Eth-Noh-Tec

Gateway to the Storytelling Village:

Our bus finally finds the road into the village of Gengcun!  We have traveled almost 4 hours with the traffic out of Beijing to drive south.  We have made it!

We disembark our bus several meters ahead, so that we can walk into the crowds of villagers waiting to welcome us.  We see flashes of red moving ahead. We hear the faint beating of drums. We are thrilled to see that they have built a beautiful traditional gateway to their village and honored that they have waited for our arrival to conduct its opening ceremony.  It is like all the gateways we have seen in the palaces – red is the main color with the designs and paintings of flowers and trees, birds and clouds in shades of blues, greens and white.  Written on it are the Chinese characters that announce that this is the Number One Storytelling Village in all of China!

The Beat Goes On!

As we near, we see nine woman dressed in turquoise tee shirts and black slacks marching in formation drumming small red drums, while one huge red drum beats a more complicated rhythm – another woman, one of the storytellers plays it with two curved wooden sticks that look like they have been chosen from trees and debarked.  They perfectly match each other.  All the storytellers are dressed in red Chinese silk blouses/shirts and pale cream silk pants. They have costumes now!  We know that this village has more money since we were last here in 2007.

Smiles Break The Language Barriers:

There are smiles, hugs.  They chatter hellos and questions in Chinese that I cannot understand. But how happy they are to see us and our participants are touched, some whose eyes tear with happiness to finally be in Gengcun – to begin the adventure for which they have come to China and have heard about for years.

I can see them search for familiar faces – Elaine’s, Elly’s, Doug’s – those who have been to the village more than once – even 4 times!  But, they are not to be found.  We, too, look for familiar faces and with great sadness learn that several of the master tellers have passed away, including Sun Sheng Tai, and Jin Zheng Xin.

We sing for the storytellers.  We sing to those passed and to whom we must say goodbye.  We have learned the theme song from the Olympics: You and Me, from One World…we are family.  Travel dreams, a thousand miles, meeting in Gengcun. Come together, put your hand in mine.  You and Me, from One World, we are family… We sing in both Chinese and English.  We sound like a choir in love.

Hand in Hand:

Ceremony after ceremony. We have met officials and we have learned that they are interested and working on how to preserve the tradition of storytelling in Gengcun.  We are thrilled they recognize the fragility of their situation with the emigrating of their young adults to the cities to work and send back money. Some have even taken their children to city schools.  A double-edged sword.  They are materially wealthier from this emigration, but it also has disrupted the handing down of their stories and the apprenticing of the next generation of tellers.

We promise to work together to solve this problem for we too are concerned and committed to Gengcun’s preservation as a storytelling village.  The storytelling tradition has lasted over 600 years.  We all want it to be carried into affinity and beyond!!

What We’ve Been Doing:

Well, we’re exhausted, but full and sated. We have walked miles and miles learning the stories and history of the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, underground Ming Tomb, Sacred Way and the Summer Palace. We have visited the Olympic Water Bubble and Bird’s Nest. We have taken photos, videos, and rubbed our aching feet! Where once these sites were fairly empty and calm, with mostly western tourists, these sites are now over crowded with Chinese tourists. What a change with the new wealth of some of the Chinese in this country. They are traveling!

In addition to their traveling, they’ve invented some new traditions: lovers, couples and the newly-in-love buy locks to chain to the Great Wall and throw away the key over the wall to announce that their love is forever. However, we saw one lock that was a combination lock – just in case they change their minds!!

We have all been caught in traffic jams, eaten great food, sung on the bus with new songs in Chinese and English, bought little trinkets like Groucho glasses and nose with the Chinese addition of colorful paper unrolling and closing under the nostrils; we’ve bought kites, roasted chestnuts, camel bone Buddhas (which are probably made of plaster), pearls, Tang dynasty head dresses and we’ve seen t-shirts with Obama dressed in a Mao uniform – really fun!

And we’ve definitely seen the huge high rises, huge department stores with western stores like Gap, and way too many McDonalds and KFCs – some 3 stories high to accommodate the Chinese patrons.

The Reason We’re Here: The Storytelling Village Gengcun

Tomorrow we’re off to Gaocheng City, the nearest city to Gengcun Village. Gaocheng City is where we will be staying while we visit and share stories, songs, dances, laughter, hugs and friendship with the villagers of Gengcun – the reason we are here.

This is the traditional storytelling village we are visiting for the 4th time. They have had this tradition of telling stories for over 600 years. Our greatest concern is the preservation of this village and their art form. Modernization of China is starting to break down the tradition with the young leaving to work in the cities. Some are now taking their children to the city for their education and this further breaks down the tradition of the next generation being able to learn the stories to hand to their next generation.

