I hate finals.

However I love the fact that my sister is here in Beijing to cheer me on. Now back to work.

Done with this semester in 36 hours!!

Procrastination, An Addendum

To be fair, the previous post characterizing the harmonizing tendency of Chinese society doesn't necessarily cover ALL of Chinese society. After all, trying to characterize any group of 1.3 billion people is a very difficult, if not impossible task. China is slowly assimilating more "Western" values, such as individualism, human rights and free speech. I call them "Western," because they are predominately traits found in the United States and European countries. China was getting along fine without any of those things for a while, at least in their eyes.

No, really. One of my Chinese roommates here at Peking University once told me, "You guys think human rights are really important. Here in China... it's not a big deal." And in terms of the education system, the 高考 Gāo Kǎo, or College Entrance Exam, is actually the most fair way to deal with the millions of high school seniors vying for only a few thousand spots at the nation's top universities; it's just unfortunate that the byproduct of such a fair examination system is an education culture that emphasizes information acquisition over analysis. But free speech holds some promise.

The internet has been an amazing tool for promoting free speech in China. While being over-zealous or over-critical of the government online can still result in exile or imprisonment, people have been able to exercise their voices like never before, partially because they can find strength in numbers. You see, the government has a very real fear of its own people, because, as you can guess, a revolution by the Chinese people would be very, very difficult to suppress. It has actually created a fascinating dynamic between the party in power and the people it "controls." Just look at the move by senior members of the Politburo to promote free speech for the media, or the online movements condemning the corruption among the hierarchy of the Communist Party.

So yes, the attitude of "harmonization," from my experiences in China over the past six months, is definitely the prevalent attitude across the country, but things are changing, and they are changing quickly.

Because I Haven't Procrastinated Enough Yet...

I am now precisely 203 hours away from leaving the tarmac of Beijing Airport bound for the good ol' US of A. Discounting my brief two weeks in Nebraska this August, and my four days in Seoul a couple weeks ago, I have been in China for approximately 170 days. And in 170 days, I have learned more than I ever thought possible about a culture I was clueless about 18 months ago.  At one point I'll make a cute little list of experiences á la Miles Grimshaw, but until then I'm going to wax eloquent on the single most important thing I think I have learned in my time here, and that is that the Chinese mentality is fundamentally different from that of America, or even much of the rest of the world. Not necessarily better or worse, simply... different.

Let me make something clear. Before coming to China, I understood that there were cultural points that were different around the world. The role of the female, for example, varies widely from region to region. Educational practices, as well, differ depending on what country (or even city) you find yourself in. Courtesy and etiquette obviously fit into this little schematic too. But never did I think the role of the individual would be so completely muted as it is in China.

That's it. That's my big revelation. Chinese society places a higher premium on the pursuit of a "harmonious society," than on the pursuit of individual happiness. I know, I know, this is like China 101. I know that it's one of the first things a student of China learns and it's one of the first things any Chinese person will tell you too. But there's a difference between "knowing" something by reading it in a textbook or hearing it second-hand and actually living it every single day. See, when you learn it through a textbook, you think maybe it's just a generalization, maybe in practice people are actually more individualistic and independent than you think. But... that's where you'd be wrong.

红楼梦, or Dream of the Red Chamber

One of the five classes I took as part of the Yale-PKU program this semester was "Dream of the Red Chamber," a class that was literally devoted to the reading and discussion of one book. I'm sure you can guess the title. This book, 红楼梦 Hónglóumèng aka Dream of the Red Chamber aka Story of the Stone, is said to be one of China's greatest and most defining literary works (think of what the Shakespeare canon is to Great Britain).

Growing up in Nebraska and only recently having taken an interest in Chinese culture, I had absolutely no inkling of the importance of this book in China, or to the Chinese people. But now, four months after having started the book, I am officially part of the 红学 hóngxué (Redology) club (Redology being the study of this book).

Just kidding. There IS a club on campus dedicated to the study of this book, but I don't think I'll be joining. Reading this book has been enough. I admit, I skipped some chapters here and there, and maybe some of the longer and less understandable sections of poetry, but still, getting through 120 chapters on the lives of over 400 characters was mentally exhausting. You see, one of the reasons this book is so famous is because it is so incredibly long and complicated.

Halloween in Beijing

Yes, I know, it's December. Yes, I know Halloween is in October. I'm... bad at months, I guess? Anyway...

So... Halloween in Beijing. What to say, what to say? The night was interesting enough, I suppose, but since the Chinese in general don't really subscribe to the holiday, the city was missing the usual excited energy that accompanies Halloween. Also, we weren't even celebrating on October 31st, but rather October 30th as it was a Saturday. A forgivable discrepancy considering the circumstances, I think.

Our little Yale contingent was out in full force, though. Thinking back, I realize I actually devoted the whole of Saturday to Halloween preparation and execution. First, woke up to go shopping for last-minute supplies, including a giant container of glitter. The night before, I had ventured to Yashou Clothing Market in the Sanlitun area to find inspiration. I found it in a black wig, a black pair of angel's wings, and some black shiny boots. Saturday was for last touches.

서울: Seoul vs Beijing

Alright, four days in Seoul and six months in Beijing doesn't quite allow for a just comparison, but I'm going to make one all the same. Interestingly enough, our small group of Yalies who went to Seoul were split on which city we liked better, which just goes to show it very much depends on personal preference.

Food

Seoul - In terms of a typical meal in Seoul, restaurant food is healthy and street food is incredibly varied and delicious; the proliferation of Starbucks and lack of McDonalds/KFC are also pluses in my book.

Beijing - Due to its incredible size and ex-pat community, Beijing has many incredible 

gourmet restaurants that deliver quality meals from all around the world, so you can dine well... or you can eat for cheap in any hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

Transportation

Seoul - Seoul has the most extensive subway system I've ever seen, and much bigger subway cars than Beijing. The bus system seems to be pretty extensive too. The taxis are also very cheap, although they might not take you short distances.

서울: Lantern Festival!

On our last night in Seoul, we magically learned that a lantern festival that had been erected in honor of the G-20 Summit the week before would continue to stay up until the end of that very night. So Liz and I, along with our newfound friend Amanda, hightailed it over to the area where it was supposedly located and began walking around in search of it. After navigating the crazy subway exits and really vague directions, we finally stumbled upon this:

Yes, that is me in an accidentally artsy picture. But the important thing here is not me (what?!), but rather the characters behind me. I'm going to go out on a limb and translate the Korean-Chinese character mix to mean something along the lines of "Lantern Festival," as the single character behind me in yellow is "燈" dēng which is the traditional Chinese character for "lantern." And from what I saw, these people take their lanterns very seriously.

서울: the Demilitarized Zone

Ever since learning about the buffer zone that separated North and South Korea, I had always wanted to see the Demilitarized Zone with my own eyes. Going to the famed 38th Parallel was like stepping straight into the pages of modern history. After all, this place represented one of the greatest ideological struggles of the 20th century, a struggle that is still very much happening. 

Bright and early Sunday morning, after a late night wandering around the Hongdae area, Liz and I got up and met our transportation (a BMW?!?) from our hostel to the main bus area. Our car (no, seriously, a BMW) also picked up another girl named Amanda, who ended up becoming a very good friend by the end of the day. Spending the day with her was actually amazing. She had graduated from Grinnell College a couple years ago and has spent the last year and a half teaching English in a small northern city in Japan. I thought I had it rough adjusting to Chinese culture, but her stories completely blew me away. In terms of bureaucracy, ritual and total lack of Western goods, a rural Japanese town completely trumps Beijing. It's amazing how similar we in America see countries like Japan, South Korea and China, but how totally different they actually are. 

서울: Gwanghwamun

This place was undoubtably one of the more cultural things we did during our weekend in Seoul. Gwanghwamun, the gate pictured above, has an incredibly long history associated with the Joseon Dynasty, one of Korea's longest ruling dynasties. What I found really interesting was the Hanja at the top of the gate. Hanja refers to Chinese characters and pronunciation that were incorporated into the Korean language. If you click on the picture above, you can see that the three characters are as follows:

門化光.

Bear with me here. These traditional Chinese characters, if read from left to right, would read:

men-hua-guang

But since there's this thing that's done in Chinese signs where the characters are written from right to left, one should actually read it as such:

光化門

guang-hua-men

And, thus, you finally arrive at the Korean name for this Korean gate, which, derived from Chinese, is:

Gwang-hwa-mun

See, isn't language so cool? 

