A couple of months ago I was interviewed via e-mail for US-China Today, a student-run publication of the University of Southern California's U.S.-China Institute. The writer had stumbled upon my post about Pizza Hut in China. I just received word that the article is finished and on the website, and I have a small quote in the article (below the photo of Pizza Hut):
http://www.uschina.usc.edu/ShowFeature.aspx?articleID=3094&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Showing posts with label society and culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label society and culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Sheep Skin Rafts
In a recent bit of desert-themed traveling with Nissa, we visited Shapotou, a place that could only be described as a "desert theme park" outside of the small city of Zhongwei, Ningxia province. Shapotou is an area of natural beauty where the desert meets the Yellow River, and naturally has been turned into a ticketed tourist attraction outfitted with a zip line, camel and horse riding, sand dune sledding, dune buggies, a ski lift, and sheep skin rafting. We opted for the sheep skin rafting, which is just as bizarre as the name implies:
So for 80 yuan (around $11) each we had a river-rafting experience that would probably give PETA a heart attack. We enjoyed it, but I have to say the little inflated arms were a bit creepy.
Your days are numbered, sheep...
So for 80 yuan (around $11) each we had a river-rafting experience that would probably give PETA a heart attack. We enjoyed it, but I have to say the little inflated arms were a bit creepy.
Your days are numbered, sheep...Fun at the Park
Now that summer has arrived in Zhangye the weather has been beautiful (if sometimes overbearingly hot), and there are few better places to enjoy the outdoors in the city than Ganquan Park (entrance seen in the above picture). Before coming to China, I had a pretty predictable image of what a "park" is: shady trees, couples taking leisurely bike rides, picnic tables, excitable dogs, and quiet. Most Chinese cities have at least one park, but they tend to have a uniquely Chinese spin to them.
At our park, there is everything you might need for a relaxing day out in nature: whack-a-mole, shoot-the-balloon games, an artificial lake, paddle boats, artificial rock sculptures, a basketball game, archery, fishing, copies of the David and the Venus de Milo, lamb kebabs, men playing loud drinking games, music, a carousel, a haunted house, bumper cars, a small roller coaster, and a zoo. In other words, it's not really a place you go to listen to the chirping of the birds, but it's fun in it's own unique way (I wouldn't recommend the zoo though, which might be more accurately named the Prison for Animals). It's a nice place to have a cold beer and sit under the (artificial) shade, but not a place to walk your dog or take a bike ride. Dogs are not nearly as popular in China in the first place, and bikes are for getting around and carrying things like your groceries, your new computer, or your girlfriend. When I tell Chinese people that at home we put our bikes on our car, drive 15 minutes to the park, ride around the park for fun, and then drive home, they think that it's hilarious. In over two years in China, I have also never seen a Chinese person running for fun, even on the track on our campus.
But my favorite park activity is something that I had heard about in China, but not seen here until this year. It seems to be called buxing qiu in Chinese, or literally "walking ball." The idea is that you get inside a giant inflatable ball which is then sealed and put out to float around in a pool of water. You then have five minutes to walk, roll, or flop around in your giant tethered hamster ball, to the great amusement of onlookers (in this case the little girl's mother, who kept shouting "run! run!"). A couple of pictures:
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Grounds for Divorce
I was talking to a teacher who I am giving private English lessons to yesterday, and she made an interesting comment about divorce in China that I had never heard--a common reason for separation is housework. Many young Chinese have never been taught to do housework their entire lives, and when it comes time to live the married life the husband and wife have so many fights about taking care of the home that it ends in divorce. With the one-child policy and the particularly overwhelming Chinese love for children, many of the so-called "Little Emperors" are now spoiled at home, and not made to help take care of the home. There is also so much competition and pressure to get into the best high school, the best college, and get the best job possible that most parents consider the duty of students to study--and do practically nothing else. Many of the college students at this school are getting a part-time job for the first time, and others will work for the first time when they get their first job after graduation. The student who is giving me Chinese lessons has an uncle visiting Zhangye shortly, and asked me to please not mention the lessons to him--he told her to give up her tutoring and spend all her time studying, and she told him she would. A good many of our students must also hide the fact that they have a boyfriend or girlfriend from their parents, because the parents would never allow them to be so distracted from their studies.
Before she started talking about divorce in our lesson, that teacher asked me something that, as a 25-year old, sounded a little strange: "Do you know how to do household chores?"
Before she started talking about divorce in our lesson, that teacher asked me something that, as a 25-year old, sounded a little strange: "Do you know how to do household chores?"
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
After the Earthquake
I haven't mentioned the earthquake on this blog since it happened, but I'm sure it goes without saying that everyone in Zhangye has been concerned about it and the awful devastation it has caused. Though a few cities in Gansu province did see some damage and even some casualties, we actually didn't feel it here and I've been following it only through news reports.
At the beginning of last week, there were three national days of mourning for the earthquake victims, including a three-minute moment of silence on Monday afternoon. All of the foreign teachers were summoned to take part in a gathering of students and faculty in front of the library during this time. It was both a solemn and slightly surreal experience. It was like any other moment of silence in that the crowd itself did not speak and stood with heads respectfully bowed. However, it was the loudest moment of silence I expect to ever witness--all across the country, horns blared in the cities, in the taxis, on the ships, and on the trains. CCTV broadcast footage from Beijing during those minutes, and our school had set up a TV and enormous speakers in front of library for the event. Two students simply held microphones up to the TV, meaning that while sirens went off in Zhangye, sirens in Beijing being broadcast on the television were amplified into our ears in an odd and highly distorted sound collage. I couldn't quite get my head around it, and from what I've been told it was simply a Chinese way of honoring and remembering the victims of the disaster. One could write an interesting paper just on the meaning and uses of noise in Chinese and Western culture. This was also the first time a national moment of grief was organized in China for anything other than the death of the country's leader, and in general the government response to the earthquake is praiseworthy.
The second incident that stands out in my mind is a recent donation drive to help with the earthquake relief effort. I wasn't on campus at the time, but the other foreign teachers were called by Miss Mao from the Foreign Affairs Office on short notice and told to meet at her office.
Once there, everyone was told they were to donate money to help the earthquake victims, and asked to write down the exact amount they were donating a pre-prepared list with all of our names on it. Once this was done, they were led outside where a donation rally was held in which Communist Party leaders and the bewildered foreigners placed their donations one-by-one into a box, to the cheers of a crowd of students. As each person approached the box, they proudly held up a sign with the amount of their donation, which was also displayed on an electronic screen. The foreign teachers had to oblige, but each hid their money and paper in their fist as they donated. One teacher had actually had to borrow money to donate, because he wasn't told it was a donation at all and didn't bring his wallet. They also were not told who was handling the donation (the Communist Party), or really much of anything about it. The event was filmed, and later shown on the local news, similar to other donation drives we have seen on television. Students have also been asked to donate blood and money in high-pressure situations. Just when you think you're no longer surprised by the differences between China's collectivism and the West's individualism, something comes along to remind you just how differently things are done here.
(There is also a good post about donating on Sinosplice)
At the beginning of last week, there were three national days of mourning for the earthquake victims, including a three-minute moment of silence on Monday afternoon. All of the foreign teachers were summoned to take part in a gathering of students and faculty in front of the library during this time. It was both a solemn and slightly surreal experience. It was like any other moment of silence in that the crowd itself did not speak and stood with heads respectfully bowed. However, it was the loudest moment of silence I expect to ever witness--all across the country, horns blared in the cities, in the taxis, on the ships, and on the trains. CCTV broadcast footage from Beijing during those minutes, and our school had set up a TV and enormous speakers in front of library for the event. Two students simply held microphones up to the TV, meaning that while sirens went off in Zhangye, sirens in Beijing being broadcast on the television were amplified into our ears in an odd and highly distorted sound collage. I couldn't quite get my head around it, and from what I've been told it was simply a Chinese way of honoring and remembering the victims of the disaster. One could write an interesting paper just on the meaning and uses of noise in Chinese and Western culture. This was also the first time a national moment of grief was organized in China for anything other than the death of the country's leader, and in general the government response to the earthquake is praiseworthy.
The second incident that stands out in my mind is a recent donation drive to help with the earthquake relief effort. I wasn't on campus at the time, but the other foreign teachers were called by Miss Mao from the Foreign Affairs Office on short notice and told to meet at her office.
