Leaving China and the Wrap-up: Thanks Light!

The last week found everyone scrambling to buy souvenirs, see a little more of the city, and squeeze just a little more vocabulary into our heads. I barely the time to visit a high school friend staying with his grandparents in Beijing and find a few final presents for people back at home. The rest of my time was either nap-time or study time (睡午觉 was a Chinese custom that most of us enthusiastically 习惯 to). Friday came pretty quickly and before we knew it, classes were over. We concluded with our final Chinese table lunch, watching a slideshow and reminiscing. Here are a few photos of us and the teachers:

Nick while kneeling was still taller than some of the teachers...


Me and Xiao Li Laoshi (the pose was her idea heh)


哥们儿 with Xiao Tang and Zhou laoshi. I should've worn the program shirt, I know...


I was a little torn up: both because I was leaving China and because I rediscovered how early the next morning my flight was. That night after saying all my goodbyes and promising to email with my yuban, I slept for a short time and woke up extremely early to head to the airport. After being dropped off at the wrong terminal, I was pleased that I could use only Chinese to find my way to the right area for my flight. I hopped on the plane, and my time in China was officially over.

In the time I have had after my trip, I have realized that China is now a major interest for me: the memories and knowledge I gained on this trip aren't going away any time soon and I hope to return sometime in the near future, maybe even in the next summer if I can swing it. I've loved my experience, both because of the environment/people at DSIC and because of the sides of China that I would have never seen or understood without going there. It is my opinion that everyone at Yale who has even a small interest should take advantage of the Light Fellowship and the experience it allows you to have. This year I plan to get enthusiastically involved in another year of Chinese as well as other China/Asia-related classes and much of that should be credited to the Fellowship. Thanks to the Fellowship Staff and everyone else involved in helping me have such a great experience!

Zhongwen Zhiye

The second to last weekend, we all got together for a talent show. Each person had to either have an act or be part of one, and some people even joined multiple groups so there was a seemingly infinite procession of acts. Brendan, Nick and I decided immediately that we would be singing the Chinese national anthem. This was risky business because we would be singing it in front of all our teachers and language partners, Chinese citizens who might not take a poorly-sung national anthem very well. So, we made sure to grab at least one person who could sing--The Yale Alley Cats came to the rescue in the form of James, an acappella singer and friend. Even though we were upstaged by a few of the acts (I remember specifically a mini-play/opera), I felt like we held our own with James' help. The teachers were either pleased or amused, both of which I'll take over indignant ;).

After the talent show, we hung out with the teachers for a a little bit as the room was converted into an impromptu dance floor. It was fun, albeit a little offsetting, to dance right next to the program head as well as the teachers that had been in charge of us for the last 7 weeks. In those few moments I got my first feeling of the program really starting to wrap up, and in much of the following week my spirits lowered as I realized I would soon have to return to my 老家。shucks.

The Silk Market

One of my favorite locations that I had the opportunity to visit in Beijing was the Silk market. Just a few subway stops away from UIBE, this market was a laowai's paradise. The massive, multi-story market was built to cater to foreign tourists looking specifically to buy Chinese knock offs of their favorite brands (We visited the Dongwuyuan market also but the selection wasn't great. The glasses market was also fairly interesting, but the silk market was my favorite.)


The Front of the Market

Usually it is hard to get me excited about shopping, so the reason I think this market was so memorable was the amount of interaction we had with the laobans (shopkeepers). In this market, nothing has a registered price so you must bargain over everything. The shopkeepers are smart: they can bargain in every language (once as I spoke with a shopkeeper, I heard her use English, Spanish, and German in succession), and they are determined to rip off every foreigner in their purchase. The rule we went with (as the teachers told us) was to cut the given price by about 1/5 in our first counter-offer. It was a fun, and somewhat theatrical experience to argue with each shopkeeper: if you pushed them far enough they all inevitably had a sick mother, rent problems, etc. Here are a few pictures of the market's hectic interior (packed with small individual stalls and hordes of tourists).

Part of the watch section


Down one of the aisles


Me with some of our favorite laobans. Despite her getting ready to hit me, they look too happy for Nick and I to have gotten a good deal. We actually decided that the measure of how disappointed/happy a seller was was also an indicator of how good our bargaining skills were. The more upset the better--if they called us names under their breath or told us not to come back to their stall again, we knew our final price was better than average. This type of shopping is addictive. I came back with 2 new pairs of shoes, 2 tshirts, a polo, and various gifts for my family members. Hopefully at least I made them all happy through my spending--right mom and dad?

Shidu

The last weekend trip took us to Shidu, which is theoretically 2 or 3 hours outside of Beijing (but took us 5 because of traffic:( ) After watching much of Final Destination 3, or maybe Final Destination 4 (aren't they all the same?) we pulled up to a massive gravel parking lot in front of what looked like the Chinese equivalent of a fair. Shidu, although billed as a national "geopark" was about as commercial as it gets. After our tickets were checked we walked past the go-karts, Tchotchke stands, and a paintball area. We then crossed the river on one of the most 危险 wire bridges i've seen to arrive in the park proper. From there we did a little hiking: first up to a waterfall and then to a narrow rock gap similar to Rock City's "fat man squeeze." All along the (paved) path, we were harassed by vendors hocking snacks, sodas, and the like. The main event of the day was paddling on bamboo rafts.


On the rafts.

The paddle predictably consisted of some racing, but mostly a whole lot of raft collisions because the area for rafting was tiny compared to the number of boats on the water. Regardless it was a fun experience and we headed home pretty soon after. It was a fun day, but not exactly the kind of experience I would've predicted at a "geopark" so far from civilization.

I now look at my camera and wish I had some photos of the more cheesy side of Shidu, but of course I probably took the only two possible nature photos that could be taken there. Regardless, here they are ;)


looking up at the mountains


the waterfall

Hongluosi--The Snail Temple

For our 5th weekend trip we headed to Hongluosi, a Buddhist temple a few hours outside of the city. A very old Buddhist area, the temple first appeared to be a small outpost the mountainside, filled with a few very large statues of Buddha. Here are a few pictures of the standard area:


The walk up


One of the Buddhas


Courtyard Area

We got through the standard area pretty quickly and found a few signs pointing us further up the mountain. We began to climb and before I knew it we were halfway up the mountain. Katie and I (the slow ones) were left in the dust by the other guys but we trekked up regardless and made it to a pagoda at one of the peaks, stopping from going any further because the trail ahead was closed (not to mention I was completely exhausted). We met up with most of the other DSIC students there and headed down. On the way, we noticed a booth advertising a slide down for 30 kuai, and even though it was a slight rip off, we all paid up and zipped down the mountainside, enjoying another mix of commercialism and Chinese history. We ended the trip by trying different flavors of Chinese icecream, most notably corn and cheese flavors (surprisingly good but my the watermelon bingqilin remains my favorite haha). Before I forget: here are some views from along the way.

Chinglish

Everyone knows about the often-funny English translations on Chinese signs/menus so I thought I'd post a few pictures on here to lighten the mood. My favorite instance was on a pizza menu, for Meta-balls (like, whoah so meta), but I unfortunately have no picture so these few will have to do :P

my 语伴 and the college application process in China

My language partner and I would often compare our respective educations, and I learned alot about the Chinese college application process that I would probably forget if I didn't post it here for posterity, so here goes.

According to my yuban, and to parts of our textbook (thank you 高考 lesson) the only thing that matters in a Chinese high school student's application to college is their score on one test, the gaokao. Let me be clear here: nothing else is factored in except for their score. After taking the test, students can apply to one A level college, with a few other lower level colleges as backup. The top colleges in Beijing (Beida and Qinghua) take the students with highest combined scores on the test, stopping admission after the quota of top scores has been reached. If you are a point too low, you try to enter your safety school in another round but often the quotas have already been filled and you are out of luck. Some people are forced or choose to wait another year and take the gaokao again. While the Chinese compare the test to the SAT, it is much more comprehensive, testing student's English skills as well as higher level math and other subjects (I don't remember anything on the SAT that we didn't learn in middle school) so these students all take that time to review. However a few don't get a satisfactory score even on the second time and end up waiting another year or two to make a good score.

