used cars in the ’95 to ’99 age range go for about 65,000 to 78,000 yuan. He did not tell me what he makes now, but I think given the prices of used cars, you can infer a lot. It must be more than a teacher earns. Most of them only ride bicycles. The administrators have cars.

KING-FM just referred to me! I emailed them that I was listening in Beijing and they just did a new promo about their web radio service,”…or late afternoon in Beijing…” That’s pretty cool. They had never mentioned Beijing before. I feel special. Thank goodness for their service, non-stop classical music, Seattle news, and advertisements enough to feel like home. I’ll be donating for sure when I return. It has really helped me keep my sanity. I’ve always found classical music soothing, and since they broadcast it 24 hours every day, in HD even, I have the sounds of the Pacific Northwest constantly surrounding me. I’ve been listening to KING-FM ever since I was in high school and playing the cello in various orchestras. It’s really a comfort. It’s also useful as a bellwether for losing my Internet connection. No tunes, no web, no happy!