Time

     The most frustrating thing about studying at such an intensive language immersion program is that I rarely have time, even on the weekends, to get to know Beijing. I spent most of my time preparing for class or in class. Even on the weekends, I have worked so hard studying throughout the week that I occasionally prefer sleeping in my bed and don’t want to travel too far away from campus. It is frustrating having the capital of China, Beijing, at my fingertips and not having many opportunities to enjoy Beijing. It’s also quite overwhelming because there’s a lot I want to do and accomplish here aside from studying Chinese. I want to make Chinese friends, visit the museums and popular historic sites, try many kinds of Chinese dishes, etc. However, with only weekends to explore Beijing I don’t know how feasible, or even possible, such activities are during the program.

     I visited the Military Museum this past Sunday; it was awesome. I could read a lot of the information, or at least get the gist of the exhibits, which were mostly in Chinese. It was also interesting seeing the ways in which war and the military are portrayed here. And on the most fundamental level, I was introduced to revolutionary Chinese military weaponry. However, none of the exhibits provided much information about post-Cold War military affairs, which is what I am most interested in. Adam and I ran into a guy that asked us what was our impression of the museum. We didn’t know how to answer, so we just said the statues were cool. He replied that he most enjoyed every aspect of the museum, and it gave him pride in the Chinese revolutionary army (which today has expanded into the People’s Liberation Army, or the PLA), and is the fighting force that brought the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, to power. I wish I had more opportunities like these to better understand Chinese history and culture.

     For future Light Fellows, keep in mind that you can book your tickets for an early arrival before your program starts or leave China later than your program. I came earlier, so I got a chance to see Beijing before I came, but won’t have time to travel to other cities. I also only came a week early, so there’s still a lot of Beijing I have yet to see. You’ll want to get out during your programs, but unless you sacrifice studying for getting out more (which I think is fine if you feel you retain the material well. I don’t retain material unless I spend lots of time studying it). But this isn’t just a problem I have. Almost every student in ACC feels the same way. The more rigorous Light programs are quite demanding and give you limited opportunity to practice speaking Chinese and to go sightseeing, so you have to force yourself to get out on the weekends when you’re extremely exhausted. Also, one weekend is so not enough to see everything Beijing has to offer. In order to make the best use of your time here, I think it’s best to arrive earlier and/or leave later so that you have the opportunity to 了解中国文化 (understand Chinese culture). I don’t think you can successfully say you are fluent in Chinese until you thoroughly understand the culture as well.

毕业典礼 (Graduation)

     ACC came to a close a few days ago. The last week flew by. One minute I was studying the last lesson, the next minute I was taking the final exam, and then quickly attended graduation shortly thereafter. The ACC graduation was a rewarding event and a special occasion for all of us. Not only did it mark the completion of the program, but it was also our cue to begin speaking English (around teachers) again. It was a very heartfelt ceremony with speeches from the Student Council representatives from each level of Chinese, funny clips from China Night, pictures from teachers and students from the summer semester, and speeches by the director of ACC and the head of the foreign exchange department at CUEB (Capital University of Economics and Business).

I'm getting my ACC diploma from the head of the foreign exchange department at CUEB. He shook my hand really tightly and told me not to give up studying Chinese.

     At the end of the ceremony, all the ACC students emerged from their seats shouting random English words like “the”, “piece”, and “hello.” It was amazing. Our teachers all became different people because they all seemed uncomfortable speaking English with us. It was awkward seeing them in such a vulnerable position. But to compromise, we spoke fluent Chinglish with them. It became the happy medium for us, English-deprived ACC students, and our Chinese teachers.

     We quickly headed over to a nice Beijing Duck restaurant close to campus and ate our last meal with our teachers. I realized throughout the day, as graduation events came to a close, that I’d really miss Beijing. Even sadder was the fact that I was leaving at 8am the next day, so that dinner was the last time I saw many of the teachers before I headed back to the United States. That was also, out of all the great meals I had in Beijing, the final one before my flight back home.

