Back to the States...Reflection on China

So...I was blocked from blogspot while I was in China and thus could not update my blog. This is a testament to the crazy censorship policies that China enforces.

I truly had a great learning experience, save a few nuisances resulting from a quirky administration staff and their strange policies. IE only allowed to miss 3 days worth of classes or get kicked out of the program! That's strange....aren't I paying you? And why create this new policy half-way through the program? As well as forcing us to attend business trips that were a complete waste of time.

I would like to summarize my experience through the places I've been to and the things I've done. So here:
We went to cities outside of Shanghai: Shao Xing, Xikou, Xinzhang Valley, and Ningbo. I got to see Thailand over Spring break and got my scuba diving license in Koh Tao Island. It was interesting to experience an entirely different Asian culture. The program also organized a trip to Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Macau, and Hong Kong. After the program was over, I got to visit Beijing and see the Great Wall of China as well as all the other touristy hotspots. I also couchsurfed in Inner Mongolia, by hopping on the sleeper train by myself to Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, and then made a trip to the Sand Gorge in the Gobi Desert.

I made lots of new friends from every corner of the United States. I also made lots of new friends in China...although due to the cultural barrier I felt that I could not get as close to them as I did to the American students. To be expected.....

On top of meeting students I met musical figures in the jazz and rock scenes. Also experienced the crazy nightlife in Shanghai, as well as the luxuries involved in taking taxi cabs everywhere - which ultimately led to interesting conversations with cab drivers.

I realize this is just a rouch sketch of my experience in China...but if there's anything to be gained about my experience in China through reading this post...it's the fact that I was able to learn Chinese and speak to my 100 year-old Grandfather as we traveled to his hometown outside of Hangzhou. This was my ultimate goal and ULTIMATE GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!!!!!

我的家人

My Grandparents made a surprise visit to China and I found out that they happened to be in Shanghai! So I did a little digging and luckily got in touch with my cousin through facebook for 2 of my cousins' numbers in Shanghai! Wait....I've been here for 3 months and was completely oblivious to the fact that I have family here? Kang Ning and Kang Gong are 55 and 52 year-old married men with children older than me. One is in the construction business, and the other owns an air conditioner business. This is what happens when you have a 100 year-old Grandfather that had a bunch of offspring in his youth.

Anyway, I decided to tag along with them to Hangzhou to visit my Grandfather's hometown - I missed two days of class which puts me on the brink of getting kicked out of the program. However, it didn't work out too well because all the traveling really took a toll on my Grandfather's body - he had to rest for awhile and we took him to the hospital to help monitor his health. Although it was bittersweet, I still had a great time getting to know my jiaren...family. I used my new-found Chinese skills and was able to carry basic conversations with my Nai Nai~Grandma. She is a funny lady.

For the longest time I considered myself Taiwanese - or of Taiwanese descent. However, I learned from my uncle that actually........everyone of the kids was born in China and my Grandpa had been elected to be a senator for Taiwan. This was before the communist party formed. On top of owning a couple businesses, the Chang family actually traveled quite extensively and moved around in China quite often. Although my father went to a deaf school in Taipei, he is still very much Chinese. And therefore, I am Chinese. But what am I saying...Taiwan is a part of China! Or is it? I shouldn't bring up such subjects while I'm in China - perhaps I will elaborate later when I'm back in the U.S.

Anyway, I am very happy to see my Grandpa! The main reason why I wanted to come to China was to force myself to learn Chinese so that I could in the end, speak with my 100 year-old Grandfather. It looks like I didn't have to wait that long and he came to me instead :) Funny how life works out...

Ambiguity in Context, eps1

Sometimes you need to ramble about things that don't make sense - I would like to take the time to do that today. Not that it actually happened, but today felt like one of those times when you get lost in a big maze of crazy and every time you took a route to the exit, it just ended up hitting a dead end. Or maybe it's like that one time you lost one of your contacts and you're not sure if it landed somewhere on your body or on the floor - cause in your blurry half-vision state, you can only see so far and you're caught in this vicious catch 22, searching for the unseen. Not that I wear contacts. I don't want to lose sight, but perhaps I need to find in order lose. This is only a test or perhaps.......a secret defense mechanism to adverse reactions to certain situations. A silent grenade throwing me off the loop of consistency consistently. A-la-wo-bu-dong.

Today I saw an old lady sitting in a chair wearing a green jacket with salt-n-pepper hair down to her earlobes. She was smoking. She had a leathery brown face and sat like an old man traveling through time to his young boyhood days. Or in her case, girlhood. I wonder if she still feels lost? Did she try to fit into the footprints indented in the sand? Did the design on the bottom of her Chinese sandals line up with the designs on the ground? She looked like she was trying to levitate - or the ground might have been falling.

