The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

L h 5 ;. E g g g i I £1 P ; Reflecth3ns fronl China by Doug Bond vnRTI ' Through the drifting mist,the nearest tower of the Great Wall seemed to drift on the nearby ridge. Behind lay the fertile North China Plain with its toil- ing millions of people and mill- enia of culture. Before us rose mountain ranges on echelon, shrouded in fog and created with 6000 kilometers of battlements. Constructed with stone mortar, sweat and blood, this harrier was built to separate the prod- uctive and fearful farming folk of the south from the covetous and desperate nomadic horsemen of the north and west. We were enjoying a few hours of history and tourism before our delegation of geographers and Chinese interpreters-guides were to catch the train back to Peking. So some of“§ccepted the challenge of the dgfiant tower above us. From the trainload of visitors to this ancient place, a group of soldiers dressed in the universal green and red of the Peoples' Liberation Army also accepted the summons of the parapet. They were not to be outdone by the hearty pace of these 'soft' Westerners and we had our own version of the Olympics on an ancient track that was more vertical than hor- izontal. The last few hundred metres to that great finish line in the sky left me struggling behind. But I am pleased to re- port that Canadian dignity was preserved by two pairs of Adidas and the event proved a draw. Pride was mutually maintained and Canadian and Chinese laughter punctuated with gasps for thin mountain air transcended half-a- globe of language and cultural differences. ‘ Among the many memorable images of that day in July, the first in this facinating land, was the ride in their new and elite diesel train in an other- wise 'steam buff's paradise‘, the walk along the mountain road from the station to the Great Wall, the flashing eyes and waves of three girls, dressed in work clothes of the ubiquitous Chinese fashion, and riding on the back of one of the many coal trucks, and the modern parapet bristling with weapons of our time and de- fending this stategic pass to the north as did the #000 years of Wall in the mist beyond. to the occidental mind, these are some of the contrasts and seeming contradictions of a cult- ure that reflects the incredibly old, the modern the friendly, the forboding. And yet, in mseté ing with farmers and factory workers, apartment dwellers and acrobats, bureaucrats and bus drivers, it seems that people in China are 99% alike their fellow humans elsewhere. But our species seems to make great things of that 1% of differences. It is good news in the sense that it provides us with fascinating and colourful variations in culture. But the fires of misunderstand- ing and animosities are fuelled by our obsessions with these generalised differences. These are fires the human race can illoafford anvmore. It is claimed that the Great will is the only man-made feature visible from outer space by the unaided eye. Iet from the plane flying high above the China Lowe NORTH LEEDS LANTERN The Imperial Palace Museum, Emperor in Peking. about 200 acres, lands, or from bus and train, more striking evidence of the handcriaft of man are the endless lines of the modern irrigation systems. Millions of labourers constructed these linear rivers with the timeless shovels and baskets used by their Han anc- estors to build the Wall. And these new lines on the Chinese landscape provide the people with a measure of defense against the timeless enemies of flood, drought and starvation rather than the ancient Mongols for which the Great Wall is testimony. In spite of their recent obsessions with ideology, the Chinese are pragmatic people who seek efficiency in their envir- onment. Multiple use is an object of their culture manifest in these 1gations systems. The most v damental use of the dams canals and reservoirs is to control the historic cycles of floods and calamity that have plagued them. But these artificial river systems also irrigate double and triple annual crops of corn and soyabean in the north and rice in the south. Barges with sail or motor ply the larger water roads and pre-cast concrete barges with pole power carry grain, bricks, and almost anything else of an almost modern technology through the local canals. Water plants grow in irrigation reservoirs to be fodder for millions of Peking. fodder for the floppy jowis of millions of pigs of Maishen or Peking black breeds. Top middle, and bottom-dwelling species of once the home of the It has 9000 rooms in total, encloses once housed 20,000 to 30,000 servants and nobility and is surrounded by a 10 metre wall and a 50 metre moat. carp are kept in the reservoirs, are fed soyabean residue and, in turn, provide a staple Chinese food. But therea‘re still the beds of the canals and reservoirs to be used. Enormous fresh water clams are raised and harvested on some southern communes. And even these can't loaf around eating bean residue for 2 to 3 years to reach efficient harvest size. So they are injected with natural irritants that become cultured pearls for the Hong Kong Jewel- ers. No such symbols of capital- ist elitism and luxury must contaminate Maoist ideaology. But should we recall what the Europeans did with opium and China? There was the suggestion among our group that we could inform our Chinese hosts that earthworms could be raised in the soils under the canals and that they are rich in protein. But some of our more timid table members (a subgroup with which I must deny any assoc- iation) vetoed this idea noting the arguments that we still had a couple weeks in China at that point; that the Chinese were very anxious to note and implement any technological ideas and suggest ions we could give them; and that we already had some suspicions and qualms about the ingredients of some of the dishes we were sump- tuously given to dine. So we left the silt: of the Chinese canals only to be used occasionally by dredging and applying to the paddies as one of many fertil 12ers. Part two continued next month Any Questions About Marketing Boards ? Dhe Leeds Federation of Agriculture will hold its regional meeting on October 2h. 1978 at 8 p.m. in the cafeteria of the Athens District High School in Athens Guest speaker: James Boynton. Vice-chairman. National Farm Products Marketing Board open Question Period! EVERYONE IS INVITED! Refreshments will be served. BRING YOUR QUESTIONS ALONG: