Well, I just got out of my dan ban ke (one-on-one class) and I want to write this partly so I don't forget all of China's craziness and because I want to share this craziness with all of you. First of all, youtube has been prohibited here (starting yesterday), which does not have a big effect on my daily life, but it another reminder of how much power the government has over the people. Secondly, today's kewen (lesson text) was about protecting endangered animals; pandas and tigers especially. So in dan ban ke, my teacher started out by saying that she thinks China should not protect pandas because they do not help the country's shehui fazhan (society's development/growth). At this point, I said that pandas did in fact help society's growth by attracting lots of tourists and making a lot of money for China. But, I found this comment surprising partly because Chinese people hold pandas as their national symbol and their "national treasure". Also, I'm pretty sure what she says is actually her opinion, and not just said so we can have a conversation--she seemed to have pretty strong feelings. After a while, she brought up Darwin and "survival of the fittest" and how today's people are innately smarter and more capable than those who lived thousands of years ago (Maya, Egyptians, etc.) because of it. Also, she said lots of Chinese are criticizing Darwin (partly because of his recent 200th anniversary) and saying that evolution is bu kenengde (impossible) because people could not have slowly evolved from lower forms of life over a long period of time, but must have over a fairly short period of time made a few huge advances, resulting in where we ae today.
She also said that since kong long ("scary dragons," literally, or dinosaurs) went extinct so long ago, but humans did not develop fazhande (developed) societies until fairly recently, there must have been something going on in the middle. At which point she said, some people (I don't know if she included herself in this group) think there were very advanced alien civilizations on earth, but archaeologists just haven't found any evidence yet. She said that the Maya and Egyptians also must have been waixing ren (aliens) because how could such unadvanced people create such advanced civilizations and build such huge pyramids? And because the pyramids aligned with the sun and stars and such, that must have been too complicated for ancient people to create. I asked her what she thought of Stonehenge, but I don't think she had heard of it.
I'm not really sure what to make of all this, but it was probably one of the most interesting dan ban ke I've had. And I don't think all of our teachers have the same opinions regarding these issues.
My roommate is an art major, and they often ask her any and all art related questions, and assume she must know the answer because she's an art major. For example, why are all of China's buildings gray and brown? Why don't people paint with more interesting colors? She said they also assume that since she's an art major, all of her opinions are completely different from other peoples'.
Yesterday's kewen was about euthanasia (I know, heavy subject) and in danban ke we were talking about religion, and how you religious beliefs can affect your position regarding euthanasia (and other issues). My teacher said that most Chinese people don't follow any religion, and asked me if Westerners always seem happy because they have religion. I said that may be one reason why people are happy, but not the whole reason...and so on. After class, she said when she has children, the best gift she will give them is religion-- make them go to church every Sunday.
We went to Wangfujing and Xiushui today; both markets. Wangfujing was attractive because they have scorpions, which one of my friends desperately wanted to try. They also sell lots of fake really expensive brands.
photos: http://s591.photobucket.com/albums/ss353/klebling/
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Great Wall
We went to the Great Wall at Simatai today. There are many different portions of the wall tourists can visit, but I think this one is rather wilderness-y and not many people go to it. Nevertheless, there were a fair amount of tourists there, and mostly Americans. It's always amusing to watch their expression as we walk by, speaking Chinese, when they expect us to be speaking English, or at least a European language.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Summer Palace and things I consider distinctly Chinese
Well, nothing especially exciting has happened since last week. I went to the Summer Palace yesterday with a teacher and a few students. It is one the outskirts of the city, which meant an hour and a half bus ride, however, I finally got to see Beijing's "mountains" that people always talk about. Maybe if there wasn't so much smog, they would be visible from the city. Anyway, the palace was originally built in the 1700's, but was ransacked during the Anglo-French invasion, and then rebuilt in the late 1800's. It is where the Empress Dowager (mother of the emperor) lived, and I guess the emperor would visit sometimes. There is a large lake there, which is entirely man-made, and the dirt dug out of the lake (Kunming Lake) was used to make "longevity hill". Some other building names: Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, Cloud-Dispelling Hall, Temple of Buddhist Virtue, Sea of Wisdom Temple, Tower of Buddhist Incense, Tower of Lake and Mountain Views, etc. There is also a boat built in the water that doesn't move, meant to signify stability of the county (I think-sometimes I'm not sure when everything is in Chinese). Also, according to a guy we met on the bus and then acted as our tour guide, the Summer Palace has the longest corridor in China. (I'm doubtful- it didn't seem that long.)
Also, since I've been here for more than two months, I think I've pretty much gotten used to life here. But, I decided to make a list of typically Chinese things that I don't really notice anymore, but are different from America. (I realize some of these are generalizations.)
