Pictures

Sojourns in Beijing, and Adventures in Manchuria

I returned to Capital Normal University's International Culture Plaza where I stayed a night and met up with a Vietnamese friend and Korean friend. We went out to a Korean barbecue restaurant. The next day I met Xu Laoshi at Beijing Station (smaller than Beijing West, and much easier to manage). We borderd a 14 hour train to the great Northeast. Chatted on the train and smoked cigars with the strong bodied peasants of Manchuria (many made iliterate by the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution).

Dandong is a small city of maybe 700,000 people. It lies on the North Korean border, near the sea, and the most Easternly point of the Great Wall. The city's name used to mean "Pacify the East" as in invade Korea, but was renamed "The East is Red". The culture is a mix of Chinese, Manchu, Mongol, and Korean. My friend, Xu Laoshi, is a Mongolian minority, his family lives on a farm on the outskirts of town. We arrived with two other friends of his.

The farm was beautiful with peach trees, corn fields, rice paddies, chickens, ducks, and flower patches. We set on his family's kang (the large flat surface found in all rural homes in Northern China which can be heated with coal during the winter) and ate peaches fresh from the trees and drank clean water that did not have to be boiled. The food was great, and it was great to meet Xu Laoshi's parents. His mom reminded me of my mom.

Nothing I had ever seen before could have prepared me for what I saw in rural Liaoning. What surprised me most was the prosperity of rural northern China. I had been expected something on par with the poverty I had seen in rural West Africa or even the kind of poverty I saw in the slums in urban China. But Xu Laoshi's family seemed to be doing well. They have running water, electricity, a motorcycle, a television, a satelite dish, (newly) a washing machine, and plenty of food. One of the most successful policies of the reforms of the past 30 years has been to give the peasants back their own land. For milenia it was the landlords', then it was the government's in massive communes (tens of millions starved to death then), and now it belongs to the families who actually work the land. But there was tragedy there too. Xu Laoshi's parents were "wenmang", illiterate because of the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

We went out to a resevoir nearby and visited a fishing store from where we bought fish for dinner. We downed it with beer and fresh corn from the family farm. Slept well on the Kang (though the flies were a bit much). The next day we went to town. Visited the North Korean border. Two bridges span the Yalu River. One was built by the Japanese in 1910 and bombed by America in the 1950's. The other one (functional), is the sight of all official trade between the two nations. We borded a boat to go along the river and snap photos of the Korean city on the other side. Not much to see. A ferris wheel that never moves, some coal, some trucks, and some cranes. This is North Korea's most prosperous area, and it looks pathetic next to the bustling Chinese city on the other side. It was sad to see such a place but facinating. Certainly, a day I will never forget. We visited the city square and bought train tickets in the station for our return trip. We visited the Dandong version of Cosco. Bought some North Korean cigarettes, a purse, and some North Korean money at a border store. Ate Korean barbecue.

The next stop was a museum and memorial for the Korean American War. I thought the sign that said "May peace reign forever" in Chinese was beautiful: 和平万岁. Mostly, the museum portrayed Americans as monsters, but did show that many Americans opposed the war, even American soldiers (photos of one protest). It also showed a Black regiment that surrerended because they refused to fight. Mostly, I was horrified by the carnage of the war. Millions of Koreans on both sides died. 50,000 Americans died, and possibly hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers. I had fun in this one place where you could dress up in authentic Chinese uniforms from the era.

The next night we went to a restaurant with Xu Laoshi's family and tried some Sino-Korean barbecue. A lot of fun. The next day we returned to Beijing. I hung out with my Korean and Vietnames friends and bythe 24th, I was on my way back to America.

