Stories from China (Part 36)

This entry is part 36 of 40 in the series Stories from China

June 19, 2023

Stories from China (Part 36)

By Simon J. Lau

In the morning, I visited Shantang Street, known as the “First Street in Suzhou.” Built in the 9th century during the Tang dynasty, it quickly became one of the city’s main thoroughfares, lined with shops, homes, and stone bridges crossing the canals. Along with Pingjiang Road, it was designated a “Historical and Cultural Block of China” in 2015, and together they form a large part of what is considered the Old Town of Suzhou.

I find the residential homes here particularly fascinating. Every so often you catch a glimpse into everyday life, like this small home perched right along the canal. Potted plants spill over the windowsills and the walls, worn and patched over the years, tell their own story. It feels lived-in and personal, a reminder that while visitors like me come for the scenery and history, people here simply call it home.

In the afternoon, I visited the filming location for my favorite Chinese show, All is Well. It happened to be just a short walk from my hostel, and I couldn’t leave Suzhou without wandering through the neighborhood that had become so familiar to me on screen.

As I was leaving, I stopped for dinner at a nearby Muslim restaurant. They were known for their beef noodle soup, but since I had that for lunch, I went with a simple rice dish instead. Just as I finished eating, another heavy rainstorm rolled through. My server mentioned that the rain over the last few days had been especially intense.

While waiting for the downpour to ease, I struck up a conversation with him. He was Hui, a Muslim minority group found mainly in northwest China. The Hui are Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. The man I spoke to wore a white cap called a taqiyah, and the woman working alongside him wore a modest headscarf. Otherwise, they looked no different from Han Chinese.

After waiting quite a while, I finally gave up and decided to brave the storm. Big mistake. The streets were completely flooded, and to make matters worse, the sewage had started to back up. 🤮 The only way to salvage the evening was to make a quick pit stop at a bar for a much-needed nightcap. 🍸

Most of the bars I passed were closed because of the heavy rain, but I was lucky enough to stumble into this one. The bartender had a fascinating background. Originally from Shanghai, he had worked in hospitality roles all over the country. Despite only completing junior high, he was proficient in English. I preferred to stick with Mandarin, but his English came in handy when my Mandarin failed me in explaining complex topics.

The most interesting conversation we had was about discrimination in China. In the United States, because of our ethnic diversity, racial discrimination is the most common form. In China, where the population is much more ethnically homogenous, geographic discrimination tends to dominate.

He explained that growing up in Shanghai, a city often grouped with Beijing and Hong Kong as one of the most developed and wealthiest in China, he and many others looked down on people from less developed places. For example, someone from Hunan might be stereotyped as a thief, a man from Anhui as a mobster, and a woman from Sichuan as a prostitute. Strict laws around internal migration and the deep economic disparities between regions allowed these stereotypes to fester for decades, if not centuries.

Thankfully, with rapid economic growth and advancements in technology, many of these views have started to fade. After living in places like Inner Mongolia and Tibet, he told me he now actually prefers smaller cities to his hometown of Shanghai. He was one of the most interesting people I’ve met on this trip.