Caps and Gowns

The impetus for this post occurred one day at the end of last semester. I was heading to lunch one day, and noticed a few groups of students in caps and gowns taking pictures. Then I noticed there were two little tables set up with posters, piles of caps and gowns, and workers with some big time cameras. It was hard to figure out that the tables represented vendors offering to take some memorable pictures of the students in the cap and gown for graduation. Naturally, I went back to my apartment, grabbed my camera, and snapped some pictures. I didn't really know, but I was really hoping, for the students' sake, that this was not the extent of their graduation ceremony. But, I wasn't too optimistic.

So, I talked to Xingxing, who if you haven't read before, was by far my best Chinese friend and the person who helped me the most this past year. She was able to quell my concerns a little. She informed me that there was a sort of graduation ceremony. It consisted of some speeches by the administration and a student representative which were "were kind of conventional and cliche." One speech was pretty good and genuine, she did say. Maybe not that different from a U.S. college graduation. It was held in the school gym and wasn't too formal. The degrees weren't handed out to each student, but rather just one representative from each department. To me this was quite a poor showing for a country that loves pomp and circumstance in ceremonies. Additionally, though, each department held some sort of dinner for the graduating students. Xingxing said this was lots of fun, a great time to say final goodbyes to classmates and teachers, although they did have to pay for it.

I find the twenty minute rental of a cap and gown both hilarious and sad. Hilarious because the simple little table on the side of the road is just so efficiently Chinese. Seeing students walking all around campus in caps and gowns despite them not wearing them for any ceremony was perfectly ironic. Sad because there was no graduation ceremony.

I readily recognize that many high school and some college graduation ceremonies in the States are a bit egregious considering that for many Americans (because of our great community college network) getting a degree is not a really difficult thing to do. I am not belittling graduating college at all, but compared with the opportunities and competition in many other countries around the world, it's not nearly as difficult. To America's credit, we do get a whole lot of our citizens through college.

So, in comparison, the accomplishments of many of the students I got to know were pretty remarkable. For one, they made it through Chinese high school, which is saying a whole lot. Xingxing, who is now studying for her master's in England, is the first member of her family to graduate high school or college. Her parents are self made factory owners who both have junior high school educations. Her grandmother may very well not know the difference between England and Ecuador, having spent an entire life bending over in the fields. Another friend, Qin Chen is the first member of her entire extended family to graduate college. Cousins, aunts, uncles, even second cousins, she is the only one. Also an English major, Zhao Min was the first in her family to graduate. Zhao Min's older sister left school after junior high, as the military like atmosphere didn't sit well with her. But Zhao Min persevered through the 05:45 mandatory morning jog and classes lasting until 22:00 in high school, as well as freezing nights with no heating and freshmen military training in college.

It is almost harrowing that family and friends weren't at least invited to a ceremony to celebrate what to me are pretty momentous achievements for both the individuals and the country as a whole. I am sure that the internationally known major universities in China have ceremonies and other celebrations closer to those I experienced at TU. Our school is average to below average on the national scale. Nonetheless, I don't think that devalues the personal accomplishments of many of the students. Many of the poorer students' parents have saved for years to afford the tuition for their (often only) child. I think it's quite unfortunate they weren't able to see the culmination of all that work and share in it with their child, the student.

Back in China

I have actually been back in China for about three weeks. Additionally, the last few posts and next few post are pretty old, but I was way too busy this summer gigging frogs and drinking with my buddy at Red Robin to do much posting. Now that I am back in China, I have the free time to catch up on posting. My trip home was an absolute blast, it was great to see friends and family, eat Mexican food, and watch the Colbert Report on hulu.com. At the most basic level, living or traveling abroad should both make the traveler note things which are lacking or done poorly in his country and realize some of the good things about his home country. I think that being gone for 11 months, I had become pretty accustomed to life in China, and had forgotten some of the great things about America. It was great to have family and friends remind me of many of the reasons that I am so fortunate to have grown up in the States.

Despite my attempts, I only have a vague idea of who reads this blog. So, hopefully whoever you are, you find something useful, and feel free to comment if you have questions or anything. For interested family and friends, remember you can click the "My photos-Picasa photo gallery" to check out all the pictures I have taken. I haven't added captions yet, but the album titles and maps should give a general idea. If you ever want to holler at me, you just need to download Skype and call me, it goes straight to my cell phone. Email and Facebook also work just fine (well I have to shift around the firewall, but that's no problem). Danthemanstan and I are returning to teach another year here. We are joined by Sarah and Sean, a couple from Holland, Michigan; Peter, from North Carolina-who taught in Zhejiang province last spring, and Jordan, from Reno, Nevada/California. There are also five or six German teachers, and two Japanese teachers. Add us to the 15,000 Chinese students and staff and you have Jiangsu Teacher's University of Technology.

