Death as the Only Option

I’ve been reading about the Uighur uprising and the subsequent Chinese government response with a certain amount of sadness and lack of surprise.  What I find interesting is the province’s top Party official has invoked the death penalty to punish anyone who is found guilty of perpetrating the violence.  The death penalty is a big black mark on China’s criminal justice system since the country kills more people each year than any other nation in the world and to invoke this cruel method of punishment against unknown targets is even more troublesome.

In my classes this semester we had discussions and debates about whether the death penalty should be abolished in China and most of my students said that the death penalty was necessary in China in order to promote a harmonious society and bolster economic growth.  I’m not sure about the latter point, but the emphasis on the nebulous concept of harmony that I have denigrated more times than I can count in this blog as a justification for the death penalty is in line with how most of my students stake out positions on controversial issues.  They start with a very general justification for a certain policy position, continue to speak in generalities, and then conclude without providing any concrete examples. For example, harmony as a justification for the death penalty.  Then some comments about it’s important for Chinese society to be harmonious.  Finally concluding that harmony should be maintained at all costs, including the possibility of erroneously killing some people when invoking the death penalty.  Errors such as these are a small price to pay when harmony is at stake.

What my students do not seem to get or articulate is that the Chinese government sometimes uses the death penalty at inappropriate times, such as this uprising in Xinjiang (新疆), when using such methods makes today’s Chinese government seem less associated with the economic juggernaut that China has become to much of the world and more akin to the China of the Cultural Revolution and all its attendant chaos and injustice.  However, my students do not view the government’s actions or policies through such a lens and are unwilling to criticize the government when they also depend on that same government for their jobs and livelihoods.

I understand the difficulty attached to criticizing your own government.  We as Americans seem to have made criticizing our government and its actions a national pasttime, which is also not always the most productive approach to building a successful civil society.  But at least such criticism keeps all the parties involved vigilant about trying to do better. Perhaps China will one day reach this point, but I’m not holding my breath that this day will arrive anytime soon.

Cow Sticks and the Party’s Inner Workings

As I may or may not have written earlier, my last night in GZ I went to dinner with one of my students, Figo.  This act in and of itself is significant because I was very careful all year to draw a clear line between myself and my students.  However, Figo was one of my favorite students and definitely one of the most tortured because of his thoughts about Chinese society, the government, and his place in the middle of it all.  As a parting gift, I decided to give him a copy of Zhao Ziyang’s “Prisoner of the State” that I am currently reading.  It’s the first and only account of what really goes on in the upper echelon of the Chinese government and it’s centered around Zhao’s experience as the effective head of the Chinese government and Communist Party at the time of the Tiananmen Massacre.  Zhao was against sending government tanks into Tiananmen Square and for this position, he was stripped of all of his power and placed under house arrest until he died in 2005.  The book has been transcribed from secret tapes he made and had smuggled out of China during his years under house arrest and discuss the inner-workings of the government at the time of Tiananmen and also chronicle his thoughts on the changes that took place in China during the 1980s, as well as his thoughts on the future of the country.  It’s hard to read the book at times because I kept getting the feeling that Zhao was this lone wolf trying to take on the 800-pound gorilla of the Party.

Anyway, I had copies of the book made at the copy store on campus and dropping it off to be copied felt like a small act of subversion because the book is banned on the mainland, even though it was in English and no one in the copy shop could understand it.  In true Chinese fashion, the shop did a pretty good job of copying and binding the book, but of course the title had a mistake:

Prisoner of the State as copied

So I met Figo that evening for dinner and presented him with a copy of the book.  I asked if he knew who Zhao Ziyang was and he said that up until two days ago he had no idea, but then he broke through the Great Firewall and read an entry about Tiananmen on Wikipedia that provided him with all the necessary background information that he was missing.  He was extremely happy to receive this book and began asking me if I knew about protests that had been taking place in other parts of China over the past few days about environmental issues and lost wages. Only because I had read the South China Morning Post that morning was I somewhat knowledgeable about what he was talking about.  Figo is a student who has his ear to the ground and is trying to get as much information as he can about what’s going on in today’s China, but censors and other obstacles make that task difficult.  I asked him about the protests in Iran and he said he had heard about them, but that it was hard to find inf0rmation about them in the Chinese media.  This response confirmed what had been written in the Western media about China’s thoughts on the Iranian presidential election; that it did not want its people to get wind of these protests because them they may get unhealthy ideas about how to take on their government.

We had a great dinner.  Hanna, who is one of the other fellows, joined us and we went to my favorite 川菜 restaurant right off campus for my last meal in GZ.  Figo told us about how he can’t really talk to his five other roommates about politics because they do not agree or do not care.  We tried to steer him towards other students of ours who we thought had similar ideas so they could at least realize that they are not alone in their thoughts.  We also told Figo to email us if he ever had any questions.  I am definitely curious to see what he thinks of Zhao’s book when he finishes it because it’s really a fascinating look at what goes on when decisions are being made at the top of the Chinese government.  Kind of confirms what I wrote about over nine years ago in my thesis at Yale; that when making economically-focused decisions at least, the Chinese government does not always adhere to sound economic principles, but is usually governed by some distorting mix of political pressures and some economic theory that may or may not be correct.  This framework still holds today in a variety of areas where the government has control, thus it makes it hard to predict with any accuracy how the government will respond because it really depends on the internal and very not transparent dynamic among top government officials.

But on a light note, I leave you with some pictures of some of the more bizarre and not quite useful gifts we received upon leaving China.

A bedazzled bear impaled with Picasso-inspired fondue forks

The cow stick in glasses sitting in a baby bottle piggy bank

Home and Barely Unpacked

I kind of disappeared from the blogoshpere for the past week because I have been in transit from GZ all the way back to New York via Hong Kong, Vancouver, and LA.  Now I am sitting here in a Starbucks (yeah, a familiar theme this year due to its ubiquitous free wireless) in Chelsea (seriously, where else upon just returning?) back in New York.  I made it back to the city on Saturday after what seemed like one really long journey, but upon returning home to friends and family, it was all worth it.

Flying from HK to LA, I had to connect in Vancouver.  I have never gone to the States via Canada and apparently there is usually a fast-track lane for U.S. citizens to clear both Canadian and American customs, but for some reason it was closed when I disembarked from my plane and I had to stand in line with every Canadian trying to get home from being overseas.  Normally I would be down with this process, but Air Canada only gave me an hour between flights and I kept nervously checking the time as the line inched forward and wondering if I would make my connection.  It was als funny because as I got off the plane, I thought “I love being back in America” and then I realized I was in Canada and had to modify that to all of North America.

Another twist in this tale is that you have to collect your bags after going through Canadian immigration and put them on some other carousel after going through American customs.  No one could give me a clear answer as to exactly how and where this process took place, so I stood by the baggage carousel in Vancouver waiting for my Priority-tagged bags and they were not coming.  I spotted the lone Air Canada agent by the carousel and frantically accosted the poor woman., Marlene Waters  With her calm and extremely pleasant demeanor, which did not go unnoticed after not having slept for the past 20 hours, she explained that I had to go through Canadian customs, claim my bags on a special carousel for U.S. citizens going back to the States, then go through American customs, and finally put my bags back on another special carousel to get to my flight to LA.  Unfortunately in my sleep-deprived state, these directions were a little too much for me and Marlene perceptively picked up on my confusion and decided she was going to hand-hold me through this process.  I basically became a lemming, following her through this maze and so grateful to have found her by carousel 23.  She pleaded with officials, put a fast-track sticker on my ticket, and in the most glorious moment, commandeered one of those golf carts to shuttle me to my gate after clearing security.  Needless to say that I made it to my flight with time to spare, enough of which to get myself a much-needed iced coffee.

Customer service like the one offered by Marlene is quite rare these days and if Marlene, anyone from Air Canada, Vancouver, or someone who frequently travels is reading this post, I just want them to know how grateful I was to have stumbled upon (okay, okay, accosted) her that day.  More people in more service industries should take a page from her book of professionalism and think about how much of a difference going a little bit above and beyond makes in other people’s days.

Now that I have given Marlene my shout out, I think I am going to use the next few weeks of being home to unpack my nearly 200 pounds of things I lugged home, as well as the final weeks in China, and my thoughts about the year that has been.  But right now I am just going to enjoy the feeling of being home.

Rushed Goodbye From the GZ-Shenzhen Train

I’m on the train from GZ to Shenzhen because I missed the through-train to Kowloon and China is whizzing by as I prepare to cross the border for the last time during this journey. With my massive bags in hand and elbowing people out of the way to board the train, I’m trying to by goodbye to China. It’s a procees, as I said in am earlier post. I’m physically saying goodbye, but all of the processing and making sense of this year will take more time. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what we’re going to miss and aside from the fruit and vegetable market a five minute walk from the apartment, I am going to miss the absurd and not always quite making sense that has seemed to make itself at home in my daily life here in China. Whether it’s a cowstick with no discernible use given as a gift or the old lady wearing the “stud time” t-shirt, life in the States will be lacking that absurd edge. Of course it’s also absurd that the Great Firewall prevents me from accessing my blog at home, but I can write this post on my mobile, browser. Oh China. So it’s goodbye for now with more to come later when I’m in Hong Kong preraping to fly out.

The Farewell March Continues

I taught my last class of the year this past Wednesday and then our students threw a “surprise” farewell party for Celia and I that evening.  I put surprise in quotes because at least a dozen people had referenced this event in passing over the past week, so it really was not much of a surprise.

However, it was a very lovely and typical Chinese party long on good intentions and heart, but short on direction and discretion.  Our students put together a video farewell that consisted of all of our students jumping in front of the camera to say a few words about either Celia or myself and to say goodbye.  The video was very touching.  Then the party took a slight turn towards the bizarre.  Our students have this obsession with having us sing and dance, kind of like caged monkeys.  While Celia was giving her farewell speech, they cajoled her into singing 简单爱, a song by a popular Mando-pop singer named Jay Chou.  When it was my turn to speak, they tried to get me to sing or dance.  Singing or dancing seem to make them happy, but I politely declined.  They then asked me to flex my muscles, which I flat out refused to do.  It was an awkward situation, but I continued speaking.  After the speech, one of my students came up to me and she asked if she could feel my muscles, which was just wrong on so many levels and once again I politely declined her random request.

The rest of the party involved sitting in a circle and playing games like mafia.  At one point, one of our students suggested “truth and dare”, which we understood well enough to immediately shoot down.  Before leaving, the students presented us two binders that were really Chinese versions of slam books (remember those from elementary school where students would pass them around and write down their personal info, hopes, and dreams?) and these were filled with some heart-warming messages.

All in all, the party was a very sweet gesture on the part of our students and I left that evening feeling like I had actually made an impact on some of their lives.  Though there was no way that they were even going to get me to sing and dance for them, no matter how much they begged.

Do you like China?

This week is my last full week in China and it’s been marked with farewell dinners and receiving gifts from the many people I have met during my year here, including some of my students. Some of the gifts are really cool like the pens that look like really fancy chopsticks or a ceramic plate of the five rams, the symbol of Guangzhou.  Some other gifts that either Celia or I have received are a little more bizarre, like the set of Picasso-inspired fondue forks or the bedazzled teddy bear we have sitting in our guest room.

It’s hard to describe the feeling that comes with leaving a place like China and knowing that in a little over a week’s time, I will be back on American soil and beginning to pull together a new version of the life I left behind nearly a year ago.  There are so many things in this country that I have stopped looking twice at over the past year, like the table of men spitting on the floor in the middle of a crowded restaurant, the guy working out shirtless at my gym, or the little girl going to the bathroom in the middle of the street.  It’s not only people’s lack of inhibitions that I have stopped caring about, but also the rest of the sheer chaos and madness that exists in China.  I guess it’s what happens when a place begins to feel like home, when you begin to know and almost anticipate the rhythms of daily life.  I know where to pre-walk on the subway platform so the escalator to take me to my station exit will be right there when the subway stops, where to buy my favorite muesli, and exactly how long it takes me to get from my gym to the restaurant where we would have lunch with our students every Tuesday.

After a year in China, I do not profess to be an expert on this country or its people, but I certainly have a deeper understanding of this country’s hopes, fears, dreams, and culture than I did before boarding that plane last August.  Returning back to the States with that understanding means I accomplished the goal I had set out for myself, which was to further explore my relationship with this fascinating country.

Two questions I continually get from people here when I tell them I returning to the States in a week are one, “Are you coming back to China?” and two, “Do you like China?”  After I explain that I am not coming back anytime soon, but I may come back one in the future to visit, I find myself at a loss for words at how adequately describe my feelings about China.  Usually I opt for a simple “yes” and leave it at that, but as my time quickly winds down, it’s a question I am going to try and answer more thoroughly in the coming days, but probably one that I will not be able to really answer until long after I am back home.

T-2

Less than two weeks and I will be back on U.S. soil for good.  It’s hard to believe how quickly a year really passes, especially when you are living in a place as wild and chaotic as Guangzhou, China.  I taught my last classes this week and I am just gearing up for final presentations and grading next week.  

In my last graduate student class, we did a lesson on gay marriage as part of some of a larger unit on cultural controversies in the U.S. including the death penalty and stem cell research.  The class was supposed to be 40 minutes of discussing the arguments for and against gay marriage, as well as providing my students with some context for why this issue is so important in America at the moment.

At the end of the discussion, I asked the class if they had any questions or comments.  My graduate students are not the liveliest bunch, but one of my students, Harrison raised his hand.  He proceeded to ask me what was to stop him from marrying a desk or a goat if we allowed gays and lesbians to get married.  I proceeded to explain the idea of the logical fallacy of a  slippery slope argument, which this particular question fell into.  He then said that is was unfair to draw a line at two men or two women getting married when we are taking the step of altering the original rule of marriage between a man and a woman to have children.  He also said that it would give people too much choice and this sparked a discussion about whether being gay is a choice or biological.  Harrison then referenced a newspaper article he had read that claimed a man who was gay had been cured of his condition and was no longer gay.

Upon hearing this comment, I felt that I was in the middle of a teachable moment and I spoke up.  In a very measured voice, I told him I had to provide my side in this debate and proceeded to tell him and the rest of the class that as a gay man I knew that it was not a choice or something that could be cured.  One may think that they are cured or fixed, but it is only psychological deception.  He proceeded to get angry that I would use personal knowledge to rebut his reference to this article and he stood up and began debating me full-on from across the room.  He said that my personal knowledge was just as good as the article that he read and thus it was not fair that I was trying to use personal information to refute his argument.  The class, which had been silently watching at this point, jumped in and began attacking Harrison and his reference to this article, claiming that he knew nothing about the story and was merely repeating something he had read. In response to his assertion that my personal experience was not relevant, I decided to use this moment as a lesson in effective debating and proceeded to cite studies claiming that being gay is not a disease or mental illness, as well as the fact that it has been taking off the list of mental illnesses by various medical associations around the world.  However, Harrison was getting frustrated, both because of the language handicap and his perception that I had an unfair advantage,

In order to dial back the situation, I put an end to the debate and told Harrison that what he had displayed was exactly what I was looking for in a persuasive speaker.  He had great physical presence, made eye contact with me and the rest of the class, cited evidence, and argued with conviction.   I proceeded to tell the class that I was not here to teach them a particular viewpoint and I did not care if they remembered nothing I had written or said all semester, but what I wanted them to learn was to think for themselves and speak what was on their minds, even if it contradicted or was against what the teacher thought.  I did not want them to think what they thought they should think, but what they want to think.  The class was listening with rapt attention as I cited Harrison’s willingness to challenge me as one of the most gratifying moments I have had a teacher this year.  It was right up there with students coming up to me after a particular class and telling me that what was discussed in class changed the way that they thought about something.  While we agreed to disagree, Harrison’s speech was the first time I had seen a student directly challenge a teacher and to do it in his second language made it all the more special.  At that moment, it became less about the specific ideas being expressed and all about how he expressed those ideas and I felt that I had done my job as a teacher in motivating him to challenge in that manner.

At the end of class, the students asked me all sorts of questions about being gay including whether I thought I could ever “go back” to women and how I knew that I was gay in the first place.  Alex asked me if I wanted the class to keep this thing a secret and I told him that I did not want them to because that is not how I live my life, though it had been for a large part of my time in China due to cultural sensitivity and out of respect.  However, as I think about leaving and the next step, I think it’s important for my students to know that their teacher whom they respect and learn from is also a gay man and no different from anyone else.  More importantly, what I saw in class this past week was also proof that I have left my students with something far more valuable, the willingness to speak their minds.

Looks like I’m only getting one type of bing (葱油饼) here in China

Microsoft has spent tens of millions of dollars rolling out it’s latest weapon to challenge Google’s search dominance, but no one in China is able to even try Microsoft’s new search engine called bing.  I tried going to www.bing.com while sitting at my dining room table in Guangzhou and I was greeted with an error message that the page was unavailable.  I wondered if the site was down or if the Chinese Internet censors were deciding to play a little hardball with Microsoft.

To test my hypothesis, I logged into my US VPN and instantaneously I was able to access bing.  

So now I am wondering.  Is the Chinese government really deliberately depriving the hundreds of millions of Internet users here on the mainland the chance to try Microsoft’s new search engine or is there something subversive implied by the word “bing”?  The only bing (饼) I know are the salty, fried flatbreads folded with oil and scallions and topped with hot sauce that  I buy in the market on my way home from class, which are also known as 葱油饼 (cong you bing) or scallion oil biscuit.   I guess those are the only bing the Chinese people will be getting for the time being until the government decides to let the other bing through its Great Firewall.

Sedated Masses on Tiananmen’s 20th Anniversary

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre that took place on June 4, 1989 and you would have no clue that such an event ever took place from spending a day here on campus in GZ.  There are no commemorative events that I have heard of, the closest one being the annual march in Victoria Park in Hong Kong.  Even my students, who are normally quite cheeky with me, did not make any mention of the day.  Usually they like to goad me with comments about Taiwan and Tibet, but they were silent in all three of my classes today.  I doubt they even know much about the event given that most of them were only one or two years old at the time it happened, but I would have expected one of them to come across something on the Internet and perhaps ask me about it to see my thoughts on the subject.

The Enormity of Tiananmen Square, April 2009

There are less than two weeks left in the semester and about three weeks before I permanently return to the States.  It’s really hard to believe that my one-year fellowship and relationship with this fascinating country is quickly drawing to a close.  I’ll still be keeping my eyes and ears open while I am here, but it also means that my posts will be tinged with some of that inevitable sentimentality that comes with the end of an amazing experience.

It seems that with the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen looming, all sorts of news outlets took it upon themselves to amp up the China coverage.  Two of the more interesting pieces are the Economist’s Banyan column from this week’s issue, “The party goes on” and Nicholas D. Kristof’s op-ed piece in today’s New York Times “Bullets Over Beijing”.

In the Economist, the main argument being made is that the Party is stronger today than it has ever been and that hopes for political reform are almost nonexistent since there is no force willing or able to take on the Party’s stranglehold on power.  Kristof’s op-ed makes a similar point and reiterates the familiar line that as long as Party delivers economic growth and all its attendant consumerism, it will remain in power.  However, he makes an interesting comparison between China today and Taiwan and South Korea in the 1980s with their sizable educated middle classes at that time, which were precursors for the democratic changes that swept across those countries.  It’s unclear if he believes that China is truly on the same path as those two nations.  Without going into the specifics of why those two countries are very different than China, suffice it to say that the Chinese government has been far more effective at sedating its citizens and giving them amazing economic growth than those two aforementioned countries.

After spending a year teaching at a university filled with thousands of bright students, I have been amazed at how much their spirits and curiosity have been dampened by an education system that leaves them uninterested in all things political, able to spout received wisdom at the drop of a hat on all sorts of issues of national importance, and scared to challenge or question things as they are.  The exceptions I have blogged about are just that – exceptions.  There is no critical mass of students with such ideas and the students with those ideas would never dare share them with other students for fear of either being ostracized, or worse being turned in for having thoughts against the Party.  

On the anniversary of this sad and tragic event, I tend to err on the side of the Economist and look on as the Chinese government consolidates its hold on power without acknowledging its own past mistakes or tragedies.

The Microwave has a BabyMavin Button

Last Sunday our friend, Mark, had us over to his new apartment in Tianhe (天河) for a housewarming dinner.  We ended up cooking all sorts of a good Mexican food without any sort of plates, spoons, or real pots aside from a wok.  Yet in the end, the meal turned out quite good.  We had tacos with ground beef and chicken, cheese and chicken quesadillas, cucumber and mango salsa, and a black bean and corn salad.  However, the real attraction was the new microwave in Mark’s kitchen and its Engrish buttons.  What the heck is a BabyMavin, anyway?

When would you push the "BabyMavin" button?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or the "Odor" button, for that matter?

The Wonders of Chinese Toothpaste and Bread

There are two places I do most of my grocery shopping here in GZ.  One is the wet market a five minute walk from our apartment where you can buy practically anything you want, from tiger claws and to the more mundane fresh fruit and vegetables.  It’s kind of romantic to wake up in the morning and throw on some shorts and a t-shirt and head to the market to pick up some fresh fruit for breakfast or to plan dinner for the evening and head out to the market to get fresh vegetables, noodles, and tofu.  However, sometimes it’s more convenient to just stop by the Carrefour after the gym and do all of my grocery shopping on the way home.  Carrefour is a French supermarket chain with stores all over the world, including a store below my gym in Jiangnanxi (江南西).  If you go to the store on a weekend, it’s sheer madness.  People wander around the store without any regard for other people.  Old ladies zoom down the middle of aisles paying little attention to the fact that someone may be walking towards them.  It’s enough to make me mutter “Jesus” under my breath, and occasionally something harsher.  But the store has everything you could imagine.  It’s two floors.  The first floor has all of the fresh food, including meat, fruits, vegetables, bulk foods, the bakery, prepared Chinese food including dim sum, noodles, various dumplings (饺子), buns (包子), dairy products, seafood, Chinese spices, sauces, and oils, and various beverages.  The second floor includes housewares, imported foods like granola and coffee, books, household applicances, electronics, health and beauty products, sporting gear, and wine.  It’s good things are organized by departments because there are no real signs indicating what is down each aisle.  If you’re looking for something specific, it becomes something resembling that old game show Supermarket Sweep where contestants run up and down aisles trying to find specific products. 