Adventures on the Mountain of Beautiful Eyebrows

Emeishan is a beautiful mountain, supposedly shaped like a beautiful pair of eyebrows. Its world famous sunrise made it a popular retreat for Daoists thousands of years ago. Daoism today has 5 sacred mountains which together form a square with a point in the middle. When Buddhism came to China during the Han Dynasty, the Buddhist copied the Daoist mountain tradition and selected four mountians forming no particular shape, giving each one to a particular Buddhist saint. Emeishan was named for Puxian Pusa, and the mountains shrines are decorated with his patron animal, the elephant (though these elephants are white and have six tusks). It has four famous attractions. Two of which I witnessed (the forming of a sea of clouds below the the peak, and the sunrise which is beautiful beyong anything I could have ever imagined. The mountain his home to dozens of temples and shrines, hundreds of inns, hotels, and cafes, thousands of tourists, and a level of development that surpasses Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. For instance, the entire trail (up this 12,000 footer), is paved with stone steps and wooden handrails, a boon for the many senior citizens who climb the mountain. The mountain also has buses that can get you near the top, and cable cars and porters who can take you all the way up. Many of the temples were looted by the British, Japanese, and Red Guards. One of the greatest treats of the mountain are the hundreds of Tibetan Macaques who try to steal people's food. They are very cute and the mountain was there home before humans came there. The scenery gradually changes from subtropical with pom trees, heat, and humidity, to temperate with bamboo groves, to something that reminded me of New Hampshire, to barren and cold, even in August (winter coats can be rented on the top). In all my life, I have never seen anything as beautiful as this mountain. The scenery on the trail was on par with Mount Chicorua in New Hampshire, but the view from peak was fantastic, stretching to the Tibetan plateau in the west.

My student identification card got me cheap access to the National Park (Y80). On the hike to the first sight (thousand years monastary), I met three lovely ladies. Two from Chongqing, one from Yunnan. We chatted for a while. They gave me some snacks. I gave them some of the treats Li Cheng's family had packed for me. They turned back after the first sight (they had taken the bus and cable car to the peak earlier in the morning). I continued up the mountain and soon befriended a bunch of college age students from Sichuan. By nightfall we were eleven. We camped out at Taiziping monastery. This was a real monastery, and the monks were not particular welcoming of foreigners (earlier foreigners had given them a bad impression, probably loud and rude). But I told them I was a Kazakh minority from Western China, and did a traditional palms together greating. "Praise St. Puxian" I said in Chinese, and they let us stay. Two to a bed,Y15 a piece. They gave us some free books. Rose at 4 in the morning. Washed our faces. Hiked to the top and watched the sunrise. On the trip down we were only four. Me, a man from Hunan (now living in Beijing), and two college students from Chengdu (one was an English major who spoke good English). The English major said to call him Hans (like the Han people, but also a German name). I talked in Chinese, him in English so we could both practice. A lot of people starred at us as we walked. He liked cigarettes, cigars, 60's American folk music (including Phil Ochs), Fidel Castro, nature (he taught me the words for Tibetan Macaque and Ultra Violet Radiatio), and hiking. Lost my water bottle when it slipped from my hand and rolled down the mountain. We stopped for the night at an inn ajoining a temple on near the bottom of the monastery. Y30 a person. Slept well. We chatted at night and in the morning. They all thought my Chinese was getting great. The Kazakh minority lie would work on most people we met and gave us a good laugh.

Hans finally decided to talk about his perception of America. He loves 60's folk music, Emerson, American culture, and his two American friends: me and a guy in Chengdu. The friend in Chengdu was an old hippie who's brother died from Agent Orange back in Vietnam. He talked about the War in Iraq and the old war in Vietnam. He said its scarry to here Americans talk about Human Rights in China. They were talking about Human Rights in Iraq before the bombs fell. Now the Iraqis have plenty of rights - in the cemetary. He talked about what he saw as the Peace of the Chinese people. Farmers for thousans of years, they have seen war for centuries and love only peace and stability. Their hearts are with the land, the trees, and the harmony of the World. He's scared for the future of his rapidly changing country, but all in all feels the reforms of the 1980's did China good. As we talked, things grew increasingly tense, finally I burst out into my rendition of the Cultural Revolution song about American Imperialism, everyone laughed and the mood became less tense.

