Charabanc

May 1st (International Workers Day) is a statutory holiday in the People's Republic of China. Prior to 2008, it was a three day holiday, but is now just the one day. However, it is usually supplemented by two other days to give the appearance of a three day holiday, but not being statutory holidays the extra days have to be 'made up' by working either the preceding or following weekend, which for me, means some extra kindergarten classes next week. For example, in 2013, May 1st falls on the Wednesday. Most workplaces, including all government offices, will take Monday 29th April, Tuesday 30th April and Wednesday May 1st off. As the first two days are not statutory holidays they have to be 'made up' by working the preceding weekend (27th and 28th April).

 

International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. The police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb at them. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators. "Reliable witnesses testified that all the pistol flashes came from the centre of the street, where the police were standing, and none from the crowd. Moreover, initial newspaper reports made no mention of firing by civilians. A telegraph pole at the scene was filled with bullet holes, all coming from the direction of the police." In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891.

 

Subsequently, the May Day Riots of 1894 occurred. In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on "all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." The congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."

In many countries, the working classes sought to make May Day an official holiday, and their efforts largely succeeded. May Day has long been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups. In some circles, bonfires are lit in commemoration of the Haymarket martyrs, usually at dawn. May Day has been an important official holiday in countries such as the People's Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet Union. May Day celebrations typically feature elaborate popular and military parades in these countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day

 

Many of my friends took this opportunity to go on mini-breaks somewhere else in China, but I had one of my additional days' work on Sunday, and on Tuesday the school I work for had an On The Buses stylie day out, which was fun, but also meant that I was unable to join anyone on their trips to cities that I would really like to visit such as Qingdao, around four hours north of Xinpu; a colonial city where the Tsing Tao beer is brewed and apparently has one of the most beautiful coastlines in Northern China.

We were stuffed into a bus with weirdly small seats and hoiked off to XinYi, an ancient town further south in Jiangsu Province http://www.jiangsu.net/city/city.php?name=xinyi.

 

The bus journey to XinYi involved lots of snacks being passed around and everyone and their dog getting up front to sing a song, such as the Beatles classic Ey Joo, or perform in some way to entertain the crowd.

 Esspresso candy... ??!!

 

 

Once we arrived, we posed for a group photo then went for lunch. It was a typically raucous affair that involved 45 of us sitting at very close quarters, demolishing a huge array of dishes and promptly leaving the second that the last mouthful was consumed.

 

If you were to build a theme Chinatown anywhere in the world, it would look like this. The tiny town has been scrubbed to within an inch of its life and packed with little museums and touristy vendors, selling everything from plastic Chinese masks to overpriced incense, plastic toys and 'typical' street food but at restaurant prices.

 

 

We were given matching hats to wear in order for our guide to be able to keep us in sight as we were herded around like retarded bovine.

 

 

Needless to say, the hats weren't universally welcomed and we managed to break off and wander alone from time to time.

 

 Emily and my colleague Bill's mum, Paula who's staying with me for a few weeks.

 

 

 Lucia, Red and Emily

 Bovine herding. Moo.

 Lilly, Betty and someone else. This is typical behaviour: posing in front of anything and not actually looking at it!!

 Sun = bad

 Sunny and Lucia

 

 

We spent the day exploring and being treated like rock stars as Chinese tourists would surreptitiously take our photos or approach us and give us a hug then ask to be photographed alongside the white-faced laowai. 

That's a guy in the hat

 There is always an area full of cooking debris or junk, even in the swanky gift shops.

 

 

We were treated to various performances which are continuous throughout the day and are intended to give you a flavour of traditional Chinese theatrical performances such as the Beijing Opera.

 

Being a typically naughty foreigner, I was happy to sneak off with my colleagues at the end of the day when we found a bar, and downed a couple of overpriced beers before getting back on the bus for a communal power snooze and a new round of extreme snack eating.

 

 

 

Although usually organised tours around gimmicky tourist attractions that are packed with crowds on a hot day is my idea of hell, the outing was fun as I got to see from the inside how the Chinese Do a Day Trip and I also got to meet some new people and make new friends and who doesn't enjoy a free lunch?! Another interesting experience to add to the memory bank.

Additional photos by Fish Yu and Lucia Da Vinci