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.
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