Chinese Dispatches

Chinese dispatches is moving/ transforming/ evolving!

2010-12-02T06:37:00.000+08:00

Since I am no longer sending out dispatches from China, and am back in the States, I think it is time for a new blog. Shanzhai Zhongguo is it! It will be a collection of current China related stories I am reading, of which I am reading so many, plus I will add my own thoughts about the stories themselves and who is reporting on them. I also will revive the (marginally, ha!) popular Chinese Geography series and will add a new Chinese History series as well. So please head on over.

Minxin Pei and Fareed Zakaria

2010-07-20T02:50:00.005+08:00

Two of my favorite scholars on China and international affairs sit down and chat about China, India, and the world:

The return of the native

2010-03-04T23:16:00.005+08:00

I have come back to this side of the world. It has been a long time, two and a half years since I left to go to China and I hadn't been back since. It feels very good to be back and so good to see so many old friends and my family. I've been pretty busy as of late running around seeing everyone, and I will continue to do so for at least another few weeks. But now that I have come out from under the warm embrace of the Great Firewall I now have regular access to my blog again.

Huzzah!

Though it would have been very nice to have been able to continue to post so many more things while I was still in country, I will be making it up by posting thoughts and pictures which I've been saving to post.

The return of the blog!

2009-12-17T12:24:00.002+08:00

I have finally caved in and bought a subscription to a VPN so now I can access my blog to post again. It seems to be working nicely. Though I am actually in the midst of creating a new site. I will announce more on that later.

Chinese Education

2009-05-15T09:40:00.006+08:00

For the past week or so James Fallows (Atlantic corespondent based in Beijing) has been hosting a discussion about Chinese education in his blog. The most recent discussion has been about the Gaokao 高考 (literal translation: the high test) it is the national Chinese standardized entrance exam. It is the thing to which all the focus of Chinese high school students are aiming for. To enter a Chinese university one must take and pass this test. Depending on where you live, what school you want to attend, and even what your ethnic background is (ethnic minorities in China have a lower hurdle) you must achieve a certain score to enter your school. Most of the discussion on his blog and from persons commenting on it, is about the exam itself and whether or not it is good or bad.

It seems to me that it is much less important in this case how people are chosen to enter college than what exactly goes on within the college. The Gaokao itself is so much less important than the fact that students may not have a free choice to study what they are interested in, let alone what they may be good at. It seems that vast majorities of Chinese students are unsatisfied with the subjects which they study let alone the quality of the classes they take and the quality of the teachers who teach them.

I take my Chinese classes our school's Graduate student building, a few weeks ago was the registration deadline for enrolling in graduate school here. It may shock some people to realize that even graduate students must take a similar test to determine whether they may enter graduate school. And even more improbably it determines which subject you may be allowed to study. Many of my friends did not test into the schools or programs which they were interested in. Some could not even get their second or third choices of fields of study. Which means that students who are interested in a subject may never be able to actually study that subject, or if they are lucky and studious enough may be able to study it as an undergrad or masters student but are forced to switch to completely different field for their doctorate.

I don't put all the blame on the schools or the system. I do recognize that the students themselves are often blinded to what they are doing. I was often baffled as to why these students would want to spend so much time and effort studying things which do not interest them. Getting a bachelors degree in something which is not your absolute favorite thing is one thing, but an advanced degree is something else. I half assumed these thoughts to be because of a misunderstanding on my part, perhaps I was just a naive American judging too harshly. Though after talking with some of my Chinese teachers here, I found that they too share this belief. One teacher of mine commented on all the students lining up outside our building as wasting their time. In her humble opinion they were only applying to study in grad school because they did not want to have to look for jobs, and more than that, that by pursuing this superfluous education were actually hurting their chances for future employment.

Given that college grads or even masters grads here in China are a dime a dozen employers may have their pick. It seems that many Chinese employers look down upon graduates with what they see as superfluous degrees. In their view these students are lazy and unmotivated and undesirable employees. I don't know if this is a fair assessment or not, it may be quite a cynical outlook but it makes some sense to me.

Chinese students generally believe that if they study well and pass the tests they will be rewarded, and many are. But many more are not. There is a very large number of Chinese University students competing with many times smaller number of jobs. It seems that Chinese higher education is not providing its graduates with either a job at the end or the skills to find, or better yet, to create one of their own.

So what's up with that wall you got there?

2009-05-11T07:56:00.004+08:00

I honestly had no idea that my wall of characters would provoke so much reaction. One of my classmates upon seeing it remarked, "Alex, are you crazy!?" Well perhaps I am. haha

I had this idea for displaying Characters I was learning/ wanted to learn since I was in Taiwan, just over four years ago. It took me so much time (granted I wasn't doing much Chinese Character studying back in Chicago in the interim period) mainly because even though I had conceived of the idea I still had no clear idea about what I wanted to have posted.

The main reason I had for wanting to do this was that I am a terrible memorized, I have to think of things visually and spatially, and I wanted to set out before me all (well, one small bite) of the characters I wanted to learn. I am very interested in the forms of Characters and I love looking at and comparing radicals and etymology. Since my Chinese is pretty basic I have to stick with my own amateur dabblings in Character evolution and etymology. For anyone else so interested I find the charts at zhongwen.com wonderful to look through.

The problem with a traditional dictionary, even a marvelous electronic one like pleco, is that you can only really look up the characters or words that you are looking for. One may browse a dictionary by flipping though it and stopping on a randomly selected page, but it is harder to scan the whole content of the dictionary looking for patterns and connections.

They way I see it, each Character has three distinct pieces of information which must be learned and which could be displayed: the sound (pinyin + tone), the English definition, and the image of the character itself. I could display all three, just one, or a combination of two on the wall. In the end I chose to display the Characters under their pinyin headings, all in alphabetical order as one would find in a Chinese-English Dictionary.

One can buy many posters for teaching Characters and words to Children here. They are fun and helpful but since they are really intended for children they focus mostly on nouns and a few basic verbs and adjectives, they are of limited use. I only really found use for the fruit and vegetable ones, since I like to cook for myself and am always shopping in the outdoor markets. Even the few posters that focus on commonly used Characters never have more than 200. My goal was much more ambitious.

I didn't even really know how many Characters I wanted to display. (In retrospect I think I could have gone though the HSK lists of the most common Characters to find what I was looking for. I may do just that for my second go round. This whole project is continually evolving and I'm sure it will go though many permutations.) Since I didn't really know where to start exactly I picked up my Oxford English-Chinese Dictionary, opened to 阿 (a1) and stated copying down all the Characters I felt I needed to know or should know or wanted to be included on my wall. This was pretty subjective and haphazard way of going about things but I figured I needed to jump in and start somewhere just to get things rolling.

I filled seven and a half pages with approximately 2500 Characters. (I counted them at one point to know how much paper and how much wall I would need, as well as how big I could make each Character to fit them all on one wall. I could go back for an accurate count, but I'm just not that kind of masochist.) From there I figured how big my wall was going to be and how big I could make all the Characters. I wanted to make them as large as possible to make all the components of even the most complicated Characters distinct. The box containing each Character is 2x2 inches. I ended up using the Chinese chess grid already printed on my little work table as a template since it was handy and about the size I was looking for. Each sheet of paper is then seven squares by eleven squares.

(I know all you smart guys and gals out there could go and multiply 77 by the number of sheets of paper I used to find out the exact number but then you would have to subtract all the boxes not containing Characters. Of course I messed up a few times and skipped putting in one or two headings so even that wouldn't be completely accurate, and really I guess an exact count just doesn't mean that much to me in the end.)

Even with all this figured out I still had to decide upon the layout. I chose (perhaps I just like being geeky and difficult) to lay out the characters in the traditional manner (in vertical columns reading right to left). Originally I wanted to have this layout over the entire wall as if it was a single piece of paper, it would have been much more aesthetically pleasing but would have two major drawbacks. First if I ever were to transfer these characters to another wall that new location would then have to share the same dimensions of this wall. But what really did in this idea was that in treating all the separate pieces of paper as one any singe mistake would destroy the whole wall. (I did come up with a way of getting around this but I required me to basically create a second wall to use as a template for the final one. This project was crazy enough as it was and I didn't need to do that to myself.)

So the final layout of the wall is that the Characters are in alphabetical order according to their pinyin (and by tone 1,2,3,4 within that) they are arranged on each paper starting in the top right corner and then moving down the page, reading right to left, top to bottom. Then when I reached the end of the row of pages I skipped down to the next row, and so on. I'll put a diagram up once I upload more pictures.

My next step is to color code all the Characters by tone. My pleco has this feature and I think it would add just enough information without going over the top. So I will soon go out and buy several boxed of either cheap colored pencils or markers and get started. I imagine it will take many hours.

Obama makes surprise visit to Kaifeng!

2009-05-06T15:58:00.004+08:00

I'll bet you didn't expect to see Obama selling condos on the quickly developing western fringes of Kaifeng. Well he is. I got handed this while walking downtown last week.

Recent Graffiti around Kaifeng

2009-05-05T06:26:00.003+08:00

The first graffito

and the next one...

This last one is less cool:

Its finished

2009-04-20T14:23:00.003+08:00

Finally I've gotten my wall of characters up. It has been much delayed but here it is.

Everyday something new

2009-03-24T15:39:00.003+08:00

Today I found a lady who sells fresh milk from local cows for one fourth the price I can find at the supermarket. And the best part is that it tastes better and is less likely to be poisoned! Hooray.

KABOOM

2009-02-10T10:31:00.002+08:00

I saw this news piece on a massive fire in Beijing yesterday night. Thank goodness the building was still unoccupied. I don't know about the explanation of an errant firework being the cause though. I suppose anything is possible, this is China after all. I did watch Kaifeng's massive fireworks show last night to celebrate Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the Chinese Lunar New Year/ Spring Festival period. It was certainly the largest fireworks show I've ever seen. It lasted for over half an hour and was bigger than Chicago's Fourth of July show by my reckoning at least. The highlight was certainly the fireworks that when they exploded turned into paper lanterns -with lit candles inside!!!- and then floated away. One point for China! They were pretty darn cool.

Damn You Timmothy Geithner

2009-01-23T10:18:00.005+08:00

I just read in the New York Times that our new Treasury secretary made the statement the China is manipulating it currency. The point here is not even whether or not China is manipulating its currency.

In my humble opinion, even if China is manipulating its currency (keeping the value low so as to make its exports cheaper and thus more competitive) there is nothing that America can do about it. Unless the new administration wants to start a trade war (using tariffs) with China, and really bring about a second Great Depression, then what is the point in says such antagonizing stuff? All saying stuff like this does is make America's nativists/ nationalists feel good and antagonize the Chinese government, who (if the Treasury Secretary needs reminding) are the people who are lending us so much of the money in our debt and who we are hoping will continue to lend to us to pay for Obama's ambitious (and much needed) stimulus package.

All it is is bluster, stupid bluster, from a tax dodging dumb-ass. He may be a great economic mind who will pull the US out of its current economic crisis. And well, he better be, cause I know that I'm going to have to hear all about his stupid remarks from people complaining to me here. So, thanks a lot Timmothy, how about you pay your taxes and think before you open your mouth.

This post wasn't originally going to be all about KFC...

2008-12-18T22:14:00.006+08:00

I went down to the KFC yesterday. Kaifeng being the upwardly mobile, quickly modernizing little city that can, has 3-4 KFCs. I don't care much for fast food (to be honest it is rather slow compared to the very quick service one usually gets in the eateries around campus) but it is nice to have some French fries once in a while. Of course the French Fries always take the longest because they are not very popular among Chinese people and so they never have any pre-made. The upside is that they are always fresh. The real reason to visit KFC though is the view from the second floor windows. This KFC is located on the south-west side of Gulou (Drum Tower) which is the name for the large area of asphalt in the center of town. It isn't really a square (in the municipal sense) since it also serves as a rather large intersection. As for the drum tower it is long gone. There are no statues or prominent buildings which denote the area either. Still though the place is well known and always crowded. The hustle and bustle (of which many Chinese cities have quite a lot of) is what makes the view from the second story KFC so wonderful.

A word on KFCs; in Chinese they are called 肯德基 Ken3de2ji1 (which is also how one says Kentucky in Chinese). Way back in 2004 on my first trip to China the characters in the name KFC were the first I ever tried looking up in a dictionary. (For those of you unfamiliar with Chinese it is not a dictionary friendly language, and learning to use one takes lots of practice.) But I digress from this digression. The characters literally translate to: willing and virtuous foundation (although the 基 (foundation) is a homophone with 鸡 (chicken) so I still like to refer to the place as: the virtuous and willing chicken.)

The other nice thing about KFC is that so long as you buy something (like one bag of fries) you can stay at your table as long as you like. (Actually you can often sit at a table without having bought anything, but I'm still not quite comfortable with that, and I think it is probably officially frowned upon.) The other nice thing about KFC and about China is general is that basically no restaurant cares about you bringing in outside food or drinks. In fact is it quite common. For example I have often gone to the dumpling shop outside my building, placed my order and then told then that I will be sitting in the restaurant right next door, so when they are ready please bring them over. So when I order my fries I always make sure to bring my own drink and often a bag of mandarin oranges or anything else I please.

If I plan to make a trip to the KFC timing is always important. Since it sits smack in the center of one of Kaifeng's busiest shopping districts the KFC is very busy during meal time. But on the weekend it is filled to the bursting point all day long with weary shoppers, especially in the winter as it is well heated for a Chinese building, and there are no other places for people to stop and sit. (ie. a coffee shop; not even a Starbucks. I keep hoping that with all the shitty new development going in all the time someone will be daring enough to plop a Starbucks down in Kaifeng, but it will be quite some time before that. I don't even think Zhengzhou has one. Oh well. Its probably bad judgement to ever wish for a Starbucks, so I'll hold my tongue in the future.)

The best time then is usually right after the lunch rush clears out. Then you have most of the rest of the day in relative calm. I very much love people watching and being in China only makes it that much more interesting. Of course the problem of doing it here in China is that I am being stared at by the people I'd like to be watching. Which is certainly the case if I were to sit in the first floor for instance. Chinese people love a good show, even if that show is some random white guy sitting in a KFC eating french fries and looking out the window. Even on the second floor I have to position myself with my back to the room to ignore all the people who keep turning around to look at me.

Here is a little view from the window.

I think I will have more on what there is later.

Just how difficult is learning Chinese?

2008-12-15T16:21:00.003+08:00

Maybe this will only appeal to people studying Chinese, but I will post it anyway 'cause I enjoy it so much.

This was written to commemorate the 80th birthday of John DeFrancis, professor of Chinese at the University of Hawaii, who also happens to be the editor of both of my favorite Chinese-English electronic dictionaries.

Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard

All that stands between me and the cold winds blowing down from Siberia

2008-12-14T19:01:00.005+08:00

I went looking to buy a heater for my quite chilly apartment. A the big department store downtown they want 400 kuai ($58) for this unit. Too much! So I went to my local hardware store where I had bought my rice cooker and they wanted only 260 kuai ($40). "But couldn't you make it a little cheaper?" I pleaded. But of course. And so I only paid 240 kuai ($35). I was really hoping to go lower and I'm sure it could be gotten for even less, that is the way it is in China. No matter how little you pay, or how good a deal you get. You can always do better.

Oh and my favorite new phrase in Chinese is: "别宰我!" (biézǎiwǒ) Which literally means: "Don't slaughter me!" But is what you say when you are being fleeced.

Generally I can get a good price in Kaifeng. Especially when I up my already pretty strong Kaifeng accent. Any hint of which coming from a white guy like me usually leaves people stunned. I'm not sure how I've picked one up exactly but I'm sure it has to do with my lazy tones.

Traffic in China

2008-12-09T11:52:00.001+08:00

After living (and driving a scooter) around Taiwan for a year and living here as well, I have much experience with crazy Chinese driving. I think it must be experienced to believed. But this description and diagram does it better than I've seen before.

Blog back-issues

2008-12-08T08:39:00.002+08:00

I've decided to devote a little more attention to my blog. Although when taking in all the time I've neglected it, that wouldn't have to be all that much. I've written a few blog posts in the past which I've never posted because I've never finished them. So I'm just going to blow the dust off of them and post them as they are. I've done this with two or three. I've forget exactly, and I have two more to go. To keep everything all orderly they will be posted chronologically by when I started them. Complainers be damned!

Once I'm done with the next two I will post links to them. But you can go back and look for the ones I have already posted if you really can't wait. Also I'm trying out new layouts with my blog and am still fine tuning it. So that will explain why it might not look the same as when you were last here. And why it might not look the same the next time you visit.

Thank you all for reading.

Zhengzhou rocks!