One of the more typical Chinese products is a toothpast brand called Darlie, which is one of the top -selling brands in the country.  Before the company was sold to Colgate-Palmolive in 1985, in English the brand was called Darkie and featured a somewhat racist and stereotypcial picture of a wide-eyed, smiling black man in a top hat that was supposed to have been inspired by an Al Jolson performance.  Colgate wisely decided to change the name in English-speaking markets to “Darlie” and come up with a less steretypical image for the package, but in China the brand is still called “heiren yagao” (黑人牙膏), which means black people toothpaste in Chinese.  Heiren (黑人) or black people does not have a negative connotation in China, but instead is used to refer to people of African descent.  It’s slightly jarring to walk through the health & beauty section to be greeted by a large display of Darlie toothpaste with this image of a black man in a top hot smiling at you, something that would never fly in the States. 

 

The new and improved Darlie

But my favorite section of the Carrefour is the bakery with signs advertising all of the store’s freshly baked bread products, including the Russia Bread full of 100% Russian smack goodness and Big Nutlet Bread with lots of tasty nutlets.

Russia Bread, full of smack

Big Nutlet Bread, the name says it better than I can

Onion Brawn Bread does a body right

Italy Bread really is the best for being sandwich

When’s the Electricity Coming Back On? – Part I

Yesterday morning, I woke up to the sound of nothing.  My A/C had stopped working at some point and I slowly realized that the power was down.  However, unlike the States where you can call the electric company and find out what made the power go out, I just waited because this is China and this is what occasionally happens. 

This past Wednesday evening, I had dinner with Professor Cai Yanmin, founder of Zhongda’s legal clinic and a civil procedure specialist at the law school, who was the subject of a very interesting Wall Street Journal law blog post.  I read this post back in June and I really wanted to meet her and now here I was dining at a Hunanese restaurant in GZ with Professor Cai and five of her postgraduate students.  She’s a pretty amazing woman with a deep knowledge and respect not just for Chinese law, but for the rule of law, too.  At dinner, the students peppered with some difficult questions such as, “What do you think of the Chinese government?”  At this point, I paused for a good minute and first said something to the effect of how difficult it would be for any government to govern over 1.3 billion people.  Then I dispensed with some of the pleasantries and told the table that at times I thought the government made decisions not in the people’s best interest, but with solely in their own best interest to maintain their grip on power.  Of course that prompted a response from Professor Cai that all governments act with a certain degree of self-interest, a point with which I agree, but I countered that at least in the US we can vote out a government that acts too often out of its self-interest, ignoring the people.  Then someone else at the table said that the Chinese people can vote for their government, too.  I inquired further and I was told that they can vote for the representatives to the National People’s Congress, the same body one of the otherstudents ten minutes earlier had described as agreeing with everything the government does.  However, the conclusion was that since the Congress picks the top leaders, the people can indirectly choose the top leaders.  This conclusion fails to account for the fact that there is only one party and you must be a member of this party to run for Congress, thus there is only an illusion of choice.  I then asked the students what they thought of the American government and I confronted five blank faces before one student spoke and told me that they really did not know anything about the US, except what they have seen on American television shows like Friends and movies. It’s difficult to have a two-way conversation when knowledge of America runs as deep as whether Ross and Rachel are together or apart.  I understand that most Americans may not know much about China, but these are educated Chinese students who presumably have an interest in the larger world and I was just astounded that they could not offer up any opinion on the US government.  We also talked about the presidential election and they all like Obama, but mainly because he is young and handsome.  The students were concerned about US policy towards China, but aside from hoping that the US stop giving weapons to Taiwan, they could not offer any other suggestions as to how to craft a more productive US-China policy.  I have an American friend who is enrolled in a master’s program in International Relations (国际 关系) here at Zhongda to learn more about the Chinese perspective on the topic.  He told me about a moment in class where the professor asked the predominantly Chinese class what the US’ foreign policy towards China should be and he was greeted with silence as the entire class looked to my friend to provide the American perspective, nevermind that the professor asked the Chinese students.  Realizing he was not going to elicit an answer from his students, he just dropped the question and moved on to something completely different.  There is a real inability on the part of Chinese students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and think about things from a different perspective.  This skill is something that in the West we are trained to do at such a young age, such as when we have debates in elementary school.  It is something I am trying to get my students to do in my classes, whether it’s thinking about the Bill of Rights as one of the Founding Fathers or taking a position on abortion that they may not agree with.  I have also heard that this inability may also stem from the fact that Chinese people generally do not worry about big things like international relations, but instead leave those things for the State to deal with while they concern themselves with their day-to-day.  However, this explanation is not wholly satisfactory because these students are enrolled in a master’s program in IR, which means they presumably want a career that deals with these big things, thus they should be able to proffer an opinion on these questions.  I don’t have the exact answer for why this is so, but it something I hope to explore more as the year progresses.

When’s the Electricty Coming Back On? – Part II

Once again, I am sitting here one of GZ’s many Starbucks, this one at Grandview Mall, and a man approached me with an iPhone in hand and a picture of a naked woman on the screen, asking me if I wanted some.  I think I am safely assuming he was trying to sell me sex.  Twenty minutes later, another man approached me with an iPhone in hand, but this time the phone had a picture of a marijuana leaf on the screen.  He asked if I wanted some. Both times, I politely declined.  I’m left wondering if this Is this the next step in the modernization of the sex and drug trades?
Anyway, right after my dinner with Professor Cai and her students, I met up with Professor Ai Xiaoming and one of her graduate students over bubble milk tea (珍珠奶茶). Professor Ai is a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Zhongda, one of China’s leading feminist scholars, director of Zhongda’s Sex/Gender Education Forum, human rights activist, and documentary film maker. She had just arrived back from Paristhat evening where her documentary was being screened, so it was really kind of her to make the time to meet with us. She is a firebrand and met us wearing jeans and a t-shirt, short hair, and a gleam in her eyes. We began talking about her trip to Paris and gradually moved into the realm of human rights. She was discussing her visit to more than a dozen US colleges to show her documentary and some of the ensuing discussions with students. One thing that bothered her was when she asked students what they thought of China, they would respond with how much they respect Chinese history and culture, which she said made her sick because it showed a lack of understanding of what ordinary Chinese people deal with day-to-day. This pat response from American university students may sound as bad as Chinese university students not being able to offer up anything on US foreign relations towards China, but it may also reflect a cultural desire to be polite in the face of someone they do not know from a foreign country. However, Professor Ai seemed to be looking for someone to point out the problems with the government and tell it like they imagine it is, but Americans are also given news about China with a certain bias that can be hard to filter out. The conversation moved on to questions about the Chinese government using incidents like the torch relay to fuel nationalist sentiment and how outside forces could be critical of the Chinese government without risking the possibility that the Chinese government uses that criticism to its advantage to fuel even more nationalism. Professor Ai took issue with using terms like “the government” and “the state”, but would have rather talked about individuals and how person-to-person contact can begin to change attitudes. The seeming flaw in that line of argumentation is that while there are exceptions to the general rule, the challenge is changing the general rule. As long as the government can harness nationalist forces to motivate the majority of the population, outside people and governments are going to have trouble leveling criticism of the system that may be able to effect real change. At this point, the conversation began to die down as it was nearing midnight and we were getting sleepy, so we decided to meet again over dinner in the coming weeks and continue this discussion.
Coming from dinner with people who are steeped in the law and a certain type of reason to drinking bubble tea with an activist who is guided by a different sort of reason mixed with emotion was a study in contrasts. Both Professors Cai and Ai work hard to protect and promote the rights of people who are not normally heard in today’s China, but each does her work in very different ways and armed with completely different tool kits to reach similar ends.

My Ballot Has Been Cast

Today I went over the the US Consulate (美国使馆) here in Guangzhou and submitted my Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) to be FedEx’ed to the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office.  I also received an email from the clerk’s office over the weekend confirming receipt of my re-application for an absentee ballot that I sent to them via email on Friday, so I should be receiving a full absentee ballot from them before Election Day.  Regardless, by sending in the FWAB, I am guaranteed to have my vote counted in this year’s election, one of the most important in my life.  If the real absentee ballot comes, I just need to send that to confirm my vote.

Chinese Activist Wins European Human Rights Prize

Hu Jia, a Chinese human rights activist who has done extensive work shedding light on Chinese human rights abuses, while also speaking out on behalf of Chinese people with AIDS and environmental protection, won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Europe’s highest human rights honor.  Hu Jia was also on the shortlist for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.  Let’s just say China’ none to happy about Hu being awarded this prize, but he is an important voice for moving China forward as it confronts its human rights abuses and seeks to be a productive member of the global community.  Click hereto read more about Hu, his relationship with the Chinese government, and his work that merited him this great honor.

Congratulations Hu Jia.  Keep fighting because China needs not only you, but more people like you to help those ignored and mistreated in today’s China.

被和谐掉了- Being Harmonized Out

 

Morning Middle School Calisthenics

Chinese bloggers, when they are shut down by the State censorship apparatus, use the expression 被和谐掉了 (bei hexie diaole), which means that they’ve been shut down because they are spreading unpleasant thoughts and sharing news about unpleasant events on their blogs that the government would rather not be made public, so they’ve been “harmonized out” by the State to preserve a sense of harmony and tranquility.

Yesterday morning, around 9:30am or so, I was on my way to the metro and walked past the middle school on campus.  Out on the basketball courts were hundreds of children in their white school uniforms moving to sounds from a loudspeaker in what looked like some form of synchronized calisthenics.  Imagine being back in middle or high school and spending 30 minutes a day standing out in the middle of a field with your entire school and moving in tandem with orders being blasted from a loudspeaker.  I used to think gym class was my own personal hell, but this scene makes gym class almost tolerable because we at least had a choice of activities.  These students are dressed the same, listening to the same orders on the loudspeaker, and expected to move in time to those orders.  There has to be a psychological effect on the students to be a part of this collective activity every day for twelve years schooling.   Perhaps this is one way to create harmonized members of society without too much effort or investment. 

One of the Chinese President Hu Jintao’s slogans is to build a “Harmonious Society” at home, while China enjoys a “Peaceful Rise” on the world stage.  This emphsis on harmony is meant to be part of Hu’s enduring legacy when he is long gone from the halls of power, but it begs the question whether this type of society is really the best type of society to be creating when a country is faced with various domestic social and economic pressures.  Harmony almost seems like a modern-day opiate for the masses, making people docile and complacent at the behest of a government that desires to maintain its position of power at any cost.  Harmony plays into that desire because it removes the threat of the people to that position of power. 

More Morning Calisthenics

I see harmony in my classroom.  Last week in my GZ Constitution class, I taught my students about the U.S. lawmaking process.  I had the students draft bills that they wanted to see implemented at the university, divided them into committees where they had to decide which bills would make it to the floor of the House, and then brought together the full House to debate each bill that was released from the committees.  When it came to take the vote on the first bill, one of the members of the Rules Committee only asked for those who were in favor of the bill.  I had to tell her that it was necessary to also record all those lawmakers who voted against a bill so it could be officially recorded.  She paused for a second as she processed this information and then hesitantly asked all those against the bill to raise their hands.  Only one girl raised her hand and the rest abstained.  Since 22 of the 29 students supported the bill, it was not such a problem.  However, on the second bill, 14 students abstained and once again, one voted against the bill, which meant that the bill was not passed.  I can’t help but think that this desire to abstain from voting rather than vote against one’s classmates comes from this desire or push for harmony.  Better to not register an opinion than to register an opinion that directly counters the opinion of nearly half the class.  At the start of next week’s class, I am definitely going to ask the students why so many of them abstained when voting.  Incidentally, when it came time to override the my veto as President, the students had no problem overriding me because as one student put it, he just wanted “to override the teacher”, which could be a result of the fact that I am a foreigner, and thus not part of this harmonious society, or more broadly, it was a safe way for the students to break out of this phony notion of harmony by voting against an outsider, their American teacher.

In any population, there are always exceptions and in China, there will be people who will decide not to go along with this concept of a harmonious society, like Hu Jia, who felt it necessary to bring to light problems affecting disadvantaged citizens, such as those with HIV/AIDS and those being affected by environmental pollution.  What’s interesting about Hu’s work is that he was bicycling into remote villages to help people suffering with HIV/AIDS, not trying to bring about a revolution.  Yet, the government arrested him and warned the EU not to award him the Sakharov Prize for his efforts, highlighting the paranoia that seems to run rampant through the uppermost levels of the Chinese government.  However, there are millions of other people like Professors Ai and Cai, countless bloggers, lawyers, and other individuals who are trying not to overthrow the government, but shake things up enough that people whose voices are not being heard, are getting a chance to air their grievances.  Even among my students, I see glimmers of ideas and thoughts that chafe against this notion of a harmonious society.  In my Zhuhai class, we were coming up with arguments for and against the death penalty.  One of my students said the death penalty should be abolished because it can create a feeling of fear in society, which is not good.  Of course, another one of our students arguing in favor of the death penalty innocently noted that without the death penalty, how would corrupt officials be punished for their misdeeds.  Only in China are corrupt officials sentenced to death, so of course this student would wonder what other tools of punishment existed short of death that might help deter corruption.

Even More Morning Calisthenics

Those students exercising every morning at the school by my apartment are replicated a million times across China, every morning, for all the years before they go to university.  Whether the students actually enjoy this collective exercise effort is very much open to debate, but it has to have an effect on their notions of individualism and free thought because they are not exercising at their own volition, but rather because some faceless, nameless voice is ordering them to do so.  And the larger question is when the government will stop trying to “harmonize out” those voices it may not agree with, but who may represent the best ideas and thoughts that will make China a better country.

 

Civil or Civilized Society?

Last Friday night one of the other fellows and I went to meet with members of Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute for Civil Society (ICS), including Professor Zhu Jiangang, the Director and one of the founders of ICS.  The topic of the discussion was supposed to be the role of civil society and NGOs in China.  However, our International Program Office coordinator, who set the meeting up, had told the people in attendance that this meeting would be a chance for them to practice ther English with some Yale fellows.  Once we overcame this minor misunderstanding, the conversation was extremely interesting and covered a wide-range of topics including the development of NGOs in China, the arbitrary nature of the law, and how to create a more robust Chinese civil society.  Yet, running throughout this entire discussion were the twin obstacles of the state and preserving a harmonious society, or 和谐社会, that President Hu Jintao hopes will become part of his legacy. 

There are three main categories of NGOs in China: (1) Government-organized NGOs (GONGOs) that focus on mass mobilization; (2) Grassroots NGOs that resemble those in the U.S. and a built from the bottom up; and (3) International NGOs such as Greenpeace and Oxfam.  NGOs are required to find a government agency that will sponsor them in order to be legitimate, but many NGOs operate outside of this requirement in order to maintain a greater degree of autonomy.  However, without a government sponsor, the chances for harassment from the authorities also increase.  And in any case, if the NGO is doing any sort of activity that the government thinks may threaten its legitimacy, then sponsored or not, the government will do its best to shut you down.  Requiring any sort of government sponsorship defeats the purpose of civil society, which is supposed to fill the space between the government and businesses, and would seem to lead to the creation of organizations that are far milder and less effective than they could be in promoting the development of a vibrant space between the individual and the state. 

Professor Zhu outlined two types of social movements: (1) defense of rights, which in the West tend to result in lawsuits and protests and (2) collective movements, which mobilize groups of volunteers to provide social services like alleviating poverty, rural education.   Many of the new NGOs in China seem to be focused on the latter movement, which is important for giving citizens a sense of civic duty and could eventually engender feelings that citizens can and should help themselves without the state.  Of course, the people would have to feel that the state has failed them in such a major way to make these movements powerful enough to engender real political and social change. 

The conversation took a turn to the somewhat bizarre when we started discussing defense of rights movements.  There was a general disdain for the courts, which were portrayed as an indirect way to complain, but more direct is government complaints department or xinfang (信访), which means “letters and visits” where Chinese citizens can lodge their complaints with a government office at various governmental levels .  One can start with the local government office, but if they feel particularly aggrieved, they can take their complaint all the way to the top in Beijing.  Complaints cover a wide range of issues including homeowner rights, land rights and confiscation, and consumer rights.  We started asking questions about how this system worked and if there were rules for how the government deals with complaints.  Professor Zhu assured us that there were rules, but there are also “exceptions”.  Whether a complaint is effectively dealt with can depend on a variety of variables such as how fearful or angry a particular complaint has made them, how hard the complainer is willing to fight for his or her cause, or what is going on in the larger political context at the point in time.  For example, we were told that if the complainer was willing to die for his complaint by either lighting himself on fire or committing some other public act to draw attention to his cause, the officials may take notice and do something about his complaint like sacrificing a local official to preserve the power of the central government and make that individual feel as if they were listened to.  Or perhaps the government official becomes angry or fearful because of the complaint and they may use police force to prevent people from complaining further.  These actions of course take place within a framework of rules and regulations, but adhering to such a framework is clearly not the first priority of the government.  It seems that the exceptions are actually the norm in the case of 信访.  These exceptions may help to ensure a civilized and harmonious society, but they certainly do not help the development of Chinese civil society. 

With Friday night’s discussion still fresh in my mind, the next night I went to a meeting of Guangtong (广同), one of China’s largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) NGOs and a prime example of China’s nascent civil society movement, where a screening of some documentaries about LGBT life in Taiwan was being moderated by Dr. Song Sufeng, a gender studies and feminist theory professor at Sun Yat-sen University (中大).  I had the opportunity to meet Roger, the founder of 广同 and hear first-hand about the difficulties of trying to run an unsponsored NGO in China.  Saturday evening’s event took place in a private apartment located down on alley off the main road and is used by 广同 as an office, a safe space for people to congregate and learn more about LGBT issues such as HIV/AIDS, and as a venue for events like this film screening.  Earlier that day, my friend alerted me that the police from the local public security bureau (PSB) (公安局) may come and try to break up the event, so I went in prepared for some police scuffling.  Much to my own dismay at not being able to witness some genuine police activity, the PSB did not show up, but people could only enter a few at a time and noise in the hall had to be kept to a minimum to prevent the neighbors from calling the police.  Even though the PSB did not break up the screening, they do keep a guard outside the building, presumably to keep watch so the gays don’t get out of hand and try to overthrow the government.  I had a chance to talk with Roger and he said that even if 广同 wanted to register, no government agency would want to sponsor an LGBT group and be responsible for their actions, thus the group is unregistered and subject to harassment from the PSB.  He told me that the government is afraid of groups like 广同 because they could be a threat to their power.  We didn’t get a chance to go deeper into this topic, but of course with enough groups like 广同 functioning independently of the government and representing marginalized groups like the LGBT community, there could exist a real counter to the government’s power.

Yet, even with being unregistered, the group boasts over 180,000 online, mostly in Guangzhou, and has a vibrant website with all sorts of services catering to the LGBT community.  With its website and new office/safe space, 广同 should be able to grow and offer even more services to the local LGBT community.  Organizations like 广同 thrive in spite of the government’s efforts to control the development of civil society and these organizations represent the best efforts at fostering a fully functioning and vibrant civil society in China because they combine elements from both the collective movement that focuses on providing services to the community and their very presence standing for a marginalized group in Chinese society also allows them to defend and protect the rights of this group by giving LGBT people a platform to be themselves.

Minxin Pei, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote an interesting piece this summer in the Financial Times about the Chinese government’s repression of civil society.  Similar to his main point, I had the chance this weekend to witness how the development of a fully-functioning civil society in China still has a long way to go with many obstacles sure to be thrown in the path.  As long as the Chinese government believes grassroots NGOs and the civil society are a threat to their power and the creation of a harmonious society, perhaps all we’ll get is the creation of a civilized society.

Birthday Self-indulgence

Yup, today is my 30th birthday. Well, at least in China it is my 30th. As my friend Thom said, if I want to still be 29 I would need to quickly get across the international date line because that window is fast closing. People have been asking me how it feels to be turning 30 and to be honest, I don’t really have much of an opinion. I was trying to explain to someone who is 22 that it is less about age at this point and more about what phases of their lives different people are in. If someone is married or married with children, I notice that more than I notice their age. Those things tend to separate people as you get older. Or perhaps it has to do with career and what stage one is at in their own career. It’s these comparisons that serve as reference points, not the absolute age we’re at. At least that’s how I feel about it. So turning 30 is not that big of a deal for me, yet. I am 8000 miles away in China, so it’s easy to forget about all the comparisons to where my other friends are in their lives, but I am sure I will feel some element of it when I return to the States in a few weeks. Being in China for my 30 this almost a relief because it takes the pressure off this milestone, no big plans were necessary to commemorate the event. Myself and three of the other fellows are going to go out for some non-Chinese food tonight, probably Indian and then get some drinks at a chill bar. I mean, I am 30 after all and I’m not going to recover from drinking the same way I did when I was 29 the other day. This weekend will also be filled with various drinking events. Tomorrow night, we are throwing a Halloween party for our students to introduce them to American culture. As someone with a birthday that was often treated as an afterthought to Halloween, the holiday and I have a tenuous relationship. I think it’s that way for anyone born really close to a big holiday. But in the spirit of the party, I will be in some sort of costume.

