Yunnan Pictures

I am back from my travels around the Yunnan Province of Southern China.  It was an incredible trip and the scenery was phenomenal.  Check out the new pictures I posted.

pictures

I posted pictures of my family’s trip in China.

Next few days I’ll post a big entry.

Chanukkha and 4-Star Bathrooms

Its been too long since I last wrote so get ready for a big update.  I had been traveling around China with friends and family for the past 3 weeks.  Since my website is blocked here in China, I had no way of updating the blog while my family was here.

My last few weeks studying in Beijing were really incredible for two reasons.  First, most students overnight decided to forget about the language pledge.  For the most part, we had been speaking Chinese to each other before and could never have complex conversations.  Many students tried to sound more Chinese and often used Chinese slang.   For example, I tried to become more colloquial and mimicked my roommate.  Unfortunately, my roommate mumbles and 60% of the time responds by saying Wa! or Ah!.  For a couple of weeks, I think I said Wa! or Ah!  at least twice in every conversation.  Once we started speaking English it was like we were completely different people.

The second factor was Chanukkha.  Being a Jew in Beijing is about as exciting as it sounds.  Small, temporary community.   Few events. Fewer synagogues. 

But then came Chanukkha.

 As the holiday approached, the few Jewish kids each contributed something to celebrate the holiday.  In the end, we had one menorah, 60 jelly-donuts (soufganiot), 6 bottles of beer, and 20 Chinese students wanting to celebrate.  We told the story of Chanukkha to our Chinese roommates and then taught everyone Israeli songs and dances.  We even did the full Hora.  Everything was going so great, but then we couldn’t find the menorah.  Someone must have thought it was junk and threw it out.  It didn’t matter.  We celebrated each night with whatever improvisational menorah we could use.  Every night we went to a room and proudly sang Hebrew songs, and every night a roommate asked why we were lighting fires and shouting in a foreign language.  It brought us much closer and deeply confused most of the Chinese roommates.

Some quick observations from my traveling.  First, many bathrooms by major tourist sites are rated on a 4-star scale.   As we left the Forbidden City, we had the privilege of using a 4-Star bathroom.  My friends from the states were expecting an above-average restroom.  Unfortunately, they were disappointed to find a simple bathroom with spit-cans on top of the urinals.  The spit-cans were old beer cans cut in half.  What really caught my attention was the sign in Chinese above each urinal.  The sign said “Take one step forward, take a big step toward civility.”  Its interesting to see how the government communicates to the masses in order to bring about change.  In the West we pursue sanitation and manners as goods in themselves, and our bathroom habits have no connection to politics.   Here it seems that sanitation and manners are pursued more to improve the country’s image.  Wherever you go in China, I am sure you will find a red poster with some slogan about building a more civilized society.  Its interesting that a civilization with almost 6000 years of history is trying to adopt a Western standard of civility, manners, and cleanliness. 

I’ll post more soon along with some pictures of the traveling.

The Underground City

Wanting to make the most of my last few weeks in Beijing, I decided to go check out some of the more touristy areas.  The most interesting place I saw was the Underground City.  The Underground City was built by Mao in the 60’s in case of a nuclear war with the Soviets.  In 2000 it was opened to foreign tourists, but Chinese nationals are not allowed in. 

We took the subway to Tiananmen to get there.  The surrounding area is very well developed and includes most of the government buildings.   However, you only have to walk a few minutes and it feels like you have passed through time.  Beijing’s traditonal alleys look as if they havent been touched since World War II.  Garbage is everywhere.  There is no running water or indoor plumbing.  Walls have collapsed in about half the buildings, and propoganda posters are everywhere. 

The government posters are visibly different in this part of town.  Even the language they use is more intense.  It makes sense that poorer areas tend to have more government slogans and propoganda. 

We finally find the entrance to the Underground City in this litte neighborhood.  The woman who opens the door is draped in military fatigues.  We buy our tickets and start descending into the city. 

She tells us we can take as many pictures as we want; until we get to the city.  Unfortunately, none of us were interested in taking pictures of the empty staircase.

