In August of 2007 I moved from Chicago, IL to the Chinese city of Kaifeng. I relocated there with the intention of imersing myself in the culture and to study the Chinese language.
I'll admit that this is not the most obvious choice of places to decamp to from America. I'm pretty sure that my choice probably even baffled most of my Chinese friends (very sure in fact). And yet I chose it all the same. But why?
First a little background on Kaifeng. Kaifeng is a smallish Chinese city of around a half million people. (I always introduce it this way in some feeble attempt to try to shift people's understanding of both the scale and depth of China.) It is located on the North China Plain just a few miles south of the Yellow River. It was once a great Imperial Capital about a thousand years ago, probably the most important city in the world at the time. Then came the barbarians (first the Jurchen followed up quickly by the Mongols) and then a disasterous flood of by the Yellow river (one of many) which completely inundated the ancient city and permanently buried it under meters of sediment. (That ancient city is still beneath today's Kaifeng streets.)
Generally I was looking for a city with a good/ decent University at which to take Chinese language classes. Somewhere where Mandarin was primarily spoken on the streets, rather than a heavy dialect or other Chinese language (This pretty much limited me to Northern China, though I loved the idea of the mountains and rivers of southern China). I also was looking for somewhere with history and charm. This is pretty hard to find in most Chinese cities. The Cultural Revolution might have done a lot of damage to China's historical treasures through its pursecution of the "Four Olds" but Reform and Opening has probably caused it on an even greater scale. But from what I had read Kaifeng seemed to have about as much charm as one could hope from a contemporary Chinese city.
There was a much repeated rumor that Kaifeng was blessed/ cursed with a decree: that due to the historical relics located under the earth beneath its standing buildings, no new structures of a certain height (and thus requiring a substantial foundation) would be permitted to be built. I'll admit I was at first truely enchanted by this idea when I first read about it in a guide book. Over time though I began to doubt it. And the veracity of such a decree has yet to have ever been verified in my knowledge.
One certainly verifiable feature of Kaifeng's charm are its most intact Ming Dynasty city walls. My boyhood love-affair with castles will never fully wear off and I was just a bit giddy everytime I traversed a city gate to go through them.
The other reason I had chosen Kaifeng had to do with my experience living and teaching SAT test prep. in Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei (or Taibei by its pinyin transliteration) is a wonderful city; briskly modern and surrounded by lovely, lush mountains. I could look out the front window and see the beautifully elegant and refined gleaming tower of Taipei 101, which for a brief moment was the tallest building in the world. I had a decently paying job and was able eat out at various foreign and chinese restaurants, visit the hotsprings, go shopping, and live quite comfortably. From what I had seen of Hong Kong and Shanghai, I think my experience living in Taipei could be extrapolated to most large East-Asian/ Chinese cities. One could live very well and comfortably in them, but that would require money/ a decent salary. Since I was planning on being a full time student and paying for everything (room, board, tuition) out of my savings I built up while working in Chicago I wanted a place with a lower cost of living.
One final aspect that drew me to Kaifeng was that it was a bit off the beaten path. I had been to China before; bookending my one year of living in Taiwan I spent two weeks in Shanghai, and then before heading back to Chicago I flew to Xi'an then road the long train out to Dunhuang. Anyone can go to Beijing or Shanghai, and many people do, but why not ground myself in Chinese society by spending a few years somewhere less familiar.
And so I packed my bags and prepared to (hopefully) fall in love with a little city I had yet to vist.
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