China Update 4

Dear All,
It’s hard to believe I’ve been in China for a month and half now–how time flies!  Nevertheless, I find I’m enjoying China more and more, due partly to my improving language proficiency and partly to the fact that I’ve found a group of friends among the study abroad students I often spend time with (not believers, but not partiers either).  Yes, Beijing still has its downsides, such as its ever-spicy dishes and its lack of toilet paper (did I ever mention that–you can’t flush toilet paper in China because the piping/sewage systems are so weak), but I find I can look over these things and enjoy Beijing for what it is.  I’ve been many places in these past two weeks, but I’ll try not to jump to the best parts but start at the beginning.

I’ve spent a lot more time with Xu Moyi (the guy who went with me to church last time) in the past couple of weeks.  On Tuesday 10/5, he took the time to show me where a local print shop was, as well as the post office in case I wanted to mail anything.  My goal was to apply for an absentee ballot, but I found out that in the state of Tennessee, you have to vote in person the first time you vote in that state–so I can’t vote this November (sad face).  The next day (Wednesday 10/6) I went shopping in the Xinjiekou/Jishuitan area (not too far from campus) with Jesse, Madli, John, Nicholas (all study abroad students), and Yang Ning (Nicholas’ Chinese roommate).  We looked at various guitar/music stores (John wanted to buy a guitar) and clothes stores.  I actually found a sweater I liked and wanted to buy, but Yang Ning wouldn’t let me buy it–a recurring theme in China.  Yang Ning’s actually a really nice guy, and I probably didn’t need the sweater anyway.  That evening David Spindler, the world’s leading expert on the Great Wall (and an American), came to BIE to give a lecture about the history/background of the Great Wall, which was pretty cool (I’ll talk more about the history of the Great Wall later).  That night I wanted to work out, but both CET’s workout center as well as the 15-minute-walk workout center were closed (sad face again).

The next day (Thursday 10/7) I went to erhu class again–not going so well, but getting better.  Erhu, being a stringed instrument, certainly requires a different approach than does the piano.  Theoretically I know how to play the notes, but my method is very good yet so very often my notes don’t sound so much like notes but rather like fingernails on a chalkboard.  It’s also rather frustrating that it seems most of my time “practicing” erhu is spent applying this chalk-like material to the bow so that the sound is clear–rather tedious, especially since I’m rather an impatient person.  But I’m definitely learning patience thereby 🙂 (you can see some pictures of my erhu online).  That evening I went to the nearby “jiaozi” restaurant (that’s what we call it because they have really good jiaozi, but I don’t remember the name) with Moyi and had a good discussion about religion and differences between China and U.S. (Moyi went to the U.S. a couple of years ago, to Chicago and D.C. I think).

On Friday 10/8 I learned that Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  For those of you who don’t know about this (I didn’t either until I read the news online), Liu Xiaobo was/is an advocate of democracy in China and one of the foremen during the 1989 Tiananmen student protests.  Since 1989 he’s been in other countries (mostly in the U.S., I think), but when he returned to China a year or two ago, he was arrested and thrown in jail.  No one knows where his wife is.  So, for the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to award Xiaobo this medal creates a rather politically awkward situation, since the Chinese government opposes his receiving the award, but the Committee persisted in giving him the award.  Liu Xiaobo’s name is one of those you can’t really search online in China (because it’s blocked), so there’s some serious tension right now between China and the West (not that there wasn’t before, but now it’s somewhat aggravated).  Anyway, I thought this was an interesting piece of news.

