In the fall of 2007, I studied abroad in China. Unfortunately, the Internet filters over there prevented me from accessing Blogger to document the experience. To substitute, I set up an email group to receive periodic updates/newsletters about the experience.
Now that I have returned to the United States, I have decided to post all of those emails here so people who weren't in that group can see what I was up to last semester. Also, I've used this opportunity to post pictures from abroad, so you can see for yourself what it was like!
My time abroad was one of the best experiences I've ever had, and this blog can't even come close to fully describing that unique and fascinating place that is China. My hope is that after reading it you will at least come away a little more knowledgeable about Chinese culture and life. Enjoy!
Andrew
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Getting To Know China
September 1, 2007
Hello everyone! Greetings from China!
Due to my inability to post on my blog while I'm in China due to their strict Internet filters, I've set up this email group so you can all stay updated on what life is like here. That's assuming, of course, that you're even interested to begin with. If you're not, let me know and I'll take you off the list.
I've been in Beijing for a little over a week now, and I have already seen and done a whole lot more than can be covered in a single email in great detail. I've got tons of pictures and nearly 2 hours of video, and there's still much, much, much more to see. Unfortunately, due to problems with my Internet connection and blog access, I've been unable to write about it until now. Since I don't have time to write a novel, this first email is going to be a short summary of all the main things I've done to date. So let's get started!
THE CITY
So far, I have mixed feelings about Beijing. On one hand, it's overcrowded, the traffic is awful (pedestrians here have no rights!), and extremely polluted. On the other hand, there's a lot of cool things to see, the people are fairly friendly, and everything is dirt cheap. On the whole, it could be a lot worse.
THE FOOD
Delicious! It's pretty different from Chinese food in the USA, and not everything is good, but overall I'm loving it so far. Chopsticks take a while to get used to, but once you get the hang of them they're not that hard to use. I can eat a large breakfast consisting of dumplings and buns for 3.5 yuan (around 30 cents), and lunch and dinner usually only cost a few dollars. There's a lot of pork, but chicken, beef, tofu, and vegetable dishes are also very common. I've also tried intestines, eggplant, bamboo shoots, and other interesting dishes. There are Western restaurants around (KFC has a huge presence here), but I don't foresee myself eating at those places very often.
TRANSPORTATION
The public transportation system is pretty easy to use. However, given the size of Beijing's population, buses and subways are usually very crowded and uncomfortable. I don't want to think about what things will be like in a year when there are tons of tourists here for the Olympics, and the government starts taking measures to cut down on pollution (such as prohibiting driving).
THE OLYMPICS
This is huge. There are advertisements everywhere counting down the days until the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, and promoting certain Chinese teams. There are a lot of stadiums under construction, and in the months leading up to the opening ceremony the government is going to be doing a lot to help get the city looking its best. However, Chinese people have mixed feelings about the Olympics. For example, one of my native Chinese professors feels the Olympics is one way in which traditional Chinese culture is being corrupted and forgotten due to the increase in Western influence. It will be interesting to see what economic and cultural effects the Olympics ends up having on China.
POLITICS
China is a Communist country, and the government does censor certain things. Also, there is propaganda everywhere promoting the "glorious" and "harmonious" Chinese society. There is a huge portrait of Mao hanging over the entrance to the Forbidden City, and from what little I've heard about Chinese political sentiments, Mao seems to be regarded fairly positively. One person told me that he's usually viewed as being 2/3 good, and 1/3 bad. On the whole, Chinese people don't seem very dissatisfied, and one native professor of mine indicated that he thinks in many ways China is just as "free" as the USA. It's interesting.
THE SILK MARKET & JIN WU XING
China has a few huge markets, two of which I've visited. The Silk Market is mainly targeted at foreigners, while Jin Wu Xing is more for average Chinese citizens. Both are HUGE establishments, consisting of hundreds and thousands of small shops and stands selling various things. You can get pretty much anything you want, though goods are mainly knockoffs of foreign brands rather than the real thing. Sometimes that works out well, though, and in some instances the fake stuff is actually higher quality than the real thing. Want a fancy leather jacket, Rolex watch, or iPod, or a new pair of jeans? You can get it all at the markets, and if you know how to bargain, it's fairly cheap.
One way in which The Silk Market differs from Jin Wu Xing is that the salespeople are extremely aggressive. As someone who has a little bit of experience in sales, I can say that in all likelihood, the kind of tactics used would probably be frowned upon in the USA. As you walk by everyone's booth, they yell at you in an attempt to get you to come to their stand. Some of my favorite lines:
"Hey, you wear polo, you need new one!"
"You get nice gift for your girlfriend, yes?"
"You have very bad style, you need new clothes!"
If you do decide you're interested in something, the bargaining game begins. In all likelihood, the original price quoted by the salesperson is about 10 times higher than what it's actually worth, or what you can get it for if you work hard enough. This is especially true at The Silk Market, probably because a lot of rich foreigners have no problem dishing out lots of cash. For the skilled bargainer, however, you can get things for much cheaper. For example, I bought a silk shirt (supposedly it's real silk, but who knows) that was originally cited as being around $150. I got it for around $30, and that was still probably too high. Still, it's a really nice shirt. If anyone wants anything, let me know and I'll do my best to get it for you here for a decent price.
THE BEIJING ZOO
The zoo here is a very interesting experience to say the least. It's kinda depressing. A lot of the animals are kept in small quarters, and most just sit around and look like they have no souls. Also: a lot of the animals aren't exactly very exotic. For example, there's a fairly large habitat that's given to... raccoons. Meanwhile, the tigers are kept in a smaller area. That's not cool. However, there were a few interesting animals, and I got to pet a zebra, so that's not bad.
CHINESE ACROBATIC TEAM
We went to see the national acrobatic team perform. Basically, it's a bunch of little kids and teenagers doing all sorts of crazy stunts and flips and bodily contortions. It was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures or video. When the show ended, I felt like a clumsy fat American in desperate need of more exercise.
TIANEMEN SQUARE
Yup, I already went there. It's not like there's a whole lot to see. With the exception of a central monument and the national flag, it's just a big plaza. Still, it was cool to see, especially considering the Chinese government still refuses to acknowledge what happened there. In fact, from what I've heard, the majority of Chinese citizens actually have no idea anything major ever happened. It wasn't a massacre, it was an "incident." And you can forget about finding information about it online through Google or Wikipedia - it's all filtered.
THE MUSEUM OF BEIJING
Basically, this is a museum dedicated entirely to Beijing and various topics of interest (the transportation system, environmental protection, etc.). There's a HUGE and very detailed model of the city that must have cost a fortune to make. My favorite part of the museum, however, was a short animated music video about how great the public transportation system is and how "harmonized transport will be a name card of Beijing." People in the cartoon were wearing Community party armbands, and a lot of emphasis was placed on how great the transportation system is going to be by the time the Olympics get here. I love propaganda.
ZHAOSHANG PARK
It's a small park located right next to the Forbidden City. There's some great scenery and some interesting temples and architecture.
FRAGRANT HILLS
This is an area on the edge of Beijing where you can hike up the mountains that surround the city. I wasn't expecting a major hike - the path is paved, since this is evidently where the old emperors used to come in the summertime. However, we ended up walking more than 1600 meters, a lot of which was nearly a vertical hike. It was pretty intense. We made it to the peak though and got a good view of the city. Or at least, the little bits of the city that you could see beneath the enormous cloud of smog. Beijing has probably the worst air pollution I've ever seen. I can't believe I have to breathe this stuff for a semester.
SCHOOL
This whole week has been Orientation. On Monday we start a week of intense Chinese boot camp - about 3.5 hours a day. Although I've taken two semesters of Chinese, I forgot most of it over the summer, so hopefully this will be a good refresher. The week after that, classes start. Also, there are a variety of clubs we have the option of participating in. I'm going to be doing Calligraphy and Tai Qi two days a week. There's a kickboxing class I won't be taking, but the teacher is a 20-year old guy who trained as a Shaolin monk. In other words: he's a kung fu master. He gave a short demonstration that involved some pretty amazing stunts - think flips and roundhouse kicks and handless cartwheels. This guy could easily kill you with his bare hands if he wanted to. Too bad he's not teaching a class on that stuff. I'd definitely take it. I could become Kung Fu Master Jiang Shangan (that's my Chinese name, in case you're wondering - it means "peaceful and noble").
That's basically everything I've been doing in a nutshell. I have a ton of pictures, way too many to attach to this email, so I'm trying to figure out a way to make them all quickly accessible. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. There's still a lot more stuff to see here in Beijing, and I'm going to be traveling to some other areas of China throughout the semester, so there should be plenty more to report. Tomorrow I'm planning on going with a few friends to check out some Buddhist temples. I still need to go into the Forbidden City, and it will probably take a few days to see everything in there. That's just the tip of the iceberg. If you have any questions or would like more details on anything, just let me know, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Hello everyone! Greetings from China!
Due to my inability to post on my blog while I'm in China due to their strict Internet filters, I've set up this email group so you can all stay updated on what life is like here. That's assuming, of course, that you're even interested to begin with. If you're not, let me know and I'll take you off the list.
I've been in Beijing for a little over a week now, and I have already seen and done a whole lot more than can be covered in a single email in great detail. I've got tons of pictures and nearly 2 hours of video, and there's still much, much, much more to see. Unfortunately, due to problems with my Internet connection and blog access, I've been unable to write about it until now. Since I don't have time to write a novel, this first email is going to be a short summary of all the main things I've done to date. So let's get started!
THE CITY
So far, I have mixed feelings about Beijing. On one hand, it's overcrowded, the traffic is awful (pedestrians here have no rights!), and extremely polluted. On the other hand, there's a lot of cool things to see, the people are fairly friendly, and everything is dirt cheap. On the whole, it could be a lot worse.
THE FOOD
Delicious! It's pretty different from Chinese food in the USA, and not everything is good, but overall I'm loving it so far. Chopsticks take a while to get used to, but once you get the hang of them they're not that hard to use. I can eat a large breakfast consisting of dumplings and buns for 3.5 yuan (around 30 cents), and lunch and dinner usually only cost a few dollars. There's a lot of pork, but chicken, beef, tofu, and vegetable dishes are also very common. I've also tried intestines, eggplant, bamboo shoots, and other interesting dishes. There are Western restaurants around (KFC has a huge presence here), but I don't foresee myself eating at those places very often.