Once there, everyone was told they were to donate money to help the earthquake victims, and asked to write down the exact amount they were donating a pre-prepared list with all of our names on it. Once this was done, they were led outside where a donation rally was held in which Communist Party leaders and the bewildered foreigners placed their donations one-by-one into a box, to the cheers of a crowd of students. As each person approached the box, they proudly held up a sign with the amount of their donation, which was also displayed on an electronic screen. The foreign teachers had to oblige, but each hid their money and paper in their fist as they donated. One teacher had actually had to borrow money to donate, because he wasn't told it was a donation at all and didn't bring his wallet. They also were not told who was handling the donation (the Communist Party), or really much of anything about it. The event was filmed, and later shown on the local news, similar to other donation drives we have seen on television. Students have also been asked to donate blood and money in high-pressure situations. Just when you think you're no longer surprised by the differences between China's collectivism and the West's individualism, something comes along to remind you just how differently things are done here.
(There is also a good post about donating on Sinosplice)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Pizza Hut in China
I was in Xi'an during the last few days, and for me personally one of the highlights of visiting a big city is the chance to eat real pizza. One would think eating at Pizza Hut would be a pretty cut and dry experience, but it's actually kind of interesting to see how it differs from going to an American Pizza Hut.
For one thing, it's "classy." The servers are well-dressed, the place looks really nice, and there are no groups of screaming children. Western restaurants are more of a fine-dining experience in China, even the ones that would never be considered as such at home. I'm reminded of a short story I once read by a Chinese author. A boy from a poor family was given some holiday money to spend on necessities, but decided to use it impress his girlfriend and take her out to an extravagant meal--at McDonald's. Awkwardness ensues when it turns out his mom is secretly working at the McDonald's to make some extra money for the family.
Pizza Hut also pretty expensive in comparison to Chinese food, so it caters to China's growing middle class, and a lot of the customers seemed to be working couples on a date. Despite the cost, Chinese spending habits were in full force around us. A nearby couple ordered fruit smoothies, salad, an appetizer, a desert, and a pizza, much more than they intended to eat. The other nearby table ordered drinks, chicken wings, meatballs, and three pizzas. With simply a large pizza to split, Nissa and I were the cheapskates of the place.
But my favorite image of pizza places in China, and unfortunately I don't have a picture (but try searching for "China salad bar" on flickr.com), is the salad bar. You are only allowed one trip, so there is usually one crafty young Chinese person making a salad skyscraper on their plate. By this I mean they load an enormous amount of vegetables on their plate in an attractive pattern that is painstakingly constructed over 10 minutes or more. The dedication and attention to detail is truly inspiring.
And finally, I leave you with this:
For one thing, it's "classy." The servers are well-dressed, the place looks really nice, and there are no groups of screaming children. Western restaurants are more of a fine-dining experience in China, even the ones that would never be considered as such at home. I'm reminded of a short story I once read by a Chinese author. A boy from a poor family was given some holiday money to spend on necessities, but decided to use it impress his girlfriend and take her out to an extravagant meal--at McDonald's. Awkwardness ensues when it turns out his mom is secretly working at the McDonald's to make some extra money for the family.
Pizza Hut also pretty expensive in comparison to Chinese food, so it caters to China's growing middle class, and a lot of the customers seemed to be working couples on a date. Despite the cost, Chinese spending habits were in full force around us. A nearby couple ordered fruit smoothies, salad, an appetizer, a desert, and a pizza, much more than they intended to eat. The other nearby table ordered drinks, chicken wings, meatballs, and three pizzas. With simply a large pizza to split, Nissa and I were the cheapskates of the place.
But my favorite image of pizza places in China, and unfortunately I don't have a picture (but try searching for "China salad bar" on flickr.com), is the salad bar. You are only allowed one trip, so there is usually one crafty young Chinese person making a salad skyscraper on their plate. By this I mean they load an enormous amount of vegetables on their plate in an attractive pattern that is painstakingly constructed over 10 minutes or more. The dedication and attention to detail is truly inspiring.
And finally, I leave you with this:
Monday, December 17, 2007
AIDS Lesson
Recently I gave a lesson to my freshman classes about AIDS, as that was the topic of the homework reading. AIDS and related topics like sex and drug use are not exactly common conversation topics in China; other than Little Ma's crude sense of humor, I can't recall a single time I've heard a Chinese person mention sex in the past two years. Seeing as the word "girlfriend" is enough to get giggles from a class, I was curious how my students would respond to the lesson.
My first surprise was how little they learn about AIDS growing up. When asked, some students said they learned a little about it in school, but many said they didn't learn about it at all. So I asked if parents talk about it and there was a loud, resounding "no." I asked if there is sex education in school, and apparently there is none. I again asked if they learn about it from parents, and there was an even louder, unanimous "NO." One girl said aloud "that's impossible." I asked how they learn about sex, and after a pause a few students said "from the TV" or "from the Internet." I know the government provides AIDS education (in fact the only two posters adorning the faded and cracking walls of my classroom are about AIDS, including the first photo above, taken by my brother Erik while in Zhangye) and an AIDS day is promoted on December 1st, but it seems AIDS education in China is not quite where it could be. Many Chinese believe you can get it from mosquitoes, for instance.
During the lesson, which I actually borrowed from another teacher, the students had to separate a number of activities into the categories of "high risk," "low risk," or "no risk" for HIV. For example, "sharing a toilet" or "kissing" should go under "no risk" while "intravenous drug use" and "from mother to infant" should be placed under "high risk." The homework was very informative about HIV/AIDS and they overall did very well with this. One of the activities included was "oral sex" (low risk). Many students asked me what this meant, which was probably one of the more awkward things I've had to do in the classroom. Not knowing the Chinese word and not wanting to get too graphic, I simply said "sexual activity using the mouth... if you don't know what I'm talking about, ask a friend." In one class a girl said in Chinese, a little too loudly, wo mei zuoguo! - "I've never done that before!"
There was also group work during the lesson that had the students discussing HIV/AIDS-related issues. One of the questions asked if HIV testing should be required for certain jobs. While answering this question, one girl told me in a quite serious, deadpan voice "yes, I believe HIV testing should be required for some jobs, especially whores."
I also learned from my students that testing for HIV is not common in China, as there is a stigma attached to it. If you get tested for HIV others around you assume you have it, and will avoid you. I've since read that those diagnosed with HIV also may be ostracized, even to the point of their family refusing to eat with them or doctors refusing to touch them. Condom use is not universal, as it is associated with promiscuity. Until 2003, condom advertisements were illegal in China, and one survey found that 60% of Chinese condoms are faulty. Needles are also sometimes reused in China, even in hospitals.
At the end of the lesson, I gave students the chance to write down any questions they had about HIV and AIDS or the day's lesson. A few examples:
Are there a great number of students having the sex innections [I think they meant "intercourse"] with the different sex in American?
Is it possible for them to suffer from HIV if two lovers have sex without using condoms?
This is the first time I heard someone talk about sex in the public. I being to realize the importance of sex.
Use a condom weather have a side effect?
I think though China is a feudalist society, when children are thirteen or fifteen it's time for parents to teach them something about sex, and to teach them how to make friends with boys or girls, or what to do to protect themselves.
Can you give a kiss to a girl if she is infected with HIV?
Once someone had HIV, did they have the equal rights to do what they want to do? Like go to school, contribute to the society. If the others, especially their relatives didn't understand them.
In America, when students grow up a adult, their parents are encourage (or allow) them to sex with somebody. Is it true?
Our country passed a law, people can get married during their university. Do you think AID will spread faster?
In American, are old people frightened with AIDS?
Is it common that in USA, the middle school students having a sexual experience?
In China, if you want to test HIV or AIDZ, you are thought a patient who get infected HIV. Many people around you will be away from you. I want to know what do the American people think about?
I heard there are many people having HIV in America. Is it true? Does the government find the better method to control the AIDS?
When did the first HIV appeared? Why did he have HIV? Did he has too much freedom to infect HIV?
In your country female's virgin is concerned a lot, isn't it? In college, if you allow to married with somebody? In America, what's the average age people get married?