Many of my awesome classmates. Left to right: Eve, Chris, Me, Alissa, Adam, Yu Laoshi, Jackie, Devin, Gi'selle, Harry, and Alec. I'm gonna miss all of you.

This is one of our Yale photos. Left to right: Miles, Adam, Jackie, Me, and Eileen. We are so SILLY.

We took this photo after dinner. Hey Amy and Zhu Laoshi! I look like such a fool in this picture. Haha.

食物中毒

（To have been posted on August 18, 2010.) 

Yeah, so what do the characters in the title of this blog mean? They mean food poisoning.

This is what got me sick：凉皮（or “cold skin” noodles）

I’ve been in China for the past eight weeks and have had little to no problems with illness. I caught a cold for one day, suffering from a sore throat and mild fatigue. However, two days before I get on the plane to head back to the United States, I get food poisoning. The problem is that I really can’t blame anyone but myself because I ate a Chinese cold dish literally called “cold skin.” Generally speaking, Chinese cold dishes don’t have sanitation issues, but this particular dish is made and then left to sit out in the open until ordered. Of course, all this profound information about these thin, almost transparent cold noodles was learned during my bed-ridden Wednesday hoping to get better so I could study for the next day’s oral exam. But because I pulverized a bowl of these raw noodles with my Chinese friend, I don't plan on eating solid foods for about another week.

And on that note, here are some of the best Chinese dishes I've eaten this summer. I'll add more as I upload more pictures.

I didn't have enough time to photograph it before everyone at our table demolished this fish. It's called 红烧鱼.

A delicious vegetarian dish that I can't remember the name of. It's like bean sprouts and green onions mixed over a sweet sauce that kind of tasted like a sweet vinaigrette dressing.

This is a huge meal that one of my Chinese friends spent six hours cooking for me. Aside from the bowls of steamed rice, he fixed salted fish, peanuts and chicken, pickled cucumber, some kind of pumpkin dessert, tofu and carrot soup, and boiled shrimp.

            

I'm eating a Vietnamese rice bowl. So tasty.

            

So, the menu said "Duck leg and rice." That's exactly what it is: rice, a meaty duck leg, and tofu/veggies.

Of course you can't go to China without trying the new McDonald's curly fries. Delish-es-ness.

China Night and Other Things

(To have been posted on August 15, 2010.)

Last night’s “中文之夜” (“China Night”) brought together all ACC teachers and students in a huge assembly displaying our different talents and abilities. Each performance, whether displaying Chinese culture or not, offered a traceable cultural exchange between us (American college students) and Chinese people (our teachers and host families).

I was chosen to be one of four of the 主持人 (MCs) among several other performances for China Night. My friends and I opened the show with the Mulan song, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” in Chinese. We tried to add dance moves to it, but our teachers told us to focus on the singing because, according to the teachers and the ACC field director, we all 唱得很棒（sang extremely well). She even added one more really popular Chinese love song called “看过来.” Apparently we sang so well that we could knock out a sufficient rehearsal for this song with just four hours before the show. (Ahem, I think we students would all beg to differ seeing as though we originally spent most of our Mulan rehearsals focusing on coming up with awesome masculine poses/gestures instead of finding the right key for the song.) Either way, when performance time came, the audience loved it.

My next performance was part of the larger performance by the second-year students. The first section was a rewritten version of a Chinese sitcom called “贫嘴张大民的幸福生活.”It was hilarious watching this be performed and was also really interesting because my teachers basically wrote most of the script, however, coupled with a two-day lesson on this sitcom (one film-focused day of class and one textbook-focused day of class) gave me a good sense of what Chinese comedy is like. For the most part, sarcasm is really difficult in Chinese because it’s a tonal language, so you can’t really inject your own tonal inflections into Chinese and expect to be understood. I think this is actually a privilege English speakers share that many tonal languages like Chinese and some West African languages lack. Nevertheless, sarcasm is difficult to pull off in Chinese. Future Light Fellows, if it’s your first time to China, you’ll want to crack jokes with classmates or teachers or Chinese friends, and they will just stare at you and take what you say seriously. So, be careful. Haha. Remember to laugh after you make these kinds of jokes, then they’ll realize you’re kidding…

