Earlier this year, my wife started to watch videos from 
rural Northeast China. I was tolerant but not interested in
the beginning. I had the prejudice that almost everything on
the screen, especially fictional stuff made about things 
from the glorious Chinese dynasties, were total BS and tried
extra hard to ban them in my house.

But over time, I was attracted and even addicted to a few of
them. These videos were not made by professionals but by
real farmers from that area and were about their daily lives.
And they were very much alike the life I knew as a kid. We
shared many values, customs, and northern foodstuff, e.g.,
we celebrate New Year by fireworks, family visits and
reunions, and slaughtering and cooking pigs.

The farmers seemed ignorant in many ways. They seemed not
eager to pursue knowledge, money, power, or health like many
of us in the West do.

This might be just my fantasy after watching videos from a
couple of special families. But their activities were lively
and interesting. Everyone had a role to play but was not
overly specialized. They were content. A few tasty dishes
at meal time seemed to satisfy both body and soul. Close
relatives and neighbors formed a larger family where depression
was unheard of. 

And today, I tried a video made by a girl from inner
Mongolia. Her Chinese was not fluent and shepherds' life was
very different from my childhood life, but the music in her
video brought me to tears. After so many years abroad, I
started to feel the pull of my old tribe.

It reminded me of S. Junger's observation. In the early
days, the European immigrants and the native Americans
were at war and captives from each side were common. It
was interesting that no Indian became westernized, as I
voluntarily did, and yet white captives got converted to
tribesmen and stayed with the natives.

All these are fascinating. I am sure more will be revealed
in time as I keep exploring.