Day 9: Yaxi (China`s first Slow City), Monday, June 25, 2012

After successfully and excessively taking advantage of the free time on the weekend, we spent a night in the wonderful nature resort like hotel in Yaxi, the first place labeled "Slow City" in China. We picked up the field trip program again and had an early morning start with rice soup, eggs and salt for breakfast. Some of us complained about their insomnia because of a supposed snake in their bedroom, but giving the lack of photographic proof we will not discuss this incident any further. As you will notice for yourself, this day will turn out to be fully planned and orchestrated by Cherry, the very warmly welcoming representative of Cittaslow and director of foreign affairs in Gaochun. But let’s start at the beginning. We loaded our luggage into the well air-conditioned luxury bus, which was also organized for us by the government.

Yaxi is China`s first Slow City (Photo: Heike Mayer)

First we drove into Da Shan, one of the model villages of the Slow City area of Yaxi. The air was thick and the sun was burning but we strolled around anyway, enjoying a health certified ice cream in between, but more importantly, speaking to the guides that accompanied us and who gave interesting information in surprisingly good English. We were directed towards the community center in the heart of the village where the village secretary himself proudly introduced the facts about his village as being part of the first Slow City project in China. This seemed a good moment to talk a little bit about the Slow City concept in general. Slow City was introduced as Cittàslow in Italy during the 1990s as a new, alternative and sustainable development strategy for small towns. The original idea meanwhile has turned into an international organization that certifies and monitors cities applying for the label. The goals on their agenda are environmental protection, focus on local products, integration of the community for sustainable social development and awareness for local culture and traditions. Any town that fulfills these policies and feels like they need to resist globalization and all the damages that come with it can apply for the label, as successfully did Yaxi.

Our hotel in Yaxi (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Tea fields are very prominent (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Da Shan Village (Photo: Heike Mayer)

The Yaxi region indeed is a scenic and beautiful region, with a rural and clean landscape with lots of woods and agricultural fields where tea, rice, grapes and many other products are grown. But many of us asked themselves: where is the city? It turned out that the Yaxi region consist of many decentralized small villages, which collaborate together to form the Slow City area. From the village secretary of Da Shan we learned that the number of households in the village is 203, the amount of ponds and lakes in the area 7, the actual number of residents 532 with two little impressive hills surrounding the village. As the political system of China is characterized by a strong top-down and less transparent governance, we could not reveal any information from the village secretary about the achievements, challenges, efforts and problems the village is faced on the journey becoming a Slow City and looking into the future being one now. At the end the presents exchanging ceremony was held and the mandatory group photo was taken.

Mario and Silvio exercising at the local restaurant (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Local foods at the "Nong Jia Le", which means happy farmer's house (Photo: Heike Mayer)

We enjoyed lunch at a small agro-tourism restaurant in the village, which was opened just recently by a returning migrant. It was hot as usual and the food was diverse and tasteful. In the afternoon the constantly growing group of officials drove us to a hotel where we were supposed to participate in a workshop and present our thoughts to the heads of the slow city project. They received us in a conference room that, without the moldy carpet, could have been a secret banquet salon for very important affairs with high tech screens, microphones, leather chairs and a lovely banner saying “Welcome students and friends from the University of Bern”. Due to the tight schedule, some of our group work we had done during the workshop time, we were not able to present our ideas and discussion points. Instead, we heard two more presentations from the Mayor of Yaxi and a planner of Gaochun, one on all the benefits and successes of Yaxi Slow City and the other on some projects that are planned for the future, such as wellness centers and other overwhelmingly big buildings and massive infrastructure. It is difficult to say if these new projects fit the concept of the Slow City entirely, but maybe some important points also got lost in translation.

Slow city workshop in Yaxi (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Since our own group discussions were very fruitful, it would be a pity to leave out our questions and conclusions. The group who dedicated their talking to the social sustainability of the Yaxi project concluded that the challenges lie in finding the balance between an endogenous and exogenous development for the community, to show initiative and cope with the pressure from outside. Environmentally speaking, we discussed that attention will have to be paid to the fact that the more successful the model works, the more the original slow attractions will be threatened. Special concern will need to be directed towards the transportation system, the management of waste and water and the integration of green energy. The group discussing the challenges concerning economy related issues included in their findings that on the long run it will be important to have both capital investments from outside and inside and to redistribute the benefits deliberately and also think about how to generate stable turnovers. And the last group stated that for sustainable governance, dependencies and relations to other regions will have to be questioned. Furthermore they will need to focus on the integration of local traditions and knowledge and build up a stable environment for bottom up innovations. In fact this is a very interesting topic but let’s move on.

Another obligatory group picture (Photo: Heike Mayer)

We continued our trip in the bus and they showed us (to the ones who were not napping) all the progress and development that had been made in the region before we arrived in the city center of Gaochun. The old city there actually was slow, slow in a way we had expected it and you could feel a relief somehow. The buildings weren’t new buildings with paintings on the walls to make them look like more ancient houses like it was the case in Da Shan, they were real traditional Chinese buildings. We walked around in the narrow streets taking pictures enjoying ourselves and building up the appetite.

The old city in Gaochun (Photo: Heike Mayer)

We entered a restaurant where another dinner was held and then, Chinese culture had its full impact on us. The four lucky students who were moved to fill the empty seats at the host table of the Mayor of Gaochun together with our professors experienced Chinese hospitality in all its glory. First the Mayor toasted three times to the whole group, thanking everyone for coming, appreciating our efforts and wishing us good luck for the further journey. We thought it’s over now, and we would be able to finish the day without the expectation of a terrible hangover for the next day. It turned out at least two of us were (not?) lucky and were selected by Cherry to toast with the Mayor and Professor Heike Mayer to show we are good students. Well then, “Gānbēi” (it means “dry the glass” and the Chinese take this very literally). They also never heard of the European custom to fill the wine glass only about half for sure. To summarize the evening: Lots of delicious food, lots of toasting and lots of drinking, hence lots of drunk mayors and drunk students, especially one, who’s name shall not be mentioned. It was a great day.

Step count on our pedometer: 8,886

Silvio Bucher, Urezza Caviezel