 

It’s been nice because my friends have been calling or emailing throughout the morning, so I feel connected to home. Alexa, one of the other fellows, came over at midnight last night singing “Happy Birthday” in Chinese with some Chinese pastries, candles, and little gifts for us. Oh yeah, Celia (my roommate) and I share the same birthday. It was really cute that she came by like that and it’s moments like that when I realize that what we are building here in GZ is our own little community. It’s kind of like one of the reality TV shows, except it’s taking place in China. In fact, most days feel like a reality TV show with daily challenges and almost deliberately placed warm and fuzzy moments, but it’s been fun and it’s definitely an adventure. My 30th in China will definitely be memorable, if not because of the festivities, but for the simple fact that I wanted to get back to China this year and I was actually able to make it happen.

 

Since this post is purely self-indulgent, I am going to leave you with pictures of my new first cousin once removed, Jake, which sounds way too clinical for someone so cute. My cousin Marianne gave birth to him at the end of July, so he’s quite young. While it’s my first cousin’s baby and technically we are first cousins once removed relationship, I am just going to anoint myself as one of his uncles and take it up with his parents, Marianne and Matt later. Regardless of the relationship, he is one of the most adorable three month olds I have ever seen, but perhaps I am a little biased. I cannot wait to see him and his parents when I am home in November.

Jake and Marianne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jake looking quite happy

Lost in Translation

Yesterday was Halloween, even here in China.  It was also my first full day as a 30-year old and I want to say thank you to all of my friends and family who called, sent emails, and posted on Facebook their birthday wishes.  It really meant a lot to me, especially being 8000 miles away from home. 

So back to Halloween, which we celebrated by planning and throwing a party for our students.  We were told by the International Program Office (IPO) that we should throw a Halloween party to give our students a taste of American culture and that is what we did.  We scoured the shops near the Haizhu Square metro station.  These shops contain every possible knick-knack you could imagine that you see for sale in stores in the States and are made in China.  There were stores selling all types of digital watches, necklaces, bootleg cosmetics, novelties, you name it.  Tucked in the middle of all of these stores were those selling Halloween supplies, including the wonderfully labeled “geak” kit, which sadly I decided not to buy.  Instead, I dressed up as a soccer player with my Chelsea uniform.  Alexa was a devil, Hanna was a witch, and Celia bought an excellent moustache and glasses combination wit a top hat.

 

Some students really took to the dressing up part of Halloween, but most came in their usual clothes.  Regardless, it was a lot of fun to see our students outside of the classroom.  Many of our students had a chorus competition that evening and we thought that they could not make the party, but Jack from the IPO coordinated with those students and had them bring Celia and I a cake for our birthday while singing happy birthday as they made their grand entrance.  The kids looked great and it was really terrific to see them, albeit for a short time before they took off for the competition.  We played some games including bobbing for apples, the Bar/Bat Mitzvah staple of Coke and Pepsi, and a game where everyone had to tie balloons around their ankles and try to pop the other persons to be the last person standing with a fully inflated balloon.  Suffice it to say that the kids had a good time and we felt like we at least gave them a small taste of American Halloween culture, unfortunately minus the trick-or-treating. 

This afternoon, Hanna and I embarked on a mini-adventure.  Actually, I roped Hanna into it because I did not want to do it alone.  I was invited to a “free hug” event by a guy named Gusta who attended the LGBT documentary screening last weekend.  He had asked Dr. Song for my email address and then emailed me out of the blue inviting me to this event he was organizing on Beijing Lu (北京路) this Saturday afternoon.  Beijing Lu is a giant pedestrian street with shops closed to all traffic and packed with people on the weekend.  These free hug campaigns were started by a guy in Australia and have been carried out all over the world, so this guy wanted to have one here in Guangzhou because he thought the people needed some random acts of kindness and he was hoping to get them to reject their apathy, both of which are lofty and noble goals.  Hanna and I show up and no one is there.  After about a half an hour, this guy and his friend with a camera show up.  His other friends are supposed to be coming.  Finally, his other friend shows up with some paper and markers to make signs advertising our free hugs.  At this point, I learned that 免费拥抱, mianfei yongbao, means “free hugs”.  Hanna and I are given our signs to hold high and like bees on honey, the crowd begins to take notice and flock our way.  At first some random people come up asking for hugs, but it quickly devolves into “let’s take pictures of the foreigners holding signs that say ‘free hugs’”.  At one point, I looked up and about 200 people had gathered around us with their cameras and phones, snapping away.  Some people actually came up to us and asked us to pose in pictures.  I began feeling like monkeys at the zoo who were being beckoned to sing and dance so the tourists could take pictures to show their friends and family back home.  At this point a guard, presumably from the Municipal Management Bureau, came over and told the guy that we were creating too much of a crowd and people could not walk through, so we would have to disband.  Hanna and I decided this was our exit and we politely said goodbye, but not before snapping some pictures of our own. 

As Hanna and I walked away, we remarked on how bizarre that whole experience was.  I definitely did not expect the people of Guangzhou to be so fascinated by two foreigners holding signs advertising free hugs that they would mob us and start taking pictures.  I thought that snapping pictures of foreigners went out of fashion a decade ago in big cities like Guangzhou, but apparently not.  I am also not sure if posing with the foreigners was what the founder of the “free hug” movement had in mind when he came up with the concept.  Perhaps in our own small way, we were spreading kindness and fighting apathy by getting all of these people to stop and take notice of something beyond themselves.  Perhaps our pictures put smiles on the faces of people who might not have otherwise had them.  Or we were just a spectacle and most humans love to take pictures of a good spectacle for posterity’s sake.  Regardless, here are some pictures from today’s event.  You be the judge. 

Four Fellows in Costume

Our Kids Dressed to Compete in the Chorus Competition

Hanna, me, and Gusta with our “Free Hugs” signs

Me and my 免费拥抱 sign

A “geak” costume

The Evening of Election Day, 13 hours later in Changsha, China

Some Changsha fun on 堕落街 (Degenerate Street)

I’m sitting in the Fifth Tone here in Changsha, which is a cool coffee shop that is uncharacteristic for China and reminiscent of something you’d find in the States, good coffee and good baked goods.  The Fifth Tone’s wireless connection has made this post possible.

The wonders of the International Date Line mean that while most Americans were watching the election results on their televisions late into Tuesday night, I was eating tofu and steamed fish, among many other Hunanese delights while watching the election results on CCTV, China’s state-run television network during lunch on Wednesday afternoon. This coverage was of course supported by Blackberry updates from the New York Times and CNN, but it was surreal to be in the middle of China at this historic moment. All 22 of the fellows from the Yale-China Teaching Fellowship have gathered in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province for a week-long conference to talk about our teaching thus far and to see each other for the first time since Hong Kong this August. It was great to be with so many other Americans who were as eager as I was for the results, but it was frustrating to not be able to sit at my computer and hit F5 for the latest electoral count. But after lunch, we were able to then head back to our hotel rooms and watch both McCain and Obama’s speeches on YouTube. A small crowd had gathered around my computer as we watched McCain’s gracious concession speech (unfortunately the boos and hisses from the crowd were not as gracious) and Obama’s rousing and powerful victory speech, definitely one this will be remembered for a long time. Here I was in Changsha, downloading YouTube clips to be a part of this historic moment in American history. Even CCTV was uncharacteristically joyful at the prospect of a President Obama, which is a signal that almost instantaneously, America’s place in the world as a land of endless opportunity and hope was partially restored by this momentous occurrence. Even in the days leading up to the election, I either overheard Chinese people talking or was told directly how significant an Obama win would be for America and how it would create a long-lost respect for the country that has given the world so many other positive examples to learn from in its long history (and some not-so-positive ones). Congratulations to President-elect Obama and here’s the possibility of a renewed hope in America. It also means that I can return home proud of the choice my fellow citizens and I have made.

However, there is one thing that makes it difficult to be as overjoyed today as I wanted to be. Proposition 8, a move to add a constitutional amendment to the California constitution that would ban gay marriage, looks like it will be supported by a majority of the voters in that state. It is hard to feel good about a move that enshrines discrimination and animus in a state constitution. Some voters who supported Obama’s message of hope and change apparently felt that allowing gay people the right to get married is too much change, which just leaves me upset and disappointed when I want to be so happy that we have someone like Obama as our next president. It makes me wonder why other groups of people who may have been discriminated against and who understand the importance of fighting for civil rights and equality and who understand the shame and pain of being discriminated against, could vote overwhelmingly for this proposition. The struggle for equality is one that we all fight in the face of discrimination, regardless of whether the histories are shared or not. If we are being treated differently and negatively for something that is an intrinsic part of who we are, then we should all be fighting the same battle. What we should not be is territorial about our struggles and the civil rights movement, trying to claim it for our own. Fighting hatred and discrimination are not to be regarded as the fight of just one group, but of all groups who are the targets of such nasty and hateful beliefs. Proposition 8 and its possible passage by the people of California leave me a little less proud to be an American and mar this epic moment in our country’s history where we have been able to surmount our racial prejudices to elect the country’s first African-American president, but at the same time we can still vote to write prejudice into our laws.

CCTV calls the election for Obama

Chinese High School Musical

Today is my last day in Changsha.  The conference with all of the other fellows ended yesterday afternoon, but many of us stayed in Changsha for Thursday night for some belated birthday festivities with all of the Yale-China fellows.  We went for some real 湘菜 and then for margaritas at a place called Cafe Mezcal.  It was cool to have most of the fellows together and have a chance to just enjoy Changsha.

However, today I spent most of the day at Yali High School, better known as Yali Zhongxue (雅礼中学), which is one of Hunan Province’s key high schools.  Each province usually has a few key high schools.  Being a key high school in China means that it receives more resources from the government because it has been targeted as an overachieving high school, and it certainly lives up to that designation.  To gain admission to a high school  students must take a test and the score determines what high school they can attend.  This test is taken at the level of what we would consider to be freshman in the US, but are called Junior 3s here in China.  In short, elementary school in China is six years, middle school is three years, and high school is another three years.  Middle school students are classified as Junior 1-3s and high school students are classified as Senior 1-3s.  The students who score the highest are then admitted to these key schools.  One big difference between high schools in China and the US is that if you are a good student, the school you attend is not determined by geography.  Thus, as long as you live in the province, you can go to any school in that province.  For example, there are students at Yali who live five hours away and board at the school.  Some of the students from poorer parts of the province receive scholarships to attend these high schools if their test scores are high enough.  Yale-China has four fellows here and Yali is Yale-China’s oldest site.  Yali also sends students to college overseas, including Yale.  Many other Yali graduates go to the top universities in China including Beijing University (北大) and Tsinghua University (清华大学）.  It is certainly one of the best high schools in Hunan Province, if not one of the best in China.

Today was awesome though because Naoko and Hugh, two of the fellows here, took myself, Veronica, and Allyson to the library hour one of the fellows hosts every Friday afternoon.  This week it was Hugh’s turn and Naoko went around to some of the classes alerting the students that there were some fellows from other sites in town and that they could come to library hour to talk to the fellows about anything they wanted.  So at 1pm, we arrive in the English library and there are about 30 students waiting to talk with us.  I wound up with a group of about 12 boys, who I later found out for some of the best in their grade.  We launched right in to the Presidential election and I was being peppered with questions about what Obama’s victory meant for the “bias” that many Americans feel towards black people and how I felt about a Democratic-controlled Congress and Presidency.  From there, the students asked about the financial depression in the US, as well as educating me about rural land reform in China.  They asked me how the economic problems were affecting my family and friends and what I thought about the call for China to help out the rest of the world during this time of economic distress.  One student, Brian, attempted to test my knowledge of modern Chinese history by informing me that it was the 30th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms begun in 1978 and then asking where these reforms began.  I always thought they began in southern China with the establishment of the Special Economic Zones, but he told me that they started in Anhui Province with the breaking up of the farming collectives.  I was also told by some of the other students that rural China is the real China and in rural areas, more and more people are taking an interest in international affairs.  I didn’t know this fact, but not for the stories these students were telling me.  I was fascinated and felt like I was learning as much from them as I hope they were from me.  I definitely had a few “teachable moments” when I explained the concept of the filibuster to them and why the idea of the underdog is such an enduring storyline in movies in books.  These kids were sharp and when an hour and a half had passed, I could not believe how the conversation both had covered so many topics and how it really was a conversation between me and the students.  I almost didn’t want to leave, but they had to get to class and library hour had gone way over its allotted hour.

There was one student in my group, Billy King, who I was told beforehand is the homecoming king, athlete, smart kid, who also is considered extremely handsome by his peers, who lived up to his many superlatives.  He had a way of holding court in the middle of this group, even though he may not have been the smartest, that indicated he was the alpha male.  He was also quite charming and talkative while playing this role, but it was interesting to see this part of mine and probably everybody elses’ high school experience play out before my eyes.  We all knew Billy Kings when we were in high school.  They were the smart, athletic, good-looking, social guys who everyone admired, but also were secretly jealous of because of their many gifts.  It was really refreshing to know that Billy Kings exist even at 雅礼中学 (Yali Zhongxue) in Changsha, China, but also really cool to have this chance to just chat with a group of extremely engaging and intelligent Chinese high school students who are almost certain to go on to great things in the future.

文明，文明， 文明

文明 or “civilized” may go down as the catchphrase of my year here in Guangzhou.  The city has joined the many cities around China that were competing to be China’s most “civilized city” or 文明城市, so in true Chinese fashion there are posters everywhere exhorting people to be “civilized” and they all have the tag line of 文明城市.  It’s a running joke between us fellows that certain behaviors might not be considered 文明, which means we’ve adopted the word in our everyday English conversations to take the place of “civilized”.  Perhaps this adoption is the greatest sign that this concept has permeated our consciousness while living here in Guangzhou.  I am not sure if 文明 or 和谐 (harmony) is more ubiquitous in China, but regardless of which one wins, they’re both definitely buzzwords of the moment.

So I returned from Changsha this weekend and I was on the metro, which seems to have received a makeover during the week I was gone because there were posters everywhere about how to “politely” ride the metro.  Some of the behaviors prohibited include “hullabaloo” and “scratchitti”, which leaves me wondering what constitutes hullabaloo and how the police would go about trying to spot it.

Regardless, the idea of a competition to find the most civilized city in China seems like a great ploy to get cities to clean up those behaviors and activities that they deem unsavory.  My friends were telling me that Changsha, in its bid to be China’s most civilized city, closed many of its illegal DVD shops and shut down all the street food sellers.,  In the process, the unique character of the places where these vendors congregated was seriously curtailed.  Could the hunt for 文明城市 just be another name for gentrification with Chinese characteristics?  Does it become more palatable because it’s a competition?

No Hullabaloo Allowed

And please ride politely

Election Day, Chinese Style

Yesterday, Celia and I were doing our weekly thing in Zhuhai and our visit happened to coincide with the first ever direct elections for the head of the Sun Yat-sen University Student Union.  These elections apparently are also some of the first to be held in a mainland university, as I blogged a bit about in an earlier post.  Such elections were tried in the past at Peking University in Beijing, but they are certianly rare on the mainland.  Reuters carried a great story about the elections and my school, which admittedly left me proud and excited to be here after reading it.  As the story, pointed out, elections at one of China’s best universities are big deal for a government paranoid about giving up any of its power to the people and even given them a taste of democracy.  It was also extremely heartening to see one of the candidates talk to the press, even after a muzzle order had been issued by the university.  What makes this election an even bigger deal is that all of the universities in China are run by the state and therefore tied to the Communist Party, so this election in some roundabout way becomes endorsed by the Party.

So in the election, there were four candidates, one girl and three guys.  It was a perfect day for an election.  The heat and humidity have broken and it was bright sunshine and blue skies with temperatures in the 70s during the day and the 60s at night.  In Zhuhai, there were polling places set up by the campus supermarket and the main classroom building.  Both polling places were being monitored by students.

Chen Xia (陈夏), the only female candidate, had banners all over campus extolling her many accomplishments.  In our Zhuhai classes this week, we had debates and one of the topics being debated was “All student leaders of the SYSU student union should be elected directly by the students.”  Many of the arguments in favor of direct election focused on the greater accountability of student leaders chosen by the students rather than by the administration and the importance of grassroots democracy.  The arguments against direct elections focused on the cost and time involved to carry out such elections, with the money and time better spent elsewhere.  Students also argued that it was hard to vote for candidates that many of them did not know.  However, those arguing in favor of direct elections took the stand that democracy must begin somewhere and complaining about the time and cost is a poor excuse not to implement direct elections.

In yesterday’s election, turnout was apparently lower than the administration wanted because many students felt no stake in the outcome.  But most of my students went to the polls, which I can’t help but feel partly responsible for since we’ve been talking so much about the historic U.S. presidential election.  After one of my classes, a few students lingered and we were talking about the candidates and the election.  The one girl who stayed behind was saying that most of the boys were voting for Chen Xia, since she is only female running and that many of the men thought she was pretty.  However, this student was also telling me that most of the girls were gossiping that her pictures on her banners were Photoshopped and that all she did was list all of the committees and awards that she had won, which was obnoxious.  It was great to hear this sort of gossip, which is not all that different from some of the baser comments we make about our candidates in the States.  To be honest, I had thought Chen Xia’s pictures looked like glamour shots, so I felt somewhat vindicated in my thought by having this fact somewhat confirmed by a student.  The guys after class confirmed the other student’s analysis by telling me that they had voted for Chen Xia because they thought she was pretty.  But hey, democracy needs to get started somewhere.

Zhuhai polling station by campus supermarket

Chen Xia's campaign banner

Zhuhai campus at dusk

Who Is This Ad Targeting?

In the men’s locker room at my gym, the inside of the doors of all 479 lockers are plastered with the following ad:

The Nivea ad inside my locker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not sure who Nivea is trying to target with this advertisement, but I am pretty sure it’s not particularly effective in the men’s locker room.

 

And while I was on the metro to the gym, I was standing with a friend of mine marveling over the logic behind naming a soap brand “ABC,” which stands for “Always Being Clean.”  He turned to me to inform me that the advertisement was for feminine hygiene products, not soap.  I then looked around the subway car and noticed that the entire car was plastered with ads for ABC feminine hygiene products with a woman who really seems to enjoy “Always Being Clean.”

The ABC feminine hygiene products ad plastered all over the subway car

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, China.

The Glass Menagerie

Zelda, a former student of many of the previous Yale-China fellows, has been staying with us for the past couple of days. She graduated last year from SYSU. Her first night here, we all went to dinner at a Korean place near the south gate of campus. On the walk back from dinner she was telling us about a research trip she took to Tibet as a senior that was sponsored by the Chinese government. Her assignment as given by the government was to go into rural villages and figure out how the Chinese government could build a tourism industry in these far-out places. She explicitly pointed out to us that the question wasn’t whether the government should build a tourism industry in this desolate part of Tibet, but that they intended to do so, regardless of the findings of the students sent on this trip and just wanted suggestions how to go about doing so.

While she was in Tibet, she attended one of the many annual week-long horse racing festivals held through out the province. The one she attended was in Nakchu, which is one of the largest. These festivals had been banned by the Chinese government until the early 1980s. Of course when the government decided to re-institute the festival, they also decided to take control of the entire process. Whereas horses normally raced in large open spaces, the government built a special racing track for the festival that was absurdly small and then proceeded to sell tickets to the event when it had traditionally been free. The government sold more tickets than the space could hold spectators, so each day there was a near-death stampede to get into the festival. Zelda told us about one handicapped man she saw each day she was there was tried in vain to get into the event, only to be trampled on by the crowds rushing in to try and find space to watch the festival. As Zelda told this story, you could hear a tone of disgust with the government’s policies in her voice. At the end of her story, she told us that the government did not take control of this festival because they were afraid of any particular political uprising while racing horses, but because they just want to control everything, even one of the most important Tibetan festivals.

This morning, I asked Zelda more about the violence at the festival and she said that at the end of the race, there would be a huge fight in the middle of the track over who won the race. Apparently if you win the race, you can get prize money, so there was a vested stake in assuring that a certain horse won. Some people would die from stab wounds during the fight, so the army had to be present at this traditional festival. Soldiers are always a welcome addition to any festival.

Soldiers marching on the race track (courtesy of Zelda)

More soldiers (Courtesy of Zelda)

The Chinese government has taken a vital part of Tibetan culture and turned it into an event filled with blood, soldiers, and anger.  Like so much else in this country, it’s just another delicate situation.

Weekend Update

Yes, there was lots of sausage . . . from "German"

I have spent most of the weekend grading my students’ first writing assignment for my Constitution class up here in GZ and let’s just say that their essays have not exactly met my expectations.  One of the more interesting sentences that I have come across is:

“We regard Marxism as our instruction and ideology.  Our religion is Marxism and communism, which is contrary with capitalism.”

It’s hard to comment on statements like this one, but I put it here to give you a taste of what I have been reading in the 25 essays that I must grade before I leave for the States at the end of the week.  Don’t worry.  Once I am done grading, there will a complete post all about the interesting things my students had to say on whether the elements of the US Constitution could be adopted in China.

I don’t normally use this blog to announce personal milestones, unless it was my 30th birthday.  However, today, November 17th is my mom’s birthday and I can’t be there in New Jersey celebrating with her on this special day, so all I can do is call (which I’ve already done) and write her a big happy birthday.  Happy birthday, mom!  I love you.

Our friend, Hugh, was in town this weekend from Changsha.  He is another fellow and teaches at Yali Middle School (雅礼中学).  Anyway, he was down here for the weekend, so as we like to do here in the GZ, we showed him a good time.  Saturday evening, we attended the “Germany-China Moving Ahead Together – Land of Ideas” campaign that is being held here in GZ and will make its way around China over the next two years.  It was organized by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs working with the Chinese government.  We partook in an evening of German rock music, German beer and sausages, and some photo shenanigans.

