So I am behind in blogs. I'm sorry! A lot has happened..so I will try to catch up chronologically. The end of the semester was bittersweet because exams were over but we had to say goodbye to those friends that would not do the next semester here in Beijing.
This was our last class get-together. These are my teachers and classmates plus a few guests! We said goodbye to Courtney with a cook-out at his Uncle's house in a swanky expat section of Beijing. We had a real grill, a real oven, and real cupcakes. Unimaginable! Here are some of us enjoying the spread. His Korean classmates also made some treats, the French provided beverages, the Germans provided pastries, and the Americans provided the meat. :-) The cupcakes were made by yours truly, and they were so good that Prunelle got a little rowdy and had to smear some icing. We will miss you Courtney! I hope to see you in England!
When trying to discuss the differences between our U.S. and China lifestyles, I like the way Sarah said it- "We are spoiled in a whole new way in China." When asked to decide which life I like better, it is impossible to say. Each one has its own comforts and high points. We are spoiled in the U.S. with comfort, English, air conditioning, personal cars, rules and laws that are respected, cleaner air, less governmental corruption, etc. However, as expatriates in China, we are able to live lives above the level we could experience in the U.S. on the same budget. "Student" budgets are tight in the States, with the ever-so-familiar cheap apartment, cheap food, limited travel abilities, etc. Here in China I do things that I could not dream of in the States, like going to acupuncture 3 times a week, having clothes made at the tailor, getting pedicures and manicures at the same time, eating out once or twice a day in restaurants, having a maid come to the apartment once a week, etc. My acupuncture sessions cost about $7.60 per hour, and the biggest Chinese meals are never over $2.50, and a housekeeper is $1.25/hour. All of that together doesn't even come to the cost of one dinner in the States. Of course, we trade this nicer personal lifestyle for the larger external environment that comes with a developing economy. It is less stable, more complicated, but intensely stimulating. There's the answer: who knows. I've been asked repeatedly what I think is better, and of course that answer depends on your personality and preference, but I think it is safe to say that I am comfortable in both for the time being. We are already discussing the reverse culture shock that will occur next year when we have to move back to a student lifestyle in South Carolina!
I decided that we needed to get a group together and be very American on Wednesday night to celebrate the 4th of July. Fortunately, there were about 8 others that agreed to go to Beijing's Hardrock Cafe with me. This was most of the group: There was live music from an English-speaking Filipino band that was actually very good. When you get down to it, the food isn't so great for the relative price. We spent about $25 a piece on appetizer, drinks, food, dessert. In Chinese terms, that's unheard of for most people. It was my first burger in about 6 months, and definitely the best dessert in that time! This is Malte and I addressing the hot fudge brownie sundae. (Something I never thought could be eaten in China..but we found it.) It is dangerous...something that should remain a treat for once every 6 months! Happy 4th everyone! Leave me a comment and tell me what you did to celebrate! There were no fireworks here because of rain, but we still had a blast celebrating.
The American Chamber of Commerce put on an event here in Beijing for a few hundred people last Saturday. The whole thing was interesting. It would have been wonderful without the constant, heavy rain. It was in a resort outside of the city with live music, fireworks, and entertainment, almost all of which was cancelled because of the rain. The funny things was that they called it "Red, White, and BBQ" and got our hopes up for a real American cookout...but this is what they served: That's right! You are looking at McDonalds and Budweiser. Unfortunately, the only cuisine connected with the U.S. in China is McDonalds...and that even goes for the American Chamber of Commerce! At least we got a chance to dress up in tacky red white and blue outfits and wave some flags around! These kids were particularly patriotic and cute: No need to worry, we have something of our own planned for Wednesday the 4th...we need to do this thing right!
The thing about Beijing and most large cities is that there is a plethora of restaurants to chose from- upscale, homey, chic, cheesy, whatever you want. We often use weekends as a chance to explore different places. This Friday we went with two of our fellow USC alumni that live here in Beijing to Haiku, a classy Japanese restaurant and lounge bar opened by another Moore alumni and his partners. The sushi bar was circular and blue and produced some of the best sushi I've ever had! This was the group that went that night: Saturday night I went with my class for a going-away party to visit a Thai restaurant that seemed to resemble Disney Thai, although our Thai classmate said that food was actually authentic. The singing, dancing and games made dinner quite the entertainment process. This is a video of the waitresses dancing next to the table!
This is me with the class and some French friends: These are some of the girls from class and my teacher sitting at my left. Yes, she is only 25, so she looks like one of us! All in all, we have visited quite a few places but still have an extensive wish-list...there are too many magazine restaurant critiques to keep up with! Definitely go to Haiku for the food and atmosphere if you get the chance, and Banana Leaf if you are just looking for entertainment!
