Quirks and Community

Suzhou has been breaking records with its temperatures this Summer. Of course there is also the conspiracy that the Chinese government do not allow the temperature to be recorded as being above 40 degrees as this means that the government employees are not allowed to work. So, in general terms it has been ridiculously hot and this has made some interesting behaviours a little more obvious.

As I've mentioned we stayed rather far away for the centre when we first arrived and obviously this is a much cheaper area to live in. The "supermarket", not one I wish to visit again, had a television in which played kung fu movies continuously and you would see many locals stood watching the TV at all hours of the day and night. In the evenings you would have to climb over a multitude of bodies sprawled all around the entrance just to get inside. We have seen similar occurrences in the metro stations in the older parts of the city and in this case people were even asleep. In the heat to save on your air conditioning in Suzhou you need to find a public space with air con and hang out there on the floor. Sounds appealing doesn't it?

If you are more of an outdoor person you can find the nearest park and sleep on a bench, on the grass by the water, on a pier or any space you are able to find. People seem to spend nearly all day sleeping in the park. In fact sleeping in general seems an incredibly popular pass time. When visiting the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an nearly all of the employees were to be seen on a bench under a tree taking a nap during their lunch break. I love sleep but obviously not to the same degree.

There is a massive sense of community in Suzhou. For every 3 apartment buildings there is a neighbourhood centre which features a variety of shops, restaurants and outdoor spaces. You can buy most things here and do most others. There are basketball courts, soccer pitches, badminton courts, a stage and areas for children to learn how to rollerblade. The centre is a hive of activity in the evenings nearly everyone goes for one thing or another. People practice Tai Chi under the canopy after dark and watch TV on the massive screen that towers above each centre. Probably my two most favourite things to watch at the centres are the dance groups. There are two rather different groups. One group has brightly coloured fans shrouded in organza that flows to create a type of train and they dance and march in formation waving their fans as two men carry Chinese flags. They are quite entertaining as all of the fan carriers are women and the flag bearers appear to be continually nagged by the ladies to perform to the required standard. The other dance groups stand in straight lines with music blaring and do what I can only describe as Chinese line dancing. There are two rival groups at our centre who meet on opposite sides of the centre, one with matching pink t-shirts and the other are somewhat less formalised.

I read an article about the rise of the popularity of public spaces. I have seen people have picnics in parks and on beaches but to practice Tai Chai or meet with a dance group that is somewhat rare. Perhaps us Westerners are somewhat inhibited. Inevitably the Chinese are less inhibited, perhaps due to being brought up wearing split pants, coughing with their mouths open and spitting whenever and where ever. At least they go out and enjoy life and spend less time at home in front of the television, well...