After Hugh and made our way to the bar for our second glass of dark beer (which is a treat because most Chinese beers are lighter lagers), we decided to pop into the Deutsche Bank booth that was dedicated to Green Banking.  These booths are (wo)manned by girls in skimpy outfits who are supposed to be brand representatives.  We’re in the booth and all of a sudden a Deutsche Bank girl comes up to us and asks if she can take a picture with us.  Of course they have a camera and printer all set up and ready to go, so when all was said and done, Hugh and I eached walked out with our very own pictures with the Deutsche Bank girl.

The stage taken over by German bands

The campaign or festival was a lot of fun, including the BASF booth that featured a sound-proof booth and other interesting chemical-related sights.  I had no idea chemicals could be so much fun, but apparently there were certain things in the exhibit that had handles to be opened, but could not be touched.

No Touch at the BASF exhibit

After we left the festival for dinner, the rest of the weekend flew by and now I am here, getting ready to make our weekly pilgrimage to Zhuhai and trying to wrap things up before returning home to the States at the end of the week.  As soon as those essays are graded, I will reveal all about the interesting things I have been reading.

Some of the crew, beers in hand

Breaking the Circle

 I’m writing this post while on the through train from GZ to Hong Kong. There are two train options from GZ to Hong Kong. One is the through train that I am on where you go through immigration first in GZ and then when you get to Hong Kong. The other train runs from GZ to Shenzhen, the Chinese city right across the border from Hong Kong. You take the train to Shenzhen and then walk across the border to board the commuter train in Hong Kong, which then takes you to either Kowloon or Hong Kong Island.

The pollution in southern China really brings out the oranges and reds in the sunset. I’m headed to Hong Kong because I am flying out from here to the States in the morning for a week to be in my friend’s wedding and see friends and family.

I just handed back my first graded writing assignment in my Zhuhai class. The prompt for the essay was:

Could a Constitution similar to the US Constitution work in China, why or why not? What aspects of the US Constitution would you borrow and what would you reject?

You can only imagine the range of responses I got from my students. My brain was swimming from the combination of poor spelling and grammar, cultural relativism, and spouting of party ideology. I did not have specific expectations for the essay, but I definitely had higher general expectations than I should have had for this essay. The “research” this assignment inadvertently produced will be the subject of a few blog posts, but one quote from a student’s essay stands out just a little more than the others:

“The culture of Christianity, the concept of original sin,

 

the evil nature, the concept of citizenship and self-reliance are the ideological foundations of the rule of law. However, Chinese advocate governance of saints, the goodness nature, and the sense of hierarchy which was left behind by the feudal society.”

This reduction of culture as a reason for why a US-styled constitution could not work in China was prevalent in almost every single one of my essays. My students wrote about the different national “conditions,” “situations,” or even “essences” to support their belief that the US and China shared absolutely nothing in common. Forgetting for a second that the above quote does not even make sense and whether China will ever become a democracy, as I graded these essays I wondered how you even begin to overcome this belief to build a better working relationship between the US and China. If my juniors, students at one of the best universities in China and in one of China’s most open cities, still hold to this belief then what hope is there for the hundreds of millions of people in the rest of the country who do not have access to the opportunities to learn that my students do?

Another one of my students boldly asserted in her paper:

“Autocracy is rooted in Chinese people’s heart”

She does not think that the Chinese people share a common heart, that usage was merely a problem with plural and singular. This sentence makes me so sad because it leaves no possibility for something else in China. Historians, both inside and outside of China, put a lot of credence in the fact that Chinese history has been dominated by emperors representing various dynasties. Some even go as far as to consider the Communists as just another dynasty because all the Chinese people know is being ruled by an emperor. I received many permutations of my student’s sentence in the other essays and I think it is just an excuse to avoid change. If the Chinese people only know autocracy or how to be ruled by an emperor, then that is all they should have? How is this logical? Look at Taiwan. Many Taiwanese share a very similar history with the mainland, right up until 1949. Yet, how were they able to switch to a democratic culture only 37 years after breaking with a five thousand year history? Claiming that the Chinese people are incapable of handling democracy because of a long history of being ruled by an emperor or autocrat creates a circle of logic, unable to be broken. There is no way to argue for something different because you cannot go against five thousand years of history.

The 18 Revolutionaries Keeping Guard on Campus

History can be a prison. So much of the relationships between the countries of East Asia has been shaped by a history that none of the parties can seem to forget, so it’s not just a Chinese problem. However, history as a justification for maintaining the status quo seems to be another tool in the arsenal of the Chinese government to promote its harmonious society or 和谐社会. Another one of my students wrote:

“China has its own brilliant history and culture for over five thousand years and the founding of the People’s Republic of China is to reestablish and continue its independence and history.”

How can you argue with this statement? This writer seems to believe that the founding of the P.R.C. as necessary to continue China’s “brilliant” independence and history. Any changes to the government would seem to imply a breakdown of China’s independence and history. Adopting outside elements to reform the system in China would be compromising Chinese sovereignty. This belief makes it hard to build a mutually advantageous relationship with China because the government has done such a magnificent job of indoctrinating its citizens. Even those who break with the party line and talk about change in China by blogging under pseudonyms, gathering in smoky bars down dark, narrow alleys, or leaving the country as dissenters are powerless when the vast majority of the nation seems to believe that external ideas are hostile to China’s independence and history.

Home Sweet Home

After a 16 hour journey from Hong Kong to Newark, I am back in the States.  I am actually in East Hampton because I am in one of my closest friend’s wedding parties and it is her wedding this weekend, so I had to tack on a four hour drive after going back to my parents’ house and taking their car.  I will be home for the next week, so there will definitely be some blogging from the States during that time.

The Wedding March

 

The bride and her party

It’s amazing to be back in the States and actually be able to post on my blog without having to go through a VPN to do so, like I have been doing for the past three months in GZ.  For those not in the know, VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.  I basically log into a US-based network to get around the great firewall that is the Chinese government and when I am logged in, it is as if my computer is operating in the US and I can access all the sites blocked by the Chinese government.

However, now I am home for the next week and there is no need to go around any firewall.  I was out in East Hampton for the weekend at my friend Karen’s wedding.  It was an absolutely perfect wedding; elegant and fun.  I don’t think these two words usually go together, but Karen and Scott pulled off a fairy tale wedding without the pretension and fuss that usually comes with such events.  I was extremely honored to be part of the bride’s wedding party as her “bride’s dude.” 

A Fairy Tale Reception

For the rest of the week, I am splitting my time between my parents’ place in Jersey and seeing friends in the city.

One of my first thoughts uponi returning home is how much more pervasive the financial crisis is in people’s everyday lives since I left for China over three months ago.  Even at the wedding this weekend, mention of it crept into the toasts of the best man and the bride’s father.  I was standing on line for the bathroom making conversation with an acquaintance I had met a few times in the past and innocuously asked him how his job was going.  He replied that he had just been made redundant that past week in the umpteenth round of layoffs at Citigroup.  Learning the social skills to reply in such conversations is going to take some time.  Whereas New York social conversation for the past few years tended to center on whether to buy in Chelsea or the Upper West or involved raving about some new and exciting restaurant find in a hitherto undiscovered part of Brooklyn, the concepts of layoffs, economizing, and financial crisis are the buzzwords of the moment.  Living in an academic bubble in China for the past three months is certainly not the place to acquire these new conversational skills.

I am also realizing how lucky I am to be in GZ.  There were many people at the wedding with a China connection, but one of the the common responses from people who have been to China when you tell them you live there is that they have been to Beijing or Shanghai at some point.  They have no idea where Guangzhou is, so then I give them Hong Kong as a reference point and mentally send them an hour and a half north by train.  I tend to tell people it’s like commuting from New Haven to New York on Metro-North.  Given that most people who go to China go to Beijing or Shanghai, it makes me happy to know that I get to live in a big city with all of the trappings of a big city, but it’s firmly a Chinese city that has not been overrun with expats like the other two cities I just mentioned.  It means I get to have an urban China experience that is more Chinese than most people ever get to experience, plus I have access to all of the resources that come with being at a major university.  As I tell people about the past three months in GZ, I am also realizing that I am getting an on-the-ground education about modern China that no class I could have taken in college or law school could have provided.

Petty Tyrants

I’m back in GZ, all safe and sound after another sixteen hour flight and three hour bus ride from the Hong Kong airport back to GZ.  Being home was great, especially seeing the family and friends.

Being back in China means I’m right back to being in the thick of things.  After spending a week at home, I am realizing that being on the ground in China is far better than any classroom instruction on modern China I have taken or could possibly take.  Most days here I feel like some sort of cultural anthropologist, trying to wrap my brain about all the things I am seeing and experiencing.

A few weeks ago, we had dinner with Dr. Song Sufeng, a gender studies and feminist theory professor here at SYSU (here’s an interview with Dr. Song about filming The Vagina Monologues: Stories from China).  I met her a few weeks before that when I went to the 广同 meeting where she was screening some documentaries about Taiwanese LGBT life.  This dinner was a chance for her to meet the other Yale-China fellows.  She is extremely personable and so interesting to talk to.  The dinner conversation flowed over and through a wide-range of topics, but one topic stood out in my mind.  We asked Dr. Song about the presence of the Communist Party on campus because we knew that all universities had dual hierarchies, but we were unsure how they worked.  At SYSU and all other state-run universities (which is most of them in China because there are very few private ones), there is both a university and Party administration.  All final decisions have to be approved by the Party administration.  However, the Party installs Youth Leagues at every university.  These Youth Leagues are made up of recent university graduates who usually could not get jobs in the private sector, but made connections with the right people while at school to get this Youth League position.  The Youth League is responsible for approving or rejecting day-to-day campus concerns.  The catch to all of this decision-making by these twenty-somethings is that there are no rules or regulations governing their conduct, which means their decisions are opaquely made and there is no mechanism for an appeal.  There word is the final word for most daily campus concerns such as approving the registrations of student organizations or signing off on a guest speaker that a professor wants to invite to his class.  This arbitrary and capricious system is the perfect recipe for creating petty tyrants.

One specific instance of this capriciousness on campus concerns the registration of SYSU’s Rainbow Club, which was established in 2006 as the first LGBT-related student group on a mainland university campus.  Understandably, the group attracted a lot of media coverage and one year later is was banned by the university.  In this case, it was the university administration that banned it because they had no idea if it was acceptable to the “higher authorities,” which remained nameless and could have quite possibly included the Youth League and the rest of the Party.  Since the university was not sure whether it was acceptable, they banned it outright.  The group still tries to recruit members and exist underground, but its registration has remained suspended and the group has received warnings from the administration to stop their recruiting or possibly face serious results.

The Rainbow Club is just one instance of the uncertainty that comes with this bifurcated administrative structure that gives the Party the final say on what happens on university campuses.

Where’s Your Academic Integrity?

The writing assignment that I gave out to my GZ class seems to be the gift that keeps on enlightening.  Both Celia and I encountered major problems with plagiarism.  Some students used Chinese language propaganda pamphlets and just translated them into English and pasted them into their essays.  Others lifted whole passages from Wikipedia as their own.  Plagiarism in our classroom was a surprise because at the beginning of the semester we explained why plagiarism was bad, the consequences of plagiarism such as getting a zero and being kicked out of class, and then had the students sign a contract vowing that they would not plagiarize.  Right before we handed out the assignment, we gave a detailed lecture about the importance of citing and how to cite various sources of information.  Yet, all of this knowledge seemed to go in one ear and out the other as they wrote their essays.

A simple test to check if something was plagiarized after having my suspicions roused was to take the offending sentence and plug it into Google.  Offending sentences are easy to spot because they have better grammar and sound different than the other sentences around it.  If the sentence came up as part of an article, then I knew the student had plagiarized.

As I graded the essays, I spent a lot of time wondering what made my students decide to just plagiarize when I thought they knew it was wrong.  Part of the answer is cultural.  Academic scholarship does not seem as important in China as it is in the United States, thus there isn’t a culture among aspiring and actual professors of creating and protecting original works, while giving credit to those who may have influenced those works.  Whereas in the US, graduate students are always writing and citing until they become a professor.  Then the cycle of writing and citing continues as long as they are in academia.  Since professors in China seem to not be inculcated in the ways of academic scholarship, they do not expect such behavior from their students.  Chinese academics who have spent time studying in the US or write for US publications have a different attitude towards giving credit to others’ ideas, but these academics tend to be in the minority.

I also think this lack of academic integrity is wrapped up in the larger debate about intellectual property rights (IPR) in China and the idea of collective harmony and stability.  The West is always threatening sanctions against China for piracy of all sorts of products ranging from movies and computer software to semiconductors.  IPR are hard to enforce from without, but only gain traction when there is an indigenous respect for such rights.  The idea of community is very strong in China.  As I’ve written about in the past, harmony and stability are important values in Chinese society or at least they are repeated enough by my students that this Westerner believes them to be important values.  A strong sense of community promotes stability and harmony.  With a strong sense of community comes the idea that all parts of the community are for the use of the community, including ideas.  Why should an individual lay claim to an idea and then have other people credit him or her for that idea when the community is paramount to the individual?  IPR seem to cut across the idea of community and ownership of ideas because they lead to a competitive marketplace of ideas, which could undermine stability and harmony.

This explanation may seem very abstract, but take this explanation and now apply it to my classroom.  When my students write, they usually transcribe rote statements they have been learning since primary school without any real analysis of those statements.  They do not know where these statements came from except that year in and year out their teachers told them they needed to learn them.  Try asking a student why they think Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and the most you will come up with is “because it is” or worse, a blank stare.  The why behind these statements is not taught in school.  Much of the writing I received is filled with these statements that are not attributed to any particular source because repeated enough these ideas seem to have no intrinsic value.  The ideas are part of the community and free to be used by the students as they see fit.  There is a lack of knowledge or respect for individual ownership of ideas, so the students see no need to credit other people for coming up with the original idea.

Until something is done to begin to change this attitude, both among academics and the average person, the battle against plagiarism and the infringement of IPR will continue.

Coming Soon to a Grocery Store Near You . . . Or Not

These two tasty-looking items were found in the supermarket on the Zhuhai campus.

Not quite sure what's in this bag

Ah, of course, it's Freakish Sapor

And if you're still hungry . . .

Coming Out Chinese-style

Back in the GZ after a great weekend in Hong Kong visiting friends.  My friend Wingsee was in town from London and I have not seen her in over two years, so it was a pretty easy decision to hop down there for the weekend.  The more times I make the trip, the easier it seems.  It really is like taking NJ Transit or Metro North for an hour and a half, throwing in having to go through immigration.  Leaving GZ on a Friday, the train is packed with people who seem to be regulars making the commute between Hong Kong and Guangzhou.  As soon as you cross the border at from Shenzhen to Lo Wu, you can see many people swapping the China mobile sim cards for their Hong Kong sim cards, pulling out their Octopus cards (like a Metrocard in NY that you just wave over a sensor that deducts the cost of your train trip) so they can pay the fare for the train, and rapidly making the adjustment from the mainland to Hong Kong.  Integration in the form of cooperation between Guangdong Province and Hong Kong may still be more lip service than anything else, but for the people whose livelihoods straddle the border, they’ve done a fine job integrating since the handover from the U.K. to China in 1997.

Last Wednesday night, I was invited in to give an English talk about gay life in the U.S. at 广同, the LGBT organization here in GZ.  I wasn’t sure what to expect since I have never given a talk like this before, so I put myself in a similar mindset to what I am in right before I enter the classroom.  Of course, the subject matter was a little racier than what I teach to my students.  I decided to tell some anecdotes about coming out in Hong Kong, how I told my parents I am gay, being out at work, and dating in the U.S.  After that, I asked the audience questions about gay life in China and their thoughts on a variety of topics such as the possibility of gay pride parades in China and where they go to meet men.

Celia, Alexa, and Hanna came to provide moral support and once I walked in we were off.   They seemed to really enjoy the stories and even seemed to understand my jokes, which never happens in my classroom.  The first question I asked the audience was by a show of hands how many of them were out to their families, three people raised their hands.  Then I asked who was out to their friends and the same three hands went up.  Finally, I asked who was out at work or school and only two hands went up.  In a roomful of 25-30 people at a meeting of an LGBT organization, only three people were out in some way, shape or form.  These numbers would be completely inverted in the U.S.  Most likely, only those people who were out would attend such an meeting.  However, in China, 广同 is one of the few safe spaces for these people where they can figure out who they want to be.  The lack of people who are out went a long explaining why I often feel like I am a gay man of one in this city, but it also made me wonder just how many more people live their lives in the closet  because of societal and familial pressures.

I soon found out when the conversation turned to pressure from families to get married.  At this point, one guy turned to Hanna and Alexa and asked them how they would feel if their husband of many years told them one day that he was gay.  The girls were initially speechless at this question, but answered that they hoped their relationships would be open enough that their spouses would feel comfortable telling them.  A conversation ensued among the audience about how to navigate these pressures with most men admitting that they would probably get married because at some point the social and family pressure would be too great to ignore and they did not want to disappoint their families.  I was wondering how many of them already are married and just did not volunteer that information.  It’s sad that these men feel that they cannot make a decision to come out and begin to change the tide by being ambassadors to their friends and family and letting them know that being gay is okay.  One bright spot was the college student who was there and is out to everyone.  He was extremely outspoken and confident about who he is and discussed how among his friends and peers, being gay is not seen as something to be ashamed of or to hide.  Perhaps his voice is representative of a younger generation that will make the brave decision to come out and start the societal shift towards full acceptance.

We ended up talking for two and a half hours with many more things left to say at the end of the evening.  After the talk, some of the audience members thanked me and asked if they could talk to me more about navigating coming out and being a gay man.  I was riding a high when I left 广同 because I felt like the evening had gone really well and the talk was an opportunity to exchange ideas and insights into gay culture both here in China and back in the U.S.  The founder of the organization asked if I would come back and continue where we left off, which I plan to do when I return for my second semester.

Here are some pictures from the event last Wednesday.

360° Observations

I’ve been in China for over four months and I feel like I have been in a constant state of observation, whether observing or  being observed.  So many things happen to me or around me that I feel like I am not fully present in, which of course in large part is due to my outsider status.  However, even my roommate whose Mandarin is near fluent concurs with my thoughts as the constant observer.  Even the night I hosted the talk at 广同, I was conscious that my every word and action were being observed by the audience, just as I was sitting there gauging the words and actions of all of the audience members.  Observing is a two way street, but it can also be extremely tiring because you are never just in the moment for the moment’s sake.  In my classroom, I am the American English teacher being watched by my students to see if I meet their expectations as the entertaining foreign English teacher.  Other things just happen in China and all I can do is watch.  If the power goes out, I just have to sit tight and wait until it comes back on.  If the bus driver to Zhuhai decides he wants to stop to use the bathroom on the hour and a half trip, myself and the other drivers have no say in whether he stops.  At the gym, all of the trainers and patrons watch my workouts and always feel the need to make comments or nod their approval at some new exercise I am trying out.  Don’t get me wrong, sometimes observation is fascinating and educational.  However, it’s such an ever-present part of the foreigners experience in China or most any other foreign country for that matter.  Though, I think observation takes on a different nature when you are a foreigner in a country where you do not stick out as obviously as I do here in China.

I just got back from an overnight trip to Fujian province to look at the tulou (土楼), the earthen buildings used as homes for the various Hakka clans who live in Yongding County, located in the southwestern part of the province.  The Hakka people used to reside in the north, but came south to avoid persecution and built tulou, which are round structures built to house many families in a fortress-like environment to protect its residents from invaders.  Many of the  tulou in this part of the region are called Fujian tulou and are built out of a mix of earth, sand, and lime and are circular in structure.  However, there there are also many that are square as you can see in the background of the picture taken from above.  There are many tulou still standing and used by the original clans that built them.

A tulou in Yongding County, Fujian

A view of the same tulou from above

Myself and the other fellows took an overnight train from GZ to Yongding city, which dropped us off at 3am in the middle of a sleepy, Chinese town.  We took a pedicab to the hotel listed in our Rough Guide and tried to negotiate a decent rate for a few hours’ sleep, but to no avail.  We then went to a hotel across the street and found a room for two for 40 kuai, roughly US$5.50.  The old woman working the desk led us up the stairs to our rooms, but did not give us any keys and could not close the open windows in the rooms.  It was a cold night’s sleep.  The next morning we found a driver across the street from the hotel who had a van that could take the six of us (two of Hanna’s friends came from Shenzhen to join us) traveling around to see the tulou.  We negotiated a reasonable price with our driver, Xiao Lai (小赖) to take us around for two days and off we went. to explore the tulou of Yongding County.

We spent the day going around to a few tulou, which is a giant exercise in observation.  People still live in the tulou, so there we are poking around and taking pictures from every possible angle of all sorts of things that we find interesting about these structures and there are people washing their laundry, cooking their lunch, and sweeping their floors as we play in their homes and observe their daily life after paying 20 kuai (US$3) for the privilege to do so.  Of course, these people are observing us as we walk around with our cameras around or necks and yell across the circular tulou to our friends to pose for different pictures.

A woman in the tulou washing her dishes

Many tulou are actually a series of buildings and you can roam the grounds and it’s very easy to run into and start conversations with the residents of the tulou.  As we were walking around, we stumbled upon an old man who lived in one of the adjoining structures and he invited into his kitchen/living room to talk more and show us pictures.  He was in the military when he was younger and his room is filled with all types of posters of government leaders and pictures of him in his younger days dressed in his uniform.  As he was talking, we were poking around his kitchen and looking intently at every picture and poster.  We all wanted to take pictures to document this observation and finally one of us asked if it was okay.  The man was more than happy to oblige as he was showing us his scrapbook of photos and business cards collected from foreign visitors.  We then began snapping pictures of his room, his scrapbook, and anything else we thought was an interesting observation that we wanted to document with our cameras.  That’s the thing about observing; you are always learning something and chances are someone else is learning something about you.  However, being in a constant state of observation and learning can be tiring and the more you observe or are being observed, it’s easier to remove yourself from reality and look at things with a distant, almost academic eye.

