Beijing

NYU took us on a three-day weekend trip to Beijing. It was fantastic, significantly different from Shanghai in its architecture, mannerisms, culture, etc. We took a ten-hour overnight train there and a two-hour plane ride back. As you'd expect, both the airport and train station coming and going were impeccably modern.

The Great Wall. We took the three-hour bus ride from Beijing on this cool, misty day which formed a perfect backdrop for the Great Wall. I was surprised by the range of languages people were speaking as they walked, every people seemed to be represented except the local Chinese. Surprisingly the wall was exactly what I expected - grand, in the middle of nature, serene, awe-inspiring. It isn't incredibly high, maybe two or three stories above the ground. However, the natural beauty of the trees around it (at least the part we explored) was majestic.

There are some incredibly steep parts of the wall, and it's quite a strenuous walk at times. Of course, the incredible aspect is its construction. It has a long history from the 5th century BC, though the majority was built during the Ming Dynasty in the late 1400s. Ironically, the very next dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, which ruled until 1911, originated in Manchuria and was able to invade past the Great Wall. So I guess the Mings' concern about the North was well-founded.

As you know, the Great Wall is a collection of barriers, both man-made and natural, attempting to protect China from invasion. Even on the part that we walked (of the over 5,000 miles of wall), you could see different slopes and styles based on the geography. Therefore, it's certainly not as consistent and monolithic as the name the Great Wall suggests.

One of the shirts the street vendors were selling. Without a doubt, on the route from the Great Wall to the parking lot, a bevy of street vendors were positioned with shirts, Chinese art, panda bears, bags, Mao statues, etc. (What else would you expect besides naked capitalism in communist China?) I haven't talked about bargaining yet, but these vendors were worse than normal, obviously because they can get away with it. For a sweatshirt, the starting price was 280 yuan, she told me the student price was 180 yuan. I said 50 yuan, she said 150 yuan, I said 50 yuan, she pretended to put the sweatshirt down, I started to walk away, she said 100 yuan, I kept walking, she kept chasing me yelling 80 yuan (I didn't end up getting the sweatshirt, I opted for a T-shirt but not the one above)

At times when I was bargaining, I felt bad due to the desperation that would fill the vendors' voices, especially when they started chasing you. However, like someone said in Istanbul, they wouldn't sell it to you for a loss so they're still making a profit off of whatever price you pay. To be honest, my opening bid of 50 yuan was too high. One of my friends got a seal that you use to stamp your name on paper down from 280 yuan to 30 yuan. If you're curious, most negotiations took place on paper to overcome the language barrier.

The communications tower of the 2008 Olympic site. The site was incredibly expansive (hopefully the fading light posts convey that impression) and pristine compared to the rest of the city. A separate subway line was built to accommodate Olympic athletes and spectators, which is still in use today. One of my Chinese friends was saying that the entire area around the site was built up with office buildings, real estate, etc. in two years (compare that to how long it takes NY to build a subway line on 2nd Ave).

As you know, the story of the Beijing Olympics is telling in itself. Traffic in Beijing is terrible, especially due to its structure of concentric ring roads around the city. Pollution is supposed to be bad though the air was quite nice the weekend I went. Constructing world-class structures in such a crowded, polluted city in such a short time span is incredibly difficult. However, that's the power of the Communist Party. If they want to host the Olympics or improve automobile fuel standards or build a city where none existed ten years ago, they can do it, in ways that the US, India, and other democracies can't. They can cut through the bureaucracy, change their promotion structure, etc. to achieve results. Obviously that may not be a good thing if you get someone like Mao driving the country into the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution, but it is something to consider when Americans talk about progress, technological or otherwise.

The Bird's Nest, or the Beijing National Stadium. This stadium hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies though it hasn't found much recurring use since the Olympics. We didn't go inside (Wikipedia says tickets are 50 yuan), but as you can see, it's certainly impressive.