False alarm on the emptiness - there is life in Shanghai! I hear it loud and clear.

I admit, I was pretty much bummed out yesterday for too many reasons and no reason at all. But something happened that ripped apart my preconceived notions of Shanghai and its ugly concrete mask. Underneath I found a beautifully scarred face, one that has been marred by the lines of its strenuous history.

Anyway, enough of the flowery bullshit. A friend told me that he loved Shanghai because of it's continuously changing nature, and the challenges faced in having to react to its fluctuating forces - as well as the VAST opportunities that are so obviously apparent here. I was jaded by keywords like "potential" and "opportunity" in regards to China. Jaded due to repetitively hearing it over and over from the media, my teachers, colleagues, friends - to the point where I started to question whether this idea was in fact true? Is China really on the cusp of becoming a superpower, or is everyone just guilty of regurgitating information, thus caught in the vicious cycle that allows us to believe that because everyone is saying it, it must be true! I just didn't see it when I first came to Shanghai. I saw emptiness. However, I tend to turn my head the other way and disregard repetitious ideas - out of ignorance or pretension? I'm not sure. But it wasn't until recently that I've been able to experience the Chinese phenomena first-hand. After having a great conversation with a friend in the program, I realized that the vertical ladder is extremely short here. Resources are at the tip-tops of my fingers and I can maneuver through situations with buttery ease. I am kicking myself in the butt right now for being so passive and sheltered during the last two months here - but at least this realization came to me now. I'm glad that I'm a step closer towards the answer I was seeking for to the question I didn't know I was asking.

Anyway, I am embarking on a musical adventure and attempting to discover and encapsulate the true nature of Shanghai's musical landscape. Comparing it to the backdrop of the Western scene that I'm so used to in LA & Boston, it is dramatically different. When placed side by side, I view the West as an aging old man and Shanghai to be a teenager about to hit puberty. Or maybe it's like the case of Benjamin Button and it's aging younger. I don't know. But anyway, as you can tell I'm not sure if Shanghai is in its youth or if its declining from its peak. I've had the opportunity to discuss these ideas and questions I have with some of the fore-running figures within the Jazz community, as rock/indie/punk are not very prevalent here. Although I hear Pepsi is trying to put together a "Battle of the Bands" event to help bring more publicity to the local talent here in China. In any case I must say I am having the time of my life meeting people, which is what I love to do, and learning about their roles within whatever lives they have built for themsleves here. My over-analyzing nature is coming to use when it comes to probing these individuals and it satisfies my tendencies to pick people's brains. Wo xi huan!

I'm still gathering the facts - but it seems that Jazz was actually influenced by Du Yu Sheng, an Opium drug lord that reigned in the 1920's. He is was an advocate for progressive music and coupled with the musical composer Li Jin Hui, they together paved the way for Jazz. Somewhere down the line the government put a stop to the blossoming cultural growth and Jazz was lost for about 40 years. And only just recently is it making a comeback.

Political turmoil in Thailand?!?! & A.D.D.

Something I've learned about myself in China is that I have A.D.D. Actually...some people have told me that I have tourettes. I like to believe the former.

I have been bouncing around the internet all day long and ditched my Chinese & Management classes. My primary intention was to do research on the 10 Economic/Marketing reading reports I'm supposed to do by the end of my study abroad semester. Since setting this goal upon myself this morning, I have learned about the Thai government and political color definitions, looked into the application process for the Peace Corps, undoubtedly lurked numerous Facebook profiles, briefly touched on Madascagar, wrote a post about Thailand, created a To Do list, got some food, stole some chips and salsa from a classmate, and exfoliated the dead skin off my previously sunburnt body. I also took a 4 hour nap today. Yes, all very interesting I know.

Most of my attention today has been devoted to Thailand due to the sudden upheaval of the Thai government - red shirts, supporters of the former Prime Minister Thaskin decided to kick off the Thai New Year with a huge protest. The government declared a State of Emergency in Bangkok and a military coup was formed as an attempt to maintain peace and order. The Thai Military shot off rounds of ammo into the crowd and 49 were injured. A couple of years ago the yellow-shirts over-threw the government and now the red shirts are trying to do the same. Details of the clusterfuck here. So after learning this bit of crazy news I went on a Wiki Adventure. Did you know that Thailand's King Bhumibol Alduyadej is the longest-serving Monarch? He never makes any comments about politics but if any negative comments are made towards the King, critics can be jailed for 3-15 years.

