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| We are Married! |
When you come to China as a tourist, you must pay ~$170 to
get an L visa, which is good for six months. We upgraded to a Z visa which is
good for 360 days. You have 30 days after your arrival in China with a Z visa
to apply for your work permit, which we needed to work in China and to travel. We
arrived on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 and started “work” on the following Monday. On
Sept 23, our waiban (foreign teacher handler) called us up to say that she would
take us to the police station the next day to get our work permit.
We went to
her office and filled out a bunch of papers that were all in Chinese. She told
us what to write in each blank. She then attached 4 of our passport photos in
different places on the forms and then they received the customary red stamp
that everything in China requires. As we were leaving her office she told us to
bring 400¥
each, our passports and our marriage certificate to take to the police
station the following day. MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE??? No one said that we needed
to bring a marriage certificate to China. We said that we didn’t have it with
us and could we register as two single people? “Of course not”, we were told, “that
would be illegal”.
We explained that our house was packed up and people were
living there. We were left with the prospect of having one of our kids go to
the house, look where we think it might be, maybe finding it, scanning it and emailing
it to us within 12 hours. Suzanne hit on the idea of Microsoft Office document
center. A few short hours later we were married, complete with the Seal of the
State of Utah. Our “marriage
certificate” was rushed to the university translation department. After a few
hours of careful scrutiny, it made its way back, complete with the required red
stamp! Whew, that was a close one. We had a work permit to travel and to continue
to teach our classes in China!
Silk Road Trip
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| Uighur musician |
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| Urumqi International Bazaar |
We flew from Xi’an to Urumqi in the far northwest China, near
the borders of Russia and Mongolia. Ninety five percent of the Chinese are Han
Chinese. This region is inhabited by some of the 5% minority, the Uighur
(weiger) and Hui peoples. These folks are followers of Islam. The people of the
northwest are closer to eastern Europeans and central Asians than to the
Chinese. They have their own language, customs and culture. Since the discovery
of vast natural resources in the area, the mother country was concerned with
local ideas of separation and independence, so a modern railroad was
constructed from China proper to the western regions and millions of Han moved
(were sent) to the western province to fill most positions of responsibility. There
is still much separation between them to this day.
We went to the Grand International Bazaar, touted to be the
largest bazaar in the world. I could hardly wait. Stuff from everywhere, right
here under one roof, what a deal! Well, after the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, the
bazaars in Cairo and Jerusalem, the Grand International Bazaar in Urumqi was
like a yard sale in Snellville, GA. But
it was a lot of fun to haggle over dried fruit prices and see 15 varieties of
almonds. Suzanne managed to find a few
more silk scarves to add to her collection.
An interesting aside:
In most Muslim countries, you are aroused in the wee hours of the
morning by the call to prayers. In China, since the Socialists are not exactly
church-going-folks, the Muslims are not allowed to have any amplification to
the call to prayers. Therefore, us Christians can sleep right through them. In
my opinion, this is Carl Marx’s most significant contribution to the modern
world.
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| Muslim Cemetery |
We visited several ruins of ancient cities and Buddhist
temples. We saw the Cave of 1000 Buddha’s.
Of course, no photos were allowed. These ruins Date from the 7th
to 10th centuries. Most of the artifacts of the area were spirited
away by European archeology “collectors” in the 1800s. The locals are still
upset about that. However, if the artifacts had not been safe in European
museums, then they would have been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of
China in the 1960s.
One of the best things about getting out of Xi’an was seeing
the blue sky. Our city air is brown, unless it’s the day after a rain. Then
it’s a little better. We’re anxiously awaiting the addition of the coal fired
steam plants that will provide heat starting November 15, when the government
decides we can have heat. Then we’ll wonder—what sky?
We went to the Grand International Bazaar, touted to be the
largest bazaar in the world. I could hardly wait. Stuff from everywhere, right
here under one roof, what a deal! Well, after the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, the
bazaars in Cairo and Jerusalem, the Grand International Bazaar in Urumqi was
like a yard sale in Snellville, GA. But
it was a lot of fun to haggle over dried fruit prices and see 15 varieties of
almonds. Suzanne managed to find a few
more silk scarves to add to her collection. 
After poking around in the ruins of 13th century
mud huts we had the distinct privilege of an overnight trip in a “soft sleeper”
train compartment to the city of Dunghuang. This is in contrast to a “hard
sleeper” compartment which costs less. Let me give you an idea of a Chinese
bed. Imagine a slab of concrete. Do you have that “firmly” fixed in your mind?
If you take a luxurious bath towel and lay it on the concrete slab – that is a
typical Chinese bed. Well, the soft sleeper had TWO bath towels under us! 
We rode camels in the Gobi Desert and then visited more Buddhist
caves along with half the population of the province (because all the 1.3
billion Chinese take the same week of vacation. The mid-autumn festival was in
full swing. As far as we can tell, all Chinese go outside, look at the moon and
eat a Moon Cake. I must take a minute to
describe a Moon Cake. We received them as gifts from our students, they were in
every store, they were sold on every street corner. They were wrapped in bright
colored foil, in elaborate gift bags and boxes. We were gracious as we accepted
them and opened them with great anticipation. Unfortunately, the closest
comparison to them would be a 5 year old fruit cake. We have been using several
as door stops.
