Vanessa's Journal

Jan. 26

According to our official Wuyipeng weatherman (Lao Wang), today is officially the coldest day of the field season so far. It ranged from -3 to -12 degrees Celsius.  The poor chickens looked pretty miserable out there.  Actually, now we are down to only two chickens because four went down the mountain today to become edible subjects in the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities at local homes. It definitely seems quieter up here without them. Lao Wang said that the remaining two will be going down soon and then we will be spending the rest of the field season feeding our leftovers to the squirrels and wild birds.  Is it me, or are the members of the resident bird and squirrel populations getting fatter as the field season goes on?

Today I revived my earlier reading of the third panda survey.  I’ve also started a new ethnography about another Chinese minority group.  This one’s called “Minority rules: the Miao and the feminine in China’s cultural politics” by Louisa Schein.  So far it is an interesting read.  She talks a lot about the ancient traditions of minority cultures being subjugated by the drive toward modernity in the mainstream culture in China.  I have long thought that the current obsession with economic development in China is not only threatening the environment and my friends the giant pandas, but it is also threatening the culture of the minority peoples who live in the rural areas.  In fact, it seems like most of giant panda habitat is inhabited by minority groups who are perhaps just as endangered as their animal neighbors.  I think this book brings an interesting perspective to the topic and one that I am enjoying so far.