A man's kitchen/living room in the tulou

Observing his scrapbook

Our new friend

We spent the rest of the day being shuttled around by Xiao Lai and took pictures of some other tulou.  By late afternoon, it was time for me to head back to GZ.  The others stayed on and spent the night in a tulou, continue their observations.  I was taken back to Yongding city by Xiao Lai.  We arrived back around 7pm and my train was not due to leave until 10:50pm, so I had nearly four hours to kill before getting on the train.  Originally, we had negotiated a price of 100 kuai (US$14) to drive me the hour back to Yongding city and then Xiao Lai would help me get a new train ticket and leave me to wait for the train.  But something changed during the course of the trip back to town.  Before going to the train station, Xiao Lai stopped the van in front of a China Mobile store, told me he was stopping for tea, and got out of the van.  He motioned for me to follow and there we were standing in the middle of a mobile phone shop with a guy sitting behind the counter at a table drinking tea.  Before I knew it, I was introduced to Xiao Lai’s son and we were chatting in my basic Mandarin.  I was told that the ticket office would not re-open until 8pm, so we were hanging out here drinking tea until then.  When it was time to go, Xiao Lai took me to the train station and it turned out that the ticket office did not open until 9:50pm.  I was getting a little worried because I was afraid that the train would be sold out, which is quite common in China.

As a side note, you cannot buy round-trip train tickets in China.  You have to purchase each way from the point of departure and tickets do not go on sale in most cases until three or five days before you leave.  Furthermore, there are no ticket machines to buy long-distance train tickets.  We had to buy our one-way to Yongding city here in GZ.  Then we had to go to the Yongding train station the morning after we arrived to buy a return.  It’s an antiquated system, but one that keeps many people employed and ensures that other people like our driver can still get a cut when he takes people to the station to buy their tickets.

Anyway, we left the train station and Xiao Lai took me to a small restaurant, which I soon found out he owned.  At the restaurant, I met his wife and dog, WangWang.  I had mentioned earlier that I wanted jiaozi (饺子), so Xiao Lai took me to a jiaozi restaurant for dumplings after I had met his wife.  After dinner, we wound up back at the China Mobile store hanging out with his son and his son’s friends.  They all asked me questions about my work, salary, and life in the States.  His son was adamant about taking a picture with me and uploading it to his computer in my presence, so we did that.  After more than three hours of spending time with Xiao Lai and various members of his family, I felt completely welcomed having met his family and friends, but also in a constant state of 360 degree observation.  But it’s all part of the China experience or more generally, any experience living away from one’s home in a foreign country.

WangWang

In the end, I made my train back to GZ and in no small part thanks to Xiao Lai, who negotiated exchanging my old ticket for new one and then proceeded to wait with me in the train station for an hour until my train came.  It was oddly reassuring to have this middle-aged Chinese man making sure I got off to GZ in one piece.  Of course, I was also told repeatedly that if I had any friends who were visiting Fujian to see the tulou, I should tell them to call Xiao Lai and his son.  So if anyone is thinking of making a trip, please let me know and I will forward along Xiao Lai’s contact info or you can check out this website.

Xiao Lai's son, Xiao Wu (小吴) and I

As for the train back, I took a hard seater for the overnight trip.  Hard seaters basically mean a cushioned bench with a vertical back, no dividers between the seats, and no ability to recline.  When I got on the train at 11pm, most of the seats were taken with people sprawled across them sleeping.  I found a seat in what would have a bench for two, but found it nearly impossible to get comfortable.  After a seven hour trip, I made it back to GZ sleep deprived, but in one piece with over a hundred pictures recording the days observations.

Christmas is a dirty word in China

Who knew that Christmas could be subtly subversive?

I received an email from someone connected to the administration of the university today with this sentences regarding our end of the semester holiday party for our students:

“Thridly [sic], christmas is a word that is already forbiddan [sic] to come out. Besides that, please try your best to get rid of any religion-related action.”

I guess making snowflakes and giving out candy canes and Hanukkah gelt could threaten the government’s legitimacy.

It all seems okay, but then you remember exactly where you are

I woke up this morning to an email from a former Yale-China fellow currently working in Hong Kong for a human rights organization that Professor Ai Xiaoming, a professor here at SYSU was “taken away” by the police last Wednesday for signing Charter 08.  Here’s a link to the news story about Professor Ai’s arrest and others who signed Charter 08.

Charter 08 doesn’t just call on the government to reform the current system, but “for an end to some of its essential features, including one-party rule, and their replacement with a system based on human rights and democracy.”  A link to the English translation of the document can be found in The  New York Review of Books.

We had drinks with Professor Ai back in October and now she has been arrested by the police.  It’s almost too easy to think everything is fine in China and people might actually be getting more freedoms because they can buy Starbucks coffee and meet in smoky bars to talk about political reforms, but then you’re jolted into remembering that you are living under an authoritarian regime that will arrest anyone who they deem to be a threat to their rule.  However, it’s one thing to read in the New York Times about political dissidents and intellectuals being arrested in China, but when someone you know has been arrested, it hits home in a way that is practically indescribable.  I now know someone who was arrested by the Chinese government for being deemed a political agitator and what really brings it home is that she lives just down the street from me on campus.

This is just another part of the China experience, but one part that I really wish was not so.  I hope Professor Ai is okay, wherever she may be at the moment.

Political Pressure Updates

Further inquiry into the alleged arrest of Professor Ai Xiaoming has brought to light that the South China Morning Post and AsiaNews, the news wire service that also carried the story, had their facts wrong.  Professor Ai was not arrested, but two of the other men who signed Charter 08 were and it does not exactly mean that she is quite in the clear with regards to signing Charter 08.  I certainly hope she remains outside the grasp of the government.

In fact, greater political pressure or 政府的压力 (zhengfu de yali) seems to be the phrase of the moment.

A weekly gathering of various intellectuals, dissidents, and other folk in a dark, smoky bar down an alley somewhere here in GZ was cancelled indefinitely this week due to “political pressure.”  This salon was something that I had attended a few times this past semester.  Various guest speakers including reporters, professors, political dissidents, lawyers, and bloggers passed through and shared their thoughts on the possibilities for political and economic reform in China.  However, the police decided such talk was inappropriate at this point in time and forced the organizer to disband the weekly meetings.

In other news, the International Herald Tribune reported today that the government is beginning to block websites that had previously been unblocked for the Summer Olympics held in Beijing.

It’s not necessarily news that the government is exercising its right to restrict Internet speech, but the coincidence with the cancelling of salon here in GZ and the arrests of signatories to Charter 08 are definitely signs that the government is getting nervous about something.  Perhaps it’s the very likely sharp drop in economic growth this past quarter, which the government will be reporting on in the coming weeks combined with protests around the country by people worried for their own economic livelihoods.

Whatever the reason is, it’s really not important because it’s China and it’s often very difficult to figure out why the government really does what it does.  All I know is that political pressure is being felt here at home in GZ and it’s likely to intensify before it lets up again.

No New York Times in GZ, say it ain’t so

The 政府的压力 or political pressure  affecting daily life is further heating up.  Yesterday morning I woke up and checked my New York  Times online at my kitchen table as I have done every morning since arriving in GZ, but for some reason the page was not loading.  At first I thought it was Internet Explorer, so I tried Firefox, but to no avail.  I then thought it might be the internet connection in my apartment, but I was able to access a whole bunch of other pages without any problems.  So then I logged into my VPN, tricking the computer into thinking I was accessing the page from the States, and lo and behold I was able to read that article about the challenges facing the Chinese government 30 years after Deng opened up the country.

It’s the first time I have encountered this problem with the Times and I still can’t access it a day later.  I really wonder if it was this particular article that caused the government to spring into action.  I do know it wasn’t the article about the first snowstorm of the season to blanket the New York region.

Finding a Voice

The other fellows and I went for dim sum yesterday morning with our new friend, Anthony.  We met him a few weeks ago at the talk I gave at 广同 and he wanted to meet for dim sum to talk about, as he put in an email to me, how to “to figure out a way to live a valuable and meaningful life for myself and the society. Hopefully before I die, I could be happy with my choice.”  Going in, I knew that it was going to be a meal filled with some heavy conversation, but I also have a strong belief when it comes to being out that it’s hard to tell someone else what to do because it’s such a personal process.  When we met at the talk, Anthony alarmed my friends because he sounded like he was seriously considering marrying a woman just to make his parents happy.  Going into dim sum, my friends really wanted me to dissuade him from taking that path.

We get to dim sum and after polite conversation, Anthony asks us how to make him and his parents happy.  Carefully picking my words, I told him that the worst thing he could do is marry a girl.  I said that you have to weigh the pain you would cause your parents by not getting married against the pain you would cause some unsuspecting woman who would have to deal with you being gay, and no one person’s pain is more important.  The only solution is to indefinitely delay getting married.  What complicated matters is that Anthony has a partner who lives in another country and he is always flying off to meet up with him, enjoying what sounds like a special and loving relationship.  However, he is here in China where he does not feel comfortable coming out to his family or his friends, save for some really close friends.  He is going home for Chinese New Year and his parents have picked out another girl for him to meet for a potential marriage, one in a long line of others that have come before.  His other friends are also always trying to introduce him to women.  However, he is not interested and he does not know how to make it stop.  Towards the end of lunch, he proffered his own solution to being happy – leave China and live overseas with his partner and therefore avoid having to deal with his friends or family.  Anthony is thinking about leaving home in order to be happy.  He’s willing to upend social conventions and leave China to be happy.  It just made me really sad and grateful at the same time, sad because he cannot be happy at home and grateful for my luck to have both a loving family and friends who will support me no matter what.

Then I got to thinking about my students.  We’ve been writing letters to the editor in my Zhuhai class modeled on those in the New York Times.  I have spent the past four weeks trying to get my students to offer their own opinions about the articles they have read, to think outside the box and upend some social conventions of their own.  Yet, this task eludes most of them.  They are very good at telling me the author’s opinion or quoting a line from the article and passing it off as their own opinion, but when I walk around the room and ask them how a certain article made them feel, I get a blank stare.  This blank stare is a common feature in my classroom when I ask my students to think critically about something or to think of a challenge a conventional belief.  My students are excellent at regurgitating received wisdom.  For example, many students chose to write about the opening of direct air links between Taiwan and China.  Almost all of the letters that were written had some variation on the line that these air links would help Taiwan return to the arms of the motherland, which is a national goal that they have been taught from a young age.  Ask them exactly how these links would lead to that result and the blank stare reappears.

Thus, I am left with the thought of many of my students unable to form their own opinions because they have been pumped so full of received wisdom.  Then I think about Anthony, who by virtue of being a gay man in a society that will not allow him to live his life in a way that makes him happy, is slowly coming to the realization that the only way to live a happy life is to throw off the cultural and social mores that have been placed upon him.  Does one have to be considered an outsider by his own society in order to find his own voice in China or is there another way?

Censorship Update

As of Monday afternoon, I have been able to access the New York Times here in GZ.  Thank goodness because I was starting to go into withdrawal.  Interestingly enough, throughout this blackout, I was able to access the whole newspaper from my mobile phone.  I guess the firewall didn’t extend that far.  You have to love the arbitrary controls of an authoritarian regime.

The Holidays in GZ

The Dancing Santa with Saxophone in 江南西

Thursday marked the end of my first semester here at SYSU.  In each of my last classes, I said goodbye to my students and thanked them for a great semester.  These were definitely the most relaxed classes of the semester because the final assignments had been handed in and there was no pressure to perform on the students’ parts.  With this more relaxed atmosphere, my students also decided to ask all of the personal questions that they had been dying to ask all semester:

“Are you married?”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Oooh, your friend (who happens to be a girl) is coming to visit, is she going to become your girlfriend?”
“What are you going to do when you’re down teaching in China?”
“Why don’t pick one or two of the students in class to be your girlfriend?”
“When are you going to get married?”
“Is Celia (the other fellow I teach with) your girlfriend?”
“Do you like Chinese girls?”

My GZ Class

It was open season for my students and most of the questions were answered honestly, but without revealing anything about my personal preferences.  It was nice to see my students let their guard down and all of my classes wanted end of the semester class pictures, as well as individual pictures with their English teacher.  I felt like I was surrounded by paparazzi with all the camera phones going off around me.

It was also Christmas on Thursday, which I discovered is treated as a second Valentine’s Day here in China.  Couples go out on dates, presents are exchanged, and not an ounce of religion or family comes into the day.  It makes sense since Chinese New Year (春节) is next month and that is the major family holiday in China, celebrating the coming of spring.  Of course there are Christmas decorations all over and I am sure they will be up for the next month unlike in the US where the decorations are gone as soon as the holiday is over, perhaps save for the tree at Rockerfeller Center.

Myself and the three other fellows had a Chrismukkah dinner Thursday night  Hanna and I brought the latkes and noodle kugel, while Alexa and Celia brought ratatouille and meatballs cooked in a lentil, carrot, and onion stew.  We then went to a Christmas Party thrown by some of the guys from Princeton in Asia who are here working in GZ.  Like many gatherings with a large number of Chinese people, upon walking in to the party we had to introduce ourselves in Chinese with twenty pairs of eyes on us as we did so.  All the while I was wondering why we couldn’t just walk into the party and naturally mingle.  Mind you, we also showed up nearly two hours late, so the party was well under way by the time we got there.

With the end of the semester comes grading, so let the grading begin.

Family Chrismukkah Dinner

Happy Holidays from GZ

Beginning to Look Back

I’m officially and completely done with my first semester at SYSU and I am sitting here in a Starbucks in the Beijing airport on my way home to the States.  Technology still manages to amaze me; the fact that I can travel with my laptop and more often than not, there is a wireless connection of which to take advantage.  I recently started watching the acclaimed television show “Mad Men” on DVD and quickly became addicted, running through two seasons in under a month.  I highly recommend it to anyone who has not seen it.  There are many scenes where one of the characters is dialing on a rotary phone and I still remember my parents having such a phone in the house when I was kid, but my roommate who is six years younger than me thought such a phone was a complete oddity and found it almost funny that I could remember something like that.

Anyway, I digress.

I sent my grades in to the Lingnan office this morning and at some point they will be entered into the system.  This semester was the first time ever wielding the proverbial red pen (well more like my laptop since nobody really writes by hand anymore) to assign letter grades to my students that will show up on their transcripts.  While I had several grades to average together in order to come up with a final grade, there was still an element of hoping that the final number corresponded with how I felt about that student’s performance in class.  For example, I had several students come see me during office hours about their final exams and as I was grading their papers, I was really hoping that they were going to do well and that their hard work and diligence paid off.  It made me extremely happy when I could give them a good grade on something that they obviously cared enough about to come see me during office hours.  However, there was one student who did fail my Constitution class this semester.  He simply did not do half of the assignments, including the final and did not come to more than half the classes.  The one time we spoke about his performance, he admitted that he did not want to be in college and it was nothing to do with my class, but his own thoughts on being in school.  While it was nice to know he didn’t just hate my class, I was frustrated because the Chinese university system provides no mechanism to deal with students like this one.  He can’t just take a semester or a year off to regroup as a student in the States could do.  Instead, he is in a system that mandates he keep pushing to the next level, regardless of whether he has different ideas about what he wants to do with his life.  Aside from this student, many of my students actually surprised me with their insight and analysis on the final exam.

What was the final exam exactly, you may be wondering?  It was actually a much simpler version of a law school take-home exam with questions about the limits of students’ freedom of speech and the application of the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  The students had to read fact patters and either use given precedents or their knowledge  of the law to answer the questions.  I’ve attached a copy of the Fall GZ Final Exam here if anyone is interested.  Many of my students skillfully analyzed the precedents and applied them to the given fact patterns and it left me feeling as if I taught them something that they were able to use in a way that is different than the usual memorizing and regurgitating information that seems the norm in other classes.

Of course, the exams were not without their . . . er . . . interesting moments.  Here are some choice quotes from some of the students:

“As the teenges are too uncapable to resist the tempertationof drugs to addict to them, the danger will be uncountable  . As a student, Peter turn a deaf year to the school’ s policy , while abusing his right of freedoom of speech, this beavior is within the school-supervised events.”

“It’s a common sense that the teenagers are not appropriate to be exposed to the speech include sexual content, which may disturb them from their daily life and studying, or even lead them to some bad behavior such as masturbation and rape.”

“Secondly, gay usually needn’t protection from others for the reason they are the most high-knowledge person who have superior position in the society.  Finally, there is obviously less difference between the gay and no gay except that you can make a distinguish if you confront someone   acquaintance on some special occasions which is only for gays.  Based on the view of the civil union, the gays are the people who are enjoying much more resource of the society than the general.  On the other hand, even if it passes the law for gays, it exerts little social value instead of causing social fierce debate towards the laws.  Therefore, the civil union insists its attitude toward gays.”

I’ll leave you with those quotes as I get ready to board my plane.   I’ll be in the States for the next five weeks, but with distance will come a different perspective on the semester that was.

Efficient Airports Just May Be Enough

Happy belated New Year!

I have been back in the States for a little over a week and I still get a little thrill that I can access my blog without logging into a VPN. Leaving China 8000 miles away has given me some time to gain some perspective on the last five months there, but that perspective will have to wait until a later blog post.

I’ve been wanting to write for the past few weeks about an op-ed piece Thomas Friedman wrote in the New York Times last month, but alas, grading final exams left me little time to do much blogging.  However, now as I hang out in suburbia with my parents, I have plenty of time to indulge my random musings.  

On December 23, 2008, Thomas Friedman wrote “Time to Reboot America” in The New York Times.  The gist of the piece (and I am oversimplifying somewhat, but not all that much from what was actually written) was that China can build extremely efficient airports and train stations, but the U.S. still has freedom of speech, and thus we can still assert our leadership in this new century.  It’s true that China has censorship and America does not, at least not to the same extent.  America has great raw materials to make this country a leader again, but we’re squandering those resources by letting our education system, scientific research, and infrastructure atrophy.  However, there’s something missing in the logic of Friedman’s piece.  

China may have censorship, but there is also something else at work in China that portends more disparities between the US and China aside from mobile phone service and airport efficiency.   After spending a semester in the classroom with Chinese university students, I am beginning to better understand quotes included in these articles from everyday Chinese people. There was a recent article about love blooming in the relief camps in Sichuan province in the aftermath of last May’s devastating earthquake titled “Romance and Recovery in Quake Area.”  Part of the article discussed the slow speed of recovery and there was a quote from a farmer in one of the villages destroyed by the earthquake in which he expressed his understanding that the government had other problems to focus on, thus explaining the slow response to rebuilding the earthquake-ravaged areas.  The farmer, He Yifu said, “The government pays attention to those living on the side of the road, not those far away.  But I understand the government has its own difficulties.”  

If I had read this article six months ago and come across this quote, I would have been outraged that a Chinese citizen whose town had been completely destroyed in an earthquake and who was living in a makeshift tent village was okay with the government’s slow response to his plight and millions of others like him.  However, I think I better understand where this sentiment comes from. There is a real concern among many Chinese people about the government’s image and a belief that the government knows best. One group of students in my Zhuhai class was writing a letter to the editor about the handling of Yang Jia’s case, the man who stabbed six policemen in Shanghai after previously being arrested and allegedly beaten for riding an unlicensed bicycle.  Yang was then sentenced and executed in November 2008 for his actions, even though questions arose about the circumstances surrounding his treatment by the police and the fairness of his trial.  My students’ main point was not about the mishandling of the case or any unanswered questions, but how this episode affected the Chinese government’s image and how the government needed to take steps to repair its image. Forget about Yang Jia’s family and the possibility of injustice being perpetrated, my students deemed that the top priority ought to be repairing the image of the Chinese government.

While the recent economic troubles afflicting China may challenge this conventional and received wisdom of Chinese people like my students, there are plenty of Chinese people who are quick to forgive the government and blame external factors for their woes. Even with the recent economic trouble, many people are quick to blame the U.S. for China’s problems, which may be partly true, but it is the Chinese government’s responsibility to navigate this downturn at home. Perhaps as my students realize how difficult it is going to be for them to get jobs or internships,, they will begin to include the government as one of the parties responsible for their misfortunes, instead of being so concerned about not tarnishing the government’s image.  Yet, until that moment comes, the large percentage of the Chinese population willing to go to bat for their government, along with its efficient airports and mobile phone service, may be a far more powerful force helping China to take the 21st century away from am America with its open and innovative culture, but inability to pull its people together to rise above these short-term troubles.

Secretary of State Clinton and China

I was fortunate to catch some of Sen. Hilary Clinton’s confirmation hearing live this past Tuesday and it made me really happy to see her back in the limelight and displaying her impressive knowledge of world affairs.  After the long and drawn-out primary battle between her and President-elect Obama, it was really nice to hear her on the same page as her former rival and her poise and confidence displayed during the hearings gave me hope that she can truly begin to rebuild our image around the world.

While I recognize the number of trouble spots around the world seems to grow daily, especially with the latest Middle East conflict thrown into the mix, I was disappointed not to hear more from Sen. Clinton or the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the future of U.S. – China relations.  I could chalk my disappointment up to a bias from spending the past five months in a classroom with Chinese students whose overriding concern about the incoming Obama administration was how he and his team would handle U.S. – China relations.  However, my disappointment with the lack of vision for U.S. – China relations goes back to the days when I was an undergraduate at Yale, where I had the good fortune to study modern Chinese history with Jonathan Spence and China’s market economy with Nicholas Lardy.  In much of the scholarly reading I’ve done related to China over the last decade, I was always struck by how short-sighted and black and white much of the literature has been.  Our own government’s policies towards China seem to mirror this reactionary and binary approach to U.S. – China relations.  To be over-simplistic, policy responses usually fall along the lines of military/human rights issues are bad and anything that allows American companies to profit from China’s rapid growth are good.  Thus, much of the talk about U.S. – China relations still revolves around Tibet, devaluing the yuan, trade disputes, and human rights violations. One possible exception to this approach were the Six Party talks concerning North Korea’s nuclear capabilities where the U.S. and China engaged as equals and were working towards a common, longer-term goal.  I am not saying that the aforementioned issues are not important.  They are, but the approach to dealing with them is often couched in a U.S. reaction to some policy decision rather than the crafting of a grand strategy framework laying out the approach to U.S. – China relations going forward.

In her statement at the confirmation hearing, Sen. Clinton mentioned China five times, two of those five times China was mentioned in the context of either Russia or other large emerging economies like India, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia.  Here is her most substantive comment regarding China is as follows:

We want a positive and cooperative relationship with China, one where we deepen and strengthen our ties on a number of issues, and candidly address differences where they persist.  But this a not one-way effort – much of what we will do depends on the choices China makes about its future at home and abroad. With both Russia and China, we should work together on vital security and economic issues like terrorism, proliferation, climate change, and reforming financial markets.

I agree wholeheartedly with Sen. Clinton’s words of cooperation and goodwill, but what was missing from that statement was a commitment to developing a long-term framework for U.S. – China relations.  I just hope that soon-to-be Secretary Clinton and her team, including Kurt Campbell as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs begin to map out a proactive approach as opposed to a reactive approach to U.S. – China relations in the coming years.  While China is still considered a developing country, it is really becoming too big to ignore and the best approach going forward is going to be to figure out how to build a true partnership between the two countries.  

Best to of luck to Hillary and her team at State.

China Calls

My winter vacation in the States is quickly coming to an end.  I head back to China this coming Thursday for my last semester before returning home  in June.  The posting has been sporadic this vacation because I have  been running around like a madman trying to see friends and family, while attempting to put my thoughts on China and my experience there in some sort of coherent manner.  However, when I return, the posting will resume in full force.

I’ve noticed a lot of American media attention being paid to China’s own economic crisis.  It seems as if the New York Times has a story every day about laid-off migrant farm workers in Guangdong province, outflows of foreign currency, or the difficulty recent Chinese college graduates are having finding employment upon graduation.  Perhaps my own senses are heightened to such news stories because I currently live there, but there does seem to an interesting fascination by the American media with today’s China and I am all for it because the more people know about the country, the better the chances of a closer relationship between the two countries.

I also read today that it seems most likely that Secretary of State Clinton will be making Asia her first foreign destination and I could not be happier about that decision.  Many in the press claim that she has chosen Asia because special envoys have already claimed the other foreign hot spots, but I want to believe that her choice of Asia is for more important and serious policy reasons than just the mere fact that there were no other foreign countries for her to travel to without appearing to just be following one of the special envoys.  When Secretary Clinton travels to Asia, I look especially forward to the China portion of her trip and how she will be able to hopefully begin a new chapter in U.S. – China relations.

Back in the PRC

You know you’re back in China when in the same day your water inexplicably stops running in your apartment, you’re asked by the membership guys at your gym why you are not using your remaining four months in China to find a Chinese girlfriend, and you’re shoved out of the way by a grandmother as you’re trying to board the metro.  

Some people have brought it to my attention that I have been lax in my posting, but that’s because for the past six and a half weeks I have been traveling around the States, Thailand and Hong Kong.  I just arrived back in GZ and I received the aforementioned very Chinese welcome.  My second and last semester at the university begins Monday and it’s hard to believe that I am more than halfway through my time here on the mainland.  

When I was home in the States many people asked me about the state of the Chinese economy and I really did not have much to say on the subject because I told them I lived a pretty insulated life on a university campus as a foreign teacher.  Plus, all of the factories closing in my province are not in the city proper, but out in the suburbs and countryside.  Furthermore, it’s not as if the factory workers leave the gated grounds of their factories to come into GZ on the weekends and hang out at migrant bars or other venues.  Most factories have strict curfews and other movement limitations placed upon their workers, so it would be hard to notice any effects from the recent spate of factory closings.

However, I did go over the new Tesco , a British grocery chain,  that opened over by the 西门口 (Ximenkou) metro stop.  It is a nice store and everything is brand new, but I still think Carrefour has a better imported food section.  What I did notice both at Tesco and Carrefour was the significant number of price reductions and sales that were not at prevalent before I left in December.  Some of the markdowns may be due to the post-Chinese New Year sales that might mimic post-Christmas sales in the US.  However, there were many items on the shelves with prices that were simply crossed out and reduced.  Perhaps these reductions of emblematic of the slowing down of the Chinese economy and the belt-tightening that may be taking place here, similarly to what is going on the States.  I will be keeping my eyes and ears open to get more information about how the global economic slowdown is affecting China and blog about it when I hear it, as well as blogging about all the crazy and random incidents waiting for me this semester.

With that said, it’s good to be back, but it’s also strange knowing that I am going to be finished in a little less than four months.  I guess that is the problem with one-year fellowships; just as you get used to a city and your job, it’s time to think about the next thing and thus begins the unavoidable dilemma of one foot here in China and one foot moving towards the next thing.

Redefining the Common Parlance

First off, I have to say that since I started using Google’s Chrome browser, WordPress has loaded up far more quickly in China than it ever did on Firefox or Explorer.  It definitely makes posting through the VPN easier than it was last semester.

I’m sitting in my Starbucks by the 公园前 (Gongyuanqian) metro station and I noticed that by the register there is a small box filled with cards and the words “Vote Me”  written on the outside of the box.  I picked one of the cards up and it’s a chance to vote for your favorite barista with the chance to win a free drink if your card is chosen.  Not a novel idea to those of us from societies where voting is the norm, but always interesting in the context of China.  While not quite as exciting or far-reaching as the first direct student union election at the university last semester, it’s nevertheless another way to introduce the concepts of democracy and elections into common parlance.  Perhaps it is also why the English translation on the box is not quite grammatically correct; the newness of the concept may mean that it is not quite readily translatable from Chinese to English.  Next time I come back, I must make a note of the Chinese used to express this concept.

Speaking of introducing new ideas into common parlance, Secretary of State Clinton is wrapping up her Asian tour in Beijing today.  There has been a lot of press about her willingness to downplay human rights abuses, much to the chagrin of Western human rights organizations.  However, I applaud Hillary for her pragmatic and magnanimous approach to U.S. – China relations.  To begin with, she is trying to wrest U.S. – China relations back into the realm of State from the Treasury Department, where most of U.S. – China policy was conducted during the latter years of the Bush administration because of Paulson’s supposedly deep understanding of China from his days at Goldman Sachs.  The realty is that to build a successful partnership between the U.S. and China, the realm of cooperation is going to have move beyond economic matters where we usually end up butting heads with China anyway.  Hillary has it right that we need to create a deeper relationship with China and actually find some issues where we can collaborate on this deeper level.  President Hu echoed this sentiment when he told her, “Now it is more important than any time in the past to deepen and develop China-US relations amid the spreading financial crisis and increasing global challenges.”  For too long, U.S.-China relations have turned on economic issues, which are certainly important in the midst of this global economic downturn, but the nature of the economic issues are also very different today when most of the world is hurting, China included.  I just hope that Hillary’s first visit to Beijing is a harbinger of a new approach to U.S. – China relations that could actually lead to some meaninful progress on important global issues.  I think it was wise of her to try to divorce the human rights issue from the other pressing issues confronting both the U.S. and China.  I am certainly not advocating forgetting about the human rights abuses that take place on almost a daily basis here, but as someone on the ground, I don’t think beating the government over the head about Tibet, a lack of political discourse, and freedom will engender any progress on those issues without an overarching positive and productive relationship that can be built by finding common ground on other issues.

Subversion (or a lack thereof) and Empathy

My first week of classes is underway and it’s been a week of meeting my new students (some of whom are students who were in my Constitution class last term) and introducing the new classes.  This semester Celia and I are teaching a current events seminar with an emphasis on persuasive rhetoric and a slightly reconfigured U.S. Government class exploring the U.S. Constitution, the structure of the U.S. government, and some hot-button Constitutional issues falling under the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.  The fear of oversight from the Party has crept into our lesson planning with moments of asking whether something may be too subversive while lesson planning.  As soon as we noticed this happening last week, we took a step back and shook our heads in amazement that our thoughts were being swayed by the Party and what they would want us to teach.  However, we have definitely decided to be more careful about how we couch certain concepts in case any of our students are spies for the Party.

All of my students are junior business students and the second semester of their junior year is when they are supposed to be looking for summer internships with companies that may or may not lead to full-time jobs upon graduating.   I’ve asked my students about their early job hunting and I am almost universally greeted with sighs and exclamations about how tough the job market is right now.  They are then quick to follow up with the comment that if it’s bad in China, it must be worse in America.  When my students answer, I can see the stress and tension underneath the surface about entering one of the toughest job markets in recent history.   A recent article from the New York Times underscores how much China’s economy has slowed down and how scared the government is of possible unrest as the consequence of being unable to deliver jobs to large segments of the population.  Many articles of this nature tend to focus on Guangzhou, where I live and the surrounding cities because this part of China was the original engine of the country’s impressive growth and has been the first to slow down since so many factories and companies are export-oriented. 

Like I tell my students I completely understand the challenge when they struggle with English because I similarly struggle to learn Chinese, I can also understand the stress and tension accompanying their job search.  When I took this fellowship last July, I figured it was a good time to take a risk and continue to explore my passion for modern China while teaching at a university, but there was no way I could have anticipated the complete fall-out that has ensnared the global economy.  Now as I begin to come back up from the plunge into the great unknown and begin searching for jobs to continue developing my career as an attorney, I have another point of commonality where I can empathize with my students – how to navigate this treacherous and sometimes scary economic downturn.

The “real China”

My friend, Henry and his girlfriend, Sara were in GZ yesterday for the day visiting some of Henry’s family.  We managed to meet up for dinner before they headed back to Hong Kong and I had a chance to show them my apartment, the campus, and my favorite Sichuan restaurant, which is right outside the East Gate of campus.  They were my first visitors from outside China.  As we were walking to dinner, Henry remarked on how cool it was that I was getting to live in the “real China” compared to so many other foreigners who park themselves in Hong Kong or Shanghai and feel as if they’re roughing it.  Now living in GZ is certainly not roughing it, but it’s definitely more “real” than HK or Shanghai in terms of how little the city caters to its foreign population.

One aspect of the “real China” I always seem to be bumping up against is just how not obvious it is to the people here that I am a gay man.  After Henry and Sara left, we went out to meet up with our friend Superman at a corny GZ nightclub called Nana Club that was hosting an’80s party.   Wherever there’s Superman, there are sure to be lots of foreigners because he is a Chinese guy that enjoys surrounding himself with them.  Anyway, we met a lot of his friends from Australia and France and they were fun to hang out with, but the whole night these guys kept asking me if I had a girlfriend.  When I told them no, they asked me if I was into Chinese girls because that could be the only thing keeping me from having a Chinese girlfriend.  I finished the night amused at all the assumptions that were being made and wondered if the idea of gay is so ephemeral in China that even the straight foreigners here don’t have gaydar.  

One place where I think everyone knows I am gay is at the LGBT organization I volunteer at, Guangtong (广同).  This past Friday I was asked by the head if I could come in and facilitate a discussion after their screening of “Milk.”  It was funny that they were showing it because I had just seen it last week and was going to suggest showing it to the group on English night.  However, every Friday night they show a movie and this happened to be their selection this Friday.  It’s an understatement to say that it’s an amazing movie, but after watching it, I wanted to get back to the States and re-immerse myself in the fight for gay rights.  Before watching the movie I had no idea just how important and powerful a figure Harvey Milk was, but his role in the fight for gay rights in the 70s was so important to get the movement to where it is today and a powerful reminder of how much more needs to be done.  Now I was sitting in a room full of gay men in China and having a discussion about the movie and its message, mostly in Chinese with my friend, Kevin acting as my translator.

I opened up by asking the group how the movie made them feel and I received quite a few responses along the lines of inspired.  One man said that China needed to stand up and fight like Milk did, but it would never happen in China because Chinese people do not have anything to fight against the same way that Americans do.  This idea that there are laws in America against gay people, but none explicit in China and the presence of these negative laws is the motivation for the fight in America came up repeatedly throughout the evening.  After three or four people echoed this sentiment, I asked the group of 16 how many of them were out and only two were out in some way, shape or form.   I then raised the idea that it’s not only having laws telling you that you can’t do something that serve as the motivation to fight for change, but you also have to fight to change beliefs and perceptions in a society that will not let you be who you want to be or live your life the way you want to.  I was greeted with some murmurs of approval, but also looks of skepticism.  The discussion then drifted to what progress has been made in the U.S. since Milk’s assassination and what to do if a girl  hits on you, so it was a bit of the serious and then some not-so-serious.  Once again it was a great chance for me to see how far China has to go and how hard in China it is to get a group of people being hurt by society’s attitudes to realize that you can work to change those attitudes, that fighting something is not always synonymous with going against the government.

Of course the “real China” is also the land of confusing and poor signage, so I leave you all with this sign hanging in the supermarket located in the Jusco department store (a discount Japanese chain) that I stumbled upon Saturday afternoon in the basement of Teemall.

Make sure to brush twice a day and use your toothpasta

Nowhere Man

When I was back in the States last month, my mom asked me if I could download the Beatles’ “Good Day Sunshine” as her ringtone on her new mobile phone, but Verizon’s controlling tendencies make it impossible to customize your phone without going through one of their overpriced music services.  However, I decided to add to my Beatles collection and downloaded “Nowhere Man,” which has made its way into my iPod rotation.

This past week in China, I’ve felt something like Nowhere Man.  Between being either ignored because people assume I cannot express myself at all in Chinese or being stared at because I am the fascinating foreigner, I tend to feel like the observer or the observed.  In either role, I feel remarkably outside of what is going on around me.  Even when I am in front of the class, I am acting for my students and mainly there for them to make their own observations of the American teaching method.  

Last week, I also had 3000 RMB (approximately US$400) stolen from my Bank of China bank account.  In China the machine holds your card until after you take your money and then push a button to get your card back.  These ATM machines differ from the ones in the States where you either swipe your card at the beginning of the transaction and then put it back in your wallet or you get your card back before you get your money.  So I received my money and mentally thought I was done with the transaction, so left without taking my card.  An hour later I realized my card was still in the machine, but I thought the machine would just swallow the card and I could return to the bank the next day to reclaim my lost card.  I arrive at the branch and they inform me that my card was not found.  So I proceed to close my account, open a new one, and transfer all of my money into the new account.  As the woman is processing my request, she shows me my passbook and my balance is far lower than I last remembered.  At this point, the wheels in my head are spinning and it hits me that someone positioned themselves at the machine after me and withdrew 3000 RMB from my account.  At a loss as to how to express myself in Chinese, I ask if anyone speaks English.  I am then directed to the Private Wealth area of the bank to meet with a woman, whom I ask whether the video cameras positioned all over the bank could help catch the culprit.  She tells me that the cameras produce poor quality images and that it may be “impossible” to get my money back, but I could call the police and they can look at the videos.  Why they place these cameras all over the bank if they’re virtually useless is beyond me.   Another difference between Chinese  and American ATM machines is that in the States you need to re-enter your PIN to do another transaction, but in China one can do multiple transactions with just entering the PIN once.   

I had called my roommate and she rushed to meet me at the bank because her Chinese is far superior to mine.  We proceed to call the police and before we know it, they have arrived and are whisking us away in a van to the police station to file a report.  I was really glad to have her there with me.  The cops were nice and did not seem like what you imagined Chinese police to be like, except for the riot gear they had in the trunk of the van.

We spend the next two hours in the police station providing the story to the helpful cops.  Actually, I was telling my roommate what happened in English and she was translating for the cops to record in the report, while she would then proceed to translate their questions to me.  While the cops were really nice and seemed helpful, they too informed us that the videos are of such poor quality that there would be no way to tell who took the money unless they proceeded to use their ATM card right after stealing the money from my account.  One can only hope that they were that stupid.  After recording my statement, the cops drove us back to campus and said they would call if they were able to get the money back.

I felt incredibly stupid and angry at the same time that someone would do something like that, but I guess crime exists in all societies.  Yet, through the whole experience I felt lost because I could barely express myself when I was filled with all of these emotions and thoughts.  On the bright side, I hope I made some family very happy with that windfall.   Last Friday evening, I had a real sense of what Nowhere Man may have felt like because for a few hours, China became my own Nowhere Land.  I feel this way every so often here because I am way outside my comfort zone.  However, it’s a good thing every now and then to venture outside all that is comfortable to us because it reminds us how lucky we are that we get to enjoy long periods of relative comfort.  As corny as it sounds, sometimes I have to be Nowhere Man in order to really appreciate when I get to be Somewhere Man.

Things that make you go, “Hmmm”

My friend, Michael and Alexa independently discovered a very uncharacteristic for China coffee shop a mere ten minute walk from our apartment.  With my bag slung across my shoulder, it reminded me of many a night in law school when I’d head off after dinner to stake out a place in one of New York’s late night coffee shops to read for class the next day or prepare my finals’ outlines.  While the space is uncharacteristic, the name “Yes No Coffee” (是不是咖啡制作室) is very Chinese because it almost, but doesn’t quite make sense.  But it’s great knowing there’s a little place near campus with decent coffee and free wireless that stays open until 1am.

For those of you who are avid readers of the New York Times and even for those who are not, there was an article this morning about Internet censorship in China and the creative ways the citizenry try to get around it.  My friend, Edward beat me to the punch and sent me an email asking me if the story about the grass-mud horse running around the Internet is real and I informed it that indeed it is and I would write more about it here.

 ”A Dirty Pun Tweaks China’s Online Censors” is about the recent rise of a certain grass-mud horse on the Internet that has been celebrated in cartoons, songs, music videos, even dolls sold in stores.  Without repeating the full content of the article here, the grass mud horse is one novel and interesting way the Chinese people are trying to challenge their government’s attempts to censor and purify the Internet.  Last month, the Chinese government launched a campaign to cleanse the Internet of vulgarity and any other content deemed offensive, which leaves a wide variety of websites subject to closure.  In response, the grass-mud horse has become an online phenomenon.

Grass-mud horse or 草泥马 (cao-ni-ma)  means something entirely different and offensive when the same pronunciation with different tones and characters is used.  Since I am trying keep my blog PG, I won’t repeat it here, but if you want to know what it means, click here and scroll down.  The lyrics to the song in the post also refer to the Ma Le Desert or 马勒戈壁 (ma-le-ge-bi), which means something even more inappropriate, but is deciphered fully in the aforementioned link.  In the song, the grass-mud horse and the river crab or 河蟹 (he-xie) are fighting and in the end the grass-mud horse wins the battle in the Ma Le Desert.  He-xie is a play on the Chinese word for harmony, which I blogged about last semester and a harmonious society or 和谐社会 one of the government’s ideals it is seeking to promote.  Harmonized is also used by Internet bloggers here in China to describe what happens when one of their posts or their entire blogged has been censored by the government.  The whole grass-mud horse phenomenon is not only an attempt to flaunt the government censors, but it’s also a thinly-veiled attempt at criticizing the Chinese government.

Just a note here – I had a Chinese lesson this morning and I talked about this phenomenon with my tutor, who in her ever-so-polite manner told all of the aforementioned words really meant because my dictionary did not have those other definitions.   

The NY Times article provides it’s own analysis, but I just have to say that I think it is brilliant.  Small efforts by the people that become viral across the Internet are just one of many ways the people here can begin to assert their own individuality and thoughts.  Of course, I would never openly advocate such behavior in my classroom, but reading about things like the grass-mud horse give me hope for China’s future and the ability of the people to perhaps learn to constructively assert themselves more against a sometimes unreasonable government .

Testing, testing . . . is this thing on?

This past week in our U.S. government class, we were talking about checks and balances and separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government.  To get the students in the right mindset, I provided them with a scenario where I was the one who made, executed, and interpreted the laws.  Then I asked them what type of leader I would be and what type of problems would arise under such a system.  Referring to what type of leader I would be, one of our students, who I have nicknamed Militant Mark because of his penchant for referring to the use of military force in  any discussion we have about power, yells out “Hu Jintao.”  I was certainly taken aback by his comparison between my pretend tyrant status and the current president of China.  I stumbled for a second and made some general comment about certain leaders attempting to aggregate all the powers under his or her control. Did Militant Mark really believe in his comparison or was he just throwing it out there to test my reaction?  Three days later I still do not have an answer to that question. 

Often our students will bring up one of the forbidden Ts (Tiananmen, Tibet, and Taiwan) to gauge our reaction. Sometimes they will just yell out “Dalai Lama” and other times it will be a fully-formed question such as, “How do you feel about U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan,” both of which prompt either an awkward pause on my part or a patent denial of any knowledge about those topics.  I don’t doubt that my students want to engage in a discussion about these topicsa, but I question how meaningful they want the discussion to be because I feel like they know I am probably going to be on the opposite side of their propaganda-fueled opinion on the issue and it’s going to be pointless to talk about it since neither side will be willing to grant any concessions.  

However, sometimes there are signs that a student is trying to express something that he or she knows is not generally acceptable and the student becomes unsure about how far to press the issue.  I know some students who are grappling with questions of freedom and democracy or the unfair repression of the Tibetan people, but there is no forum for them to express themselves and many times they lack the complete vocabulary to clearly express these thoughts.