On Saturday (10/9) morning we left for the Great Wall, probably my favorite experience in China so far.  But first, a little Great Wall history (derived mostly from David Spindler’s lecture).  “The Great Wall” is kind of a misnomer in itself, because there’s not one Great Wall, but many, all marking China’s various boundary lines throughout history. We don’t actually know how long all the Great Walls are, but one estimate is 8851.8 km (5,500 mi).  The wall was not used for transportation, as many think, but it’s primary purpose was to fend off invaders, i.e. the Mongols to the north–and it was in fact largely successful in fending off the Mongols (contrary to popular belief).  The first of the Great Walls was built in the Qin Dynasty (c. 221 BC).  These walls were rammed earth walls, not very majestic but very durable.  Dry stone walls came later, being built through AD 200.  The most famous and iconic of the Great Walls were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and were brick walls with towers (begun, I believe, in 1569). These walls contained beds, stoves, large weapons/cannons, all the necessities so that military recruits could live in the wall itself (approximately 5-15 people would live in a given tower).  Soldiers were even encouraged to bring their families to live on the wall with them–this would give them more incentive to fight, to protect their families, and less incentive to defect/run away, which apparently was a problem (they were probably bored out of their minds, I don’t blame them).  In 1576, a band of 90 or so Mongols raided the wall, climbed over, killed 10 Chinese soldiers, and then killed more in an ambush when the Chinese gave pursuit–this raid was the impetus further to upgrade the wall.  This upgrade consisted mainly in resurfacing the preexisting walls with brick.  Today on the Great Wall(s) you can notice different color bricks from different periods (including darker bricks from the 1980s restoration period), walls spurs, cannon mounts, obstacle walls (allowing soldiers to shoot downwards), gutter spouts, small kilns, stone grenades, and stone piles (used as low-tech weapons).

We went to a part of the Great Wall called the Jinshanling Great Wall, set in the Yan Mountains.  The Wall wasn’t quite what I expected: it wasn’t like walking on top of Helm’s Deep with evenly paved brick, but the Great Wall is actually a legitimate relic of the past, with steep slopes, crumbled stone, destroyed and overgrown parths, as well as dangerous parts (e.g. some parts we had to walk on the ledges, and if we fell, there would probably be at least a few broken bones).  It was also very serene, set in the mountains, surrounded by fog (not pollution, thankfully), relatively quiet, a pleasant break from the noise and bustle (and smell) of Beijing.  After hiking the Great Wall, we had reservations made at the Great Wall Hotel at the base of the mountains.  We ate dinner at the restaurant hotel, and after dinner we had a bonfire and played some games and did some activities.  The first game was a “traditional Chinese” game (which we soon realized was duck-duck-goose), and the second was a game where someone called out a number on the microphone, and everyone had to form a group with than number of people; whoever was left out had to sing or dance or do something similar.  Afterwards, we had snacks, and then prepared for our evening: sleeping on the Great Wall.  The hotel was only for those who didn’t want to camp on the Great Wall (almost everyone opted for the latter choice, probably only a few Chinese that slept in the hotel rooms).  We set up our tents on the wall, not too far from the base of the wall, then told ghost stories and ate Chinese sweets.  We didn’t sleep very long, as we woke up at 6:00 AM to see the sunrise… which wasn’t there, because it was too foggy.  Oh well, at least I can say I slept on the Great Wall!  Then we went down for breakfast, and afterwards went back to the Great Wall to do yoga on the wall (mostly just stretching, but with lots of breathing in between).  Then we took the bus back home, and I slept for most of the afternoon.  The Great Wall itself was definitely worth coming to China for.

The rest of the week was fairly ordinary… On Monday 10/11 Bao Xin and I ate at Gongfu, a fast-food restaurant that’s the equivalent of China’s McDonald’s (fast food is actually relatively expensive in China, and not quite as filling as the smaller, cheaper restaurants you can find on the street).  On Tuesday and Wednesday (10/12-10/13) I and my “group” members worked on our skit that would serve as our speaking test on Thursday.  The theme of the skit was cultural differences between China and the West with respect to greetings, treating sometime to dinner, and giving gifts.  The skits were fairly funny, though rather frustrating to prepare, since I have a hard time getting people to cooperate.  But at least my grades don’t really matter this semester, so I shouldn’t worry too much.  Thursday’s (10/14) erhu class definitely saw some improvement, though my improvement certainly isn’t quick improvement.  Also, less and less people are showing up to erhu class, probably because it’s harder than they expected.  I also had a fun one-on-one class with Professor Gao (one-on-one class is every Tuesday and Thursday for half an hour), discussing Liu Xiaobo as well as whether or not Hong Kong/Taiwan/Tibet are really “China’s” or should have their independence.  The fact that I can actually have that conversation is Chinese is pretty exciting, though I still have a long way to go to attain fluency :).

