Stories of the Middle Kingdom

My first apartment in the Middle Kingdom - circa 1996

The world, in 1996, was a modern place. Or, shall I say, MOST places in the world were modern. I, however, was teaching at a university in the Middle Kingdom. I was given a place to live. I was told "it may not be much, but it is the best they have to offer." I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of that statement even now. I was grateful to have shelter, occasional electricity and water, and a pillow on which to lay my head at night. I didn't have a working telephone or internet service. And I was willing to be inconvenienced, if necessary, for a higher purpose. Inconvenienced?!! Even if you live in this country now, you cannot imagine what it was like a mere 15 years ago.

Here is my tiny, narrow bathroom. There was no bathtub or shower stall, but there was a shower head. I could stand in the space between the door and the toilet to take my shower. The entire room would get wet, so I couldn't keep toilet paper in there during a shower. During winter the floor would not get dry all day. It is an uneven floor and not all the water could drain. And, it was filthy.

This is the only sink in the house. It is the kitchen sink and bathroom sink all in one. The faucets were outdoor-style faucets. The sink had grime ingrained in the crumbling cement. The bottom section had grime, bugs and worms. The wall was filthy. It was like this when I moved in, and no amount of effort would get things clean.

The washing machine was not automatic. The left side is the wash cycle. Move the clothes to the right side for the spin cycle. Add water manually (in the photo you can see me trying to get water from a faucet to the washing machine via a plastic pipe). After washing, pull down the drain pipe to drain water manually. And many people in town, even university professors, had no such luxury of a washing machine. They washed clothes by hand. No wonder the locals, even to this day, wear the same clothes seven days in a row. It's the only logical way to live.

The rusty two-burner stove is on the left. The wobbly wooden table is the ONLY "counter" space in this so-called kitchen.

Check out the electrical plug up high. The electricity and/or water went off frequently, at times one would least expect them too.

The two red bottles are thermoses. Most people, to get clean hot water for drinking, would take two empty thermoses to a boiler on campus and fill them boiled water. I boiled my own water at my apartment. I still didn't trust the water though, and drank a lot of Cokes those first few years. It was probably the safer of the options.

You can see my refrigerator (small), my oven (in America we call them toaster ovens), and my combination dish/food pantry. There were not many groceries, because there was no grocery store in town. I am not kidding. These food items were brought from Hong Kong. The only things I could buy in town were veggies from the street market several miles away by bike, meat straight off the pig from the butcher, Coca-Cola, and Snickers bars. It is no wonder I was hospitalized for anemia within a year. Cokes and snickers provide no nutrition, and at some point a body needs some.

Here's my desk area, with grimy green carpet to cozy things up a little. You can see a phone, but it didn't work. I was the third person in the city of several million to request internet service. Most people had never heard of it. It took the internet expert two months to get me connected.

Here's the sofa. If you sat on it, you would sink almost to the floor.

Here was my TV. At that time, there was no English TV channel. I didn't turn it on except to watch VHS videotapes from the USA. (I had purchased a video machine in Hong Kong that worked here.) You'll notice water stains on the walls. Behind those curtains is a balcony. On top of the TV is a can of coke. Like I said earlier....

My living conditions in 2011 are far better than what you see here. Adequate living conditions reduce stress and allow more time for more important things. Obviously, not drinking Cokes is better for my health, and having room to chop veggies allows me to eat a more healthy diet.

Given a choice, of course I would not go back, but those days hold a lot of special memories for me that I wouldn't trade for the world.