Apr 7, 2007
China Trip Teaches About More Than Apples

When you go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, it’s hard to know how to describe it to people. I have more than 10 typewritten pages of notes on my trip to China but don’t have the room to share it all. I have more than 400 photos but don’t have the means to showcase them all. And I have hundreds of memories, but I don’t have the ability to put them all into words. So in my article on page 1, I hope I was able to give you even the slightest view of what I was able to see on the trip.

I want to take this opportunity, though, to expand a bit on what we saw while our group traveled China.

My eyes were opened to the level of control the government has over its people – and its tourists. While we traveled the countryside visiting apple orchards, government video cameras were focused on us at all times. I found myself trying to always stand behind someone else for fear that I’d be caught making a wrong movement or saying the wrong thing. I felt like an animal in a cage. Should I cover my notebooks as the video cameras record over my shoulder? Maybe I should be hiding my nametag? Are the pictures they’re taking of us just for memories, or should I be worried I’ll be stopped at customs? I already was nervous about being in China, as they turned down my original request for a visa because of my profession. What are they trying to hide that they won’t let a writer into the country?

Throughout our orchard visits, I was expecting to get an in-depth, exclusive view of how Chinese farmers farm. What I got instead was a filtered look at what the Chinese government wanted me to know about its industry. Some spots were informational only where we were not allowed to take pictures – that’s why you will see no juice-plant photos among my 400-plus images from the trip. And when someone with our group asked a question, between a poor translation and a vague response, we left the country knowing almost less than what we knew when we arrived. One response that was met with laughter the first few times we heard it was “it depends.” Though it seemed funny at first, it soon grew old as we were trying to get our heads around the biggest apple-growing country in the world.

And while Chinese apple industry members were more than reluctant to give us good information, members of our group showed our respect for our hosts by providing Chinese growers with knowledge that will help them grow their businesses. Our growers talked about recommended rootstocks, orchard floor management, tree spacing and a lot of other topics that will help the Chinese succeed.

Will this freedom of information end up hurting U.S. growers in the end? I do not know.

What I do know is that IFTA is the International Fruit Tree Association, and as a nation, China – and its growers – is as entitled to the organization’s expertise as growers in the United States, Mexico, Australia, Chile and France.

An Insider’s View

Even with the government watching, our group was treated to a view of China that not many people see – complete with police escorts through city streets.

While many travelers to China will see the big cities and tourist stops, the IFTA group got into the country and saw how rural Chinese live. We saw what it means to be a Chinese citizen without much of the glamorization of big-city life in a fast-developing nation.

More than tall buildings, we saw complete poverty. We saw garbage piled in the streets. We saw people sweeping the streets with a broom for what works out to be about $125 each month. We saw people living in homes that would have been condemned long ago in the United States. We saw animals – and their filth – living in the homes with the families. We even saw people going to the bathroom in the streets.

While I was expecting to see some of these conditions, I saw some things I never would have expected.

Even amidst this poverty, I saw the happy smiles of hundreds of people as they welcomed complete strangers into their homes. I saw young children speaking English, and many of these kids could carry on whole conversations. It wasn’t simply “Hello” or “Good-bye.” I am ashamed of myself for not expecting to see such intriguing and bright young people. It shows my weakness of carrying preconceived notions. I am so grateful that this tour not only educated me on the Chinese apple industry, but it enlightened me and helped continue my lifelong education of the world.

The rural Chinese people we met were some of the most welcoming, inspiring people I’ve ever seen. One family even invited our group of 81 foreigners – complete with filthy shoes – into its small home. And our hosts pulled out all the stops when it came to hospitality. We were treated like VIPs, when, really, we’re just a group of people from apple farms around the world.

One other thing I learned on this trip: the world’s apple growers really are VIPs.


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