From: Tony <theworldjog@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 9:53 PM
Subject: World walk blog. China 13
To: Tony Mangan <theworldjog@gmail.com>
Cc: myworldwalk2016@gmail.com,

The Cultural Revolution.

Latest: 11,656 kilometres for 296 road days. Currently I am just south of Xuanhan and about 300 kilometres north of
Chompqing. I am approaching southern China.

Just over 50 years ago Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution. In his time in the Communist Party he had cracked many glass ceilings and set about  ridding himself of his rivals.
Chairman Mao called on young people (often as young as 9 or 10 years of age) they formed the "Red Guards" to take party leaders to task for their embrace of bourgeois values and lack of revolutionary spirit. Pretty soon the Red Guards were out of control and destroyed much of China's social fabric.
Mao also ordered them to destroy the "four olds" - old ideas, customs, habits and culture. Religion was a prime target. Temples were ransacked and churches were destroyed. Religious leaders, university students and scholars were sent to factories and farms for re-education through forced labour. Religion was pretty much wiped out. In recent years, however, there has been a strong religious revival. Many of the temples I am walking past have been rebuilt. Some experts believe that by 2025 there will be more Christians in China than anywhere else in the world, despite the fact that religious freedom is still curtailed.
It seems that religion is tolerated, in so far as that that religious institutions are required to register. There are five recognised religions: Doism which is the principal Chinese religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.  Many clerics have a problem with signing paperwork which relegates their God to third place, that is after party and Chinese loyalty. The Cultural Revolution all but ended in 1976 with his death. I am sure he has turned in his grave at the sight of western capitalism, for it seems that there are more posters adorning Colonel Saunders, in Chinese cities than of the man with the red book.

*      *       *

The mountains have been easy. A bit like the Colorado Rockies, long gradual climbs. Occasionally, I have had an eight or nine kilometre uphill and live to tell the story. I just lean forward from my ankles and Karma glides up the mountainside. There had been days when I had little or no climbing; those days were in the plains and valleys. It's the second week of February and already flowers are in bloom, people are cultivating cabbage by the side of the road. So, I guess winter hasn't been so bad in these parts. Current highs are around 10 C with the low just under zero.
I don't camp much these days. Most nights I look for a cheap hotel or a room. Sometimes I can spot one myself as I am getting better understanding the Chinese signage. Or I simply ask a local person to help me find a place. I do that by stopping to buy a soft drink in a crowded store and asking where I can find a ' loo- gwah.' That seems to be the phonetic for basic accommodation. Other times I ask people who are walking in my direction. Many people seem to know a couple of locals that provide a room for they often take out their mobiles and call people they know. I have also been brought down shady alleyways. After all, someone isn't going to murder  me if they have just been having a conversation at a corner store with their mates! Usually if there is a female in a group, or if the people are older they can almost always be assumed to be safe.
However, I don't feel threatened in China, it's a safe country, once I am off the highway and away from their crazy driving!
Some of the places I have slept in are above restaurants and even a grocery store. In that place the woman wanted to know why my passport wasn't written in Chinese. She also wanted to know if I had a Chinese identification card! I wrote out my name, but the script meant nothing to her, I tell you, I don't do the tourist trail! Thanks to the reader who wanted to remain anonymous for sponsoring a weeks slumber! He pressed the PayPal link on www.myworldwalk.com to sponsor me :)
Three times yesterday truck drivers stopped to give me fruit. Another one spent a few minutes searching his cab while I drank a coffee at a store. He returned  and gave me two large biscuits. Even though I had a huge bag of snacks I accepted. To refuse after the trouble he went to would have been rude; besides I didn't want to burst his bubble. After he drove off I was invited inside the store to sit by the fireplace. It was just a pit in the living room of the one room house. Above the fireplace pig meat was hung up to be smoked.
By this stage I had crossed into Sichuan, my fourth Chinese province.



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