New Streams of Life (4)
New Streams of Life (4)
I went to Eden Project today with my friend and his mother today. It is a touristy place in Cornwall as well as in England actually. But what attracted me about
the place was not because of its “being famous”, but because of its environmental significance.
Years ago the place, where Eden Project is now well situated at, was a drab clay
pitch. In the photo it was like a huge wasteland to such an extent that you could hardly imagine what could be built upon. But there it is: Two lofty biomes and a newly constructed wooden building beautifully located upon the once ugly pitch. Around it not a single trace of the past could be traced except for those friendly posters, reminding you of people being a deciding factor in the environment.
I appreciated a great deal that my friend’s mother took trouble to drive usthere. But to be honest I didn’t enjoy the project as well as the time when I just went to work in the fields. The walk in the two biomes was memorable though
. The scents from the tropical biome wakened up my sense of smell, which unfortunately had been numbed in the past by the incessant, stifling air pollution. The exotic mixture of moist and plant fragrance contented the mystery of tropical
forests, triggering one’s imagination almost to its fullest.
Anyway on the way back we went to Trango to get stationary for the business. I should say I was very disappointed. Walking around the cluttered shop acutely reminded my trip to Yiwu. Somehow Trango managed to get the low-quality cheap stuff
all the way from China, and is working on its January Sale. The shop was absolutely stuffed. So what do you think? My friend asked me. Well, what else can I possibly think of it? It was just a huge warehouse that potentially accumulates the waste in England. Isn’t that ironic, though, while only miles away Eden Project tries to get ride of waste, here Trango is spreading it?
Or maybe I have just been selfish. How can you possibly stop consumerism whilst
some place like China is striving to be rich by all means anyway? But it is just
, having been flying all the way from a country to another, a bit off-putting that you find one is similar to another after all. I really don’t like it. I don’
t like England to be invaded by low-brow ethics such as quality is no matter, and I don’t like China to be a land to spread that ethic.
Having been here more than one week, I hope that, when all the newness gradually
wears off, I don’t need to face the same falsehood as when I was in China. In
Pride and Prejudice, Lizzy, when commenting on Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, said that unfortunately “One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.” I used to hope that England and China wouldn’t be factored into a similar situation—one has got all the modernness, and the other all the appearance of it. But now I realize the naiveness of my hope, and I don’t know how far
it is for both England and China actually reach up its positive media reputation
.
January 30th, 2007
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