On Friday (10/15) after our weekly test, we had the opportunity to go to a local Beijing family’s house for lunch.  Unfortunately, we found out a day earlier that his “opportunity” was actually homework (we had to right an essay on our visit and were required to ask certain questions–rather dumb, in my opinion), but it was still a really fun experience.  The house we went to was owned by a 75-year-old man, very polite and a very good cook, I might add.  The “house” is really a courtyard-style living quarters in an old hutong in Houhai–the hutongs are the poorest but most historical parts of Beijing–and he actually built part of the house by himself, using wood from his hometown in Hebei (he also built his own chairs using tree roots).  The meal was sumptuous, with more food prepared than the 10 of us could eat.  But I really enjoyed the family atmosphere, quite refreshing from the normal hustle and bustle of non-hutong Beijing.  He was a little hard to understand, since he had a thick accent and had very few teeth (about 4, I think), but his daughter and granddaughter, who were also present, helped translate.

In the afternoon, Jesse, Nicholas, Lauren, Savannah (all study abroad students), and I went to a local market to look at funny clothes (by the way, 99.9% of Chinese clothes that have writing on them are in English, and it’s hard to find any clothes with Chinese characters.  But interestingly, most of the English on their clothes (and everywhere else, basically) is incorrect, and often rather humorous).  You can see some of the pictures of such Chingrish clothing on my website.  Later that night, all CET students went to the Laoshe Teahouse near Tiananmen in downtown Beijing.  The Laoshe Teahouse is essentially a dinner theater, so we saw various performances, such as kung fu, wushu (another martial art), Beijing opera, erhu, skits, and two gentlemen who have the ability to make perfect bird noises (better than the birds themselves, I think).  The Laoshe Teahouse was named after Lao She, a famous author in China.  Here’s a description of him I found online: “Lao She (1899-1966), real name Shu Qingchun, was of Manchurian descent and the famous author of the book called “Camel Xiangzi” also known in the US as “Rickshaw”. It was a bestseller in the US where Lao She was a visiting  professor. He also taught Chinese at the Oriental School of London University in his earlier days. His drama Teahouse displayed his linguistic talent of the Beijing dialect, depicting the customers with their bird cages and their pipes enjoying tea and gossip. Other famous works are Crescent Moon, City of Cats, The Yellow Storm and the Drum Singers. Unfortunately, despite his great love for China, he was hounded by the Gang of Four to suicide by drowning. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1979 and his complete works were fully available.”

The next day (Saturday 10/16), Jesse, Nicholas, Lauren, Kristina, and I went to Gugong, the Forbidden City, the must-see attraction of Beijing.  The Forbidden City was the dwelling place of the previous emperors of China and the emperors servants/concubines.  The Forbidden City (so named because the emperor wasn’t allowed out and no one was allowed in) is the largest collection of wooden buildings in the world, and purportedly contains 9,999 rooms (though I think the number is less now).  We only stayed for three hours, which wasn’t near enough time, but it was fun nevertheless.  As with the Great Wall, seeing the pictures really tells the story best, so you’ll have to go online to check out my pictures.  Later that night, we went to Wangfujing (the “Times Square” of Beijing) and looked around at some shops and a mall, including a foreign language bookstore (with quite a good selection).  We also checked out Xiaochijie (“Snack Street”), where you can find all kinds of delicacies, such as scorpions and larvae… mm, mm!  I didn’t actually eat anything, but I really want to try a scorpion before I leave China (besides the price, one disincentive to eating the scorpions is that they’re still basically alive when you purchase them, only they have no heads–because I knew you wanted to know that bit of information).

