China's Golden Week

October 1st is China’s National Day where they celebrate the founding of the country by Chairman Mao. And this year, the 60th Anniversary is being greeted as if it was the most grandiose affair of the century. Banners welcoming this day are set up outside many office buildings and public places. The television is bombarded with constant programs like variety shows, documentaries and TV series and old war movies depicting how far China has come in the lat 60 years and broadcasting the pride of the nation. The Chinese flag is hung outside homes. Many make plans to spend the day watching the live morning broadcast at their grandparents and catch a glimpse of the nighttime fireworks display on the streets outside. Nearly everything comes to a complete halt as all government organizations come to a standstill. Other than the 1 week long vacation Chinese people get during Chinese New Year, this is the only other time when they get an entire week off from work. It's heralded as 'The Golden Week'. Security is at its highest alert. It’s proudly regarded as being twice or trice times more of a celebration than the Olympics last year. In the past couple weeks, volunteers, various groups and thousands of high school kids have been rehearsing for this big day. Fighter jets have been have been zooming past the sky holding practice on days where the normally hazy polluted sky is clear. The number of security guards has tripled in the city center particularly in areas within the 2nd ring road.


These rehearsals about twice a week for the last month of so has led to many people being inconvenienced as many roads and public places are closed off from 4pm to 7am the next day for the rehearsals in Tiananmen Square. People unprepared of uninformed about the rehearsal days are left to take alternate routes home from work or just going home from shopping. Buses are all commissioned off the streets to bus the participants to the rehearsals. Cabs were one in a million to catch as the number of passengers quadrupled. Subways stops were closed off. Many have had to resort to walking most of the way home. Needless to say, it add two to three hours to their commute to get home. The inconvenience afforded to the public could be said to be rude and selfish at best, especially when taking into account the lack of information and preparations offered as alternative routes. With that in mind, it amazed me how little people complained and somehow just took it with stride in respect to the rehearsals welcoming this day. In fact, many who had the opportunity to see the army tanks rolling past the streets to get to Tiananmen Square in the night boasted about it and showed off pictures they had taken on their cell phones.


Airlines have spiked up their tickets to double the regular airfare during this time as people try to take the opportunity to travel during this time. I’ve been told that people are going to be packing the streets like sardines during this whole week of National Day celebration, so it’s better to stay home. For security purposes, Beijing Capital Airport will be closed from the night of September 30th until the morning of October 2nd. All flights will be re-routed elsewhere.


Whilst older women here like having dogs as pets, Beijing men in their 40s and above enjoy rearing birds. Every evening, they release the birds from their cages for a couple hours. The birds know to come back at sundown. This National Day, for security purposes, bird owners are not allowed to release their birds from their cages from the night of September 30th to October 2, in the event that that someone attempts to outfit them with spy cameras.


The Chinese government are going to make every effort to make this day glorious even if it means altering nature. According to the weather forecast, it will be a rainy October 1st in Beijing. But in order to make the celebration go on as planned, the authorities will apparently be using their usual rain initiation technique to instigate the clouds to rain on September 30 so that the festivities will continue under the backdrop of clear blue skies.


The sad part is, the ordinary people themselves will only be able to witness this parade in Tiananmen Square from their TV boxes at home. As the entire city is on high alert, many streets and subway stations will be closed between 11pm on September 30th and 9am on September 2nd. People living within the 2nd ring road stock up the fridges with food to prepare for the National Day ‘quarantine’. Ironically, the only people allowed to watch this grand parade are people in the military class and government officials. If you ask any Chinese why they aren’t allowed to be on the streets celebrating this glorious day of the birth of their country, the answer you’ll get is, “There’s too many people. What if a bomb goes off?”. Sounds a lot like a bunch of silly bull*__* propaganda the government sells in the newspapers and such to scare the people from participating in an open ‘proletariat’ assembly in a public place if you ask me. But then I’m just a foreigner in this country so what do I know, right?…or do we foreigners realize something they are brainwashed to believe, all to the advantage of the ruling class?

