Finding a new area unexpectedly is always a great reward. Particularly when under the impression that nothing is there. By wandering further past the north-end of Maoxian (茂县) / Fengyi (凤仪) riverside path — itself an easy amenity to access — one will land in a rather typical-looking countryside neighborhood. Undoubtedly it is not that disconnected from downtown, yet it certainly appears that very few will ever manage to stop by here. There is not much here for visitors. At the end of the riverside, past all of the cool bridges, past the last column of street markets, and past the park pavement, is a community tightly and quietly focused on agriculture.

I suppose town outskirts should usually be this way; there is no need to try to search for a deep meaning. That doesn’t mean it isn’t intriguing. It’s deadly quiet and extremely refreshing. Much is grown here. Fruits, grains, vegetables, vibrant chili peppers… all grown at one location in a combination I have not seen before. I see more animals among the groves than people. The space is used so efficiently that tree branches poke into the road space. Their products could be plucked without any detour (although there is signage asking not to take anything). Too bad the animals don’t read.

The neighborhood’s roads are not that extensive, although the accompanying orchards and fields appear vast thanks to their density. Here, there are virtually no landmarks of any kind — nothing to commemorate Qiang heritage, no businesses attempting to lure visitors in, no government-crowned establishments, no patriotic symbols. The closest thing to a landmark is some kind of waste processing & recycling center. Even that just looks like it occupies somebody’s yard. Primarily, it is a very honest group of homes: a few of them large and modern, most of them impressively simple and practical. And surrounding them, a cornucopia of crops and growth.

---