Yesterday was a very long day. The famous doctor Lorne Tyrell has been visiting Shantou University over the past few days. His visit was a great honour to the University as he developed a treatment for Hepatitis B called Lamivudine, which has helped millions of Chinese people. Due to that honour, he has been treated very well, and, yesterday, we were taken along with him to see an old Chinese house.

We were picked up in a van and were taken up a mountain road through rural villages nearby. Great care was taken to make sure we had both air conditioning and water. Dr. John Chui acted as somewhat of a tour guide, telling stories of Chinese history and culture along the way. He is a kindly, serious man who works for the University of Alberta and is a representative to Shantou university.

Here is a dam to a reservoir that we saw along the way. The reservoir on the other side - in all truth a natural lake - was very large.










We saw some light industry along the way as well. China is full of construction. In fact, I have been told that the China Construction Bank is now the largest bank in the world. And it's believable - there seems to be building everywhere you look:



Here are some pics to give you an idea of the rural life in China (a bit, anyway) ...

































We were told on the way that much of the farmland in China is terraced, and consists of smaller, single-family farms. Some rice, some vegetables. John Chui was explaining that although there is a push in the West to introduce mechanized farming into foreign countries, it probably wouldn't work in China, since the farm plots were so small, and could not really be increased, particularly in the case of terraced land, or rice patties. Rice patties have the extra issue of being flooded with water, and therefore not being suitable to large machines.

So, after about an hour of driving, we arrived at this 400 year old house. It was from the Ming dynasty - one of the few remaining houses of its kind, and perhaps the best preserved. For the most part, I think the pictures speak for themselves:



The original octagonal shape was apparently based upon Feng Shui beliefs; however, it was also the first design of this type to be truly stable. Previously, circular designs were used, but were not structurally sound. There were originally 600 people living in these houses.


A little Engrish:
This is awell that has since been covered up. Still, all the residents use wells for their water, and interestingly, not a child has been lost in 400 years. Steps are built into the sides of the wells to allow one to climb out if you fall in. Also, I have a feeling the purple plant below is non-photosynthetic, meaning it doesn't get energy from the sun. It may be feeding on a fungus in the ground (!). For those of you who just rolled your eyes, I apologize ... I am helplessly interested in the world!

Here you see Doctor Chui and Dr. Lorne Tyrell:
Not a nail was used in the construction of these buildings!
Here is the door to the lovers' quarters - a room for privacy:

This is one of the wells in the centre of the small village:
This machine was used to take the husks off of the rice harvested in fields nearby:
This is Jana, my teaching buddy here at the U, operating an old rice ... well, I don't know the name of it. It was used to pound rice and make it useful for eating in some way:
Sortof an apron, used for protecting oneself when cooking the rice, since they blow apart ... I believe this is the way they removed the rice husks.
An oven of a sort:
Some rice-milling equipment:
These containers were used to keep food fresh, or atleast so that insects could not get at them:
A wood stove:
An old style of bed:
Dinner with the folks. Beside the server are Dr. Chui and Karen - one of our lovely administrative/research friends.
(we actually went to a hospital before the old village, but I will report on that later ;) )