TRANSPORTATION
The public transportation system is pretty easy to use. However, given the size of Beijing's population, buses and subways are usually very crowded and uncomfortable. I don't want to think about what things will be like in a year when there are tons of tourists here for the Olympics, and the government starts taking measures to cut down on pollution (such as prohibiting driving).
THE OLYMPICS
This is huge. There are advertisements everywhere counting down the days until the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, and promoting certain Chinese teams. There are a lot of stadiums under construction, and in the months leading up to the opening ceremony the government is going to be doing a lot to help get the city looking its best. However, Chinese people have mixed feelings about the Olympics. For example, one of my native Chinese professors feels the Olympics is one way in which traditional Chinese culture is being corrupted and forgotten due to the increase in Western influence. It will be interesting to see what economic and cultural effects the Olympics ends up having on China.
POLITICS
China is a Communist country, and the government does censor certain things. Also, there is propaganda everywhere promoting the "glorious" and "harmonious" Chinese society. There is a huge portrait of Mao hanging over the entrance to the Forbidden City, and from what little I've heard about Chinese political sentiments, Mao seems to be regarded fairly positively. One person told me that he's usually viewed as being 2/3 good, and 1/3 bad. On the whole, Chinese people don't seem very dissatisfied, and one native professor of mine indicated that he thinks in many ways China is just as "free" as the USA. It's interesting.
THE SILK MARKET & JIN WU XING
China has a few huge markets, two of which I've visited. The Silk Market is mainly targeted at foreigners, while Jin Wu Xing is more for average Chinese citizens. Both are HUGE establishments, consisting of hundreds and thousands of small shops and stands selling various things. You can get pretty much anything you want, though goods are mainly knockoffs of foreign brands rather than the real thing. Sometimes that works out well, though, and in some instances the fake stuff is actually higher quality than the real thing. Want a fancy leather jacket, Rolex watch, or iPod, or a new pair of jeans? You can get it all at the markets, and if you know how to bargain, it's fairly cheap.
One way in which The Silk Market differs from Jin Wu Xing is that the salespeople are extremely aggressive. As someone who has a little bit of experience in sales, I can say that in all likelihood, the kind of tactics used would probably be frowned upon in the USA. As you walk by everyone's booth, they yell at you in an attempt to get you to come to their stand. Some of my favorite lines:
"Hey, you wear polo, you need new one!"
"You get nice gift for your girlfriend, yes?"
"You have very bad style, you need new clothes!"
If you do decide you're interested in something, the bargaining game begins. In all likelihood, the original price quoted by the salesperson is about 10 times higher than what it's actually worth, or what you can get it for if you work hard enough. This is especially true at The Silk Market, probably because a lot of rich foreigners have no problem dishing out lots of cash. For the skilled bargainer, however, you can get things for much cheaper. For example, I bought a silk shirt (supposedly it's real silk, but who knows) that was originally cited as being around $150. I got it for around $30, and that was still probably too high. Still, it's a really nice shirt. If anyone wants anything, let me know and I'll do my best to get it for you here for a decent price.
THE BEIJING ZOO
The zoo here is a very interesting experience to say the least. It's kinda depressing. A lot of the animals are kept in small quarters, and most just sit around and look like they have no souls. Also: a lot of the animals aren't exactly very exotic. For example, there's a fairly large habitat that's given to... raccoons. Meanwhile, the tigers are kept in a smaller area. That's not cool. However, there were a few interesting animals, and I got to pet a zebra, so that's not bad.
CHINESE ACROBATIC TEAM
We went to see the national acrobatic team perform. Basically, it's a bunch of little kids and teenagers doing all sorts of crazy stunts and flips and bodily contortions. It was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures or video. When the show ended, I felt like a clumsy fat American in desperate need of more exercise.
TIANEMEN SQUARE
Yup, I already went there. It's not like there's a whole lot to see. With the exception of a central monument and the national flag, it's just a big plaza. Still, it was cool to see, especially considering the Chinese government still refuses to acknowledge what happened there. In fact, from what I've heard, the majority of Chinese citizens actually have no idea anything major ever happened. It wasn't a massacre, it was an "incident." And you can forget about finding information about it online through Google or Wikipedia - it's all filtered.
THE MUSEUM OF BEIJING
Basically, this is a museum dedicated entirely to Beijing and various topics of interest (the transportation system, environmental protection, etc.). There's a HUGE and very detailed model of the city that must have cost a fortune to make. My favorite part of the museum, however, was a short animated music video about how great the public transportation system is and how "harmonized transport will be a name card of Beijing." People in the cartoon were wearing Community party armbands, and a lot of emphasis was placed on how great the transportation system is going to be by the time the Olympics get here. I love propaganda.
ZHAOSHANG PARK
It's a small park located right next to the Forbidden City. There's some great scenery and some interesting temples and architecture.
FRAGRANT HILLS
This is an area on the edge of Beijing where you can hike up the mountains that surround the city. I wasn't expecting a major hike - the path is paved, since this is evidently where the old emperors used to come in the summertime. However, we ended up walking more than 1600 meters, a lot of which was nearly a vertical hike. It was pretty intense. We made it to the peak though and got a good view of the city. Or at least, the little bits of the city that you could see beneath the enormous cloud of smog. Beijing has probably the worst air pollution I've ever seen. I can't believe I have to breathe this stuff for a semester.
SCHOOL
This whole week has been Orientation. On Monday we start a week of intense Chinese boot camp - about 3.5 hours a day. Although I've taken two semesters of Chinese, I forgot most of it over the summer, so hopefully this will be a good refresher. The week after that, classes start. Also, there are a variety of clubs we have the option of participating in. I'm going to be doing Calligraphy and Tai Qi two days a week. There's a kickboxing class I won't be taking, but the teacher is a 20-year old guy who trained as a Shaolin monk. In other words: he's a kung fu master. He gave a short demonstration that involved some pretty amazing stunts - think flips and roundhouse kicks and handless cartwheels. This guy could easily kill you with his bare hands if he wanted to. Too bad he's not teaching a class on that stuff. I'd definitely take it. I could become Kung Fu Master Jiang Shangan (that's my Chinese name, in case you're wondering - it means "peaceful and noble").
That's basically everything I've been doing in a nutshell. I have a ton of pictures, way too many to attach to this email, so I'm trying to figure out a way to make them all quickly accessible. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. There's still a lot more stuff to see here in Beijing, and I'm going to be traveling to some other areas of China throughout the semester, so there should be plenty more to report. Tomorrow I'm planning on going with a few friends to check out some Buddhist temples. I still need to go into the Forbidden City, and it will probably take a few days to see everything in there. That's just the tip of the iceberg. If you have any questions or would like more details on anything, just let me know, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
The Art of Finger-Painting
September 9, 2007
Greetings again from China! I hope this past week was more eventful for you than it was for me. I didn't have as much time to explore as I was busy going through a week of intense Chinese language "boot camp." It lasted three and a half hours a day, and usually after that I wasn't in the mood to go outside. I spent most of my time in my room giving my brain a rest and trying to process everything. Although I've taken a year of Mandarin, I pretty much forgot everything over the summer. My Chinese is severely lacking, particularly when it comes to reading and writing. I can understand it fairly well, and speak the basics without too much trouble (though my grammar needs a lot of work), but when it comes to those weird-looking characters, I'm pretty far behind. There are so many to memorize, they all just blur together. And starting this week, I won't be getting a whole lot of English translations on my assignments. I foresee a lot of hours spent looking up what characters mean in the near future. Yay.
I did go out on Saturday to visit a traditional Chinese "hutong." It's an old type of house that used to be fairly common decades ago. The one we visited was more than a hundred years old. Most of them have been torn down to make way for more "modern" buildings and businesses. The only reason this one was preserved was because it was bought by a guy who is one of the most famous Beijing opera stars in history. His son owns it now, and he gave us a tour and told us a bit about it. It's laid out like the Forbidden City - each main building is separated by a small stone courtyard, which I guess is like the Chinese equivalent of a backyard. It was nothing fancy, and the accomodations were pretty simple, but I can see the appeal in keeping it preserved. It's history.
After that we went to a Buddhist temple that serves as the headquarters for the Buddhism Association of China (or something to that effect). Basically, the guys that handle all of the main Buddhist stuff in the country. A monk there gave us a tour and took us inside the temples to places where the public isn't allowed. It was pretty amazing. We saw a huge painting (14 x 7 meters) that was painted by a monk decades ago. With one finger. Yup, you read that right. He painted it all using the fourth finger of his right hand. In Buddhism, the fourth finger is supposedly symbolic of refraining from all that is worldly and secular. It took him 9 years. The painting was incredibly detailed - it definitely didn't look like finger painting. They had to hide it from the government during the Cultural Revolution (when Mao and the Red Army pretty much decided all of the old, traditional stuff should be destroyed) so it wasn't burned. It's the largest painting of its kind in the world. Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras inside the temples, so I was unable to get any photos or video.
Other that, nothing really major happened. I start real classes this week. For the next two weeks, I'll be taking a class on Chinese history and civilization for a few hours in the morning, then two more hours of Chinese language in the afternoon. However, I have Wednesdays off. Maybe I can use that time to go see some more cool places. I'm still trying to get myself organized for the semester. I've got to make a list of all the things I'd like to see and places to go before I leave. I also need to start working out what kind of interviews I'd like to get for this documentary I'm making, and start setting those up. On a random note - I've heard there are a few small movie studios around here, so I'm going to try and get a tour of one of them. Maybe I can learn something.
Don't forget: if anyone would like me to buy something for you while I'm here, I'm more than happy to do it. Things here are pretty cheap. Want a Rolex? A couple of guys bought some today for around $20-$30. Are they actual Rolexes? No, but they look exactly like the real ones (right down to the official Rolex logo) and look very durable. You can get anything here. I'm going to have to keep myself from going to the Silk Alley and the DVD shops often, or I'll be broke before long.
Greetings again from China! I hope this past week was more eventful for you than it was for me. I didn't have as much time to explore as I was busy going through a week of intense Chinese language "boot camp." It lasted three and a half hours a day, and usually after that I wasn't in the mood to go outside. I spent most of my time in my room giving my brain a rest and trying to process everything. Although I've taken a year of Mandarin, I pretty much forgot everything over the summer. My Chinese is severely lacking, particularly when it comes to reading and writing. I can understand it fairly well, and speak the basics without too much trouble (though my grammar needs a lot of work), but when it comes to those weird-looking characters, I'm pretty far behind. There are so many to memorize, they all just blur together. And starting this week, I won't be getting a whole lot of English translations on my assignments. I foresee a lot of hours spent looking up what characters mean in the near future. Yay.
