Jianchuan Museum (5-4)

May 1^st is China’s Labor Day and is a national holiday. This means that we had three days off: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Friday classes were made up on Sunday, since only the official holiday is free. But, since I have no classes on Friday, it was still like Sunday to me. But, since others were working and I had a meeting, it was still disorienting.

April and I had planned to go to Jianchuan Museum Cluster, which her friend had recommended, but she wasn’t able to go. So I went alone. I decided to book a room for two nights because I had read that the museum is very large and I wanted to allow adequate time for holiday travel delays. As it turned out, traveling was extremely easy. When I arrived at the Wenjiang bus station, the ticket purchasing area was, not surprisingly, very crowded. But I was prepared to wait and got in the line waiting to get into the purchasing area. I figured it would take about an hour. After a few minutes, a woman with a megaphone made an announcement. I heard her say “Chongzhou,” my destination. So the next time she spoke, I listened carefully and watched her. She was announcing that passengers to several destinations could purchase tickets at the information counter, which was where I was standing. So five minutes later I had a ticket and was sitting on the bus. And two hours after leaving my apartment I was at the hotel.

The hotel turned out to be conveniently located only five minutes from the van stop to get a van to Anren, where the museum is. I found it fairly easily by telling people where I wanted to go and asking if the bus goes there and walking in the direction they pointed. After a short time, I noticed a van turning into an alley and followed it. Once in Anren, the van stopped outside town and I had to a local “taxi”/electric tuk-tuk to the museum.

Jianchuan Museum Cluster is a collection of 20 museums covering four themes: China’s resistance war against Japanese aggression, the Red Age (Cultural Revolution), folk customs, and the 2008 earthquake. Tickets are good for three days, which is good because seeing them all in one day is too much. I spent several hours on Thursday and on Friday taking in everything.

The anti-Japanese war (1937-1945) displays were interesting in that I didn’t know a lot about it. One building commemorates the Flying Tigers, who I learned were Americans assisting the Chinese. A somber building features prisoners of war. Graphic war photos are displayed in several of the buildings. 

I especially enjoyed the veterans’ handprints gallery that was created for the 60^th anniversary of the end of the war. Handprints of surviving veterans, who were then 80-99 years old, were collected for the display. 

Another outdoor exhibit has over 200 statues of heroes of the war. 

They are based on photos taken when the people enlisted. Some died during the war, but some lived to be over 90. I learned later that they are continuing to add to this display of war heroes and that their recognition is recent, since they were members of the Kuomintang.

The earthquake series has a building featuring rescue/relief operations and one featuring damage and surviving artifacts. 

There are also displays replicating how things looked after the earthquake, and some large destroyed items are on display outdoors. 

I also enjoyed the earthquake-inspired art. Art is truly an international language.

I especially enjoyed the Red Age series, as it covers aspects of social life in the 1960s and 70s. Propaganda was everywhere: embroidery, porcelain ceramics, enamel cups and trays, mirrors, clocks. I enjoyed the propaganda art. Since these are times I have read about, it was interesting to see the artistic portrayals and the everyday life items. 

One building features badges, 

clocks, and seals. 

Another is full of mirrors. 

Another has necessities of life such as arm bands, books, trays, and cups. 

And another documents the Educated Youth, those who graduated from high school but didn’t get into another school and were sent to work in a rural area. Of course, 

Mao was prominent everywhere. When I was telling Diao Min how I’d read about this but that the huge quantity of objects made it real for me, she commented that people couldn’t say anything and that even today people can’t say anything negative.

The folk custom/cultural relics series included traditional medicine, porcelain, 

furniture, 

and weapons for homeland security. The last had the largest collection of guns, rifles, anti-aircraft rifles, machine guns I’ve seen. Actually, I’d not seen anti-aircraft rifles or machine guns before. 

One of my favorite buildings was the Three-Inch Golden Lotus cultural relics gallery. These are the shoes worn by women with bound feet. I’d seen a few before in various museums, introduction to the exhibit acknowledged that this was a “barbarous” custom that needs to be remembered.

On Friday I was relaxing one of the benches made from boat planks and was noticed by a group of people. They waved happily. While I was responding to them, another man made his son, about ten or twelve years old, sit beside me and put his arm around my shoulder and smile for a photo. The poor boy ran off as fast as he could when his father was finished.

After touring the museum on Thursday, I walked down a main street in Anren where I enjoyed the old buildings. Anren is an old town that seems to be known for fermented foods, as a number of shops carried them. I bought some fermented black beans, as I’ve had these before and liked them. 

After a while I came to a sign pointing to Anren’s Old Town; so I went there. I like the old towns that are still living quarters for local people. They usually have a residential area as well as the “tourist” area. 

Although there are some shops and toys are sold on the street, it’s not very touristic. 

Most of the buildings have small cafes 

that feature local traditional foods. On Thursday I was thinking about eating when a man greeted me in English and then invited me to join his family. He wants a foreign teacher to tutor his son, age 16, and a few friends in Chengdu; so he wanted to talk to me and he paid for my food.

I enjoyed the Old Town so much that I returned on Friday to eat there again. While I was eating, a couple university students sat with me for photos. One girl stayed and chatted with me for a bit. They are all studying to be TV broadcasters.

Anren advertises itself as “The Museum Town.” In the new section of the Old Town, there is an old theater stage and there are displays of classrooms and other offices. When I was looking down the street deciding if I wanted to go there or not, a woman pointed that I should go; so I did. It looks like this area is a work in progress with many new buildings that are not yet occupied.

I had lunch with April on Sunday. After finishing, I had a really good sneeze. A man across the room called out “Bravo!” That was a first.

April has had problems with her hips for the past month. First one was extremely painful; then the other. Each time she couldn’t walk for a week and then had to rest for another week and could barely walk. So she is returning to Wales next week. I’ll miss having her around to get together and chat with.