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| Danielle Robinette |
In the heart of Beijing, near the Olympic green, is the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park. Also known as the Chinese Nationalities Museum, it was constructed with the intention of highlighting the myriad ethnicities that exist in China. The park showcases 56 ethnic groups from across China through cultural presentations and replicas of cultural relics that represent the lives of these various groups. Of the 56 ethnicities, fellow scholar, Sam Whittaker, and I were particularly interested in a group known as the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority from Xinjiang Province in northwestern China. This group is currently most well known for their pursuit of regional autonomy and, ideally, independence from the PRC.
In our pursuit of the Uyghur section of the park, we passed a number of deserted displays and exhibits to the far end of the 125 acre park. The Uyghur village was impressive on two fronts. First, how incredibly different it looked and felt from the rest of the ethnicities we had seen in the park. Second, the complete disrepair that enveloped the South side of the park. It was clear when we crossed the bridge that looks over a 10-lane strip of Beijing roadway into the second side of the park, that most visitors never bother with the second half. As we continued we could no longer hear the school children on a field trip that had filled the North side. There were no more snack or souvenir kiosks trying to convince us to spend money on useless trinkets. There was nearly nothing living but a dozen or so abandoned goats at a different western China exhibit.
When we finally reached the Uyghur exhibit, we climbed a ton of stairs and saw replicas of a famous mosque and traditional housing. From the top of the exhibit, we had an impressive view of the south side of the park as well as the surrounding area of Beijing. From one point, I stood and observed the strange compilation of development that is China. On my far right was a massive construction project adding yet another impressive skyscraper to the Beijing skyline. Straight ahead was the Ethnic Park in all its dilapidated infamy. Lastly to my left was a Holiday Inn Express with a faux mountain façade on the side of the building that was visible from the park in what I can only assume was an attempt to blend in with the pseudo nature of the park.
After nearly a month here in China, this combination of images quite succinctly depicts my feeble understanding of the country. On one hand are large-scale development projects and impressive skyscrapers. On the other is a seemingly desperate attempt to revive a culture that was almost destroyed. Somewhere in between the two is the pseudo-nature and culture that has been thoroughly commercialized to bridge the gap between the China of our history books and the consumer China in front of us. This view of the modernization and development in China has been all around us for a month, but never had it been so clearly juxtaposed as today. The brochure given to us at the gate of the park says, "Let the world know China better, let us know ourselves better." While I may not have learned the lesson they intended, the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park gave a view of the country that cleanly ties up my contrasting views of China into one neat package.
Danielle Robinette, of Ft. Thomas, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is studying spanish and political science.