Zuitou Village (¼LÀY§ø)
We hadn't had much of a breakfast, and it was 2 p.m. by the time we arrived, so we first stopped by Liu's house for lunch. There we had big bowls of fresh noodles (the Shanxi staple) with ingredients mixed in to each person's liking (the Shanxi way).
Coincidentally, Liu's father returned from grazing the goats at the same time. I was stuffed after one bowl, but he managed to down two whole bowls, surprising for his age and stature. (Even after an afternoon of hiking around, that night I could still only finish one bowl, while he had yet two more!)
After lunch, we set about exploring the area. We had only the afternoon to spare in Zuitou, since we would have to leave first thing next morning, unfortunate because there was so much to see nearby.
One part of Zuitou:
Here's a shot of a typical new-style yaodong. Most families had gathered what they could of their ruined Jujube crop and were in the process of drying them in front of their house.
The village received electricity in 1995; of course, the first thing you want with your electricity is satellite cable TV.
As with most other Loess Plateau communities, Zuitou has a fair number of old yaodong intermixed with the new, a few of which are still inhabited. This near-deaf woman lives alone in her one-room yaodong:
Other than for storage, some old yaodongs are partially maintained for sentimental reasons. Here, however, neglected yaodong have seen an average of 15-25 years of buildup caused by erosion from above.
There were still a few trees with Jujubes left on them. Here comes one villager with a long pole to knock them down for collection.
Jujubes salvaged from the disaster.
Simply by walking around, we were amazingly lucky and ran into three good interviews.
The first was the village representative in the 60's. He actually visited Dazhai along with representatives from other villages, and spent a week there learning the methods for controlling the land to bring them back to Zuitou. In fact, when we met him he happened to be repairing a terrace. He was actually taking dirt from the top of the terrace (1) and smacking it onto the wall (2) before packing it in place with the back of his shovel (3).
The technology to build and maintain terraces was instrumental in repairing the damage done by the Great Leap Forward, and allowed impoverished, starving villages across China's heartland to feed themselves again.
Notice the cotton in his pocket. In Zuitou they grow small amounts of it for their own use. (Also, that's a potato in his hand.)
Next we met the former village leader (in the 60's). He related tales of hunger (no food for days), eating tree leaves (when available), and working day and night to construct terraces (set up lights). "We only got one or two good meals a year until the 80s."
Not long into our conversation with him did the current village leader just happen to pass by. According to him, both "lower" Zuitou and "upper" Zuitou (higher in the mountains behind where we were) have a "population" of about 900, but because only about 450 people actually live there, they can no longer maintain all the terraces, which explains why the village is literally falling apart.
The current village head is on the right, the old one on the left (in front of his house):
That night we stayed in Liu's yaodong, sleeping on a standard "kang" (earthen bed heated in the winter). Here's his house, below which you can see the roof of another.
Just as we were preparing to sleep, a light rain set in, prompting Liu to move his car down the road and out of the village in case the roads became unmanageable.