Every week they spend Friday doing art instead of working. This week they were colouring in mandalas. At the end of each session the art teacher reviews each piece and tells the creator what is in their heart based on how they’ve drawn or coloured their piece. After this they did a sort of tarot card thing where each person picked a card which has an attribute on it like focused or loyal or whatever. Finally it ended with a sort of zen prayer thing from the teacher.
Throughout all of this there was a professional photographer talking pictures. He insisted that he take a bunch with me and everyone else.
I made friends with everyone here. They were so happy when I said I loved Mao and that I was a communist. I discussed how I became a communist over the last 5-6 years and the things that radicalised me.
I ended up inviting one of the participants out for drinks later that night and I think we’ll stay in touch. She’s an English teacher in her spare time. Anyway, she sent through all the pictures that the photographer took.
All in all 10/10 wholesome experience and without trying to be patronising, these people were so fucking adorable.
Wuhan is a great city.
Bonus picture of me explaining my cool fucking hat.
That doesn’t quite work anymore because working outside your field post 2018/2019 even if it’s a cash job tutoring English in a cafe will get you deported (if you’re caught). If your visa is for work teaching English at X, that is to be your only source of income, if you’re hired to be a model or you are actually employed by the company in question, that’s ok.
And if you’re caught you can’t just bribe your way out like it’s the 90’s and 00’s due to Xi’s anti corruption crackdowns.
God forbid if you’re on a non working visa and try and earn money on the side as a token white person.
My friend did this in the 00’s. I was using that as an example of how being white holds cultural cache in china. Explaining why a bunch of randoms, might center a white guy in their pictures.
Oh I know, I’m Chinese. In Wuhan presently. There are bus ads with white guys smiling to advertise a dental practice everywhere. There’s still a cultural cache, but they’re not using random white guys in cafes.
Although it would be an amusing story for them, you don’t just run into white people unless you go to international bars or tourist areas, and they’re not always friendly.