A pavilion in the Summer Palace. Built in 1750 for the emperor's family, the site is picturesque with a lake, stony hills, architecture fitted to the landscape, etc. Obviously, it stands in contrast to the rest of the city. Along with the Forbidden City (the emperor's family's residence in the heart of Beijing), it raises interesting questions about the position of the emperor. If an emperor was overthrown, popular belief said that he wasn't fit to lead and the peasants accepted the new emperor (granted, accepted probably meant peasants were militarily forced to submit to the new rule). However, the fact that traditional Chinese history, customs, art, etc has survived so many dynastic changes and revolutions astounds me whenever I think about it.

The Forbidden City. It housed the families of emperors from the Ming and Qing Dynasty from the early 1400s to 1911. The buildings never seem to end (there are 980 surviving ones) and this site, if explored thoroughly, can certainly take up a few hours of your time. The Forbidden City was built to be the center of the ancient walled city of Beijing. Large squares exist between the buildings as seen in the picture above, I'm not sure what their day-to-day use was. The architecture is incredibly ornate on each building. The roofs are golden since yellow is the color of the emperor, according to Wikipedia.

The level of artwork on each building of the Forbidden City. This picture is from a nearby park, Zhongshan Park, but it captures the attention to detail.

Tiananmen Square. The square itself is large and standard with impressive buildings surrounding it, including the Mausoleum to commemorate Mao. However, I couldn't help but notice the level of security on each light post. Obviously, the square is central to modern Chinese history with the origins of the May Fourth movement, Mao's declaration of the PRC, and the 1989 student massacre all occurring in and around it. However, it seemed to be quite a lively and relaxed place, besides the overabundance of security cameras.

The daily flag-raising in Tiananmen Square. It occurs at slightly different times, but we arrived at 5 am only to realize it occurred that day past 6 am. We got a front-row standing spot, but the amount of people present was incredible. The military marches out from across the street to the tune of the national anthem, raises the flag, and marches back. It's similar to the Changing of the Guards in London. Even though it's early, I'd recommend going at least once.

A street in Beijing that is known for selling odd animals and meats. My friends ate scorpion, snake, silkworm, seahorse, octopus, etc. One of the vendors wanted me to try some meat so I told him I am vegetarian. Without a moment of hesitation, he assured me that silkworm is vegetarian. Really? Do you think you're going to trick me? I thought it was funny nonetheless.

A book I read for class mentioned how Chinese streets will offer exotic meat in one stand and household pets a couple blocks down. Since the same animals are probably sold at both stands, it doesn't seem to make sense how one people, one mindset can accommodate them both. However, this example points to the naked capitalism of China, as I mentioned earlier. Whatever sells at whatever price to whomever for whatever purpose, is sold. If your morals limit your entrepreneurial ability, someone else will probably fill the gap. I'm not saying China is morally bankrupt (after all, India's naked capitalism is similar, although cultural views would condemn the exotic meats, at least to the scale of China), but I'm saying that it's a dynamic that isn't seen as readily in Western countries due to laws and cultural views. Even though the US prides itself on capitalism, it makes you wonder what about capitalism do we have that China doesn't. Concepts such as human rights and rule of law come to mind, but capitalism and the entrepreneurial spirit - at its core, at the grassroots level - is booming in China to the same level that it does in the US, though it takes different forms in both countries (exotic meats, bargaining vs. technology, Internet. Of course, that balance is not permanent, and China is actively working to change it to its benefit)

This post is becoming too long, but I'll briefly mention the differences between Shanghai and Beijing. Where Shanghai is flashy and foreign, Beijing's architecture is monolithic, imposing the government's immensity upon your eyes. Where Shanghai is hot and humid, Beijing is noticeably cooler, probably colder during the winter. Where Shanghai seems associated with the future and enforces some government laws only as it deems necessary, Beijing seems associated with China's rich history and uniformity throughout the country.

If I haven't made it clear, Beijing was incredible. Three days (one day at the Great Wall) was entirely too short to explore the city. Many students said they were happy that we were studying abroad in Shanghai and only lived in Beijing for a weekend. I'm not sure if I agree with that statement, but the two cities are certainly unique. Visit both of them!

