Contradictions, Qipaos, and Characters - CHINA

What a foreign way of life! Having been to Europe, Latin America, and Africa, I now realize that you haven’t truly “been abroad” until you’ve been to the East. In Europe as a white American, I blend into the background. In Latin America, everything is just a little brighter and louder than America, but still not so foreign. In Africa, my expectations for development were so low I’m sorry to say I wasn’t too astonished by anything. China, however, was different. From the systemic contradictions to the plethora of umbrellas, China held one surprise after another.

China’s development was impressive, but my experiences demonstrated that they still have a long way to go. For instance with all the pollution, traffic, and general overcrowding in Beijing, I’m amazed they were able to pull off the Olympics. Only by shutting down factories both to cut down on pollution and to encourage people to visit relatives in rural areas were the Chinese able to make way for Olympic guests. This, however, was a temporary fix and the city seems to be struggling to accommodate the population and reign in pollution. Some (not me) might argue the lack of Western toilets and toilet paper may be a cultural preference, but it is pretty clear sanitation overall and water quality is still an issue in Beijing, Hufei, and Shanghai so imagine what the smaller towns are like! Not to mention the personal sanitation issues of spitting and allowing children to defecate on the streets. When we visited the industrial park in Hufei, the power went out twice killing the productivity of the call center upstairs. Perhaps the economic Tiger of the East is not so scary after all.

Having read that China is a country of contradictions many times before my arrival, I thought it might merely be a rhetorical tool for authors to hedge their bets about China’s future, but now I have seen some of these ironic paradoxes firsthand. It is commonly known that civil disputes or protests are on the rise in China, yet many everyday forms of expression that I’m used to as an American were noticeably absent. For instance, I only saw graffiti once during my two weeks – on a random late-night cab ride through Shanghai – also missing were flyers, street musicians, street surveyors with clipboards, and picket lines in general. In America, these blend into the background, but in China the dearth of physical evidence of individual expression I had heard and read that I shouldn’t be worried about being attacked or mugged in China (maybe just pickpocketed) because the Chinese want to save face and make a good impression especially amongst foreigners. They had no problem ripping me off with steep prices in the market though. I often had to haggle down to 25-30% of their initial price. When I had lunch with a Chinese-American friend in Hong Kong, there were two menus – one in Chinese and one in English – everything was the same but the prices! They blatantly discriminated against English speakers by charging 10-20 yuan more per dish. For many of our lectures by Chinese professors, I found you had to read in between the lines of contradiction. Dr. Yu Yongda informed us of his “Advantage Integration Theory” which diminishes the role of natural resources or comparative advantage in a country’s development yet clearly China needs to hone certain sectors or skills if it is to be competitive globally. Once, Dr. Lu Wei even said, “Sometimes you can signal left, but turn right.” Even if I could remember the context, I don’t think that would make much sense, but to the Chinese people subtleties such as this can indicate a lot and can help clarify such contradictions. Reviewing what I have written thus far, I can see how it might seem as if I have a negative perception of China. But the Chinese people made all the difference in the trip.

My favorite part of the trip was building a relationship with my tailor’s family in Beijing. Having arrived early to Beijing, I spent a couple days wandering the city by myself and happened upon a back alley pedestrian street which was under heavy construction. Despite the physical mayhem of the street, the businesses flanking either side of this treacherous obstacle course were still open. This dusty venue is where I found my tailor in a small shop. I had priced qipaos (traditional Chinese dresses) all day and wanted to see what they had to offer. The store itself was not that impressive but they had a decent selection of qipaos and I found one I especially liked. “How much?” I asked an eager 13 year old girl. She grabbed her calculator and typed in 600. I typed in 200 and she laughed and typed in 450. I laughed and typed in 250. She shook her head and retyped 450 but when I started to walk away she agreed to 350. I said I would need to try it on first. I stepped into the makeshift dressing room which consisted of a curved shower curtain rod and a sheet of fabric. I needed only to put my arms through the dress to see that it would not fit. I stepped back out and shook my head. The girl frantically started gesturing and saying “custom, custom.” Then I noticed the disgruntled old man who had been staring at a computer screen and listening to Chinese talk radio quietly. He grunted at the girl and picked up a phone. The girl was able to communicate that I should wait. Five minutes later the energetic and smooth talking Jian Nan came bouncing into the store with her strawman of a husband in tow. Next thing I knew, I was agreeing to being measured for a custom qipao that I would only pay 420 yuan for. The 80% downpayment up front made me nervous, but Jian Nan showed me “many picture of happy Western customer” and reassured me that “we a business, we go nowhere.” Looking back, I wonder if she was hurt by my skepticism. After all, the Chinese have guanxi. When I came back to pick up my dress two days later, I brought a friend to buy a suit. The family was thrilled and Jian Nan let me pick out a scarf for free. She asked if Eric and I were boyfriend/girlfriend – all Chinese seemed very relationship focused – who is who in relation to one another at all times. I said no. She said “better or else you have babies and work too hard – always working to take care of them.” I asked her how many children she had. Obviously, she was a lower income working class girl so how could she afford more than one child? She and her skinny husband have two – they paid a heavy tax for their second child but it was worth it she said. The government is apparently caring less about this now and not enforcing the tax as much. China must be realizing the critical demographical situation they have created. Only while Eric was getting measured for his suit did I discover that the recalcitrant old man was the actual tailor and not Jian Nan. She was just the mouthpiece. I think she mixed up her pronouns somewhere because she seemed to really know her stuff and run the place, I thought SHE was the one who made my dress. Yet, her only talent is her English. That’s fine – she’s got the gift of gab even if her grammar is a little rough. They Jian family was so sincere and appreciative of my business, I wish I could go back and ask them more questions about their life and business!