I remember when I told other Americans of my decision to go to China, there were mixed reactions. Many people, especially family and close friends, were enthusiastic and sometimes envious. However, many people had a negative and usually ill-informed reaction: "China has AIDS," "China is full of poverty," "they put people in jail for no reason," etc. My girlfriend at the time's immediate response to the idea was "China is full of AIDS." In China, AIDS is often associated with the West, and I once read a story about an American dating a Chinese girl whose mother's first reaction was to ask "does he have AIDS?" In truth, America does have the bigger AIDS problem, with more than 1,000,000 people infected with HIV, compared to China's 650,000 (China also has more than four times as many people). During the height of Maoism and China's isolation, parents in the countryside would tell naughty children that the foreigners would come to eat them if they didn't behave. While American parents were telling children to eat up because "there are starving kids in China," Chinese parents were telling their own children to eat well because there were oppressed capitalist children "starving in the West." It's funny how much I appreciate the importance of education now that I'm not actually in school.
Links:
HIV/AIDS in China
HIV/AIDS in America
Sex statistics by country
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Learning English the Manly Way
After close to two years I still love shopping in China. You never know what curious things await you. Case in point, from the children's section of a local bookstore:
It's not that we don't have war-inspired children's toys and merchandise in America (I remember owning a pack of Desert Storm trading cards myself) or America could be considered a pacifistic country at the moment , but the learning English theme is interesting. But hey, if "guided-missile submarine" inspires a child to learn a foreign language, I'm all for it.
There was also an earlier post at Sinosplice about the same subject.
It's not that we don't have war-inspired children's toys and merchandise in America (I remember owning a pack of Desert Storm trading cards myself) or America could be considered a pacifistic country at the moment , but the learning English theme is interesting. But hey, if "guided-missile submarine" inspires a child to learn a foreign language, I'm all for it.
There was also an earlier post at Sinosplice about the same subject.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Just When You Thought You Knew Your Own Hair Color
The other day my friend Nissa was asked to visit a local middle school to observe a few classes and talk to the teachers about education in America. During one of the classes the Chinese teacher was leading a class discussion about Nissa, and at one point asked her in front of the class "what do you call your hair color in America?"
"Red" Nissa replied.
To her surprise, the teacher responded "no, no, it is blond hair. Your hair is blond."
"Well yes, we have blond hair in America, but we call this hair color red."
And a small argument ensued with the teacher insisting that Nissa has blond hair. This is not the first time she has been told she does not have red hair (for reference, she is the witch in the last post). In the case of the middle school teacher, I could be wrong (and I wasn't actually there at the time) but I think this is a good example of "face" (面子 miànzi) in Chinese culture. The dislike of making mistakes or being proven wrong is a lot stronger in Chinese culture (and east Asia in general I'm led to believe) than it is in Western culture, i.e. "losing face." It's a common mistake for students to call blond hair "yellow hair" and I can envision the teacher having emphasized this beforehand, waiting for her moment in class to bring the point home, and then not wanting to back down when she was proven wrong in front of the class. But even when face isn't at stake I've seen similar situations, like a conversation I once had with a student:
Student: "Foreigners have blue eyes. Why are your eyes black?"
Me: "Um, actually my eyes are blue."
Student: "No they aren't. Your eyes are black."
It's funny how stereotypes and preconceptions can be held on to even in the face of clear evidence. Nissa told one of her classes that most foreigners (and we are always "foreigners" in China, never Westerners) have the same eye color as them and they actually gasped in unison. When you want a job as a foreign teacher in China it is required that you provide the school with a photo of yourself; those with white skin, blond hair and blue eyes will get a job considerably easier than those with darker features (not only black people but, ironically, Chinese-Americans) regardless of qualifications. Non-white foreigners face a lot of discrimination and even fear in China (a black journalist wrote about a shop assistant bursting into tears at the sight of her) but most Chinese, having never met one, are entirely unaware of this and would strongly deny it.
Chinese conceptions of foreigners are always interesting. They are also sometimes shocking or insensitive, but you can't really blame them in a country that is 95% the same race, the same hair color, the same eye color, and is considerably more conformity-driven than Western culture. Look at how much discrimination and close-mindedness exists in America despite our enormous diversity and high levels of education and prosperity. I can recall several moments from college when my educated, liberal friends made shocking comments about black people. But as an example of what I mean (also from Nissa's class, which unlike mine deals directly with cultural differences), students were asked what the differences between China and America were and a student replied "in America people discriminate and look down on minorities, but in China we always help minorities." Another said "China has 55 minorities, but America only has black people and white people." Needless to say, I'm not so sure about that.
"Red" Nissa replied.
To her surprise, the teacher responded "no, no, it is blond hair. Your hair is blond."
"Well yes, we have blond hair in America, but we call this hair color red."
And a small argument ensued with the teacher insisting that Nissa has blond hair. This is not the first time she has been told she does not have red hair (for reference, she is the witch in the last post). In the case of the middle school teacher, I could be wrong (and I wasn't actually there at the time) but I think this is a good example of "face" (面子 miànzi) in Chinese culture. The dislike of making mistakes or being proven wrong is a lot stronger in Chinese culture (and east Asia in general I'm led to believe) than it is in Western culture, i.e. "losing face." It's a common mistake for students to call blond hair "yellow hair" and I can envision the teacher having emphasized this beforehand, waiting for her moment in class to bring the point home, and then not wanting to back down when she was proven wrong in front of the class. But even when face isn't at stake I've seen similar situations, like a conversation I once had with a student:
Student: "Foreigners have blue eyes. Why are your eyes black?"
Me: "Um, actually my eyes are blue."
Student: "No they aren't. Your eyes are black."
It's funny how stereotypes and preconceptions can be held on to even in the face of clear evidence. Nissa told one of her classes that most foreigners (and we are always "foreigners" in China, never Westerners) have the same eye color as them and they actually gasped in unison. When you want a job as a foreign teacher in China it is required that you provide the school with a photo of yourself; those with white skin, blond hair and blue eyes will get a job considerably easier than those with darker features (not only black people but, ironically, Chinese-Americans) regardless of qualifications. Non-white foreigners face a lot of discrimination and even fear in China (a black journalist wrote about a shop assistant bursting into tears at the sight of her) but most Chinese, having never met one, are entirely unaware of this and would strongly deny it.
Chinese conceptions of foreigners are always interesting. They are also sometimes shocking or insensitive, but you can't really blame them in a country that is 95% the same race, the same hair color, the same eye color, and is considerably more conformity-driven than Western culture. Look at how much discrimination and close-mindedness exists in America despite our enormous diversity and high levels of education and prosperity. I can recall several moments from college when my educated, liberal friends made shocking comments about black people. But as an example of what I mean (also from Nissa's class, which unlike mine deals directly with cultural differences), students were asked what the differences between China and America were and a student replied "in America people discriminate and look down on minorities, but in China we always help minorities." Another said "China has 55 minorities, but America only has black people and white people." Needless to say, I'm not so sure about that.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Daytrip to Inner Mongolia; or, "At the Ends of the Earth"
This week I spent exactly one day in Inner Mongolia (a northern province or more accurately "autonomous region" in China, not Mongolia the country), in a town called Bayan Hot (or 巴音 Bāyīn in Chinese). I live in a fairly remote city, but this really felt like heading out into the middle of absolute nowhere. It was a journey of close to three hours to the city, the last half of which being through pure, desolate desert with almost no signs of civilization. It's a small place that I knew little about besides it being in Inner Mongolia, the main inspiration for going.
Besides the slow pace of life and a chance to see Mongolian writing on all the signs, the town provided one of the ample opportunities to view the dichotomies and contradictions of modern China. Immediately outside the town limits, one can see the traditional clay and brick housing common in northwest China:
Mere streets away, inside the town, I was a little taken aback when I turned a corner and saw this modern monstrosity of a building:
This stadium could clearly hold the entire population of the town, and seemed a bit out of place, as well as ill-used. I asked a couple of locals and they said it was already closed for the winter but in the warmer months they hold art shows and the like. I've read that the provincial government is prone to flashy displays of development in lieu of more practical spending, and a 60,000 capacity stadium has been built in provincial capital Hohhot that with the exception of the opening celebrations is unlikely to fill up. In the near total-silence of this small town it felt a bit surreal to stand in front of it, like an apocalyptic future in which most of the population had been wiped out. Near total-silence is surreal in China anyway.
