考虑到内蒙古的土地那么大，人口那么少，那里的名胜古迹和天然风景区比较寥落，所以去内蒙古旅游十天那么短时间非得花很多时间坐交通工具不可（我的旅有是坐火車，大巴和吉普車。古代的時候，一般是马或著骆驼。) 我在内蒙古的旅游也是那样，但是四次坐车坐半天肯定很值得。坐车那么长时间，旅游团的领队一直忙着放电影或著給我们看相声，听音乐等。我们的旅游结束之前，有几部电影看过两次，每首歌听过好几次。有一首歌，歌词唱道，“我心爱的草原在哪里？”我这次去内蒙古以后，还不能用自己的经历确定地回答，因为我们去的地方不是内蒙古的草原的地，反而是内蒙古最西部的部分。
西部没有蒙古族其他住的地区那么有名的草原，其实比草原还干燥。我们去了一些很有独特的地方，例如额济纳，阿拉善高原，巴丹吉林沙漠，胡杨林，黑城，怪树林，等。最后那一天我们从甘肃的兰州坐火车回南京来。那些地方都很干，不过除了巴丹吉林沙漠以外都有植物，从小小的到很大叶子开始变成黄色的树。再说，虽然土地那么干，风景还出人意外地有多次变化。风景的界标少倒是少，不过对我来说看风景比看功夫电影有意思。一会儿有记漂亮的叶子黄色的树林，一会儿有怪树林的真的奇怪的形状和影子，一会儿有平平的土地，一会儿有不平地形，一会儿有沙漠中美不胜收的沙丘。
如果这一次去内蒙古是由我自己安排的，我旅游的经历肯定会很不同。一来我大概没有机会去看那么多有特色值得一看的地方。二来，因为我跟中国人一起去的，这一次旅游的心情，人情，习惯也跟我以前旅游的经历有点不同。例如，当我们美国人去旅游看天然风景区的时候，一般的时一个人或者几个关系比较密切的人最远的地方，要独自的跟自然界在一起。像我们刚学完的第二课的文章，西方人普遍看重的是自我独立和个人主义，中国社会讲究人缘跟合作。因此我们参加这个去内蒙古的旅游团的人任何事都一起做，包括做饭（好多顿饭我们吃的是方便面），搭帐篷，或者收拾行李，洗脸刷牙。我们团一共有二十八个人。除了我以外，都是中国人。我真感谢大家都很友善地，很谅解地接受我，赵瑛我，每天一天到晚跟他们在一起交流，说汉语，我肯定体验得很多，我的中文水平肯定进步得不少。我跟他们在一起玩得很愉快。下次有机会，真想要回内蒙古去。要是需要选择，要想这次跟大的旅游团在一起去旅游或者想美国人的习惯一个人去旅游，我大概会选择向这一次比较中国的经验。
Showing posts with label Inner Mongolia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inner Mongolia. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
My Modern Day 西游记 ("Journey West")
China is a HUGE country. Look at a map of the world and that much is apparent. It’s also huge in terms of population: now having surpassed the 1 billion mark, China is second only to India in the list of the worlds most populated countries. But then take into account population density statistics: the bulk of China’s population is concentrated along the country’s East and South, particularly in the several already bursting at the seams and continually expanding big cities along the Eastern coast. Take Nanjing; although, with a population of roughly 7 million (roughly 3 times the population of my sweet home Chicago, considered a big city by U.S. standards), I’ve heard several Chinese friends say its not typically included in the ranks of China’s 大城市 or “big cities.”
While China’s Eastern edge teems with people, what about the West? The North? There you can find the Xinziang, Xizang (Tibet), and Nei Mungu (Inner Mongolia) “Autonomous Regions,” taking up the bulk of the land we know as China but certainly not home to the bulk of the population. Even with the influx of Han Chinese from further East into these less-populated, less-developed regions, the population density is still a small fraction of the figure found further west. I get the impression that most Chinese think of these areas perhaps as most Americans though of the “Wild West” a century ago. Few people have been, many are attracted, the rough living conditions turn many away, but the impulse to idealize this vast, peripheral, largely undeveloped territory remains. It is the source of numerous songs romanticizing the 草原 and 雪山 (“grasslands” and “snowy mountains”).