Everyday encounters such as mine with my tailor and his family held their share of wonder and were the moments that made the trip worthwhile. I shall cherish many random endearing moments as well. Apparently Chinese people only like intense, slow songs for karaoke or else they are incapable of singing fast songs in English. These ballads make for some entertaining moments! Also, Chinese people are very fastidious about not having food stuck in their teeth and habitually use toothpicks after meals, but are very careful to cover their mouths. Yet, they lack any other table manners! I arrived a day early and went on a tour with a group of Chinese strangers, my first meal was a baptism by fire in not caring about other people’s germs when they used their chopsticks to eat off communal plates. Then, there were the umbrellas. So many and in so many varieties! The Chinese seem to be very conscious of protecting their skin – or perhaps staying cool? Everyone seemed to have one and many made bold, often glittery fashion statements with them. Shortly after arriving home, news coverage of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre started picking up. CNN and BBC reporters were sent to Beijing to film segments on site, but plain clothes police officers bared any decent footage with their umbrellas. The result was a hilarious but sad dance while reporters tried to sincerely engage with the camera on a serious subject while dodging an army of umbrellas.

I loved my time in exotic China, but unlike any other trip abroad I’ve taken, I was excruciatingly thankful to be coming home to the United States of America despite the characters and genuine people such as Jian Nan that I met while I was there.

"If I could turn back time"

How about this for a romantic revelry of what coulda been? Sure, I was stoked to get my first job out of college and yeah it was a do or die (move back to TX) situation but this laundry list doesn't sound too shabby and could equip nearly anyone for a badass job after a year...

[From Seth's blog]

How about a post-graduate year doing some combination of the following (not just one, how about all):

* Spend twenty hours a week running a project for a non-profit.
* Teach yourself Java, HTML, Flash, PHP and SQL. Not a little, but mastery.
* Volunteer to coach or assistant coach a kids sports team.
* Start, run and grow an online community.
* Give a speech a week to local organizations.
* Write a regular newsletter or blog about an industry you care about.
* Learn a foreign language fluently.
* Write three detailed business plans for projects in the industry you care about.
* Self-publish a book.
* Run a marathon.

In case I'm taken captive by the Communists...

Arrive May 17th (Sunday)

May 18th (Monday)
Check in QianMen JianGuo Hotel

May 19th (Tuesday)
Free day
Casual dinner, 7:30pm. Meet in the lobby, if interested, at 7:00pm.

May 20th (Wednesday)
Breakfast at your leisure.
9:00- 10:00am Meet at hotel for orientation and introduction lecture by Dr. Lu Wei, Assistant Dean of USTC School of Management
10:15am City Tour of Tian’an Men Square, The Arch Building (go up to the ceremony level), The Forbidden City
3:00pm Late Lunch
The Heaven Temple, and Bird’s Nest and Water Cube
Evening: Free (Suggested: Attend Chinese Acrobatic Performance or Peking Opera).