In the morning we reached the intersection of two rivers by the foot of the mountain. we waded in the crystal clear water, and relaxed. At the bus station we smoked cigars to celebrate. I embraced Hans. We sang "One Tin Soldier". We bargained with a cab driver to take us to Leshan. In Leshan we boarded a peasant's motorboat for Y2 to see the Leshan Giant Buddha (to enter the actual park would have been Y80 and would have made seeing the statue in its entirety impossible. Also got to see part of rural southern China in the strip of land across from the statue. Reminded me of someone in Latin America. Bronzed old men smoking cigars, wearing straw hats and open white shirts. The statue was amazing, watched from an abandoned old building, once a hotel. Now the World's largest statue of its kind (the others were bombed by the Taliban in Afghanistan), the statue is over a thousand years old. Made it back to Chengdu by evening, parted with my comrades and brothers. Made my way back to Li Cheng's apartment, smelling like a horse and still holding my bamboo staff. Tiantian was thrilled to see me. I showered and his parents fed me. The next morning I boarded the T8 back to Beijing.

Adventures in the Land of Four Rivers: Part 1

I set out on Friday the 7th of August for Sichuan, the land of the four rivers. Breadbasket of Western China for milenia, the land of mighty generals, mystical mountains, and spicy food. Pandas, golden monkeys, gibbons (in the past), and other creatures walked its woods. There are statues 300 feet tall carved out of mountains. And in the midsts of all this wonder are 100 million people. It is like something out of a fantasty novel. I kept getting strange feelings in China. Maybe I wasn't in the Middle Kingdom, maybe I was in Middle Earth. Of course, Sichuan is a land of hardship, turmoil, and hope. A hundred thousand perished in the earthquake of last year. The Three Gorges Dam has forced millions from their ancestral homes. But nowhere in China, is the growth of the past few decades been so astonishing.

Hard seat train rides are always a lot of fun. It's not as bad as it souds. The seats are padded and the train usually rests at stations along the way so you can get out, stretch your legs, and grab some instant noodles. Also got to chat with and see the lives of the "Old Hundred Names", the common folk of China.

After my final exam and a final banquet with my fellow students, I borded a cab to Beijing West Station, arguably the largest train station in Asia. Boarded train T7 to Chengdu. My seat was near a family with two baby twin girls, and another family with a boy around 13 years old. I spent spent the next 25 hours or so watching the countryside roll by. First Beijing, then Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and finally, Sichuan. Also ate instant noodles, chatted, and plowed through the copy of "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galeano my father gave me. On saturday morning as we neared the Sichuan border, I befriended a girl from a college in Sichuan who spoke very good English. Her English name was Asura. She's majoring in Biomedical engineering and will be studying in Belgium next year. She was very friendly and reminded me of a friend from Yale. Gave her an "I heart New York" shirt. She gave me an inscent bag.

As the train rolled on I watched wheat and corn fields give way to rice paddies. I also saw towns that had been devastated by the earthquake. Finally, we arrived in Chengdu. I had come over 2000 km. Oh, how will I find Li Cheng! Everyone here is Chinese! Fortunately, he found me. We took a cab to his place, only 10 Chinese dollars, much cheaper than Beijing.

His building looked like all the others nearby. Grey 1950's Soviet architecture. Willow trees and a fish pond out front. winding lanes within the gates of the complex. There were flowers and children playing. The inside of the apartment was much more gorgeous than the outside of the building. Occupying the top two stories of the building, the apartment has multiple balconies, spacieous rooms, a large guestroom, and two rooftop gardens. His parents were warm and welcoming. His dad, a smoker, lawyer, and a big personality, reminded me of my father. They even look a like. His mom , a former librarian, was a sweet-heart. I called them auntie and uncle (at Li Cheng's request). I gave them gifts, and they gave me four beautiful fans for my family. I showered and we ate. Sichuanese food is great and while in Chengdu, I was no vegetarian (more on that later).

