Happens by Herself

Dueling human rights reports

2009-02-26T23:06:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department released its 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The next day, in keeping with tradition, China released its own report on human rights in the United States. I look forward to this all year.

It's not that the U.S. shouldn't be subject to the same scrutiny, but a report like this would be so much stronger if it came from practically anywhere else. My favorite parts:

1. The report repeatedly cites Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, organizations whose websites are inaccessible in China except by proxy server. The government regularly dismisses their reports on China, criticizing AI in the run-up to the Olympics for its "tinted glasses."

2. The report calls out the U.S. for restricting the voting rights of convicted felons - a problem, to be sure, but coming from China? Really?

3. The section on women and children mentions the hundreds of women killed in Juarez, a border town which is actually in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton downplayed human rights during her visit here last weekend, saying economic issues, climate change and international security should take priority in the U.S.-China relationship. Human Rights Watch and American editorial pages were not pleased.

Both countries can do much better than this.

China Fun Fact: China overtook the U.S. in monthly auto sales for the first time in January.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

2008-12-21T04:16:00.000-08:00

Another Beijing Review article:

On the first day of Christmas, China gave to me
A bird that can say ni hao
A partridge in a pear tree has nothing on a caged bird that will greet me in Chinese as I pass by-although I worry that one day I'll try to engage the bird in conversation and find out it speaks better Chinese than I do.

On the second day of Christmas, China gave to me
Two lucky apples
China is understandably short on Christmas traditions, but there is one: Some people eat apples on Christmas Eve for health and good luck in the coming year. The practice stems from the fact that the Chinese for Christmas Eve, Ping'anye, contains the character for apple, ping.

On the third day of Christmas, China gave to me
Three plastic Santas
For my Christmas decorations last year, I went to Carrefour to stock up on colored lights and Santa hats that were too small for my head. If only I had known about Beijing's Tianyi Market, which is probably better supplied than the North Pole. Want a life-size Santa and eight reindeer for your nonexistent lawn? (Or maybe a Christmas giraffe?) Done.

On the fourth day of Christmas, China gave to me
Four shopping malls
In its typical pragmatic way, China has taken this major Western holiday and distilled it into its purest commercial form. The Christmas trees, Santa Clauses and shiny gift boxes in store windows all suggest one thing: shopping.

On the fifth day of Christmas, China gave to me
Five Peking ducks!
Who needs turkey or ham when you can feast on crispy, succulent roast duck? When I eventually leave China, I just might insist on continuing it as a holiday tradition. Turkey is too dry anyway.

On the sixth day of Christmas, China gave to me
Six yams a-roasting
Cranberry sauce is hard to come by, but other foods available in China evoke a holiday meal back home. A hot sweet potato or bag of chestnuts from a street vendor is the perfect snack on a chilly winter night.

On the seventh day of Christmas, China gave to me
Seven crowds a-shoving
Christmas is about togetherness, and you don't get much closer to people here than on the subway. My favorite part is when I find myself surrounded by fur-lined winter coats, spitting out tiny hairs. The subway is also a great spot to catch that other yearly ritual, the Christmas head cold.

On the eighth day of Christmas, China gave to me
Eight horns a-honking
It's not exactly silverbells, but all the hustle and bustle lends Chinese cities a certain holiday cheer -- even if a chorus of car horns at four o'clock in the morning shatters peace on Earth and seriously erodes my goodwill toward men.

On the ninth day of Christmas, China gave to me
Nine cellphones ringing
It doesn't compare to the 600 million text messages sent on Spring Festival Eve this year, but cellphones rattle constantly with holiday greetings over Christmas as well -- often between friends making plans for a big meal out on Christmas Eve.

On the 10th day of Christmas, China gave to me
Ten vendors shouting
In China, there is no excuse for Christmas shoppers stumped for gift ideas. From Hello Kitty thermos sets to Yao Ming bobbleheads, the markets have something for everyone -- and if you're truly stuck, half a dozen people will be right there to guide you.

On the 11th day of Christmas, China gave to me
Eleven carols playing
It's no surprise that Starbucks started piping in Christmas music in November. But I didn't expect to hear the same music last year in a suburban shopping center, far from the downtown core where most foreigners congregate. I guess I wasn't the only person there whose music collection includes A Very Special Christmas 1989.

On the 12th day of Christmas, China gave to me
Twelve laoren laughing
Christmas is more popular among young urban Chinese than their parents or grandparents, but older people gathered around a mahjong game remind me of the lighthearted spirit and good company that make holidays special in every country.

All together now: On the 12th day of Christmas, China gave to me / Twelve laoren laughing / Eleven carols playing / Ten vendors shouting / Nine cellphones ringing / Eight horns a-honking / Seven crowds a-shoving / Six yams a-roasting / Five Peking ducks! / Four shopping malls / Three plastic Santas / Two lucky apples / And a bird that can say ni hao.

Elections from afar

2008-11-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

I wrote this for this week's Beijing Review:

Packed into a Beijing café on November 5, 6,000 miles and 16 hours away from the U.S. presidential election, the crowd excitedly began counting down the seconds until West Coast polls closed: 10, 9, 8… Earlier voter surveys had shown Barack Obama would win California, Oregon and Washington by wide margins. Together with the states he had already won, these states would give him more than enough electoral votes. As soon as the countdown ended, up flashed on the TV screen: “Barack Obama Elected President.”

It was a very different scene on Election Day 2004. I was at university in Canada, where we gathered in the campus bar to watch the results. For people who hoped Americans would vote President George W. Bush out of office, it was a disappointing evening. I could feel the cold, accusing stares from the Canadians around me each time a state on CNN’s electoral map turned red for Bush.

By the next morning, when Bush’s victory was clear, discussion had already turned to what would happen in 2008. American presidential elections are years-long affairs –Obama formally announced his candidacy in February 2007, followed by John McCain two months later. They campaigned for well over a year before they officially became their party nominees.

Last spring I followed the Democratic and Republican primary elections with my students, who were leaving China to study in the United States. We watched American television news every day as the fight for the Democratic nomination dragged into June. English class became civics class as I explained that Americans don’t actually elect their president directly. “Electoral college” and “superdelegate” went up on the chalkboard as new vocabulary words. It was among my proudest moments as a teacher when a student sent me a text message to say Hillary Clinton had won the Pennsylvania primary.

So when it came time to vote in the general election, I wanted to be ready and assist others as well – no matter whom they were voting for. Requesting an absentee ballot can be a confusing process, especially if you can’t remember your Chinese address. Each state has different rules, requirements and, most importantly, deadlines, sneaking up on some overseas Americans a full month before the election.

I signed up to volunteer for Democrats Abroad. We set up at laowai hangouts around town and scoured the surrounding neighborhoods for any voting-age American we could find. It was a little intimidating at first to step out into the streets of Sanlitun, clipboard in hand, and canvass voters: “Excuse me, are you a U.S. citizen? Hi, are you American?” The responses I got mostly fell into five categories:

1. “Yes, but I’m already registered.”
2. “Yes, but I’m just visiting China.”
3. “Hell no.”
4. Obvious incomprehension, followed by a response in another language
5. “Where can I buy that Obama T-shirt you’re wearing?”

Occasionally, however, I encountered someone who wanted to vote but didn’t know how, or who was fretting because his or her absentee ballot hadn’t arrived yet. “No problem – come with me,” I’d say. “So, where are you from?” It turns out the United States is well represented in China. I met Americans from all corners, from Wisconsin to Hawaii to Washington, D.C. We even registered an Obama supporter from Wasilla, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s tiny Alaska hometown.

For Americans abroad, the U.S. election was an instant conversation starter, something to bond over. It also reignited my long-dormant patriotism. Watching the presidential debates had an entirely different meaning here than it would have at home. Sure, the candidates were pandering to undecided voters and distorting their records, but they were my pandering candidates, and watching them contort themselves into every possible position to win over Joe the Plumber filled me with absolute pride.

Watching the election from abroad, away from emotionally charged political rallies and constant cable news commentary, also gave us a broader perspective. Here it is actually possible for Americans on opposing political sides to have a reasonably calm discussion. We may not see eye to eye on much else, but we can agree that the divisiveness in American politics has to change.

Likewise, McCain and Obama agree that America’s reputation has suffered in the last eight years. Hopefully President-elect Obama will be able to repair some of the damage. The world is certainly rooting for him. A China Daily online poll showed that 75 percent of Chinese people support Obama, while an online poll by The Economist estimated that in a “global electoral college,” Obama would win every country but four.

The long, long presidential election is over. Americans in China, thank you for voting. But don’t tune out just yet: The 2010 midterm election is just around the corner.

Just so we're clear

2008-10-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

In case any question remains about whether the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is using the Beijing Olympics for political gain, here's the answer, from a Xinhua interview last month with BOCOG President and CPC official Liu Qi:

The success of the Beijing Olympics is attributed to the strong leadership of the CPC and the Chinese Government and the concerted efforts of the Chinese people. It testifies to the need for us to unswervingly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and make the most of its institutional advantage that allows us to concentrate resources on our major tasks.

China Fun Fact: At least 8 million people visited Beijing during the National Day Golden Week holiday from September 29 to October 5. The Bird's Nest and Water Cube received 493,000 visitors in one day, while the Forbidden City received about 100,000 visitors per day. To put those numbers in perspective, the Bird's Nest holds about 90,000 people.

Tai Shan

2008-10-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

During the National Day holiday I went to Tai Shan, a Daoist mountain in Shandong Province (photos here). Apparently everyone else in China had the same idea, because it was packed.

On Monday I took the bus down to Tai'an, where I met some friends who teach in Zhengzhou. That afternoon we visited the Dai Temple in town, then wandered around looking for a place to eat dinner.

The next morning we left our bags at the train station and took the city bus to the Tai Shan entrance, where we began the steep four-hour climb to the top. The plan was to spend the night there and wake up early to catch the famed sunrise, but when we reached the top the hotel prices were so high we decided to turn around and climb back down the same day. The pollution at the top was so bad it wouldn't have been a great sunrise anyway.

I think this worked out for the best, because as we climbed down we passed hundreds of people climbing up, hiking overnight to arrive in time for the sunrise. Somehow I think jostling for a spot on the lookout with all these people, cameras raised, would spoil what should be a peaceful, reflective moment. We spent that night in town again and I returned to Beijing the next day.

On an unrelated note, this article made my blood boil. Xinjiang is a resource-rich autonomous region in western China that is home to the Uighur ethnic minority. Uighurs are Muslim and chafe under Chinese rule that denies them job opportunities and undermines their culture, with some calling for independence. Over the years the movement has occasionally become violent, with bomb attacks as recent as this summer. The United States lists the East Turkestan Islamic Movement as a terrorist organization.

The United States detained about 20 Uighur men with ETIM ties at Guantanamo Bay, with no evidence they posed any threat to the U.S., solely to maintain China's support in the war on terror. Seven years later, the Uighur detainees have been repeatedly cleared but now find they have no place to go. China might greet them with torture or execution, the U.S. won't let them set foot on American soil and no other country will accept them because they're afraid how China would react. On October 7 a U.S. District Judge ordered their release - they were supposed to stay with Uighur families in Florida - but the next day a three-judge panel granted an emergency stay while the Bush administration appeals the decision. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had this to say, according to a Reuters report:

The district court's ruling, if allowed to stand, could be used as precedent for other detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, including sworn enemies of the United States suspected of planning the attacks of 9/11, who may also seek release into our country.

So because the U.S. knowingly rounded up people who bore no ill will toward the United States and grouped them with people who do, the former will end up with the same legal rights as the latter - that is, none at all.

China Fun Fact: The Chinese version of "cheese" when smiling for photos is chiezi, which means "eggplant."

The Tomato Panic of '08

2008-09-28T02:47:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, farmers in China's Guizhou Province overestimated the demand for tomatoes and ended up with 60,000 kgs of tomatoes they couldn't sell. The local government's solution was to order public employees to buy 50 kg each. "Oh, China," I thought when I first read about this. "You are so zany."

But then I started thinking about the proposed bailout of the U.S. financial system, and parallels immediately appeared as I read a discussion about the tomato tempest in the magazine I work for.

Those who support the mandatory tomato purchases argue that the government has a responsibility to intervene to prevent further losses, even if it means violating market economy rules: "If it had done nothing in this crisis, the government would not be blamed for interfering with economic affairs, but the price to pay would have been a huge amount of tomatoes rotting in the fields."

Opponents say the farmers found themselves in this situation because they were left to their own devices, and that a better solution would be more government supervision (hello!).

But the comment I found most interesting came at the end: "Compared with guiding the restructuring of the entire agricultural sector, it's much easier to create a favorable market within a certain region, but this practice is in nature abusing the government's administrative power."

China Fun Fact: Big news this weekend as China conducted its first space walk. So here's a new vocabulary word: An American in space is an astronaut, a Russian in space is a cosmonaut, and a Chinese person in space is called a taikonaut.

Medal Count

2008-09-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

In case you weren't following the Paralympics, which ended September 17, here is the final medal count:

China Fun Fact: It took a reporter 113 minutes to circle the 32.7-km Second Ring Road the morning after Olympic driving restrictions were lifted.

