Hua Xi Village 华西村

We went to a "village" close to Zhang Jia Gang today. It used to be a part of collective socialism during the old days, and the villagers there have kept the spirit. The force is still strong in the village. Their village motto is:
"家有黄金数吨,一天也只能吃三顿饭"
Even if a family has gold in the tonnes, one can only eat three meals a day.
At the hotel /Gold tower (12o million yuan, with 39kg of gold turret on top) we went to, their famous leader, that led the village to all this wealth for the village, Wu JiaBao, added:
"豪华房子独占鳌头,一人也只占一个床位" - 吴仁宝
These luxurious rooms alone occupy the top place, but each person need only one bed.

NOTE: Wu JiaBao's counterpart in Zhang Jia Gang is Qing ZhenHua (秦振华, will check spelling)

Anyway, the place is famous for both their rocketing wealth and also what they decided to do with it....that is, create a "world park", where they built imitations of famous world sites. There is a hill in the village, quite a large one, and along the peak, they have built a miniature version of the Great Wall. Complete with guard's post, lookout posts and turrets. There is also Tiananmen Square, the Sydney Opera House, the US Capitol, the Arc de Triomphe......yea. In my mother's words, this is what happens when peasants get rich.....but gosh, it sure was fun looking at all the buildings and trying to recognise them all.

The streets around the Gold Tower are filled with stone statues that either they have erected in celebration of something or given to them.

The peasants got wealthy by putting together their money to have some investments in things like factories and stuff. Thus, is the power of teamwork.

Man, this place really makes me want to believe that Babylon was not a myth.


On our way back, we stopped at a grapevine/yard (??). Organic. No chemical fertiliser nor insectcides. But very small amounts and really expensive. The going rate for grapes is around 12 yuan, this one's 25, and you have to pre-order. I suppose this is high end grape.......really good stuff though, makes me want to go to Xinjiang more. I just hope I'm not disappointed there. Grapes are my favourite fruit. Preferred kind: red, large, seeded. Maybe it's an outdated idea, but I still don't really trust unseeded grapes, I mean, how can you expect the poor vine to give it their all when there is no possibility of the grapes to fulfill their prolifigation purposes?

The owner of the vine showed us around. He is a graduate of ..... 上海农业学院 (Shanghai Institute of Agriculture) ? And has learnt really to enjoy life. I mean, the premium grapes guarantee a pretty decent income, and the guy really likes the work. He experiments with the cultivation of different breeds, and is thinking about breeding his own crop.

This place is actually really cool, I get to know a life outside shopping and eating.


Earlier today, we went shopping along the small streets of Zhang Jia Gang, as we could not afford the Louis XIII and 2000 yuan dresses on offer on the main shopping street. It is in these places that you get to see the real side of this town. We found this out with the food. Went to a rip-off soy milk place that was actually crawling with bugs serviced by a bunch of lazy spoiled brats. I have now added to my mosquito bite count. Again, on my left side. Sigh. It's hard being so tasty. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my blood for the food. Not only overpriced but absolute disgusting. Luckily we were all hot and hungry, so, while complaining, still drank the cool drink in record time, and downed the yucky food.

The place, like the fake Tiananmen and Great Wall, LOOKS alright, but still, not the real thing.

Sigh, Nanjing may have be raped, pillaged, burnt to the ground, eroded by the sands of time, but we still have the foundation there. Bad food doesn't survive. The end.

Speaking of Nanjing, the development of my dear hometown seems to be underground. The big road that is now a temporary (and I don't think all that legal) carpark is because there is a underground crossing built there. We now are rapidly developing a subway, we already had a underground shopping maze, and there is now going to be another one, and most of the busiest crossings are now vehicles only. People cross underground. There are also red light free subways under busy highways to alleviate traffic, as opposed to bridges. Because it looks prettier. And also (but admission is another thing) because Shanghai has a lot of bridges. We wanna one-up them of course.

More SH-NJ comparison when I get to SH on Sunday.