CHINESE NEIGHBORS 中国邻居: Uncovering Tongdao: Newly opened, new place to call home?

On the second day of Chinese New Year we caught a bus through green uninhabited mountains to Tongdao, a "small town"(county population 200,000) set on the southwestern border of Hunan province. Tongdao is the largest community in the land of the Dong minority people, a small corridor at the intersection of Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. The majority of residents are Dong, but the Han population is increasing as the area develops. This region was previously home to a military base and thus was completely closed to foreigners. The military base moved out, and only in the past six months have foreigners been allowed to stay in Tongdao. In an online travel forum one woman reported being escorted out of the town by police in November 2014. A few months prior to that an ethnologist reported that the Tongdao Hotel was closed to foreigners. We stayed in Tongdao Hotel! The girl at the desk said it's true; only a couple months ago did the hotel begin to receive foreign guests.

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This map will help you get your bearings. We began in Changsha, in the north east, traveled west on the bullet train (dotted line) to Huaihua countryside for the New Year, then rode a bus straight south (solid line) ending in Tongdao (red dot).

Changsha to Huaihua -- 436km/270mi. Huaihua to Tongdao -- 197km/122mi.

I suppose you might be wondering WHY we visited this town of all places. Our very good friends are planning to move from Changsha to the Tongdao region. We are considering relocating as well! We'd like to. But there's an essential component known as making a living. If there is a way for us to earn an income -- likely starting a business related to Dong culture -- we would like to live in the Tongdao area.

This brother and sister and their children, friends of friends, are the kind people who showed us around town. To stay at the hotel we were required to provide their names and identification numbers.

After two days of walking around streets and along the riverside, go-karting in the community field, and climbing up the hill for a view, we gained a good sense of the town. People regarded us warmly, and to our surprise, our presence drew little attention. We talked with quite a few locals including this this smiling fellow pictured with Drew. Tears formed in his eyes when Drew shared that my grandfather was a Flying Tiger. Older people in this region of Hunan truly appreciate the efforts of the Flying Tigers against the Japanese. That night lying on my crisp white hotel pillow, I wondered at how my grandfather, who died before I was born, for many nights of his young life also laid his head to rest in this region. Of all places on earth, I am now here! Flying over Hunan in the 1940s, what did it look like to him? Did he learn any words in our local dialect? Did he eat any of the local dishes that we now enjoy? I'm sure he never imagined that one of his unborn granddaughters would end up here with her family.

We never know how Father is arranging our steps through generations. Isn't he marvelous.