One-Child Policy

As you know, China has had a one-child policy since 1979. Several exemptions can be made in rural China, for ethnic minorities with dwindling populations, families whose first child dies, etc. However, the policy has been effective in preventing hundreds of millions of births (Wikipedia says 250 million since 2000, nearly the population of the US). We listened to a panel of Chinese students talk about various aspects of their lives today including the social effects of the one-child policy. Many of the observations below are elementary, but I personally found them fascinating.

First and foremost, this policy leads to the 4-2-1 problem. If two generations have only one child, for every 4 grandparents and 2 parents, there is only one child. This child presumably becomes responsible for taking care of all the elderly in the family, placing a great burden on them to do well academically and to find a well-paying job. To relieve this burden, some calls have been made for increasing the social safety net for senior citizens.

Conversely, since a family's hope for carrying on their honor becomes vested in only one child, the phenomenon of "little emperors" has been well-documented. Some Chinese children become spoiled since both parents and sets of grandparents shower them with attention, if not money, and cater to all their needs. At least from the panel, this phenomenon didn't seem to be as great a problem as the burden mentioned above and the loneliness mentioned below.

Without siblings or cousins (assuming both parents are also only children), the panelists said they became quite attached to their school friends or parents/grandparents. A couple panelists did have cousins since their families originated in rural China so they considered themselves lucky. Nearly all six panelists said they were lonely in some sense, but I'm not sure what that means or how to compare American and Chinese levels of loneliness. However, it is noteworthy since I would never say I'm lonely to a group of foreign students so I'm assuming loneliness rears it head more often in their lives. The girls on the panel said they always wished for an older brother, someone who could protect them. From their description, it almost sounded like they were describing a husband and I've never heard American girls talk of a similar idea so I'm not sure why having a strong older brother would be so important for them.

I'm sure there are many social effects of the one-child policy, not only in terms of daily life but also in terms of personality development and social norms. From the panelists' voices and body language, you could tangibly feel a sense of regret, of loneliness. They certainly have school friends, all of whom are in a similar position, so it's not an isolated struggle, but it's quite sad (that's the only word that fully seems to capture my reaction). I personally can't imagine spending all my time at home without my sister, going on vacations with only my parents, not having cousins who play pranks on me and teach me how to grow up, etc.

I'm not criticizing the Chinese government. If I was in their position with a burgeoning population in the late 1970s and even today with inadequate resources to feed, house, and employ all of them, I would probably make the same decision. Many online descriptions of the one-child policy's social effects seems to have political criticism veiled in their words. However, the two aspects of the policy should be viewed distinctly - even if you accept its political necessity, you can still sympathize with some of its social effects, which is my position.

Of course, some positive social effects probably come out of the policy as well. The panelists didn't mention them, but rural families can probably invest more in the success of one child versus many children (a continuing problem in India), children probably have a more developed sense of respect for their parents, etc. I don't want to pinhole the policy as politically necessary, socially bad. It impacts every aspect of China's demographics, economy, society, etc. so I'm sure it has many effects, which would be impossible to measure and to weigh definitively.

However, it is an interesting thought exercise to imagine that you and everybody you know is an only child. After you get over the initial sense of liberation from your siblings, think about the amount of time, memories, conflicts, effects on personality, emotions (both good and bad) shared with them. I'm not sure what life would look like, but I'm sure it would look a whole lot different.

Vegetarianism

Being a vegetarian AND barely being able to speak Chinese is not a good combination (great foresight, Pratik). Though I'm sure Shanghai is more vegetarian-friendly than much of rural China, it hasn't been easy to find new types of vegetarian food each day. I've found a few places that cater to vegetarians, but after three weeks, all the meals are starting to blend together.

If you started being a vegetarian in India, you probably wouldn't even notice the difference. All the flavor and spices that are put on meat are equally, if not more so, applied to vegetables. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in China. Meats form the core of the meal, paired with each other and different vegetables. Vegetables seem to function as only complements, lacking the flavor and spices of meat but instead treated with oil, salt, and/or garlic. This dietary approach leaves vegetarians with more or less plain vegetables and rice. Thus, meals fill me up but are very bland and leave me relying on drinks for flavor.