Game Over

2008-08-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

They’re over.

My friend David was here over the weekend, and I went with him to the men’s football final at the Bird’s Nest on Saturday (photos here). It was Argentina versus Nigeria, which eliminated the U.S. team on August 12. It was interesting to see how other countries have assimilated China’s “jia you” cheer, as in “Argentina, jia you!” The literal meaning, I think, is “add oil,” but it basically means something like, “Come on!” or “Let’s go!” It’s been a constant refrain for the last three weeks.

On Sunday we planned to watch the closing ceremony on a screen outside the Bird’s Nest so we could see the fireworks, but by the time we got there the crowd was overwhelming and police prevented us from getting any closer than a mile from the stadium. So I went back to my apartment with David, Brian and his girlfriend to watch it on TV with my roommate. We could hear the fireworks from my living room but buildings blocked our view.

China Fun Fact: This was the first time an American president attended an Olympics on foreign soil (and boy did he do us proud).

Bird's Nest

2008-08-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so after all that, I went out and bought an Olympic ticket. It was an impulse buy. I was walking outside Beitucheng subway station, which has become a kind of scalper's bazaar, when I heard this Western guy shouting, "Athletics tickets! Athletics!" I thought he was trying to buy some, so I doubled back to tell him there were more people around the corner. It turned out he was selling. He was a Canadian guy from Fredericton - he's even going to McGill in the fall for a master's in law, small world - and some of his friends couldn't make it. I paid him RMB 1300 (US$189): 800 for the face value and 500 he said was a service charge from CoSport. This seemed like a reasonable purchase because a) I felt like I was buying from someone who hadn't deliberately bought extra tickets to flip them, and b) if his own ticket was a few seats away and we entered the stadium together, I could be sure he hadn't sold me a fake. On the train on the way to the stadium, he told me he had met an American girl at the women's gymnastics all-around the day before who had put a ticket for the same event on eBay and sold it to Donovan Bailey for $1,000.

I have to say, the seats were worth it - in Tier 1 next to the starting line for the men's 100 meters. It was also worth it to get close to the Bird's Nest and neighboring venues, especially lit up at night (photos here). I don't know what Beijing is going to do with these buildings once the Olympics are over, but they sure look spectacular now. From there I was able to walk home.

China Fun Fact: There are 21,600 journalists (at least!) in town to cover the Games. Canwest News Service has 28 reporters here, four for each medal Canada has won so far.

Olympic Notes

2008-08-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

They're here.

I watched the opening ceremony with my roommate and her colleagues/friends in a bar at a foreigner-friendly shopping mall. It was fun watching the Parade of Nations with people from all over the world - Venezuela, Colombia, Russia and Germany all got big shout-outs as they entered the stadium.

Since then, though, all this patriotism has become a little tiresome. The women's gymnastics final happened to be on in the lunch hall at work on Wednesday, and everyone was watching, oohing and aahing as the Chinese team wrapped up the balance beam rotation. Then it was on to the floor. When the USA's Alicia Sacramone fell during her performance, many people in the room clapped and laughed. I know they wanted their country to win and Sacramone's slip-up all but guaranteed China its first women's team gold, but I still thought it was incredibly mean-spirited.

Maybe that's why I started to think about buying Olympic tickets. They're all sold out, of course, though you wouldn't know it from all the empty seats on TV. But there are always the scalpers. Olympic entrepreneurs stand outside venues and post classified ads, selling official tickets and occasional fakes for exorbitant prices. As I scrolled through the online ads, however, it occurred to me that there really isn't anything I'd pay (especially overpay) to see. I mean, gymnastics or diving would be fun and I wouldn't mind seeing the Bird's Nest, but why do I have to watch these events in person? It's not like I pay attention to them outside the Olympics. If I really cared, I would have made an effort to buy tickets earlier.

In other news, I'm almost finished jumping through the various bureaucratic hoops the Chinese have put in place to beat the spirit out of any foreigner who tries to live here. To recap:

1) Spending several hours the day I arrived looking for my local police station so I could apply for a temporary residence permit, only to find out I should have brought my lease;
2) Returning to the police station the next day with my lease, only to find out my apartment is not registered with the city and thus I would be ineligible for a temporary residence permit if I stayed at that apartment;
3) Being told by my company that I had to move;
4) Trotting out after work every day for a week to look at other apartments, all of which paled in comparison to my current one;
5) Giving up on the apartment hunt in despair;
6) Spending about an hour looking for the Beijing International Travel Health Care Center so I could hand in my medical records from home and receive my health certificate, only to realize once I arrived that I had left several key documents at home;
7) Going home to get them;
8) Returning to the health care center with complete documentation, only to find out I needed the original lab report, not a copy, and would have to pay RMB 600 to redo everything onsite;
9) Going to the police station with my roommate's friend, who very kindly agreed to say I live with her so I could get my temporary residence permit and stay in my current apartment (thank God);
10) With health certificate and temporary residence permit in hand, going to the Exit/Entry Administration to apply for my year-long visa, only to find out there were no more blank pages in my passport;
11) Going to the U.S. embassy to fix that;
12) Returning to the Exit/Entry Administration, where hopefully I'll pick up my visa next week.

What really irks me about these rules is that people just bypass them when they become inconvenient. It's actually quite common for both foreigners and Chinese to say they're living somewhere else. Foreigners are supposed to apply for their temporary residence permit within 24 hours after arrival, and I was worried that I would be fined for showing up at the police station two weeks past that. My roommate's friend explained to the police officer that she had burned her feet with scalding water, and that's why we hadn't been able to come earlier. It seemed to me a risky excuse, although she did actually burn her feet. But he accepted it and waived the fine, either believing she had told the truth or, more likely, not caring. That's the way things go here.

China Fun Fact: China spent about $42 billion on these Olympic Games, mostly on public transportation and other infrastructure projects.

Tea

2008-08-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

One week to go.

Thursday night my company (I have a new job) took foreign staff to a performance at the new National Center for the Performing Arts, an ellipsoid known locally as the Egg. Tea, an English-language opera by composer Tan Dun (he won the Best Original Score Oscar for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), uses multimedia and experimental music to tell a story blending Chinese and Japanese legends. Although the opera is set in China and has been performed all over the world, this is the first time it's been on a Chinese stage. All I can say is English should not be an operatic language.

The only way to enter the Egg is through an underwater tunnel, so as not to disturb the building's integrity. Ticketholders have to pass through an X-ray screening and hand over their cameras at security (not that that stops camera phones, or even all cameras, from getting in). Interestingly, an exhibition inside displays the winning design alongside photos and scale models of the submissions that did not succeed. I wonder how the architectural firms behind those bids feel about that.

Officials are ramping up security and trying to contain pollution in the lead-up to the opening ceremony next Friday. Baggage screenings have been set up at subway stations, though strangely not all of them. About 400,000 security volunteers will be on the streets during the Olympic Games. During the "Olympic Period," July 20-September 20, drivers must observe strict traffic regulations that include special Olympic lanes and designated driving days for even and odd-numbered license plates.

The city has also provided locals with "Eight don't asks" to help them avoid offending foreign sensibilities. I had dinner with my Chinese teacher last night and she told me most students receive a similar education upon entering university. Hers was expanded, though, to remind students that Taiwan is part of China no matter what their foreign classmates say.

And of course, there are the visa issues. China has put a halt to all business visas through September, except for contract signings. Many students have had to return to their home countries to renew their visas and won't be allowed to return until September. My roommate and I were discussing this the other night. While the Olympics are great for China, she said, they've seriously disrupted people's lives. After all, the Olympics and Paralympics are not the only things happening in China for the next two months.

China Fun Fact: The National Center for the Performing Arts seats 6,500 people in three halls and covers almost 200,000 square meters.

Gaokao

2008-06-15T22:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend graduating high school students across China took the gaokao, a high-stakes test if there ever was one. The gaokao, which literally means "high test," is the only basis for determining which university each student attends, if they attend at all - 10 million students compete for 5.7 million spots. There are no essays or application forms here. Students list their preferred programs and universities, then wait for the government to tell them where they've been assigned. (My two students didn't take it because they're going to the U.S.)

The test takes two days and covers Chinese, math, a foreign language (usually English) and three other subjects in either the humanities or sciences, depending on your high school track. Since cheating is a concern, security is always high during the exam period. Officials at our school even issued the foreign teachers special badges so we could access our dorm on campus.

Earlier this year another foreign teacher told me that parents wait anxiously for their kids outside the school gates when the test is over, and she wasn't kidding:

I've heard stories about students leaving the test in tears because they know they've failed and feel they have no future, but that wasn't the case today. Mostly the kids seemed happy and relieved. For them it marks the end of three high-stress years and the beginning of an extra-long summer.

Countryside

2008-06-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a student I know, Michelle, invited me to her home in the countryside. It was only a 40-minute bus ride from our school in the city's eastern outskirts, but for most Beijingers it might as well be a world away.

We got there early, about 8:30 a.m. Our first stop was Michelle's primary school, where she wanted me to meet her "little sister" (in one-child China, people often refer to their cousins and even close friends as brothers and sisters). We didn't get to see her, but Michelle showed me around and brought me to the teachers' lounge during recess.

From there we walked to her house, where I met her parents and Michelle showed me the various Chicken Soup books she had ordered online. We didn't stay there long, however, as we were slated to have lunch with her grandparents and "little sister." Since they lived farther away, her parents brought out bikes for us. Now, I hadn't been on a bike in a long time, so it was a rather wobbly affair. In fact, as we rounded the corner and went down our first hill I had a brief moment of panic as I backpedaled but failed to slow down. It was with relief that I found the brakes on the handlebars.

Once I got the hang of it, we had a nice ride over country roads and through wheat fields. I have to admit it was a welcome break from the city. Her grandparents had laid out a lovely meal, and we stayed there for several hours. In the afternoon we rode our bikes back into town to see Michelle's middle school, where apparently she was a star. (Only the top students from each school, plus those whose parents can buy their admission, attend the high school where I teach.) I met with some teachers, one of whom asked me to speak in her class. It was the first time many students had met a foreigner, so they had all kinds of questions. Then two or three students from that class and several others were chosen to meet with me in a conference room down the hall, which could only fit so many people. We talked about books (Harry Potter), movies (also Harry Potter), the Olympics and what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was a fun afternoon.

We had dinner back at Michelle's house, where her mother kept entreating me, "Chi ba!" ("Eat!"). I really had no choice since any time I made a dent in my food she replaced what I had eaten and then some. It was some time before I was able to convince her, "Wo chi bao" ("I'm full"). After dinner, Michelle walked me to the bus stop and I headed back to school.

Love Moon

2008-06-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Last month I was standing outside the bank when two women came by and struck up a conversation. They told me they worked for Mary Kay and asked for my phone number, which I gave them, telling them to send me a text message so I could take my time deciphering the Chinese. On Tuesday the text message arrived. Even after I called back, I wasn't totally sure it was them since I hadn't written down their phone numbers, but we made plans to meet anyway.

A woman met me at the bus stop and I followed her to a nearby apartment, fully expecting a pitch for Mary Kay. During our initial meeting they kept pointing to my face and using the word makeup (huazhuang), a word I had only learned the previous week. Okay, I'll just listen politely, I thought, but I won't buy anything.

There were four other people there when we arrived: a woman I had previously met, plus three men sitting in the corner and looking on curiously. The woman sat me on the couch and opened her laptop to show me a brief video promoting a company calling itself, I kid you not, Success Unlimited. It was the kind of slick corporate video that talks about mission and philosophy without ever saying what the company actually does.

It does not sell Mary Kay. Since our first meeting, the woman had joined another network marketing company that sells one product and one product only: sanitary napkins. She and her partner proceeded to read from their English script while I sat through various absorbency tests. The product line is called Yuelang, which means Love Moon.

They also showed me bilingual company literature, some of which was probably not meant for me to see. Flipping through it, I quickly found this gem: "The principle of making money according to the Jews - it is 10 times easier to make money from women than men." The next page elaborated that since women run the family, they hold the power to consume.

At the end I explained that I was about to leave the country for four weeks and really had no place for a bulk maxi pad supply. They said they were happy just to tell me about their company. Amway and similar companies have really taken off here in the last few years, often offering enterprising employees substantially higher incomes.

Dizhen (Earthquake)

2008-05-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

I was already late for my last Chinese lesson when I got on the bus today. We were sitting at an intersection a block away from home when traffic stopped, a police officer strode to the center and everyone started deliberately laying on their horns. Everyone on the bus stood up and I then realized it was 2:28 p.m. The nation was observing three minutes silence to mourn those killed in last week's earthquake, whose magnitude has now been revised to 8.0.

Eight is an auspicious number here - cellphone numbers with multiple 8's are more expensive - but events this year have caused some people to question the superstition. China's worst snowstorm in 50 years hit on 1.25 (1 + 2 + 5 = 8), the earthquake shook Sichuan on 5.12 (5 + 1 + 2 = 8), and protests in Tibet turned violent on 3.14 (you get the idea). The Olympics start on August 8, 2008 at 8 p.m. local time.