2008-12-07T13:07:00.011+08:00

Last night the American contingent of Kaifeng's small yet boisterous foreign community ventured out with Zhaokun, our new Chinese friend, to Zhengzhou for a taste of the local rock scene. He is a senior here at the school and studies Sport Education and Culture, which sounds fancy but really means a major in P.E. (The first time I heard that there was a P.E. major here I was certainly puzzled.)

Competition for any slot in University is tight and the University system here does not allow for just anyone to study anything they wish. Depending on your entrance exam score you are given choice of the possible majors left. Highest scorers choosing first. Which means that the students who test well end up filling up the "hot" majors like English, Business, and Computer Science. While the lower scorers are left with P.E., History, and the "boring ones". Of course this system is far from perfect and many students regardless of their test scores end up choosing a major for which they admittedly are unsuited. I have spoken with many a top scorer who said they chose English because it was hot and not because they have some particular interest or aptitude in it. (Often English classes here are filled with students who can read English very well but whose spoken is quite limited or non-existent. And then I will meet many a poor student with wonderfully clear spoken English who doesn't test well and ended up a business or accounting major despite the fact that they hate math and don't do it very well at all.)

Needless to say though Zhaokun plays soccer and will have a major in P.E. That is not his life; his life is rock and roll. He and some friends run a small music/ clothing shop (sort of a hipster boutique) called the Music Factory just down the street from the south gate of our campus and my apartment. Yesterday at 4 or so Zhaokun found us a taxi bus to take us to Zhengzhou the big sister city 45-60 minutes due west of Kaifeng.

While Kaifeng is a smallish charming Chinese city (Kaifeng rates as "smallish" with a mere 700,000 people!) Zhengzhou the provincial capital clocks in at probably just under 3 million (for now...). It is a huge, growing, pulsing Chinese metropolis with plans to stretch out its long tendrils of high-rise apartments and traffic clogged streets towards Kaifeng (still 40 some miles away) until the two meet and grow together. ("aiya!" as the Chinese say in moments of surprise and stupefaction; and "aiya!" is what I say whenever I think about homely little Kaifeng in the tight embrace of Zhengzhou and the future).

Anyway for the time being Zhengzhou is still keeping itself at a polite and respectful distance. And until Zhengzhou comes to us we must hire a taxi-bus to take us there. Of course once we reach the outskirts our driver, a woman in her early 40s who has been mercilessly abusing the taxi-bus's transmission the whole way stops and lets us out to continue on our own. This is often the case when hiring taxis between the two cities; people in Zhengzhou don't know where anything is in Kaifeng and vice versa. So we pile into two regular taxis for the ride through town. We stop at a small street market to grab some light dinner: Chinese egg wraps and grilled things on sticks -all very tasty and cheap of course. We then headed to the venue, a bar/club called "7-Live House" where we waited for the starting time and drank weak, yet moderately priced Chinese beer. At 7:30, half hour before the show was to commence we were all herded out to buy tickets at the door as we all herded back in. The first band was fairly quiet and young, they seemed like a high school garage band and later Zhaokun confirmed our suspicions when he informed us that three of the girls in the band were still in high school. The crowd was youngish maybe 60% male, most of whom were dressed quite fashionably in tight black jeans and black t-shirts or in black leather jackets. Converse Allstars were worn by many a Zhengzhou scenester (somethings are truly universal).

The main band was called "Brain Failure" Chinese name: 脑浊 (nao3zhuo2: now-jwoah). They were a punk band that played a lot of reggae and funk as well. I was mostly just interested in being there and taking it in. Live music, let alone rock or popular music is very hard to come by in Kaifeng. For a city bigger than Boston, Kaifeng has only one bar/ club that I know of and it isn't worth going to at all unless you are curious about what a Kaifeng person's interpretation of a dance club is (which would be a weird one). Needless to say it was great to see so many people out and enjoying music of any kind. Let alone showing off their moshing abilities, trendy clothing, and ultra-hip affectations.

And here are some pictures for amusement and further study:

Here is the band preforming in front of many adoring giddy fans.

Here is the lead guitarist with his wonderful long goatee.
I support all bearded Chinese people with my whole heart.

And here we are after the show in the "VIP" area, how a scraggly generally unkempt crew like our is let into somewhere like this. I don't know. But surely there was some oversight on the management's part. Actually I'm sure it had everything to do with Zhaokun (seen 2nd from the right) who is much cooler than all of us combined.

Just some interesting China related links

2008-12-05T17:10:00.002+08:00

How do Chinese people nap?
Very hard.

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

2008-11-09T20:26:00.006+08:00

Today Julie (a girl in my weekly English conversation class) asked me to help her with a speech she is preparing to give tomorrow in an English Language speech competition. Afterwards she invited me to have dinner with her and her boyfriend. They are a cute couple. They are from the same small town in Henan. While she is in Henan Daxue (this university) studying history her boyfriend is in Beijing studying forestry. Towards the end of our conversation he asked me: "What do Americans think about China's human rights?" This question made me pause. It could be that he wanted to know my true feelings. But it could be that he wanted to pick a fight. I assumed the latter since the question seemed to come out of the blue. So I did what I usually do when some one here I don't really know asks me what seems to be a pointed question. I choose not to answer.

I said, "I don't think most people in America know very much about China". I guess I didn't really feel like telling him that lots of people in America probably imagine China to much worse than it really is. I also wasn't sure if he really wanted to know what my feelings were and wanted to be less personal. Then he told me that developed countries have the luxury of human rights while developing countries have much more important things to worry about like jobs and food. Which is an argument I'm familiar with. I'm pretty sure it's the Chinese government's official talking point on the issue.

I then asked him the question I wished I'd asked him first which was, "What are human rights?" But he never answered. His English was limited but its also possible he never thought about it. His girlfriend said, "let's change the subject" and "boys always want to talk about politics".

It didn't seem like he was going to answer my question. So in an effort to redeem the conversation. I said, trying to get him to elaborate on his ideas (something I'm always trying to get Chinese students to do with limited result), "So when developing countries are finished developing will they have human rights too?" His girlfriend had to translate the question to him and though I couldn't say it in Chinese myself, I could understand that she translated it somewhat differently than what had said. Something more along the the lines of "When China develops will it become like the West in terms of human rights?" (close enough) To which he answered an emphatic "No". I said, still wanting to elicit some sort of his own thought on the subject of which he initially broached (of which I am quite curious), "So then, it will be something new."

He didn't follow and so I explained that if China's future wasn't going to be like the West's and wasn't going to be like China's past, then it must be something entirely different. To which he said "Oh, yes". So then I asked him what that was going to be like. And he said, laughing, "That's something we can't even imagine."

I still don't know what exactly to take from this exchange. I'm about 90% sure he brought up the subject to needle me with it. Now in hind sight it might be because I was so inquisitive about the new agricultural reforms that are soon to be rolled out. I asked him about them partly because I was immensely curious about what the son of two aging farmers would have to say about these things. The government is treating these reforms as a slightly sensitive subject, though honestly the only people who would have some beef with them would be some whacked out Maoist of which very few are still alive. It is possible that he took offense to my questions, though I certainly am in support of the reforms and was just curious to get some input from someone who knew about them.

Another great article

2008-10-20T20:40:00.003+08:00

Yet another great article on China by James Fallows, here.
I've found that Fallows is one of the few journalists who cover China well. Most journalists fear to stray far from Beijing or Shanghai, but he does.
The most telling line in the article is the part about the Sheriff.

Mr. 芮波's Neighborhood

2008-10-19T11:57:00.004+08:00

Mr. 芮波 (rui4bo1) that's me! (rui4bo1) sounds a little like Riepl; at least it does in a Mandarin accent. Well here are a few pictures of my neighborhood while I'm finishing my next geography lesson.

Here is the view off the bridge over a small canal just south of the 北门
(Bei3men2, bay-men) or North Gate of the city.

The following two are looking south from the window of my study.

You can see the spires of downtown Kaifeng in the distance.

This is from west of campus, there is an old canal that runs past some abandoned factories.

And this last one is from an old mansion I visited with my class yesterday.
Its about 2 hours to the west of Kaifeng.

Chinese Geography: Lesson 2; China Proper

2008-10-14T14:28:00.006+08:00

Well I had so much fun making that map and writing the last post that I think I'll continue. I think maybe I'll just start zeroing in on Kaifeng, and then see where we go from there.

So the in the last post we looked at what China isn't. So now we're going to explore what remains, which would be China proper. Cue the new map!