I did go out on Saturday to visit a traditional Chinese "hutong." It's an old type of house that used to be fairly common decades ago. The one we visited was more than a hundred years old. Most of them have been torn down to make way for more "modern" buildings and businesses. The only reason this one was preserved was because it was bought by a guy who is one of the most famous Beijing opera stars in history. His son owns it now, and he gave us a tour and told us a bit about it. It's laid out like the Forbidden City - each main building is separated by a small stone courtyard, which I guess is like the Chinese equivalent of a backyard. It was nothing fancy, and the accomodations were pretty simple, but I can see the appeal in keeping it preserved. It's history.
After that we went to a Buddhist temple that serves as the headquarters for the Buddhism Association of China (or something to that effect). Basically, the guys that handle all of the main Buddhist stuff in the country. A monk there gave us a tour and took us inside the temples to places where the public isn't allowed. It was pretty amazing. We saw a huge painting (14 x 7 meters) that was painted by a monk decades ago. With one finger. Yup, you read that right. He painted it all using the fourth finger of his right hand. In Buddhism, the fourth finger is supposedly symbolic of refraining from all that is worldly and secular. It took him 9 years. The painting was incredibly detailed - it definitely didn't look like finger painting. They had to hide it from the government during the Cultural Revolution (when Mao and the Red Army pretty much decided all of the old, traditional stuff should be destroyed) so it wasn't burned. It's the largest painting of its kind in the world. Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras inside the temples, so I was unable to get any photos or video.
Other that, nothing really major happened. I start real classes this week. For the next two weeks, I'll be taking a class on Chinese history and civilization for a few hours in the morning, then two more hours of Chinese language in the afternoon. However, I have Wednesdays off. Maybe I can use that time to go see some more cool places. I'm still trying to get myself organized for the semester. I've got to make a list of all the things I'd like to see and places to go before I leave. I also need to start working out what kind of interviews I'd like to get for this documentary I'm making, and start setting those up. On a random note - I've heard there are a few small movie studios around here, so I'm going to try and get a tour of one of them. Maybe I can learn something.
Don't forget: if anyone would like me to buy something for you while I'm here, I'm more than happy to do it. Things here are pretty cheap. Want a Rolex? A couple of guys bought some today for around $20-$30. Are they actual Rolexes? No, but they look exactly like the real ones (right down to the official Rolex logo) and look very durable. You can get anything here. I'm going to have to keep myself from going to the Silk Alley and the DVD shops often, or I'll be broke before long.
Great Is An Understatement
September 21, 2007
What's up?!
Found some time for a quick update on what's going on here in the East. I have finished up my first "block" of classes. The past two weeks I've been taking an introduction to Chinese civilization and history, and next Monday I'll be starting a 2-3 week course on Chinese literature (and hopefully film as well). The history course was pretty interesting. Once we started getting into the 20th century, I was reminded about how Mao Zedong was actually a pretty cool guy during the time the Communist Party was trying to overthrow the nationalist government AND fight Japan at the same time. Not only did he do a decent job of leading (much better than the Nationalists, anyway), he really seemed to care about the people.
Then he came into power and messed everything up. Meh, I guess that's how politics works. Do a really good job just until you're actually in charge of the country.
Last weekend I went with some friends to the Great Wall. It was AMAZING. Quite possibly the single most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life. We hiked a good 10 kilometers from one entrance to another, and spent the night in a guardhouse. It was a hard walk, but well worth it. We didn't go to the "tourist" section of the wall. We were walking on the part of the wall that hasn't been restored and is falling apart. There were a few sections where we had to be careful not to fall off because the sides had fallen apart. Honestly, I have no idea how the Chinese army expected to fight in case of an invasion by the Mongols. The part of the wall we were on had huge stairs and was extremely steep. I can't see how it's a practical design if you need to be running up and down in heavy armor and fighting enemy soldiers. Maybe I'm just missing something about how the Chinese army was mobilized. All I know is that if I was a Mongol invader, if I saw the wall I would turn around and go home. Scaling it would be pretty much impossible.
Oh, and as we were walking back to the parking lot to get a ride back to Beijing, we were walking up above a lake and a dam. We passed a guy who said for 35 yuan (about $4.50) we could take a zipline across the lake and get a boat ride to the parking lot. I and a few others immediately said, "HECK YES!" Then we saw the zipline. It was pretty much just a cord stretched across the lake with a harness attached. I was scared to death, but I figured if I could handle skydiving then this wouldn't be a big deal. So I got into this harness, with my backpack on and everything. Then the woman told me to sit down, so I did. Then she pushed.
My life flashed before my eyes. It was awesome. If I get a chance to go again I intend to take out my video camera and film the whole thing.
Random fact: the Great Wall can NOT be seen from space. I'm pretty sure that's just a myth. Even so, it's still incredible.
This past Wednesday we took a class trip to the 798 Art District. Basically, it's a bunch of old military factories left over from the days of Mao that a couple of artists and some businessmen decided to turn into an art gallery in 2002. The whole thing took off and is now one of the main contemporary art exhibitions in the whole country. There is building after building filled with some really interesting artwork. Because it's so popular, the government decided not to tear it down when it was moving old factories to other parts of the country. There are still old Communist Party slogans written on the ceiling, like "Long live Mao for ten thousand years!" It's very interesting, and more than slightly ironic, that what was once a huge Community factory is now housing pieces of art that at times are less than approving of the government. Although there are still certain things the government will censor, artists are given much more freedom than they were 20 years ago.
Tomorrow I'm going on a group trip to an old village in the countryside that's around 300 years old. It should be interesting. More updates are coming!
What's up?!
Found some time for a quick update on what's going on here in the East. I have finished up my first "block" of classes. The past two weeks I've been taking an introduction to Chinese civilization and history, and next Monday I'll be starting a 2-3 week course on Chinese literature (and hopefully film as well). The history course was pretty interesting. Once we started getting into the 20th century, I was reminded about how Mao Zedong was actually a pretty cool guy during the time the Communist Party was trying to overthrow the nationalist government AND fight Japan at the same time. Not only did he do a decent job of leading (much better than the Nationalists, anyway), he really seemed to care about the people.
Then he came into power and messed everything up. Meh, I guess that's how politics works. Do a really good job just until you're actually in charge of the country.
Last weekend I went with some friends to the Great Wall. It was AMAZING. Quite possibly the single most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life. We hiked a good 10 kilometers from one entrance to another, and spent the night in a guardhouse. It was a hard walk, but well worth it. We didn't go to the "tourist" section of the wall. We were walking on the part of the wall that hasn't been restored and is falling apart. There were a few sections where we had to be careful not to fall off because the sides had fallen apart. Honestly, I have no idea how the Chinese army expected to fight in case of an invasion by the Mongols. The part of the wall we were on had huge stairs and was extremely steep. I can't see how it's a practical design if you need to be running up and down in heavy armor and fighting enemy soldiers. Maybe I'm just missing something about how the Chinese army was mobilized. All I know is that if I was a Mongol invader, if I saw the wall I would turn around and go home. Scaling it would be pretty much impossible.
Oh, and as we were walking back to the parking lot to get a ride back to Beijing, we were walking up above a lake and a dam. We passed a guy who said for 35 yuan (about $4.50) we could take a zipline across the lake and get a boat ride to the parking lot. I and a few others immediately said, "HECK YES!" Then we saw the zipline. It was pretty much just a cord stretched across the lake with a harness attached. I was scared to death, but I figured if I could handle skydiving then this wouldn't be a big deal. So I got into this harness, with my backpack on and everything. Then the woman told me to sit down, so I did. Then she pushed.
My life flashed before my eyes. It was awesome. If I get a chance to go again I intend to take out my video camera and film the whole thing.
Random fact: the Great Wall can NOT be seen from space. I'm pretty sure that's just a myth. Even so, it's still incredible.
This past Wednesday we took a class trip to the 798 Art District. Basically, it's a bunch of old military factories left over from the days of Mao that a couple of artists and some businessmen decided to turn into an art gallery in 2002. The whole thing took off and is now one of the main contemporary art exhibitions in the whole country. There is building after building filled with some really interesting artwork. Because it's so popular, the government decided not to tear it down when it was moving old factories to other parts of the country. There are still old Communist Party slogans written on the ceiling, like "Long live Mao for ten thousand years!" It's very interesting, and more than slightly ironic, that what was once a huge Community factory is now housing pieces of art that at times are less than approving of the government. Although there are still certain things the government will censor, artists are given much more freedom than they were 20 years ago.
Tomorrow I'm going on a group trip to an old village in the countryside that's around 300 years old. It should be interesting. More updates are coming!
Cuan di Xia, Feiteng Film City and Cultural Observations
October 14, 2007
Finally had time for an update! It's been a few weeks since my last email, but some interesting things have happened. I've pretty much just been traveling, studying, and investigating the film industry a little. Here's the deal:
1) I went to a 300-year old village called Cuan di Xia. It was a pretty cool trip. We met with the guy who is descended from the first family of settlers to the area - he was the fifteenth generation to live there! It's a pretty small village, and very simple, but it was a lot of fun. We split into two groups (guys and girls) and stayed with two families, respectively. They served us probably the biggest meal I have yet to see in China. Just when we thought they were done, they would bring out another dish. Rice, soup, chicken stew (complete with the head of the chicken), you name it, we ate it. Also, they showed us a small field with a huge rock in the middle, along with a small tree with a single pinkish looking flower on it. Evidently part of the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was filmed there. Unfortunately, it's been a while since I saw that movie, so I couldn't remember which scene it could have been. Either way, as a film major, I thought that was pretty cool.