China started a three-day mourning period today, which newspapers marked this morning by removing color from their front pages. Flags will fly at half-mast and the Olympic torch relay has been suspended. Also in observance, the government has ordered entertainment and gaming websites to suspend operations and post mourning messages instead. Beijing's Houhai bar district will turn off its music this week, while some movie theaters and KTV (karaoke) chains will shut down completely.

People were still being rescued Sunday, seven days after being buried. On Sunday night my Chinese teacher watched a TV special that included many stories from survivors. She told me about one girl who turned 20 the same day the earthquake struck. Before it happened, she was wondering what she would get for her birthday - flowers, clothing, etc. After a building collapsed on her, she waited several days for rescue teams to find her. In the end, she said, her birthday gift was her life.

China Fun Fact: Officially, the current toll is 34,073 dead and 245,108 injured.

Fenqing

2008-05-19T06:18:00.000-07:00

Fenqing = angry youth who display a high level of Chinese nationalism

China Fun Fact: China has 160 cities with populations over 1 million (the U.S. has nine).

Longtime reader, first-time fake letter writer

2008-05-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

I never read the letters to the editor in China Daily, so it wasn't until recently that I noticed how outrageously fake they are - especially when it comes to recent events. To wit:

I have visited Tibet on three occasions. People there live a happy and peaceful life and their livelihood has been improved greatly.

Each time I visit, I notice new progress. Roads and highways are becoming better and the cities more beautiful.

I am dismayed that the recent violence had disrupted the peace and stability of the people. I strongly oppose such violent incidents that target innocent civilians. I hope it will not be too long before I can visit Tibet again to enjoy the peace and serenity of the region.
"Giuseppe from Italy"

I knew from the very beginning that the riots in Tibet were instigated by some ill-intentioned people to disrupt the Beijing Olympic Games.

I watched a CCTV 4 news report in which five innocent girls were burnt to death by the mobs. It was quite brutal and horrifying. In my country, there are not many people who are aware of the fact that Tibetan people are enjoying a lot of autonomous rights.

I hope the Chinese government can bring the situation under control as soon as possible so that the people can return to their peaceful lives. I also think German media needs to take a fresh look at the way they report the news. The untrue reports spread quickly but not the apologies.
"Helmut Matt from Germany"

I felt very sorry and angry about the violent incident in Tibet on March 14. Many innocent people lost their lives in the riots and it has greatly undermined social order and stability in Tibet.

All the evidence shows that the Dalai Lama clique attempted to clash with the Chinese government in order to seek Tibet independence.

But I firmly believe that the temporary chaos will end soon and the Chinese government will handle the situation properly and effectively. The Beijing Olympic Games will be held successfully in August.
"Ricardo Santos from Brazil"

The Qinghai-Tibet railway is one of many examples that show Tibet's economic development and people's living standards have improved significantly in the past few decades.

All this relies on favorable government policies and the support of all Chinese people. Any attempt to separate Tibet from China is against the will of the people.
"Huajin from Spain"

China is a country of great culture and history. The 2008 Beijing Olympics bear special significance for the Chinese people.

The world's attention is on China and we are looking forward to a successful Beijing Olympics.

The games is a world event, therefore to disrupt it is to go against the wishes of the people around the world, and people who love China.

As a religious person, I want to tell Chinese religious believers that they should be careful not to be used by a few criminals who harbor ill intentions. We need to work together to achieve social harmony, national stability and world peace.
"Idris Bu Vadinar from Morocco"

[4/10/2008]

China Fun Fact: In a poll last year asking urban Chinese how much Japan respects China, almost 75% said "not much" or "not at all." President Hu Jintao is in Japan this week - the first such visit in a decade.

Xinjiang

2008-05-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was China's Labor Day holiday, so Niall and I took off a few extra days and traveled to China's western edge (photos here).

Xinjiang (which means "New Frontier") is more Central Asia than Far East, but the Chinese government cares deeply about it for two main reasons. One, it has significant oil and natural gas reserves. Two, it has enormous geopolitical importance since it borders eight countries: Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The giant province is home to the Uighur people, who practice Islam and use Arabic script - although their numbers have dropped below 50% as Beijing has flooded the region with Han Chinese settlers. Xinjiang's situation is similar to Tibet in that the government has spent billions on development while relegating native ethnic groups to second-class status. In recent years there have been sporadic, and sometimes violent, separatist movements, but while Uighurs generally resent Chinese rule many are resistant to the idea of independence. Speaking to Uighur students in Beijing has given me the impression they see their fate as linked to Tibet's, so they're not crazy about independence for that region either.

Having flown into Urumqi (the capital) the night before, we spent last Sunday wandering through the touristy Erdaoqiao Market before heading back to the airport for our flight to Kashgar. One thing I should mention: China has a "one country, one time zone" policy, which means officially it's the same time in Xinjiang as it is in Beijing 3,000 km away. This makes for some very late sunsets. Bus stations, airports and government offices all run on Beijing time, but for the most part people in Xinjiang live on their own schedule two hours behind. What's great about this is each day felt that much longer - I could wake up at 9:00 Beijing time and feel rested, then mentally switch to Xinjiang time in the afternoon and add two more hours to my day. But it can also occasionally lead to confusion, say when arranging private tours with a driver: "What time shall we leave? 8:00? OK - wait, is that Beijing time or Xinjiang time?"

In Kashgar we stayed at a fantastic hotel (the dorms had private bathrooms!), housed in the former British consulate. We saw the Id Kah Mosque and ate at the night market, then left early the next morning on a bus to Tashkurgan, a small town near the China-Pakistan border. The 300-km drive took us along the Karakoram Highway, which transitions from desert to red rock cliffs to snow-capped mountains as it climbs to 3,600 meters.

Once we arrived in Tashkurgan, however, we discovered there was not much to do. It was a long night playing cards in the lobby, but while there we met a man who offered to drive us back to Kashgar the next day for slightly more money than the bus. It was worth it to be able to pull over and take pictures, so we set off along with a young Korean man who was also in our dorm room. The drive back was faster, with the driver pointing out interesting sights; at one point, he told us we were 14 km from Tajikistan.

There is no escaping the Olympics anywhere in this country. Even in Kashgar, which is about as far away from Beijing as you can get, signs along the street were plastered with the "One World, One Dream" theme. No sooner had we commented on this than we entered People's Square, where a dance practice was under way. It's not unusual to see people in public squares sweating along to some post-work exercise music, but this was special. Most people wore the same T-shirt - some red, some yellow, blue, etc. - and then they broke into the different-colored Olympic rings. In each ring one or two people simulated a different sport: ping-pong, basketball, running. It looked like they were preparing for the opening ceremony, or perhaps for something similar when the torch passes through Xinjiang over the summer.

On Wednesday we doubled back to Urumqi, our central hub. Once in the air, the pilot announced we were 100 days away from the Olympic opening ceremony. Meanwhile, back in Beijing, our school coordinator had informed all the foreign teachers they were to participate in an event commemorating the 100-day countdown. I hadn't told the school I was leaving, so Brian and Tienie covered for me by saying I'd be taking a Chinese exam. All the teachers at the school, foreign and Chinese, gathered at the track, each receiving an Olympic flag and a Chinese flag. Then they hoisted their flags high and marched around the track four times (about a mile), with video cameras and a few students watching. The whole thing took about 30 minutes and Brian said they received soap and laundry detergent as a reward.

In the afternoon we took another bus to Turpan, about three hours away. Turpan sits in the Tarim Basin, the second-lowest depression in the world (after Death Valley) and the hottest spot in China. The town itself is an oasis and major grape producer, although we were a little early for grape season. The next day we took a private car to see the sand dunes, about 100 km away. The driver pulled off the road and we walked a kilometer into the desert, where the sand stretched into the horizon and we were the only people around.

On the way to Tuyoq, a hokey "traditional" Uighur town (think Xinjiang's Williamsburg), the driver pulled over at a police checkpoint and got out to speak with the officers. When he returned, we asked him why the police stopped him and he said something about the Olympics. Why would that matter in Xinjiang, which is so far away? we asked. "Because they're scared," he said.

We returned to Urumqi once again in the afternoon, then spent an uneventful day there on Friday. The May 1 holiday was also the start of a planned boycott against Carrefour, the French Wal-Mart. The Chinese are très irrités for two reasons: 1) the unfriendly reception the torch received in Paris last month and 2) reports that Nicolas Sarkozy may not attend the opening ceremony (never mind the fact that Angela Merkel, Gordon Brown, Stephen Harper, Ban Ki-moon and all three U.S. presidential candidates have said they will definitely not attend). We stopped at Carrefour after dinner and noticed a sign reassuring customers that the company fully supports the Olympics and has neither directly nor indirectly aided "splittist" groups. We tried to take a picture, but a security guard stopped us. Lines in the store were ridiculous as usual. Even China Daily, which ran a front-page story, admitted support for the boycott was tepid at best.

On Saturday we flew back to Beijing from Urumqi, which wouldn't have been noteworthy except we were all pulled off the plane because one passenger had cancelled at the last minute and the airline wanted to do another security check. Militants reportedly tried to hijack a Beijing-bound plane in March, so I can understand why the airline might be jumpy, but the announcement met with groans from less concerned passengers. We landed in Beijing's brand-new terminal, which is beautiful but requires a long walk from the gate to the baggage claim.

China Fun Fact: Almost 1.4 million Olympic tickets went on sale today.

Sexy Beijing

2008-05-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd throw up a link to this Sex and the City spoof, which takes on dating, politics and other issues where cultures collide using SJP's trademark "I couldn't help but wonder..." narration and hilarious man-on-the-street interviews with Beijingers. Start with "Looking for Double Happiness" and "Beijing Caucus."

China Fun Fact: 100,000 Chinese and foreign nationals will volunteer at the Olympics and Paralympics.

Two headlines

2008-04-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

International Herald Tribune: Torch draws protest fury in London's Olympic run

China Daily: Warm reception in cold London

China Fun Fact: Beijing has 70,000 taxis.

Trivia challenge: Which two Asian countries are predominantly Catholic?

2008-03-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a disturbing experience I had in a Beijing taxi recently: Last week I went to a trivia night (my team won, due in part to my unhealthy knowledge of the TV show Friends) at a bar way across town, and the subway stopped running before I made it all the way home. Outside the subway station I jumped in an unofficial taxi, which is how many people here make a living. Sometimes drivers hang around to see if they can pick up a couple extra people, as this driver did, so there were two other passengers with me.

The driver did the thing where he went the wrong way up the off-ramp, which was old hat to me except I would have preferred to have a seatbelt since I was in the front seat. Then we got off the expressway and onto the frontage road, where he really started to make me nervous.

I hadn't noticed that the sun visor on the passenger side had a DVD player in it. I watched as the driver inserted a DVD and resumed watching a movie as he swerved in and out of traffic in the dark. His eyes darted between the road and two leather-bound chicks fighting each other on motorcycles, I don't know what it was - Ice Cube was in it. I mean, just what he needed to be watching: a movie about reckless driving where no one gets hurt.

On an unrelated note, here is an old but excellent Atlantic article that explains how China views Tibet.

Also, the Olympic torch was re-lit in Tiananmen Square today.

China Fun Fact: 1.28 million Chinese people die from lung disease each year.

Blackout

2008-03-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

So, about Tibet.

Finding reliable news updates is frustrating because third-party reporting is available only from the few foreign correspondents who were already in Lhasa. Otherwise everything we get is from the Chinese government, which isn't entirely true, or the Tibetan exile government, which isn't entirely true either. It's in the papers here, with an emphasis on how it's a political conspiracy by the Dalai Lama and everyone in Tibet is united in opposition to it except for a few misguided souls (of course, they can also always blame Björk).

American broadcast news rarely carries any international stories, except for the occasional, reluctant tour through half a dozen countries in two minutes. So I was surprised when NBC Nightly News, which I download and play in class every morning, included a lengthy segment on Friday about what's happening in Tibet - 2 minutes, 44 seconds, in fact. That's an eternity. We watched it in class earlier this week and had a brief discussion about it. My students know that Tibetans are unhappy but think they should remain part of China; they're justifiably concerned that this will tarnish the Olympics and hope the conflict can be resolved quickly, although they didn't say how.

The Chinese government is not messing around with this. YouTube is blocked (again). I don't get BBC or CNN in my room, but if I did I would see them black out at regular intervals. (As one online commenter described it, "CNN International, viewable here in Beijing, keeps cycling every half hour or so to coverage of the Tibet protests, whereupon the TV goes blank, then comes back on right when CNN moves on to covering the McCartney-Mills divorce.") Then there's this report about Beijing police barring expat Cub Scouts from meeting the Dodgers last weekend at China's first MLB exhibition game. There's no evidence linking that decision to the turmoil in Tibet, but it's not implausible.

So all this was making me a little paranoid this morning when the NBC Nightly News podcasts for the last couple days were nowhere to be found. Thinking maybe NBC had neglected to update its site, I tried ABC and CBS as well, with no luck. Is China blocking podcasts with coverage of Tibet? I wondered. But this afternoon I was able to download what I needed, and the news is back to normal: Obama-Clinton-economy-What-are-gas-prices-like-today?-Boy-that-Spitzer-really-screwed-up-And-now-for-some-random-celebrity-news-And-finally-new-research-revealing-something-we-already-knew (news flash: Americans don't get enough sleep and that makes them tired!).