Click on it to make it big as well.

Well as you can see I've further narrowed down the map of China to "China Proper". I've also further divided it into various regions. A lot of this is my own interpretation as there is no standardized way of further subdividing the place.

Here are the major Geographic regions and what makes them special:

North China or the North China Plain. It is a mostly flat broad area whose relationship with the Yellow River cannot be underestimated. Much of the sediment that makes up the land beneath my apartment where I sit comes from the river. The river and the sediment it brings enriches the land and fertilizes the crops. And often the river and (often because of) its sediment, floods in massive cataclysmic disasters drowning cities, killing millions and displacing millions more. (The Song dynasty capital of Bianjing is buried beneath the earth on which the modern city of Kaifeng currently resides.) Chinese people still farm here much as they have for many thousands of years on small plots of land just outside their villages. Beijing, the massive, growing, pulsing, modern city, is located in this region. But so is Henan province (where Kaifeng is), Henan is currently the most populous of the all the provinces at about 100 million. These 100 million are squeezed into an area about the size of Wisconsin. It is no wonder that Henan ranks as one of the poorest provinces in China. In addition to modern Beijing and dirt poor Henan, the region boasts many of China's historical places and artifacts. All but two of China's ancient capitals are located here. Confucius, Mencius, Laozi (Lao-tzu, founder of Daoism), Sunzi (Sun-tzu, and his art of war), and whole host of other famous historical personages were born and lived in the North China Plain. History is everywhere here.
The North West is made up of many mountains and a large plateau. It along with the North China Plain was home to China's ancient past. The Yellow River runs through the Loess Plateau where it picks up the sediment that give it its name and color. Today the region is dry and getting more so. In fact most of northern China is drying out. This process has been going on for at least the past two millennia. Just over a thousand years ago this region was deeply forested and two thousand years ago it was wet and lush enough to support elephants, tigers, lions, and rhinos. The modern city of Xian (Shee-an) is located here. In the past it was known as Changan and was the capital of many dynasties. Just outside the city lie countless un-excavated imperial tombs as well as the famous terracotta warriors. Today this region has a large population of Hui (Hway) people. Though almost entirely indistinguishable from the majority Han Chinese, the Hui are technically one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minority groups. The thing which sets them apart is their religion, Islam. The Hui are the largest Muslim group in China. They exist all over China, mostly in the north, in pockets. Their unofficial capital is in Lanzhou (lan-joe) 300 miles to the west of Xian. (hmm, looks like I'll need another map...) There is a large Hui community here in Kaifeng, most of them live right around the campus. Their communities boast many Central Asian styled mosques (white tiled buildings with green onion domes and gold filigree). The men and some women (especially the older ones) wear white skull caps. They do not eat pork and their food contains lots of lamb and mutton. As well as many spices not usually associated with Chinese cuisine. Their food is much closer to Chinese cuisine than the Uygurs' is and many dishes overlap. And there is much more that they share with the Han Chinese than they don't. Hui people speak Mandarin Chinese and I've not met any that speak or read Arabic (even though there is often some Arabic on their restaurant signs which denotes the place as being halal -basically Islamic Kosher). I don't know to what particular kind of Islam they subscribe to but it seems rather mild compared to say Saudi Arabia. Although generally the Hui do not eat pork, many do drink alcohol and some even serve it in their restaurants. I've also visited a few Hui mosques with female imams (a Muslim religious leader) something completely unheard of in the Middle East. I've traveled a lot in this region; it is relatively close to Kaifeng and easy to get to and yet quite different from my part of China.
Sichuan (suh-chwan) known perhaps to frequent Chinese restaurant goers as Szechuan (same pronunciation). The region of Sichuan in my map incorporates two provinces (well, one province and one giant municipality governed as a province) but really it is one entity. The province was only recently split 10 years ago, and most Chinese people still think of it as such. Geographically, Sichuan is a huge basin surrounded by mountains on four sides. The basin comprises the eastern half of the area shaded green in my map above. The western half of the province is made up of the Tibetan Plateau and really should be considered part of that region. (Most regions in China do not actually correspond well to the provinces. I've used them because it is easy, I'm sure in the future I'll be able to provide some better maps.) Sichuan is densely populated like Henan. The two provinces taken together dwarf Henan in terms of population (one out of every 50 people on earth is Sichuanese). Sichuan in Chinese is: 四川 (si4chuan1) meaning "four rivers", there are many more than four rivers which run through the province but this name surely speaks to the rich countryside which is able to feed its massive population. Though I have yet to visit, I find Sichuan to be particularly intriguing. Probably this has to do with the food; Sichuan style is my favorite kind of Chinese food. Known for its liberal use of spicy chili peppers in just about every dish. Sichuan cuisine also uses the Sichuan peppercorn (which is not related to either Indian black pepper or the New world peppers) which has quite a unique flavor. The Chinese call it 麻 (ma2) which means: numbing; and they can leave your mouth tingling afterwards. Often the dishes in Sichuan restaurants are 麻辣 (ma2la4), "spicy and numbing".
South China, is an often used and yet poorly defined term. South China is, simply, everything that is not North China. I've heard numerous definitions for what and where South China is. I've heard its everything south of the Yellow river (probably the least true), everything south of the Yangzi river, everything south of the Huai river/ Qinling mountains, and even just the area around the cities of Hong Kong and Guanzhou (Canton). I've heard my professor from last year refer to Shanghai as being in the south, which at the time seemed pretty weird since it sure looks on the map that if Shanghai is anywhere it is in East China. But no. To him East China referred to the province directly to the north-east of Henan. So who knows. Really the difference depends on who you ask and where you are when you ask that question. The reason for this is that the idea of South China has as much to do with culture and language than latitude. The first thing to know about South China is that it contains most of China's diverse languages and ethnic groups. Where as North China is pretty homogeneous by comparison. (I'll get into the languages in another post, I'm sure) South China contains so much diversity because of one reason: its geography. The whole area is full of rivers, valleys, large lakes, and lots of mountain ranges which all chop up the area into many separate localities. For the longest time early Chinese migrants to the south settled in the river valleys where they found much isolation and where they developed many of their own customs and languages. South China is also home to many non-Chinese ethnic groups, whose languages and customs are quite different from that of the Han Chinese. (More on South China and its diversity later.)

Chinese Geography: Lesson 1; What is China?

2008-10-14T10:28:00.010+08:00

In order to understand the geography of China one must first understand what is China and where is it. When people ask me, "Where in China are you?" "Where is Kaifeng?". I pause because this is not an easy question to answer. (Perhaps that's just what I get for studying up on it ;-)

Often I will say it is in North China or in Central China. But I don't know if it is clear what exactly that means. Probably not. So I am going to delve into one of my favorite topics: Geography. Hopefully it will be enjoyable.

What is China? A difficult question really, in my opinion. China is a country, right? Yes, but... Its more than that. I like to describe China as a sub-continent, at least geographically. Really it is just too big to be understood in the same terms as a country like say France or even the U.S. But why?

First, it is huge. Both in terms of size and population. Everybody knows that China has lots of people (and does it ever!) 1.3 billion. All though that is really an estimate. The place is too vast and varied for everybody to be counted exactly. I have heard that the margin of error in the common estimate of 1.3 billion is 300 million. That's the same as the population of the U.S.!
So it is possible that there is another United States inside China. Or, for that matter less another United States. But more on population another time.
In terms of size China is geographically about the same size as the U.S., maybe a little bit bigger, depending on whose calculations you look at.

Second, China is so varied in terms of languages and cultures and ethnic groups as to not be comparable to say France which is made up of French people who all speak French. (A generalization for sure but which is beside the point).
Take as an example the language, Chinese, it is really a collection of languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Fujianese, Shanghainese, Hakka, etc...). All of which do share the same writing system (with a few exceptions) but which are all totally unintelligible between each other. And yet there are many tens of millions of people in China who speak languages which don't even fall into that large category of Chinese.

My point I guess is that China is too big, too varied, too deep to be understood as a mere country.

So, enough blathering and on to the map:

(its a little blurry, I'm still working on my Photoshop skills)

Click on it for an enlarged image!

So in this map we see the national boundaries of China and inside them some regions which I have shaded blue and labeled. These regions surround China Proper and are places where throughout history the Chinese people have had much influence in and sometimes even controlled but which up until quite recently have had few "Chinese" people living in them.

