I hope you guys are enjoying these ADVChina videos. It seems like we didn't know how fun and educational it would be to go through the footage in detail about these towns and areas we were riding through.
In this episode, we talked about the open drug trade in China. Foreigners who visit China (or even ones that live there) who don't understand the language, or talk to people to get to know the area will think that nothing bad happens at all. When you get to know the areas, and people, you quickly understand the darkness and corruption that is just below the surface. I remember a town we went to where the local party official raped and murdered a teenage girl, and got away scot free. In fact, he was still in his office right near to where we were.
Drugs are a different story. I asked some Chinese friends after this video, and I found out that the drugs we saw being advertised were in fact Ketamine, and most likely Scopolamine (but potentially rohypnol).
I was drugged with rohypnol in a small town called Boluo. I noticed that I felt like I was walking through molasses within the first few sips of my drink. The people who drugged me hadn't seen that I had come in with some locals, and thankfully my Chinese friends got me to the hotel immediately, where I passed out. I literally don't remember anything from my first and only drink to waking up hours later in my bed in the hotel.
Something interesting I found in my research on the small town we were riding through (Shui Kou in Jiang Hua Hunan), was that there are government records of everything.
Link - http://www.jh.gov.cn/jhskz/0500/jhzwgk_right.shtml

For a tiny town like this, it's hard to come by any information, but we were able to confirm that in July 2015, the resettlement of the entire village happened because of the huge dam project. Not only were we the only people to document the village before it's destruction, but we filmed it RIGHT before it happened.

Perhaps more interestingly to see was the small projects the government carries out in these little towns. In this article, they talk about how they need to control religion in the area by making the people understand the Party's stance on religious practices, and how to stop the "illegal practice" of religion etc.
I will be diving more into the lore of these small towns we visit in our videos to provide as much backstory as I can.
ADVPodcasts
2021-04-28 22:12:09 +0000 UTC