Finally, in a case of extremely bad timing, last week China released its U.S. human rights report, the full text of which was printed over three pages in China Daily on Friday. The annual report is a response to the State Department's country reports, and basically says 1) violent crime is increasing, 2) law enforcement officials abuse their power, with police brutality rampant in Chicago (also the U.S. has the world's largest prison population), 3) the American government has tossed civil rights out the window to fight its war on terror, 4) homelessness and food insecurity are on the rise, 5) women and minorities still face discrimination, 6) the U.S. condones and practices torture overseas and at Guantanamo, and 7) the U.S. should STFU and address its own problems. Some valid points, to be sure, but it's hard to take them seriously when paired with statements like, "Almost every American, even ex-criminals with felony records and minors, has firearms" and criticism that the U.S. restricts union membership (whereas in China, independent unions are flat-out illegal).

China Fun Fact: Sixteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China.

Accepted

2008-03-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

I spent all day Saturday with one of my students, who invited me to a college fair at a downtown hotel. The day started off well when I checked my e-mail to find a message from the University of Colorado at Boulder saying the school has granted her admission. It was nice when I met her dad to be able to say, “Nice to meet you – by the way, your daughter has been accepted to college.”

After the fair we went to Jingshan Park and Beihai Park, both ancient imperial gardens. During a peasant revolt in 1644, the last Ming emperor hanged himself in Jingshan Park when it became clear that it was over for him anyway. At Beihai Park, I randomly ran into someone from my Chinese class at McGill (amazing that I recognized anyone from that class, considering how often I went, and remembered his name; even more amazing that he remembered mine). We’re having dinner this week.

We had then planned to take a driving tour around Tiananmen Square, but traffic was bad due to the “two meetings” in progress – the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress. Police brought traffic to a halt on our side of the street so the other side would be clear for party officials leaving that day’s session. We waited about 20 minutes until several charter buses drove by in the opposite direction. I observed that they were mostly empty, but my student wasn’t surprised.

“They are the important people in China,” she said with unusual force and resentment. “So they can waste the resources.”

We continued on to her apartment, where I met her mother and we chatted before going to dinner at a Sichuan restaurant.

On Sunday Niall and I had dinner at Beijing’s first Ethiopian restaurant, which opened last week.

China Fun Fact: Beijing’s subway network set a new one-day record two weeks ago, with 3.5 million passenger trips (Washington, D.C. tops out at about 800,000).

Xi'an

2008-02-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

My six-week vacation is finally over. The last two weeks were largely uneventful except for a visit from Mark, a friend from McGill, and his boyfriend Andy. I met them in Tiananmen Square and we spent an hour or so at a nearby teahouse. Other than that I slept in most days and continued working my way through The West Wing.

So it was a relief to set off Wednesday night for two days in Xi'an (photos here), which is about 12 hours away by train. Someone from the hostel met us at the train station and waited while we went to buy return tickets, but we couldn't get tickets for the day we wanted because Spring Festival was ending and all the students were traveling back to school. Buying tickets for the next day would have required standing in a different line, so we decided to get settled at the hostel and worry about it later.

First on the list, of course, were the world-famous terracotta warriors. On the way there we stopped at the train station to have another try at buying return tickets. The ticket windows were crowded and the staff had no patience for foreigners, trying to direct us to another line, but we persisted until they sold us something. We weren't clear on the details, but based on the price we assumed we were taking the bullet train. Everywhere we turned someone was talking at us, like the woman who kept saying, "Shí diǎn lái" ("Be here at 10 a.m."). People in China are very friendly and eager to help, but when you're surrounded by several people talking at once it can be overwhelming. We couldn't figure out why they were treating us like such idiots.

We pushed our way out and found the bus to the Army of Terracotta Warriors, which is about an hour outside the city. The warriors, elaborately detailed and each with a unique facial expression, were meant to help Emperor Qin Shi Huang rule the heavens as he had ruled in life. During his 36-year reign (247-210 B.C.) he unified China, built roads and standardized currency, measurements and writing. Local farmers discovered the first pit in 1974 while drilling a well, and the three pits together have yielded some 8,000 warriors, horses, chariots and bronze weapons.

Thursday was the Yuan Xiao (Lantern) Festival, marking the end of New Year celebrations, which meant more fireworks. After dinner we spent a quiet evening at the hostel playing cards.

On Friday we walked to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, which both date from the 14th century and once contained bells that were rung at dawn and dusk, respectively. We wandered through the Muslim Quarter on the way to the Great Mosque, then stopped at a restaurant to try yángròu pàomó, a Xi'an specialty combining lamb, bread cubes, rice noodles and broth.

Before heading back to the hostel we walked along the City Wall, which was built in 1370 and encloses the city. We lay around for a few hours, then joined the hostel's weekly dumpling party - rolling dough, spreading the pork filling and trying in vain to match the artful examples provided by the chefs. Then we spent another night playing cards and shooting pool with the hostel manager, whose English name was Jim Beam.

We took a cab to the train station the next morning and plodded along in the line to get in. When the attendant looked at our tickets, however, he paused and held us back.

"These are bus tickets," he told us.

Sure enough, when we looked at the tickets more closely they said "qìche" in big red characters at the top. It turns out the bus station and train station were right next to each other and we had failed to notice. From across the street we could even see the building was labelled, in Chinese, "Xi'an Bus Station."

They must have been waiting for us. We entered the waiting hall at the bus station, but didn't see our bus on the boards. As we stood in the corner a man came up to us and asked, "Beijing?" then motioned for us to follow him. He led us through a maze of buses and deposited us at the right one, which we never would have found by ourselves. As we boarded, the driver handed us plastic bags in which to place our shoes (?) and directed us to the right bunks. The other passengers looked at us like we were from another planet.

Bus travel in China worries me, because every so often you hear about one tumbling off a cliff and everyone being killed. But there would be no bullet train for us. Instead, we were in for a 14-hour bus ride on a sleeper, which has about 35 or 40 narrow bunks arranged such that it is absolutely impossible to sit up. We had no way to play cards, almost no food and no reading lights. And oh, the smell.

To our surprise, it wasn't that bad - except for the last couple hours in the dark, which were agonizing. We only stopped when it was time to switch drivers, although one time they made the switch while the bus was in motion on the highway. The bus dropped us off just after 1 a.m. not far from Niall's neighborhood, so he got in one cab and Brian and I took another across the city.

Classes resume tomorrow, and as usual no one has told us our schedules. Fortunately, one of my students called (because students always know these things before the teachers) to inform me we have class for four hours in the morning. I guess I'll find out about the rest of the week then.

China Fun Fact: Beijingers alone sent out 600 million text messages on New Year's Eve, about 38 per person (I got two from my students).

New Year

2008-02-13T18:40:00.000-08:00

Last week I was in Nanjing and Shanghai. Highlights:

The trip started out on a low note when someone lifted my cell phone from my pocket on the way to the train station. Brian and I were meeting friends for dinner before we left, and the taxi pulled up next to two men who were selling tickets for something. I put the phone in my jacket pocket as I got out, said no to their offer and went around the back of the car to get my bag. I immediately felt something missing, but it was too late. The phone had already been powered off by the time we called it. So no more phone.

I didn't have much time to dwell on it, however, since our train was leaving soon. We met Niall at the station and took the sleeper train to Nanjing - we had bunks this time so it was an easy trip.

Once at the hostel we met up with David, who teaches in Zhengzhou. He had been stuck in nearby Hangzhou for several days due to the snow on the roads - and once he finally got out, what should have been a 4-hour bus ride to Nanjing ended up taking more like 28. The unusual winter storm everyone's been hearing about came just before the annual Spring Festival, the most important holiday in China. Over the course of about two weeks people make 2.37 billion journeys by car, train and plane, making it the single largest annual human migration in the world. The worst delays were in the south, however, with as many as 500,000 people stranded at the Guangzhou train station. One woman was trampled in a stampede. I was worried we'd run into similar delays, but we didn't have a single problem.

Our first day in Nanjing (photos here) we went to the Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre. Over six weeks, starting on December 13, 1937, the Japanese army killed more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians, raped 20,000 women and destroyed the city, which was then the capital. Crazed Japanese soldiers would hold killing contests, dividing people into groups around a pit to be shot, beheaded or bayoneted. Two officers in particular couldn't agree on which of them had been the first to kill 100 people, so they set 150 as the new marker. Chinese people were conscripted to dispose of the bodies, then executed. You can find out more here.

We spent a few hours at the museum, which is on the site of a partially excavated mass grave. Maybe it was my overactive imagination, but as I was standing there reading about where we were it was like I could feel an energy under my feet. The thick layer of newfallen snow had an added effect, something so pure and untouched blanketing something so ugly.

The next day we started at the Fuzi Confucian Temple, around the corner from the hostel, which was all dressed up for the Spring Festival. From there we went to Zhonghua Men, one of the original 13 gates built to encircle the city during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

On the last day we made our way to Purple Mountain, which was a nice escape from the smog in the city. The Sun Yatsen Mausoleum is there, but we opted instead to see the Ming Xiaoling Tomb - belonging to Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

Tuesday morning we took the train a short two hours to Shanghai (photos here). I was there for a few days in August for my training seminar, but the hotel was out by the airport and there was no time for us to go downtown. At the hostel we met up with Sam, a friend from Tribune days, who took us on a walking tour down East Nanjing Road and along the Bund. We met his girlfriend Angel for dinner somewhere in the French Concession.

On Wednesday (New Year's Eve), we visited the Shanghai Museum, displaying thousands of years of Chinese painting, seals, coins, calligraphy, sculpture, costume and metalwork. Then we took the touristy Bund Sightseeing Tunnel across the Huangpu River to the Pudong New Area, which in the past 20 years has been transformed into a thriving financial and shopping district. We bypassed the Oriental Pearl Tower in favour of the Jinmao Tower, China's tallest building at 420 meters (although it's set to be surpassed by the 492-m Shanghai World Financial Center being constructed next door). The 53rd to 87th floors are occupied by the Hyatt, with an expensive bar at the top. From our table we watched fireworks explode all over the city... but the real fireworks wouldn't start until later.

Back at the hostel bar David spotted Yuko, a Japanese teacher he knows in Zhengzhou whom we had met in Qingdao back in November. She was in town for the night on her way back to Japan, so she joined us for dinner at a place called Peter's Tex-Mex. The Mexican food was decent, but more importantly they had the most amazing chocolate cake at a time I was really craving it.

We retired to the hostel, interrupting our card game just before midnight when the constant fireworks drew us outside. I don't have video, but here's an example someone took in Beijing:

So you can imagine what it was like on the ground. One woman told us that families might spend RMB 3,000-4,000 (US$418-557) on firecrackers, rockets, sparklers, etc. to scare away evil spirits as they usher in the new year. Not surprisingly, China is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks (75%).

On New Year's Day we met up with Anna, also from Zhengzhou, and went to the Yuyuan Bazaar (above) for jiaozi (dumplings) before touring the famous Ming gardens, which were built from 1559 to 1577.

On Friday we visited the Propaganda Poster Art Centre, a small gallery displaying posters from 1949 to 1979. Deng Xiaoping discontinued their use in 1979 and many were destroyed, but some have survived. The gallery owner started collecting them 12 years ago and now has more than 5,000. The posters glorify Mao, demonize his opponents, urge support for the North Koreans in the Korean War and resistance against American imperialism, demand increased steel production and encourage the Chinese to support Vietnam protestors in the U.S. and fight for social justice around the world.

Not far from the gallery was the Site of the 1st National Congress of the CCP, where Mao, 11 other Chinese and two Russian observers met in July 1921 to establish party principles while authorities searched them out.

We spent our last day in Shanghai at the Jade Buddha Temple and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, which contains historic photographs and a large scale plan of the city as well as exhibits on Shanghai real estate, transportation, tourism, airports and development in Pudong. We were left with just enough time to stand in line for fried dumplings at a very popular place we had passed the day before. Back at the hostel we said goodbye to Anna, who was staying a few more days, and David, who was catching a flight to Guangzhou, and headed to the train station.

The trip back was uneventful, but in the meantime Sam and Angel had flown up to Beijing for a few days, so I was able to see them, Angel's brother and sister-in-law for dinner Sunday night before they returned to Shanghai the next day.

So that was the trip - and I still have almost two weeks left before classes start! I figure I'll hang around here for a few days and probably go to Xi'an before the break ends.

(Also, the week before Nanjing we visited Dong Yue Miao, a Daoist temple in downtown Beijing. Photos are here.)

China Fun Fact: Tibet (pop. 2.8 million) received 4 million visitors last year.

Bored (and lazy)

2008-01-19T00:45:00.000-08:00

My classes ended on Tuesday, so I'm on break until February 24. Travel plans in the works include Nanjing/Shanghai early next month. Until then I need to find something better to do with my time – finally get serious about studying Chinese, perhaps?