One Child Policy

In class today, we talked about the One Child Policy conundrum in China imposed about 25 years ago. Seems like there’s a growing concern among the older generation about the newer generation. I found out that when women look for a job, one of the requirements that they have to answer to is whether they’re using this government issued birth control ring that is inserted in the women’s uterus every 5 years. If they do not, they will be rejected because of the risk of consequences imposed by the government on theat company. If a woman is found pregnant for the second time, there’s a lot of paperwork and hassle that the company has to go through to explain the situation. And apparently, the government then takes the women’s salary. So it’s a lose lose situation for all.

Since parents are only allowed one child and have to pay a lot to have more, parents lavish all their love and attention on that one child. In today’s Chinese  average income family, both parents work, leaving the child in the care of the grandparents. So that one child enjoys exclusive attention not only from the parents but from both sides of the grandparents as well. This is resulting in a generation who are apparently spoilt, self-centered, selfish and not willing to give and take as they’ve never had to do it growing up.

For example, there was a recent publication in a local magazine about summer school trip where Japanese and Chinese children went for a week’s camping trip up in the mountains. When it got cold at night, it was easy to tell between the children from both countries. The Japanese kids knew to get the warm clothes from their backpacks to cover themselves. The Chinese kids just moaned and complained that they were cold and didn’t know how to keep themselves warm.

Here’s another example. My friend just had her friends over at her house and they brought along their 7 year old child. When the child went from one room to another, his mother chased after him to either take his coat off or put in on for him when he complained that the room was too hot or cold. The walls in their house is covered in pen markings. This is obviously an extreme case of a spoilt child but it closely exemplifies the new breed of Chinese that is now becoming the new leaders and workforce of China.

The divorce rate in China is also increasing rapidly. Quite a number of chinese people have mentioned one of their suspicions to me. Unlike the older generation with bigger families where the males were taught give in to their sisters or the older ones to give in to the younger siblings, these children in the last 20 years or so have grown up not having to share, or give in to one another in the course of an argument. But to take and own what they have to their fullest desire. Of course, this cannot be applied to the whole generation. But it’s definitely a prevalent concern and a topic that is not foreign to people here. Obviously, the major concern is the ability of the newer generation in the office setting in terms of negotiation and ability to cooperate with one another, once the older generation is gone.

Personal Space

I’ve observed that it is common to see male friends holding hands or walking with their arms over each other’s shoulders. In Western countries, there seems to be a prevalent homophobia about touch and private space that the Chinese seem oblivious about. It’s pretty refreshing. I’ve heard a couple foreign male friends from America and Russia who complain about it being very uncomfortable in the presence of local chinese males who put their hands on their shoulders or throw their arms around their neck in the midst of cajolling. I guess one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

In the same vein, it seems like the women here in Beijing have a much healthier attitude towards nudity than what I've experienced in the States. In the public bathrooms in the gym and in swimming pools, in contrast to the American public bathrooms environment where women generally avoid looking at each other's bodies and peek uncomfortably when curious, use towels to cover up and avoid being in the nude openly among each other, women here walk around and linger in the nude comfortably and the bathing area are an open concept without doors. I find this aspect of their self-awareness and comfort with their own bodies particularly refreshing, though initially quite shocking. Perhaps it's innocence. Perhaps it's culture. Perhaps its the historical religious background America was built on. Whatever it is, I think it's something we in America should embrace rather than the conservatism, discomfort and taboo that shrouds nudity. It's interesting that a Taiwanese American friend of mine also had the same experience whilst visiting family back home in Taiwan. 

Smile!

If you ever make it to this part of the world and feel like having a good laugh, try smiling at a Chinese person. You’ll get a real kick out of it. I don’t mean friends or your typical tour guide or hotel staff who are trained to smile as a regiment for keeping their jobs. I mean the average stranger on the road. Chinese people are not used to smiling at strangers for no apparent reason. I think its an American thing. The British for example are notorious for being snobs on the streets of London. That's just my experience. OK, back to China. It’s not that they’re unfriendly, as many of my American friends who have been to China thinks. Chinese are just not used to it. Just like we’re not used to squatting to rest, eat or take a dump. They’re just not quite sure how to react and associate it with an ulterior motive. I’ve gotten all sorts of reactions from smiling at strangers. Many tend to just stare dumbfounded until I pass them by. One woman literally caught off guard, raised her eyebrows. Her neck straightened as her eyes bulged. I had to smile to myself. However, I’ve noticed that if I do the ‘Gentleman’s nod', combining the smile with a slight nod of the head, some of the older men will smile back. I’ve yet to receive a scowl. Think I’ll keep trying until then…

China the new world superpower?