My New Visa

Because I work in China, I have a resident permit. It’s only good for one year, which is no big deal, because the renewal process is much easier than the application. I guess they figured if I was okay to come to the People’s Republic last year they don’t need to check on everything this time. The cool thing about my visa is that under purpose of residence it says 就业 (jiu ye) which roughly means having a job. So, sometimes the people at the airports, train stations, or hotels will make the (wrong) assumption that I’m some hotshot international businessman doing some importing and exporting like Art Vandelay. Usually they ask, I tell them I’m a teacher, and then they aren’t so impressed.

Laura’s visit to Dave and me was awesome and great, but it was a rash decision on her part. So, I had planned to take the last week I was in Changzhou to chill out, catch up on some blogging (instead I’m doing it two months later). But, you have to be in person to apply for the renewal, as they take your picture and require you to sign the documents at the police station. So, Laura’s trip put a kink in the visa renewal process. I wasn’t going to re-book my flight, and really wanted to stay back home until after my current one expired. I really didn’t want to have to fork over $130 to get a tourist visa, so I did my best to plead to Teddy (my boss/advisor) to see what he could do.

As I noted, normally it takes a minimum of five days to get the visa, but is usually six or seven. I didn’t have that sort of time, but Teddy said he would do what he could. So, we went to the police station, took the photo, signed the papers and then Teddy went over and chatted with one of the officials. We then headed around the corner to the city hall, the place that actually issues the visa. Teddy went to the normal counter, then came back, got my stuff and went into an office and talked with someone for a while. He then came back, and said we had to wait for a bit. Not more than fifteen minutes later, someone came down with my visa. I think the whole process, at both offices, took less than an hour. Why did it take so little time? Teddy’s boss, English name Peter, technically my boss, is friends with one of the officials down at city hall. China is a place where a place where truly, if you’re not with them, you’re against them (them being the Party). And, this time, I was with them and it paid off for my benefit. Of course, it’s quite unsettling that the lack of transparency in government affairs like visa issuance exists throughout the entire authoritarian government. Quite unsettling.

Laura's Visit

During my vacation with Clay, I got word from Dave that our great friend Laura Hermann was coming to visit. Dave and I had been conversing with some of our friends from TU about visiting, and Laura came through. It’s great having people visit, because it allows me to share my experiences with people that share my (American) perspective. Furthermore, my rather leisurely work schedule allows for me to travel around when people visit.

We went to visit the home of Edison, another enthusiastic English learner that Dave and I both had the pleasure of teaching. He lives in Yangzhou, which used to be of incredible importance during the Grand Canal’s hay day, and he reminds any willing ear of this all the time. This makes him a great host. In general, all Chinese people tend to have weighty pride about their hometown (kind of like people from Texas). I’m not really sure why, except that maybe it’s due to a somewhat myopic worldview because most of them are very limited by travel. I always suggest looking to guidebooks or non-Chinese sources when making travel decisions here, or else you might end up at some pile of dirt that the locals claim is the greatest mountain in China. Yangzhou turned out to have a pretty nice garden, which are great places to observe Chinese people being Chinese. Visiting Edison’s high school was really interesting and we even met a cute girl that he was pretending he didn’t have a crush on. Chinese people might be immodest about practicing English, but they’re quite shy about love, relationships, etc. His family was, of course, outrageously kind and generous, even putting us up in a hotel because they didn’t think we would be comfortable in their beds.

The next leg of our journey didn’t go quite as well. To make a long story short, we fell victims to the problems I opined about in this post. I have learned some more about the train ticketing system, which is getting better, but we were out in Guilin and Sichuan provinces in south central China, and those system haven’t been upgraded. The big problem was when we were delayed for seven hours due to a mudslide, making a six-hour trip thirteen. Dave was able to sleep during the delay. Laura and I couldn’t manage it, but were giddy with sleep deprivation, and amused ourselves. This enabled (or forced: depending on your perspective) us to check into an hourly hotel at four in the morning for three hours. The hotel owner asked if we wanted separate rooms, we said no. I can only imagine what he was thinking about the young, lascivious foreigners. Then again, he does run an hourly hotel-which are the hotbed (pun intended) of “illicit” activities in an otherwise conservative and private society.

Eventually, we made it to Chongqing and found Jimmy. Jimmy was the travel agent Dave selected based on his English slogan: “Jimmy makes it happen”. Well, despite all our skepticism, Jimmy did make it happen. He was a great guy, with good English and maybe the most honest travel agent/tour organizer in China. So, after taking in some of Chongqing (hot, dirty, and crowded) we loaded the boat. The cheapest beds were six to a room, and that’s where we were. The room was pretty nice for the price, had air conditioning, and the beds were softer than the average Chinese bed. The shower was small and not exactly clean, but Laura was a trooper and didn’t complain about it too much. We didn’t luck out so much on the roommate card. There was a mom and her son, who we think may have been mentally impaired, and did have some back deformations. This was obviously not a problem, but his overbearing mother who was doing everything to make the room perfect for him seemed pretty non-conciliatory, so we treaded lightly around the room. She didn’t seem eye to eye with Dave’s view on keeping the windows closed when the air conditioning was on. Now, Dave is an expert, he won a Goldwater Scholarship for physics, so I tend to trust him on heat transfer and gas properties questions. But, we took the high road and just sweat it out for three nights. A dad and his young son took the other bed. The dad was adamant about smoking in the room (while covering up the “not” on the “do not smoke in the room” sign, and I lost my temper, but only yelled at him in English. On the other hand, the son was fun to practice Chinese with, as he hasn’t developed an unintelligent accent yet.