Here's an example of where China is willing to take steps many other countries are not: Starting in June, it will be illegal to produce certain plastic bags, and stores will have to charge for their use. Some stores have already started, as I found out last week. According to the article, China uses up to 3 billion plastic bags a day.

I had heard that the Writers Guild Web site was blocked here (unions = bad), but it seems to work fine. AFL-CIO, on the other hand, does not.

I also found this old article about Chinese students who study abroad. I guess this shouldn't really come as a surprise, but apparently 14 percent of international students are from China, more than any other country.

Finally, check out this Wall Street Journal article on mental health care in the countryside.

China Fun Fact: China has become the world's top apple grower, harvesting 26 million tons last year (the world total is 46 million tons). This year the country is also on course to produce 800,000 tons of apple juice, almost all of which will be exported (the U.S. is the world's main importer).

Xinnian kuai le!

2007-12-31T19:25:00.000-08:00

Whew. It's been a busy two weeks – I'll start at the beginning. My parents arrived at their hotel last Friday night, upon which I whisked them to my school for a performance by Xinjiang students celebrating the annual Corban Festival. It started at 7 and went past 11 p.m., so we just stayed for the first two hours.

After we toured campus Saturday morning, we headed downtown to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We killed time window shopping at Wangfujing before having a fabulous dinner at Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant.

The weather was perfect for our visit to the Great Wall on Sunday, with clear blue skies. It was also warm enough to take off our coats once we started hiking along the top (photos here).

On Monday we visited the Lama Temple, then stopped at the Silk Street Market to haggle over hats and gloves before returning to campus for a Christmas pageant. There were choirs, dance performances and student bands, plus some Christmas carols from the foreign teachers. Mom and Dad were on their own while I attended a dinner with school officials and other foreign teachers.

We spent Christmas Day at the Temple of Heaven and Beijing Antique City. Brian and Tienie joined us for Christmas dinner at a local Korean BBQ restaurant.

After class on Wednesday, my parents and I trekked across the city to the sprawling Summer Palace. It was freezing and all the ponds and lakes had frozen over. On the way back we drove past the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, which is the main Olympic venue. Our taxi driver pulled onto the side of the freeway so we could get better pictures, and it turned out to be a popular spot – enterprising vendors were even selling Olympic souvenirs. We took the subway back to Tongzhou and met Brian for dinner at a Xinjiang restaurant, where we ordered meatsticks, naan and a giant lamb shank for Dad.

The next day we visited the Military Museum, which covers everything from the ancient dynasties to the Communist Revolution. In the evening we had dinner in Haidian with Niall and his parents, who were also visiting. Photos from all these places are here. I also have some photos of Beijing Christmas decorations.

Friday afternoon we flew to Chengdu, in Sichuan province (photos here). We were the only Westerners on the plane. At the baggage claim in Chengdu we watched with a sinking feeling as the last few bags circled around on the conveyor belt – Dad's was not among them. We spent some time filling out the necessary forms and took a taxi to our hotel.

We woke up early Saturday morning for the drive to Leshan (pop. 200,000). Carved into a sandstone cliff outside Leshan is the 71-meter Giant Buddha, which sits at the intersection of three rivers. Local residents built the Buddha 1,300 years ago because boats kept crashing where the rivers meet – and gave it full credit when the accidents ceased. More recently, however, scientists have determined that the Buddha's construction actually altered the riverbed to make it safer.

In the afternoon we visited the famous Qingyang Taoist Temple, then went back to the hotel for a few hours. We capped off the day by attending a Sichuan opera, which included acrobatics, musical performances, a hand shadow show, and of course the so-fast-you-can't-see-it face-changing that Sichuan opera is known for.

Sunday morning we rose early again to visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which houses 67 cubs and adults. The three-month-olds lounging in the nursery – pandas can't really move freely until 150 days – were unbearably cute. Pandas have been around for 8 million years but they've evolved into placid herbivores, consuming up to 40 kilograms of bamboo a day. Because bamboo is so fiber-rich, however, they don't retain many nutrients and so have to keep eating.

After lunch, we went our separate ways at the airport – my parents to Shanghai, me to Beijing. We have today and tomorrow off, then it's back to class for a few weeks until the February break. 2007 is over already! Happy New Year (Xinnian kuai le!) and best wishes for 2008.

China Fun Fact: There are fewer than 1,000 pandas left in the wild.

News break

2007-12-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

Niall directed me to this 1,700-word "special report" in today's China Daily on the Tibetan Living Buddha reincarnation. After laying out the five key points that govern the central government's role in the selection process, the article wraps up with these thoughts:

The religious rituals concerning the reincarnation of Living Buddhas of Tibetan Buddhism and the historical conventions formed during the administration over the reincarnation of Living Buddhas exercised by central governments... have become essential conditions in establishing the authority of the reincarnated Living Buddhas. They have also become the faith of Buddhist followers. The system and the implementation of it fully demonstrate national sovereignty and the authority of the central governments. It not only helped to improve national unification and solidarity and maintain social stability in Tibet, but also helped to boost the healthy development of the Tibetan Buddhism and consolidate its position in Tibetan society.

The government has stepped up its media offensive against Tibet and the Dalai Lama over the last few months as he visited the U.S. and other Western countries (see here for another example).

Also making the news here: China to play greater role in World Bank, South Korean presidential election kicked off, Asia all the rage as world of sports heads East, and Jamie Lynn Spears says she's pregnant (side note: Hello, she's 16!!).

Unrelated but also of note is this article about America's shadowy think tanks, with Karl Rove (or possibly CIA head Michael Hayden) gazing out menacingly from the Xinhua news magazine's cover.

China Fun Fact: English words that come from Chinese include silk, kowtow, typhoon and gung-ho.

Xuě

2007-12-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Traffic laws in China are lax at best; outside the city center, for example, red lights are more of a suggestion ("Hey, you might want to consider stopping here, you know, if you feel like it") than a hard and fast rule. Coming back from an Indian restaurant last night, Brian and I had to exit the subway and jump in a cab because our line closes earlier. Unfortunately it was on a frontage road going away from Tongzhou, so the driver followed the highway briefly before making an awkward U-turn to the right. It took us a minute to realize he was going up the off-ramp. That's when we decided to put our seatbelts on.

When I looked out the window this morning there was snow, which continued throughout the morning. You all know how I feel about snow. It's like watching the Roadrunner try to ice skate. But it made for some pretty pictures.

China Fun Fact: Mine accidents claim almost 20,000 lives each year, including more than 100 workers killed last week by a gas explosion at a mine in northern Shanxi province.

Looong weekend

2007-11-29T23:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we're becoming quite the experts on Beijing duck, since tonight we had dinner at the popular Da Dong Roast Duck restaurant with a woman I met at Alvin Ailey last month. Having a native Chinese speaker at the table meant we got all the right foods (as opposed to our usual point-and-order method, which has resulted in some odd combinations that probably had restaurant staff doubled over laughing in the kitchen). In addition to the bird and fixings, we had duck feet, duck liver, tofu, spicy chicken and cabbage, with papaya porridge and a fruit plate for dessert.

My students are both taking the SAT on Saturday, one in Macao and the other in Hong Kong, since there were no spots left in Beijing. One student is already in Macao, while the other went home yesterday before flying to Hong Kong tomorrow. Since neither will return to class until Tuesday, it seems I have the next few days off.

China Fun Fact: The Chinese economy grew 11.5% in the third quarter, compared to 4.9% in the U.S.

Reading Rainbow

2007-11-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

Nothing too eventful lately. Thursday was Thanksgiving, of course – or was it really on Friday? – so we observed it by going out for duck again. In the spirit of Thanksgiving excess we ordered not one bird but two, and there were no leftovers.

Twice over the weekend I went to Beijing International Book City, the largest book warehouse in Asia and possibly the world. Fortunately it’s nearby, just a 30-kuai cab ride outside my already very suburban neighborhood. Despite offering books from more than 800 domestic and international publishers, the place was curiously empty. Brian observed that the Chinese government might be less concerned with turning a profit on the world’s largest book center than with advertising the fact that it’s in China. It only opened on November 8, however, so maybe more customers are on the way.

The English-language section included literary classics, popular fiction, political memoirs, textbooks, SparkNotes and Far Side collections. The selection of children’s books – including the Berenstain Bears, the Magic School Bus, Beatrix Potter and Goosebumps – was more extensive than what I’ve seen in most bookstores here or at home. Other books on the shelves: The Art of War, The Wealth of Nations, Gossip Girl – sharp drop in cultural value there, I know – Shopaholic, Harry Potter and the very thick Chinese-English Dictionary for Mechanical Engineering. You get the idea. Where we really cleaned up, though, was in the DVD section. I walked away with Casablanca, Woman of the Year, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and three Looney Tunes volumes, while Niall bought a Hitchcock box set – 34 films for $25.

China Fun Fact: Not so much fun as depressing - Mongolia's street children fight for survival.

Quack quack, gobble gobble

2007-11-18T22:22:00.000-08:00

Thursday night I attended a media panel hosted by Danwei, an excellent Chinese media blog. It included representatives from GroupM, Google and Edelman as well as Mei Fong from the Wall Street Journal's Beijing bureau. The idea was to explain each company's recruiting process. The advice we heard from Mei Fong was consistent with everything else I've heard: There is no set path into journalism, develop specialized knowledge, don't go into it for the money, etc. Except for her, the speakers were mediocre. Mostly I wanted to check out Beijing's aspiring young journalist crowd – which as it turns out is no different from similar crowds anywhere else in the world, albeit slightly better traveled. Plus, we got goodie bags.

We had pork at lunch in the dining hall on Friday – my favorite! Don't know why I felt the need to share that. Speaking of food, last night we had our first Peking duck, a fitting substitute for turkey this week (although many American restaurants around town are offering full Thanksgiving dinners).

China Fun Fact: Marriage-age men outnumber women by 18 million (122:100) in the countryside.

China Road

2007-11-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

On Monday I attended a book talk by NPR correspondent Rob Gifford, whose book China Road chronicles his two-month journey along Route 312 (similar to Route 66 in the U.S.) from Shanghai to the Kazakhstan border. The event, held at the Beijing Bookworm, was packed with journalists and Sinophiles, so much so that many of us had to listen to the audio from the next room.

“My experience in China” books are a dime a dozen, but it’s a good concept and Gifford made an interesting presentation. He read one passage that took place in 2005, around the time the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith was released. He’s walking along the road in a small town when he comes across two young Chinese men, who strike up a conversation. He asks them what they do for a living and is caught off guard when they show him their product samples and tell him they’re the Gobi Desert representatives for Amway. He later accompanies them to a meeting aimed at recruiting more Amway salesmen. I couldn’t really afford the book, so here’s a loosely paraphrased excerpt:

Ren Wei stood up in front of the room. He thanked everyone for coming, thanked Teacher Hu and finally thanked Our Foreign Friend, Mr. Smith. I wasn’t sure what to think. Perhaps they thought every foreigner was named Smith, or perhaps, even in the Gobi Desert, they were confusing me with Brad Pitt. The 20 or so people in attendance continued in turn, each one thanking Ren Wei, Teacher Hu and Mr. Smith.

Then Teacher Hu rose to speak. “My grandchildren will remember my name,” he said earnestly, “because I will change our family’s fortunes. I will make money. But I will do more than that. I will give back to society, maybe build a school – because we all have a duty to give back to society, dui bu dui?”

“Dui, dui, dui,” the crowd nodded approvingly.

Teacher Hu continued to build momentum, articulating the Chinese Dream: “You can have the car, the apartment, the respect. You too can succeed. You too can be empowered. Don’t settle for cha bu duo. Don’t settle for ‘more or less.’ You deserve better.”

The book is filled with anecdotes like that. Gifford concludes that China can continue to pursue its current political and economic course in the short- to medium term, but risks imploding if it experiences an economic shock or other adverse event that interrupts its astonishing growth. As long as people’s lives are improving every year, even marginally, they will tolerate China’s shortcomings; otherwise, the whole system could come crashing down. The example Gifford cited was Indonesia, which put up with Suharto for 30 years but swiftly toppled him after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

In the long term, however, China faces larger problems. Chinese universities are churning out 5 million graduates each year, but even its booming economy can’t employ them all. University graduates are working as street sweepers in some cities. What happens when you have an educated and underemployed population? This does not portend well for the CCP.

China Fun Fact: According to World Bank figures, China has lifted 400 million people from poverty (less than $1/day) since 1978.

Qingdao

2007-11-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

Going to Qingdao and back in 48 hours (photos here):

Step 1: Take the overnight train Friday night. After the first couple hours, this was no fun at all and I don’t recommend it – especially since we had seats and not bunks, the lights never went off and despite it being an eight-hour overnight trip it was still standing room only. The hours between 3 and 5 a.m. were especially tough.

Step 2: Check into the hostel and crash for a few hours, then meet up with the rest of your group. There were eight of us total: me, Brian, Niall, three teachers from Zhengzhou that Brian and I met in Shanghai (Anna, David and Edmund) and two Japanese teachers at their school (Yuko and Kaoru).

