Winding Down in Linyi
June 28, 2012
As a follow up to my last post, which was rather heavy, I thought I would use my second-to-last night in Linyi to write about more upbeat things and share some pictures of the university and Linyi that were taken this afternoon on a jaunt down to People’s Square and Calligraphy Square (书法广场).
We just had our last dinner together, me and the other two professors. Lu is leaving tomorrow afternoon for Beijing and then Lanzhou to see her family and reunite with her son before heading back to the States. John is going to be around for another three-week session, so I will probably see him at some point before I take off. I have to say that it was really nice having company these past three weeks, such a different experience than it was two years ago. The company made the time go by much more quickly and made the experience less isolating than it was last time. Notwithstanding the 9/11 comment, they were both really supportive and interesting to talk to about China, especially given that they both grew up and went to school here before leaving for the States to pursue other opportunities.
At dinner tonight we were talking about our students and the state of education in China. As I may have already written, the English level of my students is so poor is because English language study is being de-emphasized by the university and simultaneously the standards have been lowered for my program over the last three years. The reason for these changes is that the last party secretary at the school was kind of a risk-taker and aggressive in his approach to building ties with foreign universities, in no small part due to the fact that he was an academic. The current party secretary is a career politician and very conservative in how he spends money and expands programs, all done to prevent rocking the boat with the higher-ups. As I discovered when I was teaching in Guangzhou, there are two parallel administrative structures at all Chinese universities. On one side is the typical university administration with the president at the top and on the other side is a party structure with the party secretary at the top. At most universities there is usually some kind of tussle at the top for supremacy. At the better known schools like Fudan, Tsinghua, and Beijing University, the president has a chance to trump the party secretary because these schools are China’s higher education beacons to the world. At more regional schools like Linyi University, the party secretary usually calls the shots, which is clearly the case here. The result of this power struggle is that the students lose because they have less opportunities available to them as their school leaders choose to play it safe.
Unfortunately these kids educations are compromised long before they get to college. It’s apparently quite common for students in Chinese schools to enroll in weekend tutoring because they are not learning enough in school during the week. The kicker is that these students enrolled in weekend classes that are taught by the same teachers who are not teaching them during the week and for the privilege to receive additional tutoring from their ineffective teachers, they pay upwards of 500 renminbi (approximately $70) per month, which is a lot of money for families already struggling to get by. The extra kicker is that it is the bad teacher who suggests the student enroll in this side tutoring and if the parents do not enroll their kid, the teacher will make the student’s classroom life even worse. On top of all of this, if a parents wants their child to sit in a better seat in school, they have to slip a “tip” to the teacher to make it happen. This whole scheme is corruption at the most basic level affecting one of the most important parts of society – educating the next generation. If this goes on in the classroom, imagine the corruption that takes place at every other level of society.
So as promised, here are some pictures of the university campus.
Now it’s almost time for bed and my last day of class, which means it’s time for the final exam.
Some Linyi With a Side of 火锅
June 17, 2012
It’s Father’s Day back in the States and I already called to wish my dad a happy Father’s Day, but sadly I cannot be there with him to celebrate the day. So I can do the second best thing and heed his wishes by posting some pictures of Linyi to give a sense of how sprawling this city is.
That’s the view facing east from the bridge on Tongda Road (通达路) heading back from the gym last Friday. The right side of the picture is the southern part of Linyi and heading in the direction of most of the commercial activity in the city. The left side is north of the river and the new part of the city where the only real tenant is the city government and lots of new apartments.
This view is facing west towards the university and where my hotel is. As you can see, there are some cranes in the sky and lots of open space. The university and bus station are the main anchors in this direction, but a lot of ground has been broken for new housing and in a few years there should also be some commercial development to support the population in this part of the city. Right now though there is nothing to really talk to from the hotel except for the bus station across the street.
This hole in the ground is on the north side of People’s Square (人民广成) and is part of a new shopping center that is called Osca. I tried to make out the meaning of the name from the Chinese, but was unable to initially. Right now there is not much in the way of development except for Linyi’s first Subway and a new Korean restaurant, but the mall is supposed to be the home of other foreign retailers from Hong Kong and further afield. Of course there will also be a residential component to this development. I guess this would be considered prime real estate in Linyi because People’s Square really is the center of town and on the weekends is filled with people. It’s also where you can find the city’s Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Watsons, the soon-to-be-coming Tesco, and maybe the city’s first Starbucks (this last one is still wishful thinking at this point). I think of People’s Square as downtown because there are also lots of office towers in the area.
And the Osca mystery is solved – the complex is named after the Oscars, the awards ceremony in the States. A bit random, but no more random than a local residential development named Chianti Mansion, like the wine. Though I did not know the Oscars were such a part of the local culture. But the Chinese word is Aosika (奥斯卡), so it’s not that far off in its Romanized form. One other thing that I have been thinking about lately are the artist’s renderings of all of the new construction taking place. That image above is the completed version of the previous picture. The artist’s renderings always look so opulent and full of life with grand visions of wealth, happiness, and prosperity. I know these renderings are supposed to be somewhat aspirational, but the Chinese renderings are off the charts in their optimism for the future. All of the housing developments look absolutely amazing, to the point where I am staring at the dirt field in front of me and wondering how the developers plan to go from nothing to the most amazing and buzzy mixed-use development complex ever. I saw a lot of this on the bus ride to Qufu in towns much smaller than Linyi, including Feixian, Sishui, and Pingyi.
So those are some recent pictures of Linyi. I wish I had taken a picture of dinner tonight while we’re on the subject of pictures. Lu and I went for Sichuan hot pot (火锅) and it was amazing. I have not had good hot pot since I left GZ many years ago. This time we went to Little Swan instead of Little Sheep, our GZ go-to. Little Swan (小天鹅) is a Chongqing-based chain. Yes, Chongqing is the same city where Bo Xilai, the disgraced party official was mayor. This meal was perfection – spicy broth cooking a variety of meat and vegetables. as well as noodles and rice cakes. I don’t think a picture would have done it justice. I came back to the hotel and looked up the name of the chain and of course Sequoia Capital, a U.S. private equity firm has taken a stake in the company. I guess the good news is that perhaps it’s only a matter of time until we get one in New York. There is already a Little Sheep (小肥羊) in Flushing, Queens, so why not a Little Swan somewhere in Manhattan?
On that note, I leave you all to gear up for week two of class. Happy Father’s Day, dad. Until next time . . .
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