서울: SO MUCH FOOD

As my first of many posts on Seoul,

I present one of the most amazing food experiences of my life

(for those of you very familiar with this food, I apologize for the basic descriptions):

bulgogi - basically sliced beef in broth 

(definite winner)

dried fish and squid legs in the background

(didn't dare try)

OMG KOREAN TACOS

(soooo good)

Giving Thanks in Beijing

I wasn't sure what to expect for my first Thanksgiving in China, what with Thanksgiving being an American holiday. I know the ex-pat scene in Beijing is big enough to support at least a few efforts at Thanksgiving, but since one doesn't normally see turkeys go the way of Beijing Duck, I wasn't sure how much experience Chinese chefs had had with the giant bird. Did they know how to make it just right? Not too dry? Well-done all the way through? What about gravy??? After all, a crucial part of the Thanksgiving turkey is the gravy.

With all these concerns in my head (I obviously take my Thanksgiving meals very seriously), I hopped on a bus with the rest of my program affiliates to head to the Holiday Inn for our banquet. The program had arranged for a Thanksgiving buffet there in conjunction with the Stanford program. We didn't really mingle much with our Stanford colleagues as we were all a little busy stuffing our faces with the AMAZING (if a little crazy) food served at the buffet. Sushi, sashimi, fried rice, sweet and sour pork, pizza of all kinds, roast beef, various fruit, weird yams and..... turkey! Yes, that is right, somehow the Chinese chefs at the Holiday Inn knew just how to make the turkey so that it had that perfect Thanksgiving taste. And they even had gravy!!

Alright, so here's the food run-down:

me with my first round of food

(see how happy I am?!?)

西安: Fun and Final Thoughts

This last post of the longer-than-anticipated Xi'an series is just a general wrap-up of my second day in the City of Western Peace. While Joanna and Lucy had to get back to Beijing the day before, Liz and I stayed for an extra day to see what we could see.

The morning started off a little like this...

...and maybe it was the great night's sleep I had at the hostel, but it just felt like a jumping kind of day, so...

西安: The Terra Cotta Warriors

I was originally going to begin this post with the bold statement that the Terra Cotta Warriors are, well, fake. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't suggesting that the Chinese government fabricated an entire archeological find. Rather, I was of the opinion that the warriors on display were replacements of the originals. There are plenty of legitimate reasons for the government to do this: preservation, research, presentation. But when I mentioned this opinion to my friends back at Yale, the response was unexpectedly strong outrage. Who was I to say that such a massive archeological discovery was fake? After all, my majoring-in-archeology friend pointed out, I was not an archeologist. 

Fair. BUT STILL THEY WEREN'T THERE.

So, for those who have yet to see the Warriors firsthand, here were my original arguments. This also gives people opportunity for rebuttal if they so choose... 

西安: DUMPLINGS!

There are really no words to describe the dumpling demolition that went down on Friday. Eighteen different kinds of dumplings were served, friends. EIGHTEEN. I barely made it through all of them. To tell the truth, I had to admit defeat at the very end, and of all the dumplings that were served to me, two remained unfinished :(

Please don't judge; it was a pretty intense meal. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are the dumplings of Xi'an:

First... the appetizers

Now for some lucky pearl dumpling soup. Tradition says whoever has the most pearls in their soup is the luckiest person at the table... guess who that was?!

And now...

the dumplings.

A final note:

Not all dumplings made it onto the SD card.

But trust me, there were eighteen.

西安: An Evaluation, Part 3

Oh, food. It is literally the best way to explore an unfamiliar land. You deal with the language, the people, the culture, the flavors… all at the same time! There were really so many different food experiences in Xi’an, some that would be familiar to the Western reader and some that definitely wouldn’t. To do the food experience justice, we’re going to go back to the tried-and-true method of photo-blogging. Other than one experience that merits a post all its own, this is a recounting of most of the notable food of Xi’an. Enjoy!

Note: With the exception of the last picture, all of the pictures below were taken in the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an. The last one was taken at Pizza Hut.

西安: An Evaluation, Part 2

Now on to people….. oh my goodness, so many people. I thought I’d be used to it right now, I really did, but every new place in China I go, it’s the same incredible crush and the same upswell of frustration as I try to fight my way to my goal. Honestly, I think the only place in China I’ve never felt crowded is the grazing land of Inner Mongolia, but that’s just because it’s GRAZING LAND. I think it was the last hour of our time in Xi’an that got me…

First, getting a taxi was impossible. So many people were vying for taxies everywhere. My friend Liz even got into a struggle with one girl as they both tried to get into the same taxi. Hilarious from my viewpoint, but frustrating all the same. Then, we tried to board the bus. I, being used to the Beijing system of boarding on the back, boarded the back of the bus… and waited. The bus wasn’t going, and there was an automated message repeating on the speakers. I couldn’t quite understand the stilted speech in the automated message, but everyone was looking at me, and I flushed, beginning to realize maybe the message was for me. Liz had gone up to pay our fare, so I didn’t know what the problem was, but as I began to understand the message (as it repeated for the eighth time), I realized it was saying, “People who boarded the back of the bus, please get off and board up front.”