Today (Sunday 10/17) the cold weather finally came in, and today was the first day I donned my leather coat.  I went to both churches again today–Chinese and international–and both Xu Moyi and Bao Xin accompanied me to the Chinese church, which was great.  I enjoy seeing Lawson every Sunday (except last Sunday, when I was at the Great Wall) enjoy our conversations together (really my only time speaking English while in China).  This week I have my midterm exams, and on Friday I fly out to Chongqing for fall break!  My friend Matt McNutt from Franklin Classical School is also a Chinese major and is studying at a college in Chongqing, so I’m going to visit him.  I would appreciate your prayers, both for the exams and for my travel (I’m not worried about flying, but about getting through the airport–if you recall my last experience at a Beijing airport, you’ll know why I’m somewhat pessimistic about what might come).

Before I go, just a few quick comments about Beijing life in general, and some things I forgot to mention last time.  I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but some of the CET students go to a workout center that’s about a 15-minute walk away from campus (that’s where some of the Chingrish pictures on my website come from), so I try to head there two or three times a week.  I really like all the teachers here, especially Professor Jiang.  She actually said something interesting to me the other day: she noted that my pronunciation was pretty good (definitely not authentic, but pretty good considering) and asked if I played an instrument/sang–yes, I said, and she then noted that language and music are related, such that experience with music helps one learn a language, especially a tonal language like Chinese.  Our class topics are rather liberal, however, and actually rather ironic.  Each lesson covers a different lesson which is essentially a message about saving the earth and maintaining one’s health, etc., so that we have such topics as reducing pollution (as if Beijingers are very good at that), not spitting (EVERYONE in China spits, and not just a light spit like you find in America but a deep-throated lugie that can be heard from miles away, men and women alike), dog rights (Chinese people eat dog, especially in the North), and women’s liberation (men are definitely more highly valued than women in Chinese society, that’s why there are so many abortions and why there are so few women relative to men).  Such is the irony of non-Christian society, I suppose.

Oh, and I’ve also noticed a quality of Bao Xin wherein he really seems to take note of appearances.  For example, I’ll be talking to him and all of a sudden he’ll interrupt me and say, “Whoa! Your eyes look really dark” or “Whoa! you have a pimple on your face!”  After almost every meal he tells me to look at his stomach, because he swears he looks fatter, and today after church he said he didn’t enjoy it because the pastor’s voice was unpleasant.  I’m inclined to think this is his own personal habit rather than a Chinese mindset, but it’s still interesting to note nontheless.

Sorry to drag on, but one more interesting note: I told Bao Xin a few weeks ago that I like to collect books, especially old books, and I asked him if there were any old/used bookstores in China.  “Oh yes,” he says.  “Oh really?” say I, “So how old are some of the oldest books you can find?”  “Mm, about 1980,” he says… 1980 is definitely not what I have in mind when I think of old books.  But I soon learned from Bao Xin that China doesn’t really have many old books, because they didn’t really have printing machines until relatively late (due to their late industrialization), and that many (in fact most) books were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.  So I guess I won’t be collecting any Qing-Dynasty-era books of poetry while I’m here, but maybe I can find something that at least looks old :).

Well, I guess I should be going now.  I can see God’s hand working through my life here in Beijing, and I think I’m acquiring new vision for His plans for me.  I guess the lesson is to be patent and walk faithfully with God, for He will certainly guide your steps and never forsake you.  I hope all is well (and sunny) back in the US of A.  Until next time, remember: never take your cold sandwiches and toilet paper for granted.

In Christ,
James

P.S. Congratulations to Dr. Waldecker on a well-earned Ph.D, and for his introduction to the world of television fame as the All-Wise Corrector-of-Pronunciations!

P.P.S. My website has new pictures under the following categories: Me!, Chingrish, Signs, Random, Campus (finally), Erhu, Great Wall, Laoshe Teahouse, Forbidden City, and Wangfujing and Snack Street.  Enjoy!