Homemade Shotguns & Wild Chickens

Yesterday evening, as I was driving up a curvy, dusty mountain road just a few miles outside of town, I saw a guy standing just a hundred or so yards off the road on the edge of a field… wielding a shotgun!

Now those of you who are Americans are probably thinking, “What’s the big deal?”. Well, in China, seeing anyone who is not in uniform with a gun in their hands is a HUGE deal. Guns in the hands of anyone who is not military or police is illegal.

So this guy is standing on the edge of a field with a shotgun in his hands. I immediately feel the desire to stop and go talk to the guy… but I am heading up the mountain to try and get high enough to see a beautiful sunset, not chat with a shotgun-wielding farmer. So I decide to keep on driving ..besides, the guy also saw me and was already moving off in the other direction.

Just a couple minutes later, after a few more switchbacks on the dusty, mountain road, I see the guy again, but this time even closer. My curiosity got the best of me and I pulled over in the next possible spot. I jumped out of the car and started walking along the edge of one of the terraced fields towards the guy. He sees me coming and ducks behind a little ridge. I see where he is going and hike uphill a little ways and down behind the same ridge the guy just hid behind. And there he is, staring at me with a shy smile, the shotgun still in his hands.

I was just getting ready to great the man, when, my cell phone rings. My wife is on the phone asking if I can come to dinner where she was visiting a friend of hers. I politely refused and told her that I was talking to a man with a shotgun. She said, “What!?”. I told her to call me in 20 and that I was busy at the moment.

So I was finally able to greet the smiling, shotgun-toting farmer. He didn’t run this time, but acted a little nervous. I asked him if he was hunting or not (I knew he was). He said yes, that he was hunting “ye ji” (pheasant or literally, wild chickens). I have personally seen gobs of pheasant in these hills so that didn’t surprise me a bit.

I then asked him if it was legal to have a gun and hunt. He said no and I told him not to worry because I am not a police officer. I reached out my hand to see if he would let me hold the gun, and he did. That was when I noticed that it was not a professionally made gun. It was obviously handcrafted at home (extremely light!) and when I asked he confirmed that he had made it himself. I asked what kind of bullet he used and he pulled out a little container of pellets. It looks like the gun was a type of black powder shotgun. He assured me that it wasn’t dangerous but said that it was very loud when fired.

After a couple more minutes, I told him I had to go and we parted ways. I kind of know where the guy lives (at least what mountain his farm is on) and maybe I’ll see him again someday. I hope that I’ll be able to spend more time talking and sharing with him.