Crowd Control

In Australia, the Army is pretty invisible. While you might expect to see the ADF out if a hurricane blows down a town, otherwise you’re pretty unlikely to see a uniform let alone on-duty. It’s a different story here, though. Recently, I made an ill-fated trip to Hangzhou and saw this in person. After a hiatus of several years, an annual fireworks display was scheduled for the Saturday night that I visited. Such was the interest in securing a good view of the fireworks by the side of the West Lake, that almost the entire area was sealed off. By mid-afternoon, trucks were pulling up and disgorging units of young soldiers to keep the crowds under control. It was quite a display – just what sort of trouble were the authorities expecting? Clearly more than the handful of drunk & disorderly Australians that would cause problems at an event in Australia (or anywhere else Australians and alcohol are allowed simultaneously).

Meanwhile. massed ranks of police stood silently by waiting to respond to any disturbance with righteous justice.

On the way back, stopped for some noodles at a small shop near the railway station. It’s always fun to see fresh noodles being made by a professional.

The owners of the noodle shop weren’t speaking chinese, wore funny hats, and didn’t serve pork. Using my natural perspicacity and deductive skills, I realised they represented one of China’s 56 ethnic minorities. It turns out they are of the Salar ethnicity, and were quite keen to tell me about their homeland. They are a traditionally muslim people, related to the Turkmen ethnicity, and their homeland is in the region of Lake Qinghai.

According to him, they are from the smallest minority in China – Wikipedia says there are few smaller, but at a population of about 100,000, there’s not a lot in it. The man, whose name I regrettably didn’t ask, had a camera handy and showed me some beautiful photos back home – endless steppes covered in yellow flowers, and an enormous lake stretching off into the distance. Amazing – yurts, sheep, Mongol cavalry archers – these are what come to mind.

In general, it’s fair to say the majority Han Chinese are less than curious about minorities, and so he seemed quite gratified by the curiosity. It always pays to strike up a conversation.