City Squeeze*

Well, they're burning down the countryside again. They do this periodically, maybe two or three times a year. The smoke blows into the cities like a tide of dirty brown fire. It's so thick and dark you can lose sight of your hand fully outstretched. It's eerie and confusing and that's not all. I'm sure there must be some ages old reason for burning the shit out recently harvested fields, something about nutrients in the soil or scaring off ghosts. Whatevs, bro.

The real scary thing is the chemical pesticides and fertilizers hidden in the soil; liberally applied and dangerously misunderstood. The color of the smoke is one indication that something isn't right: a freckly, sooty copper, the color of Satan's loincloth! It hangs in the air, stinging the eyes, settling in the nasal cavity and causing nasty, nauseating headaches. At night when the barometer drops and the air is still, it's like walking on a different planet.

The local governments, the same governments that mandate the farmers use these chemicals, are starting to impose penalties on them for burning the fields. They sell this stuff by the fucking barrel, and when the farmers predictably burn the fields at the end of the season, the government fines them for burning dangerous chemicals. What a mess. I was in Xuzhou last week when the smoke first came. Several days later I traveled a couple of hours by bus to a small town. Along the way we passed miles of charred wheat fields. No one has it harder than a Chinese farmer. No one is subjected to more absurd, legislated thievery than the Chinese farmer. They are forced to use this stuff, and then penalized for doing so.

I suppose it might be a small tasty thrill for a farmer to watch news reports of local officials and up-in-arms urbanites wheezing and coughing and demanding these belligerent, rogue farmers get with the times, and stop holding China back. Or, maybe it's just one more spine-crushing, heartbreaking indignity working its way into the soil.

*"City Squeeze" is the title of a Hong Kong comedy directed by Clifton Ko. Released in 1989 to modest sales and unfavorable reviews, it has lately found a niche playing on low-budget Chinese movie channels. If, by some bizarre miracle, you have a chance to see it, maybe it's available on Netflix, I suggest you do so. It has absolutely nothing to do with farming. It's about inter-office politics and philandering.