The gaokao doesn't only decide where you go to college. Once you get into a school, your scores on the gaokao determine your major. You can write a list of your top major choices, but if your combined score is too low compared to your peers, the quota for the major could be filled before you are chosen and you could end up in something different. For instance my language partner was placed into the German major by his scores (the test itself has no German).

As an American, I initially thought that this method was ethically questionable for not allowing students to totally follow their interests, both by having quotas for a major and by only weighing the gaokao during the college process (thereby discouraging students' participation in extracurricular activities and in non-gaokao-related classes). However despite its problems, it is certainly an efficient strategy for China. With such a huge population and a comparably small network of high-level learning institutions, this method is a simple way to single out traditionally "smart" people and get the highest scoring students into the best institutions. Major quotas also ensure that each job sector always have educated people willing to work in it. (My yuban explained it to me this way: if students could choose here, everyone would take economics because making money is socially the most important thing.) There are of course plenty of negatives to the method, but in general its outcomes seems to fit with and perpetuate the current pattern of efficiency and rapid progress in China.

Well thats all I really can think to say about this now. Always willing to talk though...

西安－－Chang Hen Ger

The other most memorable part of the trip to 西安 was one of the night's entertainment, a performance of Chinese opera. I'll apologize in advance here for not having any pictures of the experience (we were told not to bring cameras in), but they would have definitely been inadequate.
Chang hen ger is a piece of Chinese epic poetry written by one of China's most famous ancient poets during the Tang dynasty. Many look on this time as China's ancient golden age, and the opulence of the costumes and scenery definitely fit with that notion. The story is set in the Tang court, where the emperor is introduced to the love of his life. As a matter of fact, The two fall so deeply in love that the emperor totally neglects his duties, leading to all sorts of problems (I won't spoil the plot-if you are ever in Xi'an, you must go watch for yourself).
I keep getting sidetracked here talking about all of the elements of the production, but in the end what I really just need to talk about the special effects, the most over the top that I have ever come into contact with. The whole show was situated at an amphitheater in front of a lake. The lake appeared normal to a casual view, but after the show started we discovered that it was more machine than water, full of hydraulic platforms, fountains, and lights. Behind all of this was the extremely ornate palace, and behind that was a (real) mountain. The entire audience experienced a huge shock when the opera's "night" arrived and rather than just dimming the lights, the mountainside was lit up with countless "stars," lights that had been placed across the entire mountainside. After that point, a giant mechanical moon rose over the mountain's peak. Really? Really?

PS--I was so impressed with the opera that I almost forgot to mention that there was no actual singing and that all of the music was recorded. :P

西安－－the wall

Xi'an as a city was clearly an ancient place. Nothing could have made this fact clearer than the ancient city wall, which stretched around a the parts of the city built before about 1400. On our first day in the city, we traveled to the city wall, with the plan to bike around it. As we climbed to the top, I was once again hit by the seemingly excessive architectural proclivities of the ancient Chinese: This thing could probably fit a 4 lane highway on top of it.


Besides sheer width, the wall encircled a massive area. The teachers told us that we wouldn't have time to bike around the wall during our visit, but of course a few of us ignored them and decided to try to bike the wall in our limited time (about 45 minutes). Turned out it took us a little over an hour of extremely vigorous biking to make it all the way around. Granted we did run into problems when my roommate's bike started losing parts:


but a few of us did make it all the way along the wall, running into an unexplained army of inflatable animals but afterwards making it back to a mildly-irritated group. The day was 特别闷热，so a few guys relaxed using the signature style of middle-aged, overheating Chinese men: the shirt roll. Ahh, looks comfortable.

Time to Play Some Catch-up

Alright, I'll admit it. For awhile China seems to have gotten the best of me. I've fallen behind on the blog that I really started to like writing over the first few weeks of the program. But this doesn't mean I've had nothing to write about...on the contrary I may have had too much. But now that I'm home, and finally have a little bit of spare 精神，I can't think of a better time to condense all my memories before moving on to the new year of school. So, without further ado, on with the new posts.