What’s the first thing you see as you enter the city?  Take a guess.  Mao.  A huge poster of Chairman Mao.

The tourguide then leads us around the basic parts of the city: the hospital, school, restaurant, and movie theater.  I told her I was surprised that the government valued arts and entertainment so much.  She then told me that the movie theater was actually built to show government sponsored films.  I should have guessed.

She continued to leads us through narrow hallways decorated with military pictures and paraphenilia until we arrived at a silk market.  The silk market was packed with other foreigners all looking to buy cheap silk products.  The best part is that the goods are all tax free.  Only in China does the government turn a bomb shelter into a silk market. 

Xiang Qian Zou (Running Towards Money)

As my time in Beijing is beginning to end, I feel like I am just now starting to realize so much about China.  Thankfully, I have another 7 months in China to come to many more realizations.  This week in our Chinese class we learned about the Cultural Revolution and the reforms under Deng Xiao Ping.  What makes China so exciting is that only opened up to the world 30 years ago.  China was one of the poorest countries in the world at the time, and now has more billionaires then every country but Japan and America.

Our teachers talked to us about life during the Cultural Revolution and all the hardships they faced.  They had to use stamps to buy food.  The stamps were for grain and oil; almost no one could eat meat.  What really blew my mind was that the stamps were still being used as late as 1993.  In the nation’s capital.  Until 14 years ago, people were still rationing food in Beijing. 

I met someone who came to Beijing in 1994 for business.  He said Beijing literally had no restaurants at the time.  The rich ate at hotels and the poor ate at home.  Now, Beijing is filled with restaurants.  Every corner has some kind of restaurant.  You can find any type of restaurant in Beijing.  Italian, French, Japanese, Tex-Mex, Korean, Middle Eastern, etc.  Beijing even has a kosher restaurant. 
 
As much as I complain about China’s pollution and family planning policies, the country is incredibly efficient at developing the economy.  China has no elections or labor unions to worry about.  No free press.  Weak private property laws.  No interest groups worrying about pollution or human rights.  Sounds horrible.

But, when you want to build a skyscraper it makes everything a whole lot easier.  This  Authoritarian-Capitalist idea isn’t new, it more-or-less happened in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.  Those countries had pollution levels just as bad as China’s today.  But those countries don’t have 1.3 billion people.  In fact, those 4 countries combined don’t even have 1/4 of China’s population.  Its cool to see a country so big and people with so much history becoming relevant again.

On a lighter note, Chinese students are not very professional.  Especially the girls.  It seems like no one takes the girls seriously here.  Most young girls have no opinions on any important issues and tell you politics are for men.  Students in general have a hard time appearing professional.  For example, I went to a formal event held by students this weekend.  A speaker wanted to show us a video but he couldnt find the file. Two girls quickly ran to try to solve the problem.  They ran with their arms waving up and down and as if their feet were still bound.  They then starting panicking until someone else came to help them.  I don’t get it.  A Chinese friend of mine decided to start jogging recently.  I saw her getting ready to go jogging wearing a cashmere sweater and jeans.  She isn’t the only one.  My roommate occasionally works out in a suit jacket

Beijing Subway

I realized this weekend that I haven’t seen enough of Beijing and only have a month left.  Plus, I almost always go out with friends and dont get a chance to really meet the locals.  So I decided to roam Beijing by myself with absolutely no idea of where I was going.
I ended up taking the subway until the very end of the red line.  It took me about an hour and a half to get there because the subway was so packed.  When I say packed, I mean packed for China.  Think of everytime you have ever felt crowded in a public area, and then triple the amount of people.  Now imagine all of them squeezed into a smaller space and you have an idea of what it feels like to ride the Beijing subway during rush hour. 

It was the first time that I felt like I could be seriously injured because of all the people.  My friends also rode the subway around the same time, and saw an older woman trampled by a mass of people.  When I squeezed myself into one of the cars, I got pushed into the back door and heard women yelling behind me.  It was complete chaos.  No one waited for others to get off the subway before getting on, it was a free-for-all.  Think survival of the fittest. 

