I Love My Neighborhood: Handan’s Guang Sha Xiao Qu

Welcome to another edition of “I Love My Neighborhood”, where I ask expats from across the globe to share the joys of local life they’ve found in their corner of the world.

If you’re just joining in now, feel free to check out the other cities that have been covered so far here.

Today’s guest post comes from Kelly, the hilarious voice behind Tales from Hebei. I’ve always been impressed by her story — Canadian girl marries a Chinese guy and settles down in small-town China? Come on, how could you not be impressed? — and I’m just tickled pink she’s agreed to share her neighborhood with us; after all, it is the setting of so many of her tales.

Kelly: Why I Love Guang Sha Xiao Qu

I find it hard to give my neighbourhood a name, because this city is so small that there aren’t really any ‘areas’ as it were, aside from the east part and the west part of the city (separated by the rail line, naturally). So I’ll simply refer to it as the area around the residential zone in which I live. This neighbourhood is probably not all that different from others in this city, but I love it all the same.

I’ve lived continuously here since 2009, but lived here for a year earlier in the decade as well. During my first stint in Handan in 2004-2005, I lived in this same area. When my husband and I married last year, he moved here. You might be thinking that this must be because the neighbourhood is just so amazing that I couldn’t fathom living anywhere else. That’s not exactly true – the real reason I live here is because my employers provide my apartment and transportation to the workplace, so they end up renting places for all the teachers in the same general area to make things less complicated, and because my husband had previously been living in a dorm accommodation provided by his factory. At some point in the future, my husband and I intend to purchase our own home and will move to another area of the city, but for now, this is our home.

A lot has changed, in both the city as a whole, and in this area since the first time I arrived here. Back in 2004, this area was on the very eastern edge of the city – there were farms just a couple of blocks away. Now, the city has grown so much that I could almost say that we live in the center of the city! This area was, at that time, one of the newest and most modern in the city, but new developments are springing up daily, and massive high rises are beginning to surround this little cluster of six-story buildings.

My Sweet Neighbour
She checks up on my husband and I, provides us with updates from zone management (like when they are going to turn the water off in our building), and sometimes brings us homemade food. She’s just like a little surrogate mom!

Long Hu Park

Long Hu (Dragon Lake) Park is just across a major road from this residential zone. This park didn’t exist when I first lived here in 2004 – it was actually under construction then! Now, it’s a large park with a man-made lake, lots of trees, and walking paths. It’s nice to have a little bit of nature so close by and the blossoms on the trees in spring are beautiful! A huge new cultural centre (we have heard it is going to house a theatre and museum) is also being built nearby. While the construction of it has not been my favourite addition to this area, the architecture of the building is interesting and it could prove to be a nice thing to have around here as well.

Street Food

Yummy street food is available just outside our north gate. From breakfast bing to noodles at lunch to late night chuan’r, it’s all there, it’s all pretty cheap, and it’s all very delicious! And every so often, a lady sells peanut and sesame seed brittle that I just can’t resist. I’m going to have to send her my dental bills!

The People
Being a visible foreigner is not always easy in a country like China, but being memorable does have its perks. The street food vendors, the girls who work in our local “convenience store”, the chemist at the medicine shop, the couple who run the vegetable stall — all of them remember me and know my preferences. And if I haven’t stopped by in a while and they see my husband, they are always sure to ask him where I am and tell him they miss me!

The Open Square Behind Our Zone

In the early morning hours, traditional music floats in the air as people practice tai chi. In the afternoons, groups of older ladies practice their dancing to echoing drum beats. And usually, at Lantern Festival (the end of Spring Festival), we are able to watch the huge fireworks display in the evening from the relative comfort of our kitchen window. It’s a nice reminder that the people here still love to spend time together outside.

———

About Kelly: Kelly Sandor-Yang and lives and works in small-town China as an oral English teacher. She spends her free time watching movies with her husband, trying to find clothes and shoes that fit that are not covered in bedazzled cartoon characters, deciphering Chinglish signs, being stared at, and blogging about all the strange things that happen to her. You can follow her on Twitter @kjsandor and check out her website Tales from Hebei.

All photos courtesy of the author.