If Seattle has the worst suicide rate in the U.S. because of the weather, it really makes we worry for China. Although we have some beautiful blue skies around here sometimes, weeks like this make them hard to remember. It is a cross between humidity and smog, leaving very low visibility. Lots of people wear masks on the street in hopes to avoid some of the bad air. This was on today's CNN page, I found it interesting if you want to take a look: href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/20/china.climate.ap/index.html"
Turns out China has surpassed the U.S. as the world's worst polluter, by 8%, but promises to have it cleaned up by the Olympics. We can only hope. This stems from a a couple of decades of promoting fast development at all costs. It is only in recent years that the people and politicians are seeing the costs they have created and the amount of attention it stirs up in the international arena. There will always be an positive and negative side to everything. Measures will be put in place to protect the environment, as the once rock-bottom cost of doing business in China- the main attraction to investors- begins to increase in the form of regulations compliance, taxes, etc.
Over the weekend I went on a sudo-business trip. I thought I was going to check out a trade show, but the situation turned out to be much more complicated. I don't want to mention the people or place I was in, but we were misrepresented as American investors to a province seeking to stimulate its economy. I was told not to say I was a student or give them my business card with my school name. We met with governors, mayors, entrepreneurs with business plans, etc. The meals were lavish, the rooms were decorated presidentially, we had one translator per person, a TV channel following us around, and I could not have felt more uncomfortable. My feeling is that the middlemen were actually at fault. They lied to their superiors telling them that we were investors, and then the superiors lied to all of the hopeful business start-ups telling them that we were an opportunity. After the first day, however, I found a way to sneak out of it with Adrian and we got a little touring done instead. You can imagine that I learned a lot, but it was also one of the most stressful things I have done since I have been here. Here are a few of the key points that I took away from it all though:
1) China is impossible to navigate without flexibility. Key phrase of this weekend was "Go with the flow." The difference between people that have lived here for some time and those that have never really sunk their teeth into the culture is painfully obvious. It is the difference between an understanding, smooth attitude and a complaining, argumentative one.
2) Things are not what they seem. Situations, things, people, all need more investigation than they do in the States. It comes from a combination of indirect communication, saving face, collectivism, and thousands of years of history. There is less respect for directness, "putting your cards on the table," or using an external system instead of a network of friends to get something done. So as a Westerner, my goal is to sift through all of these layers and figure out what it is I am looking at, and respond appropriately. Easier said than done.
3) The concept of "face" (gaining it, saving it, and losing it) is extremely powerful and increases in importance as you move up the chain of command. The higher the status or position of a person, the more face plays a role in every move that is made. Dealing with government officials on this trip was sometimes very frustrating because things are sometimes done in the hidden name of "face" and nothing else. As an American, if I don't see any mutually beneficial outcome or productive result, I just assume not do it. Here, again, is where flexibility comes in.
And just for fun, a few of our playing pictures! We took a boat ride to wander around an island for an afternoon, and this was the coastline of the city: On the island, there were deer that we bought food to feed! One night we saw an amazing song/dance show put on by hundreds of people. This type of thing would never happen in the States, as one dance company could not afford to pay 400 people, but China pulls out all the cards to impress. It just makes me wonder, WHAT will happen for the long-awaited opening ceremony of the Olympics?
Right. So I can't explain how this picture got into City Weekend's Beijing 2007 Bar and Restaurant Guide, under the night-life section...but here we are on the front page with an article entitled "Party Animals." That night we were dancing to 80's music while a photographer with a huge camera was poking around. There are three of us from USC, another American, and three French friends in the picture...all classmates of ours. Little did we know that we would discover ourselves a month later in one of Beijing's most popular expatriate reads, under such an inaccurate title! :-)
Last week was the first karaoke experience at KTV Party World. The place is a mansion with a free buffet, marble walls and floors, chandeliers, and waitors everywhere. It is definitely not the shady bar experience we think of in the states. If it is to be the favorite past-time of an entire country, it must be done right! The individual rooms are rented out with all the equipment including large TVs, leather couches, computer control system, microphones, tambourines, etc. All embarrassment must be left at the door and you sing as loud as you can because you certainly can't hear yourself! This is Sarah and I doing our rendition of "I Love Rock and Roll." And Adrian and Jean get into it with maracas! This isn't a great video (blame Adrian) but at least you can look around the room. Be happy I didn't post the video of us singing "We are the Champions!" The two Chinese guys are Jay and Jason, friends of ours. Altogether we were about 4 foreigners and 7 Chinese. What a night! Beware...if you come visit....you might just have to hold a microphone!
Our adviser from USC has been in Beijing over the weekend to meet with various Chinese universities, students and alumni throughout China. Friday night we had a dinner with everyone from alumni to prospective students and met a lot of interesting people. The Moore School has a greater presence in China than I would have imagined. Some alumni are VP of companies like Sony or Apple, while others are opening restaurants, managing information systems, doing marketing consulting, etc. It was an inspiring experience that also left everyone wondering...which path do I chose? We were given this diagram back in the U.S. to outline different specialties and organizational structures we might want to work under. However, this is only the beginning of the decision making! Our lunch and private meetings with the adviser brought more hours of discussion. Which functional specialty? Large multinational or local Chinese company? What location? What industry? How to start deciding and looking? These are all things that we are hammering out these days as we try to keep our minds on the goal and the MBA and not get caught up in the relative ease of our daily language study. After three months of break-time and fun it is interesting to watch how everyone has shifted into a search for productivity. We are searching out ways, whether it be part-time jobs, volunteer work, etc. to utilize our skills and create results. I have gone ahead and paid my deposit for next semester at the University of International Business and Economics, which means I will continue to study language there until December, but I did so knowing that it will have to be accompanied by business classes in Chinese, private tutoring, or a part-time job. One step at a time...but I will keep you updated with the plans for the next 15 months as they unfold.
Last week was a class field trip to the 798 Art district here in Beijing. It is an extensive factory built in 1952 to make weapons that has been turned into galleries, lofts for artists, cafes, etc. I went with most of the folks from my class, some of us are in the picture below. We are French, American, Peruvian, Indonesian, German, Korean and Vietnamese. The theme of contradictions was particularly strong throughout the entire trip. Artists who's ideas had been repressed during the era when this factory was operational were now almost overly expressive in their artwork. I enjoyed this scene in the picture. The red words overhead approximately say, "Make the factory a school for Mao Zedong's Ideology." Below the fading slogan are two designers on imported iMac computers busy at work. hmm.. Then we say many pieces of artwork that involved Mao like this pink statue... And this interesting set of ads like this one that combined the slogan "Read Mao's little red book" with Western advertising slogans like Nike's "Just do it!" Who knows...but Chinese Modern Art is certainly an interesting experience!
I earned my first little bit of money here in Beijing today doing voice recording in English. I was contacted through the school and recorded some stuff for software for an electronics company. It was quite the experience. I spent 4 hours working for $100, was picked up and dropped off by a car, and then treated to dinner afterwards by the three guys that hired me. It was a fun experience, and it sounds like they will be calling me again. This is apparently something that lots of foreigners do here in Beijing, as people are always needed to voice record in languages other than Chinese. I actually got a lot of Chinese practice in during dinner and car rides, so I hope this becomes a regular thing. There are so many little part-time jobs like this one to be found in Beijing, and speaking fluent English is a much more valuable asset than one would think!
Last week was nice because I got to see some old friends a couple of times as the annual Clemson trip passed through Beijing. Jessica's dad, Mr. Campbell, as well as Josh Lawrence and three of my professors were in the group. I went out two days and evenings with the group and had a fun time experiencing South Carolina indirectly. This is the first night in Beijing when we went out to dinner... It was nice to take them to my favorite street and introduce them to all the friendly shop owners that have now seen me several times. These guys own one store that we always go into. Sometimes we buy things, sometimes we don't, but we always have good laughs in Chinese and drink tea with them. This time they gave me a free Beijing Olympics hat! The guy on the right says he likes Americans a lot because of their direct and open attitudes...but he also says that we grow up to look a lot older than we are. Oh well. You win some and lose some, right?
When we were looking for something specific, one shop owner sent me to a place called "Wa'er ma." It took me a minute to figure out that she was talking about Wal-mart and then we all had a good laugh. I hadn't been to one in Beijing, so we went on a search. The first indication we were on the right track was this jovial street sweeper! Walking into the Wal-mart was like a breath of fresh air. Clean aisles, low prices, and a wide selection of products separated it from our typical Chinese shopping experience. Although most products were adapted to the Chinese market, the style in which they were presented was still very much the same. Josh especially enjoyed it as it was his first time out of the country and this store relieved quite a bit of culture shock from the last two weeks!
The last taste of home was a lovely cappuccino and cake back at the hotel cafe with some hours of good conversation. A very nice visit, indeed! I hope to see more of you over here in Beijing!
