Yesterday was a fast day. On Tuesday night I got a frantic call from Peggy (our translator/chaperone) - there wasn't enough time to do everything we were scheduled to do the next day, and make our flight. We spoke for a few minutes, and decided on visiting a teapot museum over the fisheries visit to Taihal Lake. I want to make sure that I see some of the cultural things, and Dr. Hu (2011 Fellow) had strongly recommended this museum and it was on my official schedule. Several minutes later she called back and said that the people at Taihal Lake REALLY wanted to see us and show us the lake, but that the museum was also very eager to see us. After some further discussion we decided to shorted each visit by a little and see them all.
First stop of the day was to the Bocorra Teapot Museum. I like tea. I think traditional teapots are cool. I know nothing about teapots and have never really gotten the chance to go to a place that has thousands of them on display. Historical teapots, and representative works from some of the best potters in the world. We almost ran through the building in order to visit it and get to our next stop, but we had our own guide who gave us a quick overview of the history and different styles of teapots in China. here is a quick sampling -
Dr. Hu had arranged for them to give me a Bocorra teapot on his behalf, and it was a beautiful example of the current local work from the potters.
We then proceeded to Huaxi Village. Governments here are set up on the following system - National, Provincial, County, Town, and finally Village. Villages are the aspect that most Chinese, not living in a city, deal directly with. They also own the property. The Village is in charge of assigning each resident a plot of land to farm. In some villages they have begun to consolidate farming operations into cooperatives (more a collective farm than what we would think of in the US as a co-op). The village also often owns a store, and sometimes even factories, assigning residents to work in various capacities, fitting to their abilities, including in the schools, government offices, police, fire, etc . . . People are free to leave the village and move, but in all cases the land they farm, and usually the home they live in is the property of the village, not theirs. They therefore don't get to take it, or the value of it, with them. Huaxi Village is known as China's #1 village. It is a village with 2,000 residents that, 40 years ago, looked just like most every other village in Jiangsu Province. But today, thanks to the work of the secretary of the Village Communist Party Committee (think town mayor in the US) it has set itself apart. In 1998 it became the first Commune to be listed on a stock exchange. 20% of all profits are paid as a distribution each year to each of the 2,000 residents. Every adult resident is entitled to a luxury house, a car, free health care, free education . . . and free cooking oil. The village has a massive steel factory, and food processing plant, and a hotel that is the 15th largest building in the world. All together the combined assets of the village of 2,000 people (not the residents mind you) are almost half a billion US dollars. But there is a downside. It takes a lot of manpower to make the place work. Residents are expected to work 7 days a week, with just a single day off "every now and then". Picking a flower from the gardens (immaculate by the way) carries a fine of $1,500 USD. And perhaps most jarring - everything (the houses, cars, furniture - everything) is owned by the village leave the village and you leave it all behind.
From there we went on to the Fisheries and Ocean Department for Jiangsu Province, to their Tai Lake facility. At 900 sq miles, it is the third largest lake in China. The staggering thing however is the depth - 13 feet at its deepest, and 6 feet on average. It is the water source (non potable) for over 30 million people, and is a major tool in flood prevention, and food production. It also suffers from some major pollution issues, but serious efforts have been made to cut back on the nutrient loading, and they are making some good headway.
We hopped back in the car and headed south to the city of Wuxi and arrived at about 6:00. All told we spent about 7 and a half hours in the car and saw a great deal of the countryside.
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