The main attraction of the town is a Mongolian temple, which was similar in style to others I've seen as many Mongolians practice Tibetan Buddhism. One monk who I guessed to be in his 30's had an obvious affinity for Westerners, and once he discovered I could speak Chinese quickly engaged me in conversation. This turned into a fast-paced and passionate 40 minute lecture about his thoughts on the society around him that fascinated me as much as it gave me a headache; he didn't pause much and I could only catch around 30% of what he said. The main idea was that he's become greatly disappointed in the loss of basic decency and morals that has accompanied fast economic growth. He thinks people in China are interested in money, success, and the approval of others at the cost of everything else. Though he said there are still decent, honest Chinese people around, the whole society is promoting economic success as the be-all and end-all of life, and it's wrong. He also is disappointed in the attitude towards Mongolians like himself; he told me they are seen as stupid, slow and uncouth by many Chinese, and they aren't truly understood. It's true that almost every time ethnic minorities come up during conversation with a Han Chinese friend they have used the word 野蛮 yěmán, which means "barbarous" or "uncivilized" and have made several disparaging remarks (generally students, who also claim during class that there is no discrimination in China). This disillusionment with society inspired him to become a monk two years ago. He hoped I would learn Mongolian and travel to Mongolia proper someday, an idea I've toyed with anyway (the traveling part at least).
I've noticed a pattern of minorities opening up to foreigners in China, whether it was Uyghurs in Xinjiang or Tibetans in Qinghai. I suppose complaints to Han Chinese would often fall on indifferent or even hostile ears (I've heard comments like "those minorities, always complaining; they have it good enough") and we provide a fresh and interested source of conversation that is outside the system. The Chinese tourists walking past us during my talk with the monk paid little attention, the only exceptions being a student who giggled and wanted to ask me where I was from, and a woman who interrupted to ask the monk if she could take pictures. I think images of Confucian scholars and Tang poetry had given me the impression of the Chinese as quite thoughtful and spiritual, which wasn't necessarily on the mark. Whatever other virtues modern Chinese society has I wouldn't put deep spirituality at the top of the list, and famous temples are pure tourist attractions with guys in their new cowboy hats taking pictures of their girlfriend while she gives the "V" sign and smiles (more on that soon).
After leaving the monk I took a bus back to Yinchuan, and on the way out saw this billboard:
After leaving the monk I took a bus back to Yinchuan, and on the way out saw this billboard:
富民是第一目标
和谐是第一任务
roughly translated:
Development is the #1 duty
Enriching the people is the #1 goal
Harmony is the #1 mission
Chinese Words and Phrases 4: 和谐社会 héxié shèhuì
Hexie shehui means "harmonious society," and is a phrase that pops up a lot in China these days. One of the current favorite government slogans, it was adopted by the Party in 2004. In the wake of such rapid growth China is experiencing well-publicized social problems including a large gap between the rich and the poor, environmental devastation, and protests by Chinese who have been forcibly moved from their land in the name of development. According to the government "a harmonious society is defined as a socialist democracy, with rule of law, social justice, honesty and credibility, balancing human activities and natural resources." If asking citizens to help build a "harmonious society" sounds vague to you, apparently the government agrees, as according to China Daily the government has recently decided to create "an index system judging social harmony." Hm. Today the terror threat in America is the color green, and the social harmony in China is around 6.4 out of 10. Another popular government campaign is the "8 Virtues and 8 Vices" or "8 Do's and Dont's," which I spied in English during my traveling:
I'm intrigued by the Party slogans, and the propaganda, much of which is perfectly well-meaning. You just don't see "Cherish Life; Give Up Drugs" painted in giant letters by the government on walls in America, or billboards encouraging you to "Carry out the Three Represents." Signs like these would be mocked to death in the West. When I first started studying Chinese I looked forward to being able to understand the signs, posters, and billboards, which are pervasive. The most common theme is probably the one-child policy, with signs reminding the populace that "Having a girl is the same as having a boy," "Carrying out the one-child policy is every citizen's duty and obligation" and "Girls are the builders of our future." I'm not sure how excited many Chinese get about getting behind the slogans anyway; for instance, Chinese bloggers who get their blogs blocked now sarcastically write about being "harmonized."
Anyway, whatever President Hu Jintao and the rest of the Party meant by Harmonious Society, I hope it wasn't this:
Thursday, September 27, 2007
University Life in China
As you might imagine, and as with pretty much every other facet of society, university life in China is quite different from that in a Western country. In some ways it feels more like a continuation of high school, and students are not nearly as independent and self-reliant as they are in a Western university. Ironically, the foreign teacher at this school who was least able to adapt and in fact quit a year early was the only one with a PhD and extensive university experience in America. In general the young and inexperienced teachers are successful in this environment. I've worked out a list below of some of the most obvious differences between university life at home and in China, in no particular order:
-Students are organized into classes by major, and given a class number and individual student numbers. They take all the same classes with these classmates, and have no control over their class schedule. At this school classes in the English department are around 35 students each. Some Chinese teachers call students by their numbers rather than their names.
-Changing one's major is much more complicated than in America, and involves getting permission from both departments and paying a fee. Choosing a major is also limited by your results on the college entrance exam and many of my English students would rather be studying something else. By the same token there are students with excellent English abilities in other departments who want to be English majors but can't because of exam scores.
-Each class has a class monitor, chosen by a class vote. The class monitor attends weekly meetings, passes on announcements to the class from the department, and is in charge of class activities. A student once asked me "how do you choose class monitors in America?" I explained that we don't have them, and in great confusion she asked "but who is in charge of the class?"
-Student dorm rooms typically have 5-8 students in rooms that would hold 2 in America. In this school the beds have thin straw mattresses and very little besides bunk-beds, the students' (few) possessions, and wash basins. The students do their laundry by hand, and typically wear the same two or three outfits. Males and females live in separate buildings and are not allowed to enter the opposite sex's dormitory buildings.
-Students have the same roommates for all 4 years, typically classmates that they also see in every class. It is extremely difficult to change dorm rooms and some students have falling outs with their roommates that affect the entire class atmosphere. However the drama is minimal compared to the nightmare you would get with American students in the same situation.
-Showers are in buildings separate from the dormitories and cost 3 yuan (less than 50 cents). For most students this is a significant amount and many students shower once a week.
-The school has implemented a new rule: it is mandatory for students to study in the campus classrooms from 7-9pm every night. Students who are absent and caught will be punished by having their exam grades lowered.
-Students must sign in around 7am every weekday morning, even if they don't have morning class. If they miss enough times they will be embarrassed by having their name read on the campus broadcast system. Students from families with money can and do bribe the people in charge of broadcasting and sleep in as they will.
-In English classes taught by Chinese teachers, it is typical for students to sit quietly and listen to the teacher lecture for the entire two hours, without the chance to speak a word of English. Both teachers and students (with some exceptions) will never speak English outside of class unless absolutely forced to (even with me many students want to use Chinese instead). In a three person English conversation with two Chinese and a foreigner, the two Chinese people will typically use Chinese when talking to each other. The result is that students can study English for 10 years and still be terrified of speaking to me in English. By contrast, even in high school I recall classmates using Spanish or French outside of class for the fun of it.
-Some textbooks are fine, but most leave something to be desired; there is a real textbook used at this school which has one word on the cover: "Listeing." I was able to change to a good series of reading books, but of the 40-odd stories in the first textbook I used, the most recent one was from 1971. Most were considerably older.
-Students (and Chinese people in general) are fond of performances. Campus entertainment usually takes the form of karaoke competitions and dance and music performances from students.
-With the dormitory situation, there is pretty much no privacy at all for student couples. Couples cuddle on benches or find a somewhat "secluded" spot in the grass, especially at night. I've seen what appears to be couples breaking up, simply standing off the side of a path because there is nowhere else for them to go.
-The dormitories are locked at 11:30pm, even on weekends. Two students once accompanied Andrew to a Christmas evening church service. It was so long that they missed their curfew and spent the entire night in an internet cafe, and were sick the next day.
-In order to have drinking water, students have big thermoses that they fill up in designated buildings that supply hot water. On the few occasions when the power has gone out in these buildings some students simply didn't drink anything because they didn't have money to buy water.
-Once per term each class has "duty week." This is a week when they don't go to class, instead cleaning up campus (sweeping, burning garbage) in their official school uniforms.
-Freshman have a week of military training, usually the first week of college, in which they wear uniforms, are drilled by soldiers, and do a lot of marching and shouting.
-My school has demolished the old library but not finished the new one. There is no library on campus at the moment.
-In general students don't get out as much as their Western counterparts. I once took some student friends to see Zhangye's famed "Great Buddah" statue, about a 25-minute walk away, and they were simply amazed I could get there so easily. They had never been that far away from campus before.
-There is a school broadcast system with speakers all over campus, which loudly plays news, the national anthem, and inspirational music. Broadcasts begin at 6am.