What I learned about Chinese comedy and humor is that it is filled with rhetorical questions (or 反问) and very blunt (or 直爽) comments or insults. Although there is no room for the ever-so-pleasant sarcasm that shows itself most often in SNL skits, I can still appreciate Chinese comedy for its differences. For example, they can use words with similar tones to crack jokes. During one part of the skit, the brother of the main character invites his foreign girlfriend over who speaks really poor Chinese. She offers the mom what is supposed to be a“漂亮的表“（pretty wristwatch）, but she actually calls the mom a “pretty [insert harsh swear word that involves females and dogs].” Get it? Right. Chinese humor is very very direct (and indirect at the same time). That’s why I like it.

My part in this larger performance was to mock a few of our second-year teachers in a skit about Chinese class at ACC. It was so so so funny. The teacher’s were all good sports about it, and even helped us make fun of their teaching habits before the show. We made sure to let them know after the performance that “我们讽刺老师教学的习惯是因为我们想开他们的玩笑，而且是因为我们想对老师表示感谢。“(We mock our teachers’ teaching habits because we want to make fun of them and also because we want to show our thanks to them.”)

Me and Eve. She goes to Smith College and put on a hilarious mockery of Jiang Laoshi during the show. Miss you, Eve!

Me and Wu Laoshi. He was one of my favorite teachers and was very chill pretty much all the time.

All in all, China Night was a success. Even though there was very little time to finish homework thoroughly and practice for performances all in one week, I think ACC students and teachers pulled together to make it an awesome event. My major issue involved the organization of the event. Students officially informed the ACC Office of their performances two days before the show which gave people not much time to polish their performances. Regardless, it was a ton of fun, and I’m feeling really mushy inside because we only have one more week of ACC…

北京平民

Hi all,

Here's a set of random photos that I've finally had time to upload to my blog. This set is called "Beijing Common People." Enjoy.

Guy races down Guanghua Road on his bike at 5:30am. I was getting breakfast off campus this morning. I wonder why he was rushing.

Landscaper watering the grass outside the Bird's Nest. The upkeep of the stadium is still pretty good after two years.

This boy was the cutest. He was pouting because he was tired from walking so much. In the photo, he is stomping away from his parents. 小皇帝吗？很溺爱吗？

This is just one of the several photos I have with people from Beijing. She insisted on standing in the middle.

A pathway in one of the Hutong's of Beijing. In Old Beijing, this is where wealthy families lived. However, its current residents are among the poorest in Beijing.

This day was very cool and pleasant, so this guy took advantage of the free air conditioning outside. He woke up shortly after I took this photo, so I snapped it just in time.

One of the waiters at one of my favorite restaurants prepares for opening. They serve Northeast Chinese-style food.

一清二楚

The lines in Beijing are absolutely ridiculous. During lunchtime, especially if I go to a fast food restaurant, is approximately half-block—guaranteed.  (“Beijing blocks” are my measure word for distance/length in China because Beijing blocks are long, and I’m not accustomed to using the metric system.) But although the length of lines here are intolerable, the wait is worth it because the food is always delicious.

Last Sunday, I took my good friend Morgan to the Badaling Great Wall. She has never been to China before, let alone Beijing, so I offered to take her there to see it. On the way, we waited in a long line for a train to Badaling, but the tickets were sold out by the time we reached the window. The next option: public bus. We hopped in a taxi and rode for about twenty minutes from Beijing North Railway Station to the Badaling Great Wall bus terminal. While we searched for Bus No. 919, we encountered a huge line of people. (This one was about 4 “Beijing blocks” long.) Almost immediately we were overcome with frustration and annoyance, but it was a beautiful day (blue skies, white clouds, pleasant winds) so it was the most ideal time to go to the Great Wall. We dragged ourselves to the tail of the line, often glaring at the people in the front of the line enviously.

