One Saturday at the beginning of November 2013, I dragged a friend to an archeological site a couple of hours from Shanghai. We had planned to take the 7:50 train, so we set our alarms at 6:00, as to have all the time in the world to reach the station; I still have to figure out why, but we arrived five minutes after the departure of the train. We changed our tickets and took the 9:49, after a second breakfast served in premature Christmas cups.
Mephistopheles skull
We arrived in Yuyao, a pleasant village in the middle of nowhere, at 11:30. From there, we had to take a taxi to the archeological site, some twenty kilometers away. By bus it would have taken us 5 hours, so I had called the museum to know the aproximate taxi fare; on such long distances you bargain and I wanted to have an idea of the costs. They had no clue, but at least 70rmbs, maybe 100. Accurate.
At the train station, a guy approached us and asked for 200rmb for the round trip, he would wait for us outside the museum. We accepted without bargaining, the price seemed fair.
At the train station, a guy approached us and asked for 200rmb for the round trip, he would wait for us outside the museum. We accepted without bargaining, the price seemed fair.
It took us around 20 minutes to get to the archeological site so therefore we had the chance to have a look around. Such a depressing and soulless town! It was not the usual country town, with streets full of dirty shops and people wandering around with no goal or purpose, but it wasn’t the modern town with tall buildings and large squares with kitch statues either. It was a mix of the two: wide streets, abandoned buildings and not a soul around. The streets had been damaged by a flood the previous month - another reason why I had called the museum, the site had been closed for a few days because of the flood and I did not want to go there for nothing. Some of the bushes along the road were covered with drying clothes and flood debris.
Once outside the residential area and after a few kilometers on a provincial road, we turned into a side street, a dirt patch covered by rocks and debris. Now
(I thought) he will pull over, kill us and sell our organs. Surprisingly enough, that did not happen.
We drove by some abandoned houses, built by a company that afterwards realised it could not sell them and therefore left them there unfinished. A few meters from the houses, a river. On the other side of the river, the archeological site. All right. So now what? We’re going to swim there?
(I thought) he will pull over, kill us and sell our organs. Surprisingly enough, that did not happen.
We drove by some abandoned houses, built by a company that afterwards realised it could not sell them and therefore left them there unfinished. A few meters from the houses, a river. On the other side of the river, the archeological site. All right. So now what? We’re going to swim there?
After a few calls, the local Charon emerged from a dilapidated hut. After briefly bargaining with our driver, he gestured us to board his powerful vessel, on the floor of which was a layer of water. This would not have worried me too much had Charon not opened a trapdoor and started bucketing water overboard. “We got on a sinking boat!?” Just in case, I documented the situation. It would help with the reconstruction of events once my corpse was found.
More on the wings of prayers and exorcisms than on those of the tide, we reached shore. The archeological site is divided into two parts, the museum and the excavation pits. As with most Chinese archeological sites, this site had been discovered by chance in the 70s. The museum houses the objects found during excavations and some artifacts were quite impressive for their accurate and precise details. Two aspects were particularly striking: first of all, this community lived in pile-dwellings surrounded by wide terraces, the kind of housing one can still see in South-East Asia (and Australia too, my friend told me); secondly, among the various objects, archeologists found steaming pots with rice still stuck in them! These people were steaming rice 7.000 years ago!!!!! If that were not enough, they also weaved on wooden looms, wore jade jewelry and produced lacquered goods, predecessors of those so famous in China nowadays! Waaaaaaaaa.
Beside the museum, the excavating pits and reconstructed dwellings with some statues representing daily life. Particularly interesting, a totem on one of the terraces, a reproduction of a utensil with a bird shaped handle that we saw at the museum. Chinese caption: Sun’s Bird. English caption: Phallus. ……… Maybe they translated it wrong ….. but when you walk to the other side of the house and see the huge statue of a woman’s hips with the caption “Creation” you realise that no, they did not translate it wrong, they’re just dumb.
The whole visit lasted a little more than an hour, the site is not that large. We then went back to the shore to wait for Charon and his boat moved by supernatural forces.
Recap
Where? Hemudu Archeological Site 河姆渡遗址博物馆 (http://www.hemudusite.com)
How to get there? By train to Yuyao 余姚 and then by taxi to the site.
Costs? The site is free of charge but the taxi ride is rather expensive (our quote for a round trip was 200rmb/24euros). Some bargain is required.
Where? Hemudu Archeological Site 河姆渡遗址博物馆 (http://www.hemudusite.com)
How to get there? By train to Yuyao 余姚 and then by taxi to the site.
Costs? The site is free of charge but the taxi ride is rather expensive (our quote for a round trip was 200rmb/24euros). Some bargain is required.