Vanessa's Journal

Feb. 6

Today was Chinese New Year’s eve.  I woke up in Lao Wang’s house. I went to use the outside bathroom and was surprised to find a giant cow staring back at me from the neighboring stall. As I would later learn, he is 6 years old and is in charge of plowing the family farm plot. I asked his main caretaker, Lao Wang’s daughter, whether they would ever sell it for meat. She looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. He is definitely a full-fledged family member who they all respect. That morning was spent doing lots of cooking for the big meals that day. Lao Wang was cooking a giant pig face on the fire.  He also performed the ritual of praying by the household shrine for the safety and good fortune of his family in the coming year. He lit incense, burned yellow paper (money in the afterlife), gave some meat offerings, and set off fireworks. 

Then it was time to go for some food. Lao Wang’s house is a little ways up on a mountainside, but the Chinese New Year festivities were held at his daughter’s house near the road down below. The hike is not long but is a little precipitous. When we got ready to hike down, Lao Wang’s grandson grabbed my hand.  thought for a moment that perhaps he needed my help finding his way down. But I soon realized that it was the other way around. He wanted to lead me down because he was worried about me falling and getting hurt. So there I was being led down a steep mountain slope by the tiny hand of an 8-year-old who is legally blind.  And he was right that he should be helping me and not the other way around. He knows that walk like the back of his hand, having done it so many times, while I had no idea what I was doing. He memorized the steps and at various points in the hike, he would point out the dangerous spots and tell me to slow down and watch where I was putting my feet.  There was one point at which there was a dramatic drop right next to the trail and I just told myself to not look down and follow him. It is in moments like these when it becomes necessary to redefine one’s worldview. He is truly a special individual.

Lunch and dinner that day consisted of insane amounts of food. It was all delicious and I’m sure very expensive. I decided that one way in which I could repay the families of my field assistants for having me as a guest at their houses was to take a number of family pictures for them. They don’t have cameras themselves and it is rare that they would have the opportunity to get pictures. This isn’t to say that they are deprived without many pictures of themselves, but they all seem to really enjoy having the pictures to show others and capture memories. In fact that afternoon, we looked through a few photo albums at Lao Wang’s house and everybody was excitedly recalling memories. A good number of the pictures were given to them by foreigners. In fact, one of the only pictures of Lao Wang’s granddaughter when she was young was taken by a former colleague of ours from our research lab at MSU. So I tried to get as many as I could. 

In the afternoon, I also got to watch the “leading the cow to drink” routine.  Lao Wang’s daughter Wang Qunyin takes the cow out for a walk to get water every afternoon. It was a sight to see because after he drank the water, he decided to start running waywardly in the other direction. Off Wang Qunyin went after him with only a small stick, trying to direct him to get back where he was supposed to be. He is a large bull and was definitely not an animal you would want to mess with, so I was amazed at her ability to contain him like that. 

That night, at midnight, we all set off fireworks on the balcony of Lao Wang’s house. It was a lot of fun, perhaps the most fun for Lao Wang’s grandson. In fact, all of the other households in the valley were doing the same thing. I’m sure all of the pandas thought the world was coming to an end with all of that racket!