Kayla Hedman FINAL

"No one thinks that today's China lacks cultural confidence."

- James Fallows Postcards from Tomorrow Square, 132

Hutong gate

1. Hutong means "narrow alleyway" in Mandarin, but it meant "water well" in Mongolian language ~700 years ago (Yuan Dynasty). The hutong area is in the second ring-road in Beijing. Ring-roads surround the Forbidden City which is square and represents Earth, whereas roundness represents as a sense of heaven, offering security for the Emperors in the Forbidden City. Hutongs have gates on either side, which encompass courtyards and were home to single families during the Yuan Dynasty. Now they can accommodate up to 15 or 16 families per courtyard! Life in the hutong is more peaceful than apartment living; there is a much better sense of community, which makes inhabitants feel more like they are in the country although they are very close to downtown Biejing, a global city of 16 million people.
There are still a great deal of hutong in Beijing's second ring-road, but many have been destroyed due to the development of "New Beijing," which was in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but had already been under way in 1997 (Meyer 12). The private ownership of hutong courtyards saw many changes through the Cultural Revolution, and since then many have been razed to make way for new development. "They lived there until the character that meant raze (chai) appeared on their home's exterior gray walls. It was brushed on condemned homes in ghostly white strokes and circled. Mr. Yang had never seen someone paint the symbol, and neither had I. It just appeared overnight, like a gang tag, or the work of a specter. The Hand" (Meyer 13).

Pee-pee boards.

As much as we loved the hutong, many people thought of them as slums because they were old. Even our own "home neighborhood" for the week, off Nanchizi Street, was slated for demolition in 2002. After the majority of the hutong was demolished, it was rebuilt in 2005 and critics deemed it "fake antique" (Meyer 50). During our lecture from Michael about the hutong, we learned a lot of fun facts as well. My personal favorite: the boards leaning against the hub caps on cars throughout the hutong were so dogs didn't pee on them. Not at all what I thought!

The Red House. Weeeee Beijing nightlife & Mojo bonding!

2. Like Michael, Chinese "likea dance and they likea drinka beer." In the Nov. 8-21 edition of City Weekend, like the '7 Days VT' of Beijing, it explains the remarkable transformation of Beijing's historic neighborhoods. What we see today in these "New Hutongs" is vibrancy - hip businesses, incredible homes like the one Nikki and Rob walked into to ask for directions to Mao Mao Chong's bar, restaurants and bars that are open late into the night, and even microbreweries! This is mostly on account of the expatriate communities and the increasing middle-class in Beijing. But also, as Michael stated in the above video, people like to come back to their old neighborhoods, and they make the insides pretty modern. And to their delight, they've found success owning businesses in the community. The City Weekend magazine goes through the local "Wine & Dine," "Performance," "Art," "Books & Film," "Community," "Nightlife," and more.

3. Winning Mandarin: Numbers. I absolutely love how numbers are said in Mandarin. Once I learned the system, I thought, "No wonder they're so good at math!" Let me fill you in: they only have words for 1-10. How would they say a number like 39, you ask? "Three Ten Nine." This translates into three [times] ten [plus] nine = thirty nine. They learn their factors of ten and addition as they learn to say their numbers. Make sense? 

My friends and me at Tsinghua University. See? Look how
happy I am!

4. Wo cao the Gao Cao. I cannot believe our innocent tour-guide Allan taught you guys this: "wǒ cào (我肏) = holy f*ck (lit. "I f*ck") Alternatively, "我靠" (wǒ kào, "I lean on".) or "哇靠" (wa kào) is used when the subject intends on being less obscene, such as when speaking in public." Anyways - the Gao Cao is the equivalent of the American SAT and ACT on steroids. It determines if you go on to college, where you can go, and what you can study. Students at Tsinghua University stated that they studied nine or more hours a day to prepare for the Gao Cao throughout the six years prior to being accepted into University. These study habits carry on to University with them. Although most of the students are over 18 years old, when Prof. Jimmy asked the class how many students go out to bars, none of the students raised their hands. Through our small group chats, I think David might have corrupted them a bit. We'll see. 
The students at Tsinghua were incredibly intelligent. Tsinghua is like the Beijing equivalent to MIT, where many students major in various types of engineering and learn English to hopefully attend graduate school in the States. Although I've heard that Chinese students have trouble developing whole ideas, but are really skilled at fact retention, during their presentation on 'Apples' in Jimmy's English class I saw their capacity for creativity. Sitting in on his class was my favorite part of the entire trip, and changed my whole outlook on my professional future.