-bicycles: many, many more people ride bicycles here, and not just pedal-it-yourself bikes, but regular bikes with a motor attached so you don't have to pedal. Also, people often have one or two people riding on the same bike. Many people's jobs are to collect trash or recyclables, so they usually have bikes with obscenely large loads on the back. People selling food on the street always have their cart attached to a bike so they can quickly pedal away if the police come.
-tea jars: almost everyone owns a tea jar, and carries it with them everywhere (much like some Americans and their water bottles). Except most Chinese use loose leaf tea instead of tea bags.
-stairs: Most stairs that I have encountered in china are either too small or too big. And most are too small. Maybe it's because Chinese people are generally shorter than Americans, but they still seem awkwardly small.
-loud music: lots of stores have a stereo or loudspeaker set up outside their entrance, which plays very loud Chinese pop or American music. Or, they have recordings very loudly advertising their products.
-packaging: many products have, in my opinion, much too much packaging. When you buy a package of crackers, the crackers are then further divided in to groups of three and individually packaged. A container of cookies has the outside wrapping, then the plastic tray and then finally each cookie is again individually wrapped again. The reason is always "for freshness". No wonder China is buried in trash.
-food, in general: I think Chinese people are willing to eat many more parts of any given animal than Americans are willing to eat. At Wal-Mart, the meat section is quite a sight. For example, chicken feet can be found in every supermarket and convenience store, and I'm told children especially like them. Most fish and shrimp are served with the heads and eyeballs still attached. My host family likes to eat duck heads and sea cucumbers....I could go on, but I won't. -crossing the street: Chinese drivers do not stop for pedestrians. Do not. This means crossing the street oftentimes is darting in front of moving traffic and hoping to not get smooshed. because it is difficult to cross both lanes at once, many people will just stand in the middle of the road until the next lane clears. Also, taxi drivers are quite reckless drivers.
-pollution: Pollution everywhere. Always. I've noticed duct accumulates much more rapidly than in the US. Most days it's fine, but once in a while it doesn't feel healthy to breathe outside.
-spitting: Everyone spits everywhere. On the street/sidewalk especially, but also in the subway station, on the subway itself, in some not so fancy restaurants. I've come to laothe the sound people make just before they are going to spit. It's also especially disgusting when it's below freezing and the spit freezes on the sidewalk. blehhh.
-smoking: lots of people smoke, and despite most restaurant's signs saying "smoking is prohibited" they still smoke inside and the waiters/waitresses don't care. This results in me smelling like an ashtray after eating at most restaurants.
-cell phones: I think cell phones are a big status symbol in China; the fancier the better.
-clothing: Especially women's clothing is anything but simple. The more bows, buttons, glittery things, etc., the better. Lots of the clothing even my teachers wear seems like stuff pre-teen American girls would like. Also, many people wear clothing with meaningless English brands or phrases.
Also, since I've been here for more than two months, I think I've pretty much gotten used to life here. But, I decided to make a list of typically Chinese things that I don't really notice anymore, but are different from America. (I realize some of these are generalizations.)
-bicycles: many, many more people ride bicycles here, and not just pedal-it-yourself bikes, but regular bikes with a motor attached so you don't have to pedal. Also, people often have one or two people riding on the same bike. Many people's jobs are to collect trash or recyclables, so they usually have bikes with obscenely large loads on the back. People selling food on the street always have their cart attached to a bike so they can quickly pedal away if the police come.
-tea jars: almost everyone owns a tea jar, and carries it with them everywhere (much like some Americans and their water bottles). Except most Chinese use loose leaf tea instead of tea bags.
-stairs: Most stairs that I have encountered in china are either too small or too big. And most are too small. Maybe it's because Chinese people are generally shorter than Americans, but they still seem awkwardly small.
-loud music: lots of stores have a stereo or loudspeaker set up outside their entrance, which plays very loud Chinese pop or American music. Or, they have recordings very loudly advertising their products.
-packaging: many products have, in my opinion, much too much packaging. When you buy a package of crackers, the crackers are then further divided in to groups of three and individually packaged. A container of cookies has the outside wrapping, then the plastic tray and then finally each cookie is again individually wrapped again. The reason is always "for freshness". No wonder China is buried in trash.
-food, in general: I think Chinese people are willing to eat many more parts of any given animal than Americans are willing to eat. At Wal-Mart, the meat section is quite a sight. For example, chicken feet can be found in every supermarket and convenience store, and I'm told children especially like them. Most fish and shrimp are served with the heads and eyeballs still attached. My host family likes to eat duck heads and sea cucumbers....I could go on, but I won't. -crossing the street: Chinese drivers do not stop for pedestrians. Do not. This means crossing the street oftentimes is darting in front of moving traffic and hoping to not get smooshed. because it is difficult to cross both lanes at once, many people will just stand in the middle of the road until the next lane clears. Also, taxi drivers are quite reckless drivers.