-Students stand up in unison to greet the teacher when he/she enters the room, and erase the blackboard for the teacher during breaks. Students rotate the duty of bringing the chalk and eraser to the classroom. When the student on duty forgets (which is often) I have no chalk or eraser, and someone then scrambles to get chalk from another classroom while others give me tissues to erase the board with. I've had to resort to cleaning the blackboard with a mop. I've tried hiding a cloth in the room for the times the students forget the eraser but it was soon stolen.
-Other than desks, small stools for students, the teacher's podium, the blackboard, and one electrical outlet, there is not so much as a garbage can in the classrooms. Occasionally the power is out and the outlet doesn't work, generally when I want to play music and really need power.
-Because of the crowded dorms and lack of study options, students often study outside. Because of the Chinese love of reciting out loud, this leads to the amusing sight of students reading books to trees.
-College students do drink, but not even approaching the amount that American students do. Drinking is not allowed in the dorms and due to money issues, curfews, and social norms students don't often go to bars. It is also almost exclusively males, as a Chinese female who drinks or smokes is not looked very highly upon. Working age males, however, drink much more than those in America, and it's an integral part of doing business in China. There are apparently some drugs available but I'm sure drug use is also much lower than in America (though apparently rising in the cities). Chinese drug laws are also much stiffer and include execution (incidentally China executes more people than all the other countries in the world combined).
-Pre-marital sex is considerably less common in China than the West. According to 21st Century (an English language newspaper for Chinese students), 15% of Chinese aged 18-21 have had pre-marital sex, and for the 21-24 group 39% have had pre-marital sex. The numbers are probably lower in a smaller, more conservative place like Zhangye. By contrast it claims that two-thirds of Americans under 18 have had sex. Because of living conditions it would be nearly impossible for a willing couple to have sex on campus in the first place. There is short-term off-campus housing available for students so those that are having sex often rent rooms for that purpose.
-The majority of college students have never had any kind of job before. In China a student's job is to study and they are not encouraged to earn their own money or pursue hobbies. Many of my students are getting their first part-time jobs tutoring younger students in English. Getting into a college is the result of a student's score on the college entrance exam; no other factors are considered and the pressure and preparation put into this exam are utterly unlike anything American high schoolers go through.
-It would unusual for a Chinese student to pay for college themselves. Generally they are completely funded by their parents.
-In almost every aspect of life Chinese students are less independent and self-reliant than Western students. Even with the means to do so I suspect none of my students would be willing to travel alone, even to a nearby city. Definitely not the girls. Students find it odd that I would even go out on the street by myself.
-Students seem to have little sense of note-taking, even in college. For the most part they scribble whatever I write on the board verbatim into the margins of their textbook and take no other notes. I questioned a student about her notebook and she told me "oh, I do have one, I just don't bring it to class because I'm afraid that I'll lose it."
-The student-teacher relationship is much more formal, with teacher as unquestioned master. A student was telling me a story about her middle school days. The teacher asked students to write down what they thought of her class. The student was naive enough to be honest and critical, and was asked to come to the teacher's home to be shouted at and criticized. It is also still common practice for teachers to hit students for misbehaving or performing poorly.
-Students at this school have an extremely limited knowledge of how to use computers. They have taken computer classes at the school, where they are taught a programming language that I've never heard of. I asked a student why it was useful and they said "oh we won't ever use it. But if we have this certificate it will help us get a job later." Many if not most students are unable to successfully use a search engine, send an e-mail, or get to a website when the address is already known, things which apparently are not taught in computer class. I once watched Andrew teach one of our students how to type in Chinese on a computer.
-A fairly high number of students wear glasses.
-No students own cars. Quite few teachers own cars; they are still for the wealthy. Only some students own bicycles.
-Especially in comparison to American students, Chinese students wake up early on weekends. A student once told me "sometimes we quarrel in my dormitory because I like to wake up early and do exercise with the window open on weekends, but my roommates like to sleep in late." "Late" turned out to be 8am; she preferred to get up at 6:30.
-The entire concept of education in China is different. Rote memorization is king and students are taught to copy what has come before; discussion, independent or creative thinking, unusual opinions, asking questions and certainly challenging the teacher are not encouraged. And it shows; on several occasions I've asked a student to help with some everyday task, such as sending mail to America or using a washing machine, and they were of little help because doing something unfamiliar was a bigger issue for them than the language barrier was for me.
-Foreign teachers are generally the only ones who place a heavy emphasis on the students speaking during English class; Chinese teachers sometimes deride this as "playing."
-Cheating is a much bigger problem than in the West, and is much more accepted. Students freely admit to cheating when asked. I've heard a story about a Chinese professor telling university students to "just copy from your sources. I don't want to have to correct all your English mistakes." I've had students copy straight from their textbooks (the difference is obvious) during class when all I asked them to do was do some free writing about what was on their mind, and not for a grade.
If asked to compare different aspects of American and Chinese culture, I can generally find positives and negatives of both. I didn't mean this list to be a list of complaints, but it's true that education is the one area where I can see no advantages to the Chinese way. Two of my students were shocked to come across a ranking of universities worldwide that listed Qinghua University (the best in China, which students make untold sacrifices to try to get into) at something like #180, and whispered in Chinese about how it was just a Western bias against China. Some of the problems lie with the difficulties of overpopulation (middle school classrooms typically have 60 or 70 students) and of a developing country, but some come from attitudes and ways of thinking that for the sake of Chinese students I hope eventually change. Also, I'm speaking from personal experience and not all these things would be true in all universities in China, especially if the problem is money (this is a third-tier university in one of China's poorest provinces after all). As a whole students here are not satisfied with their educational experience, and I find they usually agree with me when the conversation turns to criticizing education in China. However, I would also be interested in working in a better school in a wealthier city as a means of comparison.
When speaking Chinese with people in town, I am frequently asked if I'm studying abroad here. This first of all makes me smile, as I don't think Zhangye would be high on the list of destinations for a study abroad candidate. But it also makes me imagine life here on the other end of the classroom. I think I'll stick with being a foreign teacher.
(on a side note, for an overall excellent China read that partly deals with being an American studying abroad in China, in the early 80's no less, check out Chinese Lessons by John Pomfret)
-Students are organized into classes by major, and given a class number and individual student numbers. They take all the same classes with these classmates, and have no control over their class schedule. At this school classes in the English department are around 35 students each. Some Chinese teachers call students by their numbers rather than their names.
-Changing one's major is much more complicated than in America, and involves getting permission from both departments and paying a fee. Choosing a major is also limited by your results on the college entrance exam and many of my English students would rather be studying something else. By the same token there are students with excellent English abilities in other departments who want to be English majors but can't because of exam scores.
-Each class has a class monitor, chosen by a class vote. The class monitor attends weekly meetings, passes on announcements to the class from the department, and is in charge of class activities. A student once asked me "how do you choose class monitors in America?" I explained that we don't have them, and in great confusion she asked "but who is in charge of the class?"
-Student dorm rooms typically have 5-8 students in rooms that would hold 2 in America. In this school the beds have thin straw mattresses and very little besides bunk-beds, the students' (few) possessions, and wash basins. The students do their laundry by hand, and typically wear the same two or three outfits. Males and females live in separate buildings and are not allowed to enter the opposite sex's dormitory buildings.
-Students have the same roommates for all 4 years, typically classmates that they also see in every class. It is extremely difficult to change dorm rooms and some students have falling outs with their roommates that affect the entire class atmosphere. However the drama is minimal compared to the nightmare you would get with American students in the same situation.
-Showers are in buildings separate from the dormitories and cost 3 yuan (less than 50 cents). For most students this is a significant amount and many students shower once a week.
-The school has implemented a new rule: it is mandatory for students to study in the campus classrooms from 7-9pm every night. Students who are absent and caught will be punished by having their exam grades lowered.
-Students must sign in around 7am every weekday morning, even if they don't have morning class. If they miss enough times they will be embarrassed by having their name read on the campus broadcast system. Students from families with money can and do bribe the people in charge of broadcasting and sleep in as they will.
-In English classes taught by Chinese teachers, it is typical for students to sit quietly and listen to the teacher lecture for the entire two hours, without the chance to speak a word of English. Both teachers and students (with some exceptions) will never speak English outside of class unless absolutely forced to (even with me many students want to use Chinese instead). In a three person English conversation with two Chinese and a foreigner, the two Chinese people will typically use Chinese when talking to each other. The result is that students can study English for 10 years and still be terrified of speaking to me in English. By contrast, even in high school I recall classmates using Spanish or French outside of class for the fun of it.
