Harvest moon

To the editor:
    It’s the mid-Autumn festival here in China. A time for moon cakes and poetry that might otherwise be left fallow. As I wrap up my work for the day the evening comes into the city rather rapidly. Rising out of the east is the nighttime globe of the moon. Thanks to the physics of celestial objects this moon appears to be much larger and much brighter than normal. It is so bright that farmers can work almost all night to bring in a crop: Thus, the harvest moon.     China has few holidays. What few they do have are highly valued. In the U.S. we have had many years of developing our leisure. Typically, businesses work on staffing concerns so that everyone gets holiday
time and there is not too much of a dramatic surge in transportation and demands for services.
    The work ethic of today’s Chinese citizen is phenomenal. Part of this is due to a limited social welfare structure. if you want to retire in your old age you need to work long hours to get the money you will live on. The idea of Social Security is not unheard of but very few organizations or governments practice anything close to what we have come to expect. Thus, when official holidays do come about everyone leaves at once.
    My first year, my students and employer advised against trying to travel around this time period. If you do try to travel, buy the sleeping berth on the train and pay extra for first class. Otherwise you will find yourself tucked in with all the people and having to put up with standing-room-only availability. Not good if you have to stand for a few hours. And, I have witnessed at the big train stations the millions of people eager to get out of the city for a few days.
    But once the surge is gone, you have a few days to relax, the buses are not crowded and the more patient people are out and about. This is when you can really explore the city. One of the first things you notice is the number of gates, fences, and walls that make up the country. The Chinese love squares. Every project, property, or business is walled in. If you are going to build a house, the first thing that you do is to build a fence. Some of the finest exploration I have done has been to go through the small gates and discover gardens, private homes, and new stores. Its almost like having life-size Christmas presents.
    But the mindset of walling oneself off from the world often creates tensions that are unintended. Thus, the break in the year helps to calm people down and get them to thinking of other things. There will be much more on the gates and walls of the neighborhood soon. I just need to build a sure enough fence first.
Orpheus Allison
Shanghai, China
orpheusallison@mac.com