5. Many Chinese do not know or care to learn about their heritage. Michael said a little bit during our rickshaw tour to prove this point - "People don't care about the gate anymore," he said as he explained that the rules no longer apply that one can only marry someone from the same "-beam gate," or the same socioeconomic class. This applies to many other old traditions, as well. 

Liz and Tsinghua University student from Beijing.

Although China is a single party country, a Communist country, at face-value people seem as though they can be individuals free to express themselves. What you don't see, especially as a tourist, is the firewalls blocking sensitive subjects on the Internet, the filtered news stories that tell individuals the news, but also what to think about the news, and lastly, the lack of what they learn about their own history in school. After deciding that we were ready to push the limits of censorship, Nikki asked a group of students at Tsinghua what they learned regarding China's history in their textbooks. "Not much," the female student from Beijing replied. When prying a little more, we learned that barely any students were aware of the affects of the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao, and especially the student revolution and Tian'anmen tragedy in 1989. The students who had a sense of what we were talking about admitted that their parents did not tell them anything about China under Mao/post Mao, and they had to break through firewalls or find books on the subject to seek out information themselves if they wanted to learn about it. Amongst ridiculous amounts of studying in other subjects, many students just did not have the time nor interest to do so, and therefore were unaware of the government's control surrounding them. 

However distant from their history the Chinese people may be, Chinese domestic tourists (and maybe locals?) flock to see the flag raise over Tian'anmen Square every morning. The image of the soldiers marching out under Mao, the Mandarin symbols on the big red monitors, the crowds of people, and the anthem blaring is so grand to happen every day at 7 a.m. There aren't even places in the United States that have that much patriotism. In Factory Girls, Leslie Chang explains, "The markets were crowded with shoppers ahead of the new year holiday. Stalls sold strips of red paper inscribed with auspicious couplets, along with posters featuring a heroic Chairman Mao and quasi-religious slogans: He is the people's great liberator" (Chang 282). Because of the lack of history education, people do not know (and if they do, they don't admit) that Mao was the biggest mistake China ever made, and yet his face is still plastered on the front of the Forbidden City, not to mention everywhere else.

Taking a survey on the Center Axis. From afar, Allan looked
concerned about who we were talking to (not pictured).

6. There is much controversy about the development of the Central Axis. After our rickshaw tour on Day 4, Nikki, Dave and I were approached by two university students taking a survey. They needed information on where we were from and the order in which we visited specific locations on an off the Central Axis in Beijing. Although this Central Axis was mentioned in Michael Meyer's The Last Days of Old Beijing, we had not been familiar with what it was. 
The Central Axis is the longest (7.8 kilometers) and best-preserved ancient line that marks key routes through the capital and divides the city. It passes through a multitude of ancient buildings and traditional hutong, and links Yongdingmen Gate (the south end of ancient Beijing) to the Bell and Drum Towers (the north end of the ancient capital). It runs through the Forbidden City, but the outliers on the students' map also included tourist sites like the Pearl & Silk Markets, the Great Wall, etc. 

Front Gate Avenue.

In ancient times, the Central Axis, which was popularly known as the "dragon vein," was a line of power. All the government buildings were built there, and now it represents the history of the city. Many of the Gates and other landmarks built during the Ming Dynasty (approx. 1420) along the Axis have been torn down for roadways, but are slowly being restored. Although, when "the Hand" states that it will "Restore History's Cultural Pulse," some believe it is not being restored to the proper time in history. "If Front Gate Avenue forms a mall instead of being widened and reconstructed properly," cautioned a plan submitted by Tsinghua University's influential Urban Planning and Design Institute, "it shall cut the continuity of traffic and space, and lead to the blocking of the central axis." (Meyer 50). This plan was submitted in 2005, pre-Olympics. Since, the Front Gate Avenue has been restored to resemble a 1920s open-air shopping center, trolly and all. So yes, the Avenue outside the Dazhalan hutong with the Haagen Dazs and the really nice Starbucks (with the really nice Western toilet!) is ticking people off. Bu hao!