-Some textbooks are fine, but most leave something to be desired; there is a real textbook used at this school which has one word on the cover: "Listeing." I was able to change to a good series of reading books, but of the 40-odd stories in the first textbook I used, the most recent one was from 1971. Most were considerably older.
-Students (and Chinese people in general) are fond of performances. Campus entertainment usually takes the form of karaoke competitions and dance and music performances from students.
-With the dormitory situation, there is pretty much no privacy at all for student couples. Couples cuddle on benches or find a somewhat "secluded" spot in the grass, especially at night. I've seen what appears to be couples breaking up, simply standing off the side of a path because there is nowhere else for them to go.
-The dormitories are locked at 11:30pm, even on weekends. Two students once accompanied Andrew to a Christmas evening church service. It was so long that they missed their curfew and spent the entire night in an internet cafe, and were sick the next day.
-In order to have drinking water, students have big thermoses that they fill up in designated buildings that supply hot water. On the few occasions when the power has gone out in these buildings some students simply didn't drink anything because they didn't have money to buy water.
-Once per term each class has "duty week." This is a week when they don't go to class, instead cleaning up campus (sweeping, burning garbage) in their official school uniforms.
-Freshman have a week of military training, usually the first week of college, in which they wear uniforms, are drilled by soldiers, and do a lot of marching and shouting.
-My school has demolished the old library but not finished the new one. There is no library on campus at the moment.
-In general students don't get out as much as their Western counterparts. I once took some student friends to see Zhangye's famed "Great Buddah" statue, about a 25-minute walk away, and they were simply amazed I could get there so easily. They had never been that far away from campus before.
-There is a school broadcast system with speakers all over campus, which loudly plays news, the national anthem, and inspirational music. Broadcasts begin at 6am.
-Students stand up in unison to greet the teacher when he/she enters the room, and erase the blackboard for the teacher during breaks. Students rotate the duty of bringing the chalk and eraser to the classroom. When the student on duty forgets (which is often) I have no chalk or eraser, and someone then scrambles to get chalk from another classroom while others give me tissues to erase the board with. I've had to resort to cleaning the blackboard with a mop. I've tried hiding a cloth in the room for the times the students forget the eraser but it was soon stolen.
-Other than desks, small stools for students, the teacher's podium, the blackboard, and one electrical outlet, there is not so much as a garbage can in the classrooms. Occasionally the power is out and the outlet doesn't work, generally when I want to play music and really need power.
-Because of the crowded dorms and lack of study options, students often study outside. Because of the Chinese love of reciting out loud, this leads to the amusing sight of students reading books to trees.
-College students do drink, but not even approaching the amount that American students do. Drinking is not allowed in the dorms and due to money issues, curfews, and social norms students don't often go to bars. It is also almost exclusively males, as a Chinese female who drinks or smokes is not looked very highly upon. Working age males, however, drink much more than those in America, and it's an integral part of doing business in China. There are apparently some drugs available but I'm sure drug use is also much lower than in America (though apparently rising in the cities). Chinese drug laws are also much stiffer and include execution (incidentally China executes more people than all the other countries in the world combined).
-Pre-marital sex is considerably less common in China than the West. According to 21st Century (an English language newspaper for Chinese students), 15% of Chinese aged 18-21 have had pre-marital sex, and for the 21-24 group 39% have had pre-marital sex. The numbers are probably lower in a smaller, more conservative place like Zhangye. By contrast it claims that two-thirds of Americans under 18 have had sex. Because of living conditions it would be nearly impossible for a willing couple to have sex on campus in the first place. There is short-term off-campus housing available for students so those that are having sex often rent rooms for that purpose.
-The majority of college students have never had any kind of job before. In China a student's job is to study and they are not encouraged to earn their own money or pursue hobbies. Many of my students are getting their first part-time jobs tutoring younger students in English. Getting into a college is the result of a student's score on the college entrance exam; no other factors are considered and the pressure and preparation put into this exam are utterly unlike anything American high schoolers go through.
-It would unusual for a Chinese student to pay for college themselves. Generally they are completely funded by their parents.
-In almost every aspect of life Chinese students are less independent and self-reliant than Western students. Even with the means to do so I suspect none of my students would be willing to travel alone, even to a nearby city. Definitely not the girls. Students find it odd that I would even go out on the street by myself.
-Students seem to have little sense of note-taking, even in college. For the most part they scribble whatever I write on the board verbatim into the margins of their textbook and take no other notes. I questioned a student about her notebook and she told me "oh, I do have one, I just don't bring it to class because I'm afraid that I'll lose it."
-The student-teacher relationship is much more formal, with teacher as unquestioned master. A student was telling me a story about her middle school days. The teacher asked students to write down what they thought of her class. The student was naive enough to be honest and critical, and was asked to come to the teacher's home to be shouted at and criticized. It is also still common practice for teachers to hit students for misbehaving or performing poorly.
-Students at this school have an extremely limited knowledge of how to use computers. They have taken computer classes at the school, where they are taught a programming language that I've never heard of. I asked a student why it was useful and they said "oh we won't ever use it. But if we have this certificate it will help us get a job later." Many if not most students are unable to successfully use a search engine, send an e-mail, or get to a website when the address is already known, things which apparently are not taught in computer class. I once watched Andrew teach one of our students how to type in Chinese on a computer.
-A fairly high number of students wear glasses.
-No students own cars. Quite few teachers own cars; they are still for the wealthy. Only some students own bicycles.
-Especially in comparison to American students, Chinese students wake up early on weekends. A student once told me "sometimes we quarrel in my dormitory because I like to wake up early and do exercise with the window open on weekends, but my roommates like to sleep in late." "Late" turned out to be 8am; she preferred to get up at 6:30.
-The entire concept of education in China is different. Rote memorization is king and students are taught to copy what has come before; discussion, independent or creative thinking, unusual opinions, asking questions and certainly challenging the teacher are not encouraged. And it shows; on several occasions I've asked a student to help with some everyday task, such as sending mail to America or using a washing machine, and they were of little help because doing something unfamiliar was a bigger issue for them than the language barrier was for me.
-Foreign teachers are generally the only ones who place a heavy emphasis on the students speaking during English class; Chinese teachers sometimes deride this as "playing."
-Cheating is a much bigger problem than in the West, and is much more accepted. Students freely admit to cheating when asked. I've heard a story about a Chinese professor telling university students to "just copy from your sources. I don't want to have to correct all your English mistakes." I've had students copy straight from their textbooks (the difference is obvious) during class when all I asked them to do was do some free writing about what was on their mind, and not for a grade.
If asked to compare different aspects of American and Chinese culture, I can generally find positives and negatives of both. I didn't mean this list to be a list of complaints, but it's true that education is the one area where I can see no advantages to the Chinese way. Two of my students were shocked to come across a ranking of universities worldwide that listed Qinghua University (the best in China, which students make untold sacrifices to try to get into) at something like #180, and whispered in Chinese about how it was just a Western bias against China. Some of the problems lie with the difficulties of overpopulation (middle school classrooms typically have 60 or 70 students) and of a developing country, but some come from attitudes and ways of thinking that for the sake of Chinese students I hope eventually change. Also, I'm speaking from personal experience and not all these things would be true in all universities in China, especially if the problem is money (this is a third-tier university in one of China's poorest provinces after all). As a whole students here are not satisfied with their educational experience, and I find they usually agree with me when the conversation turns to criticizing education in China. However, I would also be interested in working in a better school in a wealthier city as a means of comparison.
When speaking Chinese with people in town, I am frequently asked if I'm studying abroad here. This first of all makes me smile, as I don't think Zhangye would be high on the list of destinations for a study abroad candidate. But it also makes me imagine life here on the other end of the classroom. I think I'll stick with being a foreign teacher.
(on a side note, for an overall excellent China read that partly deals with being an American studying abroad in China, in the early 80's no less, check out Chinese Lessons by John Pomfret)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Chinese Words and Phrases 3: 自我批评 zìwǒ pīpíng
Looking through old text messages on my phone I was reminded of something Andrew had passed on to me from a mutual student we've taught:
"Oh, Dolly [classmate] is very afraid to see our headmaster, you know the self-criticism only has 3,000 [characters], not 10,000, so she had to write the rest. She is very busy these days! Terrible!"