However, being vegetarian is by no means impossible. You often have to annoy waiters with multiple questions like "su" (vegetarian), "mei you rou" (without meat), and "mei you dan" (without eggs). Once I asked a street vendor if the "baozi" (filled bun) had meat. She answered "mei you rou, zhi you ji rou" (without meat, just chicken). So it's better to be safe and annoying than to be sorry. If you can take the time out of your day, there are multiple vegetarian restaurants and Buddhist temples that serve only vegetarian food around Shanghai. I've only been to one Buddhist temple, but the food was delicious. I don't think any of these outlets are close to our campus, but I'm sure I'll get tired of my current regimen and venture into one.

Because I'm living in Shanghai, large supermarkets with many vegetarian options exist. Carrefour, a French chain comparable to Walmart and Tesco, has many imported products including cereal, granola bars, and pasta. One of my biggest surprises came when I realized that the Chinese don't eat milk and cereal for breakfast (again, impressive amounts of foresight on my part) so the prices are quite high relative to America. Soy milk and some yogurt are the primary sources of dairy; I've seen few, if any, people buy or drink regular milk.

For one of my classes, I'm going to write my final paper on vegetarianism in the Chinese operating system. Based on preliminary research, much of the early Chinese diet was vegetarian for practical reasons - there is an overabundance of vegetables and rice as reflected in their low prices, there is little suitable land for cattle to graze, and seafood is not as prevalent as other Asian countries like Japan. However, I want to understand if vegetarianism is common and accepted for non-practical reasons. Based on the number of odd looks I've gotten when I order food (perhaps it's just because I'm that good looking), I would guess not, but then again, I did mention the vegetarian restaurants and the Buddhist temples that serve only vegetarian food.

Without a doubt, Shanghai is going to taunt my vegetarianism and to teach me a lot more about that part of myself than London. I'll certainly be stronger for it. Not to mention that by the end of the semester, I'll be a chopstick ninja.

America in a Chinese Salon

I just got a haircut from a local salon (3 dollars well spent). I went by myself so my broken Chinese and their broken English didn't allow for much communication. Pointing and gesturing, which makes up over 75% of my communication with the local Chinese, got me through the experience.

Anyway, the thing that struck me was when one of the barbers depicted Iraq and America with his hands. He traced the trajectory of a missile into Iraq while saying "Bush, Bush very bad. Obama, Obama very good" (At the time, it sounded more like "Beyush, Beyush vary baa. Oyama, Oyama vary goo"). Of course, that's like me saying to a Chinese tourist in America "Communist Hu Jintao, censorship and pollution, very bad". It's a one-dimensional, inaccurate portrayal of an entire government and an entire country. However, the idea that America's one-dimensional caricature is defined by the Iraq war instead of freedom, democracy, academic opportunity, etc. caught me off guard. If you had to define America in a word or a phrase, what would it be? How would someone in Saudi Arabia or China answer that question? I doubt the two responses would bear any resemblance to each other, but it seems like our job (by our, I mean not only the government but also our generation) is to fix that image and to fill the gap.

Of course, most of the conversation (or attempted conversation, I should say) wasn't political or serious at all. My barber did a Michael Jackson dance move and mentioned Lady Gaga. One of the other barbers pointed out my arm hair, and my barber proudly pulled down his V-neck shirt to display his chest hair. The other barbers crowded around to make fun of my broken Chinese among themselves (I heard a bunch of sentences with Meiguoren, or Americans, even though I couldn't understand them). The experience was great, all of us were laughing at the other side's attempt to speak Chinese or English, but it gave me much food for thought.

The Great Firewall

Some websites like Facebook and YouTube are permanently blocked by the Great Firewall, but others like NYUHome are blocked some days but not others. I'm not quite sure what the Chinese government finds objectionable about NYUHome, but I guess you never know.

Despite this reality, there are a host of ways to bypass the Great Firewall. Some proxies charge for their services, especially if you want to reach Facebook or YouTube, but the one I was using during my first week here (UltraSurf), and several others, are free.

