Iwake up. My room is dark. Where am I？ I grope for the window， a thick and heavy curtain blocks the daylight. I move it aside and have a look. Ah， some US-American city. Uh？ Why the USA？ When did I fly there？ And which city is this after all？ … Slowly Igetmoreawakeandremember：InfactIhadtakenaplanefromBeiJingtoChangChun (长春)， hadn’t I？ That is a city to the far North of China， and the North is poor， and China is an underdeveloped country. Right， BeiJing is the capital， there they open the shop windows for foreigners like me and make everything as proper and modernistic as possible – but they don’t do that in ChangChun？
I wonder about my mental condition， perhaps for some fractions of a second， but it feels like an endless time. At last I note that there are Chinese characters down below， outside， and yes， now I remember to have arrived at ChangChun airport， yesterday evening I checked in at the hotel， and now the information sheets on the desk confirm that I am here indeed. However， this looks more like Philadelphia.…
I am preparing a joint venture with a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I have known Professor Xu (许教授) for years： He is young， highly intelligent， funny， open， dynamic， and quite ugly， showing protruding teeth.
We drive to his factory at the outskirts of ChangChun. Every ten kilometres my local time shifts back another 20 years： Here， ChangChun slowly turns the way I might have imagined it if I had had enough imagination. Horses and donkeys pulling carts with all sorts of charges. Heaps of coal in the street being shovelled on other carts， in addition to heaps of kale – ah no， this is Chinese cabbage， getting loaded on yet other carts.
One weekend， at my request we drive to the border with Inner Mongolia. I want to observe cranes. At the end of the 300 km drive we are back in the year 1398： no electricity， no water， the huts are roofed with corn leaves， the lake has fallen almost dry， before the huts peasant women are threshing grain by hand， with flails. Every 50 km I felt we drove about 100 years backwards in time. The donkeys are running free. Dogs roam. Children are naked. It is touch dry. I am getting thirsty just from the view of the drought.
Only one thing reminds me of the modern era， in which I live： My mobile always finds a full-power signal. This day， I will observe seven different species of cranes – and the way of life centuries before my time.