7. You are what you eat. Apparently, a good majority of us are silkworms. Ha! After hearing from several expatriates that silkworms were delicious, despite their appearance and smell, we all decided to try them after visiting Tsinghua University on Day 6. This may have been one of the silliest decisions of my life - it was gross. Nikki will try and say otherwise, but there was nothing pleasant about eating that bug. Ew! Anyways, I learned a lot about food while in Beijing, both authentic Chinese cuisine and the invasion of crappy Western food.

Ba-baba-ba-ba, I'm lovin' it.

To much dismay, I learned that much of the weird street food that we had, and for those of you who strayed to seek out American chain food, was not authentic Chinese food. I imagine, the Uighur food and the two lunches we had on Days 3 and 5 of the Great Wall was the most authentic food we had. I watched the video below (parts 1 and 2) when we got home about authentic Chinese cooking. There was a lot of information about how tradition and culture was lost during the Cultural Revolution, and many privately owned restaurants were shut down and there was little access to ingredients. The food on the streets tells the story of a culture torn between tradition and modernity, the customs of an ancient past competing with the convenience age of the new. After many died of starvation during the Cultural Revolution, now people are fighting obesity - whether it is observable or not (refer to #9). Many Chinese have fallen into the trap of the convenience of fast food. "To an American, New Beijing looked familiar. The city's first Starbucks opened in 1998. Nine years later, nearly sixty of the coffee shops operated in town, along with nearly two hundred McDonald's, an equal number of KFC's, dozens of Pizza Huts, and a Hooters" (Meyer 12). 

So my mom is convinced that every photo I have
on the Great Wall is photoshopped. She asks,
"So what did you REALLY do?"

8. "I was not William the first, but William the second." As William Lindesay (Wild Will) spoke about the history of the Great Wall on day 7, we learned that it was not just one Great Wall, but many walls. The walls from the Ming Dynasty alone, that stretch from the Gobi Desert to the Sea is about 5,000 miles long. Imagine, we flew 7,000 miles to get to China from Newark. Not only did we learn about the history of the Great Wall(s) and what it took to build it through the various dynasties for protection from the Mongols, but we also learned about Wild Will's personal story. After Wild Will walked the length of the Great Wall in the late 1980s, he learned that dispite his difficulties with the Chinese government, he was not the first person to explore the history of the Great Wall. American William Edgar Geil was known as the man who discovered the lost Great Wall in 1909. I think the most interesting thing to hear about and to see was the difference between the Great Wall Geil saw in 1909, and the Wall Lindesay saw in 1987-today. It is fascinating how some of the Wall, such as the Badaling section, has been restored for tourists, and then other areas, from Will's 'Wild Wall' to unkept areas in the Gobi Desert, have been eaten away by centuries of weathering. I'm so glad that we saw four very different sections of the Great Wall - this was another highlight of the trip and something to cross off my bucket list. (Video below is from Rob's Youtube, circa March 2011).

9. I just don't get how they're "in shape." Time after time, I had Chinese people pass me on the Great Wall with a cigarette in hand (although Bobby did that too...come to think of it). The thing is, with the pollution, worsening diets, and the "human chimneys," they are still generally thin and value their health. We saw an example of longevity when we came across the 98 year-old man in the hutong on the rickshaw tour. He was so agile, it was amazing. Despite Michael's standpoint on drinking and such, we also came across many people who didn't drink or smoke - take Allan, for example. Health benefits of Chinese tea were a big part of the presentation at Dr. Tea, and this philosophy is present many other places through traditional herbal remedies and such. Throughout the trip, many times it was hard to see healthy habits, other than the consumption of tea, in action.

Swimmer Nathan Adrian is half Chinese, although he represents
Team USA. He competed in Beijing in the 2008 Olympics.
...that's got to be enough reason to put him in my blog post.