China's complex history with its contradictory and conflicting stances and politics is well known. From the fact that they really seem to have a strong dislike for the Japanese because of the wars of invasion and brutalization without apologies, yet not apologizing for the millions of their own that were killed by Mao's leadership, down to criticisms of their human rights violations and environmental issues. Yet the brighter part of the picture is that there does seem to be a sincere desire to improve the living standards of its people and play it's part in the global scene. The reason being, just in the last week that I've been here, I've seen things that I've never even seen in wealthy first world countries like the States. All public places in residential buildings have sound activated light fixtures that turn on only if there are people around. I was in a mall today where I saw for the first time, energy conserving escalators that slowed when not used and speeds up just as people steps onto it. Plastic bags sold in the supermarkets are more often than not the thin type. Many of the restaurants use thin recycled cardboard boxes rather than styrofoam containers. All supermarkets charge extra for using their plastic bags. Many of the restaurants use plastic reusable chopsticks than the paper ones. Elevators in my residential building are reduced to half at off peak times of the day in order to conserve energy. Now, I can see how many people back in the States and perhaps elsewhere would groan about this being an inconvenient or 'cheap' style of living. But then doesn't that also mean that we're living our lavished lives more and more irresponsibly all for the sake of 'having everything we want at our fingertips'. How is it that America which constitutes only 4% of the world population contribute to 25% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions every year - the highest of any country in the world, and more than China, India and Japan combined. Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually - consuming more than 850 million trees. For every action, there is a consequence. What will it take for us to change our 'recklessness' ways and mindsets?

On the other hand, national broadcast of any foreign media is not allowed across China. There's widespread censorship of violent, sexual or political elements in movie theaters and gaming such as Xbox, PS2 and Gameboy are completely banned. I seem to be unable to reach major blogsites like Blogger.com, Xanga.com. Youtube.com as well, which is a pain because I think I was addicted to it in living in the States. Hopefully, this blog won't be blocked by the Chinese government one day. But if it does, then I guess it's Plan B...life finds a way. However, over lunch today, I learnt a couple very helpful things from Mrs. Ma's daughter, Sarah who's a local Beijinger. She shared with me about a whole slew of websites that will allow me to download international shows like Saturday Night Live, Ellen Degeneres Show, UNCENSORED movies and tons more from websites I've never heard of in my life. It was a great relief to know that I won't be completely sheltered from all forms of media from the western world. There seems to be a extremist protectionist governing style here despite a deep hunger and love for foreign media among the masses, especially the younger generation. From my discussions with my Chinese friends in the short time I've been here, it's become very apparent that Chinese fans stream live shows eagerly online and for example, knew immediately that Sean Penn's speech for winning the Oscar for MILK was completely censored from local broadcast, as concepts of freedom and homosexuality are topics not allowed to be discussed openly. 20 years ago, there was a law that enabled gays found convening together in public places to be jailed but today, it has laxed into something that is just not talked about. Though there is no religious reasons for opposing homosexuality here as in the States (as it's generally an atheist society), the younger generation generally see homosexuality as something to empathize about and feel obligated to 'help' by introducing gay friends to members of the other sex, whilst the older generation have a hard time accepting it. Ling Bai, a famous chinese actress who co-starred with Richard Gere in Red Corner (1997), a movie exposing high levels of conspiracy and corruption within the Chinese central government administration, was thereafter disallowed to have any of her movies viewed within China. However, despite the fact gaming is not officially allowed, gaming equipment can be easily purchased in hyper marts geared towards electronic goods here. A double standard? You bet. As much as I think that excess gaming has somehow desensitized the American society to violence and has started to become an unhealthy epidemic among our children, I can slowly understand why there is an internal conflict among the younger Chinese generation about their government. It's a love and hate relationship. They seem to be a very informed public audience aware of the widespread corruption and double standards practiced by the government and yet feel powerless to change it. Yet I believe they unwittingly ARE the catalysts of change in their country and have yet to realize their potential. As much as I want to criticize the Chinese government for these and many other reasons, it causes me to consider the recent Blagojevich corruption scandals splashed all over our newspapers recently, the ludicrousy of our recent Bush government bureaucracy which was allowed to perpetuate and prevalence of our nationwide child sexual molestation epidemic contrasted with the (supposedly) insufficient funds for enforcement vehicles. Are we really that different? Do we really have a right to point our fingers first?