Because in Western and Northern China land isn’t lacking but people are sparse, if you want to travel around that part of the country, you have to spend quite a bit of time being transported from one place to another. In the olden days—from the days before the Silk Road up to the 20th century—the main means of transport included foot, horse, and camel. Today, there are trains and planes to take you there and buses, trucks, and SUVs to get around once you arrive. During my recent trip to Inner Mongolia, the better part of 4 out of 9 days of travel were spend sitting on trains (2 days: one ride 30 hours, the other 22+!) or buses (2 8-hour + rides plus many shorter legs of the journey). But the beauty and uniqueness of the places that all of that patient sitting on trains and buses afforded us made it all worthwhile.
(*Note: The title of this post contains 3 Chinese characters, 西游记, (pronounced "Xi You Ji" and can be translated "Journey to the West"), one of the most famous folktales in China and also one of my most favorite. It involves the adventures of the Monkey King and his companions Zhu Bajie (a pig) and a monk as they make an epic pilgrimage West to retrieve some precious Buddhist scriptures. Even though its not really West but actually more central verging on East, Inner Mongolia seems to be encompassed in the Chinese conception of Western China. I guess its kind of like Chicago is considered "Midwest" despite the fact that it falls in the Eastern half of the U.S. In both cases, I think that appellation has to do with historically how the land was settled mixed with a leftover notion of a "Wild West.")
(Note: This nowhere near all-encompassing narrative will be expanded upon at a later date. Sorry for the delay!)
While China’s Eastern edge teems with people, what about the West? The North? There you can find the Xinziang, Xizang (Tibet), and Nei Mungu (Inner Mongolia) “Autonomous Regions,” taking up the bulk of the land we know as China but certainly not home to the bulk of the population. Even with the influx of Han Chinese from further East into these less-populated, less-developed regions, the population density is still a small fraction of the figure found further west. I get the impression that most Chinese think of these areas perhaps as most Americans though of the “Wild West” a century ago. Few people have been, many are attracted, the rough living conditions turn many away, but the impulse to idealize this vast, peripheral, largely undeveloped territory remains. It is the source of numerous songs romanticizing the 草原 and 雪山 (“grasslands” and “snowy mountains”).
Because in Western and Northern China land isn’t lacking but people are sparse, if you want to travel around that part of the country, you have to spend quite a bit of time being transported from one place to another. In the olden days—from the days before the Silk Road up to the 20th century—the main means of transport included foot, horse, and camel. Today, there are trains and planes to take you there and buses, trucks, and SUVs to get around once you arrive. During my recent trip to Inner Mongolia, the better part of 4 out of 9 days of travel were spend sitting on trains (2 days: one ride 30 hours, the other 22+!) or buses (2 8-hour + rides plus many shorter legs of the journey). But the beauty and uniqueness of the places that all of that patient sitting on trains and buses afforded us made it all worthwhile.
(*Note: The title of this post contains 3 Chinese characters, 西游记, (pronounced "Xi You Ji" and can be translated "Journey to the West"), one of the most famous folktales in China and also one of my most favorite. It involves the adventures of the Monkey King and his companions Zhu Bajie (a pig) and a monk as they make an epic pilgrimage West to retrieve some precious Buddhist scriptures. Even though its not really West but actually more central verging on East, Inner Mongolia seems to be encompassed in the Chinese conception of Western China. I guess its kind of like Chicago is considered "Midwest" despite the fact that it falls in the Eastern half of the U.S. In both cases, I think that appellation has to do with historically how the land was settled mixed with a leftover notion of a "Wild West.")
(Note: This nowhere near all-encompassing narrative will be expanded upon at a later date. Sorry for the delay!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