2) Last weekend I and a few friends went to Feiteng Film City. This is basically what will probably end up being the largest film studio set in China. It's been under construction since 2005 and isn't quite finished yet. There are two parts, one inside and one outside. Inside you can supposedly see a few movie sets, including a replica of the Forbidden City, but when we went most of the sets were closed off, unfortunately. However, we did find a few make-up rooms and traditional Chinese costumes. Most of our time was spent on the other side, in the outdoor section. It was incredible. The entire thing is set up to mimic the architecture of the Q'ing and Ming dynasties, and the best part about it is that you're free to wander just about anywhere you want. I had thought that Feiteng was a pretty big tourist attraction, but we pretty much had the whole entire complex to ourselves. We spent most of the day exploring and basically going anywhere we felt like. Honestly, it was like stepping into a completely different time period. We also ran into a few film crews that were filming some television shows, so we watched them film for a while. All of the actors were walking around in traditional costumes: some were dressed like everyday citizens, others like palace guards, others were practicing their kung fu... it was pretty cool. We saw a few foreign students that were working as extras - evidently they had just been walking around one day and were asked to be part of the show. Maybe if I go back I can be in a Chinese television series, who knows. I spent the whole time there wishing that I was part of a film crew. If only my Chinese was better and I could ask for a job as an extra or a coffee-boy for a beautiful Chinese actress...
3) This week I finish up my first block of classes. On Wednesday, I'm going on a group trip to Shaolin for a long weekend. If you've ever heard of "Shaolin monks" then you'll have a basic idea of where I'm going. Basically, Shaolin monks are kung fu masters, so we're going to go see where they live and train. I'm even going to get some one-on-one kung fu lessons. Who knows, maybe I'll come back to the United States with some cool moves.
4) I went to see a movie at a Chinese movie theater. It cost about $3, though I've heard that normally going to the movies costs around $7-8. Still, that's no more expensive than the United States. I went to see a Hong Kong movie called Triangle. There were no subtitles, but the person I was with translated the major plot points for me, so I understood the basics of what was going on. Oh, and I got to reserve my seat when buying a ticket. Why can't more theaters in the United States do this? I mean, really, it's not that hard to implement and it gives incentive to people to show up early and not interrupt the movie. It's nice being able to walk into a theater and not have to look for a seat (especially if you to sit with your friends in a crowded theater).
I've also been doing my best to observe Chinese culture and take mental notes about differences between China and the United States. Here are a few things I've picked up on:
1) Many men in China smoke. The majority of women do not. This is different from the United States, in which I'd guess a fairly equal number of both men and women smoke.
2) Though drinking plays a role in Chinese culture (as it does in pretty much any culture), it seems to be very different from the American college student philosophy of drinking, in which alcohol is pretty much consumed for the sheer "fun" of it. In China, alcohol is mainly reserved for social situations, such as business discussions between co-workers or casual social drinking. Drunkenness seems to be frowned upon here, at least moreso than in the United States. Most of the time, the people I see drinking the most are foreigners.
3) Opinions about the Communist Party vary. Some people really have no problem with it and think Mao did a great job. Others think China should be more democratic and that Mao was one of the worst things to ever happen to the country.
4) Because it's a Communist country, the majority of people really aren't religious at all. Even though the culture might have been greatly influenced by Buddhist ideas (and I'm not even sure about that), the religion itself doesn't seem to have a very big presence. No religion does. As for Christianity, the people I've talked about it really only know what they've seen from the Western media and perhaps learned in class. The bottom line: if you want to get a job in the government, you aren't religious. Period. If you don't want to get a job in the government, you're free to practice any religion you choose, you just can't be an official member of the Communist Party.
5) The worst thing you can do in China is to "lose face" - in other words, to somehow be humiliated or dishonored. A Chinese person will do just about anything to "save face." This is a concept that holds a lot of power in China. For example, it could be argued that the 1989 "incident" and denial thereof occurred because the government did not want to lose face.
6) About a week ago, I suddenly realized: women here dress much more modestly than those in the United States, overall. Other than a few skirts, it isn't popular to show a lot of skin. The advertising here also seems less sexualized than that of the United States. At clubs, though sexually provocative dancing occurs, everyone has their own personal space. The only guys grinding up against the girls are usually foreigners. After being here, it's easier than ever for me to see how sex is one of the driving forces of American culture and economics. While sex certainly isn't a taboo issue in China, it's not nearly as advertised as it is in the United States. I'm not sure if the reasons for this are cultural, political, or both.
Other than that and class, not a whole lot is going on. I feel like I've started to get into a daily routine. China isn't as intimidating as it was at first, and I can actually hold brief, basic conversations in Chinese now. Tomorrow I have the oral part of my Chinese midterm, so hopefully that will go well, and I have a 10-page paper to write within the next three days. I always knew the worst part about studying abroad was going to be the "studying" part. Oh well, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
Finally had time for an update! It's been a few weeks since my last email, but some interesting things have happened. I've pretty much just been traveling, studying, and investigating the film industry a little. Here's the deal:
1) I went to a 300-year old village called Cuan di Xia. It was a pretty cool trip. We met with the guy who is descended from the first family of settlers to the area - he was the fifteenth generation to live there! It's a pretty small village, and very simple, but it was a lot of fun. We split into two groups (guys and girls) and stayed with two families, respectively. They served us probably the biggest meal I have yet to see in China. Just when we thought they were done, they would bring out another dish. Rice, soup, chicken stew (complete with the head of the chicken), you name it, we ate it. Also, they showed us a small field with a huge rock in the middle, along with a small tree with a single pinkish looking flower on it. Evidently part of the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was filmed there. Unfortunately, it's been a while since I saw that movie, so I couldn't remember which scene it could have been. Either way, as a film major, I thought that was pretty cool.
2) Last weekend I and a few friends went to Feiteng Film City. This is basically what will probably end up being the largest film studio set in China. It's been under construction since 2005 and isn't quite finished yet. There are two parts, one inside and one outside. Inside you can supposedly see a few movie sets, including a replica of the Forbidden City, but when we went most of the sets were closed off, unfortunately. However, we did find a few make-up rooms and traditional Chinese costumes. Most of our time was spent on the other side, in the outdoor section. It was incredible. The entire thing is set up to mimic the architecture of the Q'ing and Ming dynasties, and the best part about it is that you're free to wander just about anywhere you want. I had thought that Feiteng was a pretty big tourist attraction, but we pretty much had the whole entire complex to ourselves. We spent most of the day exploring and basically going anywhere we felt like. Honestly, it was like stepping into a completely different time period. We also ran into a few film crews that were filming some television shows, so we watched them film for a while. All of the actors were walking around in traditional costumes: some were dressed like everyday citizens, others like palace guards, others were practicing their kung fu... it was pretty cool. We saw a few foreign students that were working as extras - evidently they had just been walking around one day and were asked to be part of the show. Maybe if I go back I can be in a Chinese television series, who knows. I spent the whole time there wishing that I was part of a film crew. If only my Chinese was better and I could ask for a job as an extra or a coffee-boy for a beautiful Chinese actress...
3) This week I finish up my first block of classes. On Wednesday, I'm going on a group trip to Shaolin for a long weekend. If you've ever heard of "Shaolin monks" then you'll have a basic idea of where I'm going. Basically, Shaolin monks are kung fu masters, so we're going to go see where they live and train. I'm even going to get some one-on-one kung fu lessons. Who knows, maybe I'll come back to the United States with some cool moves.
4) I went to see a movie at a Chinese movie theater. It cost about $3, though I've heard that normally going to the movies costs around $7-8. Still, that's no more expensive than the United States. I went to see a Hong Kong movie called Triangle. There were no subtitles, but the person I was with translated the major plot points for me, so I understood the basics of what was going on. Oh, and I got to reserve my seat when buying a ticket. Why can't more theaters in the United States do this? I mean, really, it's not that hard to implement and it gives incentive to people to show up early and not interrupt the movie. It's nice being able to walk into a theater and not have to look for a seat (especially if you to sit with your friends in a crowded theater).
I've also been doing my best to observe Chinese culture and take mental notes about differences between China and the United States. Here are a few things I've picked up on:
1) Many men in China smoke. The majority of women do not. This is different from the United States, in which I'd guess a fairly equal number of both men and women smoke.
2) Though drinking plays a role in Chinese culture (as it does in pretty much any culture), it seems to be very different from the American college student philosophy of drinking, in which alcohol is pretty much consumed for the sheer "fun" of it. In China, alcohol is mainly reserved for social situations, such as business discussions between co-workers or casual social drinking. Drunkenness seems to be frowned upon here, at least moreso than in the United States. Most of the time, the people I see drinking the most are foreigners.
3) Opinions about the Communist Party vary. Some people really have no problem with it and think Mao did a great job. Others think China should be more democratic and that Mao was one of the worst things to ever happen to the country.
4) Because it's a Communist country, the majority of people really aren't religious at all. Even though the culture might have been greatly influenced by Buddhist ideas (and I'm not even sure about that), the religion itself doesn't seem to have a very big presence. No religion does. As for Christianity, the people I've talked about it really only know what they've seen from the Western media and perhaps learned in class. The bottom line: if you want to get a job in the government, you aren't religious. Period. If you don't want to get a job in the government, you're free to practice any religion you choose, you just can't be an official member of the Communist Party.
5) The worst thing you can do in China is to "lose face" - in other words, to somehow be humiliated or dishonored. A Chinese person will do just about anything to "save face." This is a concept that holds a lot of power in China. For example, it could be argued that the 1989 "incident" and denial thereof occurred because the government did not want to lose face.
6) About a week ago, I suddenly realized: women here dress much more modestly than those in the United States, overall. Other than a few skirts, it isn't popular to show a lot of skin. The advertising here also seems less sexualized than that of the United States. At clubs, though sexually provocative dancing occurs, everyone has their own personal space. The only guys grinding up against the girls are usually foreigners. After being here, it's easier than ever for me to see how sex is one of the driving forces of American culture and economics. While sex certainly isn't a taboo issue in China, it's not nearly as advertised as it is in the United States. I'm not sure if the reasons for this are cultural, political, or both.
Other than that and class, not a whole lot is going on. I feel like I've started to get into a daily routine. China isn't as intimidating as it was at first, and I can actually hold brief, basic conversations in Chinese now. Tomorrow I have the oral part of my Chinese midterm, so hopefully that will go well, and I have a 10-page paper to write within the next three days. I always knew the worst part about studying abroad was going to be the "studying" part. Oh well, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
Neo's Got Nothing On These Guys
October 25, 2007
Right now, it's about 3 AM, and I have just finished packing. Later today, I will be flying to the province of Yunnan for a 2-week field trip as part of my class on Chinese Ethnic Groups. Of the 55 official minority ethnic groups in China, at least half of them can be found in Yunnan. All I know is that at times I will be at very high altitudes, and there will be a few periods where we'll be roughing it with no access to showers or washing machines. I'll also be staying with a Tibetan family for part of the time. I can't wait! I've heard that Yunnan is a spectacular place, and it should be interesting to see both how minority peoples live in China, as well as how the government is profiting off of their lifestyles for tourism. My goal is to find a yak to ride. Anyways, don't expect another update for a few weeks.
