All Aboard! (Part 2)

Not my favorite part.

At the conclusion of part 1, we had finally arrived at our quarters for the evening. Six hours later we awoke to our alarms to kick off a day that has marked dramatic history. Breakfast consisted of two baozi and a hard-boiled egg. After the jump you can read about the exciting 20 hours that followed.





From the hotel dorm we were hustled to a hotel a few blocks away where a three person crew was managing hair and make-up. The crew gave more attention to my hair than it typically receives in a month, quite possibly taking ten minutes to comb and sculpt it. I confess I felt a bit like George Clooney by the time they finished and every hair on my head was in a carefully chosen position.

Choose your disguise.

My friend Finn somewhat stumped the friendly crew. Her short dyed hair  was uncommon for the period and left them perplexed. However, after a few minutes of discussion, they set about with curling irons, hairspray, and blow dryers and crafted her a look that looked like it belonged to a flapper.

While the crew was extremely polite and friendly,  my biggest disappointment is that none of us got to have fake facial hair applied for the project. A fu manchu might have been a bit much but certainly an "evil goatee" could have been arranged.

On Your Left...

What happened next were some of the greatest ten minutes of travel I have experienced this year in China. First, our driver stopped at a convenience store for what I can only imagine was a bag containing a bottle of baijiu and pack of cigarettes to pass the time while he waited during the day.

Then, along three km of road we passed three amazing landmarks. First, on our left we passed a nuclear power plant. Cooling towers and all stood proudly alongside the road. Sadly, I was unable to get a clear photo of the facility (and on the way back, the driver took a different route so the one photo I have is blurry, dark, and distant).

Sadly, this is the best picture...

Next, we passed what appeared to be an open top mining operation.  Again, this was at most 2km from the nuclear power plant, so you could have a foot race that passed by both these landmarks.

Finally, we crossed a bridge and below in the river was a tiny island with a shack built on it. I have no idea why there was a shack in the middle of the river (the climate seemed to hot to support icefishing); however, I  do know that if you lived on the island you could give a very unique and cool set of directions to your house.

1. Drive out of the city.
2. Pass the Nuclear power plant and take the next left.
3. You should pass a strip mine on your right. 
4. Stop after the bridge and park.

While we passed these interesting landmarks, there was also a rather fascinating movie playing. The film was a Leslie Nielson-esque comedy about a spy. The spy had a penchant for wearing a rainbow colored tie (due to ignorance of the word 'inconspicuous' or just a supporter of the family-- I have no idea). He also had an obsession with women which was brought to the fore in a scene where he failed his primary objective because he couldn't stop gawking at female passers-by and magazine covers. I wish I knew the title of the movie or even the spies name, but without sound, I was limited to watching the visual gags unfold and assuming humorous dialogue would have accompanied it.

A Change of Scenery

When we arrived at the set it quickly became clear we were to be in a film that revolved heavily around a locomotive. Throughout the day, we learned more about the production and the fact that it was in fact the story of China's first railroad. A significant part of China's movies and television borrows from the coutnries vast history. Unlike American media which tends to look to the future, the Chinese media typically looks to the past. 

As a westerner, it is difficult for me to fully grasp the reasoning behind this. However, it seems to be pretty simple. Why would a writer try and imagine an entirely new world when they can simply pluck an existing story, quickly embellish it, and release it? It is more efficient after all, and most stories fit into predictable patterns anyway.  By contrast, America has existed such a short time, it seems only proper that Hollywood looks to the future for the setting of their movies. 

However, I believe there is more to it than that. First of all, China is a country that has changed immensely over time and continues to change at a startling pace. Things that exist or are norms today may very well disappear tomorrow. In that sort of world, there is immense value in stability and historical dramas help provide that sense of stability (albeit with the biased lens of whatever norms are in vogue). Further, ( warning: you will have to draw some connections here) imagining stories set in the future necessitates imagining what society and china will be like in the future and if there aren't significant changes, it may as well be set in the present.

10 hours of filming for one scene...

While the trip was a marvelous adventure, the portion where we actually were filming was nothing but a traditional film shoot which means "hurry-up and wait!" was the order of the day. With the exception of one friend who apparently had a significant role in the great train uprising, the rest of us settled into our new careers as journalists around the end of the 1800's. Rather than provide extensive commentary on this portion, I'll let you enjoy a short youtube clip and a deluge of pictures!

Ticket to Ride

After all the big action of the day, it was a breath of fresh air when we finally arrived at the new train station. The ghostly station lacked the normal vendor stalls and had abandoned apartments mirrioring its shiny new facade. 

The station only services the new bullet train line which explained the lack of people. With tickets costing significantly more and trains running throughout the day, we were some of perhaps 19 people boarding at that station. This sort of experience is rare in China and felt a bit lonely compared to the normal moshing you experience at gates and stations.

Having never ridden a bullet train, I was ebullient despite minimal food, sleep, and lugging around my daypack. We boarded the train and ignored our assigned seating as we chose window seats along the car. As the train departed the platform and fireworks illuminated the cityscape marking the culmination of Spring Festival, the train's acceleration to  306 km/hr emphasized how far China had come since the unveiling of its first train some 150 years earlier.