But more often than not, the students try to test us with comments that they know are provocative and intense curiosity to see how we handle them.  I once pretended to not know who the Dalai Lama was to avoid having a conversation about him and Tibet, especially because the Dalai Lama is reviled by most Chinese as a violent devil (which is kind of funny if you really think about the Dalai Lama) and this image is perpetuated in the Chinese media.  The challenge for me is to figure out how to pick out those students who are not merely trying to test me, but are genuinely interested in these issues and perhaps want to explore and discuss them on a more critical level.

On a side note, Yale-China runs an exchange program between Yale University and Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)  students called the YUNA (Yale University – New Asia) Exchange.  Every year there is a different theme.  CUHK students come to Yale for two weeks during Chinese New Year and the Yale students come to Hong Kong for two weeks during their spring break in March.  As part of the trip to HK, the Yale students come up to GZ for a night.  Last night, the YUNA kids were in town, led by Dr. Peter Man from CUHK (who is an institution himself and just an incredibly nice and genuine individual).  We planned a dinner and then the students met with our students for nearly two hours.  It was a lot of fun to meet the students and hear about Yale and their thoughts on Hong Kong and China.  What’s crazy about spending the night with Dr. Man and the students is that I did this same exchange ten years ago almost to the day (yeah, that dates me) when I was at Yale, led by Dr. Man with the same trip to GZ.  I’m just amazed at how quickly time passes, but yet how such an experience still remains such a vivid memory for me.  

Now I am off to Anhui province for the weekend for a Yale-China conference, which will be a new part of China for me and a chance to catch up with all of the other fellows.  Until next week.

Break On Through (to the Other Side)

I’m sitting in a tiny coffee shop near the 体育西路 metro station and I can actually access my blog without going through the Yale VPN that I have been using all year because WordPress has been blocked by the mainland censors.  It’s funny that I can access my blog using the Chinese internet, but the New York Times this morning reported that YouTube has been blocked in China due to the posting of some pro-Tibet videos showcasing violence against the local population.  Ah, the inconsistencies of an authoritarian regime never cease to amaze me.

Last weekend I was in Anhui province for our Yale-China spring conference.  Anhui is a rural province located due east of Shanghai and it was my first time there.  We met to talk about teaching, to visit the school where four fellows are based, and spend time together before the fellowship ends in June.  We visitied Xiuning Zhongxue (休宁中学) and had a chance to sit with the students during English library hour, similar to what we did when we visited Yali Zhongxue in Changsha last semester.  However, there were noticeable differences between the students of the two schools.  In a group of twelve girls, every single one of them came from a family where both parents were farmers.  There was a definite difference in socio-economic status from the other parts of China I have lived and visited.  It was interesting to spend time in a part of China that is so rural and less developed than GZ or the other cities I have spent time in.  In addition to spending time at the conference, we took a trip to visit some UNESCO World Heritage villages that are signature examples of Anhui architecture, white, almost stucco-buildings with dark roofs.  I managed to squeeze a run in through the fields outside the school grounds.  A common local crop is rapeseed and the yellow flowers of the plant were in bloom.  It’s also known as youcaihua or 油菜花.  So there were fields of these yellow flowers as far as the eye could see.  I would post pictures, but my computer is temporarily down for the count, so I am borrowing this one from my friend, Carol who was also there.

The Fields of Rapeseed Flowers in Anhui

One of the things I noticed as I was running through the fields was the amount of garbage that was on the side of the path, as well as in the stream running through the fields.  One possible explanation for this abundance of waste is that there is a lack of a developed waste removal system, so people just dump things wherever they can.  It definitely marred what was otherwise a beautiful run through these fields with water buffalo alongside the path the whole way.

We returned from Anhui late Sunday night and I have been teaching all week.  In my “Persuasive Rhetoric Through Current Events” class, I am doing a unit on satire and American humor.  On the first day of class, I asked my students about satire in China and they all yelled out “caonima” 草泥马 or the grass-mud horse I blogged about last week.  I was flustered at the mention of a taboo topic and played the ignorant foreigner as I asked my kids to explain it.  After they did, all I said was that the grass-mud horse was an excellent example of satire.  Once again I wondered if their mention of this topic was a test or the beginning of a genuine dialogue about satire in China.  Before I could explore that avenue further, the conversation moved on to different types of satire and talk about watching the Simpsons in class.  This morning I actually showed an episode of the Simpsons from Season 18 where Homer becomes a volunteer fireman after taking sleeping pills.  My students enjoyed it and were able to pick up on the main themes being satirized.  I am looking forward to when they have to write their own satirical skits in two weeks.

So here I am in China blogging without a VPN while millions of Chinese people are unable to access YouTube.  Sometimes censorship is so unfair.

Cultural Skirmishes

Today is my eight-month anniversary in GZ and I’m thinking about the cultural differences between America and China.

Cultural relativism of some form is inevitable when you are living in another country.  The idea that people’s beliefs and actions need to be viewed through the lens of that country’s culture is valid, but only to a point.  I am also a believer that some things transcend national cultures and are just part of being human, regardless of whether you are Chinese, American, or from any other country.

Some of my blog posts have scratched the surface of cultural differences, whether it’s the difference between being out as a gay man in America versus China or the way that my students ask me very pointed questions or make comments unlike how they would treat their Chinese professors.  Sometimes the cultural differences come up in the most unexpected ways.  I was walking by Tiyu Xilu this afternoon when I saw a father bending over holding his son as his son was watering the base of a tree next to the sidewalk.  This public urination took place in broad daylight with crowds of people doing their Saturday shopping.

Being in China for eight months, it’s hard not to think about cultural differences and what to do when encountering them.  This post could easily devolve into one where all I do is list the differences I’ve encountered and leave it at that, but I would rather just put it out there that sometimes I wrestle with where cultural relativism ends and the universal human condition begins.  I’m learning about how to deal with indirect requests for help and passive aggressive approaches to what should be constructive feedback.  Most importantly, I have been fortunate enough to be given a window looking onto Chinese culture.  Living on the mainland is different than being in Hong Kong or in Taiwan and it’s valuable experience to meet all sorts of people and learn how to approach and work with them.  Like any experience we go through, we meet all different types of people and this year in China has expanded my ability to work with different types of people.  In the process, I am learning more about China and how to navigate a country that is sometimes very different than my own.

All of these experiences do not mean that I understand cultural relativism any better or that I do not get frustrated when I am told to be overly apologetic or appreciative in emails or meetings when I have nothing to be apologetic or particularly appreciative about.  What these experiences mean is that I am being challenged and learning, which might be the main theme of this year in China.

The Gay is Okay

Yesterday in my U.S. Government class we were discussing political parties and the executive branch.  We had our students take a quiz that determines their political leanings according to their agreement with 25 statements.  For our students, the concepts of liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican mean absolutely nothing to them and we were trying to give them some context for the U.S political system when they read the news.

To give them some additional context, we talked about the traditional platforms of both parties and then had the students line up to form a human spectrum on various issues depending on whether their views adhered more closely to Democrats or Republicans.  Then we asked the students why they agreed or disagreed with the particular part of the platform.

Gay rights, specifically gay marriage caused the greatest controversy.  Asking our students their views on taxes, the economic stimulus, abortion, foreign policy, or even immigration and it was next to impossible to elicit any real opinion.  But when gay rights came up, the class burst into a cacophony of sounds.  Two of our students stood on the Republican side of the room and declared that gay marriage was “weird” and that marriage should be between a man and a woman, while supporting equal rights in other areas.  They sounded eerily like some of the Republicans in the States, though I wonder how “weird” would go over as justification for denying the same rights to gay people as offered to everyone else.

On the other side of the room were the seven other students who were quite vocal about equal rights for all.  As one of our students, aptly named unintentionally Witty put it, “the gay is okay” and to discriminate is wrong.  At that point, I wanted to shout out that it is okay and then put that slogan on a shirt and wear it around school.  Perhaps it would make some of the students hiding in the closet feel better about themselves.  We have one student in our class who we suspect is questioning his sexuality and at one point in yesterday’s class, he spoke up and declared that being gay is “normal” and there is nothing weird about it.

This debate went on for about 15 minutes and it was the most animated I had seen my students all semester.  Who knew that gay rights would be the issue to get them wound up?  The debate ended when even those siding with the Republican views admitted that society may change, which was a hopeful conclusion to the discussion.

PS – In continuing with the trend of our students testing us, at the end of class Jimmy asked us what Americans thought about Tibet and how our time in China may have changed our opinions on Tibet.  We made it clear that we could not speak for all Americans, even though our students seem to think we are the mouthpiece of America and offered some vague and nebulous answer.

A Whirlwind Tour of China in Pictures

Some highlights of our whirlwind tour of Greater China.

Tiananmen Square

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Forbidden City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Forbidden City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scaled Model of Beijing at Urban Planning Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CCTV Tower in Beijing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Wall at Mutianyu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Wall Again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beihai Park in the middle of Beijing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Starbucks on Shamian Island in GZ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hong Kong Island skyline from the Star Ferry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanchai Street Scene from the tram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grand Lisboa of Macau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Macau

Tubers, Tibet, and Suing the Government

For the past week and a half I have been in and out of GZ since Gus was in town.  When  I returned to my apartment Sunday evening, my roommate announced to me that she had picked up the gift our housekeeper had brought us from her home village.  Before I left for Beijing, our housekeeper texted Celia to tell her she brought us a gift from her village.  We speculated on what this gift could be – perhaps a special sauce used in her village or some type of sweet candy or dessert.  I was certainly surprised when Celia came out of the kitchen lugging a plastic bag filled with . . . sweet potatoes.  There must have been about 10-15 dirt-covered sweet potatoes lugged all the way back from our housekeeper’s village just for us.  Though I must say, they cleaned up well and made a Chinese-style sweet potato home fries, which we had as part of last night’s dinner.

In other news, I finished grading my graduate students’ letters to the editor and most were of decent quality with your usual grammar mistakes of not using articles and wrong verb tenses, but one that was written about a recent encounter between a US Navy ship and five Chinese ships off the coast of China quickly devolved into a condemnation of the Dalai Lama:

“Mr. Obama should arrest Dalai Lama, extradite him to China or to International Criminal Court.  He is the dictator of Tibet 50 years ago, more evil than Saddam and Osama bin Laden.  99.9% of Chinese know he is criminal who committed anti-human crime of Genocide, murder crime, crime of political persecution and state-treason.  Dalai Lama is an advocate of slavery.  Under his rule 50 years ago, Tibetan slaves could be cut off legs and head arbitrarily without any trials.  They even awfully and abominably processed human skulls into cups for banquet and drinking.  We never imagined this savagery could happen in civilized world.  If US Justice System never permits this savagery, never does China.  Americans should imagine how they would feel if China awards the Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden on his fields of frustrating US military invasion into Arab world?  Then Americans will understand how disgusting and annoyed Chinese feel when Noble [sic] Peace Prize was awarded to Dalai Lama whose hands were full of bloods of Chinese.”

I had to take several deep breaths after reading that one the first time, so imagine how I feel after typing it.  I am just amazed at how alive and well-functioning the Chinese government’s propaganda machine is for a graduate student at one of China’s top universities to be able to believe in and reproduce something like what you’ve read above.  For starters, how exactly could the Dalai Lama be committing all of these crimes from exile in India?  It just another example of the two steps forward, one step backward approach to understanding modern China.

Yesterday in our US Government class, we were talking about the Bill of Rights and how US courts have interpreted several of the amendments.  When we were talking about the 5th Amendment and the idea of due process, one of our students asked is people could sue the government and actually win.  The genuine lookf incredulity and shock on his face when Celia told him that yes it was possible was pretty amazing to witness.  In China it’s the norm to let people bring grievances against the government and then either ignore them or worse, arrest or harass the perpetrator of such a grievance.  Of course to us Americans it seems ludicrous to have a process allowing citizens to sue the government and then render that process meaningless by never letting a citizen win such a suit.  However, such is still the norm rather than the exception in the new China.

Finally, an anti-smoking sign from the men’s bathroom in the Beijing airport that is a translation not done in error because the Chinese name also contains the word for patriot, aiguo or “love country”:

This Committee is special because it's patriotic

Since When Did I Become an Expert?

This past week, I miraculously became a mini-expert in both anti-monopoly law and Jewish culture in America.

One of my graduate students, Maggie, asked two weeks ago if I would speak at the university’s business English salon  this past Thursday evening about a topic of my choosing.  The salon is open to the public and a lot of the attendees actually live and work in GZ.  

I figured that I would use my legal background and interest in antitrust law to give a talk about the recent attempted acquisition by Coca-Cola of Huiyuan (汇源), a successful Chinese juice company.  The government rejected Coke’s bid under the country’s new anti-monopoly law and it was the first cross-border merger to be rejected under this law, which has only been in effect since August 2008.  Since the Chinese government only provided a vague explanation for the rejection, many are speculating that the decision was politically motivated because Huiyuan is a profitable private company and the government did not want it to fall into foreign hands.  Since that decision last month, Australia has made taken some negative actions against Chinese companies looking to acquire Australian companies.  The first point of my speech was the importance of implementing laws in a fair and transparent manner, whether it’s in China, the US, EU, or any other country.   The second point was that the world should be working to fight the impulse to let political or nationalistic concerns rule over sound economic policies.  I was careful not to blame any one country because most of the world is to blame in this era of rising protectionism.  

The speech was well attended with at least 50 or so people in the audience, even though my Powerpoint presentation did not work.   Initially the questions were relevant to my topic.  However, as soon as someone asked me my opinion about the Chinese currency and how China is buying all of the US government’s debt, the Q&A session turned into one of “ask Peter his opinion about anything and everything pertaining to America”.  Thus, I began fielding questions about whether it was a good time to buy stocks, the NBA, why only rich people could go to Ivy League schools, what city one guy should live in when he moves his family t to America, real estate prices, troop withdrawals from Iraq, whether Obama was printing too much money, and whether I was scared about China’s rise.  All of the questions were prefaced with, “In your opinion . . . ” and then the topic of their choosing.  I was done speaking and answering formal questions around 9pm, but ended up staying until nearly 10:30pm answering all of these random questions and becoming the mouthpiece of America.  By the end I was so tired and the questions so far removed from what I came to talk about that I just did not have an opinion about whether there was anything wrong with partially lifting the embargo on Cuba. 

However, I could not turn the tables and ask in their opinion how they felt about Tibet, Taiwan, Mao, the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen or any other number of topics off limits when talking informally with most Chinese people.  Even if I did ask about these things, I would receive some received wisdom echoing the party line and it would be almost impossible to find any difference in opinion.  Whereas when I answered these questions, I made sure to make it clear that these were my opinions and did not represent those of all Americans.

Then Friday morning my friend Michael invited me into his culture class that he is taking as part of his master’s program to talk about Jewish culture, which was interesting because I am not at all religious, but consider myself very culturally Jewish.  So I was brought into the class to debunk some myths about Jews in America including the ones that they are all rich and all clever.  It was another interesting talk, but ended more quickly than the other one because it was limited to a class period.  Of course I gave the students the requisite lesson on grammar.  You cannot say he is a “Jewish”, but rather that he is a “Jewish person”.

I am still recovering from the week of mini-lectures and think I may need a Golden Girls mini-marathon to regain my composure.

Starbucks Is the New Dollhouse

I’m enjoying a quiet and lazy Sunday afternoon in the 公园前 (Gongyuanqian) Starbucks and there are three tables of young women next to me playing and taking pictures of their very life0like dolls.  The dolls seem to range in size from five to six inches to a much larger 20 inch doll.  Each doll has a different hair style and outfit.  The girls are posing them with each other and giggling as they snap away with their cameras.  They’ve been here for at least an hour, which is as long as I have been here, and probably significantly longer since they seemed pretty entrenched when I sat down at my table.  I wish I could take a picture, but I am afraid that it might offend them if I asked them to pose with their dolls.  Plus I do not really have a good reason for snapping a random picture of these girls and their dolls.  Then again, they might actually be flattered that someone wants to take a picture of them indulging in their hobby.  What ’s amazing is that people have been coming and going during this time and not one (except for me) has even given them a second glance, as if it’s commonplace to walk into your local Starbucks and see young women playing with their dolls.

What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?

At my talk last week about the enforcement of anti-monopoly laws around the world, I wrote that for two hours after my speech I took on the role of an expert about all things American.   What surprised me the most about the questions was the breadth of topics in which the audience was interested.  I have spent the past few days wondering where these people I met received their information about America.  I have also have been turning over a question asked by one of the audience members., ” How much and what do Americans know about China?”

Timothy Garton Ash, in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece, published April 16, 2009, examines the issue of a China bias in the Western media through the lens of media economics.  Ash’s reason for why the American media is inundated with China stories about Tiananmen, Tibet, Taiwan, corruption, and its repressive government is because this news is what the American public wants to hear about China.  It becomes a vicious cycle whereby the American public learns only about these things and then expects the news coverage to cater to these needs.  It becomes very hard for the average American to learn about what day-to-day China is like, the China that I have been experiencing for the past eight months.  If I only paid attention to the American media, my impression of China would be black and white, ignoring the large grey area that is the real China.  Ash hits on what is an unfortunate reality, that many American newspapers are cutting back their foreign desks and this is affecting the quality and quantity of stories coming in from the rest of the world.  With this happening, can Americans be called upon to take their own interest in international affairs and other countries by subscribing to blogs and other alternative media sources?

In my faculty and staff class this evening, we talked about Ash’s article and media bias.  A professor in my class said that Chinese people know more about America than vice versa because more original sources are translated from English into Chinese than vice versa and more Chinese speak English than Americans speak Chinese.  Both of these ideas would explain the breadth of questions I experienced after my talk last week.  

So two questions remain: First, how does one get more Americans to understand the real China that is a society as nuanced, if not more so because it’s still developing, than America?  Second, how does one work to minimize the distrust and misunderstandings that exist between the U.S. and China?  

Neither question has an easy answer.  More of what I have been doing in China is definitely part of the answer.  Every day that I am here, I am learning a little more about this country, it’s culture and it’s people.  When I was a freshman in college, I was drawn into China because I thought back then that no matter how much I studied the country, I could never begin to understand all of it.  Now over ten years later, that idea remains more true than ever and I am still fascinated and surprised on a daily basis.  This blog is supposed to chronicle my surprise and education living here and bring along some of you in the process, many of whom have never been to China before.

It’s here that I leave you to ponder those two questions and perhaps how to work these questions into the larger framework of U.S.-China foreign policy.

You’ve Got to Get Out of This Place (If It’s the Last Thing You Ever Do)

I decided to go with a play on a 60s rock song for the title of this post.  And now on to the post.

So it  seemed a little too good to be true. I had a few weeks where I was able to blog from China without logging into my VPN, but today I was unable to connect without the aid of my trusty Yale VPN.

At least once a month someone asks me why I decided to take a year out from practicing law in New York to come to China to teach at a university.   My answer usually require explaining my long interest in China stemming  from college and extending through law school, but somehow getting subsumed by the realities of studying and building my career as an attorney.  I took this chance from Yale-China to come back here as part of a respected and well-structured program to learn about modern China by living and working here.  Being on the ground is superior to any classroom instruction I have ever had about China because I get to meet and talk to the people who are going to be a part of the next generation of leaders in this country.   I have been able to begin figuring out how China can fit into my longer-term plans as an attorney, which is easier done on the ground versus 8000 miles away.

I sometimes have very real encounters with people that bring my lofty reasons for coming here into sharp relief and jolt me into realizing how important my role here is for some of my students.  Last Thursday I met with one of my students  in response to an email  he had sent me last month.  Because of the content of the email, I decided it was better to meet in person instead of leaving a paper trail.  For those who don’t want to or have the time to click on the link to read his email, the email raised a lot of questions about the limits to freedom in China, the sycophancy of the general population, and the repressive nature of the government.  When I received his email last month, I almost started crying because my initial reaction was that this kid needed to figure out a way to get out of China because there would not be any opportunities to do anything with his ideas anytime soon.

We met and talked for over an hour and a half about his thoughts about the government, the education system, and the inability to express his ideas on freedom and human rights.  One note about this student.  His English is quite good, even th0ugh he is extremely self-deprecating about it.  But when he’s searching for the right word in English, he appears almost spastic as he is trying to get his words out to express his complex thoughts.  It’s endearing and something all of the other fellows here who have taught him have also noticed.  When we did satirical presentations in class, he was the student who brought in little stuffed grass mud horses to use for one segment of the presentation.  So as I write about our conversation, try to picture this student in your head.  

As we were talking, many ideas came out.  Some of the more salient points of our discussion include his decision over the winter holiday to read a book by a professor at the university about individual freedoms and the writings of Kafka and Kundera.  He said this book changed his view about individual rights and he wished there was some way to give the individual more power, but the government does not care about the individual and only seeks to promote harmony.  He expressed extreme disdain and contempt for the government’s promotion of harmony and community because he felt that it completely ignored the individual.  We also talked about the education system and he felt that the system brainwashed students into thinking that there was no other way to do anything.  I had heard this sentiment from other students in the past, but in tandem with all of the other thoughts he was processing, it created a very powerful realization for him.   He told me about how the government tries to get students involved in party-related activities at a very young age when they cannot question the efficacy of such activities because they are highly dependent on their parents and the school system exerts tremendous control over them and their futures.  He also shared his thoughts about some of his professors who tell the students not to criticize or question the government because it will only hurt their futures.  He could not understand why more people do not share his ideas, but he also said he could not really talk about them with anyone else because he did not know if they would be well received by his classmates.    

As I listened to his ideas, I was at a loss for words in terms of advice to give him.  My hands were kind of tied because I had to be somewhat careful about what I said lest someone else find out about what ideas I might be putting into my students’ heads and the reality was that there was little I could tell him that would change the situation.  Throughout the conversation I could see him chafing against a system that does not tolerate individual expression and works to leave most people believing that the government is too far away to be concerned about its activities (something borne out by my students when we talk about the role politics plays in culture and how most Chinese people do not talk about politics because they feel that the government does not concern their daily lives), so the government can do its work unimpeded.