西安: An Evaluation, Part 1

After spending approximately 36 hours in 西安 (Xī'ān), the City of Western Peace, I’ve reaffirmed a few things in my mind:

1. I love hostels. They are God’s gift to the frugal traveler.

2. There is absolutely no escaping the crush of people in China.

3. Food is the best way to get to know any culture.

Let’s talk hostels. Our hostel, the Shuyuan Hostel, apparently has been ranked among the top ten hostels in the world by Hostels International, and I think I can understand why. A private room for Liz and me cost ¥160, or ¥80 ($12) per person, per night. This private room came with its own bathroom (Western toilet!), shower, towels and shower shoes. The hostel itself had free Wi-Fi (not the greatest), on site laundry services, a restaurant, a large bar and great décor. 

from the lobby
credit: Liz Lee

They also had pretty good service, aside from a minor passport issue. I had forgotten that you are required to show your passport when checking into any overnight accommodations in China. What’s worse, my passport was still being processed back in Beijing for the addition of a visa (allowing me to go to South Korea next weekend). This looked like it was going to be an issue, as in the lady said, “You can’t stay here,” but another super-kind lady intervened and asked if we had any other paperwork. Luckily, I was travelling with copies of every official passport/visa-related document, as well as the receipt from my visa purchase, so they were able to use that information to check me in. Moral of the story: ALWAYS BRING YOUR PASSPORT/INFO WHEN TRAVELLING. Thanks Mommy :)

Another benefit of staying at the hostel was that one of the employees, seeing as we were in a rush to see lots of things before two in our party had to get back to the train, offered to drive us where we needed to go for a pretty reasonable fee. So we actually had our own private car for the day, which was greatly appreciated as we went off to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and whatnot.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to take advantage of their organized excursions, but the literature was really promising. For anyone thinking of spending time in Xi’an, there’s the added bonus of it being one of the closest modern Chinese cities to Tibet. I really wanted to skip on over to Tibet, but class on Monday kind of discouraged me from taking that option. Anyway, hostels. They’re great.

The Relationship Post

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the nature of relationships lately, specifically of the romantic variety (probably because I don't have one... sigh). In China, I find relationships, and how they're carried out, to be completely puzzling at times, and definitely unlike the dating culture one finds in America.

The Chinese relationship follows a very exact formula that hasn't seen much deviation in some time (although that may be changing). In high school, it's simple and straightforward: one does not date. In Chinese society, high schoolers are not considered old or mature enough to form one-on-one relationships with each other. It's an age of what Americans would call protracted innocence. Girls dress very "cute" and don't really have male friends; their behaviors would be more associated with "'tweens" in America than high school teenagers. Add to that the rigid structure of the Chinese school system, and there's no chance for trying out one's emotional maturity. After all, who has time? Everyone is studying for the 高考 gāo kǎo, the single most important exam in a Chinese student's life. The score on this national exam determines what universities you can be admitted into, and consequently, what kind of job you will end up having. So dating in high school is not only too soon, it's too time-consuming.

Let's move on. You've taken the gaokao, you've gotten into college, what do you do now? Well, you find your soul mate.

大连: Fun at the Pier

Dalian, being a coastal city, has a lot of fun places to hang out along the water. One such place was Sun Asia Ocean World, a sea park that ran along what seemed to be some kind of carnival dock.

I'll be honest, compared to its American equivalent, the park was a bit grimy and lackluster, even in a city as shiny and clean as Dalian. But as one could easily guess, and one has definitely read in my blog, there is a large difference between Chinese and American standards of quality.

大连: Jiaozi Making!