I began thinking about the people I met in Thailand: Catherine, a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English to Thai teachers. She was my scuba diving buddy and we were known as "Team America, Fuck yea!" I wonder how the political unrest is affecting her travels and stay in Thailand? Others I know traveling throughout Thailand: 2 Canadian high school graduates, a Dutch couple that quit their jobs, and a friend from Northeastern that's spending Spring Break there....I am worried about their well-being!

Anyway, enough about Thailand. I promise to focus on China next time...if my A.D.D. permits.

Escaping to Never Neverland, aka Thailand

There have been a lot of things running through my head lately. But before I can get to it, I need to briefly touch base on Thailand for the sake of documenting memories.

To be brief - Bangkok was cluttered, dirty, and filled with color. Buildings and temples lined with gold and other interesting colors, bright lollipop cabs, tuk-tuks, fruit stands, jewelry stands, everything you can think of stands, and smiling junklers aka "salespeople" of souvenirs and knock-offs. The weather was as hot and sticky as a rice bun.

We departed for Koh Tao as soon as humanly possible on an 8 hr. night bus. I signed up for the Open-Water Padi Scuba Diving course that included accomodation. The island was small, peaceful, and the main hub for divers with a tight budget. I highly recommend going to Crystal Dive Resort if you're ever interested in getting certified. I had the best scuba instructor, Winnie, a badass from Denmark. Being in Koh Tao for a week after living in Shanghai for 2 months changed my perspective on life dramatically. Yes, bold words but it did! Everything that concerned me prior to the trip was washed away with a delicious fruit shake blended freshly on the spot. BCD inflatable? Check.

Diving in Koh Tao was AMAZINGGGGGGGG - I still can't believe I'm an Open Water Diver now!!! I went on 5 dives as well as a night dive. I saw Banner Fish, Sting Rays, Angel Fish, the all-to-famous TRIGGER FISH, schools of Yellow-Tail Barracuda and a ton of other fish I can't name. The night dive was like diving in another galaxy. I think aliens do exist, they just live underwater. I kind of felt like Darth Vader with my regulator and air tank.

I also experienced Muy Thai fighting as a spectator - the first match was between two little Thai boys, who fought like warriors. I felt like I was witnessing a medieval gladiator match or a video game - I dunno. It's strange to pay money to watch little children fight. Anyway, the next 4 matches were a lot more ethically pleasing to watch because the matches consisted of grown men. It was great to glug a Chang beer and swat the mosquitos while cheering on a game I have no knowledge of whatsoever.

I also rented an ATV and went on joy-rides around the island. I bought a pair of knock-off Raybans and vroomed around in my bikini. Basically, I was just a badass. Freedom Beach will always be a personal favorite of mine.

I met a lot of great people, in my diving course and randomly throughout. Israeli's, Canadians, Dutch, Germans, French, English, everrryyyyyyyything--all 21 flavors. And the majority of them had basically said, "Peace out real Life. I'm going to Never Neverland where people look young and happy and play in the sun all day." Yea....they have the right idea. That's what I'm going to do when I hit 30 or 35.

The one thing I miss about Thailand is the fact that I could just walk to the bar on the beach and whoever was there was always down to hang out from the get-go. No plans were ever necessary.

All in all it was the best Spring Break I've ever had....I've definitely walked away (more like crawled away) from this trip with the realization that there's no rush to follow the plan, if it should be followed at all. The road less-traveled is definitely more interesting, intellectually rewarding, and of course more fun :D

Happy Easter!

UPDATE: Good thing I left Bangkok in time....Political Unrest.

Off to Thailand!

Gone to Thailand! Be back on Apr. 5th.

Ciao

Great emptiness

Every morning I wake up not realizing where I am. For some reason I keep forgetting about the fact that I am in CHINA. I am in a foreign country, I am studying abroad, I am doing the thing that most people would say is the experience of a life time. And yet...I don't feel that it's any different than waking up in my little bedroom in the states. Every morning I wake up to a gray haze or a bright penetrating sun~the same as if I were to wake up in Boston or Los Angeles. I get a little taste of New York as I listen to the morning songs of honking car horns from a distance. My view consists of the miniature landscape design of the SUFE quad and the freeway across the way. Never fails, it's always bumper to bumper traffic and every Chinese driver is angrily honking the horn, no matter what time of the day it is. I would say China's most defining characteristic is....the constant risk of getting hit by a man driving a tricycle bike whilst carrying a huge load of bamboo, cardboard, and other miscellaneous things. This may not hold true for some of the other students in my program or I could very well just be ignorant. I guess I was expecting more of a culture-shock - I think I wanted to be somewhere that would blow my mind away into cultural smithereens. Perhaps the only wall that stands between me being Chinese and a foreigner is the language barrier. It seems that this is a very thin frail wall (Made in China) and I am actually more Chinese than I thought I was. I did grow up around a huge Chinese family.

