In Quest of Old China

In Quest of Old China

By Tara Goldsmith

The threshold was high and in line with tradition, I crossed it by lifting my left foot while Tim, my guide, lifted his right. We felt the uneven bare floor under our feet as we entered the dark room. The sun was gleaming strongly outside, striking through the roof holes, like a ray of death showing us blurred lines of scattered furniture. There was not much to see. The house looked empty except for a cooker, some kind of wardrobe with a mixture of well-used pans and occasional garments. From the corner, just behind the cooker we heard a trembling "NJIHAO" and our first instinct was to run back out of the house we had entered uninvited. We were in quest of old Chinese life which was disappearing fast and were hoping to get "that" photo here in the destitute fishing village near the popular tourist town of China. We didn't expect to see any people.

"Njihao" replied Tim apologetically.

And then we saw her, the old lady with a stick, in a blue Mao Tze Tung uniform, sitting on a handmade tripod chair, the same as my grandfather used to make back in Bosnia. She was 86, almost blind and disabled. She has a daughter in Beijing and granddaughter in Shanghai who is married and expecting a child which she is hopping to be a boy.

"Enough of girls in our family!" she declared and bounced the stick on the earth floor.

From her left pocket she pulled worn photos of happy women with huge smiles.

"They come here once every two years. It's expensive and they have to work hard. My daughter is working in the factory in Beijing but my granddaughter is in charge of a big hotel". And she cracked a very proud toothless smile followed by strong cough.

I turned my head towards the door hiding my tears. Do I offer to clean the house? That's what I automatically do on visits to my grandparents. But then we were in the middle of China and this place could be hardly called a house. Do we call her daughter and granddaughter and tell them off for leaving this 86-year-old on her own? But then I am sure they are aware of that and the amount of money they are making cannot mask their guilt.

"What does she eat?"

"Villagers bring food for her."

"Can we do anything for her?"

Tim shrugged hopelessly, so accustomed to China and her 21st Century where rapid progress deserts its past.

Suddenly I pulled all the money I had in my wallet and thrust it at the abandoned old lady without thinking where she was going to spend it or on what. I just wanted to feel that I had done something. She kissed my hand which made me cry even more, and ran out without even saying goodbye to her.

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