There were guards standing outside the subway car directing people when and where to get on.  The guard told everyone to stand in line and would try to even the lines by moving people around.  When the subway car arrived, he would make sure that people were able to get off the car before everyone stormed in.  He also made sure that the cars don’t get too crowded.  I was pushing myself into one of the cars when I heard him yelling something at me.  All I heard was kuai…, which means fast or hurry.  I assumed he wanted me to push harder and get in the car before the doors close.  As I went for a final push, I felt someone grab my arms from behind me and pull me back.  I thought it was a rude person who wanted to get into the car.  I kept on pushing forward trying to free myself from this person’s grip. 

It turns out the guard was holding my arms because he didnt want me to get into the already crowded car.  In fact, he had asked me to quickly move away from the car becuase it was too crowded.  This is the subway on a regular weekend.  Imagine how packed it will be when the city is flooded with tourists and no one is allowed to drive their car. 

Are you excited for the 2008 Olympics?  Maybe they can add to the games by having a competition to see which subway car can pack the most people.

Xian Update

I spent the last few days in Xian, the capital of seven ancient Chinese dynasties.  It was interesting to see 2000 year old monuments surrounded by pollution.  I posted some pictures from the trip.

On the lighter side, my roommate has become my best friend in China, and we had some great moments in Xian.  He loves politics and history, and is brilliant when it comes to book smarts.  However, him and I could both use some more common sense. 

On Saturday night I was so tired that I collapsed as soon as we got back to the room.  I woke up around 2 in the morning and found my roommate watching HBO and drinking a Budweiser.  All the lights were on and he had a bottle of Jack Daniel’s on his nightstand.   My roommate  is from the countryside and doesn’t spend a lot on food and clothes.  He wont even go out in Beijing because its too expensive.  You can imagine my surprise when I saw him with a Budweiser and Jack Daniels. 

I asked him where he bought the alcohol.  He told me that we got it as a gift.  I wondered who was giving out expensive American whisky as gifts.  My roommate then told me that our light couldn’t turn off and that he wasnt able to fall asleep.  I was exhausted, and without paying much attention to the situation thought that we should call the lobby.  We had someone sent up immediately.  While we were waiting, my roommate went to the minibar to get something to drink.  I told him that the minibar is not free and actually very expensive.  He was still convinced that the drinks were free because they were placed in our room.   Once the guy arrived to fix our light, we realized that all we had to do was turn the light off using the electronic keyboard next to our beds.  My roommate then asked the man if the drinks were complimentary. 

The man from the hotel thought that we were two dummies who need to get out more. 

Maybe knowledge of modern products should be a measure of economic development.  You could look at the percentage of a country’s population that know about Hotel Minibars, wireless internet, Google/Microsoft, etc.

Worlds Colliding

I feel like I have reached a big point in my relationship with China.  I am no longer the naive, overly optimistic tourist.  I am finally sick of eating the same food wherever I go.  I’m starting to realize that I’m taking years off my life span just breathing the air here, and that the restaurants would fail every standard set by the US Health Department.  While restaurant kitchens may not be so clean in the states, most places at least appear to be clean.  If they don’t look clean, they at least cover up their kitchen e.g. Veggie Heaven. 

Here, sanitation is secondary.  I have seen a waiter pull a fish out of a disgusting fish tank, then throw it onto the filthy floor and get ready to cook it.  This all happened right in the front of the restaurant where all the customers could see.

At the same time, Beijing is the only place that I can call home on this continent.  And I am starting to fit in much more.  I talk to cab drivers as if I were one of them, slurring my words and refusing to use more than 3 words in a sentence.  I follow the politics and sometimes know more than some of my Chinese friends.  Most importantly, I am finally starting to pick and choose what I like about Chinese culture.

My roommate has introduced me to Chinese movies and music, and I introduced him to Seinfeld and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.  Great times all around. 

He loves George.  From all of the well-known American TV shows, I would think that Seinfeld would be the least likely to translate well into different cultures. 