They are:

The North East, known in the West as Manchuria. A term, which all though descriptive, is shunned by Chinese people since "Manchuria" has bad connotations and is reminiscent of the Japanese puppet state "Manchukuo" and the all bad memories of the Japanese invasion during WWII. Manchuria is a full of forests and mountains and lots of rivers. And it is the place where the Manchus originated, before they eventually conquered China in the early 1600s. They then set up the last of the Chinese dynasties the Qing (CHING) and have lent their name to various things Chinese, such as Mandarin (the language), a mandarin (as in a bureaucrat or official), and the Mandarin Orange (which are lovely and plentiful in the winter).
Inner Mongolia is a region of grasslands and is generally too dry to support much agriculture. The inhospitably towards traditional Chinese-style agriculture being the major reason all these regions where never incorporated into the Chinese State until much more recently. Geographically Inner Mongolia has always been part of Mongolia and in the past both parts have at times been under the control of the Chinese state. The last time being under the Qing. When the empire collapsed in 1911 China fragmented into a dozen or so separate entities all headed by warlords who fought amongst themselves. When the Communists finally reunited the country in 1949, they were unable to re-conquer "Outer Mongolia", which was backed by the Russians, and instead recognised it as a separate entity. (Mongolia and Taiwan are the only two parts of the former Qing Dynasty that the Communists were unable to re-conquer.) Describing this place as "Inner" Mongolia and the nation of Mongolia as "Outer" Mongolia (in the past anyway) speaks to the China-centered mindset of the Chinese. That even more famous group of conquers, the Mongols, of course hailed from this region. (And when the took over in the 1200s they also set up their own Chinese dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty).
Xinjiang in Chinese means "The New Frontier", which really isn't all that great of a name. I have heard it called Chinese Turkestan or even East Turkestan. But it is hard to find a good name to stick to the place. Xinjiang is a huge place, with tall mountain ranges and sweeping deserts dotted with Oases and caravan towns. It is mostly inhabited by a people called the Uygurs (Wee-gur s). They are a Central Asian people and speak a language that is close to Turkish. In appearance they look Turkish or even like southern Europeans. On occasion I am mistaken for a Uygur, especially if I am by myself and speaking Chinese and in a place that few foreigners go. Uygurs are one of the Muslim groups who live in China, though certainly not the largest. Xingjiang has for most of Chinese history been China's link to the outside world. For a thousand years the Silk Road ran out of China and through this region and on to India, Persia, the Middle East, and finally the Mediterranean and Europe. Just like Mongolia this region has from time to time been under the control and influence of the Chinese State. Most notably the Tang Dynasty(from about 600-900 AD). It is also the place where China's grapes are grown and where its mediocre wine comes from. Uygur people also recently have begun to immigrate to China proper, where they look for jobs. They often set up Uygur restaurants (their food has a Central Asian flavor and is quite different from Chinese food) or rug shops. They can often be seen grilling kebabs or selling slices of fruit-nut cake in the streets or night markets.
Tibet or the Tibetan Plateau, is probably the best known of China's regions. It is very remote, difficult to get to, and very mountainous. The Tibetans like the Manchu, Mongols, and Uygurs have lived on the outskirts of the Chinese state for centuries, sometimes separate and sometime incorporated into the Empire. Today both Tibet and Xinjiang are experiencing government sponsored immigration of Han people (the ethnic group of 90% of the Chinese). They come from poor parts of China looking for work (the government has poured lots of money into both of these regions to improve their economic situation and tie them closer to the Chinese State).

Just some pictures I took around Kaifeng

2008-10-14T09:43:00.004+08:00

I know its been quite a while since I've posted anything. I went for a walk in between some rain showers two weeks ago. It had been raining on and off for about a week and a half by then. It is now getting much better weather-wise and certainly much more in accord with what is to be expected from the season in Kaifeng.

Autumn in North China, where I live (more on the geography of China in a later post) is generally long and mild. The character for Autumn is 秋 (qiu1) and is made up of the characters for grain 禾 (he2) and fire 火 (huo3).

Contrary to popular conceptions, most Chinese characters are not pictures. Only approximately 10% are derived from pictographs or have a meaning related to their image. Autumn happens to fall into that 10%. Since most of the pictograph derived characters are simple/ natural concepts, it makes some sense that most seasons would fall into that category.

So in my humble interpretation the idea of harvest makes the grain component obvious. As to the fire I guess it either has to do with the burning off of field waste or possibly to warfare. Since in many traditional societies Autumn was the best time for raiding and making war. People were finished farming and now had the time to devote to marauding, pillaging, and burning. And all the now stored grain gave them something to steal.

Today looks like it will be yet another beautiful Fall day and I hope to go out and get some more pictures for you.

These are from our very wet, cold early Autumn, blech!

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This is an entrance to one of the older buildings on our campus. Which is probably one of the most beautiful campuses in China. (An opinion based mostly on my own biases).

* * * * *

Here is a (wet and misty) view from my apartment window looking south over the older neighborhood outside of campus and in the distance, barely visible are the towers of the downtown area.

* * * * *

Jackie Chan, keeping watch on a pile of junk in the stairway.

* * * * *

A view along the city wall north of campus and on the border of Iron Pagoda Park.

* * * * *

Another wet view of our campus.

The Snowy Day

2008-01-30T21:25:00.000+08:00

Well we've finally gotten snow here in China. It snowed for the second time two days ago, and we got almost two inches. Even though am in north central China it seems that China south of here is being pummeled with much more snow. As of now I have Kaifeng all to myself (in terms of Westerners and Chinese students too). There is a beauty school something or other being hosted at the campus and once the students left they were replaced with a couple hundred young Chinese women wearing way too much makeup. I'm not sure where they are coming from but not from Kaifeng anyway. Now when I go to the restaurants outside the campus gate I am the only regular.

Here is one of the nearby market streets where I get fruits and vegetables. On my way to Zhengzhou to visit the western import supermarket I saw that the farmers outside town had erected shelters for the winter crops. Since at least 90% of our food comes from just outside the city and is brought in fresh by farmers every morning I was wondering how they managed it.

This is the empty building at the end of the market street. I have no idea what it is or what it was supposed to be. The place is made entirely out of poured concrete (very classy) it looks to me like a fancy parking garage.

Chinese Lessons

2008-01-07T12:59:00.000+08:00

Today in class we learned the word 草包 (Cao3Bao1) or wicker basket. Cao (草) means grass and bao (包) means a bag or bag-like container. (Baozi is a sort of dumpling for instance) Our teacher also told us that the word had a double meaning and also mean a person who was dumb or who was empty headed; basically a person with a wicker-basket for a head.

Then he mentioned that Li Peng for instance was a caobao and that people referred to him as such. Li Peng for those of you who don't know was basically the trigger-man for the Tiananmen Square massacre. As the Premier at the time he backed Deng Xiaoping's decision to send in the troops to clear the square.

Most interesting to me was that despite the authoritarian tendencies of the Communist Party here in China. People here do think what they want. If it seems that a previous Premier of the nation was a caobao then he was a caobao.

上海圣诞节 Christmas in Shanghai

2008-01-06T16:46:00.000+08:00

I went to Shanghai to visit my friend Scott (宝盖头) who I went College with for Christmas. HE is currently living and working in Shanghai as a web developer, I only sort of know what that means. It means he makes web based applications, but really it means he does lots of hard things with computers that I can only begin to understand. Well I dont have too many picutres of me or Scott though there are alot of the French Quarter or Old French Concession, where Scott lives, lucky guy. It is a nice part of Shanghai right downtown but is full of many old Art-Deco buildings from the 1930s and lots of trees lining the streets. It was warmer than Kaifeng, though it was also much wetter. Kaifeng is pretty dry during the winter, but Shanghai being coastal and much further south isnt. It misted the whole time I was there, but really that wasnt so bad.

上海法国租界和宝盖头房间畫報

use this link to see the pictures.

Pictures of Me

2008-01-06T14:06:00.001+08:00

Ok Mark, I hope this is what you are looking for. If not let me know and I will send you even more. ;-)

I live here.

Mark has requested pictures of me,

so here I am pretending to be an old Chinese man.

And here I am outside the front gate of our University. Everyone, and I mean everyone who goes here takes pictures in this spot. That peace-sign thing is what u have to do if you are in Asia and having your picture taken.

開封 (Kaifeng) from the back of the 三轮车 (SanLunChe)

2008-01-05T21:13:00.000+08:00

三轮车 (SanLunChe) means three wheeled vehicle, or tricycle if you will. 開封 (Kaifeng) is where I live and here are some of the sights. I'm posting these first and then I'll add some captions and more pictures as I go.