A self-criticism (自我批评) is a very Communist Chinese phenomenon that I know of mostly through its use during the Cultural Revolution, when as part of the political paranoia of the time people were obligated to make criticisms of themselves and their failings to uphold the ideals of the Communist Party, or in more extreme cases to confess their "counter-revolutionary" crimes. At that time this was often done in an atmosphere of intimidation and threats. Mao on self-criticism: "Conscientious practice of self-criticism is still another hallmark distinguishing our Party from all other political parties. As we say, dust will accumulate if a room is not cleaned regularly, our faces will get dirty if they are not washed regularly. Our comrades' minds and our Party's work may also collect dust, and also need sweeping and washing." Recently the governor of Shanxi province in northern China publicly made a self-criticism for the slave labor scandal in which hundreds of people had been kidnapped and forced to work in illegal brick kilns.
I never did find out what my student got in trouble for or what she had to write about. Another curious feature of Chinese education.
"Oh, Dolly [classmate] is very afraid to see our headmaster, you know the self-criticism only has 3,000 [characters], not 10,000, so she had to write the rest. She is very busy these days! Terrible!"
A self-criticism (自我批评) is a very Communist Chinese phenomenon that I know of mostly through its use during the Cultural Revolution, when as part of the political paranoia of the time people were obligated to make criticisms of themselves and their failings to uphold the ideals of the Communist Party, or in more extreme cases to confess their "counter-revolutionary" crimes. At that time this was often done in an atmosphere of intimidation and threats. Mao on self-criticism: "Conscientious practice of self-criticism is still another hallmark distinguishing our Party from all other political parties. As we say, dust will accumulate if a room is not cleaned regularly, our faces will get dirty if they are not washed regularly. Our comrades' minds and our Party's work may also collect dust, and also need sweeping and washing." Recently the governor of Shanxi province in northern China publicly made a self-criticism for the slave labor scandal in which hundreds of people had been kidnapped and forced to work in illegal brick kilns.
I never did find out what my student got in trouble for or what she had to write about. Another curious feature of Chinese education.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Scandalous T-shirts
In China, English is not only a mandatory study subject, it's fashionable. It doesn't always matter how correct the English is or what it even means. I've seen wedding photo albums covered in sickeningly sweet, grammatically incorrect English phrases, and even in Zhangye many stores opt for an English sign. Clothing fashion is no exception, and students in particular like shirts covered in (often meaningless or totally confusing) English phrases. It is always news to my students if I point out that the English on their shirt is wrong ("Wild Bider" on a Harley-esque design, or a picture of Nirvana's late singer labeled "Kurt Codain," who the student had never heard of in the first place). Ramones t-shirts are surprisingly popular, though no one has any idea who they are, and likewise with shirts that say in big letters "Spy Who Loved Me." At least one of my t-shirt purchases was inspired by the Chinese English on the front (seen in picture).Most of the odd English-adorned shirts can be chalked up to the generally abysmal level of English in the Chinese manufacturing world. However, there are those that turn my head and make me wonder if a mischievous laowai (foreigner) wasn't behind it. For example, today I saw a shirt that said in large letters "Peace is Good." That seemed harmless and superficial enough, but then I noticed the smaller letters "Sex is Better" in the bottom corner. Yesterday I saw a female student on campus with the large letters "Wanted: A Meaningful One-Night Relationship" on her shirt. And I remember my friend David from my training course in Thailand mentioning a similar phenomenon where he taught in South Korea, his example being a shirt that said "last night a world class surfer got off in me." One of the most popular t-shirt series amongst girls here is a brand that advertises "Relax: Choose Juicy," whatever that means. And lately one of my students has taken to wearing her new t-shirt which says "Baby Drink Beer." But one of the most noticeable was a shirt I saw on the street that said in unmissable block letters on the back "FUCKING CANADIAN." Apparently a freshman girl in the English department also has this shirt.
This reminds me of an article I read in 21st century, a newspaper for English students in China, about Westerners with tattoos of Chinese characters. Apparently many of them are incorrect or completely ridiculous. The only example I can remember was an unfortunate Western guy who had a tattoo that said "crazy diarrhea" in Chinese. So fair warning to anyone who gets a Chinese tattoo: beware the smirk on the tattoo artist's face.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Foreigner in a Chinese Barber Shop
A Chinese-speaking foreigner named Ben in the city of Fuzhou has taken on an interesting experiment - step out of the coddled foreign-teacher role and work as an apprentice in a Chinese barber shop for a month. He has asked to be treated like one of the Chinese workers, and like the others works 11-hour days, 7 days a week, with 3 days off during the month. His current blog posts are fascinating reading and give a small window into the life of working class Chinese. I will actually provide the link to the Sinosplice post about it (where I first came across Ben's blog) as John of Sinosplice has provided clearly organized links to the posts written up till now.
http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2007/05/21/barber-shop-antics
http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2007/05/21/barber-shop-antics
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Marco Polo, Pizza Thief?
It's a well-known fact that China was once the most advanced civilization in the world, and the 4 great inventions of ancient China are said to be the compass, gunpowder, paper making, and the printing press. However, the quite nationalistic Chinese are fond of making claims of inventing all manner of things, some of them rather dubious, but amusing. For instance, I read an article a while ago about recent archaeological discoveries which led to wild Chinese claims about inventing skiing. Having been to a Chinese ski "resort," I rather doubt that. But I think my favorite so far was yesterday, when I was hanging out at China Fire and talking to the owner, our friend He Le. He will soon be offering pizza, and we had a conversation along these lines:He Le: "You know where pizza comes from, don't you?"
Me: "Italy."
"Nope." I knew where this was going.
"Then, where?"
"China," his face now beaming. "You know Marco Polo? His statue is right outside." There is a prominent street near the university that is known as both European Street and Marco Polo street, and features a unmissable statue of the man, who rumor has it lived in Zhangye for a year when it was an important silk road trading post. It is possibly the cleanest and certainly the whitest street in Zhangye, and resembles an enormous model set of ancient Greece or Rome.
"Yes, I know him."
"Well, when he was in China, he liked to eat nang, from the Xinjiang area." Nang is a kind of bread made by the Uyghur people, which is circular and has a raised crust on the outside, but otherwise bears no resemblance to pizza. "So when he went back to Italy, he missed it, and he described it to friends so they could make it for him. They didn't know what to put on the top, so they put meat and other toppings, and it became pizza. So pizza went from China to Italy, and then it was re-introduced to China!"
Well, at any rate, pizza will be coming to China Fire.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Chinese History with Chinese Characteristics
As I was digging through the piles of paper in my bedroom, I came across a list of the "Century's 20 Top Historic Events in China" I once asked a student to copy for me. She had to study the list for a class, and I found it interesting for the heavy Communist Party influence that would go unnoticed by Chinese students who have never heard recent Chinese history from any other perspective. It's full of great Marxist vocabulary like "reactionary," "feudalist society," and "bourgeois," and references to foreign countries include words like "aggressive" and "humiliation for China." Though "the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee in late 1978" makes the list, certain major events are conspicuously absent. Mao is not mentioned after 1945, and the only reference to the Cultural Revolution is "the downfall of the 'Gang of Four' and the end of the 'Cultural Revolution' in 1976 marked a new development stage for China." An online version of the list can be found here.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
A Heroic Death on CCTV
Just when I thought things were the most predictable this term, I had one of my more memorable "only in China" moments last week. Lili from the English department office called my cell phone late Wednesday afternoon and told me "there is someone from CCTV here looking for a foreign actor. Are you interested in having a try?" CCTV stands for China Central Television, and is the Chinese national television network. At first the words "token foreigner" flashed through my mind, as I have seen the sometimes clownish roles given to foreigners on CCTV."Well, what do they want me to do?" I asked, though I knew better than to expect to get such a wealth of information.
"I don't know" she replied.
"I'm across town. What time do they want to meet?" Another silly question.
"Could you come to my office right now?"
Long thoughtful pause. Well, I guess I didn't come all this way to lead a boring life. "Sure, I'll be there soon."
When I arrived they simply took my picture, shook my hand, and went on their way. White face, blue eyes; he passes the audition. They had first recruited Phillip, the foreign teacher from Manchester, and apparently he was shooting the first night, so they took him away to parts unknown.
I got the story from him the next day--they were filming a Tang dynasty drama for CCTV1 about an hour outside of Zhangye and, for reasons that are still unclear, wanted some young male foreign faces for some very small bit parts as soldiers. I'm no expert on the Tang dynasty, but I would venture a guess that the number of British and American soldiers on the fields of Chinese battle was minimal. Phillip was given a short but dramatic role with speaking lines that ended in his execution. Ironically, the one with the least interest in learning Chinese was given the speaking role, and he had to get his lines translated so he could say them in English. It all gets dubbed over when they go back to Beijing anyway, and a foreigner is a foreigner.
The next night Phillip was busy and they needed two foreigners, so Andrew was roped into taking part by Lili ("Dan needs some help..."). Andrew tends to shy away from anything involving either an audience or the English department calling to ask "are you free this evening?" but he reluctantly agreed. We met outside the English department at 6pm, and I was told by different sources that we would be home by 2am, 12am or between 9:30 and 10:30pm. Phillip had returned at 4am so I didn't have my hopes up.
The filming took place in an area outside of the city called Danxia Dimao (丹霞地贸), which we had been to before as part of a foreign teachers' trip. They had built a full set on and around the hills, which was very professionally done. The name of the television show is 神探狄仁杰 (shén tàn dí rénjié), and is apparently a popular show comparable to a Chinese Sherlock Holmes. Di Renjie is the name of the man character, a portly man with a thin, earnest sidekick. A website with pictures of the show can be found here. I was told by students that older people in China like the show but they weren't interested. I'd like to think I've participated in the Chinese equivalent of Matlock.
I'm glad Andrew was there and I had someone to talk to, because we were in for a long night. When we arrived they got us into costume--fancy Tang dynasty soldier uniforms, tights, and shoes that were much, much too small. The "dressing room" was the inside of a truck which was open to the world. There were one or two people in charge that were friendly to us and would check on us every once in a while. We were told they would do a few scenes before ours, and we just had to shao deng yixia, "wait a moment." My heart sinks when I hear this phrase in China, because "a moment" generally means between 20 minutes and an hour and a half. Chinese people have a tolerance for waiting that far surpasses that of the typical Westerner, and if the wait is truly just "a moment" no one will feel it necessary to even mention it.
There were a lot of people involved in the filming, plus some curious onlookers gathered on a hill, and the place had a bit of a carnival atmosphere. The actors were wearing their various costumes and make-up, and there was a crew of giggly Chinese girls that could be seen chatting excitedly or playing childish games during the downtime. We didn't have to ask who the director of the whole production was--he made his presence known. Equipped with a full camouflage outfit and an inflated sense of self-importance, el generalissimo could been seen stomping around and occasionally screaming at people. The two main characters were also easy to pick out, but they carried themselves with dignity and professionalism.
Filming is known to be a slow process, and combined with the slow, deliberate pace at which most everything happens in China, the wait eventually became agonizing. It didn't help that we were outside on a cold night with almost nowhere to sit and wearing uncomfortable shoes. Around 10pm we still had no idea when we would film or even what our roles were. Around this time they called break for a meal, which was bad news--nothing would happen for a good hour-and-a-half.
Me and Andrew weren't hungry so we took a wander around. Way on the outskirts of the set was a lone man building a fire, who was so isolated we wondered if he was actually a nomad and his costume simply the clothes he prefers. It turned out he was a Uyghur from Xinjiang, so he was ethnically not Chinese at all, nor was it his first language. He didn't say as much but I imagine he would have trouble fully integrating with his Han Chinese workmates; China is indeed a fairly conformist society. Us three outcasts having a quiet talk by the fire was probably the highlight of the evening.
The hours continued to pass with no further sign of what we were even doing there. The night grew colder, and I gradually became less amused until really all I was looking forward to was going home. Sometime after 2am Andrew and I decided to check if our ride home was even there; a carful of Chinese people along for the ride had brought us, but due to the cold (and probably boredom) had been sitting in the car for hours. Sitting in the warm car was wonderful, but soon someone came to announce that our scenes were coming up next.
"Next" was a relative term; they had started work on the scenes we were involved in, but we had to wait another half hour in the cold before anything happened. Andrew was up first, and they explained his role around 5 minutes before he had to film it. It wasn't one of the more challenging scenes. All he had to do was be still and look dead--the entirety of his shot was him lying against a wall while the hand of his killer removed his helmet and revealed his foreign-ness. Probably the coolest part was that he had a stunt-double, a Chinese man with a helmet who gets violently thrown against the wall just before Andrew's shot.
To prepare him for his scene they gave Andrew a wig and a small dose of fake blood. While shooting the scene the victor had difficulty pulling off the helmet in one smooth motion, and it took a number of takes. The crew laughed and talked amongst themselves about how the foreigner's nose was too big--it didn't occur to anyone that the helmet was too small. Andrew finished his scene sometime around 3 or 4am, and I was told I was next.
They immediately packed up that scene and setting up in another spot, which meant another long wait. It was something like 4:30am when I began filming, and by that point I just wanted to get it over with. I also played a soldier who is killed and will get around 5 seconds of airtime. My scene was ever slightly more action-packed--someone slices a sword just in front of my face, at which point my helmet splits open (pulled apart by strings held by men on both sides side). There is blood running down my face (applied beforehand), I do my best expression of surprise/just-been-sliced-in-half-by-a-sword, and fall over, dead. When I was finished it was 5am, and we drove the hour home in silence.
I wasn't in much shape for my classes from 8am-12 and just cancelled them and slept until 2pm. Overall, I didn't enjoy the experience as much as I had hoped and I resented the total lack of respect for our time (I was surely the only one with work at 8am and they could have done our scenes much earlier). But, it was something that will never happen at home and I'm glad I went and have the story to tell. They were filming the third season which doesn't air until next year, but I'm amused to think that one of these days a Chinese national television audience will have a glimpse of two hapless foreign teachers in Zhangye.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
We are the Village Green Preservation Society
I'm sure I've mentioned my students' "duty week," one week each term during which they attend no classes and instead don their matching school uniforms and sweep the campus or burn garbage. In this peculiar Chinese tradition of unpaid-labor-as-education, there was a day set aside last week for the English department to plant trees in light of a recent environmental holiday. We were not forced or particularly encouraged to take part, but me and Andrew are usually up for anything silly, and so we were out in front of the library at 8am just like the students. To our slight embarrassment, we were shuffled onto a special bus for teachers and rolled past our students, who were walking en masse with humongous flags. Especially with their matching blue outfits, they resembled the least-threatening invading army in the world.As it turned out, "promoting environmental awareness" looked a lot more like "free labor for the new Zhangye park," and "planting trees" looked a lot more like "digging a ditch." Because of the novelty factor for me and Andrew, the two of us seemed to be the most enthusiastic in the morning, grabbing our shovels and practically taking the lead while everyone else eased into the day's work. It didn't take long to figure out we were digging through farmers' fields--I mentioned in the last post that the government often repossesses people's land for its own use, and in this case the government of Zhangye had given these farmers money in order to put up a new park. We were assured the payment was adequate and everybody was happy to give up their land.
The Zhangye work philosophy often seems to be get twice as many people as you need working half as hard, and especially with the English department consisting of 90% Chinese girls it was not exactly the toiling under the sun I was expecting. Our students are fond of "chatting" and "taking a rest," activities at which they excel, and before long there was a lot of relaxing and lounging around. The digging of the big ditch branched out into digging big holes in the ditch, followed by an extensive lunch break. It was clear the work was just about finished by noon (there must have been over 500 students), but the leaders weren't interested in letting the students go back early and we mostly spent the afternoon goofing off and getting sunburned. We never did get to plant any trees.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The Chongqing "Nail House"
Here's an interesting story that's being talked about in China:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/26/news/house.php
As the article talks about in further detail, a strong-willed woman is refusing to vacate her home, which has been cleared for demolition as part of the development of her area. A historic Chinese law protecting private property was recently passed, fanning this woman's flames of discontent. The taking of people's land (all land is owned by the government in China, and some complain the compensation for their forced relocation is not enough) is one cause of social unrest, resulting in occasional riots and show-downs with the police. The most interesting part of the story is the photograph - a lone, rebellious house, perched atop its own island in a demolished neighborhood.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/26/news/house.php
As the article talks about in further detail, a strong-willed woman is refusing to vacate her home, which has been cleared for demolition as part of the development of her area. A historic Chinese law protecting private property was recently passed, fanning this woman's flames of discontent. The taking of people's land (all land is owned by the government in China, and some complain the compensation for their forced relocation is not enough) is one cause of social unrest, resulting in occasional riots and show-downs with the police. The most interesting part of the story is the photograph - a lone, rebellious house, perched atop its own island in a demolished neighborhood.
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