I just read a very insightful blog post about Zhengzhou, written by a young American who used to teach here. It’s entitled “Zhengzhou is No Six Foot Town’’ and I’m reprinting it for those too lazy to click on this link:
One of my favorite albums of all time, and the only country music album I truly love, is Horse of a Different Color by Big & Rich. Both Big Kenny and John Rich have great voices, I find their music — heavily influenced by classic blues and rock & roll — both unique and genius, and their lyrics resonate with me.
One of their songs, “Six Foot Town,” frequently played in my head while I was living in Zhengzhou. You can check out the lyrics here, but if you do not care to do that, here is the chorus so that you have an idea what the song is about:
- It’s hard to get around in a six foot town
- When you’re ten feet tall everything is so small
- I’m always bumping my head
- I’m way to long for my bed
- Yeah, it’s hard to get around in a six foot town.
When I lived there, I always viewed Zhengzhou as a six foot town. I saw the way of life and the people as simple, and I saw myself as more complex and sophisticated. I frequently thought I was too big for it. I loved to visit Shanghai because I saw it, the booming international metropolis, as a ten foot town.
When I was engaged in thoughtful conversation with some Zhengzhou residents a couple nights ago, discussing the virtues of Zhengzhou’s simple way of life and the negatives that are created when one focuses too heavily on materialism, I thought about Shanghai and the materialism and excess that dominates almost every facet of life in the city, and “Six Foot Town” popped into my head.
It popped into my head because it hit me that Shanghai is a town crawling with six foot people—single-minded souls, spending all of their energy trying to shine and trying to keep up with the Chens, who are slaves to the Shanghai paper chase.
Most of my friends and acquaintances in Zhengzhou are nothing like this. Most of these people live simply, but they are not simple. They are individual thinkers who have made a decision that an excessive, materialistic lifestyle is not right for them, and they have made the conscious decision to escape/reject materialistic environments and ideals, and to live in a place in which they are not chasing an American or a Chinese dream but are just living the way they see best, surrounded by people who are important to them. These people are ten foot people, and Zhengzhou — or at least the realms of Zhengzhou with which I have an intimate connection — is no six foot town.