Migrant workers

An American friend, Neal who had been here to adopt a chinese baby 7 years ago, asked me if the juxtaposition of the extremely advanced living standards and the extremely low cost agrarian lifestyle still exist side by side today. The answer is yes. Manual labor still seems to the primary form of construction here in China. Men use shovels and axes to dig trenches for pipelines to build their office buildings downtown, laborers use feather dusters to clean building exteriors, donkeys to carry building materials, brooms made of branches to clean the roads. One day, the children of these 2nd class citizens are going to be educated enough to not want to do these kinds of jobs. Outsourced to private companies or other new immigrants. Just like the way our 1st and 2nd world countries have evolved. 

Discrimination everywhere

As superficial as it sounds, the truth is in China IT MATTERS whether you’re an asian with dark hair and yellow skin or a caucasian with blond hair, blue eyes and white skin. Outer appearance determines your experiences here in China, regardless of whether you speak the language.

I was waiting for a friend at Guomao today and decided I’d strike up a conversation with the janitor cleaning the floor at the subway station and the guard, a boy looking no older than 17. This is how it went:

Me: Why aren’t you using the cleaning machine to clean the floor?

Janitor: Because it won’t clean between the grooves like this one here.

Me: Wow, that looks so hard.

(she keeps on scrubbing while the Guard smiles sheepishly with me)

Guard: Do you think you could do that too?

Me: No way. I don’t think I can stand squatting like that and scrubbing. It’s just too hard.

Guard: (smiles)

Me: How long does it take you to scrub the floor like this?

Janitor: 8 hours

Me: Wow! That’s a long time!

Janitor: Yes, I have to use this much soap water to scrub with. Then when it’s gone, I don’t have any more to wash with so I have to clean it with this amount of water, then clean the soap up with this mop.

Me: Are you two from Beijing?

Janitor: (she immediately replied incredulously) Of course not! If we were from Beijing, we wouldn’t be doing these jobs, would we?

Guard: (laughs sheepishly)

Me: Oh! I didn’t know. Sorry. I just came from America. Where are you from?

Guard: Gansu

Janitor: Henan

Me:(Turning to the janitor) So do you enjoy this job?

Janitor: Yes, I do. (Then a long pause before saying) But I have to work 12 hours a day. From 9am to 9pm! It’s long. 

Then my friends came to so bid them goodbye but in that short amount of time, I discovered a little bit more about migrant lifestyle here. I keep getting surprised by how willing people are to talk when I initiate it.  I guess discrimination exists everywhere in every color and form.

China during the Cultural Revolution 1960s

Ma told me a little bit about life in China during the Cultural Revolution in 1966. I think I understand how some Chinese may harbor resentment towards the government. Members of the elite or educated were considered the lowest classes of all and were persecuted daily for it with verbal bashing. They were shunned by all, left alone and people threw things at them when they passed by. Children of the learned were treated likewise. No make up was allowed. Neither was accessories, music, dancing or self enrichment of any kind allowed. Many committed suicide fro the daily bashing. Many more were killed. Mrs Ma said she did not have any friends as a child and does not remember a time when she experienced happiness as a child as her parents were academics and were therefore the lowest of all people. She only remembers the sky being a shade of grey. I am really glad my forefathers had long left China by then. It's ironic that today, members of the government now reap the benefits of the most opportunities and experience the highest standard of living in today's China.