I was wrong.  My roommate relates to George over-analyzing every situation.  Chinese culture is full of subtle actions that symbolize and hint at a much deeper meaning.  

He likes Seinfeld so much that he is going to buy the DVDs.

Mini-Update

My roommate and I have a very laid back friendship.  He uses my stuff as he pleases and vice versa.  I was looking through his books today and I found this: The History of Jewish Culture.  The book was written by the famous Chinese historian Qian Cheng Dan.  It looks like a legitimate book, but I was pretty surprised that Chinese historians would research Jewish culture. 

I’ll post more this weekend.  Shabbat Shalom

Tibet: Part 2

What made Tibet especially interesting for me was it’s parallels with Jerusalem. Lhasa means “holy land” in Tibetan, and it is also the capital of the region. Lhasa has an old city and a new city. Tibetans walk around Lhasa holding prayer wells and repeating prayers in Tibetan. Tibetan monks can be found throughout the city wearing their traditional red robes. Most importantly, Lhasa just has the feeling of a spiritual center.

People come from all over Tibet to visit Lhasa and its holy sites. Some of these travelers will spend up to 2 years walking/bowing to get there. When I say walking/bowing, I mean taking a step then bowing, taking a step then bowing, etc.  People bow this way all over Lhasa. The rural Tibetans often come with their entire families to Lhasa. These visits can be once every decade or once in a lifetime. For these reasons, it’s hard not to feel the energy when you are in Lhasa.

I thought it was interesting that I was so excited to see religious Buddhists. If anything, one of the things that I have missed most while in China is religious people. The majority of Chinese are staunch Maoists Atheists. I loved seeing the intense monks who are isolated from the modern world. Everything seemed so exotic.

Then it hit me. If I brought Chinese tourists to Jerusalem or B’nei Brak, they would think that the ultra-orthodox Jews are just as exotic. All the men have long beards and walk around in black suits and black hats. People can be found praying throughout the city. If you walked in a synagogue, you would see people loudly mumbling prayers in a foreign language. Many Charedis don’t own television sets and live a life isolated from many parts of the modern world. I thought it was interesting that many secular Europeans and Americans are so enamored by these religious Buddhists, yet so turned off by religious Jews or Christians.

I can sort of relate to the difference in feelings. I have no connection and almost no understanding of Buddhism. I am not worried about a Buddhist relative coming and asking me to go live in a monastery for the next few years.  It’s easy to be infatuated with something if it demands nothing from you.  However, I DO have Jewish relatives who want me to spend a few years in a yeshiva and live similar life styles to them.

In all, it made me appreciate my own peoples’ customs a little more.

On a lighter note, I became a B-list celebrity on the train ride back to Beijing. The train ride back to Beijing has almost no foreigners because, hey, who wants to ride on a train for 50 hours.

A brave group of middle-aged Americans were on the train, and they did not speak a single word of Chinese. We ended up translating for them because they were convinced the waitress on the train was trying to steal their money.  As I walked back to my cabin, I saw an American friend of mine talking to a group of older Chinese men.  She had asked them not to smoke and it looked a little bit tense.  Trying to break the ice, I joked with them in Chinese that we could all smoke together.  They wouldn’t stop shaking my hand and praising me after they realized I spoke Chinese.

After a few minutes of talking to the men in Chinese, they decided they wanted to get a picture of them and these 2 Chinese-speaking American students.  We posed this way.  And then we posed in a different place.   The lighting wasn’t good.  Another person wanted to use his own camera.  Before I knew it, about 35 Chinese people had all crowded in this hallway to get pictures of us posing.  I told them that my friend didn’t have a boyfriend, and the train roared with laughter.  These drunk Chinese businessmen and women decided they wanted to do single pictures.  A 45-year old woman posed with me, and an older man posed with my friend.  Each time I made a joke in Chinese, the crowd got louder and louder.

What an experience.  As soon as I got back to my cabin, one of the older men brought fruit over as a gift.  Every time I went to use the restroom, I was stopped by someone and had a half-hour conversation about how I have learned Chinese.

Maybe I can go on tour here.