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Life with a hook?
May. 31st, 2010 09:35 amOne of the Japanese shows had a brief glimpse of an area in China that was somewhat unusual, I think. Apparently once upon a time, there was a village with very limited access, except across a fairly deep, rough river. But they had worked out a solution, with a rope and hook. Here's how it worked recently...
Basically, a group from the village walked up to the side of the nearby river near a stone column, and stopped. A metal cable stretched over the river from the stones on this side to a matching column on the other side. Each person got out their hook -- a pulley wheel and a hook of metal -- and quickly tied a cloth around themselves to the hook. They hung the pulley wheel on the cable. Then they casually stepped off the edge of the river bank well above the river and pulled themselves across. On the other side, each person untied their cloth and took their hook with them.
They showed us school children from the village crossing the river on their way home from school, each with their own hook. Apparently everyone in the village carries their own hook.
They did say that the government of China had recently offered to build a bridge, but the village resisted. The villagers did let the government replace the old rope that they had been using with a metal cable.
I tried to imagine growing up in that village. I wonder when you get your own hook? And what about visitors who don't have their own? It seems like an interesting kind of isolation, separating those of the village -- the people of the hook -- from everyone else. I wonder if there are children who grow up and move away, and then find themselves growing nostalgic for those good times hanging over the river? Do they put up a rope for memories?
Put's a different twist on that old phrase, "Oh, I was just hanging around," doesn't it?
Basically, a group from the village walked up to the side of the nearby river near a stone column, and stopped. A metal cable stretched over the river from the stones on this side to a matching column on the other side. Each person got out their hook -- a pulley wheel and a hook of metal -- and quickly tied a cloth around themselves to the hook. They hung the pulley wheel on the cable. Then they casually stepped off the edge of the river bank well above the river and pulled themselves across. On the other side, each person untied their cloth and took their hook with them.
They showed us school children from the village crossing the river on their way home from school, each with their own hook. Apparently everyone in the village carries their own hook.
They did say that the government of China had recently offered to build a bridge, but the village resisted. The villagers did let the government replace the old rope that they had been using with a metal cable.
I tried to imagine growing up in that village. I wonder when you get your own hook? And what about visitors who don't have their own? It seems like an interesting kind of isolation, separating those of the village -- the people of the hook -- from everyone else. I wonder if there are children who grow up and move away, and then find themselves growing nostalgic for those good times hanging over the river? Do they put up a rope for memories?
Put's a different twist on that old phrase, "Oh, I was just hanging around," doesn't it?