My trip last weekend to Henan province was amazing. First, we went to Shaolin to check out the kung fu monks. The performance was spectacular. We saw a guy throw a tack through a piece of glass and pop a balloon on the other side. Another monk also bent two long spears... with his throat. Evidently it's related to the ability to concentrate one's "qi" (more on this later) into a specific area of the body. After the show we went to a martial arts school and got a free kung fu lesson, whereupon I made the discovery that I am not destined to be a famous kung fu action star. It's really hard! During weapons training, though, I did learn how to twirl a large stick very effectively - or at least, well enough not to hit myself in the face. One of my classmates who has had a few years of boxing experience also went head-to-head with a student who has pretty much been learning how to kickbox his whole life. The match lasted about a minute and a half, whereupon my friend decided he had had enough of being punched in the face. I got the whole thing on tape - by my calculation, he managed to get in a grand total of two punches. There was also a kid of around 3-years old who was practicing his moves. He could kick higher than his head. I can barely kick past a 45-degree angle without hurting myself. There's nothing like kung fu to make you feel like an out-of-shape American slob.
After the martial arts school, we explored the Shaolin temple complex itself, as well as the Dagobah Forest. The Dagobah Forest is filled with dozens of "dagobahs", which are tall and narrow pagoda-like structures underneath which the monks are buried. The taller the dagobah, the higher ranking the monk. Also, we learned that if any of the "windows" of a dagobah are open, that means that there are multiple bodies buried underneath, perhaps children. It was somewhat morbid, to say the least.
After that it was off to the city of Kaifeng, where we visited the huge Pagoda. There's not much to say except to say it was a really tall, narrow pagoda. Nothing tremendously exciting, though there was a decent view from a few of the windows near the top.
Lastly, we went to the city of Luoyang where we visited the famous Longmen Grottoes (aka: Dragon's Gate Grottoes). It was stunning. They were carved over a thousand years ago by a workforce of more than 800,000 men. There are over 100,000 Buddhist stone carvings and images contained. I can't really describe it - you'll just have to look at the pictures once my Internet connection lasts long enough to upload them (network service has been hit-and-miss lately).
Later on, I went with some friends to get a massage (or two) at the most famous massage parlor in the city. Five dollars was enough for an hour and a half - it doesn't get much better than that. I hadn't realized how massage was related to Eastern medicine until now. Here's the lowdown: Chinese medicine (and eastern medicine in general) deals a lot with the body's "qi." The way I understand it, your qi is your body's energy and life force. Many forms of martial arts (such as Tai Qi) and meditation involve trying to achieve a harmonious, balanced qi, or learning to control it. For example, if you channeled all of your qi into your head, you could easily smash a steel board with your forehead (which I have witnessed). Anyways, different eastern practices (acupuncture, for example) involve curing ailments by manipulating and aiding the flow of qi throughout the body. Take my massage. My masseuse spent a couple minutes just massaging my big toe. The big toe is evidently along the same qi pathway as the head, and she said that it would help me sleep better. I didn't sleep that well on the train ride back, but the following night I slept like a baby. Also, the girl next to me had been feeling sick. Her masseuse started massaging her feet and then said, "Your stomach hasn't been well, has it?" Plus, my RA has been extremely ill. Yesterday she went to see a Chinese doctor who proceeded to take her pulse in her left wrist, examine her tongue, take her pulse in her right wrist, and then promptly conclude, "Yeah, I can tell you're having intestinal problems." I don't know how qi works, all I know is that there appears to be some truth to it, and it's pretty cool. Maybe western doctors could learn something from the East, and all become proficient in the art of foot massage.
That's all of the main stuff that's been going on. Expect my next post to be filled with info about minority groups, rural life, and the taste of yak cheese.
Right now, it's about 3 AM, and I have just finished packing. Later today, I will be flying to the province of Yunnan for a 2-week field trip as part of my class on Chinese Ethnic Groups. Of the 55 official minority ethnic groups in China, at least half of them can be found in Yunnan. All I know is that at times I will be at very high altitudes, and there will be a few periods where we'll be roughing it with no access to showers or washing machines. I'll also be staying with a Tibetan family for part of the time. I can't wait! I've heard that Yunnan is a spectacular place, and it should be interesting to see both how minority peoples live in China, as well as how the government is profiting off of their lifestyles for tourism. My goal is to find a yak to ride. Anyways, don't expect another update for a few weeks.
My trip last weekend to Henan province was amazing. First, we went to Shaolin to check out the kung fu monks. The performance was spectacular. We saw a guy throw a tack through a piece of glass and pop a balloon on the other side. Another monk also bent two long spears... with his throat. Evidently it's related to the ability to concentrate one's "qi" (more on this later) into a specific area of the body. After the show we went to a martial arts school and got a free kung fu lesson, whereupon I made the discovery that I am not destined to be a famous kung fu action star. It's really hard! During weapons training, though, I did learn how to twirl a large stick very effectively - or at least, well enough not to hit myself in the face. One of my classmates who has had a few years of boxing experience also went head-to-head with a student who has pretty much been learning how to kickbox his whole life. The match lasted about a minute and a half, whereupon my friend decided he had had enough of being punched in the face. I got the whole thing on tape - by my calculation, he managed to get in a grand total of two punches. There was also a kid of around 3-years old who was practicing his moves. He could kick higher than his head. I can barely kick past a 45-degree angle without hurting myself. There's nothing like kung fu to make you feel like an out-of-shape American slob.
After the martial arts school, we explored the Shaolin temple complex itself, as well as the Dagobah Forest. The Dagobah Forest is filled with dozens of "dagobahs", which are tall and narrow pagoda-like structures underneath which the monks are buried. The taller the dagobah, the higher ranking the monk. Also, we learned that if any of the "windows" of a dagobah are open, that means that there are multiple bodies buried underneath, perhaps children. It was somewhat morbid, to say the least.
After that it was off to the city of Kaifeng, where we visited the huge Pagoda. There's not much to say except to say it was a really tall, narrow pagoda. Nothing tremendously exciting, though there was a decent view from a few of the windows near the top.
Lastly, we went to the city of Luoyang where we visited the famous Longmen Grottoes (aka: Dragon's Gate Grottoes). It was stunning. They were carved over a thousand years ago by a workforce of more than 800,000 men. There are over 100,000 Buddhist stone carvings and images contained. I can't really describe it - you'll just have to look at the pictures once my Internet connection lasts long enough to upload them (network service has been hit-and-miss lately).
Later on, I went with some friends to get a massage (or two) at the most famous massage parlor in the city. Five dollars was enough for an hour and a half - it doesn't get much better than that. I hadn't realized how massage was related to Eastern medicine until now. Here's the lowdown: Chinese medicine (and eastern medicine in general) deals a lot with the body's "qi." The way I understand it, your qi is your body's energy and life force. Many forms of martial arts (such as Tai Qi) and meditation involve trying to achieve a harmonious, balanced qi, or learning to control it. For example, if you channeled all of your qi into your head, you could easily smash a steel board with your forehead (which I have witnessed). Anyways, different eastern practices (acupuncture, for example) involve curing ailments by manipulating and aiding the flow of qi throughout the body. Take my massage. My masseuse spent a couple minutes just massaging my big toe. The big toe is evidently along the same qi pathway as the head, and she said that it would help me sleep better. I didn't sleep that well on the train ride back, but the following night I slept like a baby. Also, the girl next to me had been feeling sick. Her masseuse started massaging her feet and then said, "Your stomach hasn't been well, has it?" Plus, my RA has been extremely ill. Yesterday she went to see a Chinese doctor who proceeded to take her pulse in her left wrist, examine her tongue, take her pulse in her right wrist, and then promptly conclude, "Yeah, I can tell you're having intestinal problems." I don't know how qi works, all I know is that there appears to be some truth to it, and it's pretty cool. Maybe western doctors could learn something from the East, and all become proficient in the art of foot massage.
That's all of the main stuff that's been going on. Expect my next post to be filled with info about minority groups, rural life, and the taste of yak cheese.
The Slaughter of the Lambs
November, 13, 2007
Sorry for the delay in an update – the Internet server has been down. I have returned from my 2-week trip to the province of Yunnan in southwest China. It was absolutely amazing. It would take too long to describe every little thing that happened and all of the interesting cultural themes I observed and learned about, but here are the highlights.
First off, some basic facts about China and specifically Yunnan: this trip was for my Ethnicity class. China has 56 official nationalities, the dominant one being the Han, who make up around 90-95% of the population. However, over 400 other groups applied for official nationality status last year, and many of the "official" nationalities
(including the Han) have sub-groups that often consider themselves of a completely different ethnic persuasion. The point is, China has plenty of ethnic groups to go around, and around half of the official ones can be found in Yunnan. Hence the trip to see some of them.
Our first main stop was Napa village near the city of Zhongdian, where we split up into small groups and stayed in homestays with Tibetan families. The village is out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I got slightly sick the first few days due to the high altitude (around 10,000 ft. above sea level) and had to miss out on a mountain hike. However, I did do all of the other major activities, and had a blast. The people there were super friendly. In the evenings, we often sat around and exchanged a bit of culture - for example, they showed us some Tibetan dances. The food was delicious. I got to try yak meat (delicious), yak cheese (I'm not a huge fan of cheese in general, but it was actually pretty good), and yak butter tea (phenomenal). By the end of the trip, I was ready to buy and yak and eat it whole. On our last day there, they slaughtered a lamb and we had a huge feast. The meal was delicious, and afterwards we threw a party and sang and danced. They sang us traditional Tibetan songs. We sang them some American songs - they'll probably never forget our rousing performance of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." Our guide has big plans to attract tourism to Napa - we were one of the first test groups. It will be interesting to see if the villagers can keep their culture intact once they are bombarded with foreigners. I hope the place isn't commodified too much - the cultural differences are part of the appeal.
