In traditional Chinese thought the world is divided into fives. The five directions: N, S, E, W, and center. The five senses. Five major colors, tastes, internal organs, creatures, etc. There are also five smells (I forget which they are, I'll have to look them up again).
In modern China though, there are three smells: Food, Putrescence, and Chemical. They are everywhere and intermixed all over the city. It is hard to get a true sense of the place only through pictures and words.
The smell of food is everywhere and is always good. People grilling kabobs, deep frying dough sticks for breakfast, stir fry smells wafting from street side vendors and fancy restaurants, and unidentifiable tasty smells from home kitchens.
The putrescence is from garbage rotting in the street, filthy water in puddles that you have to step over, 'night soil' either on the street itself or coming from various public toilets. It is everywhere.
Their are horrible acrid smells of various chemicals used in the building of a 'modern' Beijing. I am currently reading White Noise by Don DeLillo and I think of his "airborne toxic event" all the time here.
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2 comments:
White Noise was under my consideration for fiction reading; I chose Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow for now. I am curious to know what you think of White Noise.
Wasn't one of the five smells 'goat-like' or something like that?
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