Step 3: Walk through the market, where you can not only find scorpion, but choose which live scorpions you want skewered in particular. There are bowls crawling with them.

Step 4: Eat.

Step 5: Visit the Tsingtao Brewery. Qingdao, which was under German control from 1898 to 1914, is known for three things: seafood, Taoism and Tsingtao Beer.

Step 6. Since Tsingtao runs so freely, purchase individual one-liter plastic bags filled directly from kegs. Insert straw.

Step 7: Hike up to the Qingdao TV tower, which changes color but isn’t really worth paying for the view from the top when it’s just as good from the base.

Step 8. Eat.

Step 9. Upgrade to 2.5-liter bags.

Step 10. Wake up and enjoy an American breakfast with eggs, toast, ham, bacon and hash browns, which is astonishingly cheap compared to Beijing prices.

Step 11. Follow that up with sushi.

Step 12. Say goodbye to Zhengzhou friends, who are leaving on an earlier train; walk along the beach and visit the Qingdao aquarium.

Step 13. Eat.

Step 14. Skip the overnight train in favor of the vastly more expensive (but worth it just this once) six-hour bullet train, which is amazing: there’s room to stretch out, the seats recline and staff serve you bottled water from Tibet. Seriously, Amtrak could learn a thing or two. The Western-style toilet is still gross, but that’s train travel everywhere in the world.

China Fun Fact: In 2006, Tsingtao Beer brewed 460 million tons, yielding $4 billion in revenue and $84.5 million in profit.

Mini-break

2007-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

It's been quiet on campus this week since students are taking exams, so my life has been quiet as well. On Tuesday Niall, Brian and I went to see Ang Lee's World War II drama Lust, Caution, with the most graphic sex scenes excised by the Chinese film board (or as Brian put it, "a little more caution, a little less lust"). I went downtown early so I could stop at the train station; while on the bus a student from my school sat down next to me and struck up a conversation, upon which every head turned to stare at us. He was recently on exchange in Virginia, where he studied at George Mason University and his host family dutifully took him to their church every week. He graduates high school this year and plans to take the SAT and TOEFL. This is the third student I've met who wants to attend New York University. 4,000 schools in the U.S. and everyone in China wants to go to the same one.

This weekend we're going to Qingdao, a Taoist town on the Yellow Sea (Olympic sailing will take place there). Unfortunately we got stuck with seats on the overnight train, so we leave tonight and arrive at 6:45 Saturday morning, but at least we'll be up bright and early! We're meeting up with some friends who teach in Zhengzhou.

YouTube is back, by the way.

China Fun Fact: China has 106 billionaires (the U.S. has 946).

Mid-terms

2007-11-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

November already! Hard to believe. Students have mid-terms this week (some as many as eight), which means no class Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. We'll probably take the opportunity to travel somewhere, but where and how remain up in the air.

This afternoon I went for a badly needed haircut and then to the bank -- mundane activities, I know, but in China they become mini-adventures. At the bank I withdrew all the money from my WITT account, including my airfare reimbursement, and deposited it into my own account; 12,000 yuan in 100-yuan bills makes a tall pile. The first time I deposited a few thousand yuan I felt self-conscious carrying so much money -- that is, until I saw people come up to the counter with stuffed gym bags. On the way back I stopped in at a massage place to check out the prices, and ended up staying for a 30-minute back massage which cost RMB 25 (about $3). This may become a weekly indulgence.

Photos from the CCTV Tower this weekend are here.

China Fun Fact: The U.S. and China have agreed to establish a direct phone line between their respective defense ministries, the first China has ever opened at that level with another country.

Defrosting

2007-10-31T19:10:00.000-07:00

The heat is on! The heat is on! I don't know why it's on so early, but it's not for me to question. What a glorious day.

China Fun Fact: The second round of Olympic ticket sales, releasing 1.8 million tickets, was suspended earlier this week when high demand crashed the booking system. The ticket Web site reportedly received more than 200,000 requests per second in the first hour. Sales resume Monday.

Eight Big Temples

2007-10-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Weekend wrap-up: On Friday I went to see Alvin Ailey, the modern dance company from New York. The ticket cost more than I usually spend in a week, but it was so worth it. I first saw AAADT with Maura and Laura last year in D.C., and wasn't about to pass up another opportunity to see them perform.

Saturday was mostly for sleeping, but in the evening Brian and I went to a nearby Pizza Hut for dinner. Now, Pizza Hut in China is not like Pizza Hut in the U.S. It's upscale dining, like the scene in Demolition Man where city officials invite Sylvester Stallone to a fancy dinner at Taco Bell. Picture this: You're sitting at your table, waiting for your 93-yuan Meat Supreme pizza, surrounded by middle-class diners seated below vegetable murals and next to ceramic Italian chefs slightly altered to look more Chinese. This is also the only place in town with Halloween decorations, including anime-style witches and pumpkin costumes for the staff. The theme from Ghost and this song drift in the air on a repeating (and very short) playlist in order to set the mood. It's surreal.

What had been a damp and foggy weekend abruptly changed course on Sunday, producing an amazingly bright and clear day (for Beijing), so Niall and I went to Badachu to visit temples and see the autumn leaves (photos
here). It's a steep hike up the Western Hills, where eight temples ascend the mountain, but the views are rewarding.

China Fun Fact: A Chinese couple is awaiting approval to name their child @, arguing that the English pronunciation "at" sounds like the Mandarin "ai ta," which means "love him." Also, there are now almost 3,500 people in China named Ao Yun ("Olympics").

I'm sorry, can you say that again?

2007-10-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone I've spoken to in the past two weeks has heard me complain about having no heat. Bad news on that front. I had assumed that, like many schools/apartment buildings do, the school was waiting to turn on the heat in order to save money. When I asked my students about this, they said the heat usually comes on in early November. No problem, I thought. I can wait another week or so. But that's not the whole story.

Today we had a visit from Cliff, who works in the head office. A new teacher is arriving soon to replace our temporary teacher, and Cliff came to discuss the transition with the academic dean. Before the meeting, we sat down with him in the kitchen to discuss how classes are going and someone (probably me) mentioned being cold. Then Cliff dropped this little bomb on us: No one in Beijing has central heating until the relevant government office says so. This year he thinks the designated day is November 23. It's like this in every city in northern China, while cities below the Yellow River just don't get heat at all because it's (usually) warmer there.

Cliff actually had to explain it twice because I wasn't sure I heard him right the first time. "Wait," I said. "Am I understanding this correctly? There is no heat for anyone in Beijing until someone in some central office flips a switch?" I've lived here for two months, and I think this is the first time I've come across a concept so foreign to my experience and worldview that it actually blew me away. I still can't wrap my head around it.

So where does this leave me when I'm getting up for class at 6:30 in the morning? Well, I'll check to see if my electric air conditioner has a heating function. Some rooms around campus have space heaters, and I can see why.

China Fun Fact: China has more than 300 million smokers.

Birthday

2007-10-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the school celebrated its 140th anniversary, and we were invited to attend. Preparations had been underway for quite some time -- when we came back from break there were new bilingual signs posted around campus identifying the buildings and their histories, and potted flowers started appearing on campus a week ago.

It had been a long week, and while I wanted to see what this celebration was all about, I wasn't looking forward to getting up early on Saturday. Nonetheless, I set my alarm for 7:15 so I could take my time and have a leisurely breakfast before meeting the academic dean outside our building at 8:30 or so. Instead, I woke up to find that I had turned off my alarm, rolled on top of it and continued sleeping until 8:05. I jumped out of bed, got dressed and went upstairs to wake Brian, who had also slept through his alarm. We met our dean outside on time, rushed and bleary-eyed. Like, I still had sleep lines on my face. But it was a nice day and I began to wake up soon.

The dean paired us with two Chinese English teachers, Allison and Melody, who translated so we would know what was going on. The two-and-a-half-hour ceremony took place in the gym, where it began with students reading congratulatory letters from the Beijing Ministry of Education and other schools. After the principal spoke, distinguished alumni crossed the stage -- including the school's oldest alum, at 102 years old. They also presented the school's first Chinese principal (the school was founded in 1867 by American missionaries, and its first four principals were American), and we watched a video about the school's history.

Then came the performances, which ranged from teacher and student choirs to an accordion quartet playing "Jingle Bells." My favorite, however, was dancing by students from Xinjiang, a northwestern autonomous region that borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. Xinjiang, which has significant natural gas resources, is home to the ethnic Uygur people as well as a separatist movement. The movement has met with repressive tactics by the Chinese government, which has used the war on terror to aggressively pursue Uygur separatists as "Islamic terrorists." 150 Xinjiang students come to the school each year, and they tend to stick together. Theirs was the last performance, and it felt more Middle Eastern or Russian than Chinese. The teacher next to me said the people in Xinjiang are born singers and dancers.

The ceremony wrapped up with speeches by Beijing's vice-mayor and officials from the Beijing Ministry of Education, followed by lunch. In the afternoon the school was supposed to take us to see the Grand Canal, but when I called the coordinator she said the canal had no water so we couldn't go.

In the evening Niall, Brian and I went to Grandma's Kitchen, an American restaurant downtown that's about as authentic as it gets. The menu features meatloaf, country-fried chicken, apple pie, onion rings and all-day Western breakfasts. It felt a little ridiculous being there, but we had probably the best burgers we'll find in town, except maybe at upscale hotels.

Going back to Tongzhou, there were so many people in line at the transfer station that Brian and I didn't get on the first train, but we were first in line for the next one. Passenger volume has jumped by up to 46 percent since Line 5 opened and the city lowered the fare to 2 kuai, and it was bad enough before. Boarding a subway train in Beijing is like playing musical chairs, but with more pushing, shoving and scheming -- seniors and pregant women be damned. Every seat is filled in two seconds flat. Then everyone crowds in until absolutely no one else can fit, leaving the rest on the platform -- and that isn't even necessarily during rush hour.

So we were standing at the edge of the platform with a fairly solid line forming behind us, but as soon as the train pulled in, the line dissolved and everyone started pushing forward. The doors didn't open right away but the pressure from the crowd behind us kept increasing, literally crushing us against the car doors. Once the doors opened, we practically fell in as everyone rushed in behind us. Despite being first in line, Brian and I barely got seats. One guy ended up sitting in my lap, and tried to squeeze between us before giving up. In short, getting a seat was not worth fighting the crowd.

On Sunday Niall and I went to see a photography exhibit at Dashanzi, an art district housed in a former factory. The place is a maze of alleys lined with tiny galleries, and it's teeming with foreigners who sit outside the cafes sipping expensive coffee and discussing representations of trauma in abstract art or how to use new media to romanticize the mundane. It was nice for an afternoon, but it's not really my scene. We wandered through a few Chinese and Japanese contemporary art exhibits, then headed somewhere cheaper for dinner.

China Fun Fact: As of April 2007, China had 58 Subway restaurants. Canada has more than 2,000, the U.S. has almost 21,000 and the U.K. has 870.

The Great Firewall of China

2007-10-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

So... Blogspot is working again, but now it's YouTube (nooooo!!!) that's been blocked. What is that, like a trade? I'm willing to put up with blocks on blogging sites (so long as I can post), but taking away my YouTube is going too far. Are you listening, Chinese censors?

I've seen two common theories for why this is happening. One is the ongoing 17th Communist Party Congress, which began on Monday in Beijing. YouTube stopped working Wednesday night. But it's more likely that it has to do with YouTube recently launching Chinese-language versions for Hong Kong and Taiwan. If no one can access regular YouTube, they'll have to use the new version -- thus driving up advertising revenue. The congress ends on Sunday, so hopefully the site will be back online by then. Otherwise, where am I going to watch clips of cats playing the piano and totally unhinged fans in hysterics over Britney Spears?

As far as I can tell (and please correct me if you have updated information), there are now official YouTube bans in the UAE and Iran, with previous short-lived bans in Morocco, Thailand, Turkey and Brazil. The Defense Department has banned YouTube at its military facilities in Iraq (you know, claiming to fight for those unalienable rights while selectively denying them to U.S. citizens), although it's still available on public computers there. When will governments realize that technology has made it impossible to control the information people access? They're fighting a losing battle.

China Fun Fact: Three million people rode Line 5 during its first week of operation.

Le weekend

2007-10-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

More sightseeing this weekend -- this time it was the Temple of Heaven, now conveniently located along the new Line 5 subway (photos here). Saturday evening Niall, Brian and I went to the street food market at Wangfujing, where about 100 vendors have set up shop. There were more foreigners here, including an American couple pushing a stroller through the crowd with their three blond kids. They weren't moving very fast, however, because everyone wanted to stop and touch the white children.

The market had everything from meat sticks to fruit to dumplings, plus one or two stands with crickets, scorpions, centipedes, etc. For all we hear about Chinese people eating freaky things, however, the only people ordering these items were Westerners.

The Singapore Film Festival arrived in Beijing this weekend, so on Sunday we saw I Not Stupid Too (2006), Singapore's second highest-grossing film ever and the follow-up to 2002's I Not Stupid. It's about the communication gap between children and parents/teachers. The director (who also appeared in the film) spoke before and after, but the only thing I understood was that the movie would be shown at a different theater later in the week.

