Choan and Kyoto 2017/04/18

Column for those involved with the post office

Everyone seems happy. Half naked men are doing Taijiquan. A skinny old man is playing the Chinese fiddle by himself. Next to them are about 50 old women singing out loud and dancing.

Around them were children. Boys are playing MENKO on the ground. Some are drawing on the rocks on the side of the road using brushes. A girl is doing backflips. Encouraged, she kept on doing backflips again and again. Small children were squatting on the side of the road, defecating. For some reason, it all gave me nostalgia.

Choan. It is currently called Xi’an. From 11 B.C. to early 10^th century, 13 Dynasties ruled this city. Walking along the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, you hear French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. No English. It makes you feel like you’re at the entrance of the Silk Road about to conquer the lands. Walk around the road to find Mosques. It feels like an exit of Islam. This is what you call an International city.

When Gensho built the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in 652 after coming back from India, he climbed up to the top and looked down. For centuries, this is how races and religions crossed one another. And they are still dancing and playing with each other.

I am from Kyoto. Visiting Choan, which Kyoto copied, is my life’s homework. This tower is on the south of the ancient city, as if it’s Choan’S Kyoto Tower.

No, wait. Kyoto is indeed an international city. The other day, I heard Kyoto was ranked the number 1 city for tourists two years in a row on an American magazine. I’m sure Kyoto is proud to report that to brothe Choan. But wait. Yes, there are many westerners in Kyoto these days and it is refined. It makes people say, hey, let’s go to Kyoto.

But the Kyoto I knew when I was little is gone. Playing MENKO on the ground, drawing letters on the roads, kids jumping around. Nobody defecated on the roads even back then, but there were people who sprayed garbage around. But those voices of children are now gone. Today the city is clean and elegant. It became the number one tourism spot in the world.

But did that really make everyone happy?