William

William was our guide in Beijing, and I am certain I will never forget him. As I mentioned before, he was a very large man. He had long hair, a booming voice, and spoke rapid-fire, non-stop, English and Mandarin. He was a riot; I laughed so much in Beijing. I think we amused him very much as well.

He set us very much at ease (so much so that I felt quite anxious leaving him to go on to Nanning). He liked to push the white lightening on us. Apparently, we did so well the first day, that the second day, he bought a stronger variety. Now, this one made my nose run and eyes water. Yummy! William took time to tell everybody that I drank it, always followed by laughter. The driver took time to turn on the light in the car to give me thumbs-up in the review mirror. I can’t tell if they’re impressed or laughing at me. (Now, I only drank about an ounce. This was the meal that we also had scallops, so it was getting to be a bit like Fear Factor for me since I don’t like seafood. The scallops turned out to be OK, actually, and they were served with other foods that were quite tasty.)

William also made me feel almost comfortable practicing my VERY limited Mandarin. He kept encouraging me to try different words. It was great fun for him. I think that he actually was impressed that I retained the vocabulary, but despite his flattery about my very good pronunciation, I think he was having a great time of it. He never made me feel bad or self-conscious though. I told him how we had stopped practicing our Mandarin when we found out that our daughter would speak Cantonese. Soon after, he heard a family speaking Cantonese, so he just went over and demanded that they give me a brief lesson in Cantonese. I can now say, “Don’t cry,” and “Don’t be afraid,” in at least 5 languages. I’m sure that will be useful. LOL.

Aside: I mentioned before that in our Chinese lessons, the “forced drinking culture” was discussed. It was in the context of a lesson that said, “Can you speak Mandarin?” “I can speak a little.” The word for “a little” is “yidian.” They said it’s common to double it, “Yidian-dian,” and it would be useful in the forced drinking culture to ask for less to be served. They said, and I quote, “Go ahead and try it. I’m sure it will impress your Chinese hosts.” So the second day that White Lightening was being dumped (without asking me) into my glass, I said, “Yidian-dian,” and held up my hand. William laughed uproariously and said, “Oh, Lora, you are very naughty!” I have no clue why.

William had a lot to teach us. It was fascinating listening to his perspectives on everything from the one-child policy and Tibet (which travel etiquette books advised not discussing) to “Elder Bush” and “Little Bush” and the Clintons. He referred many times to the euphemistically entitled “peaceful protest of 1989.” At the beginning, so much of what he said sounded like the Chinese propaganda machine. I wondered if he really felt that way, or if that’s what he had to tell us. He took us to a food market (pungent with spices, fresh meat hanging everywhere) because he wanted us to see that “China is so prosperous.” (He puts the emphasis on the second syllable.) It’s hard to believe that when this was in the old Hutong neighborhood. As he talked for 3 days, though, it became possible to see his perspective and appreciate the great change the Chinese people are experiencing. When he was a child, for example, everything was rationed annually, and in order to shop, you had to present your allowance book to make sure you were authorized to buy more cooking oil, or if you had used your yearly allotment – this if you could even find what you wanted to buy. Now, you buy whatever you want, whenever you want, in markets overflowing with food. Huge changes in only 40 years’ time. Still, two small mochas cost more than three times what William said we should tip the rickshaw driver, and God knows his life isn’t easy.