The dog, Tiantian, a puppy of 3 month, was adorable and fun to be around. We ate a delicious meal of meat, rice, potatoes, spicy veggies, and spicy liquor (even the liquor is spicy). I watched a movie with Li Cheng's dad while Li Cheng did some work. "Warriors of Heaven" was about a renegade Tang Dynasty general, a Japanese embassador (with awesome sword skills), a nun, and an old guy who try to get this relic safely across Xinjiang withort this warlord taking it.

Slept late Sunday morning. Ate delicious Sichuan breakfast: congee, eggs, meat, buns, hot soy milk, and tea. Went for a walk with Li Cheng around the neighborhood. Bought fake DVD's, a lot of them. Also saw part of Southwest Transportation University's campus. This is where Li Cheng sent to college before going to Shanghai for law school. Dinner was delicious. We ended the day by watching "Once Upon a Time in China". Afterwards, I talked with his parents about the Cultural Revolution, living in Chengdu, and tea. We sang some great songs together. "L'internationale" (mom was a party member), "In the far away place" (beautiful folk song), and a song about American imperialism Devin taught me, which got a laugh from Li Cheng's dad.

Woke up early Monday, played with Tiantian. Had breakfast. Set out with Li Cheng on an adventure. Using the city's buses (subway lines are under construction still), we went to the Panda breeding facility. On the way, Li Cheng noticed how "handsome" I was. Everyone on the bus was starring at me, because I was a foreigner. Li Cheng and I descussed Environmental issues in China and America. I explained how curruption had devastated public transportation developement in many American cities. Talked about how Westerner's (Western China) viewpoints are shaped by events such as the Earthquake. His parents had been at work at the time, but the plants in the apartment were knocked over. No one they knew was hurt, but it was scarry. We talked about how on the one hand, China's development can be seen as the exploitation of western and rural areas' labor force and natural resources by urban and eastern areas. Furthermore, the 1st World can be seen as exploiting China. But without this, would there be such economic growth? Can a balance be struck? How? When?

The Pandas were great. Really cute and fat. Also had Red Pandas, peacocks, ducks, and fish. Met a couple from Chongqing I would see again on Emeishan. Learned a new phrase: "yuan2fen4". Chinese Buddhist for "fate". I had a great time chatting with Li Cheng. He discouraged interning at the China Labour Bulletin in Hong Kong (a possibility for the future). We met a tall, pretty girly from Hebei in the gift shop. I pretended not to know CHinese and used a puppet panda to translate for me. Fun. Met two Hungarian travelers on the bus ride to the zoo. Told them Li Cheng was "China's most famous lawyer, a Yale graduate!" Zoo was great. Ate candy shaped like a butterfly, road a dragon boat ride. Saw pandas, birds, alligators, golden monkeys, baboons, zebras, rhinos, hippos, grizzly bears, polar bears, some wierd Asian bear (Taiwan bear?), orangutans, and chimps (in a gage that might upset Josh). Also saw tigers and lions. Chatted with Li Cheng about how everyone was starring at me. Next to the zoo is an old temple. Beautiful, a combination of Tibetan and Chinese styles. Bought some inscents, did bows. Walked by a tree Li Cheng remembered from his childhood. Ate out with his family at a fancy Chengdu hotpot place. Delicious and spicy. Ate such exotic items as pig liver and beef stomach. Upset my stomach later. Took some pills and all was well.

Chengdu is one of China's loveliest cities. Tuesday, we took the bus to another temple. Even more gorgeous. Also had Tibetan influences. We toured its magnificient halls and gazed at the statues. I liked how the lion paintings were so stylized (made by people who had never seen lions). Ate some very realistic fake chicken at a restaurant there. Enjoyed the lovely teahouse. Very relaxing. Sipped tea, chatted, watched a guy getting his ears cleaned. Then we went downtown. Lot's of people, motorcycles, and cars. 人山人海. Passed an area with a lot of army clothes stores and sports stores. The big square was fun. Huge white statue of Chairman Mao. We ate snacks at this fancy Chengdu restaurant and chatted about discrimination law in America and China. Hmm.... snapped a picture with this guy dressed as Zhang Fei (Guan Yu's little brother). Went to this street full of tourists. Met an African selling cartoons of Jet Li, Bruce Lee, etc... Spoke good Chinese, no English. Impressed some Japanese tourists with "Konichiwa". Li Cheng wouldn't talk to them. Still hates them. But he wants to learn Japanese for video games, etc... Talked about Japan, Taiwan, scooters, and dating. Went home and rested up for my hike. Talked over a plan with his folks.

