The Pearl River Jaunt

Time for another old letter, right.  So here's one chosen at random from September 2005.


... This will make your jaw drop.

The Redoubtable Walkers have just been up in Mainland China for the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend, traveling in ferryboats up the Pearl River through Guong Dong. Lovely trip, by the way, so they say and so totally off the beaten track that everyone they saw just stopped and stared slack-jawed at them, so they are probably the first Europeans ever to do it.

Anyway, Sunday night they're staying up in a Chinese boarding house in a little "never-seen-white-people-before" market town on the upper reaches of the Pearl River ... when something so amazing happened they still don't believe it.

There they are, right, early in the evening, wandering the streets deep in heartland countryside China, when they pass "the local nightspot". It was the only place open "so late at night" (8.30) so they peep in to check it out.

It was the saddest little disco probably on the planet: just a couple of flashing lights, homemade stereo playing Canto-pop songs, no actual dance floor and lots of young farmers and farmer-ettes sitting around not talking, drinking local beer, just looking bashful or playing dice.

No one glared at them peeping around the door so they slipped in and ordered a beer each (through sign language, naturally) They were there for a while, watching it all and loving every minute, when ...

... suddenly, right there coming from the stereo, they hear what sounds like the opening of the song "Treaty, yeah!!"

"Can't be!" they both said, but it kept going and yes it was.

Yes, Yothu Yindi!  Yothi Yindi!!! A Northern Territory Aboriginal band and here they are right in heartland country China.

And, if that wasn't jaw-dropping enough, soon as they hear it all the farmers and farmer-ettes cheer and stand up and clap along and when the chorus started they all begin to chant  "Freedom, yeah! Freedom, now! Freedom, yeah!" and start to dance. Obviously it's what they think the song says, and they were soooo getting off on it.



So, there you have it. Young Chinese boogie-ing on down to Yothi Yindi in the upper reaches of Pearl River.

I wonder if we can get this piece of news to Mundawoy Yunupingu. I think it would fascinate him as well because could anything else be so totally astonishing!!!


Later:

The Redoubtable Walkers say that the version they heard up there was actually this one: