28.7.09
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.
26.7.09
Yale Friends and Other News
Met up with Yale students twice this week. The first time was with a small group of friends at a kabob place and the second time was with a large group of teachers and students at a restaurant. Traveling to these places gave me a better sense of Beijing's subway and bus systems. Starting to think about home and Yale more. Excited about the fall, but so busy now I can barely contemplate the present.
Went to a beautiful place in the Beijing countryside called "Shidu" which had a lake and some mountains. The hiking was good but the views were not spectacular. A trail to actual peak of one of the mountains would have been nice, but unfortunately the hill we hiked only had trails that stopped at views halfway up. The lake was nice. Went in both a feet-paddle boat and an old fashioned bamboo boat.
Today was fantastic. Woke up early and had breakfast on the usual street. The Mongol who's bakery I frequent insisted that today's bread be free, I guess because I always come there and he's impressed I'm learning Chinese. Also got warm soy milk and sweet baked stuff from another bakery nearby. Finally, I got tea eggs from a woman on the street. Went to the park. Sat by a lotus pond and studied. My essay for this weekend centered on the perceptions of the modern Chinese on the changes of Reform and Opening. Before Reform and Opening, China had a "Big Pot of Rice" system. I interviewed an elderly man, two middle aged women, and a young woman. The old man described life in the old system were every job was stable, everyone was equal, but everyone lived in extreme poverty. In the 30 years since China's reforms, the economy has boomed, but now jobs are unstable and there is inequality. He hopes in a century or so, when China is as developed as Japan, America, or Europe, they can install some of the old "Big Pot of Rice" system, like the medical system in France. He'd been to Europe, so he talked a little about socialism in Europe. He felt such a system had its merits but would only work in a developed country, not a country in the midst of development. The two middle aged women were in the generation that went to college after the Cultural Revolution ended. They talked about the changes in the country and their impressions of it. One of the women had worked worked in Africa during the 90's for about 10 years, and had also been all over the Middle East. Though now she was retired, she felt she had a good sense of China's growth as a global economic and political power. None of this would have been possible without Reform and Opening. But still, 800 million Chinese are trapped in an endless cycle of rural poverty. And with the region's natural resources strained, it's questionable the country can support first World living standards for 1.3 billion people.
Trained Kung Fu today. Learning a lot and getting great excercise. Right now I have most of Eight Trigrams Palm down, I've mastered Five Step Fist, and I've studied all of Southern Fist. That being said, Southern Fist will take months more to master. Looking foward to performing it with the other Kung Fu students at next Friday's talent show.
Went to a beautiful place in the Beijing countryside called "Shidu" which had a lake and some mountains. The hiking was good but the views were not spectacular. A trail to actual peak of one of the mountains would have been nice, but unfortunately the hill we hiked only had trails that stopped at views halfway up. The lake was nice. Went in both a feet-paddle boat and an old fashioned bamboo boat.
Today was fantastic. Woke up early and had breakfast on the usual street. The Mongol who's bakery I frequent insisted that today's bread be free, I guess because I always come there and he's impressed I'm learning Chinese. Also got warm soy milk and sweet baked stuff from another bakery nearby. Finally, I got tea eggs from a woman on the street. Went to the park. Sat by a lotus pond and studied. My essay for this weekend centered on the perceptions of the modern Chinese on the changes of Reform and Opening. Before Reform and Opening, China had a "Big Pot of Rice" system. I interviewed an elderly man, two middle aged women, and a young woman. The old man described life in the old system were every job was stable, everyone was equal, but everyone lived in extreme poverty. In the 30 years since China's reforms, the economy has boomed, but now jobs are unstable and there is inequality. He hopes in a century or so, when China is as developed as Japan, America, or Europe, they can install some of the old "Big Pot of Rice" system, like the medical system in France. He'd been to Europe, so he talked a little about socialism in Europe. He felt such a system had its merits but would only work in a developed country, not a country in the midst of development. The two middle aged women were in the generation that went to college after the Cultural Revolution ended. They talked about the changes in the country and their impressions of it. One of the women had worked worked in Africa during the 90's for about 10 years, and had also been all over the Middle East. Though now she was retired, she felt she had a good sense of China's growth as a global economic and political power. None of this would have been possible without Reform and Opening. But still, 800 million Chinese are trapped in an endless cycle of rural poverty. And with the region's natural resources strained, it's questionable the country can support first World living standards for 1.3 billion people.
Trained Kung Fu today. Learning a lot and getting great excercise. Right now I have most of Eight Trigrams Palm down, I've mastered Five Step Fist, and I've studied all of Southern Fist. That being said, Southern Fist will take months more to master. Looking foward to performing it with the other Kung Fu students at next Friday's talent show.
19.7.09
Opera, Karaoke, and 798
Friday afternoon Chinese table was at a Northeastern Chinese restaurant. The food was very good and the railroad track decorations were a nice touch. That evening I rode the bus with Xu Laoshi to see my parents at their hotel. Xu Laoshi brought this beautiful white flower, common in his region of China. The word for white, bai, sounds like 100 in Chinese. This year is my parents twenty-fifth anniversary. The white flowers symbolized the hope that my parents will be married 100 years! It was great seeing my parents and we went with them to a theatre called the peach blossom (Li Yuan) to see some Beijing Opera. The first excerpt involved a wealthy woman looking for her lost lover and a seedy old boatman. It consisted primarily of singing. The second excerpt consisted mostly of Kung Fu fights between Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) and warriors sent to capture him. Afterwards, Xu Laoshi and I went to a karaoke bar with some of the other students and teachers. A lot of fun.
Saturday afternoon we went to the artsy Soho-like area of Beijing, 798. the numbers 9 and 8 in Chinese sound a little like the word for bar, so I first though we were going to a bar named "7" or 7 bars. The area was quite nice with galleries, fancy restaurants, and fancy stores. Bought some nice stuff for Josh. Josh would have loved this place, especially the factories turned galleries. After that we quickly toured the Olympic Stadium "Bird's Nest".
Met my parents again last night. Slept in and had brunch with them and their friend Chuck. He recommended a book called Anastasia by Vladamir someone (I'll look it up back in the states) about Ceder trees, some of the finest of which grow in Northern East Asia.
Meeting with Yale students for lunch later today.
Some corrections from earlier notes. Xu Laoshi is from near Korea, but he is ethnically Mongolian, not Korean. The neighborhood where I eat is actually lower middle class, just with Beijing sky high rents those buildings are the best people can get in the area.
Saturday afternoon we went to the artsy Soho-like area of Beijing, 798. the numbers 9 and 8 in Chinese sound a little like the word for bar, so I first though we were going to a bar named "7" or 7 bars. The area was quite nice with galleries, fancy restaurants, and fancy stores. Bought some nice stuff for Josh. Josh would have loved this place, especially the factories turned galleries. After that we quickly toured the Olympic Stadium "Bird's Nest".
Met my parents again last night. Slept in and had brunch with them and their friend Chuck. He recommended a book called Anastasia by Vladamir someone (I'll look it up back in the states) about Ceder trees, some of the finest of which grow in Northern East Asia.
Meeting with Yale students for lunch later today.
Some corrections from earlier notes. Xu Laoshi is from near Korea, but he is ethnically Mongolian, not Korean. The neighborhood where I eat is actually lower middle class, just with Beijing sky high rents those buildings are the best people can get in the area.
13.7.09
Shanxi
For me mid-semester trip I chose to go to Shanxi. Originally, I had wanted to go to Shandong, home of Confucius and beautiful Mount Tai. Unfortunately, I'm the only one who signed up, so I ended up having to choose another trip. Xi'an sounds like an amazing city, but I didn't really want to be with seventy students and from what I heard the trip was much more rushed than anything I would have liked. As it was, I found our trip to Shanxi much to rushed.
This was my first train trip in China. The Beijing West Station is enormous and visiting it was an experience in and of itself. The trip out was on a "Hard Seat" car while the trip back was on a "Soft Seat" car. The "Soft Seat" car reminded me of an airplane while the "Hard Seat" car was just an amazing experience. The highlight was when Devin had an argument with a college student about the status of Taiwan. I think the issue is very complicated, I don't really know enough, and I didn't want to make a statement, but the atmosphere was getting tense, so I told the student in broken Chinese "Taiwan belongs to the People's Republic of China." His face lit up and he thanked me in bad English. As the train rolled through the Hebei and Shanxi countryside I saw towering mountaineous vistas, endless canyons, industrial areas reminiscent of New Jersey, goat herders on barren hillsides, cute sheep and goats, peasants living in quaint villages growing rice and wheat, endless corn fields and wheat fields reminscient of upstate New York, and some very empty lands in a country I had come to associate with massive crowds of people. I would see much more of the upstate New York- like portion of the Shanxi countryside while on the bus tour. On the bus ride down I befriended two college students from Beijing.
Datong is not an impressive city, but the hotel was nice and we were there mostly to see the stuff near it, not the city itself. The first place we went was this nine-dragon wall which was beautiful. After that we went to the Yungang caves. The caves were some of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I would say it is the most beautiful work of art I've ever seen in my entire life. Carved 1500 years ago, the massive caves contain 51,000 carved images of Buddhist and Daoist figures, as well as Chinese emperors. Some of the caves were still vividly colorful. All were absolutely amazing. Some had Buddhist statues 100 feet tall. Others had thousands of small images. All of it was beautifully preserved from thousands of years ago. It was overwhelming.
Afterwards, we visiting the hanging monastery (actually an ancient inn for pilgrims) which is amazingly built on the side of a mountain and held up with stilts. Mom would not have liked it. It was beautiful and had a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. Met a Daoist monk there visiting Shanxi. Looked kind of like my brother with his ponytail. We ate lunch that day in People's Liberation Army restaurant! This fun themed restaurant is run by real PLA soldiers who bring you food and sing karaoke (the Chinese army really is way too big). It was fun.
Sunday morning we visited the old well preseverd town of Pingyao, which gives a good view of what life was like in ancient urban China. In a preserved old police station for only one Chinese dollar you could play with the ancient swords, spears, maces, and axes and take pictures! Speaking of weapons, I bought a pair of nunchucks (shuangjiegun in Chinese) from a tourist stand on the street for seven Chinese dollars, very cute. Also got some postcards and beads.
Another fun moment was when a former Chinese soldier (probably over 60) started flirting with two of the girls on in my group. He was very funny and asked me if I was in the American army.
Today, we had an ethnic Bai from Yunnan come talk to us. He went to school in the US and has been working with NGO's in China for fifteen years, many doing Environmental work. It was great talking to him.
This was my first train trip in China. The Beijing West Station is enormous and visiting it was an experience in and of itself. The trip out was on a "Hard Seat" car while the trip back was on a "Soft Seat" car. The "Soft Seat" car reminded me of an airplane while the "Hard Seat" car was just an amazing experience. The highlight was when Devin had an argument with a college student about the status of Taiwan. I think the issue is very complicated, I don't really know enough, and I didn't want to make a statement, but the atmosphere was getting tense, so I told the student in broken Chinese "Taiwan belongs to the People's Republic of China." His face lit up and he thanked me in bad English. As the train rolled through the Hebei and Shanxi countryside I saw towering mountaineous vistas, endless canyons, industrial areas reminiscent of New Jersey, goat herders on barren hillsides, cute sheep and goats, peasants living in quaint villages growing rice and wheat, endless corn fields and wheat fields reminscient of upstate New York, and some very empty lands in a country I had come to associate with massive crowds of people. I would see much more of the upstate New York- like portion of the Shanxi countryside while on the bus tour. On the bus ride down I befriended two college students from Beijing.
Datong is not an impressive city, but the hotel was nice and we were there mostly to see the stuff near it, not the city itself. The first place we went was this nine-dragon wall which was beautiful. After that we went to the Yungang caves. The caves were some of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I would say it is the most beautiful work of art I've ever seen in my entire life. Carved 1500 years ago, the massive caves contain 51,000 carved images of Buddhist and Daoist figures, as well as Chinese emperors. Some of the caves were still vividly colorful. All were absolutely amazing. Some had Buddhist statues 100 feet tall. Others had thousands of small images. All of it was beautifully preserved from thousands of years ago. It was overwhelming.
Afterwards, we visiting the hanging monastery (actually an ancient inn for pilgrims) which is amazingly built on the side of a mountain and held up with stilts. Mom would not have liked it. It was beautiful and had a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. Met a Daoist monk there visiting Shanxi. Looked kind of like my brother with his ponytail. We ate lunch that day in People's Liberation Army restaurant! This fun themed restaurant is run by real PLA soldiers who bring you food and sing karaoke (the Chinese army really is way too big). It was fun.
Sunday morning we visited the old well preseverd town of Pingyao, which gives a good view of what life was like in ancient urban China. In a preserved old police station for only one Chinese dollar you could play with the ancient swords, spears, maces, and axes and take pictures! Speaking of weapons, I bought a pair of nunchucks (shuangjiegun in Chinese) from a tourist stand on the street for seven Chinese dollars, very cute. Also got some postcards and beads.
Another fun moment was when a former Chinese soldier (probably over 60) started flirting with two of the girls on in my group. He was very funny and asked me if I was in the American army.
Today, we had an ethnic Bai from Yunnan come talk to us. He went to school in the US and has been working with NGO's in China for fifteen years, many doing Environmental work. It was great talking to him.
7.7.09
Step by Step
Mom always says "slow and steady wins the race" and that's how I feel about Chinese. It's so hard, but little by little, I'm learning. Today we learned something to the effect of "step by step come" which I means if you practice and study hard everyday, regardless of what it is, you'll do well and become great at it.
So apparently we get back from Shaanxi at the earliest 10pm Sunday night, not sure how I will meet up with my parents! We'll work something out, either Thursday night, Monday morning, both, or in Shanghai the next week. Miss them terribly.
Went to Capital Normal University's historical museum today with Jason and his language partner (a grad student in the archeology department). It was great because we got to see everything from early stone tools to early jade ornaments, bronze weapons, and fortune teller bones to early crossbows to Tang Dynasty paintings. Definately a treat.
So apparently we get back from Shaanxi at the earliest 10pm Sunday night, not sure how I will meet up with my parents! We'll work something out, either Thursday night, Monday morning, both, or in Shanghai the next week. Miss them terribly.
Went to Capital Normal University's historical museum today with Jason and his language partner (a grad student in the archeology department). It was great because we got to see everything from early stone tools to early jade ornaments, bronze weapons, and fortune teller bones to early crossbows to Tang Dynasty paintings. Definately a treat.
Random
No real thread connecting today's thoughts. Had Kung Fu class Sunday. Might start taking a few private lessons with the teacher (cheap enough by American standards). Been real busy though. So much work. Going with my language partner to my school's museum tommorow. Should be a great chance to learn about China's history and culture. Chatted with my language partner today. Actually had a really deep conversation about China, the Environment, independence/seperatist movements, American imperialism, etc... In some ways, I feel the media doesn't portray China fairly. Okay, so there's a great Firewall, and many cites on the internet are blocked. But the firewall is more for show, most Chinese have ways of getting around it (for instance I'm breaking China's laws right now by hacking into blogspot). It's more a matter of "face" or "mianzi" in Chinese. This is a concept which dates at least back to Confucius, and is kind of hard to explain. We have a similar concept in English. Let's just say the government is "saving face" by what may seem to Westerners to be mere totalitarianism. Been trying to eat more fruit lately, having at least 3 mangoes a week.
