Observations

Last year at this time I noticed the trees around Suzhou were being painted. The trunks of every single tree were white. I never once saw someone painting them, but by George, every blasted tree in the city had a white trunk. I became a bit obsessed with finding out the reason why. Frustration set in as I got a different answer from every person I asked. Protection from the cold. But then why wasn't the entire tree painted instead of just the trunk? Next, please. Protection from the salt and sand put on the road when there's ice. Ok, then why are the trees in the parks and lining the canal, which are not near any roads painted, huh? Larry suggested it gave a couple hundred people jobs for a few weeks...valid, but then why don't they just keep painting them a different color each month and keep the trend and jobs going all year round? Overage of white paint? Expected snow fall height? Nope, none of these answers, while plausible, seemed to be probable.

Over the summer, I noticed the white paint starting to fade from the trees and wondered if it was just a fluke. Some strange project never to be repeated. Nope, sure enough, a couple of weeks ago, I actually saw a paint can left empty by a freshly painted trunk. I still didn't see the paint being applied, but as I glanced around the area, I smiled to myself. All the trunks gleamed with their new coat of shiny whiteness. Ok, so there may be a bit of insanity in this post, but darn it! I needed some answers. This past weekend, someone offered the best one so far. Pestiside-laden paint. He'd seen the same thing done in South America. While I still don't have confirmation from a Chinese official as to whether or not this is in fact the reason, this inquiring mind is at least temporarily satisfied.