This is the third and final post from the vacation. Lijiang was our last city and it was my favorite. It is more difficult to get to because you have to cross through a mountain range on a big bus so the ride wasn't pleasant. The old city is quaint and well-done, even if it is mostly newly restored. It is in a valley between many mountains and at an altitude of about 2400 meters. We stayed in a guesthouse called "Mama Naxi" and Mama and Papa served as our travel agents the whole time we were there. This is us with Mama: And an older generation of Naxi people: By the time we left we could swear that the altitude or overly sunny weather got to the people. The citizens of Lijiang all seemed slightly (or at times a lot) crazier than the other Yunnanese people we had met. Papa would yell questions at you with noodles hanging out of his mouth only to forget what you said five minutes later. Somehow, out of the chaos, they managed to do all kinds of things for us like rent bikes, reserve a car for a day, buy our bus tickets, etc. A bizarre system, but it worked. This is the Naxi people doing a dance with some regular bystanders in the square. About 30 seconds into it I start narrarating:
And this is where we ate dinner the first night. Very crowed, a little touristy, but a nice spot next to a canal. Lijiang had a park that we went to our last night that was gorgeous. At dusk it had the best view of the highest mountain in the area. We climbed a hill at dusk to overlook the city. This was a view from the same park of Lijiang at night: And when we came down from the hill, the entire park was lit up with multi-colored lights. What a beautiful place! The last part of Lijiang that needs mentioning is our trip to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. This is a Gorge between two mountains that is actually deeper than the Grand Canyon. We went on a walk through the gorge. This is just a small introduction video.
Next time we go back to Yunnan, I hope we leave enough time to hike the upper trail!
I'm sorry for the late arrival of part II. Dali and Lijiang were both smaller, unique cities in Yunnan. Dali is famous for the Bai nationality whereas Lijiang was famous for the Naxi nationality. Both had their own language, customs and different style of dress. In Dali we got off of the bus and jumped in a taxi that told us we shouldn't go to that hostel, but another one instead for various reasons. We took his recommendation and ended up at his buddy's guesthouse that turned out to be our favorite place in the whole trip. We checked in and explored what they called the "Ancient City" which was a walled-off section in the center. This is the three of us in front of the gate: And the city after the sun went down: Dali is famous for the three pagodas, the Bai people, a beautiful lake, the old city, and some other things. I particularly enjoyed the day we rode around a lake, visited a cave and the Bai village. All along the way there were people in every nook and cranny of the rice fields working with the pointy hats and an ox nearby. It really reminded me that a larger percentage of the Chinese are not in a big city like we were, and how different their lifestyle is from what we consider our normal Chinese life.
This woman ran to sell us fruit when we stopped to take a picture: And this is me with three Bai women: Finally, the South is more mountainous than Beijing. Bicycle entrepreneurship takes a little more effort sometimes...
This past week was a labor day vacation in China- a whole week where no one goes to school or work, and everyone travels! We took off to Yunnan and saw Kunming, Dali and Lijiang cities while we were there. If only we had more time! Yunnan is a beautiful province with gorgeous landscapes and many colorful minority cultures. It was certainly a different China from the Beijing that we live in every day. Getting there was a challenge. The "23 hour" train ride turned out to be a solid 48 hours, and we didn't know that until we were 3 hours into it. Somehow we passed the time looking at increasingly green surroundings with farmers working the fields, playing cards, and reading the travel book. Leaving Friday night, we finally made it there Sunday Morning.
I figure I'll use this blog to talk about Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, and then write the others later. Kunming is a relaxed city, probably around 5 million people. We saw a Buddhist temple and the Grand View Park that were especially impressive. This is a shot of the temple... We stayed in the Camellia Youth Hostel at the beginning and end of the trip for a mere 30 Yuan per night. ($3.75) One night we went out for Muslim food because we had read that the Muslim population in Kunming was prominent and there was an entire street with their restaurants and snack stalls. Dinner wasn’t the greatest, mostly because we didn’t know how to order, but we walked around a beautiful pedestrian area later. The buildings are lit up like a cross between Beijing and Las Vegas and everyone floods the streets at night for a stroll.
Right now China is such a fascinating merge of cultures. Everything seems to be bi-cultural, with essences of Eastern and Western twisted together. For example, in the plaza there was a demonstration of traditional minority culture dances but one of the groups did a routine to the song, “Who let the dogs out?!” What? I could do nothing but watch it with my jaw dropped.
We saw the Grand View Park on Saturday, our last day before our flight to Beijing. This was a highlight because it was so beautiful, relaxed and fun. All flowers were in bloom, and the park was full of beautiful walkways, waterways and open areas. Being the last weekend of the holiday, the park was full of people including couples, families and groups of elderly people. I thought kids running around in human-size hamster balls were particularly interesting: We took a gondola-ish ride…for only $1.25 per person. Sure beats Venetian prices! This was our boat.. We also rode bumper cars and the boys did a crazy ride that shot them up in the air. Just a quick video of the bumper cars:
Adrian bought a kite and we spent hours trying, succeeding and failing at flying it. There were bunches of kites in the air, and the funniest moments were when we got them tangled and had to do a dance with the pro-kite-flying Chinese men to get the wires untwisted.
Other than that, we just made hats out of clovers and got completely sunburned enjoying the afternoon. I will have to write about Dali and Lijiang cities later. They were beautiful and also full of adventures!
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