May Day in Xuzhou

Part of the less famous -- but still interesting -- Han dynasty terracotta army at Xuzhou.

My friend Thomas and I have been in Xuzhou since yesterday afternoon, and despite it being a major transit hub, home to a lake, a spacious mountain park, a terracotta army, and an amusement park, it's decidedly off the beaten tourist path.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the train transit connections are inconvenient. And then the lake is polluted and has a busy road built across it -- although I did see a couple of people happily swimming in it yesterday evening. The mountains, while pretty, offered only compromised views due to the massive amounts of smog. The terracotta army (while still a AAAA-rated cultural attraction according to the Chinese tourism bureau) was built at a fourth of the scale of its more famous counterpart in Xi'an, which makes it look kind of like a set of toys in comparison. And the amusement park looks like it hasn't been maintained since the 60s or 70s -- probably around when it was built.

It's a bit sad, because with such natural and cultural assets, I feel like this city should really be a beautiful place to visit and live. But still, it's China -- perhaps in a more pure form than the mountain resorts or the more famous cities -- and that has it's own charm. For example, the people here don't seem to be as accustomed to seeing foreigners. We've been greeted warmly almost everywhere we've been -- but here people are especially quick to say "hello," ask for our names (as a young girl did yesterday), or offer us rice wine and take pictures (as a large group did today). We also ate some incredible food last night -- a kind of meat, shellfish and dumpling stew -- that was served to us once we made it clear we had no idea what was good to eat here. While landscape and natural beauty are important, it's also those sorts of things -- hospitality and cuisine -- that can make a place memorable and enjoyable.

As I think I mentioned yesterday, May Day is a major holiday in China; the schools are out of session and many Chinese having the entire week off for shopping, travel or other leisure activities. Tonight we'll be sniffing around a little bit for a parade, demonstration, or another celebration of sorts, but other than seeing more pedestrians and shoppers on the streets than yesterday, it's been more or less business as usual as far as we can tell.

Anyway, tomorrow morning it's on to Tai'an in Shandong province, home of Tai Shan, another of China's five sacred mountains. We're planning to ascend it on Thursday.