西安（Xi'an）--the train

With our first 4 week "semester" of 2nd year Chinese over, the DSIC students split into two groups to go to either Datong, a small mountain area with giant Buddhas carved into mountain faces, or Xi'an, the ancient capital of China that, among other things houses the first Qin emperor's terra cotta army. Those of us that chose to go to Xi'an boarded a sleeper train at about 9:30pm on Friday and got underway. Up to that point I had never been on a train for more than a few hours, so I had no idea what I would think of the experience. Turns out that riding 软卧(soft bunk) is pretty comfortable and much more social of an experience than flying. On the way to Xi'an I rode with one other DSIC student as well as a retired Chinese high school teacher and a police officer. Living in close quarters with them for the night definitely forced me to explore the boundaries of my Chinese speaking capability for a few hours (there was nothing else to do heh).



As my cabinmates got tired, I decided that I couldn't yet call it a night and so headed out into the narrow hallway to check out the train. I thought that walking up and down the train might be interesting. For the most part the train was exactly what I expected: there were cabins full of mostly Chinese people either speaking, playing cards, or starting to head to sleep. The one surprise for me came in the form of some people sleeping on the floor of the compartments joining each car. I discovered that unlike in other areas, in China you can buy a train ticket that simply reserves you space on the train, without any cabin or designated area. This solution seemed at once elegant but at the same time stepping over sleeping people to enter different traincars reminded me that I was definitely in a developing country. After this exploration I played cards in a friend's cabin and pretty quickly after, crept back into my room to sleep. The next few days were going to take all the energy I could save up.

The 图书馆（library）

I've already touched on this a little, but to be blunt the diligence of Chinese students freaks me out. There is no better example of this than in the library here. By far the most populated building of campus from its opening at 8 to its closing time at 10pm, it is an enormous at least 5 story structure (I've never had to go past the 4th) that houses mostly study space for UIBE students, oh and maybe some books too I guess. Our classes start every weekday at 8, and the building is close to the library. So, every day at 7:50am I see students lined up to enter the library. These students aren't a few nerdy outliers, they're the norm(there are hundreds of them). Even if they have class soon after, they come so early to claim a seat, leaving a book or papers there so that even at the most crowded points they can have an insured place to do work. Occasionally I will head over to the library to memorize my characters, etc after dinner (standard I think for an American student), and after searching for a few floors to find a vacant seat, will start studying. After sitting down and starting to study, my I am always shocked by the silence. Generally speaking I am no stranger to libraries, but after growing up in a culture where everyone has just a little ADD, it is shocking to sit across from someone who does nothing except stare at their paper and/or write for 3 hours straight with no distractions of any kind. At home students more often than not have music to listen to, or a friend to whisper with occasionally, but not here. Unsettling...but I think I envy the drive at least in some ways.
Probably the most interesting time to be in the library is closing time. At 9:45 on the dot, loudspeakers break the silence with some unexpected extremely smooth jazz. From that time until 10, students pour out of the library's front doors in astounding numbers. The feeling I get is vaguely similar to that of being at the circus and seeing too many clowns climb out of a tiny Volkswagon. With the same song in background every night, students turn off their studying side and get social. They meet up with other friends coming out of the library and talk (presumably about the day's study topics). Below is a picture that I took of the first wave of students exiting:

Thoughts on 肯德基

Since the beginning of DSIC, one of the main topics of our tests/classes/conversations with teachers has been the differences between Chinese and American culture (文化). So, naturally I think about the topic a fair amount (because the bulk of my new vocabulary deals with it ;) ) I've touched on it in my last post, but lately I've been noticing specifically American influence through the medium of 快餐 (fast food). Before I get into it, I ought to first say that if you want to eat Chinese food in Beijing you generally have three options, cook it yourself, eat in a sit-down restaurant, or grab some quick dumplings from a somewhat sketchy street cart. So far I love it: the last two are for me and I choose between them based on how much work I have or if I want to get some time in with my friends. But many students here actually cook for themselves. In the US, this is unthought of: at college its generally either meal plan or ramen noodles. But, people here often manage to cook multiple elaborate dishes to eat with their friends on a normal weeknight. Its the cheapest, and I might be speaking too early but it also looks the most delicious.
While fast food is not the same here as it is in the US (I have yet to see a drive-through and the food is actually comparably expensive), it seems to be spreading pretty widely across the country. McDonalds is pretty common but the most ubiquitous and successful chain is clearly Kentucky Fried Chicken. In Beijing it seems impossible to go for more than a half mile without seeing the smiling face of Colonel Sanders. Having been in the country since 1987, the longest of any foreign-based food chain, KFC rules the market here, which seems a little strange from an American perspective because I can't think of very many KFCs in my vicinity in Atlanta, and I don't think I've ever seen one in New Haven. Indeed after looking at a few articles I discovered that KFC, that by 2003 in China was building over 250 new locations a year, has stagnating sales in the US. How to reconcile this? The KFC in China is a different animal entirely. After visiting KFC a few times for some late night "research," my friends and I found a menu unlike the US version: the menu focused on chicken sandwiches(all made from dark meat, a Chinese preference) and sides were geared much more toward local vegetables rather than slaw, macaroni, and various fried sundries. And while it is popular for its novel taste, it does not have the same problem as in the US: it isn't cheap, so low income Chinese actually end up eating healthier, cheaper options.
After seeing this, I felt immediately that the question of undue negative American cultural influence through fast food ought to be dismissed as out of hand. Of course many elements of culure show up here and everywhere else, but the closer you look when you visit, the more superficial the resemblance is. If I had a little bit more time right now (and if my parents weren't reading this), the fast food topic dovetails into a few others, one of the most interesting being the general sense of sexuality here. On the surface everyone dresses and acts western, but if you ask them about their opinions you'll hear a whole different story based on deeply held cultural traditions that don't seem to be going away any time soon.
more later,
Alex

The Great Wall

So we climbed the great wall on friday and since then I haven't had much time to ruminate on it: Beijing is an active city, and since I'm only here for two months, I feel a sense of urgency that I've never felt before: I want to go everywhere, see everything, and meet everybody. Formal Chinese study has started to become auxiliary: the real practice comes from using language to get around. Sure I can xue some yufa with everyone else until late in the night(and very frequently do) but I find myself wanting to finish early and go meet some friends to speak to. I don't know why (I'm usually a little bit of a shy person), but im enjoying the feeling and having a great time.
Anyway back to the great wall...
Its largely about as old as the forbidden city, is equally if not more impressive to look at. Approaching from the point of view of a marauding mongolian, I see myself letting out a quick laugh and turning my yak around. It was hard enough to get to the top of the wall (I may have never climbed that many stairs in my life), but from the other side, would have been almost insurmountable. Not only is it tall, but its longer than anyone can see from any point where we were. Granted the "scenic mountain mist" (aka smog) does alot to obscure distant vision, but it's impressive nonetheless. The whole area of approach was extremely commercial: little independent stores lined the road up to the ticket area: there was even an option of some of the lazier tourists to take a gondola to the top(and a slide down). The juxtaposition of rampant commercial and ancient heritage really knocked me out: here you have the most massive surviving landmark of the old world and all around it are people using that fact to whatever advantage they can get. Our textbook is called "A New China" and I can't help but compare the old with the new. So many people have a picture of China as a land of tradition and often of repression, but strangely enough the places that should most confirm that impression turn it on its head. People may not be able to have political individualism but they definitely have a much more similar mindset to Americans than many people are willing to acknowledge.

alright i'm getting tired and i should start my essay(ugh): more soon.

some of that 长城

我的宿舍（my dorm）and language partner

The building at the center of this picture is my dorm, where myself and the rest of the DSIC kids live, along with some Chinese and alot of other international students. I don't know what I really expected to have here, but this place was not it. We are basically living in a hotel: we have a minifridge, a tv, A.C, a bathroom, and even a screened-in porch. Yesterday I was even surprised by two women coming in to change my sheets. The surrounding area that you can see basically feels like a college town: Beijing is so spread out that the neighborhood is pretty self contained.

In our textbook, we've just finished a few stories about how Americans and Chinese are not alike in their habits, mannerisms, etc. Its interesting how that has lined up for me in some ways but not in others. The students here all have the basic experience that I have had: moving from your hometown to come and live at a college with other people who share your age and interests. However the way the way they approach college is nothing like i've seen before. I know many western students that work hard in their respective spheres (cough cough premeds) but for people at 对外经济贸易大学 (the University of International Business and Economics), the switch doesn't ever turn off. My language partner, a German major from Hebei, all but laughed at me when I suggested taking one weekend off from studying to go out and have fun. He told me very simply that the 压力(pressure) of achievement here is huge: if you don't have the scores for an A level college(of which there are few all in very high demand), you're stuck in a low level job. And if you don't have the college scores for a high level job (of which there are also comparatively few in high demand), you're also stuck in the bush leagues.
Every day we're given questions to ask our language partner to practice our Chinese, and a large amount of them gear towards daily life and attitudes towards America, the world, China, etc. So far I understand that this is the typical life of a student: class from 7:30 or so until 5:00ish and then homework. When thats done theres a chance to review (right now theyre getting close to exam time) and maybe call their parents. If there is TONS of free time, they can maybe wash their clothes or grab a bite to eat with their friends.
As a side note on family--the one child policy is still very much in effect and I have yet to meet someone with siblings. This generally means that parents pin all their hopes on their single child to succeed, often getting extremely involved in their lives (so 贾斌 is very happy to be away from Hebei for awhile). If I ask my language partner what he does for fun, he'll tell me a variety of things: he likes to play basketball, watch tv, go out and have fun, and other standard answers for a young person. The difference is when I ask him when he does them, the answer always involves some degree of transference (I like to play but I'm too busy now, I wish I could do this more, etc).

Gotta go, more later

Tiananmen and the Forbidden City

Ahh-now I’ve finally managed to get some time to log into my blog and write I guess I ought to do some contemplation. I only have two followers at the moment (thanks mom and Erica heh), so until my blog becomes an internet phenomenon anything I write on here will just hopefully help me think about my experiences in Beijing.
I think the most important thing to do before I forget my initial impressions of China and start to get used to being here, I ought to get a few of them out. At the moment I am still a little in shock after spending the day touring 天安门 (Tiananmen Square) and 故宫 (the forbidden city): until you visit them you can’t really imagine the scale of both, and the intricacy of the second. In Tiananmen, you are completely enveloped in recent Chinese history on every side, from museums to Mao’s mausoleum, and “people’s monuments.” The whole place seemed designed to make visitors feel small, both in size (it is about 900m by 500m) and in accomplishment (nothing but enormous willpower and a mass of humanity could have created something that large.) A few large screens in the middle of the square echoed the square’s more recent history, playing soothing music and showing pictures of the Chinese countryside to try to take away from the otherwise harsh feeling of being in the square.
Even after Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City was surprising. I had expected to see a more Chinese version of a European castle, and what I got was indeed part castle (it is equipped with large walls and could have conceivably been pretty hard to get into), but it was also part temple in that the rituals our guide described to us were intensely complicated. There are bridges over which only the emperor or his family could walk and stairways that were built to only be used by the gods (interestingly enough tourists are allowed to walk over the emperor’s bridge but the stairways are still roped off.)
In addition, the scale feels as immense as Tiananmen and the craftsmanship isn’t comparable. Every building (and there tons of buildings with a total of about 9,000 rooms) is a work of art in its woodcarving and painting. A few of us found ourselves thinking that the place couldn’t have possibly been around since the 1400s. Its hard to adequately describe all of this in words but I forgot my camera (because of course I slept too late in the morning and had a bit of a rushed exit), so unless I steal pictures from some fellow DSIC students words will have to do for now. I will probably be on again soon to post about everyday life but for now, 再见。