My question(s) of the day....what makes a city great? Is it having the most famous landmark? The best nightlife culture? The best set of people? The scale of aesthetic beauty in the surrounding environment? What is the #1 reason that a person would want to see your city?

I ask these questions because I have been in Shanghai for two months~and I can't answer these questions. I can't find the music scene, nobody cares about the Shanghai sports teams, I can't recall any landmarks except for the huge strip of buildings on the Bund that doesn't seem have any historical backing except for the price tag, etc. etc. So far the only reasons that people would specifically come to Shanghai is for business. Come here and be smothered by the concrete metropolis of a Sim City game gone bad.

Last night I went to a jazz gig in a hidden art gallery in the hidden art district in Shanghai. To further my research on my capstone project, I spoke to one of the women who worked at the gallery. I asked her what is Shanghai's most defining characteristic? No words came to mind except "very empty." This notion is stuck to me now. Despite every street & sidewalk being amassed with sprawling Shanghai citizens, there is no soul or flair that every booming metropolitan city should have.

What makes a city great?

Art, Sharks, St. Patrick's...

Last weekend we went to the art district in Shanghai! Tucked away in Putao district, we went to one of many art galleries. One we went to was a glass lacquer gallery called "Two Cities." Their concept was based on the fact that every city has two sides: the good & bad. Their goal was to beautify the bad part of the city and make it culturally enriching. We also went up to Image Tunnel's headquarters, where we met the woman who was the driving force behind the art community in Shanghai. Every week she has film screenings in her little studio of all sorts of documentaries concerning Shanghai. Her goal was to bring more culture to the Shanghai scene - because despite the fact that Shanghai is China's biggest city - it still lacks that creative individualistic flair that most metropolitan cities have. I find this very true - I can't even find any music venues to see good live music! It makes me miss T.T. & the Bears in Boston...

I also got to see the Shanghai Sharks basketball team play! Yao Ming used to play for them. Shanghai was up against Xinjiang, which is a province located northwest in China. The Sharks are ranked second to last in the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association) and they were playing against #4 in the league. The stadium was so tiny! I felt like I was at a high school basketball game, and the cheerleaders looked like they were 12 years old. The Shark mascots were also strangely puny and acted somewhat dorky. After awhile I started yelling random obscenities in English just to amuse myself. The Sharks only lost by 7 pts., surprisingly. Good job! 很好！

ST. PATRICK'S DAY. I realized that America always steals other countries' holidays as an excuse to drink. We tried to maintain this mentality in Shanghai. On Saturday night, the weekend before St. Patty's we went to Bull Dog's Pub. I was ready to party 100% but was met with failure after realizing that this was a legit pub, and we were surrounded by a very much older crowd. We were the only ones wearing green, whilst everyone else wore knitted sweater vests and had salt n' pepper hair. I tried to look older by playing a little pool and hanging out with one of the guys that was smoking a cigar. FAIL. The second chance to celebrate came around on the actual day of St. Pat and we went to O'Malley's. The crowd was much more our scene, sprawling with Wai guo ren (foreigners) and it was only 25RMB for each Irish Car bomb. Not too shabby. There was a giant Guinness mascot walking around, Celtic bands, and I met some Irish people. I had two Irish car bombs and stuck around for maybe 20 minutes and bounced back home. I think the highlight of the night was going to the street vendor to get a bowl of noodles.

Weekend Excursion Outside Shanghai

About a month ago, on the weekend of Feb 27-3/1 the Global Alliance planned a trip outside of Shanghai to Shao Xing, Ningbo, Xinchang Valley & Xikou. I can't believe that trip was a month ago! I wanted to take some time and write about it before I forgot all the details - and I've already forgotten so many!

Anyway, Shao Xing is a smaller city about 3hrs outside of Shanghai. We stayed in a very nice hotel and rode in rickshaws around the city. We also took a black-awning boat ride which would have been very lovely if it hadn't been pouring rain out. It's basically China's version of riding in gondolas through Venice. We sat in this little wooden boat while a man rowed for us. We rode through the waterways which was also the backyards of many local residents. I saw a woman wash her underwear in the murky water.