Next, we spent a few days in the city of Lijiang to learn about the Naxi people. After Napa, this was like a taste of civilization. The city is split into two parts, the Old City and the New City. The New City is the modern area, while the Old City is filled with ancient architecture and filled with shops that supposedly sell legitimate artifacts of Naxi culture. In reality, most of these places are just tourist traps - Naxi culture being dressed up and sold. For example, many of the shopkeepers are actually Han Chinese dressed up as Naxi. It's kinda sad, but I guess in the end it's improving the economy. Plus, if you look hard enough you can find a couple of places that actually sell real, handcrafted work.
The last portion of our trip was to Lugu Lake, the area around which is populated by the Mucuo people, a subgroup of the Naxi. I got to celebrate my 21st birthday by taking a 9-hour bus ride to get there. Woohoo! We stayed with Mucuo families. What's interesting about the Mucuo village is that in some ways it's already starting to be commodified to attract tourists, but in other ways, I can see how many tourists would be turned off by staying there. Take my homestay for example. The bathroom consisted of a small shack outside the house that was basically an 8x6 tub filled with...uh... excrement. I heard that once or twice a year it's shoveled out for fertilizer - even so, not exactly a clean, minty-fresh place. Also, two of the guys living in my homestay (there were four of us total) changed houses after the first night when one of them woke up in the middle of the night with a mouse on his head. My roommate and I were woken up by the screams (and the sound of mice skittering through the walls). Good times.
What's really interesting about the Mucuo people, though, is that it's one of the last matriarchal societies on the planet, and its citizens follow what is known as a "Walking Marriage." Basically, the men and women are split up during the day doing their separate work. Men mostly handle domestic duties (like fixing breakfast for guests) and sit around playing cards, while women handle a lot of the actual labor. At night, the husband walks to the wife's house to sleep, hence the term "walking marriage." He leaves early in the morning, and usually doesn't go back until the following evening. This aspect of Mucuo culture has resulted in the women being promoted as loose and promiscuous (which is good for attracting foreign and Han tourists), but we were told that in reality this form of marriage is actually extremely fixed and stable. The rumor has probably only spread due to a number of Han prostitutes that try to pass themselves off as Mucuo. Also, divorce (or rather, a break-up, since this form of marriage isn't officially recognized by the government), is extremely easy. Basically, everyone gets whatever they came into the marriage with. The wife gets the property (it's her house after all) and the kids, since the family name is passed down through her side. If only it was that easy in the USA!
Our last day there, they slaughtered another lamb for us. It's interesting to compare how different cultures kill their animals. A small group of students had traveled to Inner Mongolia early in the semester, where they had bought a lamb and had it killed. Let's take a look at the different methods, shall we?
MONGOLIAN METHOD (the most humane way):
1) Quickly slit open the chest.
2) Reach in and stop the heart. This kills the animal instantly and there is little to no blood.
3) Skin, gut, cook, and eat.
TIBETAN METHOD (the least humane way):
1) Slit the lamb's throat.
2) Leave the lamb writhing on the ground in agony for around 5 minutes while you go get a bicycle pump.
3) Use the bicycle pump to separate the skin from the muscle (hopefully the lamb is fully dead by the time you start this).
4) Cut the skin on the hind legs, and pull the whole skin off over the head.
5) Gut, cook, and eat.
MUCUO METHOD (the somewhat humane but very messy way):
1) Stab the lamb violently through the throat and then rip off a large chunk of it.
2) Use a bowl to collect the small river of blood that is now squirting out everywhere.
3) About 1-2 minutes later, it's dead. Skin, gut, cook, and eat.
Now you all can pick whichever method you like best, and go out and kill a lamb. Enjoy!
However, the trip wasn't quite over yet. We still had to fly back to Beijing, and this proved more difficult than we thought. First, we flew from Lijiang to Kunming (capital of Yunnan). We were only supposed to be in Kunming for about 30 minutes while the plane refueled. We ended up being delayed for about 11 hours. I'm going to send out another email explaining the reasons why in detail. All I'll say about it now is that it was a rather unique event that ended up briefly mentioned on a Chinese news website, though I've been told it was recently pulled (though I have no idea why the government would want it censored). Corporate corruption and protesting occurred. I have about 45 minutes of film footage of the events, and am planning to compile that along with some interviews into a short documentary. It was fascinating, and showed the Chinese people at their finest. Details will be coming shortly.
Sorry for the delay in an update – the Internet server has been down. I have returned from my 2-week trip to the province of Yunnan in southwest China. It was absolutely amazing. It would take too long to describe every little thing that happened and all of the interesting cultural themes I observed and learned about, but here are the highlights.
First off, some basic facts about China and specifically Yunnan: this trip was for my Ethnicity class. China has 56 official nationalities, the dominant one being the Han, who make up around 90-95% of the population. However, over 400 other groups applied for official nationality status last year, and many of the "official" nationalities
(including the Han) have sub-groups that often consider themselves of a completely different ethnic persuasion. The point is, China has plenty of ethnic groups to go around, and around half of the official ones can be found in Yunnan. Hence the trip to see some of them.
Our first main stop was Napa village near the city of Zhongdian, where we split up into small groups and stayed in homestays with Tibetan families. The village is out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I got slightly sick the first few days due to the high altitude (around 10,000 ft. above sea level) and had to miss out on a mountain hike. However, I did do all of the other major activities, and had a blast. The people there were super friendly. In the evenings, we often sat around and exchanged a bit of culture - for example, they showed us some Tibetan dances. The food was delicious. I got to try yak meat (delicious), yak cheese (I'm not a huge fan of cheese in general, but it was actually pretty good), and yak butter tea (phenomenal). By the end of the trip, I was ready to buy and yak and eat it whole. On our last day there, they slaughtered a lamb and we had a huge feast. The meal was delicious, and afterwards we threw a party and sang and danced. They sang us traditional Tibetan songs. We sang them some American songs - they'll probably never forget our rousing performance of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." Our guide has big plans to attract tourism to Napa - we were one of the first test groups. It will be interesting to see if the villagers can keep their culture intact once they are bombarded with foreigners. I hope the place isn't commodified too much - the cultural differences are part of the appeal.
Next, we spent a few days in the city of Lijiang to learn about the Naxi people. After Napa, this was like a taste of civilization. The city is split into two parts, the Old City and the New City. The New City is the modern area, while the Old City is filled with ancient architecture and filled with shops that supposedly sell legitimate artifacts of Naxi culture. In reality, most of these places are just tourist traps - Naxi culture being dressed up and sold. For example, many of the shopkeepers are actually Han Chinese dressed up as Naxi. It's kinda sad, but I guess in the end it's improving the economy. Plus, if you look hard enough you can find a couple of places that actually sell real, handcrafted work.
The last portion of our trip was to Lugu Lake, the area around which is populated by the Mucuo people, a subgroup of the Naxi. I got to celebrate my 21st birthday by taking a 9-hour bus ride to get there. Woohoo! We stayed with Mucuo families. What's interesting about the Mucuo village is that in some ways it's already starting to be commodified to attract tourists, but in other ways, I can see how many tourists would be turned off by staying there. Take my homestay for example. The bathroom consisted of a small shack outside the house that was basically an 8x6 tub filled with...uh... excrement. I heard that once or twice a year it's shoveled out for fertilizer - even so, not exactly a clean, minty-fresh place. Also, two of the guys living in my homestay (there were four of us total) changed houses after the first night when one of them woke up in the middle of the night with a mouse on his head. My roommate and I were woken up by the screams (and the sound of mice skittering through the walls). Good times.
What's really interesting about the Mucuo people, though, is that it's one of the last matriarchal societies on the planet, and its citizens follow what is known as a "Walking Marriage." Basically, the men and women are split up during the day doing their separate work. Men mostly handle domestic duties (like fixing breakfast for guests) and sit around playing cards, while women handle a lot of the actual labor. At night, the husband walks to the wife's house to sleep, hence the term "walking marriage." He leaves early in the morning, and usually doesn't go back until the following evening. This aspect of Mucuo culture has resulted in the women being promoted as loose and promiscuous (which is good for attracting foreign and Han tourists), but we were told that in reality this form of marriage is actually extremely fixed and stable. The rumor has probably only spread due to a number of Han prostitutes that try to pass themselves off as Mucuo. Also, divorce (or rather, a break-up, since this form of marriage isn't officially recognized by the government), is extremely easy. Basically, everyone gets whatever they came into the marriage with. The wife gets the property (it's her house after all) and the kids, since the family name is passed down through her side. If only it was that easy in the USA!
Our last day there, they slaughtered another lamb for us. It's interesting to compare how different cultures kill their animals. A small group of students had traveled to Inner Mongolia early in the semester, where they had bought a lamb and had it killed. Let's take a look at the different methods, shall we?
MONGOLIAN METHOD (the most humane way):
1) Quickly slit open the chest.
2) Reach in and stop the heart. This kills the animal instantly and there is little to no blood.
3) Skin, gut, cook, and eat.
TIBETAN METHOD (the least humane way):
1) Slit the lamb's throat.
2) Leave the lamb writhing on the ground in agony for around 5 minutes while you go get a bicycle pump.
3) Use the bicycle pump to separate the skin from the muscle (hopefully the lamb is fully dead by the time you start this).
4) Cut the skin on the hind legs, and pull the whole skin off over the head.
5) Gut, cook, and eat.
MUCUO METHOD (the somewhat humane but very messy way):
1) Stab the lamb violently through the throat and then rip off a large chunk of it.
2) Use a bowl to collect the small river of blood that is now squirting out everywhere.
3) About 1-2 minutes later, it's dead. Skin, gut, cook, and eat.
Now you all can pick whichever method you like best, and go out and kill a lamb. Enjoy!
However, the trip wasn't quite over yet. We still had to fly back to Beijing, and this proved more difficult than we thought. First, we flew from Lijiang to Kunming (capital of Yunnan). We were only supposed to be in Kunming for about 30 minutes while the plane refueled. We ended up being delayed for about 11 hours. I'm going to send out another email explaining the reasons why in detail. All I'll say about it now is that it was a rather unique event that ended up briefly mentioned on a Chinese news website, though I've been told it was recently pulled (though I have no idea why the government would want it censored). Corporate corruption and protesting occurred. I have about 45 minutes of film footage of the events, and am planning to compile that along with some interviews into a short documentary. It was fascinating, and showed the Chinese people at their finest. Details will be coming shortly.