Disappearing bicycles

Sadly, more and more roads are becoming strictly 'cars only' lanes. Even on the major highways, the bicycle lanes are relegated to the side lanes, taking up only one fifth of the road width. This is something us foreigners lament about, as the Chinese are pretty happy indulging themselves in the savvy new cars.

Speaking Mandarin

Met 2 very interesting characters at the internet café today. Keith, an American from L.A. who’d lived in China for 6 years, dressed from head to toe in traditional black chinese silk clothing, and Tony, a Swedish man who’d lived in China for 5 years and just had a 4 month old baby with his very independent un-traditional Chinese wife from Guangzhou. Earlier, I met an Australian man from Melbourne who has lived in China for 5 years. All who spoke chinese almost like locals. It was refreshing and encouraging but mostly, amusing to talk to a bunch of foreigners in mandarin when we would've most probably be speaking the universal language of English if we had met anywhere else in the world. I just have to say that the experience of carrying on a 45 minute conversation in chinese with another American while being corrected by him about my Mandarin pronunciation, shown the chinese characters and coached on Beijing colloquialisms and phrases was the most humbling yet enriching experience I've ever had with a fellow American in a long time. It broke down all walls of impossibility in my mind. It was freeing yet mind blowing that the concept of mastering a language could be as powerful as that.

Day 2 in Beijing

Still in a semi-jet lagged state of consciousness, I woke up at 4am. Walked out to the balcony to the smell of steamed rice filling the air. Bizarre to smell that in the wee hours of the morning. Still, I couldn’t help closing my eyes and smiling from ear to ear. I love the smell of it. I think I’m going to cook rice today. Tonight for sure. Reading 'The Good Earth’ made me appreciate the smell of rice and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Looking 20 storeys down below at the few people crossing the streets, I thought, how many hours  before the scene starts filling up with people, dust, haze and cars, and the streets blare the obnoxious sounds of the chinese horns on the motorbikes and cars?

Loved going through the old hutongs that were around the Beijing Train Station area of Jianguomen.

Not more than 2 days here and I’m already enjoying listening to the women do their small talk in the elevators. I entered one today with an older couple who were walking their horrendously overweight Spits. And another little old grandma who patiently walked behind the dog as it made its way into the elevator. The lady nagged at the dog as if it was a real person, “Come on! Walk faster! You eat too much! Look at you! Come on, hurry up!” Despite seeing the dog’s obvious health issues, the grandma commented a typical chinese retort as when one meets another, “Hasn’t it eaten yet”? to which the owner lady replied, “What? Eat? Him? It’s already eaten two times yesterday! Two times! No more food for him today. He’s way to fat. No more food for him anymore.” I laughed in agreement. After the couple with the dog left the elevator, I said, “That dog is way too fat”. to which the little grandma responded, almost mumbling to herself, “Oh yes, It’s too fat. Really too fat.” I remembered and missed my long passed grandmother as she walked out the elevator, her traditional chinese silk clothes clinging against her hunched back. Clothes my grandma’s generation often wore.

There’d already been two other occasions when I had opportunities to interact with the tenants that remind me of the nuances of small village mentality that still exists in this fast changing community. Once, a stylish older lady seeming a little bit of a snob, quickly demonstrating her familiarity with the usual comings and goings, telling me that she had not seen me before. And another one - a man with a cautious and almost rude demeanor, eyeing me up and down, who quickly turned into a helpful neighbor who patiently repeated directions I should take down the road to the closest internet bar. Despite the initial unfriendly demeanor, there’s still a certain level of deep seated curiosity and interest in being connected in some way to people around them. Something which I feel is sadly lost in many of our Americanized isolated and alienated societies as a result of our concepts of private space, individualism and independence. This is one of the charms that had brought me back to China. Candidness at its best, in the raw. No pretense. No superficiality. No political correctness. No notions of ‘proper etiquette’. Just simplicity perhaps at its best.

Blink blink I'm in Beijing

Opened my eyes this morning and thought: I’m in Beijing. Blink. Blink. If I closed my eyes, I could be right back in Chicago. Nothing felt different. But it was. I was halfway across the world. It was up to me. I had to make the steps to make this difference worth it.

