We learned today of the plight since we were last here in 2000 of one of the neighbor families here in Anhai.

A few years back, the Chinese stock markets were on fire, and some people were becoming quick millionaires on paper. Some members of this neighbor family were apparently quite adept at picking stocks. Word of their success spread quickly, and soon other people in town were entrusting them with their investments–just with a handshake, mind you. No contracts or risk clauses in the mix, and they were just doing this “as a favor” and for a slight “administrative fee.”

Things went well for awhile, but then their luck ran out and–long story short–they suddenly owed these other people cumulatively over 1 million Chinese Yuan, about $124,000.00 U.S. dollars. Unfortunately, they didn’t exactly have this on hand, and things grew tense as the “investors” began demanding their money back.

One morning the town woke up to find the family gone, fled for parts unknown. Only then did the local authorities get involved, but they simply padlocked the home’s front gate and doors. Maybe to prevent looting?

But this is an industrious, cunning, entrepreneurial town, this Anhai, so ere long some people had cut the locks, maybe with an “administrative fee” to the police to look the other way, took unofficial possession of the home, and began renting out the rooms and floors to other people, with proceeds going back into a fund to repay the investment debts.

Of course the new self-appointed landlords are keeping an “administrative fee” for themselves, and so the economy here continues to spin.

My Daughters and their two Chinese Cousins had never met before yesterday, and despite not having a wholly common language, they’re getting along pretty well. I guess they speak the same language of toys and games and their Grandma’s pet turtle easily enough. My girls understand Mandarin Chinese suitable to their ages, despite being reluctant to speak it too much right now, but the local dialect here is MinNanHua, the source of so-called “Taiwanese” Chinese. So sometimes they, and I, are left out of the conversations.

So far, though, the conversations have been pretty basic: unpacking, drinking tea, eating, sleeping, playing–nothing too challenging as we’re settling in. But this is just our first full day here. There will be plenty of time for sensory overload as we go along. The 15-day Chinese New Year festival begins in just a few days, for starters.

Speaking of sensory overload, this amused me: the last times we were here for Chinese New Year, in ’96 and ’97, my Mother-In-Law was the paragon of celebrations and libations, lighting firecrackers and burning offeratory “Hell Money” with the best of them. Today, though, she showed us her official “Fireworks Volunteer Police” armband, telling us how she’s part of a neighborhood watch program to warn and report anyone in the neighborhood who rings in the Year of the Dog with a bit too much gunpowder, smoke and fire.

First of all, I’ve decided not to use names of family members in the blog, partly for generic reasons of privacy–plus, knowing names won’t necessarily add that much to the story for you–but also because there could be too many names for you to keep track of. Therefore, I’ll name everyone by their relationship to me, such as “My Wife,” “My Mother-In-Law,” “My Wife’s Younger Sister’s Husband,” and so on.

It’s more typing for me to do this, but this is China, where relationships are everything anyway, so that’s the nomenclature we’re going to go with. (And thanks to those of you who know us personally for not mentioning names if you leave comments.)

GENERATION ONE

My Father-In-Law passed away in 2001; my Mother-In-Law is about 61 years old.

GENERATION TWO

My Wife’s Elder Sister is about 35. She divorced a few months ago, so I guess I won’t have too many anecdotes about “My Wife’s Elder Sister’s Husband.”

My Wife is 33. I, the foreigner in this Chinese family, am 39.

My Wife’s Younger Sister is about 31; her husband is the same age.

My Wife’s Younger Brother is 29–and eligible, ladies. He’s had lots of introductions to potential wives, but hasn’t fallen for any of them yet. He still lives here in Anhai, but I think he has other places in mind. Good guy, nearly American (in the good way) in his sensibilities.

GENERATION THREE

My Wife’s Elder Sister has a 7-year-old son.

My Wife and I have two Daughters, ages 2 and 4.

My Wife’s Younger Sister and her Husband have a Daughter, age 5.

I expect to add more anecdotes and information about everyone during our visit here, so we’ll leave the descriptions at that for now.

A few words on the notable absences in this family tree.

My Father-In-Law passed away (heart attack) in 2001, the day after returning from Guangzhou, having successfully obtained a visa to come visit us in Seattle. He and my Mother-In-Law were going to leave just a few days later for the U.S. to be there for the birth of our first Daughter, who was born three weeks later.

My Wife’s Younger Sister had twins five years ago, a boy and a girl, but the boy died less than two weeks later.

And I already mentioned my Wife’s Elder Sister’s recent divorce.

There are, of course, stories behind each of these absences; maybe I’ll find time for some of them during our visit.

We haven’t all been together since March of 2000. This Chinese New Year, we’ll be getting used to some absences and some new little faces at the festival table.