长白山: Part 1

As explained in my previous post, my friend Barney* and I had planned an excursion to 长白山 cháng bái shān, or "Eternally White Mountain," to begin our year in China. Our itinerary was to be as follows:

8/29     Leave Beijing Train Station on the K215 bound for Tumen
8/30     Arrive at 延吉 Yánjí, take the long-distance bus to 二道白河 Èrdàobáihé, check in at the hostel
8/31     Visit Changbai Mountain
9/1       Check out from the hostel, take the bus from Erdaobaihe to Yanji, board the K216 to Beijing
9/2       Arrive in Beijing
9/3       Take the bullet train to Nanjing from Beijing (me alone)

Arriving

Well, I'm here.

After a tolerable flight across the Pacific, I'm back in Beijing for the fourth time in two years. The pollution is worse than I remember it, which is kind of disturbing because I didn't think it could get any worse. The city, of course, is still just as insane as I expected. Luckily this time I'm a little more comfortable wielding Chinese on the fly, so when the taxi driver couldn't find my hostel, I was able to jump out of the taxi and ask a hotel security guard for directions, and when the hostel receptionist started to make things complicated, I could talk my way through it without having to pull out my translator. I know these sound like pretty small issues, but for me the resolution of each of these issues was still a victory in my mind. They validated my progress in adapting to China and using Chinese. But the biggest validation - in terms of my Chinese progress - came today at the Beijing Train Station.

Leaving

In less than an hour I'll be hopping on a plane to take me to Vancouver and eventually Beijing. It's funny how nonchalant I managed to be these past few weeks about the fact that I'm moving to China for a few years. But now that it's down to the final hour, I admit I'm freaking out a little bit.

You see, since I've been to China a few times now, I know a lot more this time about what I'm getting myself into. Good (or any) customer service, constant central air conditioning, normal toilets, familiar food, and orderly lines are about to become serious luxuries. I'm going to be frustrated by some experience at least once a day. And I'm going to miss so many people who mean the world to me.

So now I'm wondering to myself, why in the world am I leaving? Why leave the country, the culture, and the people that I love so much?

From North to South

To my loyal followers (and any new friends!):

Sorry for leaving everyone in suspense, but I didn't want to make an announcement until all the loose ends were tied. Now that the absolutely final confirmation has arrived, I can tell you all that I will be spending the next academic year at Nanjing University in Nanjing, China.

Nanjing University

That Great Firewall of China...

Hello everyone, I am still alive, still doing relatively well, and still in China. Unfortunately, the place where my internship is located has very unstable internet, which makes it virtually impossible to use my Yale VPN and get around the GFW (Great Firewall).

I don't know how long this connection will last, so a few brief updates:

1. I am loving my internship here. It has exposed me to so many sides of Chinese culture that I would never have seen otherwise.

2. I have been teaching English to two classes of small children (5-6 year olds and 7 year olds), many of which compete for the title of "Most Adorable Little Kid Ever."

3. I am grudgingly learning more about traditional Confucian thought from the teachers here, while trying to demystify certain aspects of Western culture (particularly Christianity).

4. I am almost definitely coming back to China after graduation.

5. I may be going to see Guilin!! (I am all sorts of excited)

6a. I have been an unwilling vegetarian for about 80% of my time here, since the meals are all provided and the Academy is strictly vegetarian.

6b. I actually quite enjoy their take on vegetarianism. The food is surprisingly quite good, and unsurprisingly quite good for your body.

7. My Chinese has improved like crazy. It's amazing.

I will try to provide updates when at all possible, but a full summary of my experiences might have to wait for my return to the States.

Wish me luck!

...aaand WE'RE BACK!

It's official, I'll be heading back to Beijing for the summer of 2011!

Through the graciousness of the Tristan Perlroth Summer Travel Award Committee, operating out of the Macmillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, I will be participating in an internship with the Confucius Education Institute in Beijing, where I will be teaching "cultural English" (we'll see what that means) to Chinese citizens (demographic details are currently murky). I will also be making a solid effort at general cultural immersion, since I feel like I was a little too concerned with my studies the last time around.

Here's what that means for my blog:

• Let's be honest, blogging about one's job, any job, carries a lot of personal and professional risk. Blogging about one's job in China during one of the biggest political crackdowns of the decade, while removed from the aegis of Yale University, is really just tapping trouble on the shoulder and asking it out for coffee. Ergo, details about my work itself will be sparse out of necessity.
• But you, my dear readers, few that you are, will hear plenty about any and all further adventures to be had around Beijing. I think, I hope, I've worked all of the "tourist" out of me; or at least, I've evolved into the more venerated "explorer." I'm going to try to get a better sense of the real rhythms of Beijing, not just the shiny facade presented to Westerners on their cultural sojourns. Can I do that in two months? Probably not. But trying is going to be so rewarding.

So please, stay tuned. It should be worth it. Maybe I'm just inflating my own cause here, but I truly believe that the events marking China's current evolution are crucial in their significance, not only to China but to the rest of the world.

P.S. YAY TO ME FOR MY 100TH POST! ...alright that's done.

The National Museum of China is... Open?

Finally, after over a decade, one of Beijing's largest and most prominent buildings will have purpose again.

National Museum of China during National Holiday

The National Museum of China, located in the heart of Beijing (and CCP headquarters), makes up one fourth of the glorified perimeter of Tiananmen Square, with Qianmen Gate, the Great Hall of the People, and Tiananmen Gate making up the other three sides. Recently, it has been a silent testament to the confusion felt by many over the tight-lipped nature of the Chinese Communist Party. For over ten years, it has been shut down for "renovations," although very few people could tell you what those renovations were. From every Beijinger I asked, the answer was always the same, "Who knows what they're doing? Who knows if the museum will ever open?"

Now that the doors are open, it will be interesting to see who chooses to walk through them. On one hand, the glorification of Chinese history that the museum purportedly displays may be uplifting to some citizens, while to others, it may only give rise to further frustration if the museum is found following a political agenda. This New York Times article suggests it very much does:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/asia/04museum.html?hp

I think many foreigners will go not only because it's a classic tourist trap, but also because it's a source of political, intellectual and historical fascination. How can a country so open be so closed at the same time? How can they present a historical narrative that is so obviously false? You would think that they couldn't, but people also thought that they couldn't open up their markets and continue to maintain a Communist regime. I suppose only time will tell.