When you do try to access a blocked website without a proxy, the following message appears:

"This webpage is not available.

The webpage athttp://www.google.com.hk/search?hl=zh-TW&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1_____enUS393US393&q=ultrasurf&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address."

This is the message that appears when I type UltraSurf into Google. Therefore, to access UltraSurf, I need to go to sitegetter.net. SiteGetter gives me access to UltraSurf but not to Facebook. I'm not sure what the distinction between the two websites is. SiteGetter might be a less powerful proxy that the Chinese government allows while UltraSurf may be more a more powerful proxy, but that's just a guess.

If you don't want to use proxies, you can use more reliable and safer virtual private networks (VPNs). NYU provides a VPN to its study abroad students, which I was able to get working on my computer yesterday. Whereas a proxy routes your website request through another computer, a VPN encapsulates and enciphers private information to emulate a private network over the Internet. So if I understand correctly, a VPN is like a proxy but it is faster and more reliable since it uses a trusted third party like NYU, it provides private information that I have saved on my NYU drives, and it won't as easily reveal my IP address and location. Or you can look up the distinction yourself instead of trusting a non-technical business school student.

My Taiwanese roommate said that a major factor in Chinese censorship is the intended audience. While the government acknowledges that many of its citizens and visitors find means to bypass the Great Firewall, it still wants to protect the rural and less educated population from external influences. Some of the motivation is political, some of it is social such as to prevent pornography and Internet gambling, and there's probably other reasons as well.

There are Chinese versions of Facebook and YouTube, RenRen and Toudu, respectively, so it seems that the Chinese government doesn't want to prevent these functionalities, just the interaction with external influences. It's an interesting dynamic because there's the tension between becoming more productive and integrated with the rest of the world and preserving traditional Chinese culture. Often these two sides are presented as polar opposites, but they span economic, political, social, cultural, etc. dimensions. Maybe it is possible to become more productive economically by adopting technology and functionalities while remaining independent in terms of political ideology, social customs, or cultural tradition. It's a tension that all societies, and even individuals, face, but as with everything else in China, it's played out on a much grander scale here than elsewhere in the world.

Shanghai

I've been in Shanghai for the last 2.5 weeks. So much has been going on, I can't believe I'm only starting to blog about it now. Part of the reason for my slowness has been the Great Firewall. Facebook, YouTube, Google Blogger blogs (like mine), etc. are all blocked. I think I've configured my ISP the right way to reach the NYU VPN (virtual private network) that can bypass the Great Firewall. I'll talk about the Internet and China's policy in a later blog post.

Here's a blurb I wrote in my first couple of days in Shanghai

"I’ve been in Shanghai for only a day and a half, but it’s already been a whirlwind of an introduction. On the ride from the airport, you could see and feel the city growing outside the bus windows, unlike anything I’ve seen in the US or Europe. It resembled India to an extent with the juxtaposition of colossal apartment buildings and slums, the massive power lines running into the heart of the city, the construction of unknown and unnamed projects, the bustle of people, the heat, etc.

Shanghai is broken into two parts – Puxi to the east of the Huangpu River and Pudong to the west (In Chinese, xi means east and dong means west). Pudong contains the futuristic skyscrapers that represent Shanghai in many people’s minds. The Chinese government hopes to make it comparable to lower Manhattan with the Financial District, impressive buildings, etc. The incredible fact is that Pudong’s construction started in 1992. To think that half of one of the most, if not the most, cosmopolitan and vibrant cities in China is younger than I am amazes me.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of anecdotes throughout my four months in China with a similar storyline. However, it’s still exciting to see and feel this growth, this excitement over the potential of the future, this almost-reawakening for China, at least in economic terms."

For the rest of this semester, I hope to blog as often as I did in Europe. I'll structure it similarly with both trip-based posts with pictures and topic-based posts with my thoughts. I can already tell that in China, there's going to be a lot more topic-based posts. So much is different than the West that it really gets you thinking about the way things are done. On that note, keep reading my blog!