True story: I was having dinner once with my (then) girlfriend’s Cantonese family at winter solstice. We’d all known each other for a little while but weren’t by any means on “family” terms. As far as I could gather, they were politely tolerant of my presence as I said nice things about their fish head soup. I’d been here for about a year. The dinner was an extra special occasion because an overseas family member had recently returned from New Zealand for a visit with boyfriend in tow. This boyfriend however, was no Kiwi. He was from Dalian in Northern China and had been living in New Zealand for just a little while. With his gruff demeanor and thick northern accent, the family did not take well to him at all and I sat at that dinner table astonished at their expression of gang-like discontent. It didn’t help the poor man’s cause that he insisted on cooking a Dalian specialty for the family: something with mountains of garlic and a river of vinegar. How could they, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, have less tolerance for someone of their own nationality, than me, an obvious fish out of water from Canada’s savage back-country? My education about this culture’s identity began that night.

Sometimes I get the impression that “real” Canton doesn’t exist in the city’s centre but in places like Shunde and Foshan and that says something strange about identity and commonality here. People seem attracted to countryside ideals and if you look at Lingnan history I think I’m onto something here. The cultural centers are in places like Panyu and Old Foshan and Zhongshan and Guangzhou used be about a convenient place to meet. A fork in the river. It’s kind of respectable to be from the countryside (only in a relative sense) where the mountains still leak spring water and the roosters still crow in the morning. Delusional romanticism. Why do you think Cantonese is vastly predominant as a dialect in South Guangdong? It’s a damned spread out culture that bleeds through city borders and permeates family lines. I don’t believe Guangzhou really has a city border though. Where does it end in the North and in the South? It kind of fades out more than anything but I suppose it’s easy to say that because Guangzhou’s not confined by a ghastly ring-road system. Thank god for that.

I’m amused walking around the Pearl River New City. No need to call it by its Chinese name because it’s kind of make-believe. I’ve tried to ride the new line 5 from the old city in the east and watch as some of the our senior citizens take the ride to check out what the fuss is about over in that place the papers talk about. Yeah, it’s kind of creepy and stalker-eske but I justify it by telling myself it’s part of an anthropological study. It must be hard to comprehend something so vast and so visually dominant like the New City when you live in an alley community where you’re on first name basis with the clothes-patcher lady and the guy that sells steamed cake on the corner. They stroll up and down those mammoth sidewalks like foreign tourists, pointing and discussing. Pointing and staring. Such a generation gap in this place. Why do those city planners got to do that anyways? Why does the Pearl River New City need to be so damn hard to relate to the rest of Guangzhou? You know what traditionally happened in the area where the Ritz Carlton now stands eh? They used to behead people there. It was back in Imperial times and the prisoner was given a huge plate of roast goose and a bowl of rice wine before they went under. I think there’s a saying for “roast goose and baijiu” in Cantonese somewhere but I’m not sure. On second thought maybe a 5-star hotel is nicer for the community than a place of execution.

Oh, then there’s the ominous Hong Kong forever lurking down past the horizon. When China shrouded itself in darkness, Hong Kong enjoyed a cultural golden age and it shone so bright that they could see it from Guangzhou… cruelly teasing them from a distance. The rest of China had no idea and Guangzhou had to follow along like good cadres. Today it’s more about youth identity than anything with all that suido-Japanese fashion and canto-pop music pervading China Square and Beijing Lu. This will probably change as our MTVs and our Vouges launch China specific ventures but it’ll take a while to die down here especially. Hong Kongers took what the Cantonese did well and refined it a lot. This forced cultural evolution is widely respected here and although there’s much about Hong Kong Canton people don’t like, they generally respect the place in a cultural sense which leads to a lot re-fusion between once old school Cantonese Hong Kong ways and real Cantonese ways. Also, ever notice that Hong Kong holds the torch for Cantonese culture around the world? I think that sucks.

So they don’t see eye to eye with the rest of China, they don’t necessary think of their city centre as a centre of culture, they’ve become confused and disoriented with a new mega-city within their own walls and they’ve had to put up with their cocky little cousin Hong Kong for the past few-hundred years… how do these people see themselves? Far be it for me, a dirty, heathen gwailo to answer that question but I sure hope someone out there is thinking about it for the sake for what’s bound to be a pretty weird and eclectic future Cantonese generation.

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