SPECIAL REPORT: The Kunming Airport Incident
Here's the lowdown on what happened at the airport in Kunming over the course of the 11 hours I spent there. It was stunning.
6:30 PM – We arrive in Kunming. Since we're using the same plane to get to Beijing, we're told we'll only be there for 30 minutes while the plane is refueled. For some reason, they won't let us stay on the plane and we have to take off our bags.
7:00 PM – They announce that due to "technical" difficulties, our flight has been delayed until 9:30.
9:30 PM – The shuttle bus pulls up to take us to the plane. Our group of around 20 Americans gets on, then turns around to discover that none of the Chinese passengers are getting on. It turns out that there are rumors that our flight wasn't actually delayed for "technical" reasons, but rather the plane was chartered to someone else for a quick flight so someone could make a little extra money, resulting in us being bumped to a later time. The Chinese passengers are going on strike and refusing to get on the plane in protest. Our group continues to the plane, figuring that we'll just have the whole plane to ourselves. Upon arriving at the plane, we are told that negotiations are being held back at the terminal with the other passengers, but that the plane will take off in 30 minutes. We sit in first class and relax. Some of us get beer. We secretly hope that the other passengers keep protesting so we can stay in first class and fly like kings for once.
10:00 PM – Tempers are starting to flare. We want to leave. A van drives up outside, and I watch as a few students go to check it out. Suddenly, there is a huge cheer. I think they were just told that no other passengers will be coming, and we're going to take off now. Turns out they were just delivering another two cases of beer to keep us happy. It worked.
10:30 PM – We still haven't taken off. People are very angry. I pull out my camera and start filming. Out on the tarmac, a group of students and our teacher are arguing with airline personnel, trying to figure out what the situation is. We are told that we'll take off within 30 minutes. We say, "That's what you said an hour ago! We want to leave NOW, or we'll go back to the terminal and join in the protest, and be the loudest ones there!" They consult with officials back at the terminal. Then they tell us that we will be compensated 300 rmb (about $40) for the trouble, and that we should just get back on the plane and calm down. Negotiations are close to over, the other passengers are getting the same deal, and they'll be here shortly. We don't believe they're telling us the truth. We decide to send a small group of us back to the terminal to see what's REALLY going on. Three students and our IES translator/staff member are chosen to go, and I get to tag along since I'm filming this whole ordeal, which could be an important factor in the negotiations.
11:00 PM – The five of us get back to the terminal. The Chinese passengers cheer when they see us. Most of them are lounging around – they're not going anywhere. Negotiations aren't anywhere close to being finished. A small committee has been formed to talk with airline management. When we get there, we discover that contrary to what we were told, they haven't been offered any money yet – that was
a lie. They are in the middle of getting one manager to sign a letter of apology. However, this is not enough. They want a documented confession that our plane was chartered and that they lied to us about it. They also want some form of financial compensation (different people want different amounts, ranging from 300-5000 rmb). The manager insists that our plane was just delayed for technical reasons. The leader of the committee responds, "Show us the paperwork to prove it!" The manager says that he doesn't have the authority to do that, but it's obvious that he does, if such paperwork does in fact exist. We make sure he understands that I have been filming this whole thing, and we have his officials lying to our group on tape. He and some other suits go away for a short time to consult in private.
In the meantime, we talk to a few of the leaders of the passenger negotiating committee, some of whom speak English. It soon becomes very clear that we Americans are just a small factor in this. The Chinese people have organized their own committee and appointed a few leaders. They know what they want, and they don't really need our group to get it. Still, we're just happy to be able to sit back and watch this whole thing.
12:00 AM – The same manager returns. As soon as he enters, all the passengers start screaming that we don't want to talk to him, we want to talk to his boss. He says he can't get in touch with the airline headquarters in Shanghai, since it has closed. On later discussion with other passengers, we conclude that this has to be a lie – there has to be SOMEONE he can call in and wake up about this. After all, what if a plane crashes? They have to be able to contact someone. We speculate that this guy probably chartered the plane without consulting with his superiors in Shanghai – he doesn't want to tell them what's going on because he doesn't want to get fired.
12:30 AM – He comes back out with a wad of cash. Airline police follow him – they look pretty amused about this whole situation. They seem to be thinking, "Wow, this guy really screwed up and all these people won't let him off the hook." However, it becomes clear that the Chinese passengers really don't like the police being there. My friends and I wonder why – perhaps memories of what happened in 1989? Who knows. Anyways, the manager offers everyone 300 rmb compensation to just get on the plane. This doesn't go over well. One passenger tells us [paraphrased]: "It's not about the money. It doesn't matter how much they offer, we could give it all to charity for all we care. We want them to provide a written confession that they chartered our plane and then lied about it. If we take the money and leave, they can spin this story any way they want and get away with corruption."
1:00 AM – He comes back out and now offers 400 rmb (around $52) to each passenger. About 6 people want to accept the offer and go home. The vast majority of us do not. We know that this plane has to be in Beijing by 7-8:00 in order to stay on schedule. If we stick to our guns, they'll have to cave and give us what we want.
1:00-4:00 AM – Nothing happens. We sleep in the terminal.
4:00 AM – Our translator/IES staff member Karen Wu (who this whole time has been totally awesome, helping us negotiate with management) has managed to get the five of us a shuttle back to the plane. We take it back. Our classmates are sleeping after a few hours of hard partying (getting drunk with the ground crew, climbing into the baggage compartments, taking strange pictures in front of the plane, etc.). I try to go back to sleep.
5:00 AM – Airline officials come on board and start handing each of us 800 rmb (around $112). It looks as though negotiations have finally worked out.
5:15 AM – Airline officials give us all another 1200 rmb (around $160), for a grand total of 2000 rmb. That's enough to cover all of the souvenirs and gifts I bought over 2 weeks in Yunnan.
6:00 AM – We take off. Finally.
Upon arrival in Beijing I talk to some of the other passengers and learn that they were in fact able to get a confession of guilt. One person tells us that he doesn't intend to just let it go at that though, and might take legal action. He exchanged contact info with Karen. He says he might want a copy of my footage to use as evidence of the corruption and deceit. If he ever does contact us, I have no problem giving him a copy as long as I retain full rights to the footage. I've also heard that a local newspaper might wish to purchase the footage from me, but I have yet to be contacted by anyone. Karen was contacted over the weekend by several journalists
just to confirm that the story was true, and I heard it was mentioned on the radio. We'll see what happens.
And basically, that was what happened at the airport in Kunming. It was quite unlike anything I've ever experienced, and everyone else I've talked to has said they can't recall anything like this ever happening. A few of the passengers told me that they had heard of similar things happening in the past, but the passengers always ignored it or were bought off. This is the first time over 100 passengers all united and refused to get on an airplane. Honestly, it was kinda inspiring to see the Chinese locals standing up and coming together to fight for their rights and not letting corruption slide. That airline manager messed with the wrong people, and is probably in a heap of trouble. If I didn't have it on film, I would probably forget how complicated it all was and all of the emotions that were running through it. Looking back, it's hard to believe I was even there, let alone a minor part of it. Now I know what the Chinese government has to be so strict – if the Chinese people ever find something to fight for and are able to unite, they will be unstoppable.
I have already interviewed one person about what happened, and intend to interview a few more. I will be using the footage to make a short documentary about the event. Now I have 3 film projects lined up: a short video promoting studying abroad in Asia, a general documentary about my experience in China, and now this. It's interesting how it worked out. I had been kind of disappointed that I had been unable to find a specific issue to explore in-depth for my documentary. The day before we left, I was planning on interviewing two people for my general documentary about China, but ended up not being able to do them. As a result, I had enough blank tape to get around 45 minutes worth of solid footage at the airport. Lucky me! It's going to be fun to interview people and elaborate on some of the cultural/social/political themes running through the story. Should make for an interesting film.
Let me know what you all think about what happened. Until next time…
6:30 PM – We arrive in Kunming. Since we're using the same plane to get to Beijing, we're told we'll only be there for 30 minutes while the plane is refueled. For some reason, they won't let us stay on the plane and we have to take off our bags.
7:00 PM – They announce that due to "technical" difficulties, our flight has been delayed until 9:30.
9:30 PM – The shuttle bus pulls up to take us to the plane. Our group of around 20 Americans gets on, then turns around to discover that none of the Chinese passengers are getting on. It turns out that there are rumors that our flight wasn't actually delayed for "technical" reasons, but rather the plane was chartered to someone else for a quick flight so someone could make a little extra money, resulting in us being bumped to a later time. The Chinese passengers are going on strike and refusing to get on the plane in protest. Our group continues to the plane, figuring that we'll just have the whole plane to ourselves. Upon arriving at the plane, we are told that negotiations are being held back at the terminal with the other passengers, but that the plane will take off in 30 minutes. We sit in first class and relax. Some of us get beer. We secretly hope that the other passengers keep protesting so we can stay in first class and fly like kings for once.
10:00 PM – Tempers are starting to flare. We want to leave. A van drives up outside, and I watch as a few students go to check it out. Suddenly, there is a huge cheer. I think they were just told that no other passengers will be coming, and we're going to take off now. Turns out they were just delivering another two cases of beer to keep us happy. It worked.
10:30 PM – We still haven't taken off. People are very angry. I pull out my camera and start filming. Out on the tarmac, a group of students and our teacher are arguing with airline personnel, trying to figure out what the situation is. We are told that we'll take off within 30 minutes. We say, "That's what you said an hour ago! We want to leave NOW, or we'll go back to the terminal and join in the protest, and be the loudest ones there!" They consult with officials back at the terminal. Then they tell us that we will be compensated 300 rmb (about $40) for the trouble, and that we should just get back on the plane and calm down. Negotiations are close to over, the other passengers are getting the same deal, and they'll be here shortly. We don't believe they're telling us the truth. We decide to send a small group of us back to the terminal to see what's REALLY going on. Three students and our IES translator/staff member are chosen to go, and I get to tag along since I'm filming this whole ordeal, which could be an important factor in the negotiations.