開封畫報

if this link doesn't work let me know

(for those of you not learning Chinese those characters mean: Kaifeng Pictorial)

The Barbarian Invasions

2008-01-05T17:17:00.001+08:00

It seems that the Great Fire-Wall which has separated me from you dear reader, has been breached. I have added a program to my computer to allow me to go up and over China's defensive bulwarks much more easily than before. Now I can actually read your comments and access my blog much quicker. The program is called Great Ladder, (when faced with a Great Wall, what do you need? but a Great Ladder), China may have some 30,000 persons charged with manning its internet defenses but that might not be enough. If I may be so bold as to compare China's Great Fire-Wall of today to its much touted Great (stone) Wall of the past. Both are/ were ineffective at protecting China's interests.

Art-Deco in the French Quarter of Shanghai

2007-12-30T10:32:00.000+08:00

See Kaifeng! Part two: Alex's Bathroom

2007-11-27T20:51:00.001+08:00

Here is our lovely bathroon.
We don't have a shower so much as a room that gets all wet. When we first turned on the shower the knob fell out of the shower head and all the water spewed out of the hole. And it had been that way ever since.
Our toilet, it doesn't work too hard, it doesn't like toilet paper. Just be glad it isn't a public one that some people share out in the hutongs.

See Kaifeng! Part One: Alex's Room

2007-11-27T20:36:00.000+08:00

This is Sam's bed and side of the room. Out that window is the School's motorpool or something. Also a big smoke stack, yay China!
These would be our desks.
This would be my side of the room.
My Desk.

More Halloween Pics

2007-11-12T08:53:00.001+08:00

Zombie Samurai, I think.
Traditional Chinese ghosts, they are the two demons who take you to the underworld. Really cool costumes (All the students had to make their own costumes).
There was a mummy wrapping contest. Toilet paper is ubiquitous here, rolls of it are found on every restaurant table for napkins.
Everybody wanted to get pictures of us, I posed for so many pictures. Actually this is fairly common especially in somewhere like Kaifeng. Random people on the street will snap pictures of us, or wave us into photos of their family, or slighly aim their camera phones at you from across the restaurant.
This picture has nothing to do with Halloween (aside from my ridiculous touring outfit). I just wanted to show off the best thing $30 can buy. Its called a San-Lun-Che or three wheeled vehicle, sort of a tricycle/ rickshaw. the back can either be a seat for one, or fold down into a truck bed or carrying stuff.

Kold Kaifeng

2007-11-11T18:04:00.000+08:00

It is sunday night and I am trying to study, I would have gotten more studying previously but I was sick friday and saturday. I guess it was something I ate that just didn't want to cooperate with me. But I am better now. We seem now to be at the end of a very long autumn. It is now getting much colder, we haven't gotten a frost or anything just yet but once the sun goes down the cold comes up. The main problem is that we dont have heat in our dorm. Well not until Nov 15th, when they turn on the heat in our apartments, and our classroom I hope too. I have to go to class all bundled up (I bought a winter weather chinese army hat, it looks silly and many tourists buy them but I dont care it keeps me warm). But the dorms are quite cold in the evenings. which means wool socks, sweaters, and long underwear. My roommate, Sam, bought himself an electric blanket and is wrapped in it right now as he plays his computer games.

I just hope that the heat is worth a damn.

Censorship

2007-11-11T17:59:00.003+08:00

Ok, so it seems that the Chinese government has decided to block my blog once again... oh well.

Halloween in Zhongguo

2007-11-11T13:30:00.001+08:00

They do have pumpkins (called "southern mellons") here in china but we couldn't find any, I suggested we buy watermellons ("western mellons") instead and they seem to have worked out great. They are easy to carve, and when lit from within the red interior gives them an even creepier red glow.
Oh, just a few hundred Chinese students trick-or-treating at my dorm room. No the Chinese don't usually celebrate Halloween, but my three friends who are english teachers here were hosting a Halloween party for their students, who really got into it.
Before the festivities started up all 200-300 costumed chinese students loitered around the outside of the teacher's apartments.
So many kids, and they all want candy.
I am dressed as doremon, a pan-asian cartoon character, he is a sort of blue magical cat, who flies.

Internet!

2007-11-09T15:30:00.000+08:00

Hooray! It would seem that it is an auspicious day indeed. Sam and I have just gotten internet in our room. Which mean that I have much more access to this blog, AND if that weren't enough good news: China has come round and decided to unblock my blog. (well that and all other google based blogs)

I was an old Chinese man in another life

2007-10-04T16:54:00.000+08:00

On at least two unrelated occasions I have been approached by men saying: "How are you old friend?" They come right over, shake my hand and put their other arm around me.

To which I answer, "Long time no see, old friend."
(In Chinese of course)
This makes them laugh.

This place is so weird, and I'm getting used to that.

Long time so see

2007-10-04T16:50:00.000+08:00

So I know its been a while since I last posted, I'll blame the fact that the internet I paid to have installed in our room still hasn't shown up. (after waiting um at least three weeks)

Well I am on my week long National Day holiday break. Happy Birthday New China! 59 years and still ticking. Of course everyone (or mostly everyone) in this massive country has the week off which means that it is an awful time to travel. I have chosen not to go anywhere, for a few reasons but to stay in good old Kaifeng.

There is a construction sight right out side the windows of our dorm. And people have been building something out of bricks ever since I got here. I found out that they are constructing a new sports facility specially for some collegiate championship. I don't know what sport it is though now they have built two buildings and finished a track, soccer field, and viewing platform. I heard that the event will be sometime in mid-October and that they have to finish it before then. The workers do their work with minimal equipment and even less safety precautions, but they do work hard.

One of my friends told me that workers like those work every other day. That is why they work on the weekends and why they are working during this national holiday. But recently they have been working 24hr a day!

Today our power was out when week woke up, now in the late afternoon, it has gone back on but keeps going back out intermitantly. Hopefully it will stay as I am typing this on a friend's computer.

HuangHe

2007-09-09T15:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I woke up early in Kaifeng. I don't usually have much to do on the weekends. Especially since we haven't been given a lot of homework yet. We are still mostly working on pronunciation. Well I decided that I needed a chance to get out and stretch my legs. I decided to walk to the Yellow River.

The Yellow River runs right through the North China Plain and its watershed is the cradle of Chinese Civilization. Kaifeng marks the boundary on the river between the Loess Plateau and the Alluvial Plain. Loess soil is fine dust-like soil deposited by the retreat of the glaciers. It is easily carved into and through out China's past people have lived in caves carved out of the sides of cliffs. It is also very prone to erosion and the river carries this fine soil giving it a coffee-with-cream complexion.

I packed my bag with some stuff to read and water and headed out of the campus is the general direction of the river: North. According to my guide book the river is only 15 km north of the city and it shouldn't be hard to find since all I have to do is walk far enough. I marched out of the Beimen (North Gate) of the city wall. All along the road (sort of a mini highway) for at least a mile out of the city were stands selling prepared food, batteries, tires, piles of sunflower seeds (for chewing), carts of fruit, and on and on. The traffic was bad, of course, the only rule of the road is whoever is bigger and louder has the right of way. Little quiet me, on foot steers way clear to the shoulder; most cars do give a wide berth to pedestrians and bikes, so it is fairly safe. (This coming from someone who scootered around Taiwan for a year though.)

As I reach the outskirts of Kaifeng I come upon a most curious place for about 500m on either side of the street are construction outfits. There are stacks and stacks of wood planks, logs about to become planks, corrugated steel, and roof parts. Intermixed with these are heaps of salvages wood and building materials. There are pile of desks, over there carefully organised thick A-frame roof beams, rows and rows of salvaged doors and windows. The whole place is full of people loading things on and off of trucks, people cutting and welding; all on the side of the road. China is deconstructing and reconstructing itself in a way that reminds me of a giant Lego city. And everything seems so much more immediate than in the US. I finish a soda and an old man with a sack asks for it. Trash gets thrown on the ground and somebody sweeps it up. Fascinating.

At some point the city just sort of ends. Chinese cities are too new to have suburbs, though I'm sure they will be coming in some form. Urban goes right into rural and so abruptly too. I pass fields mostly of corn interspersed with some wheat and peanuts. People stare at me and ask where I am going, or they just stare or they laugh at me. I pass through a few very tiny villages they seem more like the archetypal western towns with one street and lots of dust.