In China Road, Rob Gifford explains that he, as usual, was the only one exercising during his pre-dinner run. He attributes this to the heat, but admits, "for a country that regularly ranks among the top three medal winners of the Olympic Games, there always seem to be precious few spontaneous athletic activities going on in China" (Gifford 71). He then states that sports in China, like capitalism, are noticeably government-led. 
Although people's diets are slowly deteriorating in Beijing, they are finding ways to be a bit more active around the city. Although I only saw one Chinese runner pass the ("ehh") Jade Garden, and then a couple of expatriates jogging near the University, each morning and night we passed various groups of people doing Tai Chi (which Sam liked to join) and silly dancing ladies on the sidewalk near the Dong Hua Men Night Market. In China Road, Gifford even describes a similar group of old ladies dancing. "In the park, I run past a knot of grannies doing a variety of shake-your-booty two-steps to the sounds pushed out by a portable CD player, but that's about it," Gifford wrote (71). Another thing that always caught me off guard were the sporadic basketball hoops, especially ones on a turf court in the Forbidden City. 

Outside Pearl Market

10. Mass production. There are so many factories in China, most of which are inhabited by migrant workers from the country. The factories can afford to pay them cheap wages, and they crank out tons of products. Since all the materials, not just the final products, are produced in China, there are many knock-off's for sale just around the corner. Patent laws in China came to be only in the late 1980s, and still today are not enforced. That is why places like Pearl Market can be open to the public without being shady. Since everything is made in China, you can barter your way down to 5% of the starting price of anything on the street or in the market, because most likely, they payed about 1 Yuon for it. However, imported brands and luxury goods are actually more expensive due to high import and luxury taxes.
Nikki, Nick, and I learned quite a bit about patent laws and factory conditions from our friend Chirona, who now works as a Rotation Engineer at Intel. After graduating from Brown, she moved to Beijing to work with patents. Her job was to explain to people what they were doing wrong by selling counterfeit '08 Olympic-wear to people in other countries. The problem was not that they were selling it in China, but when they started shipping retail products to the States to sell. For factory conditions, Chirona explained her experience working in a Foxconn Factory. She confirmed that so many employees were trying to commit suicide by jumping off the roof that they put up nets; now if someone tries to take their life, they get an extra ounce of punishment instead. Otherwise, she said that conditions weren't as bad as they say, and she herself is disciplined enough to work 7 days a week within the factories. In Leslie Chang's Factory Girls, she publishes some excerpts from Wu Chunming's diary, "I have no time to be unhappy because there are too many things I want to do. 'Time is life,'" she said.

Silly connection - in the used copy of Factory Girls I now own, there was a letter to incoming students at Brown (Chirona's alma mater) that this book would be their summer reading.
Also related to production and world trade, one of the most important excerpts we read throughout our semester of preparation for China explains the economic relationship between our two countries: Through the quarter century in which China has been opening to world trade, Chinese leaders have deliberately held living standards for their own people and propped them up in the United States. This is the real meaning of the vast trade surplus - $1.4 trillion and counting, going up by about $1 billion per day - that the Chinese government has mostly parked in U.S. Treasury notes. In effect, every person in the (rich) United States has over the past 10 years or so borrowed about $4,000 from someone in the (poor) People's Republic of China (Fallows 146).

Some beautiful people and me being REALLY happy again. Can
we go back now?

...11. Westerners either hate or love China, and I LOVED it. I learned that the "squatty potty" culture wasn't for everyone... but after a few trial days, I determined that I love everything about China - down to the bad bathrooms and breakfasts. The group of wonderful people that I got to travel with, under the direction of Rob and Kristin, couldn't have been any better. We each have our own take-aways, from meeting an American rotation engineer from Intel who has worked in a Foxconn plant, going through no trespassing areas off the Great Wall's beaten path, to those crazy stories of things that "never happened"... I want to thank you all for being open to making new friends, having new experiences, and having a good attitude. It's been real. And I still can't believe some of you got away with not using the squatty potty all week! Hen hao!

Link to my photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151093450157136.430793.615342135&type=3