4.7.09
Parks and the Northeast
My language partner took me to this great park nearby. Less than a 10 minute walk from campus. It has a beautiful lake (not the cleanest water), a lotus pond, willow trees, and a bamboo grove. The trip to it passes a really filthy stream which always has old men fishing. Also crosses some major highway (third ring road maybe?), sunset from it is magnificent. Nice place to relax, study, and watch the sunrise or sunset. Plan to spend a lot of time there. Then our teachers took us to another park, which was even prettier (we have to write an essay on it). Finally, today we went to the Summer Palace and the People's Park. The Summer Palace was first, but since we're on the subject of parks I might as well first talk about the People's Park. Stunningly beautiful. Gigantic lotus pond, bamboo and willows everyone, and the ruins of western style buildings ironically destroyed by America, France, and England in the 19th century. I still like the park near my school.
Summer Palace was a lot like the Forbidden City: bright colored Qing Dynasty architecture, remnants of two centuries of turmoil with marked a changing China, and flocks of Chinese and foreign tourists. Was one of the few students who chose to hike the lovely mountain nearby. Claim if you reach the top you live to a hundred. Three amazing shrines on top overlooking the lake. One had a multitude of statues, overwhelmed the senses. The other two contained a massive statue and an even more massive statue of Guan Yin. I did bows on the cold stone floor, got some stares from everyone else, snapping pictures despite the sign that said not too. Ironically my own camera seems to have stopped working, lens issues. Hope I can fix it, if not I have the 300 odd photos I took of China, but I'd like more. Hmm... the camera was a Cannon. The company, founded in Japan, was named after Guan Yin, the same goddess on the hill where the camera stopped working. Not sure how to connect these dots.
When we got back I chatted up Hu Wei, Ren Yi, and some of there fellow students sitting relaxing on the first floor. Got a DVD of Mr Liu playing the ancient lute (gu qin), ate some junk food, and talked about life. The two other students were massive Northeasterners (like Mr. Xu). Learned some of the northeast dialect which I hope to impress him with monday.
Finally, tomorrow's the fourth of July! Happy birthday America! I miss you!
Summer Palace was a lot like the Forbidden City: bright colored Qing Dynasty architecture, remnants of two centuries of turmoil with marked a changing China, and flocks of Chinese and foreign tourists. Was one of the few students who chose to hike the lovely mountain nearby. Claim if you reach the top you live to a hundred. Three amazing shrines on top overlooking the lake. One had a multitude of statues, overwhelmed the senses. The other two contained a massive statue and an even more massive statue of Guan Yin. I did bows on the cold stone floor, got some stares from everyone else, snapping pictures despite the sign that said not too. Ironically my own camera seems to have stopped working, lens issues. Hope I can fix it, if not I have the 300 odd photos I took of China, but I'd like more. Hmm... the camera was a Cannon. The company, founded in Japan, was named after Guan Yin, the same goddess on the hill where the camera stopped working. Not sure how to connect these dots.
When we got back I chatted up Hu Wei, Ren Yi, and some of there fellow students sitting relaxing on the first floor. Got a DVD of Mr Liu playing the ancient lute (gu qin), ate some junk food, and talked about life. The two other students were massive Northeasterners (like Mr. Xu). Learned some of the northeast dialect which I hope to impress him with monday.
Finally, tomorrow's the fourth of July! Happy birthday America! I miss you!
1.7.09
Happy Birthday
Today is the Chinese Communist Party's eighty-something birthday. My friend (and during class my teacher) Xu Tongzhi is a member, I'm a guest in this country, and I appreciate the role the party played in the global anti-imperialist struggle... so I'll leave criticisms aside for today and wish the party a happy birthday. Miss home. Having fun. Class is getting harder and harder, but I'm learning Chinese!
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