We got to the Great Wall, climbed it, took pictures—the whole bit. But on the way down we saw a sliding car sign. We followed the arrows into a bustling crowd of people pushing and rushing toward a single hole carved into a gated window. This was the line. After we aggressively pushed pass little children, got tossed around by their stressed parents, and had our feet maimed by others’ heavy steps, we finally reached the window. I didn’t have the chance to see the ticket salesperson’s face; I just put the 60RMB inside the window and yelled “两张票!”(“Two tickets!)  After receiving the tickets, I climbed over a nearby fence to avoid the dangerous crowd behind me. An American guy turned toward me, sweat dripping from the tip of his nose, and said: “Over 5,000 years of civilization and they can’t stand in a line.” Although I was surprised to here him say this, overwhelmed by the stress of purchasing my ticket, this statement seemed so true and so clear to me at the time. Were the Chinese really civilized?

What changed my mind is the realization that in the stress of a moment like boarding a train or waiting for food in China, it is really easy to oversimplify the problems I encounter here. For instance, to answer the question why so many people stuff themselves into fully-occupied train cars or why drivers don’t often stop for pedestrians, I used to have a similar opinion to this American tourist: that the Chinese are uncivilized. However, as China becomes more and more commercialized, integrated into the global sphere, and rises as one of the world’s new superpowers, I don’t think it’s fair, let alone accurate, to say that Chinese people are “uncivilized”. I’ve realized the problem is double-edged. On the one hand, China is thriving economically at record paces. But on the other hand, China’s growth coupled with overpopulation breeds such stressful transportation situations. During rush hour, it is impossible to catch a taxi somewhere, especially if you aren’t going somewhere close. Taxi drivers earn much more money by making more short stops then longer ones during rush hour. You guys already know the story of Adam and I getting to ACC; the reason we hopped in the car with a complete stranger is because we couldn’t haul all over our luggage to campus from the train station. It was just too far.

The problem with whether or not the behavior of Chinese people is not a question of whether or not they are civilized. The American tourist’s attitude, as well as my own previous assumptions, depicts a narrow-minded perception of the daily lives of Chinese people. I appreciate that the Light Fellowship tries to alleviate this stereotyping of East Asia by giving Yalies the opportunity to explore the language and culture of this region. 所以，和以前比，我现在对这个情况了解得更清楚。(So, I now understand this issue more clearly than before.)

儒家的教义 （The Doctrine of Confucianism）

Okay, so China has been really awesome and really fun. Every day is filled with new experiences and new realizations not only about myself but about China as well. For instance, two Sundays ago, I went to visit the Confucius Temple where emperors taught Confucianism to the smartest kids in the country at the time. One of Confucius's most famous quotes translates to something like "In a group of three, at least one must be a teacher." I gather his philosophy in this quote is that we are all one another's teachers and one another's students, so we must mutually learn from one another. That seems kind of obvious, but in reflecting on this quote and then thinking about the current educational system in China, I see it differently. Confucius’ teachings aren’t so easy to apply to the contemporary world. For instance, in order to get into college every June each Chinese high school student takes the same college entrance exam that determines where they can (and sometimes will) go to college and what they're major will (or should) be. These kids spend their entire elementary, junior high, and high school careers preparing for this single exam; it determines their entire lives. 

Now, although it is a very fair method because everyone has the same standard to achieve; however, this is why many Chinese students lack social skills and work experience; they often don't seem to be interested in things other than studying. It’s not because Chinese kids don’t have interests other than studying, it is because they haven’t had the opportunity to find their hobbies. Modern China has, in many facets, completely misconstrued the meanings of Confucius' quotes. For instance, his theories on filial piety and other forms of social order were used to establish stability in ancient empires, but now are used to keep order in society, thereby causing women's rights, human rights, and other social issues to run rampant. Okay, enough about sociology and politics. I'm done. I’m teaching a course on the influence of world religions on Chinese society tomorrow, this is just a bit of practice. I'll let you know how it turns out in the next blog. I'm so nervous!