Dinner on Sunday evening was a sumptuous feast of 饺子 (jiǎozi), more commonly known in the United States as dumplings. My friend's mother was patient enough to teach me how to shape the very famous little dumplings and seal them for steaming. She prepared the filling, of course, as I am not yet ready to advance to that stage of jiaozi preparation. The filling was a mix of chopped-up pork and some unidentified greens, which you can see in the bowl below (ignore the odd face):

The next step of jiaozi-making involves preparing the small doughy pancakes that will eventually become the pouches for the pork filling. If you look at the cutting board, you can see the small sections of dough waiting to be rolled out into flat pancakes:

And now... for my attempts at making the little shapes you see on the round tray above:

Then, after some steaming and waiting, we see the final result in the bowls at the far edges of the table:

Yes, I am now a jiaozi-wrapping pro... kind of. I can say, though, that my jiaozi were particularly good (as were all the other jiaozi in the bowls). While consuming my jiaozi, I learned that jiaozi actually has a lot of fortuitous meaning in Chinese culture. They're eaten specifically on the Chinese New Year, known as the Spring Festival, as part of the celebration of a fortuitous year. So my host parents explained to me, eating jiaozi together had particularly good meaning. I was so thankful for their willingness to offer me the experience of making traditional jiaozi with such a warm and open family. Someday, maybe, I'll learn how to make my own jiaozi and serve it up to my family. We'll see what they think about that.

P.S. See the cake in the middle? It will be my friend's birthday in a few weeks, but she'll be at college, so her parents wanted to celebrate. They literally just put the cake on the table, told her to cut it, and we started eating it along with dinner. No song or anything. For all the ceremony surrounding other aspects of Chinese life, it seems that birthdays do not get the same spotlight treatment they get in the States. Bad when you're young, good when you're old.

大连: One Family's Dynamic

Note: A few months flitting about various locales in China, and a few books read on Chinese society definitely don’t make me an expert, so please don’t take my words as absolute truth. These are simply my observations and my attempt to categorize them into transmittable ideas for those back at home who will never have the opportunities I have been blessed with to experience such an incredible culture first-hand.

I feel like the dynamics in a Chinese family are as varied as those all across America. After all, people are all different, so it would follow that the families of one society, although very similar across the board, would have different micro-structures. In China, these differences are further amplified by the uneven way in which modernization is happening across the country. A rural family and an urban family have their differences, and even within the category of urban families, the poor and the wealthy obviously have their differences too.

I had the pleasure of staying with the family of a Chinese friend this weekend in Dalian, a modern coastal city. They were a perfect example of the blend of modern and traditional that coexist in Chinese society. The parents were both very easy-going and willing to talk about any subject, even government. Notice I said, “both.” It seemed to me that even though the father was “head” of the household, the mother did not play a subservient role. She was respected, as she should be. Both she and her husband run their own separate companies. Yet at the same time, my friend explained to me, she was very traditional and conservative with the way she looked after her daughter. My friend cannot get her ears pierced nor wear make-up, and is expected to wear clothing that, relative to her age of 21, is fairly juvenile. To be fair, this only stems partially from tradition; the other part is that the mother does not want her only child to grow up (according to said child). 

In another strange juxtaposition of modern and traditional, my Saturday evening went from shopping at some of the most luxurious designer stores in the world to burning paper money on the side of the street to honor dead ancestors. Allow me to digress. Saturday evening, as I explained in a previous post, my host parents took their daughter and me to Dalian's most ritzy mall, where we browsed around stores like Louis Vuitton, Fendi and the like. I was already aware that this family was comfortably adjusted to a more materialistic consumer culture, as they had picked me up in a fully-equipped BMW sedan and then introduced me to their very Western-style home:

In addition, they had taken me to a Western restaurant for dinner, and while I obviously loved it, they also greatly enjoyed the international buffet themselves. I admit, I didn't see much of the traditional Chinese culture I had read about up until this point. Then, as we were driving back to the apartment from the restaurant, I saw various groups of people huddled about little fires along the sides of the streets. I asked my friend why there were so many people with their own little fires going, and she said that they were worshiping their ancestors. Apparently, this past Saturday, November 6th, was the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, a day where Chinese traditionally burn paper money to deliver to the afterworld for both their ancestors and their own use when their time comes.