Too tired to do anything productive, let alone get something to eat, I decided I was thirsty enough to walk across the street to check out the small supermarket for something to drink. First order of the day though was to trim my nails which have been just short of destroyed by the moving of two 60Lb bags of all my world possessions as I now know it, halfway across the world. Before leaving, I did a quick survey of the apartment in the light of day before almost shocking myself to death looking out the window. Blue sky. The entire sky was gorgeous cerulean blue! And even a whif of fluffy white clouds here and there! It was honestly, the last thing I expected to see in Beijing – THERE IS HOPE FOR MY RESPIRATORY ISSUES IN CHINA!!! 

My eyes felt as parched as a dessert as I marched myself to the supermarket. Not sure if it was the combination of dirt in the air or my tiredness. Probably both. Walked past the men and women sitting at basement of the building, relaxing while cajolling in chinese, eyeing this unusual stranger walking past them, under the awning fmor the afternoon sun. I started wondering if I should not have worn these short shorts for starters. Didn’t feel like bringing unnecessary attention to myself. Soon, I thought to myself, I’ll have to muster the guts to just sit and talk with them, as an initiation into ‘taking my place in this neighborhoood’. And that I will, but not today. Though sunny and warm, it wasn’t quite as hot and humid as I expected, which was a nice surprise. Walking into the supermarket was a reminder of the casual chaty atmosphere of a local wet market, a little mustiness in the air and ladies sitting around, waiting to make their sales pitch to a willing buyer. Sauntering through, halfway listening to the chinese expressions of the locals and absorbing it by osmosis, I found the necessities I needed – umbrella, toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, toothpaste and facial cleanser. As always again, I was frustrated at my inability to find or communicate to the sales lady, the notion of ‘hair conditioner’. For some reason, it’s always been a struggle for me as they’re never beside the accompanying shampoo bottles. I felt like kicking myself for not being able to read chinese well enough to read the labels. Oh well…that’ll be an adventure for another day….Or if I’m impatient enough, I’d walk over to the other 24 hr supermarket. Perhaps with more choices, I’ll find one there…or not. Maybe I’ll cheat by looking for one with an english label on it. I was happy to see a few things I recognized that brought back good memories from my stay here 2 years ago. So I had to get them – mixed congee in a can – great nutritious snack of beans, peas and fruit, chinese yogurt, soy bean milk, Mo li hua cha (jasmine tea) soft drink, yakult yogurt and a dry cracker with lemon icing I’d grown to love when I was here. Finally, cashing out, I was eager to see how big of a damage I’d created in my wallet. This time, unlike my first time shopping in China and being scolded by the ‘Ah yi’ in the store for having too much money in my wallet, when I struggled to get the right notes out, I put only a little amount of money on the outer pocket and kept the rest stored away in an inner sleeve. Felt like a smart ‘local’ as I didn’t get any dirty stares this time. RMB200. That’s US$30. Back in Chicago, I would’ve paid more than that just for the necessities on the list. Ahh…looking forward to enjoying the good cheap life ahead here.

After doing a little taste fest of all the drinks, I felt my stiff neck, full belly, burning eyes and sluggishness telling me I needed to go back to bed. It was only noon.

Leaving for the Middle Kingdom

Finally, the day arrives for my departure to Beijing. I'm ready to go.

I’m at the Tokyo Narita airport, on my 4 hour transit to Beijing. So far, it’s been very uneventful. The peacefulness of it all is almost numbing. I feel nothing. No excitement, no fear, no nervousness. I’m just too exhausted right now. Can’t wait to sleep in Beijing. Just glad it’s all over on the Chicago side and ready for my new life ahead in a brand new territory. Ready to take on the challenges of making new friends all over again, learning Chinese again, exporing new areas, eating new food, finding my way again in this big wide world…of China. With all the anxiety I had about my luggages being too heavy, my paperwork too open-ended inviting suspicion from customs and security checks at the airport, anxiety about getting the cab driver to understand directions to the apartment and having the keys to open to door to the apartment, everything could not have been smoother sailing.