I'm very interested in the cultural comparison between Pakistan and China, the library has a large number of tomes on cultural comparison, and as a journalist, I am used to observing with my eyes - they all say that the neighbors are "Pakistani", but how much do we know about them? The result of the field trip is this "Yes, we went to Pakistan."
I have been accompanied by 5 classmates in Pakistan, and we have studied and lived together in the United States for a year, and we have a deep relationship. With them, I met more friends. In this way, we had in-depth exchanges with more than 50 Pakistani friends who were as hospitable as Chinese, taking us into their homes, their daily lives, and completing an immersive travel experience.
Along the way, I've found that every Pakistani has their own little dream. Halong, an Uber driver, is experiencing a career and family trough, but he hopes that the little Alto who has been rented can turn over again and at least save money for his two-year-old disabled daughter to treat her; a bearded villager in the village of Peshawar Tsangili is in the countryside but has a world in mind, he knows that China is very developed, and wants to buy a high-end radio made in China; several villagers and children are in unison, hoping to become doctors in the future, because this is a decent job that can lift the whole family out of poverty; on the train from Lahore to Karachi, A recent college graduate excitedly envisioned his upcoming Chinese study abroad life, and 6 months later, the Chinese scholarship would bring him to Shanghai; on the night of International Women's Day, the first floor hall of The Pacific Department Store put up a slogan slogan "Strong Women Build a Strong Country", Elsa Khan, the female editor of The National Newspaper, told me that she was about to get married, and for the future family life, she said "If her husband can't do housework, I can teach him"; the tavern owner who is tired of working as a doctor looks like he smiles every day. But because of the India-Pakistan conflict, he often looked at his mobile phone in a daze, he worried about whether his Hindu status would be discriminated against; journalist classmate Mukesh was a guest of honor of politicians, and then President Zardari also helped him get american scholarships, however, Mukesh, who had the resources, was not willing to let the next generation go his way, he preferred to prepare ten thousand dollars a year tuition for each child to study medicine, because doctors did not have to look at other people's faces...
Although we live in different cultural backgrounds with them, they, like us, have their own little dreams, and they are all working hard for this dream, and they will encounter setbacks. When Haron blurts out "Life is tough, keep smiling", we can all empathize and be touched, maybe this is "people-to-people connection"?
Along the way, I found that the two cultures have many similarities, such as we both like rice and pasta; we also share similar values, such as valuing family, family and friendship, and even listening to the story of Avanti fighting Bayi in childhood. At the same time, there are also differences in the cultures of the two countries, and through comparison, we find that the things we are accustomed to may not be easy to understand in the eyes of the other party.
Nassem, a Baloch boy who works at the Gwadar Port China Company, who studied in China, remembers the situation when their three friends ate in the canteen of Henan University of Science and Technology: three Pakistanis saw the food and couldn't help but grab it and eat it, which attracted the sideways glances of the classmates next to them, and also heard a whispered discussion" "What happened to these three people?" Later, Nassem learned that chopsticks were used to eat in China. After reading The Stranger at the Lahore Teahouse, I agree with the Pakistani writer Mosin Hamid: "Thousands of years of evolution have shown us that touching food with our skin will make us feel good." "Going with the flow, I tried to adapt to eating pilaf by hand. Unexpectedly, when I was opening my bow left and right in the village of Zanggeri and eating a lot, my classmate Afredi was stunned and asked me: "What's wrong with you?" "Am I not learning to eat your pilaf?" "Yang, you may not have noticed that we only eat with one hand, and it must be the right hand." At this time, I found that the locals from tearing the cake to picking vegetables to putting them in their mouths were all done with their right hands. As for using their right hand, it is because they think that the left hand is used to wipe the butt. Only then did I know that there was still a division of labor in the left and right hands.
Cricket is pakistan's national ball and is a favorite sport for boys
Ma Guiming, who has worked in Pakistan for many years, shared with me his feelings about coming to Pakistan when he first arrived. He often saw men on the street holding hands with each other, some of them with ten fingers interlocked. "In fact, they don't mean anything else, they just want to express brotherly feelings." In pakistani public, I have indeed seen emotional outpourings between men, and I know it in depth, but we Chinese think too much.
One of the most heard phrases in Pakistan is "Inshallah", which means "but by Allah arrangement". This phrase comes from Arabic, which Pakistanis often say, often as the end of a conversation, such as the first person asking: "So say you'll meet tomorrow at 11 a.m."?" The second man replied, "Inshallah!" I think it's particularly interesting because when you hear the other person say "Inshallah," it depends on how you understand it. For example, if we meet at 11 o'clock the next day, it is arranged Allah; if we do not meet, or if the other party is late for a long time, it is also arranged by Allah. This is the mantra of Pakistanis, who often put "Inshallah" on their lips.
At first, I understood this sentence as "Yes", and I was frustrated repeatedly; I complained a little, feeling that the other party was prevaricating me, because I thought that responding with "Inshallah" was equivalent to not agreeing to anything, feeling like Chinese often said "look at fate", and even felt that "Inshallah" was a bit similar to "resigned to fate", a little negative. Classmate Mukesh explained to me that Pakistanis think this is the case, hoping that their subjective wishes will be fulfilled, but with Allah arrangements.
We met Aribu, a young Pakistani student at our homestay in Lahore, who we didn't know, and he took us to the Waga port to see the flag-lowering ceremony and took us to experience the local way of life - Sunday morning tea. This happens almost every day in Pakistan. I remember taking a taxi to karachi airport, and the taxi driver chatted with me about his daughter who was born blind, about his devout faith, about his job, which could only make ends meet, but when he knew that I particularly liked milk tea, he actually offered to ask me to be his guest, drinking a pot of milk tea on the side of the road and leaving.
It's an experience I rarely have, a sense of trust between strangers. Forgive me, I was wary, and I once seriously rejected a local who took the initiative to talk to him, and he just wanted to help us find our way, which makes me feel a little guilty to this day. But what needs to be explained is that this is the education we have received since childhood: "The heart of harming people must not be there, and the heart of preventing people must not be without", and the focus often falls on the second half of the sentence. Here I am not saying that there are no bad people in Pakistan who are abducted or even killed for money, I just sigh, usually people think that in the material abundance, people's kindness will naturally flow, the level of economic development here is not as good as China, and the expression of kindness between strangers can often be felt.
Interacting with locals and learning about local culture and customs, so that it is possible to revisit one's own culture, should be the most enjoyable thing for travelers. "Yes, We Went to Pakistan" is China's first Travelogue in Pakistan written by a journalist, all the way to walk, all the way to exchange, because it tells the story of flesh and blood people, may be able to bring some warmth to readers in winter.
Author | Yang Xiao photographed | Li Yingwu
Editor| Luo Haoling
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