Out on the road a bicyclist gives me a wide berth as she passes, simultaneously a motorcycle passes the bicycle, while a small truck passes it, which is being passed by a much much larger truck. The whole affair takes up most of the entire road. No one waits to be passed or waits to pass. They just do it. Meanwhile a similar dance is taking place up ahead from the on coming traffic. I flinch as everyone falls into place just in time to avoid a massive collision.
Then the whole thing happens again. And again. etc. Until I don't even notice reckless driving going on all over the road.

People here are both more reckless and much more attentive when driving. Oh well.

I kept walking and walking, expecting to come up on something after the next village or the next one. But nothing yet. Well 15km is kinda far. Just need to walk further.

Some teenage boys started following me on their bicycles, and after a half hour or so one of them pulls over to ask me where I am going. I tell him and he assures me that yes the Yellow River is still up ahead. Then he wants to know if I want a ride their on his bike. Sure why not?
So I hop on gingerly, and ride sidesaddle on the rack over the rear wheel, holing on to it with one hand and his shoulder with the other. I have to balance myself carefully to stay on. He and his friends ask me questions and we converse in both English and Chinese to the best of our abilities. They live near by and are all 17. We stop at a cross roads and have noodles at a stand there. They wont let me pay for anything even though I insist upon paying for them. (This is pretty normal, even though I knew they wouldn't let me pay I tried anyway. Its what you are supposed to do.) We then head out again, I see the river now we are quite close. We pull off onto the bank.

I had expected to sit by the river and read, but now that I had company that wasn't going to happen. I wasn't sure what we were going to do or what they wanted to do either. I threw rock into the river which prompted a rock skipping contest. I felt at least 10 years younger. There were places on the bank where the mud had hardened and cracked. The boys pulled out big flat chunks of it (like slate) and we broke these into perfect flat disks for skipping. Too much fun. Ma Dong, the boy who gave me the ride and who spoke the most English asked me if I liked corn. I said yeah I guess I do. Then the other two kids biked off and eventually returned with 6 ears of corn and some peanuts. I don't know where they got the corn, you can buy it on the side of the road. But the peanuts suspiciously still had dirt and the plants attached. I'm pretty certain that those just came from somebody's field.
I've never had raw peanuts before, but they taste sort of like peas from the garden. Then we peeled down the corn stuck sticks in the ears while one guy made a pile of sticks and old corn stalks for a fire. They roasted the corn in the fire. Not too bad, and lots of fun.

Well we decided to head back they dropped me off at the bus stop and waited with me for the bus to come. Also I agreed to be Ma Dongdong's pen pal (Ma Dong for short). They told me we could hang out when ever I came up to the Yellow River again.

Plans

2007-08-22T18:40:00.000+08:00

This is my last full day in Beijing, and I am catching up on this blog at nice little cafe called "Bookworm". It is in a sort of trendy (my guess) part of town near one of the clusters of Embassies. It is located between the Second and Third Ring Roads. Beijing is ringed by and increasing number of Beltways called Ring roads. There is no First Ring Road but it might be around the Forbidden City and surrounding parks (it does lie in the center of the city). The Second Ring Road surrounds what is left of the old city. It runs basically where the old city walls used to be. Only a very small length of it is left and three or so gates. Beijing is trying to remake itself as fast as it can, with a rough goal of next years Olympics as its coming party.

I know that lots of people are planning on being in Beijing for the Olympics, I'm sure it will be some party. I for one am planning on not being in town. I am excited to be in China during the Olympics, everyone in the whole country will be tunned in I'm sure. But I know that it will be far too crowded, hot (it will be in August), and expensive (it is hard enough to find cheap housing now). So go if you want to but it sounds awful to me.

Tomorrow I will be heading out on an 8 hr train ride to Zhengzhou the capital and transport hub of Henan Province. Then it is an hour by bus or (probably for me) cab to Kaifeng. As I mentioned before (I think) there is a group of students from Beloit who will be doing their study abroad in China this semester. There are 5 in total, two will be studying in Kaifeng (with me) and the others will be in Jinan in Shandong (one province to the east). But until the semester starts they are in Kaifeng with the two Beloit profs for a two week intro seminar. I was invited by Daniel to tag along for it. They are finishing up their first week in Kaifeng and I will meet up with them for a week or so excursion around Henan to local sights of interest. Henan being the cradle of Chinese civilization they should be interesting sights indeed. Daniel didn't know where we will be going yet when I had dinner a few days back. I'll let you all know though where we go.

Beijing is a nice city, lots of places to explore and sights to see, but I am getting restless. I am very eager to start my studies and start getting to know Kaifeng. It is much smaller 400,000 compared to Beijing's 13 million or so. Also it is much less developed, which in Chinese eyes is a bad thing, but for the westerner it means charming old buildings and a glimpse of a fast disappearing world.

China smells

2007-08-22T18:23:00.000+08:00

In traditional Chinese thought the world is divided into fives. The five directions: N, S, E, W, and center. The five senses. Five major colors, tastes, internal organs, creatures, etc. There are also five smells (I forget which they are, I'll have to look them up again).

In modern China though, there are three smells: Food, Putrescence, and Chemical. They are everywhere and intermixed all over the city. It is hard to get a true sense of the place only through pictures and words.

The smell of food is everywhere and is always good. People grilling kabobs, deep frying dough sticks for breakfast, stir fry smells wafting from street side vendors and fancy restaurants, and unidentifiable tasty smells from home kitchens.

The putrescence is from garbage rotting in the street, filthy water in puddles that you have to step over, 'night soil' either on the street itself or coming from various public toilets. It is everywhere.

Their are horrible acrid smells of various chemicals used in the building of a 'modern' Beijing. I am currently reading White Noise by Don DeLillo and I think of his "airborne toxic event" all the time here.

Views around the Forbidden City

2007-08-22T17:58:00.000+08:00

This is the actual entrance to the Forbidden City. There are three gates to pass through before you even get in. The first gate is Tiananmen (gate of heavenly peace) this is the one which faces the square and has Mao's picture on it. There are of course tons of people queuing and milling about to get into the Forbidden City. Most of them are Chinese tourists.

The increased prosperity of the people has given them the opportunity to travel and see their country.

People milling about in between the main gate and the middle gate. There are of course tons of vendors and hawkers selling postcards, buttons, stamps, slices of melon on sticks, popsicles, and frozen bottled water.

A close up of one of the towers. I didn't actually go in the palace, I'm sure when people come to visit me they will want to go so I can go see it with them. (hint hint)

You can see all the people sitting down in the shade of the gate and inside of it. It is over 90 and very humid. August is the most popular and the worst time to visit Beijing, heat and humidity wise. Also most of August falls during the Ghost Month according to the Chinese lunar calendar. There is a list of things not to do during the Ghost Month, one of which is travel. No wonder.

A view of the moat and side of the gate.

Coal hill pictures

2007-08-22T10:02:00.000+08:00

Here are some views from Coal Hill park, directly north of the Forbidden City. All of Beijing is totally flat so this hill was build from earth dredged up from the moat surrounding the palace.

This is a view south over the Forbidden City. To give you an idea of how large it is this would be the only the East half of it.

These were taken on a clear day (the only day of blue sky since I've been here). You can see that Beijing's famous smog is still in view. Or obstructing views rather. But this is China and you take what you can get.

Further off in the distance beyond the palace complex are the Stalinist buildings surrounding Tiananmen square. The round gleaming half sphere is the new National Theater building.

(Click on the images for an enlarged view)

A view west to Beihai (lit. Northern Sea) Park.

The north side of the park and beyond are the sky-scrapers of new Beijing.

This is the entrance to the park, over to the right near the lower pavilion is the tree where the last Ming emperor hung himself as the conquering Manchus entered the city.

Hey brother!

2007-08-21T19:21:00.000+08:00

A man passed me on the street and shouted; "Hey brother! Are you Polish?". I really didn't know how to respond.

Hot hot hot pot

2007-08-20T09:36:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I rose early (my clock is still off) at 5am and decided that I would check out the Sanjaichuan market. It is Sunday flea market which my guide suggested that you get to early. So I hopped in a taxi and we went out to the outskirts of Beijing (well outskirts might not be the best description, as there are still skyscrapers in the outskirts and then more skyscrapers beyond them). I arrived at 5:30 and before most of the vendors had arrived, but they were all pouring in to set up their wears. Most of the merchants had bicycle rickshaws piled with lacquer boxes, statues, and furniture. I must have been the only person there who was fully awake. Everyone was still bleary eyed as they unpacked their stuff. And oh what stuff it was. Paintings, scrolls, knickknacks, porcelain, statues, brushes, posters, jars, etc... And in every imaginable style and material. From red and black Banpo culture, Shang bronzes, porcelain in three color Tang style, white and blue Ming, and Multicolored Qing, to Cultural Revolution and Mao memorabilia, all brought together by the most capitalist of all venues, the flea market.