Towards the end of the conversation, he told me that it is his dream to emigrate to the United States and I told him that such a goal should be something he keeps in mind throughout his 20s as he embarks on building his life post-college.  He said one of his professors told him that because of the financial crisis, the government will not make any significant political reforms in the next five to eight years.  The reason for this is apparently that if the government can steer the country through the financial crisis, it will be able to use this feat as justification for the continuation of the status quo.  After talking about so many different topics, we parted ways with the understanding that we would meet again in a few weeks after he had the chance to process everything that we discussed.

Walking out of that conversation, I understood a little more about how important it was for that student to have someone to talk to about these things who would not rebuke or reprimand him, but just listen and encourage him to let his mind work through these things.  But I also felt helpless because I felt like there was very little I could do to change his reality aside from listening to him.

Student Elections No More At Sun Yat-Sen University (中大)?

Last November, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou held the first direct student elections in mainland China in recent decades for its Student Union president.   The candidates put up giant banners around campus and campaigned in much the same way American students do when they are running for student government positions.

However, last year’s direct election may be the first and last in mainland China for a long time.   I heard from a student that the government in Beijing sent down a directive to the university forbidding a replay this fall of last year’s direct elections.   The student heard from friends who are involved in the Student Union and part of the Youth League here at the university.  Allegedly, the directive came directly from Vice President Xi Jinping, the man rumoured to be next-in-line to succeed current president, Hu Jintao.  The news has not been released to the general student body, so all we can do is wait and see if they happen again next year. 

I am not sure if the Chinese blogosphere has picked up on this news, but I found it shocking when I heard it.  Apparently, the Beijing government did not want the students to get too comfortable with the idea of direct elections and perhaps demand them in other forums after they graduate.  It could also be an attempt by Vice President Xi to show his hard-line credentials by cracking down on what might be perceived as anti-government behavior.  

If it is indeed true, it begs the question as to why Beijing even allowed the direct elections in the first place.

 

Culture Wars

For the past two weeks, I have been discussing an article called, “The End of White America” that was written by Hua Hsu and published in The Atlantic  from January/February 2009.   The gist of the article is about an America where in the next 20 or 30 years there will be no majority group, but rather everyone will be part of a minority and the implications of this phenomenon for the future of American culture.  It’s touches on all of the ideas associated with a post-racial, multicultural, multi-ethnic society.  

We split the article into three parts to make it more manageable for the students to digest and planned three lessons around the article.

In one lesson, I asked the students to think about culture and all of the components that go into culture.  Half the class was spent just listing all of the components on the board and talking about some differences between Chinese and American culture.  Aside from the usual culprits like food, language, clothing, music, religion, and art, the students also threw out some surprises like love, equality, rule of law, and the community vs. the individual.  However, some glaring omissions from this list included politics, race, gender, and sexual orientation.  In an American classroom, these things would be some of the first things to be offered up by the students.  We talked about some of the reasons for not including these items on the list and the general response was that Chinese people do not think about these ideas in the same way that Americans do.  Government and politics are considered very far away from the day-to-day life of most Chinese, so they do not discuss these issues.  Definitely makes it easier for a repressive regime to survive when the people feel it does not concern their daily lives.  As for race, gender, and  sexual orientation, these concepts also do not concern ordinary Chinese.  Gender does not manifest itself the same way as it does in America because there is a belief that the sexes are equal, whether it’s actually true or not, and thus does not define the culture the way it does in the U.S.  My long-standing hypothesis on sexual orientation just not entering people’s minds when looking at other people was confirmed in this discussion when one of my students said that Chinese people do not think about people being “homosexual”.  As for race, my students deny it even exists in China and they view it as a uniquely American problem.   Instead of categorizing people on the basis of their skin color, people make geographic distinctions in China, such as where you were born or where you live.

We spent the rest of the lessons talking about what makes some cultures stronger than others, how Chinese and American societies define their cultures, and America’s unique situation of being a country that will soon cease to have a dominant ethnic group.  Like the article does, I used hip-hop to demonstrate the idea of how something goes from being a part of a particular segment of society and enters the mainstream to ultimately become a global phenomenon.  We talked about Chinese hip-hop, which my students knew little about because most of it is underground like 隐藏, as discussed in this New York Times article from January 2009.  However, my students did know about Jay Chou (周杰伦) who is really a really popular Taiwanese pop singer who occasionally adds some rap to the end of his songs.  We talked a lot about the mainstream and my students informed me that the word “mainstream” is a negative word in China because it is associated with things that are boring or come from the government, so people prefer to be ‘anti-mainstream”.  Yet as they are telling me this fact, none of them can name any sort of underground bands that they have listened to recently.  

In Celia’s class, one of her students told her that Chinese people did not think about culture because it has been handed down to them by the government and there is no need to think about it.  This response was full and knowing capitulation, but was echoed by my students in their comments about how Chinese culture is not all that different and most people think and believe the same things. Imagine a classroom of American students all saying that they think the same way about American culture?

This morning we talked about how white people in America feel culturally bankrupt because they are lost in a country that is embracing multiculturalism.  At the end of the class, one of my students asked me how I would define my culture.  Without thinking, I started talking about being Jewish, educated, from the Northeast, American, and a gay man, thus my culture was created from many different communities that I considered myself a part of.  Right then and there I came out to my students, something I have wanted to do since day one, but refrained from doing because I thought it would undermine my authority in my classroom.  Boy was I wrong.  One student looked at me and asked what I meant by that last statement and I told her that I was “homosexual, not heterosexual” and the conversation moved on from there without any pause.  I wonder if they really understood what I said or if it was really no big deal to all of them.  I guess we shall see in the coming class sessions.  Regardless, it felt good to get it out there since that has been something I have wrestled with living here.  It’s hard spending time in a culture where people do not even guess that it’s a possibility and if you try telling them that you are gay, many times they have no idea what you are really talking about.  This situation in class may turn out to be the latter because they really do not get it and thus how could their American teacher actually be “a gay”.  Hopefully one of them understood it and it will go viral so they will all eventually know.

After spending a week and a half talking about American culture with my students, it all became worthwhile when after one of my students came up to me after class to ask me the definition of “white trash” and the website Stuff White People Like (stuffwhitepeoplelike.com) as both were used in the article.  She then told me that after reading this article she realized that American culture was really complex, more so than anything she has seen on television or in the movies. Not only did I learn a lot from my students, but knowing that I was able to get at least one student to think more deeply about something they had not thought about before means that this week I was a good teacher.

Stop Insulting the Grass

With the stream of really long blog posts the past few days, I thought I would leave you all with something a little lighter.  So next time please try to refrain from calling the grass nasty names.

Grass really has feelings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sensitive grass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These signs were outside the Living Mall by the Kecun (客村) Metro station.

Let’s Change the First Amendment “a Little”

Yesterday afternoon in my US Government class, we were talking about the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Supreme Court case Brandenburg v. Ohio 395 U.S. 444 (1969).  At one point during the  discussion we were talking about whether the government should prevent people from saying certain things about other people and if so, where the government should draw the line.  In Brandenburg, the Court came up with what is now known as the Brandenburg test and said that the speech had to be “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action” and “likely to incite or produce” such action.  As long as what was being said did not satisfy this test, it was protected by the First Amendment.

One of our students strongly disagreed with this outcome and said that the First Amendment should be “changed a little” and prevent all people from saying bad things that could ruin harmony in a society.  I asked him who should decide what these bad things are and he said it should be society and that the government has a right to prevent people from saying bad things.  Celia then asked him if it was okay to think these bad things, but not say them aloud.  He said that thinking such things was fine, as long as they were not said to hurt other people.  The example he provided was telling his college roommate that he hated him and he said it would be okay to think these things, but to not say them because they could ruin the harmony in the dorm room.  He felt that the US Constitution was wrong about where the line should be drawn in terms of free speech.

What was interesting in this exchange with our student was conflating the moral with the legal/political aspects of a society.  While most Americans can all agree that it might be a good or moral thing to keep our bad thoughts about our roommate to ourselves to preserve a civil living environment, we also mostly agree that it is not the right of the government to tell us not to say these things to our roommate.  Basically, common sense is what prevents us from creating a bad living situation.  It is not the government’s place to decide that this speech is illegal.  However, in China the moral and the legal/political are usually conflated because the government is the final arbiter on many aspects of Chinese citizens’ lives.  Thus, it would be okay for the government to control what is being said between two roommates because there is no real distinction between what is morally unacceptable and what is legally/politically unacceptable.

It’s the hallmark of an authoritarian regime to be able to get its citizens to see the government as the power to decide what is both morally and legally/politically unacceptable and such comments like our students lend credence to the belief that the Chinese government does its job quite well.

In & Out

Yes, I know it’s a title from a Kevin Kline movie in the late 1990s (as well as an amazing burger chain on the West Coast).  The movie came out long before before Lawrence v. Texas was decided  in 2003 decriminalizing gay sex and states began allowing civil unions and gay marriages for lesbian and gay couples.  However, it aptly describes my status here in China and my recent attempt to come out to one of my undergraduate classes last week.

A quick recap.  We have been talking a lot about culture in my class and one of my students asked me how I would describe my culture.  As a gay man, I consider that aspect of who I am to be a part of my culture.  However, when the class registered no reaction to my revelation except to ask what I meant by that comment, I thought that the significance of my announcement was lost on my students.

Then a few days after class, I received an email from one of my students including this paragraph:

You told us that you are “gay-male”, but not homosexual? What exactly does that mean? I’m afraid that I don’t get it… No offense! But I’m just curious. Actually I have a close friend who is an open guy in Zhuhai campus, also the roommate of my boyfriend and that’s kind of scary, haha. And I also have friends who are kind of ambiguous. I can say that I’m quite open to individuality.

I wrote back the following:

And yes, I did tell the class on Wednesday that I was a “gay male”, which means I am gay. I used the term “gay male” when I was talking about my own culture and the different influences in my life, but it’s no different than saying “I am gay”. I guess I did not speak clearly enough, but I said that I was “not heterosexual, but homosexual”, however I prefer the word “gay” to “homosexual” because “homosexual” sounds too clinical and formal.

No offense was taken. Thank you for asking about it. I would imagine that there are a lot of students who are ambiguous or unsure because they have no real way to explore their own sexuality within the confines of society. It’s hard to come to terms with, especially when you have no guidance or anybody to really talk to about it. I had heard that there was an organization on the Zhuhai campus for lesbian and gay students. Do you know anything about it? How does your close friend navigate being open at school?

Her response to my email was as follows:

It is very extraordinary and admirable for you to tell us all in class that you are gay. I don’t know what others think but I think they are all respectful as you are a good teacher. I guess it must be somehow hard for you and you should be pride of your strength and honesty.

You are right about the organization for LGB in Zhuhai Campus, but it doesn’t exist anymore. It seems to me that the University always want to do things that are eye-catching, and well, eye-catching only. Remember the Election for the President of Student Union last semester? It was even on the front page of a local paper. But students can hardly remember it because there had not been any reports on the work done by the President, nor there had been any changes on campus ever since. The once LGB organization was called “Rainbow” and was the first student organization of this nature in China. So you could imagine that there had been a pretty big shock nationwide. But due to the control of the school, the only public activity that “Rainbow” could do was to share gay movies on the school’s intranet. Then the next year, all of a sudden, the organization was abolished.

Speaking of my gay friend, he is very sociable and feminine, even more feminine than me except that he doesn’t wear skirts. He knows himself well and when he was 8 he knew that he was gay. His family is very supportive and he is very comfortable with the fact that he likes men. So, I don’t think he has any problem navigating at school. His friends, like me, are curious but respectful and enjoy hanging out with him as he is a very loyal and passionate friend. I know he dated other guys at school or outside school but he’s currently single. I sincerely hope that he can find his partner as it is really hard to find the right guy, and even harder when one is homosexual.

My last response to her comments:

Thank you for your kind words. I am also not sure what the others think or if they even understood what I told them, but it has been something on my since I came to China because back in the States I am out in all aspects of my life and it was hard sometimes being in a work environment where I could not fully be who I am. I also realized that it did not have a place in my classroom until it became relevant to what I was teaching to you all. Thus, when asked about my culture, it became important to bring it up because it has had a tremendous impact on my life.

Now one student definitely knows I am gay and her words really were very kind and supportive.  If any of my other students understood what I told them, it has not created any perceptible change in my classroom’s atmosphere one way or the other.  I wonder how many of other students have gay friends.  More importantly, I wonder what will happen to those students who are questioning their sexuality and have no outlet or safe space in which to do this questioning.  As you can see from my student’s email, the one campus LGBT group was started to great fanfare and has slowly disappeared from public view.  I have heard and blogged about how there is an underground group, but there is no organization sanctioned by the university that can meet out in the open and organize activities and support groups to educate and help students understand sexuality.  Like so many things in China, sexuality is just one more thing that people hope can be ignored and perhaps it will go away as an issue.

Sorry, So Sorry

I’ve decided to mix it up a bit and head out to another part of GZ to check out yet another Starbucks.  Hey, it’s a great way to explore new neighborhoods.  Just have a vague idea as to where you’re headed and then hop on the metro and do some confused exploring of a new neighborhood before you stumble upon the familiar circular sign and green lettering of one of America’s most over-priced, but extremely comforting exports.

Today it is the Starbucks in Zhujiang New Town (珠江新城), which is on the north side of the Pearl River, also called Zhujiang (珠江) in Chinese.  It’s one of these planned neighborhoods with tall buildings, wide streets, lots of trees, and devoid of any character that would indicate you are in the middle of China that Chinese urban planners are so fond of creating when they’re given the open space to do so.  That’s not to say that it is not a nice neighborhood, complete with men in army fatigues running by as I sip my tall iced coffee with low-fat milk.  I’ve taken the metro underneath this part of town many times since it’s on the way to the train station, but it’s the first time I have just wandered around mid-day.  Upon first emerging from the metro, I noticed all of the new construction and some interesting architecture, which reminded me of Miami for some reason.  The thought of Miami could also be that it is also nearly 90 degrees with bright sunshine and lots of pastel colored residential high-rises and balconies decorated with  ornate balustrades.  It’s definitely a welcome change of pace after mainly going to the same Starbucks over by Gongyuanqian (公园前) and next time I am here, I will be sure to take some pictures and share them here.

One thing I have noticed during my time here is that Chinese people do not use the word “sorry” to the same extent that Americans seem to.  I feel that when I am in the States and stand on a crowded subway, squeeze to get by in the supermarket, or accidentally step on another person’s toes as I am exiting an elevator, there is usually a chorus of “sorry” coming from people who may not even have done anything wrong.  Now come to China and the same things happen, sometimes even more aggressively with old ladies pushing me out of the way as they march off the metro, and there is no uttering of anything resembling “sorry”.  Now my Chinese is not the best, but I know how to say sorry, whether it’s 对不起 or 不好意思.  It’s one of the first things I learned in Chinese class all of those years ago and I would be able to recognize it, probably in both Cantonese and Mandarin.  However, I rarely ever hear it said by anyone.   You would think in a society that values harmony, sorry would be on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

As an American in China, I feel like I am always saying “sorry” about the American government’s policies (a little less so with our new President) or way of doing things.  When Chinese people ask me about America and its support for Taiwan or about pulling troops out of Iraq, there is a subtle expectation on their part that I should be apologizing for my country and it’s sometimes controversial stances on certain issues.  Yet, I have never heard a Chinese person apologize for the way the government treats its Tibetan minority, beats its prisoners, poisons its babies, destroys the environment or makes dissidents disappear from public view.  No country is perfect and living abroad has given me the perspective and wherewithal to know when to apologize for certain things, but there seems to be something in the Chinese national psyche that views apologies as a sign of weakness or something to be dispensed with because China deserves to do what it needs to do to develop.  I’m just waiting for that woman who cut in front of me in the check-out line at Carrefour when my groceries were clearly displayed on the cashier’s conveyor belt to apologize.

Musings on Chinese Education

For the past week, I have been following James Fallows’ blog discussion about the state of Chinese education, which was mainly prompted by an op-ed piece written by Randy Pollock, a former USC lecturer who taught MBA  students in China, and shares his thoughts on the limits of the Chinese education system.  Mr. Pollock’s main point is that Chinese students are the products of an education system that “rarely stressed or rewarded critical thinking or inventiveness”.  

As you all know from reading my blog, I have been teaching for the past year in Lingnan College, which is the business school at Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学) here in Guangzhou.  I find myself vigorously nodding my head in agreement with many of the observations and comments I have read on Mr. Fallows’ blog about the experiences of other teachers here in China.  However, with all of the talk about the shortcomings of the system, the stifling effects of preparing for the Gaokao (高考),  and students’ seeming awareness of the system’s shortcomings, I think it’s important to note some of the exceptions within the system (such as the comments by Benjamin, a foreign English teacher in China) and think more about why these exceptions exist and what can be done to capitalize on them.

I mainly teach undergraduate business students (with a smattering of graduate students studying economics) who wound up studying business because they received relatively high scores on the Gaokao that deemed them too intelligent to study something as silly or wasteful as anthropology or history.  Instead they get to study International Trade, Public Finance, Insurance, and Supply Chain Management, all extremely interesting and mind-bending disciplines.   Whenever I ask my students if they like what they study, I am greeted with groans and sighs about how boring their classes are.  One of my students from last semester spent the winter quarter studying at UCLA and took classes about social welfare and communication, which she found far more interesting than her business classes here at SYSU.  At lunch last week, I asked her what she wanted to do after she graduated next year and she said she wanted to continue studying overseas.  Naturally I asked if he wanted to pursue further study in business or economics and with an emphatic shake of her head said most certainly not.  The takeaway from these reactions and discussions is that the Chinese educational system predicated upon preparing for one life-altering exam and then using that exam to dictate the future career path of its students creates a system of highly dispirited students uninterested in learning for learning’s sake.  

As an American who has gone through all levels of the American educational system from public school to university to graduate school, I am the product of all its strengths and weaknesses.  From teaching students raised in a completely different educational culture emphasizing only one right answer, harmony in the classroom, a focus on authority (the teacher), and a lack of choice or control over one’s future, my own eyes have been opened to the good and bad things about my own education.  One of the most glaring differences is that from the moment we enter school in America, we are taught to question.  Whether at the end of a lesson or throughout a class, the teacher is always soliciting questions from students.  When I ask my students if they have any questions, most times I get blank stares and almost never get interrupted during class by a student with a question.  Yet when I meet my students for office hours or after class, they pepper me with questions or confess that there were ideas in a reading that they did not understand.  I then ask why they do not raise their hands and ask in front of the entire class and once again I either get a blank look as if that is most alien concept I could have ever presented or they tell me that they thought it would be rude to interrupt me, even though I constantly remind them that we are in an American classroom when I am teaching and I want them to interrupt me because their questions indicate they are interested or curious about what we are studying.  Still, even with this coaxing, I have yet to be interrupted by a student in the middle of my class.

In my classroom, I have two simple goals: one is to get my students to either think critically about things they already know or to take an interest in something that they may never have thought about and the second is to get them comfortable to question and critique both me and their fellow classmates on thoughts and ideas.  Both have been difficult tasks, but both have guided my teaching this past year.  The first goal has been easier to accomplish because I can choose the topics we will cover in a semester, such as the unit on American culture we just completed with Hua Hsu’s “The End of White America” as  the primary source material used to spark discussion.  At the end of the unit, I received emails from students telling me that they learned new things about American culture that they did not know and found it extremely interesting.  There was one way to push the boundaries of what my students think about.  

The second goal of getting students comfortable with expressing their opinions that might be at odds with their classmates is more difficult because it smacks up against Hu Jintao’s desire to build a “harmonious society” (和谐社会), which has been successfully and deeply ingrained into the psyche of my students.  Almost every conversation about any topic comes back around to the idea of harmony and the importance of maintaining a harmonious society.  We just had a debate whether the Chinese government should provide bilingual education to minority students and the side against this proposition claimed that bilingual education cut against the goal of a harmonious society.  We we talked about culture in China, harmony was presented as one of Chinese society’s values.  Those who have read previous posts of mine on harmony know my take on this idea; harmony is the new opiate of the masses.  Anyway, I digress.  To break on through this harmonious wall, I have planned debates and simulations to get my students to think critically about an issue, and more importantly, to learn how to successfully and passionately argue for something that they may not personally believe in, while also learning how to engage and constructively argue with their classmates.  Last semester I held peer editing sessions for certain writing assignments and my students were loathe to really say anything constructively critical about their classmates’ writing because that would not be harmonious.  This semester, we had a climate change simulation where one side was China and the other the US.  To let my students playing the US, I told them that they were acting and that the more convincing that they were as the US, the better their grade would be.  The reason I stressed the acting part of the simulation and their grade was to assuage any guilt they may feel for representing interests that might be construed as unpatriotic and anti-China.  This tactic seemed to work because my students surpassed my expectations as they represented the US in this simulation.

As a foreign teacher, most students seem to use my classroom as a safe space to test out their own ideas and to interact with a teacher in a way that they would not do with their Chinese professors.  The challenge as a foreign teacher is to design the opportunities to make this interaction possible and to challenge my students in a way that is engaging and of interest to them.  From all of the previous posts I read on Mr. Fallows’ blog, it seems that most Chinese students are so burnt out from a system that cares little about the development of individuality and critical thinking, that by the time they get to university, they just want to grasp the golden ring of a lucrative job or overseas study and be done with their Chinese education.   So perhaps a better way to re-frame this challenge is to figure out a way to re-ignite the spark in these university students that gets their creative juices flowing and inspires them to work to bring change to a system that is extremely entrenched and reluctant to change.