-pollution: Pollution everywhere. Always. I've noticed duct accumulates much more rapidly than in the US. Most days it's fine, but once in a while it doesn't feel healthy to breathe outside.
-spitting: Everyone spits everywhere. On the street/sidewalk especially, but also in the subway station, on the subway itself, in some not so fancy restaurants. I've come to laothe the sound people make just before they are going to spit. It's also especially disgusting when it's below freezing and the spit freezes on the sidewalk. blehhh.
-smoking: lots of people smoke, and despite most restaurant's signs saying "smoking is prohibited" they still smoke inside and the waiters/waitresses don't care. This results in me smelling like an ashtray after eating at most restaurants.
-cell phones: I think cell phones are a big status symbol in China; the fancier the better.
-clothing: Especially women's clothing is anything but simple. The more bows, buttons, glittery things, etc., the better. Lots of the clothing even my teachers wear seems like stuff pre-teen American girls would like. Also, many people wear clothing with meaningless English brands or phrases.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Chengdu: Land of the pandas
We flew back to Beijing last night after a week of galavanting through China's southwestern countryside. We left last Friday after the midterm exams and took the train for 25 hours to Chengdu. The train is arranged with small cabins, each with six bunks (three on each side) and outside of the cabin there is a hallway and small chairs by the windows. It was fairly comfortable and quite interesting to see other parts of the country besides the city. A large portion of the trip was through mountains and fields of safflowers (or rapeseed- used to make oil). It was also fun to talk to the other people (real Chinese people)- one guy taught us some Chinese tongue twisters and Chinese songs and games.
On Sunday, the entire group went to the panda research center, to see the pandas!! This was the one place I saw foreigners throughout the entire trip. The panda center was really green and lush with bamboo and little winding pathways to the panda enclosures. Sichuan's climate is subtropical, so they actually have wildlife and rain and flowers and such. It was already spring when we arrived, which was such a relief from dry, dusty Beijing. We saw giant pandas and baby pandas and red pandas and also a few peacocks wandering around. After the pandas, a few of us went out to huo3guo3 (hotpot) which is one of Sichuan's specialties and so spicy it is painful to eat. They gave us a boiling cauldron of hot peppers and peppercorns, and, because we are not Sichuanese, a small non-spicy section in the middle. Hot pot basically consists of plates of raw meat, vegetables, tofu and mushrooms that you place in the boiling hotness and let cook. Then eat. Ahhh. I have never eaten anything so spicy. Everyone had tears running down their very red faces and piles of tissues from blowing their nose. It was delightful.
After that, we went to renmingongyuan, a park, and did some paddle boating. For dinner we went to a xiaochi (small eats/ snack) restaurant. Xiaochi are another one of Sichuan's specialties and there are vendors selling kebabs, fruit, breads, desserts and other things (like chicken feet) along most every street.
On Monday we went to Le Shan, which has the world's biggest Buddha. He is 71 meters tall and very serene looking, carved out of the side of a mountain. They take great pride in saying you can have a picnic on his toenail, it's so big. Then we went to another hotel near Emei Shan, which has its own hot springs. A bunch of us went swimming in the hot springs, which was wonderful. They have different pools of different temperatures set up and then a large pool of cold water. There are also saunas, for the full temperature range.
On Tuesday, we went to Emei Shan, which is one of China's sacred Buddhist Mountains. About half of the group stayed near the bottom and hiked around the monkey zone and the other half hiked to the top. The mountain is all stairs ( I think to prevent erosion, etc) which makes the climbing slightly monotonous. And they go one forever and ever. We started at 10:30 in the morning and climbed until about 6:00 to a small "guest house" (actually is was an unheated building and we slept in a small room in the basement) where we slept over (for $7 a night). Teh owner told us to close the doors (they don't have locks) because somethimes the monkeys come in an steal valuables. The mountain has lots of small snack stands along the way, with the owners who live there year round. This is quite impressive, because it is really misty (you're basically in a cloud) and rainy and cold. As you climb higher, the mist tuns to ice and it is pretty snowy. We arrived at the guest house soaked and freezing and tired. The next morning we got up a 4:30 AM to hike to the top and watch the sun rise. It was pretty terrifying hiking in the dark up to the summit, especially because Emei has so many monkeys. We encountered the monkeys once, during the first day. There were probably a dozen of them, sitting on railings and watching us. A few of my friends, who were hiking with different groups has monkeys jump on them and try to take things. They like cameras and soda. (One monkey took my friend's contact solution and tried to drink it, but upon realizing it was not soda got upset and threw it is the woods and hit her). They are very smart creatures. We reached the summit at 7:00 ish and watched the sunrise, which was really beautiful. The elevation is 10,167 ft., so we were far above the cloud cover. Then we took the cable car down and the bus back to Chengdu.
