Thursday, December 18, 2008

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

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.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Just how difficult is learning Chinese?

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

Sunday, December 14, 2008

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

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.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Traffic in China

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.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Blog back-issues

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.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Zhengzhou rocks!

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.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

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.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Another great article

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.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Mr. 芮波's Neighborhood

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.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Chinese Geography: Lesson 2; China Proper

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?

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 from reading too much.)

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. Although 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 when spoken. 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)

China Proper and MORE China!
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 oftentimes even controlled but which up until quite recently have had few Han 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 descriptive of a name, I know. I have heard it called Chinese Turkestan or East Turkestan by some; it is the West of the Xiyouji or The Journey to the West. 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. Xinjiang has for most of Chinese history been China's link to the outside world. For a thousand years the Silk Road ran in and out of China, 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. In Kaifeng and other cities I have often seen them 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

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).

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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.

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Another wet view of our campus.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Snowy Day

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.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Chinese Lessons

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.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

上海圣诞节 Christmas in Shanghai

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

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.
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Saturday, January 5, 2008

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

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

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.