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?