On Thursday we went to the Wenshu monastery, a Zen Buddhist monastery in Chengdu and then went to another park and spent time at a chaguar (tea restaurant). Chengdu's pace is much slower than Beijing's and it seems as if people don't really do much all day except sit around drinking tea and playing cards. In the evening we went to get massages ($18 for two hours) which was nice after climbing the days before.
On Friday we wandered around looking at badly translated t-shirts and eating xiaochi. Then we flew back to Beijing to continue studying, studying, studying.
Photos: http://s591.photobucket.com/albums/ss353/klebling/
On Sunday, the entire group went to the panda research center, to see the pandas!! This was the one place I saw foreigners throughout the entire trip. The panda center was really green and lush with bamboo and little winding pathways to the panda enclosures. Sichuan's climate is subtropical, so they actually have wildlife and rain and flowers and such. It was already spring when we arrived, which was such a relief from dry, dusty Beijing. We saw giant pandas and baby pandas and red pandas and also a few peacocks wandering around. After the pandas, a few of us went out to huo3guo3 (hotpot) which is one of Sichuan's specialties and so spicy it is painful to eat. They gave us a boiling cauldron of hot peppers and peppercorns, and, because we are not Sichuanese, a small non-spicy section in the middle. Hot pot basically consists of plates of raw meat, vegetables, tofu and mushrooms that you place in the boiling hotness and let cook. Then eat. Ahhh. I have never eaten anything so spicy. Everyone had tears running down their very red faces and piles of tissues from blowing their nose. It was delightful.
After that, we went to renmingongyuan, a park, and did some paddle boating. For dinner we went to a xiaochi (small eats/ snack) restaurant. Xiaochi are another one of Sichuan's specialties and there are vendors selling kebabs, fruit, breads, desserts and other things (like chicken feet) along most every street.
On Monday we went to Le Shan, which has the world's biggest Buddha. He is 71 meters tall and very serene looking, carved out of the side of a mountain. They take great pride in saying you can have a picnic on his toenail, it's so big. Then we went to another hotel near Emei Shan, which has its own hot springs. A bunch of us went swimming in the hot springs, which was wonderful. They have different pools of different temperatures set up and then a large pool of cold water. There are also saunas, for the full temperature range.
On Tuesday, we went to Emei Shan, which is one of China's sacred Buddhist Mountains. About half of the group stayed near the bottom and hiked around the monkey zone and the other half hiked to the top. The mountain is all stairs ( I think to prevent erosion, etc) which makes the climbing slightly monotonous. And they go one forever and ever. We started at 10:30 in the morning and climbed until about 6:00 to a small "guest house" (actually is was an unheated building and we slept in a small room in the basement) where we slept over (for $7 a night). Teh owner told us to close the doors (they don't have locks) because somethimes the monkeys come in an steal valuables. The mountain has lots of small snack stands along the way, with the owners who live there year round. This is quite impressive, because it is really misty (you're basically in a cloud) and rainy and cold. As you climb higher, the mist tuns to ice and it is pretty snowy. We arrived at the guest house soaked and freezing and tired. The next morning we got up a 4:30 AM to hike to the top and watch the sun rise. It was pretty terrifying hiking in the dark up to the summit, especially because Emei has so many monkeys. We encountered the monkeys once, during the first day. There were probably a dozen of them, sitting on railings and watching us. A few of my friends, who were hiking with different groups has monkeys jump on them and try to take things. They like cameras and soda. (One monkey took my friend's contact solution and tried to drink it, but upon realizing it was not soda got upset and threw it is the woods and hit her). They are very smart creatures. We reached the summit at 7:00 ish and watched the sunrise, which was really beautiful. The elevation is 10,167 ft., so we were far above the cloud cover. Then we took the cable car down and the bus back to Chengdu.
On Thursday we went to the Wenshu monastery, a Zen Buddhist monastery in Chengdu and then went to another park and spent time at a chaguar (tea restaurant). Chengdu's pace is much slower than Beijing's and it seems as if people don't really do much all day except sit around drinking tea and playing cards. In the evening we went to get massages ($18 for two hours) which was nice after climbing the days before.
On Friday we wandered around looking at badly translated t-shirts and eating xiaochi. Then we flew back to Beijing to continue studying, studying, studying.
Photos: http://s591.photobucket.com/albums/ss353/klebling/
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