I saw this in China Daily last week and thought it was interesting.

China Fun Fact: Beijing is the 20th most expensive city in the world.

Extra credit

2007-10-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Today I observed an English class taught by a Chinese teacher. Cindy, the teacher, used PowerPoint to introduce a unit on poems -- the first example was "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." She discussed rhyme, rhythm and different types of poetry, including sonnets and limericks. One limerick was about a woman from Corfu who wanted to visit Peru, but was too large to get on any train or airplane. Cindy went on to explain (it sounds mean, but she's actually such a nice person) that in America all the bathrooms have special stalls with railings for all the overweight Westerners. Then the class, which had about 50 students, listened to a dialogue twice before the 40-minute period ended.

After class Cindy asked me if I had any suggestions for her, as if I'd been teaching for five years rather than five weeks. I should have been asking her for advice. She showed me the textbook and explained that she's required to teach grammatical terms like noun clause and appositive, even though she doesn't think the students benefit much from it. I told her I had no idea what appositive meant. (I've since looked it up; for anyone who's curious, an appositive is a noun or pronoun that further explains or identifies another noun. For example, in the sentence "My dog Tiki has had a tick problem recently," "Tiki" is an appositive that further identifies "dog." Another example: "The sixth largest state in the nation, Arizona joined the union in 1912" -- "the sixth largest state in the nation" is an appositive. Isn't learning fun? Maybe I should replace China Fun Facts with English Grammar Fun Facts.)

China Fun Fact: If you think the four tones make Mandarin hard to learn, Cantonese has nine.

Changcheng

2007-10-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

When we last left off, I was about to leave for Shanhaiguan with vague plans and little preparation. It had the potential to be a huge disaster. Well, it was fantastic.

Things didn’t look good when we woke up on Friday to pouring rain. Brian and I met Niall and his friend Kristi, who teaches English in Korea, at the train station and eventually found our gate. We found ourselves sitting next to probably the only other foreigners on the train, two guys who were also headed to Shanhaiguan with plans to camp on the Great Wall. There wasn’t much to see on the way there since it was so rainy and gray. The train moved slowly and stopped frequently, and it was a long six hours. (By the way, try using a squat toilet on a moving train.)

Shanhaiguan is about 200 miles/315 km from Beijing and, like everything else in China, has a long history. The area has had a human presence since the Neolithic Age, and Shanhaiguan itself (the name means “between the mountains and the sea”) was built in 1381. Throughout history the town has been a strategic military pass. Most recently, it experienced Japanese occupation from 1933 to 1945. In October 1945, weeks after the Japanese surrender, Shanhaiguan witnessed a clash between Nationalist and Communist forces.

Once we arrived in Shanhaiguan the first thing we did was buy return tickets, because in China you can only buy tickets one way. We had planned to stay one night and take the train back the next day, but there were no seats available until Sunday. If we had known this would happen, I think we all would have packed differently and perhaps thought to bring some key items (socks, underwear, hairbrush, toothbrush, etc.). Combined with the fact that our hostel had no shower, this would later make for a smelly trip back.

From the train station we went into town by taxi, whose driver insisted on taking us to a particular hotel outside our price range. When we explained that we wanted to look around and find another hotel, he first told us it was too dark and then, when we politely declined again and walked away, proceeded to follow us down the street in his car before finally giving up. After eating, walking around for awhile and having halting conversations with a few other drivers, we found a great place – four beds in a room for 35 RMB (less than US$5) per person per night.

Shanhaiguan is more popular with Chinese tourists than foreigners, and we were quite a spectacle. At lunch on Saturday a little girl came up with a notebook and asked me to write out my name (my autograph?). In the afternoon we visited the Great Wall Museum, then took a taxi to Jiumenkou, where a 100-m section of the Great Wall crosses a river. Fortunately the rain stopped not long after we got there. The place was practically deserted. We wandered through an impressive aviary and down a Great Wall tunnel before getting on the Wall itself.

Mao Zedong reportedly had a saying: “Bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn” (“A man who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a real man”). In our case it was more like, “A man who has not taken 100 photos on the Great Wall is not a real tourist.” The clouds and mist gave the experience a reverent, eerie feel. (Photos here.)

The weather cleared up on Sunday, perfect timing for our visit to Laolongtou (Old Dragon’s Head). This is where the Great Wall meets the Bohai Sea, stretching more than 22 meters into the water. There were more people here, and we were disappointed to spot other foreigners for the first time all weekend. But I can hardly blame them. Built in 1579, Laolongtou rises over a flawless beach with minimal disruptions, save for enterprising businessmen taking tourists (including us) out for a spin on their motorboats. (Photos here.)

After lunch we returned to the train station, where we didn’t have to wait long before our train arrived. Actually getting on the train was a different story. When it pulled into the station we all lined up at our respective cars, but no one could get on because so many people were squeezing their way through the standing-room-only crowd – luggage in hand and on head – to disembark. The train was already late, and it was taking so long to board everyone that staff started waving us down to other cars where the lines were shorter. The door we passed through was several feet off the ground with no steps, so train attendants pulled us up from above and hoisted us up from below, then shoved us in. We had seats in the next car, but there was no going anywhere. We were standing next to a man with a snack cart, and the idea of him pushing it anywhere was laughable.

Crowds never stop Chinese people, however. Soon someone came pushing through in our direction, so we decided to let him clear a path for us. Picture a pile of writhing earthworms – it was like moving through that. Finally we arrived at our seats and apologetically dislodged the people sitting there. This time the trip was shorter, only about four and a half hours, and we were able to see more of the countryside. We arrived in Beijing around 7:30 p.m., parted ways with Niall and Kristi and got on the subway to Tongzhou, ready to start another week.

China Fun Fact: All the Great Wall sections built over 2,000 years add up to more than 50,000 kilometers in length.

Still on break

2007-10-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

This has been a lazy week, aside from a two-hour trip to Haidian to see where Niall lives and find the nearest Carrefour. Yesterday Niall, Brian and I spent the day at the Marco Polo Bridge and Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall (photos here). The Marco Polo Bridge, built in 1189, is the oldest stone bridge in Beijing and earned its name because Marco Polo had such high praise for it. The Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall covers the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). It's all in Chinese but very well done, plus I rented an audio guide. The Chinese resistance to the Japanese invasion actually began with a clash near the Marco Polo Bridge in July 1937.

Since we didn't travel the way we planned to this week we've treated ourselves to some fine meals, including Korean barbecue and tasty but overpriced Indian food (I'm never paying more than $4 for a meal ever again). I've now used the bus several times, and it isn't so bad. I also bought a swipe card for use on public transit, so I don't have to worry about carrying small bills anymore.

Today I went to the train station to buy tickets to Shanhaiguan -- success! Shanhaiguan is where the Great Wall meets the sea; it's about 315 km away. We leave tomorrow, and hopefully we'll find a train or bus back before classes resume on Monday.

China Fun Fact: Up to 150 million people are traveling this week, with more than 100,000 gathering in Tiananmen Square on Monday. 1.7 million people left Beijing but the same number came in, while Shanghai expected up to 4.2 million tourists. (Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

Roadblock

2007-09-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Niall's here! We went to the train station this afternoon to buy tickets to Xi'an, where Niall, Brian and I had planned to meet up with three other teachers during our break next week. The problem we ran into is everyone in China travels during that week. Saturday - no tickets available. Sunday - no tickets available. Monday - no tickets available. The best we could have done was standing room only for 12 hours overnight on Friday. So then we tried different destinations: Qingdao, Nanjing, Shanghai, Harbin. Not only were there no tickets to Xi'an, there were no tickets anywhere. Everyone around us was getting the same answer: "Mei you, mei you." Finally I looked at the agent and asked (in the best Chinese I could muster), "Women keyi qu nar?" (Where can we go?). She left the counter and, after consulting with others, came back and wrote down the characters for Nanchang, a small city that's probably about 24 hours away. So we left without tickets. We put off making travel arrangements despite being warned this would happen. Anyway, lesson learned. We'll look into other options tomorrow, possibly the bus; otherwise, we'll plan some day trips or an overnight trip closer to Beijing.

China Fun Fact: On certain days up to 25 percent of the pollution over Los Angeles comes from China.

Housekeeping

2007-09-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

Not a very eventful weekend. Attendance at English Corner on Friday ballooned from four to 30, so we moved it outside because the classroom was too small. Since then I've mostly been cleaning and getting organized for this week, with a brief foray to the Silk Alley Market and Sanlitun, where we ended up at a bar frequented by rugby players and/or spectators. October break is coming up, however, so I need to make travel plans.

A small revision to the mailing address I sent out earlier, as I left out the postal code. It's 101149.

I've been posting photos on Facebook -- for those of you not on the site, click the following links to see pictures from the Shanghai seminar, campus tour, Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City and Beijing Opera.

China Fun Fact: There are more than 50,000 Chinese characters, of which 5,000-8,000 are in common use and 3,000 are used for everyday purposes.

Here, kitty kitty

2007-09-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

One of my students was absent today, but we had two surprise guests -- tiny kittens who showed up early this morning. Needless to say, they were super cute. It was hard to focus with all their pitiful mewing.

Kittens and photos from the weekend can be viewed here.

Tonight Brian, Shirley and I had Korean BBQ -- baked spicy pork, baked beef and mutton -- which was out of this world. Dinner for three, including tea, drinks, a four-piece sushi appetizer and dessert, came to 144 RMB -- about $19.

China Fun Fact: China has more than US$1.3 trillion in its foreign exchange reserve, up 42% from last year.

Weekend update

2007-09-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we attended a “Service and Publicity Day for Foreigners” in Tongzhou, which is the district we live in. Similar events were held throughout Beijing Municipality, which has 16 districts and two counties. Tongzhou, an eastern suburb about 40 minutes from downtown, is 37 km wide, 48 km long and claims a combined permanent and migrant population of more than one million. For you Montreal/D.C. folk, it’s kind of like living in St. Laurent/Alexandria but with fewer immigrants/bureaucrats.

The Tongzhou event was outside a mall not far from the school, although it took us awhile to find it. There were 20 or 25 other foreigners there, seated in rows facing a stage, and everyone received two gift bags. The first contained a mug, pen, DVD and Tongzhou “Inverstment Guide (sic).” The second was a complete set for dog owners, including leash, muzzle and canine-themed playing cards. Now all I need is a dog.

The ceremony itself was short. Western teachers from a local music academy performed two songs, one in French and one in Chinese, followed by a Chinese student at the academy who sang Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” We exited with Michael Jackson (“Beat It”) playing in the background as local police registered volunteers for the Olympics.

It’s hard to overstate how important the Olympics are here. My students took a practice TOEFL on Friday, and the essay question was “What historical event in your country has had a major effect on your country? Give reasons and examples to support your response.” When I first saw the question I thought, “OK, there’s the Opium Wars, the Communist Revolution, Cultural Revolution, Nixon’s visit, Tiananmen Square, joining the WTO… The possibilities are endless.” Now, I don’t really expect my students to write about the Cultural Revolution or Tiananmen Square, but I thought at least Mao would get a mention. Instead, they both wrote about the Olympic Games. Preparing to host the Olympics has transformed China into a country that looks forward with optimism and hope, rather than staying mired in the past (although the past is still very much alive in many ways).

In the evening, Brian and I headed to Wangfujing – Beijing’s premier shopping street – for the China and Japan Cultural Festival. We had dinner in a basement food court, where the choice was overwhelming – Japanese, Cantonese, Korean. We darted from place to place asking ourselves “Should I eat here or here? Or here?” before finally settling on our meals. Of course, this means I’ll have to go back soon to try something else.

From there we went to Sanlitun, known as “Bar Street” to foreigners and quite popular among that crowd. It was strange but fun. We returned to Tongzhou in a cab and stumbled back onto campus around 2 a.m., trying not to wake the students as we passed through the dorm courtyard.

I had planned to explore Chaoyang yesterday, but I slept until 1:30 instead.

China Fun Fact: Tongzhou was founded more than 2,200 years ago and has had its current name since 1151 A.D.

Week 2: Done

2007-09-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

So... Blogspot went back to not working again. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

More rain today. When the students do laundry, they dry their clothes on racks in the courtyard. One lonely t-shirt has been hanging outside for two days.

There were four students at the first English Corner today. We started by playing "Two Truths and a Lie," which they more or less understood. I asked them to write down topics they want to talk about, which were mostly music, movies, sports, the Olympics and "singing songs of Backstreet Boys." We got to talking about pets, so I showed them pictures of Tiki and video of Maura's dog Rocky (the one I took at Kate's the first day). They thought Tiki was cute (naturally) but old, while they said Rocky seemed naughty. They all want to visit America and were very curious about it, so I drew a terrible map. I pointed out L.A., D.C., New York, etc. but this one girl's dream vacation is to go to Long Island, because that's where her last English teacher was from.

China Fun Fact: More than half the population in China lives without sewage treatment, including 278 cities -- eight of which have more than 500,000 people.

Hmm...

2007-09-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

Blogspot now appears to have been unblocked in China, so I visited my own blog today for the first time.

