23. Dating with China. By Viktoria Radnaeva

23. Dating with China. By Viktoria Radnaeva

 

My name is Viktoria and I was born in Siberia, Russia. I am an artist, writer and journalist. I have lived in Wuhan for the past 1.5 years and am currently finishing a master’s course in art and design at Wuhan.

I have spent in China 11 years now with all the “come-and-go”. I have many friends already married to Chinese people and raising mixed kids, living in an international society in China. Some of them used to move inside this “bubble” circle of expat’s life. They used to buy imported goods, eat in western restaurants, and spend time outside of the Chinese language environment.

 

But for me, the real ingredient of living in China includes the one I face on the streets. Talking with locals, listening to what bothers them or makes them simply happy. I am quite new in Wuhan and before moving here, I haven’t done a lot of research. Yeah, this city now attracts the attention of people from over the world. “Wow, is it safe there? How do people move, act, breath, eat, etc”. To be honest just her majesty Destiny brought me here. I came to study art and design.

I have spent like 2 months altogether under the sky of Wuhan. 58 days full of cloudy and rainy weather. Drops of rain were falling on my days and nights since the first day of arrival. 98 percent of Wuhan is connected with water energy. To be honest it brings somehow inconvenience while exploring but I prefer to keep moving. I just bought more waterproof clothes.

 

Wuhan is a beautiful city. Here you can find more than hundreds of lakes. It has a subtropical climate and is surrounded by palm trees. Now it’s time for sakura blooming. Tiny streets in the Hankou district with colonial buildings. Abandoned buildings just next to the East lake. I love moving inside those places with the shadows of the past. Getting the feeling of physical existence in someone else’s life. I feel fulfilled bringing myself inside those half-destroyed rooms, flights of stairs. It’s like opening the chapters of an ancient story full of broken details: used napkins, dirty underwear, and socks, pinky bed-set with holes. I was sitting on the edge of what was so-called “window frame”  and felt like I was filming here before. Maybe it wasn’t exactly this place, maybe some other urban or rural location in China.

I love to paint and film. If I were able to create the body of Wuhan I would like to keep those old charming houses, and narrow streets just next to Changjiang bridge. If I were able to hug Wuhan as a human, I would love to hug people around me. Street sellers on the markets of Hanzheng street or the old woman who were selling handmade noodles. For me the city is not just a space with metal constructions, roads, and multiply layers of buildings. For me, city is the human who smiles, cries, and shows me lots of emotions.

 

“ You didn’t try 热干面? Vika, it’s like you haven’t been kissed by Wuhan’s 口! Wait, I will bring you the bowl of famous Wuhanese noodles!”

“How does the surface crust of Wuhan taste?”

“Slowly getting some appetite for you, Mr. Wuhan. Might be multilayered and not easy to scratch its surface”.

 

I am slowly opening the curtains waiting for another rainy day. Suddenly rays of sun hugged me. I am quickly going down to the street. Holding a cup of my favorite latte. Coming down on the crossroads in the direction of Nanhu lake. A man in his 50’s is repairing shoes. Next to him, a vintage bicycle with the box of tools. He is smiling and singing a song about “The father mountain and The river mother”.

“How long you have been working here?”

“20 years.  It’s my space, I have my old customers coming here to have their shoes fixed or talk to me. My wife is an accountant at the university. My son works for an IT company.  Where are you from? Xinjiang? Your accent sounds like you are from Xinjiang!”

“I am from Russia, Siberia. I am a student here. New in Wuhan.”

“Wow! You look Chinese. Are you married? My son is not married yet. We have 2 apartments in this new building!”

“I am not married yet. I am still studying and busy with my projects. Why you are so direct with this question?”

“It’s a common question. I am a father and I am worried about my kid still single. Can I introduce you to my son? He is a good-looking and successful person. How much do Russian women need for the bride price? How much do we need to pay your family?”

“Uhhh! Is it true? I have heard about this tradition and even my friends were supposed to pay some bride fee to enter the family!”

“Yeah, the minimum we have to pay is 100 000 RMB for a bride. We are still working hard to find a decent bride for our son. Don’t worry, you will feel welcomed into our family!”

The practice of settling marriage through a “bride price” to be paid by the Chinese groom has grown to incredible proportions in recent years, especially in the rural areas of China. In my opinion, this practice is not doing women’s push for gender equality any favor. For example, the Chinese population has over 30 million more men than women, it’s also the number of Chinese men who will not be able to find women to marry unless they look abroad. Let’s see how my relations with Wuhan will develop and if I will get married in China sometime. For now, I am just dating the city itself and falling in love.

I was born in Siberia, Russia next to the world’s biggest lake Baikal. Russia is a multinational country with 180 ethnicities. It’s a very diverse, unique, and multicultural place expanding from the west to the east, from the north to the south in 11 time zones.  Russia is a mix of European and Asian subcultures with the same pronunciation of the state Russian language by all ethnicities. As the destiny being born close to China, I choose to follow my oriental path. Life these days is so unpredictable and the most important thing is to keep being Human and interacting in this international society. Both in physical, and mental directions.

My dream in China is to live in the fast-changing, expatriate-friendly, fast-developing reality where we all can go more deeply by scratching layer by layer and bringing more positive vibes into our life here.

 

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