A return to Xi’an fraught with expectations and fear…, well may be I exaggerate a little, it was though a little intriguing to see how I was to find life here, having spent the longest period away for a few years. Being transported from down town London, by way of cars, aeroplanes, transit trains and buses, to the less salubrious environment of Yang Jia Cun, where I have lived for nearly 3 years (see below), was a little of a shock. Being surrounded again by the Chinese and particularly the street traders of the Cun didn’t sit so surely with my recently modelled arrogance and city street bravado of central London life: “ What am I doing here?” I thought to myself.
However, within about a day the joys of life in Xi’an sunk in or at least some of the joys that I recognise did. The two most important being the openness with which the Chinese communicate with one another and that the reality of life for so many here quashes any pretension I had for an ambitious path within the school of bravado and arrogance- though of course some friends may disagree on that point!
So, whether it is observing a couple crouched at the roads edge chatting, workers animatedly passing the day together, pedestrians on the street spotting a friend or a brother in arms and sharing their delight in short sharp bursts of conversation and laughter, Xi’an is an uplifting place to be within. Secondly, having been amongst the metropolitan elite of London and the home county bourgeoisie of Surrey for a couple of months and having consumed a little of that finer air, I was momentarily somewhat laid off balance by the ‘in your face’ squalor of some parts of this fair city, that I now dwell within.
However, it does not take long for this very reality and the awareness of my own good fortune within this society to stop that arrogance dead in its tracks and immediately replace it with, if not a quite debilitating humility, certainly something of the sort. I am back in Xi’an, it may not be forever but while I am here I am probably learning more than I am aware of and certainly more than I can, at present, fully articulate.
Tags: Xi'an
西安