We also visited Lu Xun's childhood living quarters. Lu Xun was China's most famous philospher, writer, and business man. We drank Shao Xing's famous huang jiu, also known as yellow wine. It tasted sweet and tart at the same time. We got to see a Shao Xing opera, which was very interesting. Usually only women perform in the operas, but this one had male actors as well. The singing was very high-pitched and strange at times - I had no clue what they were saying. The best thing was that they performed outside in the courtyard of Shen Garden (depicted on the right).



The next day we went to Xinchang valley, a famous spot for lots of kung fu movies! We hiked through a really long tunnel through the mountain and hiked up to a secluded restaurant that hid between rolling fields of tea leaves. It was so nice to get outside of the city and see the beautiful, clean side of China. The restaurant looked like a little hut and one of the dishes consisted of snails. I didn't eat any.



After the hike we went to a factory that manufactured parts for machines that built car parts. It was also a textile factory. I was surprised at how manual the labor was - they needed a person to monitor each machine and maintain each part that was being built. It was extremely cold and empty, as they had just let go a large amount of migrant workers. The machines were very old and rusty. Upstairs was the textile part - also very manual - they would lay out each piece of cloth to do silk screening on.



After the factory we went to Xikou - we didn't do much there since the museum was closed and everyone was grumpy from the rain. I can't remember when or where but we also visited a museum where Mah jong was first created!

We finally came back to Shanghai and I had never been so exhausted from a weekend trip! I think the weather had really impacted everyone's moods and we weren't able to enjoy it as much~however I'm really happy I got to see Xinchang Valley!

Orange Skies, Black Lungs

So the sun finally decided to peak its head out of the smoggy clouds and blessed us with a day of fun outdoor activities. It has been cloudy, gloomy and cold for the last two weeks. On Monday Ben & I decided to go for a run at the track nearby....I only lasted 10 minutes. At first I thought I was supremely out of shape because my lungs felt like they were going to explode. Looking back now, it was definitely the pollution because I kicked the treadmill's butt yesterday and ran 7.5mi at the gym on campus.

A friend mentioned to me that I am actually inhaling 3 cigarettes worth of pollution a day living in Shanghai. Apparently in Nanjing it's worse - about a pack a day. It's not hard to believe....only once was I able to see the Pearl Tower from a distance, and that's when I was right on the Bund river. It doesn't help that Shanghai is concrete central - my view consists of blocks and blocks of tall buildings. I rarely ever see the sun even though on good days it will be bright outside. At night however, the sky never turns completely black - it just remains an orange-ish hue.

I thought LA was bad! Here are a few pictures I took:

FIRST MONTH!

So...I can't believe I've been in Shanghai for a month already! In Chinese I would say, "Shijian zhen quai!" TIME FLIES. I would have started this blog earlier, and I wish I did...but...I've been busy. The first week was spent getting to know everyone in the program and exploring Shanghai, as well as trying our damndest to beautify our abysmal dorm rooms. As a spoiled American, I was appalled to see that our toilet was located inside the shower. Although at least they are not squatters. There are many questionable stains all over my dorm room. Also...there is not dryer and everyone hang-dries their clothes outside! Very interesting - but at least they are conserving energy!

So, it's hard to squish a month of craziness into one post - but here are some highlights: Scavenger hunt with the Chinese roommates, a mini field trip to the Urban Planning Center to see how Shanghai's constructing seems to be traveling at the speed of light, participating in the awesome nightlife at Shanghai, cab rides galore (very cheap), a weekend trip to Shao Xing, Ningbo, and Xinchang Valley, eating Shanghai's famous Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings), bargain shopping in the underground, and more! That weekend trip to Shao Xing was amazing and it definitely deserves a separate post...

As a Chinese-American that has zero knowledge of the language, I am very excited to announce that I am able to carry very basic conversations. Everytime I get into a cab, I make sure that I strike up a conversation - usually I just learn the driver's name, how many people are in his family, and what he likes to eat or do. Not too shabby for only taking Chinese for a month. Although sometimes I feel like I am in a Chinese boot camp - we take 3 hours of Chinese 4x a week.

My Chinese roommate is AWESOME. She is from Weihai, in city in Shandong province about 12hrs. north of Shanghai by bus. She is definitely more stylish than the norm and is very easy-going. She is always very happy - which is good, despite the consistent gloomy weather we've been having here in Shanghai. I taught her some slang such as "Old School" and "Word." I hope to improve her fluency in ebonics ten-fold by the end of the semester.

Anyhow, I have lots of pictures to display my adventures in Shanghai - I don't have Flickr, but they are on Facebook. Check em' out if you're my friend!