It rained today for the first time since I've been here, all morning. Fortunately I got to class right before it started to pour. My students asked me if I liked rain and how much it rains where I'm from, so I started talking about the desert, showed them pictures and played some monsoon videos I took last month.

Earlier this week, a first-year student asked me about English tutoring. I cleared it with the school, but since then another girl sought us out to ask the same question. My solution is to hold an "English Corner" on Fridays during lunch, so students can practice conversation. The academic dean said if I made up an advertisement she would post it around campus, so I'll give that to her tomorrow morning and we'll see who shows up.

Last night we had dinner at this bizarre Mao-themed restaurant. The place was plastered in red, Chinese flags sat on every table and everywhere you turned Mao stared back from the wall. The servers wore olive green uniforms complete with red armbands, and matching messenger bags with canteens hung on the walls. It was atmospheric, to say the least, but we made some poor food choices. Our ordering process in restaurants has basically been flip through the picture menu, guess what everything is and point. This has generally worked quite well, and we've had some great meals. In fact, it's hard to go wrong. So last night we decided to try lotus root and two meat dishes. The servers tried to steer us in another direction, but we stuck to our guns when we should have listened to them. The lotus root was gummy and extremely sweet, while the first meat dish turned out to be... our best guess was liver and stomach. The other meat dish, however, was pork -- sliced thin and crispy -- served with onions, and it tasted more like ham.

China Fun Fact: The Chinese flag has five yellow, five-pointed stars. The large one represents Communist Party leadership, while the four smaller stars represent the four classes: peasants, workers, petty bourgeoisie and the so-called patriotic capitalists.

Happy Teachers Day!

2007-09-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize it was Teachers Day until one of my students brought me a flower this morning. She explained that it's a way to show appreciation for teachers, except they don't get the day off. This might also explain why we went to the opera last night.

This afternoon a student I hadn't met knocked on my door with some Teachers Day buns/pastries, nuts and dried fruit for us. He's not taking any English classes and wants a tutor on Friday afternoons, so I said I would look into it.

Classes are going well. We go straight through January, except for exams and a few long weekends, but then we get a four-week (paid) vacation from Jan. 26-Feb. 24.

Add to the list of blocked Web sites (not that this is surprising) Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Freedom Forum.

China Fun Fact: As a result of its "one child" policy, China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world.

I have to have a drink for releasing worrying and depressing

2007-09-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight the school took all the teachers to the Beijing Opera downtown. There were two shorter acts and one longer one, complete with acrobatics, sword dancing and English subtitles like the one in the title above. Beijing opera sets are simple, but the costumes and makeup are much more elaborate.

As Brian and I exited the theater, however, there was a brief moment of uncertainty ("Quick, find someone from our group so we can follow them." "Do you recognize anyone from our group?" "Um..."). We were reasonably certain we boarded the right bus, and fortunately we were right.

China Fun Fact: By 2020 Beijing's subway system will overtake London's as the longest in the world, at 561 kilometers. Line 5, which runs north-south, will open later this month, and at least two more are scheduled to launch before the Olympics.

Out and about

2007-09-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

As it was our first real day sightseeing, naturally we started with Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Not long after we exited the subway, a girl about our age fell in step with us and asked where we were from – she wanted to practice her English. She pointed out all the sights around the square and walked down the block with us.

Later, as we were standing around in the square, a young guy from D.C. came up and asked (a) did we speak English and (b) did we have a Beijing cell phone. His cell phone had died and he was trying to meet up with his friends in the largest public square in the world. Brian lent him his phone, and the conversation went something like this: “Where are you? What are you looking at? A big portrait of Mao? So am I. Meet me by the statue with the gold lettering. No, the other one.”

Brian – who’s 6’3’’ and blond – has been a big hit here. All day men and women were telling him how handsome he is. “I never thought I’d get tired of being complimented,” he said. Someone even asked to take a picture with him at the Forbidden City. People have trouble with his name, though. When we arrived at the airport in Beijing, our school coordinator met us with a sign reading “Jennifer and Brain,” and that’s pretty much how everyone has been pronouncing it.

Outside the Forbidden City, a woman showed us the baby in her arms and asked for money. I had 1 yuan in my pocket, so I pulled it out and gave it to her without slowing down. As we walked away, however, tiny footsteps came running up from behind. Soon a toddler was struggling to keep up with us, grabbing at our legs and repeating the only English words she knew, mostly "money." How do you turn out as an adult when those are your childhood memories?

It’s hard to tell who genuinely wants to practice English and who’s trying to bilk money from you. So many people came up to us today just wanting to talk. But the Forbidden City was also filled with “art students” who ask people to come look at their work, then pressure them into buying it. I had heard about the tea ceremony scam (people invite you to a tea ceremony, then present you with a huge bill) before I arrived, so I was hesitant when two girls we met in a park invited us to have a drink with them so they could practice English. First, you have to understand that people stare, wave at us from across the street and walk right up to start conversations, so it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that they actually wanted to chat. We had nowhere in particular to go – and we are English teachers, after all – so we agreed. Once we walked into a teahouse, however, I got nervous and made sure we discussed how much we’d be paying before any tea was served. The girls assured us it should be no more than 50 yuan (about US$6 or $7) per person and we proceeded to sample maybe six teas, all the while talking about school, celebrities and whether we wanted to go bar-hopping with them tonight. When the bill arrived, however, it totaled more than 1,300 yuan – 50 yuan per person per tea. The girls seemed surprised by this (which I didn’t totally buy, since they’re Beijing natives and should know better), but they said since it was their fault they would pay if we just chipped in a little more. Did they work for the teahouse? I don’t know. We ended up paying 100 yuan each, but decided that it wasn’t such an unreasonable price anyway. (For comparison, 100 yuan covers admission and an English audio guide at the Forbidden City).

After that we said goodbye to the girls and walked around looking for somewhere to eat dinner. We were about to enter the subway to go home when, in a city of 20 million people, we actually ran into someone we knew – Xavier from the Beijing WITT office, along with a co-worker we hadn’t met. Every day there’s a new surprise.

China Fun Fact: The emperor was the only non-castrated male allowed to enter the Forbidden City’s eastern and western palaces, thus ensuring that any pregnant concubines were carrying legitimate heirs.

And then there were three

2007-09-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

I got a second student today! I'm so happy. The classroom dynamic changed the second she walked through the door. My first student seemed relieved to have another Chinese speaker/English learner in the room, and it allows me to plan activities using pairwork.

China Fun Fact: According to China Daily, twice as many children (1% nationally) are experiencing the early onset of puberty compared to 10 years ago -- due to a healthier diet and access to pornographic material that makes them "sexually precocious."

Hurry up and wait

2007-09-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

We had our medical exams today. The school coordinator drove us an hour to the Beijing International Travel Health Center, where we stood in line at reception, stood in line to pay, stood in line for blood tests, stood in line to have our blood pressure taken, stood in line for chest X-rays and stood in line for EKGs. I have to say, though, they must process an impressive number of people each week.

I also went to the bank to change money. After getting my number I left for an hour, came back and only had to wait one more hour until it was finally my turn. Everything takes longer than I plan for, but as I get more experience things should go more smoothly.

China Fun Fact: The 2008 Summer Olympics has five official mascots representing the Olympic flame and four of China's most popular animals: Beibei (fish), Jingjing (panda), Huanhuan (the flame), Yingying (Tibetan antelope) and Nini (swallow). Together, the names mean "Welcome to Beijing" (Beijing huanying ni).

Week 1.5

2007-09-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

I couldn’t move 7,000 miles away and not start a blog, so here it is:

Seminar. I arrived in Shanghai Monday night for a three-day training seminar that brought all the WITT teachers together. We come from all over the English-speaking world – the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, Ireland, South Africa. Lots of New Zealanders. Aside from our geographical diversity, however, it’s just a diverse group overall. I expected it to be mostly recent college graduates teaching for the first time, but in fact that describes only a handful of us (including one who had never before been outside the U.S., so props to him). Some are new teachers who have been working and traveling for most of their twenties, others are in their late twenties or early thirties and have been teaching in China for a few years. Many are mid-career professionals, both new and returning, who simply sold everything off, packed up and left. This made for an interesting dichotomy between the tech-dependent younger set ("You found an Internet connection? Where? I haven't been online for, like, four hours") and the older crowd ("Where is Excel on my computer?"). What we mostly have in common are poor Chinese language skills.

The seminar was intensely busy from 8:30 in the morning to 8 at night, with a few breaks throughout the day. Program staff provided lots of information, but the greatest benefit was getting to know other teachers, learning from those with experience and establishing a network of people throughout China whom we can now visit.

On Friday we traveled to our respective schools across the country. With me in Beijing are Brian, 24, from California, and Shirley, a “relief” teacher whose husband works at the WITT head office. They’re from Vancouver. Brian and I were supposed to have a third, but there was some reshuffling during the seminar and he ended up in Chengdu. So Shirley is with us for a few weeks until, presumably, a replacement arrives.

Teaching. The workload is light – 16 hours a week, not including prep time, grading and office hours. The way my schedule works out, I finish at 10:15 a.m. one morning and 9 a.m. another. Plus, I only have one student. She was on exchange in Colorado last year; this year she’s working on U.S. college applications and preparing for the SAT/TOEFL. Not exactly what I was expecting, but at least it’s something I’ve done myself and can help her with.

The school itself has about 4,000 students – 1,000 of whom live on campus – and is the largest school in Beijing. Brian, Shirley and I are the only foreign teachers, however, and do we ever stand out. I’ve seen very few other foreigners in the area. I did run into three Western high school students here on exchange – they’re from Australia, Austria and Montreal (!). As difficult as this transition is at age 23, I can’t imagine what it would be like for a 15-year-old.

Housing. I’m living on campus in the foreign teachers’ dorm, each room being equipped with TV and Internet. All the channels are in Chinese, but some programs have English subtitles and there are even Mandarin lessons aired specifically for Westerners. I have to admit I was hoping for CNN, but I can live without it. Websites blocked in China, at least as far as I can tell: LiveJournal (plus Blogspot, Typepad, Xanga, etc.), Wikipedia and my BBC News homepage. All my Gawker sites work, though, so I’m happy.

We each have private rooms and bathrooms, while kitchen and laundry facilities are shared. (Doing laundry for the first time should be interesting, as everything on the machine is in Chinese.)

Food. Most people know this can be a problem area for me, but I’ve done all right. All meals during the seminar were at the hotel in Shanghai. Breakfast items included noodles, corn on the cob, rice porridge, fried eggs, eggs hard-boiled in tea, fries, something like sausage or ham, and watermelon. Lunch was generally rice, tofu, scrambled egg, several meat dishes, prawns or crab, followed by soup and watermelon. Similarly, dinner included rice, meat, vegetables, soup and watermelon. You may sense a theme with the watermelon.

I was surprised by how many teachers, even experienced ones, still have an aversion to Chinese food. Food is so important to me that if I couldn’t eat the local cuisine somewhere, I couldn’t live there. A few teachers skipped meals in favor of the McDonalds down the street, or bought their own food at the supermarket. One returning teacher had difficulty because she’s a vegetarian, so there were limited foods she could eat at the hotel. Vegetarianism in China is difficult but doable, she said, while vegans would find it impossible. Overall, there have been plenty of new foods to try. So far I’ve sampled chicken feet, chicken heart and prawn-flavored potato chips.

Monday through Friday we get breakfast and lunch free in the school dining hall. I haven’t made it to breakfast yet, but lunch has been fantastic – steamed rice, lots of vegetables, more watermelon, all very healthy. We’re mostly on our own for dinner and on weekends, although it seems we can purchase dinner cheaply in the dining hall using our swipe cards. There are numerous restaurants in the area – Chinese, Korean, Brazilian BBQ, McDonalds – but that could get expensive quickly. So I’ve spent some time scoping out produce markets and supermarkets near and far.

Western food is expensive (especially cheese) but easily accessible. Globalization is amazing. When it comes to fast food, I thought China would only have the Big Three (McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut), but in the past few days I’ve seen Subway, TCBY, Haagen-Dazs and, even more random, Schlotzsky’s. There are many supermarket options as well. In addition to Wal-Mart downtown, there’s a Carrefour about 15 minutes from my school. However, my trip there this evening was mostly unsuccessful. Expiration dates – not so important in China. Years of Western grocery shopping have trained me to look for them, and while I don’t consider expiration dates hard and fast rules, some had long since passed. I picked up a jar of peanut butter dated 10/6/2006 before I found one from July 2007. Perhaps they’re manufacturing dates instead? Either way, I’d like to check out my options before I commit to buying food at one particular place. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to the supermarkets downtown that cater to expatriates (as in, they have entire aisles filled with biscuit tins). I may be wimping out a little bit, but until I become more comfortable and familiar with my surroundings I don’t really care.

My computer battery is fading fast, so I’ll wrap this up. Tomorrow we go for medical exams in order to process our visas. I’m told this may be an all-day affair due to the long wait times, so we’ll see how that goes.

China Fun Fact: Rather than trifling with different time zones, China -- which covers more than 9.3 million square km/3.6 million square miles -- just uses one.