Ethnic Village Museum and Varying Responses

Varying responses. Yesterday we went with some of the other “foreign experts”, which connotes expat teachers, on a field trip to the Chinese Ethnic Villages Museum. It is a large park right in the middle of Beijing. It highlights the 56 recognized ethnic groups represented in China. Some of these are the main population, such as Han. Some are very, very small, consisting of only about 5,000 people. Some are persecuted minorities such as Uygurs. There were restored houses, and a few exhibitions of dances, or throwing water at one another to represent luck. Our university guide estimated that there might be 100,000 visitors there, mostly school groups….and groups of expats. Overall there really were very, very few actual people representing ethnic groups. It was a lovely park and very restful as I sat and read while everyone else walked the miles necessary to see the park.

However, besides the park itself, there were other examples highlighting the varying responses of differing groups of people. Rick spent most of the time walking with a post doc mathematic student from India. Rick really enjoyed this. I was listening as Rick told him a story that Rick often relates to others about a minority area in the US, specifically KY elections. He often tells the story about observing the wife of a candidate for a county position standing at the ballot box offering $10, $20 to vote for her husband. The gentleman from India began to question Rick. What size was the county? How much was the budget for the position? Etc. Rick could not answer these questions. The man finally said, “Well, the only reason to bribe at an election is if you can get more return than you have spent for the bribing.” I have heard Rick tell this story many, many times. NO other person has ever asked those questions and made that observation. I guess it is indicative of someone who knows more about elections than most of us from the US. Varying responses.