The Call of My Tribe

Earlier this year, my wife started to watch videos from 
rural Northeast China. I was tolerant but not interested in
the beginning. I had the prejudice that almost everything on
the screen, especially fictional stuff made about things 
from the glorious Chinese dynasties, were total BS and tried
extra hard to ban them in my house.

But over time, I was attracted and even addicted to a few of
them. These videos were not made by professionals but by
real farmers from that area and were about their daily lives.
And they were very much alike the life I knew as a kid. We
shared many values, customs, and northern foodstuff, e.g.,
we celebrate New Year by fireworks, family visits and
reunions, and slaughtering and cooking pigs.

The farmers seemed ignorant in many ways. They seemed not
eager to pursue knowledge, money, power, or health like many
of us in the West do.

This might be just my fantasy after watching videos from a
couple of special families. But their activities were lively
and interesting. Everyone had a role to play but was not
overly specialized. They were content. A few tasty dishes
at meal time seemed to satisfy both body and soul. Close
relatives and neighbors formed a larger family where depression
was unheard of. 

And today, I tried a video made by a girl from inner
Mongolia. Her Chinese was not fluent and shepherds' life was
very different from my childhood life, but the music in her
video brought me to tears. After so many years abroad, I
started to feel the pull of my old tribe.

It reminded me of S. Junger's observation. In the early
days, the European immigrants and the native Americans
were at war and captives from each side were common. It
was interesting that no Indian became westernized, as I
voluntarily did, and yet white captives got converted to
tribesmen and stayed with the natives.

All these are fascinating. I am sure more will be revealed
in time as I keep exploring.

[7grizzly]

> 因为在那样的环境里，人不紧不慢，一切都很自然而然，人的内心很单纯，很快乐，也很安详。
I already gave up looking for such a place by now ;-) It doesn't exist.

[GraceX]

你谈到了与以往不同的话题，我非常喜欢原始的，那种没有太多修饰，简单朴实，贴近大自然的生活，因为在那样的环境里，人不紧不慢，一切都很自然而然，人的内心很单纯，很快乐，也很安详。

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thank you, 暖冬, for your thoughtful comments.
Visiting back at least once a year, I actually am aware of some of the recent changes but am precisely attracted to the unchanged tribal nature of that society.

[暖冬cool夏]

This is a very well written post. Being away from our native land for so long, we could be blinded to or oblivious of the recent changes in some way. But we are rooted in that culture, and are easily reminiscent of the old days. Btw, you are quick and very productive in English writing. Good for you.