11:00 PM – The five of us get back to the terminal. The Chinese passengers cheer when they see us. Most of them are lounging around – they're not going anywhere. Negotiations aren't anywhere close to being finished. A small committee has been formed to talk with airline management. When we get there, we discover that contrary to what we were told, they haven't been offered any money yet – that was
a lie. They are in the middle of getting one manager to sign a letter of apology. However, this is not enough. They want a documented confession that our plane was chartered and that they lied to us about it. They also want some form of financial compensation (different people want different amounts, ranging from 300-5000 rmb). The manager insists that our plane was just delayed for technical reasons. The leader of the committee responds, "Show us the paperwork to prove it!" The manager says that he doesn't have the authority to do that, but it's obvious that he does, if such paperwork does in fact exist. We make sure he understands that I have been filming this whole thing, and we have his officials lying to our group on tape. He and some other suits go away for a short time to consult in private.
In the meantime, we talk to a few of the leaders of the passenger negotiating committee, some of whom speak English. It soon becomes very clear that we Americans are just a small factor in this. The Chinese people have organized their own committee and appointed a few leaders. They know what they want, and they don't really need our group to get it. Still, we're just happy to be able to sit back and watch this whole thing.
12:00 AM – The same manager returns. As soon as he enters, all the passengers start screaming that we don't want to talk to him, we want to talk to his boss. He says he can't get in touch with the airline headquarters in Shanghai, since it has closed. On later discussion with other passengers, we conclude that this has to be a lie – there has to be SOMEONE he can call in and wake up about this. After all, what if a plane crashes? They have to be able to contact someone. We speculate that this guy probably chartered the plane without consulting with his superiors in Shanghai – he doesn't want to tell them what's going on because he doesn't want to get fired.
12:30 AM – He comes back out with a wad of cash. Airline police follow him – they look pretty amused about this whole situation. They seem to be thinking, "Wow, this guy really screwed up and all these people won't let him off the hook." However, it becomes clear that the Chinese passengers really don't like the police being there. My friends and I wonder why – perhaps memories of what happened in 1989? Who knows. Anyways, the manager offers everyone 300 rmb compensation to just get on the plane. This doesn't go over well. One passenger tells us [paraphrased]: "It's not about the money. It doesn't matter how much they offer, we could give it all to charity for all we care. We want them to provide a written confession that they chartered our plane and then lied about it. If we take the money and leave, they can spin this story any way they want and get away with corruption."
1:00 AM – He comes back out and now offers 400 rmb (around $52) to each passenger. About 6 people want to accept the offer and go home. The vast majority of us do not. We know that this plane has to be in Beijing by 7-8:00 in order to stay on schedule. If we stick to our guns, they'll have to cave and give us what we want.
1:00-4:00 AM – Nothing happens. We sleep in the terminal.
4:00 AM – Our translator/IES staff member Karen Wu (who this whole time has been totally awesome, helping us negotiate with management) has managed to get the five of us a shuttle back to the plane. We take it back. Our classmates are sleeping after a few hours of hard partying (getting drunk with the ground crew, climbing into the baggage compartments, taking strange pictures in front of the plane, etc.). I try to go back to sleep.
5:00 AM – Airline officials come on board and start handing each of us 800 rmb (around $112). It looks as though negotiations have finally worked out.
5:15 AM – Airline officials give us all another 1200 rmb (around $160), for a grand total of 2000 rmb. That's enough to cover all of the souvenirs and gifts I bought over 2 weeks in Yunnan.
6:00 AM – We take off. Finally.
Upon arrival in Beijing I talk to some of the other passengers and learn that they were in fact able to get a confession of guilt. One person tells us that he doesn't intend to just let it go at that though, and might take legal action. He exchanged contact info with Karen. He says he might want a copy of my footage to use as evidence of the corruption and deceit. If he ever does contact us, I have no problem giving him a copy as long as I retain full rights to the footage. I've also heard that a local newspaper might wish to purchase the footage from me, but I have yet to be contacted by anyone. Karen was contacted over the weekend by several journalists
just to confirm that the story was true, and I heard it was mentioned on the radio. We'll see what happens.
And basically, that was what happened at the airport in Kunming. It was quite unlike anything I've ever experienced, and everyone else I've talked to has said they can't recall anything like this ever happening. A few of the passengers told me that they had heard of similar things happening in the past, but the passengers always ignored it or were bought off. This is the first time over 100 passengers all united and refused to get on an airplane. Honestly, it was kinda inspiring to see the Chinese locals standing up and coming together to fight for their rights and not letting corruption slide. That airline manager messed with the wrong people, and is probably in a heap of trouble. If I didn't have it on film, I would probably forget how complicated it all was and all of the emotions that were running through it. Looking back, it's hard to believe I was even there, let alone a minor part of it. Now I know what the Chinese government has to be so strict – if the Chinese people ever find something to fight for and are able to unite, they will be unstoppable.
I have already interviewed one person about what happened, and intend to interview a few more. I will be using the footage to make a short documentary about the event. Now I have 3 film projects lined up: a short video promoting studying abroad in Asia, a general documentary about my experience in China, and now this. It's interesting how it worked out. I had been kind of disappointed that I had been unable to find a specific issue to explore in-depth for my documentary. The day before we left, I was planning on interviewing two people for my general documentary about China, but ended up not being able to do them. As a result, I had enough blank tape to get around 45 minutes worth of solid footage at the airport. Lucky me! It's going to be fun to interview people and elaborate on some of the cultural/social/political themes running through the story. Should make for an interesting film.
Let me know what you all think about what happened. Until next time…
Of Philosophy And Documentaries
There's not a lot to update on except to say that I went to Shanghai for 5 days. It was fun - Shanghai is like the New York City of China. Tall buildings, Westernized commodities, and a lot of people from all over. A lot of people there speak English, so it's not very hard to get around. I checked out a couple of cool places (Shanghai Museum, the Bundt, Museum of Sex Culture, the local market, etc.) but most of my time was spent just wandering around the city and taking it all in. Good times.
I've started my class on Chinese Philosophy, which is fascinating. Chinese culture and belief structures have been strongly influenced by 3 main ideologies: Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. The three have kind of blended together over thousands of years so what you have now is kind of a mish-mash hybrid cultural philosophy, and one that has also been significantly influenced by things like feudal society as well as the rise of Communism. It's really quite fascinating, particularly when one compares Chinese philosophy with a more Western religious tradition. There are actually quite a number of broad similarities - for example, when the Jesuits first arrived in China and began to preach Christianity, it was thought by many to just be another strand of Buddhism.
I have begun work on my documentary about what happened at the airport in Kunming. It's slow going. I've discovered that making a structured, logical narrative out of a bunch of random footage and interviews is easier said than done. My goal is to have a very rough cut finished by December 13 to present to everyone here, but I'm positive that I will be working on this well into next year. There are so many different themes and concepts to develop (some of them unexpected) that it is going to take some time to find the patterns and decide which are worth pursuing. I definitely won't be able to focus on everything, or instead of a documentary I'll end up with a jumbled mess of ideas and tangents that don't really go anywhere. I still have a few professors to interview, as well as some students who were there at the airport. I'm also trying to track down two of the Chinese passengers to see if they're in Beijing and would be willing to be interviewed, and am going to try and contact the Ministry of Transportation to see if they would like to officially comment on what happened. Also, this project is potentially something that could be submitted to film festivals and the like, so I'm having to think about all that involves as well - proper sound and color correction, forms of consent, etc. The film is still very much in its early stages, though, and a lot how the final project turns out and where it potentially goes will be determined by what I'm able to accomplish within the next few weeks. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it. Wish me luck.
I've started my class on Chinese Philosophy, which is fascinating. Chinese culture and belief structures have been strongly influenced by 3 main ideologies: Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. The three have kind of blended together over thousands of years so what you have now is kind of a mish-mash hybrid cultural philosophy, and one that has also been significantly influenced by things like feudal society as well as the rise of Communism. It's really quite fascinating, particularly when one compares Chinese philosophy with a more Western religious tradition. There are actually quite a number of broad similarities - for example, when the Jesuits first arrived in China and began to preach Christianity, it was thought by many to just be another strand of Buddhism.
I have begun work on my documentary about what happened at the airport in Kunming. It's slow going. I've discovered that making a structured, logical narrative out of a bunch of random footage and interviews is easier said than done. My goal is to have a very rough cut finished by December 13 to present to everyone here, but I'm positive that I will be working on this well into next year. There are so many different themes and concepts to develop (some of them unexpected) that it is going to take some time to find the patterns and decide which are worth pursuing. I definitely won't be able to focus on everything, or instead of a documentary I'll end up with a jumbled mess of ideas and tangents that don't really go anywhere. I still have a few professors to interview, as well as some students who were there at the airport. I'm also trying to track down two of the Chinese passengers to see if they're in Beijing and would be willing to be interviewed, and am going to try and contact the Ministry of Transportation to see if they would like to officially comment on what happened. Also, this project is potentially something that could be submitted to film festivals and the like, so I'm having to think about all that involves as well - proper sound and color correction, forms of consent, etc. The film is still very much in its early stages, though, and a lot how the final project turns out and where it potentially goes will be determined by what I'm able to accomplish within the next few weeks. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it. Wish me luck.
Closing Thoughts
It's been a while since I updated everyone on the happenings here in China. The truth is, other than lots and lots of busy schoolwork, not a lot has happened. The last few days in particular have been extremely stressful. I've had exams, and papers, and even had to write an article for the IES newsletter about the airport strike. On Monday I had my oral Chinese exam. On Tuesday I had my written Chinese exam. On Wednesday I had my Philosophy final and a Philosophy report to turn in. Wednesday night my Chinese class had to perform a skit for the closing "China Night" ceremony. After pulling an all-nighter to prepare and edit my documentary, this morning I had to present my semester-long findings on the Chinese film industry. Then, in the afternoon, I showed a rough cut of my documentary about what happened at the Kunming Airport. The response was overall very positive, so that's good, but as a result of so much hard work I am the most exhausted I have been in a long while.
At the same time, though, I'm kind of sad. Classes are over. I've got a week left to spend in Beijing, and then it's back to the United States. I'm going to miss China. It's funny how you end up saying goodbye to places just when it feels like they're starting to say hello. I'll definitely have to come back here... anyone care to join me for the Olympics?
At the same time, though, I'm kind of sad. Classes are over. I've got a week left to spend in Beijing, and then it's back to the United States. I'm going to miss China. It's funny how you end up saying goodbye to places just when it feels like they're starting to say hello. I'll definitely have to come back here... anyone care to join me for the Olympics?
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