I was thinking that it was pretty interesting to observe from inside the car as we sped along the road back to the apartment. But then we stopped. The dad got out, went and bought something, then got back in the car. We continued to head back to the apartment. Then, on the long road leading from the main road to the apartment complex, the dad pulled along the side of the road, and we all got out. I circled around the car and saw him pull out HUGE stacks of paper money, along with three bottles of alcohol. I then watched as they walked over to the sidewalk and began to burn each sheet of paper money, one by one. It was so fascinating to watch. There was no real ceremony or ritual to it; just slowly feeding paper to the fire. Each of the family members did take a bottle of alcohol and spread it around the fire in a circle. What an eerie contradiction. Here was this modernly-dressed family, straight out of an extremely modern car, doing an incredibly old Chinese ritual on the sidewalk of a city street. I helped a little bit when stray bills flew away, so I guess I have a few dollars waiting for me in the afterlife. Otherwise, I just watched it all slowly burn away, guaranteeing my host family a fortune in the life to come.

Other experiences, in a nutshell, included going to the health club inside the apartment complex and having to deal with naked females of all ages parading around the locker room. Nudity in single-sex shower areas is apparently the norm in China, something that completely shocked me the first time I walked into Peking University's gym locker room. Also, the father very much enjoyed encouraging me to drink basically anything and everything. Wine and some kind of coconut alcohol at dinner, beer at lunch, and more coconut alcohol for the train ride back to Beijing. Oh, and then there was the dumpling-making session I had with my friend's mother. That, however, is yet another post to come...

大连: First Impressions

Aaaaand we're back. Apologies to any loyal followers of my blog out there, I was blindsided by a midterm season that was more intense than expected. The good news is that even though I didn't post, it doesn't mean I don't have a ton of material to share with you all!

We'll go reverse chronological again, so I can explain some of my more illuminating experiences while they're still fresh in my memory. So first, to the just-concluded weekend...

This past weekend was incredible. My Chinese friend and I travelled to her hometown of 大连 (Dàlián), which is... actually, I still don't know where it is, so we're going to Google Map it and find out just where I spent my weekend.

Well, look at that. You see Dalian, right there on the tip of that protrusion coming down from the north? I guess I could have swam over to North Korea if I really wanted. But that would involve some minor risks, so it's probably best I didn't try. Who would want to leave Dalian anyway? It's a beautiful, well-kept city, and more modern than I anticipated. It's a bit of a vacation town, very clean and accessible, and definitely nowhere near as crowded as Beijing. And due to the city being occupied by eight different Western powers and one point or another, the buildings are riddled with all different styles of colonial Western architecture. Dalian is also home to what is supposedly the largest public square in all of China. The mood in the city was incredible; everyone seemed so festive. That might also be because they typically don't have to deal with problems such as poverty; Dalian is one of the wealthiest cities in the country:

Example A: The parking garage of my friend's apartment complex could have been a fully-stocked Mercedes Benz car lot.
Example B: When said friend's parents took me shopping, the first three stores we hit were Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton. In response, I ushered us over to Sephora where I bought a ¥50 ($7) container of glitter. Yes, I am a high roller.
Example C: There are a variety of foreign restaurants (which usually denote the presence of disposable income) in the city, including a Western-style buffet on the ground floor of the Shangri-La Hotel, where my friend's parents treated me to dinner Saturday night. The selection was amazing: steak, chicken burritos, nachos, tossed salads, cheeses, fresh fruit, spaghetti carbonara, rolls and rolls of sushi, a chocolate fondue fountain, cakes, pudding cups....

Yes, I think I'm ready to go back to Dalian, at least as a guest. Guests have it made when they go to China. True, many cultures put an emphasis on making guests feel at home, but few cultures that I have encountered roll out the red carpet the same way that the Chinese do. During breakfast the first day, my host family noticed my affinity for peach juice. That evening, while my friend and I were buying her some boots, the father went to Carrefour and bought multiple boxes of peach juice, both for me to drink during my stay and for me to take back to Beijing. What's more, they watched over my every bite, concerned that I hadn't eaten enough or had enough to drink, and ready to offer more at a moment's notice. They drove me around the city for over an hour just to make sure I had seen all I wanted to see. And they were infinitely patient as I tried to understand their rapidly-spoken Chinese and respond in kind. It helped that their daughter knew enough English to be a helpful translator.

So there you have it, my first impressions of Dalian. Much more to come, including a visit to the Chinese version of Sea World, making my own Chinese dumplings, and observations of Chinese familial culture.

A Family of Yalies

So it's a late night again, and what do we do on late nights? We reflect. This time, maybe not so much about China-the-big-picture, but rather China-as-experienced-by-one-foreign-student. It's no secret that studying abroad can be a lonely, isolating experience. You're transplanted to an entirely new environment and forced to deal with an alien culture. You go through highs and lows, depending on your experiences at any given point. Sometimes it's almost too much to deal with and you just want to... oh, I don't know, get yourself deported.

