The Voice

Photo: Sander with monks in Tongde (August, 2010)

Sander and I didn't know what the police were so concerned about. We didn't know what we might have captured on film that would send an officer out to get us within minutes after we started filming. Maybe he was followng up on a complaint from a resident, such as the Hui man who rode by on a motorcycle that I happened to catch. Had I known he was Hui when he first came into view, I wouldn't have filmed him. I know the Hui (who are Muslim) don't like to be filmed. (In 1997, in Shijiazhuang, a Hui man once threw a rock at me while I photographed a Hui street market. I got the message and have since always asked.) Sander and I have done lots of asking permission on this journey.


Photo: Tongde, a town on the Qinghai steppe, but deep in the protected Baqu Valley with loess cliffs to the north and south (August, 2010).

But what if the police were concerned about us filming the many new communication towers and installations that line the rim of Tongde's gorge? China's military has made enormous strides in the past few years and Qinghai, the Amdo region of Greater Tibet, might still be a sensitive region regarding potential social unrest among the Tibetans. There are many Tibetans here. Tibetan is the language to know. In fact, as I write this in a little Tongde internet cafe, everyone around me is speaking Tibetan, not Chinese. If the possibility of social unrest is an issue, that might explain the army barracks, as well as the armed police barracks, in most of the towns we've visited in Amdo. If this was over anything regarding the military, I wondered if this might be a problem. So I prepared. The officer said he would be at our room at 8:00 pm.

Before 8:00 I looked up words for world, government, tower, and shadow. I wanted to be prepared to explain that a government that spies on its own citizens would surely spy on other countries. That whatever Sander and I might've filmed from the ground has already been photographed from space. That even if those images didn't provide the information desired, the height and many other details could be extrapolated from the length and shape of the shadows of the towers based on time of year and time of day. I played out the possibilities and came up with a short list of keys words to use and commited them to memory. I wanted to be ready.

I've dealt with the Chinese police before for riding my bicycle in closed areas. The Chinese police simply do not mess around sometimes. At other times, they make examples out of people. I thought of possible accusations and appropriate defending arguments and memorized key words. I tried not to show Sander how nervous I was.

At 8:00 pm sharp a gentle knock came to the door.

I opened it and invited the officer in. He was alone.

He smiled and handed me the camera. I didn't understand everything he said. So I asked Sander to open the camera to see if his film was still in there. It was.

The officer explained that everything was good. He seemed to be as happy as I was that there wasn't a problem.

He asked how long we would be staying.

I told him we'd leave the day after tomorrow. I asked if we could take pictures in Tongde.

He assured me that that would be fine. We were allowed.

I thanked him.

He thanked me, shook my hand twice, and saluted me twice.

I didn't expect anything like this. It was so easy. So quick. So pleasant.


Photo: After saving money in our spartan accommodations in Zeku and Heri, in order to get a shower in Tongde, we had to go with a suite for about $25 per night (August, 2010).

Once he left, Sander and I reviewed the film. The beginning was a segment Sander shot of the monastery in Heri, the town where we spent two days before our arrival in Tongde. In Heri Sander had gorgeous shots of the stupas and prayer flags.

Then we watched the short piece I filmed of Sander walking earlier that day. At the end of the clip, we could hear a voice yelling for us to stop.

A voice, a story, Sander may never forget.

I know I won't.


Photo: Sander at the bus station in Tongde. If one can navigate China's transportation system of busses, trains, and planes, one can go about anywhere in China with ... RELATIVE ... ease ... surprises ... hardships ... and rewards.