We will be studying this predicament and brainstorming as to how we can help in the preservation of this particular folk tradition. If anyone has a contact at UNESCO or knows of a professor who has a passion to preserve old folk traditions, please let us know.

Keep visiting our blog! More about our beloved storytelling friends once we’re there!

Getting Out There in China

Nu Wa China Storytelling and Cultural Exchange has launched! And once again, it’s a wonderful group of diverse Americans!

Tea Time & More

We went to a Tea House today and saw some amazing performances – magic with live fish appearing on the end of fishing poles, in bowls and more; storyteller using song and drum; repartee – like a stand up comedy routine (and one of the guys was really handsome!); tea ceremony and dance; an amazing balancing act using these large porcelain jugs and a large garden planter pots thrown up in the air and caught on shoulders, his head, rolled from arm to arm, tossed from fist to fist and so much more; shadow puppet story; and the most fascinating was the face pushing or face smear – the instantaneous changing of masks with dance/opera movements. If you haven’t seen the Chinese movie “King of Masks” – definitely check it out and you’ll know what we saw.

On the Square

Also walked around Tiananmen Square replete now with 2 gigantic digital screens with scenery and dances from throughout China, along with this majestic music that makes one?s experience of the square bigger than life – like you’re in a movie!

The Cuisine is Mean!

Of course the meals have been plentiful with at least eight different dishes, quite different than all our other tours. Less Americanized. Well, we have had sweet and sour chicken at lunch and dinner today. One tour it was kung pao chicken every day. But tree ear fungus? Tea eggs? This is exotic for westerners. First day and we’re already too full!

Exhausted after walking, eating and in 90 degree weather, everyone has gone to bed early.

Us, too. Goodnite from China!

Nancy and Robert

A Return Journey In Many Ways

As many know, I was commissioned by Sue O’Halloran of Race Bridges to write and perform my mother’s story titled ‘Bittersweet’. It was performed in Chicago twice this past April and on Orcas Island as part of the Smithsonian’s Journey Stories traveling exhibit. Soon, I will perform it at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough in October.

How fitting it was, then, that I was traveling to China for Eth-Noh-Tec’s ‘Nu Wa Storytelling and Cultural Exchange’ program. I brought the 2nd half of my mom’s ashes to be scattered here where the happiest part of her life was spent, and particularly at her Yenching University, now called Beijing University or Peking University in Beijing.

And so, Robert and I came early and found our way by bus and subway to the famous landmark lake and water tower within the campus. Robert, carrying and rolling his video camera and photo camera, along with mom’s ashes, we roamed the shore of the lake looking for the perfect spot. We found it!

Full Circle of The Spirit

My Mom’s ashes are on the island within the lake in an opening left of a marble boat. The view takes in the lake, the many willow trees along the shore, the sitting gazebo, the water tower that is built like a pagoda, and of course, the marble boat. I placed her ashes along the roots of a beautiful willow tree that leans over the water’s edge, and then continued pouring the ashes to make a path along the rocks and shore of the lake until I made 2 circles of her ashes: full circle for her trip to China as a young girl for her education, and now back to China, and full circle for her birth and then her death in America. It was perfect weather. A mild 76 degrees, a lovely breeze, and we actually saw some blue sky and clouds vs. smog.

The lake and the trees were so green and lush. A white butterfly with black markings kept us company for the hour it took to give her family messages, to scatter her ashes and to reflect. Perhaps you might know that white butterflies are symbols of the departed spirit of those who have passed. I also, like the butterfly, wore the same two colors: I wore white – the Chinese color of mourning and respect, as well as black – the Western color of mourning and respect. The white and black butterfly flitted and flirted all around us during this time.

Ash To Ash…

As we sat afterwards, a young girl had her picture taken against the willow tree and as she left, tracked some of mom’s ashes as she continued her walk along the lake. Then a dog came and lightly stepped on one circle and then tracked some more of mom to walk along the path of the island. This will keep happening while some ashes will sink into the ground; the ashes along the tree roots will become part of the tree forever.

It was such an honor to do this for my mom, as it was to care for her in her final months and to write her story. And if she can know what is happening, and I believe she can, she is happy and content for how it all turned out – this her story, her life of bitter and sweet. It was all very lovely and quite extraordinary.

As we ramp up for our China Journey in September, the International Storytelling Center has posted a great article to their website about the deep storytelling culture of China, about the special relationship Eth-Noh-Tec has cultivated with the Gengcun village, famed for their storytelling tradition, and some details about our upcoming delegation that *you* can join. Please have a read at 2010 Featured Tellers To Lead Storytelling Delegation To China.