Tai Kuai Le!

Last night, I went to visit Mr. Wang, a guidance counselor from my High School currently visiting China. I had a wonderful chat with him and got to see more of the city on the way. On the cab ride to the subway station I had a nice chat with the driver about Beijing. I commented that the city seemed much bigger than New York. She responded, "It's big and keeps growing! Half the time I don't even know the city anymore. Every year something new is built, whole streets are redone. The development here, its unreal. Too big, too fast! Tai kaui le!" I had a similar conversation with a cab driver on the way back from the station. "Back 20 years ago most of the city was around the first and second ring roads. The rest was the suburbs, then the countryside. Now, all this is developed. Third ring, fourth ring, fifth ring! In ten years the sixth ring will be dotted with skyscrapers!" I also met a Nigerian businessman on the subway who I talked to a while about living abroad in China.

Some changes in my plans. Mom and Dad don't freak out. I am going to Chengdu first, then to Dongbei. Got my ticket for Chengdu. Li Cheng said he'll pick me up at the station. Everything should go smoothly. I may even get to visit a friend of mine's mom in Wuxi, if I'm up to it. Otherwise, I should have plenty of time to rest and leisurely travel.

1 week left in Beijing!

I can't believe 7 weeks have past already. It seems I arrived in Beijing yesterday. My parents are back in New York and greatly enjoyed their time in China. Friday night was my program's talent show. It was a lot of fun. The other second year students and I sang "Dui mian de nu hai kan guo lai". I also performed some Nan Quan (Southern Fist) with the other three students in my Kung Fu class. Went on my last organized class trip for this summer this morning. We went to the Temple of Heaven, which was pretty similar to the other Qing Dynasty architecture we'd seen (Summer Palace and Forbidden City). Finished off the afternoon with a trip to this flee market. I got a this great green silk suite with a dragon on it. It reminded me of what we wore for the Kung Fu performance. It was a little expensive (100 RMB) and the pants a little tight on my waste and a little long, but I can get it tailored. Or even better give it to my brother, who might actually be the perfect size. Looking foward to the last week in Beijing, polishing up my Chinese, and whatnot. I probably won't post here while in Manchuria or Sichuan but I will post several epic blog posts when I get back to the states, as well as a few hundred photos.

Race and Class half way around the World

Had an interesting talk with my Language Partner about Affirmative Action in China. Basically, if someone is a minority in China, with relatively lower grades on the GaoKao (their SAT), they can get into a good college. In her opinion, the program is very important as it provides opportunities for the impoverished minorities in China's border regions. In turn, this helps unify they country and make it more fair. The issue seems to be, with the exception of the very non-Chinese looking Tibetans and Uighurs, a lot of Chinese minorities look the same as the Han. This leads to the phenomenon of Han Chinese pretending to be Bai or Zhuang or Hui to jumpstart their careers. Though it is difficult to criticize an individual, because they may in fact be a Zhuang or Bai and may very much resent being accused of being someone they're not. This reminded me of the debates in America about Native American identities and laws based on genetic evidence instead of a person's own identification as an Indian. Also talked with her a lot about inequality in China. Actually, I think America has more to be ashamed of then China. China is a 3rd World country trying to develope with the World's largest population. America is a 1st World country. They have an excuse. We don't. There is not excuse for the dreadful education millions of American children get. We are the World's richest country. However, when I told her about the idea of American public education, at least in theory, she liked it a lot. In China, parents have to pay for their kids to attend even public schools. Taking money from the rich and using it to educate the poor, giving every child the opportunity to shine and contribute to the World struck a chord with this woman who went to school in classrooms with 80 kids and one teacher, and 5 kids sharing a book.