China at the Heart*

In 2017, I wrote a novella about the charming sights and people I met in Wuyi Shan - the oolong tea capital of the world - and greater China. China expatriates who have read my book - "The Found One" - have remarked at how it brings back memories of their own quirky experiences in China.

I've decided that I want to continue recording those special memories of mine.

So here we go...

When I was sitting on a bus in Dali, a tiny old lady dressed in a traditional Bai ethnic minority outfit hopped on the bus, carrying a basket of corn on her back. The basket of corn was clearly too heavy for her frail frame. She sat down on the step near the exit door in front of me and tried to take the basket off her back. It was a struggle. Two onlookers saw this and helped her take off the heavy load. The old lady - free of her burden - stood up and leaned against the pole in front of me to support herself.

I tapped her on the shoulder. "Grandma," I said. It seemed like she turned to look at me, but it was hard to tell because of her crossed eyes. "You can have my seat."

I started to get up, but grandma pushed me back down. "No, no, no," she said, "I'm getting off at the next stop." To show her appreciation for my courtesy, she got a corn out of her basket and gave it to me. I protested. "No, grandma. You need this more than me. You should keep it."

Grandma refused to take the corn back and, instead, reached back into her basket and gave me another corn. I protested again. "Grandma, you are too generous. Please keep the corn for yourself. Besides, I don't have a kitchen to cook the corn in," I fibbed.

Grandma shook her head and reached again into her basket and gave me another corn. Feeling helpless, I looked around at the people on the bus watching us. My first-world guilt was amplified by their curious stares.

I decided the only way to stop grandma from giving more of her corn away to me was to offer payment. I pulled out my purse, but all I had was two 1 yuan notes and one 10 yuan note. Knowing how poor she likely was, I handed grandma the 10 yuan note. She rebuffed it despite my insistence. Instead, she reached out to my other hand to take one of the 1 yuan notes. "That's enough," she said.

Then she handed me another corn!

Four corn for 1 yuan felt like thievery, but I knew persisting with the 10 yuan note would be pointless. So I decided to sneakily try to hide the 10 yuan note in her basket.

She sharply looked down at my hand in her basket that she saw from the corner of her eye. Damn! She caught me! Grandma didn't look happy. "I hope she doesn't think I'm trying to steal some extra corn," I thought to myself.

I waited a bit and tried again. "Grandma!" the man across from me shouted out, pointing to my hand in the basket. "Don't loose the... ." Grandma looked around confusedly as I snatched my hand away before she could catch me again.

"Shhhhhh!" I pleaded with the man, who then read my mind. We waited a bit longer and then together we stealthily hid the 10 yuan note in grandma's basket.

As grandma got off at her stop, we smiled and waved goodbye to each other through the window.

The 1 yuan corn was still sitting in my lap. I decided to hand the corn out to the other passengers, explaining, "I don't have a kitchen to cook the corn in."

There is an expression in Mandarin - chuan di kuai le 传递快乐. It roughly translates to "pass on the happiness". I think that expression is the perfect description for this story.

*Note: The "China at the Heart" series will continue on the Keats Chinese Language School Blog.