But luckily enough for me, I ended up studying abroad with a fantastic group of Yalies. I mean, look at them, don't they look pretty awesome?

Beijing Half-Marathon

No, I didn't run it. Only someone completely out of their mind would run for miles along the streets of Beijing.

Luckily, there's one person in the program who fits that description, and his name is Miles Grimshaw (blogger extraordinaire... I guess). You can read his much more personal account of the morning here.

Miles, whether due to his captivating charm or outright bribery techniques (the promise of buying us food), convinced my friend Liz and me to wake up at 6 AM this morning to travel to his race's starting point at Tiananmen Square. As if the 6 AM wake-up call wasn't bad enough, one look outside indicated that it was going to be a gloomy, miserable day. And gloomy it was. The only brightness to be seen amongst the racers were the points of fluorescent yellow that marked the officially distributed tote bags. You can see as we're exiting the subway just how many tote bags were on their way to the starting line:

Tianjin! 天津！

Was the previous post a bit of a downer? I thought so too, so here are some fun pictures of my day trip last Friday to 天津 Tiānjīn, a coastal town just 30 minutes from Beijing by train. I love the quaint atmosphere there; it's like a happier Beijing in some ways. The shopping was great, the air was cleaner, and the food was... really really interesting. It was actually a colonial town for a while when the British occupied it back in the Opium War days. Now, I would normally be very excited to show you all the pictures, but I must sadly report that my beautiful camera has succumbed to old age and now blurs pictures around the edges, so Blogger won't accept some of them! :(

But still, enjoy the pictures (and two whole videos)!

College Kids and Cultural Conflicts

Caveat: This is not the nicest of blog posts, but the purpose of this blog is to let friends and family know about my experience of living in China, and this topic has played a major role in that experience. Therefore, this entry might not be very PC. Apologies.

One thing about the Yale-PKU program that had me very excited was the opportunity to live with a real, live Chinese college student. I was so excited to learn about Chinese culture first-hand. Now, I knew there would probably be times where our cultures would bring us into some conflict, but I was excited for that too. It would be an opportunity to open dialogue on the differences in our cultures and allow us to help understand each other better.

No. Conflicts are stressful, especially when both parties are operating under different sets of rules. My recent conflicts with some of the Chinese students, while certainly not indicative of Chinese culture as a whole, has illuminated just how wide the cultural gulf stretches. As you can guess, one of these instances was very recent. But first, I'll give you a general sense of some of the more stress-inducing characters in this little drama.

The Great Wall of China

You might have heard of it. You might have seen the pictures. You might have been there yourself. But no matter how many times you've heard it described, no matter how many pictures have flown before your eyes, no matter how many steps you've taken up its steep sides, there is nothing that ever extinguishes that incredible rush of awe when you behold the Great Wall of China unwinding before you in all its glory (and there's nothing to be done about my poor poetic efforts when I'm writing on sleep deprivation).

Today's trek to the Jīnshānlǐng (金山岭) section of the Great Wall was... humbling, to say the least. My group consisted of a small contingent of people affiliated with the Yale-PKU program in one way or another, including all of our Yale professors (and some of their kids!) and my Chinese language teacher.

T.G.I. Friday's

I'll elaborate after posting on the Great Wall, promise!

Also, I'm trying to beat Miles. :)

Didn't See That Coming

A friend sent me this news article, which has me blogging during a break in class:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11529920

Chinese veteran politicians call for reform

"A group of 23 Communist Party elders in China has written a letter calling for an end to the country's restrictions on freedom of speech."

Crazy, right? And right on the heels of very blatant critique of Chinese oppression through the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. The goverment's got to be having a great time right now. And by great time, I mean they are probably feeling very off-kilter, being attacked by multiple fronts in such a short period of time, and right before their big "Let's plan the future of our country" meeting.

The Beijing Bookworm...

...is my heaven in Beijing. Seriously. I'd call it one of Beijing's best kept secrets, but I think the secret has been out for a while. So what is The Bookworm? Well, it's a lending library. A giant, glorious lending library, tucked away on one of the side streets of Sanlitun. It's also a bookstore. And a café. And a hotspot for Beijing literary culture. Here it is in all its glory: