On Thursday we headed towards a small farming village just outside of Nanchang. Evelyn, our CCAI rep, suggested we bring some small gifts for the children of the village since they were on summer vacation. Most of the homes were very modest although a few were obviously "rich" for village standards. Most of the children were very appreciative of the candy and pencils we handed out. We were followed by a group of about 30 children, only one of which was aggressive. He was the oldest boy and at one point Madeline asked "how do you say brat in Mandarin?" The village girls were very quiet and shy where as the boys were pretty rowdy and rambunxious. We walked down their street and ended at the rice patties and gardens where they grew all of their food. We learned that the Chinese government owns all of the land and leases it for generally 70 years to a person. This happens because they are no longer taxed and this is the way the govt. can earn income. When they pass away the family members can re-lease the land and cotinue farming it. They harvest the rice in July and September but since it was so rainy, this July's harvest was not very good. The farmers are hoping to make it up this September with a large harvest. Rice is the main good produced here and if there is another poor harvest it could be devastating for the small villages.
After our walk through the village the group decided to eat at the very exotic restaurant called....Pizza Hut. I must say it was the nicest Pizza Hut I'd been too and it was refreshing to eat something semi-Amercain. Today we are headed to a Porcelain Factory and then to play at the park. We are supposed to receive our Notary documents and Mia's passport today. Saturday afternoon we fly to Guangzhou where we've heard it is beautiful with great shopping :) ~A
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