I wandered about looking at piles and piles of crap. I guess if you really, really wanted a souvenir this was the place to go (or really wanted to haggle). I said I'd only buy nice little Tang three color vase to hold my pens, or a print of the Qingming festival, but I didn't find either to my satisfaction. I saw pictures documenting that both Hillary Clinton and Denis Hastart had patronised the place. But I came away empty handed. As I left a tour group from some Eastern European country, everyone of them was wearing these big baggy colorful flowing genie pants that they'd bought at some other crap store.

Later that day I went to the Beijing zoo. I took a long hot crowded bus ride out to the zoo. Everyone wanted to go there I guess. It was pretty depressing, especially to see the people feeding the bears soft drinks and buns. I did briefly see the Pandas but you had to push through a crowd ten people deep just to glimpse them before being pushed away. I was glad to hop in a taxi (and avoid the miserable bus) when I left. But not after exchanging expletives with a vendor outside the place who wanted to charge me more for water because I was a foreigner.

Foreigners are generally charged more for things by giving you the English menu at the restaurant which has higher prices. Or just quoting you the higher price when you ask how much something is. Usually I can tolerate it, its all so cheap. But this man was calling out "yikuai, yikuai, yikuai!" (one kuai) when I pulled out my yikuai he said "liangkuai" (two kuai). Not like I couldn't afford it 2 kuai is very cheap. I just couldn't stand for blatant discrimination. I swore at him in English (he didn't understand) only because my Chinese isn't good enough. Daniel Youd (one of my Beloit Profs) said that when being cheated he would tell people (in Chinese) that "he was sorry, that he mistakenly had thought that China was a civilized country" (the government has lots of signs and banners proclaiming that once should do this or that because China is a civilized country). Of course my Chinese isn't that good yet.

That night I went out for Mongolian Hot pot at a sort of chain hot pot restaurant. Perfect for the single eater. Everyone sits at a bar in which there are little hot plate sunk into it at each place. They give you a pot full of your choice of base (spicy is really the only way to go) then you choose from a menu or ingredients to order. I ordered mutton (a must for hotpot) and veggies and little sausages which tasted exactly like those little party wieners. They then bring these out to you on plates where you cook them in the pot a few at a time then fish them out with your chopsticks and dunk them in a small bowl of sesame sauce before eating. Every one sweats profusely when eating, as a sweaty foreigner (most Chinese people don't sweat as easily as white people so) I came away pretty wet.

Why go get boiling spicy food on a boiling spicy day, well aside from being tasty, I guess the Chinese believe that when it is hot out it is best to induce sweating by eating hot things. When in Beijing, do as the Beijingers do.

The Chatty Chinese

2007-08-20T09:19:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I was very politely accosted by on three separate occasions by Chinese people who wanted to practice their English on me.

"Hello, hello. You are English, American. Where are you from?"

"Have you been to the imperial gardens? I think it is very beautiful. Perhaps we go there to speak English together."

Occasionally I am happy to chat a little bit but I generally detest small talk and I know that people get paid to do this. Besides the whole point of me going to China to learn Chinese is that I'll be able to practice my Chinese out on the street, not to be a study guide, or a really bland conversationalist in English.

My first two days here most people who shouted hello at me were kids who wanted just wanted to say hi. I'm glad there wont be so many people eager for boring conversations in Kaifeng, or those who want them can hire me.

Last night I was heading back to my hostel after a very long and exhausting day when two you women stopped me to speak English with me. They were nice enough but I was totally beat and sweating in the evening heat. I kept telling them I was going back to my hostel. Once suggested that we go to the lobby of my hotel and have conversations over tea. I laughed to myself at the absurdity of that suggestion. She must have assumed that this dirty, sweaty, poorly dressed waigouren (foreigner) must be staying in some plush 4 star hotel. Wouldn't they be surprised to learn that the lobby to my hotel consisted of a skinny security guard sleeping on his desk an a dirty elevator. No tea to be had at all.

They let me go and I went to bed.

a photo!

2007-08-19T10:29:00.000+08:00

This post is mostly just for me to test my ability to upload photos.

This is a homeless man eating his dinner on a bench in the park out side the Ming Dynasty City walls. Actually very little of the city wall in Beijing remains. It was torn down by the communists in the 50s and replaced by the 2nd Ring Road.

Beijing Dispatches

2007-08-18T23:48:00.000+08:00

This would be my second night here in the capital of the middle kingdom. And I am spending it, like so many other nights in the east at an internet cafe. Yesterday when I arrived at the airport, at 3 am, I stepped through customs (a very empty hallway marked: nothing to declare) I was swarmed with taxi drivers looking for fresh meat. Of course I would get a taxi, of course I would possibly pay through the nose for one, but I'm just not ready haggle straight off the plane. I tried to escape the yelping drivers by driving my cart full of baggage into the bathroom. It sort of worked. As I was washing up one of them had followed me in and handed me his business card. I would have to take some taxi into the city. I guess he would be the lucky one to drive me in.

We drove into the city through a pall of mist and smog listening to chinese dance music weaving our way along the expressway. The driver was not familiar with my hostel, obscure as it is. And he had to stop twice to ask fellow taxi drivers where the place was. he then dropped me off at an abandoned plaza behind the Ritz. I wandered around it till I realised exactly where I was and where my hostel was. When I got there they only had a double room free so I took it. The woman at the desk asked if I wanted to see it first. I said why not (I probably should not have as it hadn't been cleaned yet) The previous occupants it seemed had spend the night(s) before eating instant noodles and spitting sunflower seeds all over the floor. I said I would take it (if they cleaned it first) even though my mind said to reject it and go somewhere else. But it was 5 in the morning and I was over loaded with bags and was really, really done traveling at that point. Hey, this is China and this is an adventure. Did I mention that the hostel is in the fourth floor of the basement, well it is which is why I could pay so little for the same location as the Ritz, the Plaza and a half dozen other huge hotels all abut a half mile from the Forbidden City.

I walked then to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen square, everything still bathed lightly in haze. I knew what to expect but still when the roofs of the Tiananmen gate with Chairman Mao's picture on it came into view from behind the trees I got chills. wow. This really is China! Mao looks across a six lane street and over the square to the monument to the people's heroes. Beyond that lies the great helmsman himself, entombed and mummified in a giant mausoleum. Even so early in the morning the square was filled with people and PSB (Public Security Bureau) vans. Their snoozing inhabitants keeping careful watch for any Falun Gong or pro-democracy protesters who might appear.

I decided not to go into the Forbidden City just then. I needed something to eat and was just too tired to properly take it all in. I wandered north along the eastern wall of the FC past hole-in-the-wall stores (yes, some of them were very, very much like holes). I found breakfast eatery serving an old favorite of mine. I still don't know the name of it, but it is a very thin tortilla/ pancake with egg, scallions, and spicy sauce all wrapped up in it. It is served still quite hot in a thin plastic bag; and I had to walk around blowing on the bag before I could touch it long enough to get a bite. The rest of the morning I spent wandering around the hutongs, old style courtyard housing and very close meandering alleyways. More on these later. They probably will require pictures...

Well tonight I just got done having dinner with two Beloit profs (Daniel Youd and Natalie Gummer) who are in town to meet the Beloit students for this semester's study abroad. We shared spicy Sichuan (aka: Szechwan) eggplant, dofu (tofu), and twice cooked pork (mostly twice cooked pork fat) and Yanjing beer. (thanks for the meal Beloit College!) I then tromped off in search of a 24hr internet cafe (harder to find than they used to be). The one I wanted, or the hostel it was above didnt seem to exist any more. Even though my brand new guide book said they were brand new. But new doesn't stay new long in today's China. Both seemed to have been bulldozed for a skyscraper or some other monstrosity going up around town. I did find one not too far for the original's location. Though it was all full I waited till someone stopped playing their video games to gave me a seat (what else could I do but wait.)

Tomorrow I think I will get up early and rent a bicycle. I also bought batteries for my camera so I will be taking pictures to post as well.