May 21st (Thursday)
Breakfast at your leisure.
9:00-10:30, 10:30- 12:30 Classes at Tsinghua University (the Harvard of China).
Lectures on the Environment, the Current State of the Economy, and Labor issues.
12:30-1:30pm Lunch on campus and quick tour
3:00-6:00pm Visit to the US Embassy
Evening: Group Dinner at Peking Duck Restaurant

May 22nd (Friday)
Charted Tour to Great Wall and Summer Palace.
(on the return bus ride: Reactions and Discussion on the first week)
Evening: Free

May 23rd (Saturday)
Morning flight to Hong Kong (CO#110 8am to 11:30AM) and check into Hotel.
Hong Kong: Regal Kowloon Hotel
Address: 71 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong
Tel: HK +852 27221818 Call
Evening: Free
Meet up with May Chen! Go clubbing - Prive, DragonEye(DI), Volar, and Homebase

May 24th (Sunday)
Morning: Half day tour of Hong Kong with shopping
Evening: Free
Meet up with Nicole Alpert with the Lion Rock Institute

May 25th (Monday)
Early Morning flight to Hefei (MU#5032 10:55AM to 12:55AM) Check into hotel:
Hefei: Novotel Hefei, 0086-551-2286688; Address: 199, Wu hu Rd. Hefei, Anhui Province,
Afternoon: Classes at USTC (the MIT of China). Lecture on Entrepreneurship (Sino-American Comparative Study) or Carbon Emission Trading with USTC graduate students, Q&A and discussions
Evening: Dinner with students and Karaoke

May 26th (Tuesday)
Early morning departure to visit a local primary school (have some pencils etc. as gifts to pupils)
Afternoon: Visit City Hall of Hefei and meet senior officials lecture on Hefei Development Policy by Mr. Sheng Zhigang, Vice Mayor.
Visit Baogong Temple ( Baogong is the most uncorrupted official in the Chinese history, “Baogong” is now the Pronoun for uncorrupted official in China)
Early evening: Visit a huge labor intensive company (over 9000 workers)


May 27th (Wednesday)
Early Flight to Shanghai (DS477 8:24AM to 11:31AM). Check into hotel:
Shanghai: Hengsheng Peninsula International Hotel, 0086-21-65205888; Address: 205,Wu song Rd. Shanghai, China
City Tour and shopping
Evening: Free
Clubs May Recommends: Bling, Bloc(Volar), M1nt, and Muse

May 28th (Thursday)
Morning: Lecture by Audrey Zook and Peter Ballenger on Political Risk
Afternoon: Visit to the Nick Factory
Evening: Free


May 29th (Friday)
9:00- 10:30am Visit to Shanghai Stock Exchange, briefing by Dr. Liu Xiaodong and witness listing of new company
1:00- 3:00pm Visit to Shanghai Media Group, The first Financial and Economic Channel and News Dream Factory, Briefing and Q&A hosted by senior officials of SMG, The biggest across media group in China, owns many TV channels, radio and newspapers
Evening: Cruise on Huang Pu River and farewell dinner


May 30th (Saturday)
Visit to USTC Shanghai Campus. Classes with USTC Graduate Students. Final wrap-up session.
(We will need to depart the Shanghai campus in the early afternoon, so the group can have some final free time in Shanghai).


May 31st (Sunday)
Check-out and Individual Departure

My fun/dorky book club!

Thanks Kathy for writing up a great synopsis and posting fun pics!

What kids are being taught these days...

I was relatively on board with the graphics and logic behind the "Story of Stuff" video until about minute two when she depicts corporations as these fat balloon people who force governments to shine their shoes. Yeah, I'm not joking. The woman presents this anti-capitalist b.s. as factual and it has been played in over 7,000 classrooms already and has over 5 million youtube hits.



I don't want kids to be overly materialistic, but I don't want them to vilify the capitalist system that enables us to enjoy arguably the greatest standard of living in the world. And unfortunately, I don't know how you can unpack all the liberal bias in a comprehensible way to kids after they see this video. Hopefully most teachers are presenting this as a basis for discussion, but most kids can't think critically about presentation bias until high school and even then they'll take most stuff at face value. This stuff scares me!

Forget a free lunch - how about NO lunch!

Ok, this might just be funny if you're from D.C., but here's a funny commentary on Obama and Biden eating at the highly regarded Rey's Hell Burgers in Arlington, VA on Tuesday. My fave part:

Is this going to be a trend, I asked myself? In an effort to connect with all us "normals," are the bigwigs going to make a habit of this? Is Nancy Pelosi gonna take her staff to Pollo Rico for some yuca fries? Is Arlen Spector going to announce his switch back to the Republicans while popping peanuts at Five Guys? Is Justice Antonin Scalia going to finally come out of the closet while standing at the counter at Julias Empanadas? That place just can't hold that many people, Your Honor!

LOL

Is school choice dead in D.C.?

I've written before about my passion for school choice and in D.C. in particular. It looks like Obama is effectively killing the program - via Reason:

Yet working with congressional Democrats and despite his pledge to put politics and ideology aside in education, the Obama administration has effectively killed the program through a backdoor legislative move. "[Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan will use only one test in what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars," says the president. "It's not whether it's liberal or conservative, but whether it works."

hat tip: Kara