Apparently, while on the Yangzi River Cruise, vacation has been redefined as getting up at 5:30 to make the 6:00 a.m. stop to visit some village. This wasn’t really a choice, as the music and announcements were load and I didn’t have earplugs. We only did the tourist stop once, and went on some super cheesy motor dragon boat ride through some gorges. The scenery was beautiful, but I’d argue not worth getting up at 5:30. In case PETA needs a new project, the two monkeys tied to a raft we passed would certainly qualify.

In today’s China, the Yangzi is referred to as the Chang Jiang (Yangzi is another name used in one area, but became standard in English). Jiang means river, and my dictionary says chang means “length, long, always, forever, constantly”. Well, the name’s right, the river is long, and also pretty wide, calm, brown, silty, and has a fair amount of trash. Not a whole lot, but too much; there are actually garbage fishers trolling the waters in some of the more populated areas. Of the three gorges, the first and second were daunting and austere. Gorge number three didn’t impress me as much, but maybe that’s just because I had been through two already. The cruise had a calm, slow feel, perhaps because of the river, or the fact we were stopped almost all day each day visiting tourist villages. Laura may have missed out on them, but Dave and I have become a little desensitized to them.

We spent most of our time on the cruise doing what you should do on vacation, chilling. I bargained for beer at the stops, and Dave got a big bag of sunflower seeds, and with our VIP passes to the upper deck (which wasn’t exactly what you think of when you hear VIP) we were set. We hung out a lot with Huang Can, a 16-year-old girl from a town in Sichuan (where the cruise started). She is on the list of the most courageous people in China. Her English was at conversational level, and with Dave’s Chinese and cell phone dictionaries, we were able to have some great conversations. Not only courageous, but also precocious, hanging out with her was a blast. She was traveling with her mom and grandmother on what was her first trip outside her province (albeit Sichuan is pretty big). She actually ended up taking the bus with us to the next big city and gave me and Dave Chinese practice time, and gave Laura a chance to ask all the questions that being in a foreign country stirs up. We also met some British travelers, and as they were the only other foreigners on the boat (except a creepy southern European looking guy) we naturally gravitated towards them and shared stories over some meals.

On the last day we visited the Three Gorges Dam. Dave and I were both really excited about this, but Laura isn’t nearly as into potentially catastrophic infrastructure and social engineering projects. It’s big, and the locks were pretty impressive. There was no funny “dam tour guide” ala Vegas Vacation and the visitor’s information center should’ve been labeled gift shop. I was disappointed that I couldn’t learn more about it (read: Ken needs to learn how to read Chinese) but it is the world’s largest hydroelectric plant, and they are in the process of adding four more turbines to the 28 current. The overview pamphlet did recognize the “achievement of relocating 1.3 million people. I’ll let you make the judgment on classifying it as an achievement. There were markers on the banks throughout the cruise marking 175 meters. This is the level the river will reach when the dam and reservoir are filled to capacity, which is supposed to be this year. It was easy to see even without the markers, as construction stops well above the bank, and in some places you can see where whole towns used to be. The heightened level is supposed to reach 500 kilometers (310 miles) upstream. Oddly enough, there was Mao Zedong merchandise for sale everywhere around the dam and at all the lookouts. The plans for this damn have been around for a long time, but I am pretty sure it was the development and industrialization that come from not running an autarky that allowed for the damn to be built. On the other hand, sell what sells: I can’t argue with that.

The People's #1 Hospital

At the end of Clay's visit, he got an experience that he certainly did not bargain for. Clay, Dave, and I went over to Steve's house for some Monopoly and beer on Clay's last night. I hadn't been feeling too great that day, but felt good enough, I figured some of the food I had during our trip wasn't sitting too well with me and it would pass. Well, it turned out I was wrong. It ended up being food poisoning, which led to dehydration and low electrolytes, which somehow caused all the muscles in my legs to convulse/tingle/hurt/lock-up. Needless to say, I got freaked out, called Clay, Dave, and then Xingxing, who called the ambulance.

All in all, I made it through my stay in the hospital better than I entered. I'll spare the not so glorious details that no one wants to read, and instead give some observations I have about my stay at what is said to be the best hospital in Changzhou. First, having a sickness with flu like symptoms when China is aggressively trying to prevent H1N1 from entering China is not a good idea. On the ambulance ride and during the first two hours I was there they did nothing to treat or even ask me about my symptoms. All that occurred was a few different rounds of interrogations about where I had traveled, who I had been in contact with, and other questions to determine whether it was the swine flu. The first blood test they did was for the swine flu.

Almost every one of the nurses I had was very kind, attentive, and excited to be taking care of the foreigner. The emergency room was pretty clean and sanitary, and had plenty of nurses. The room I spent most of my time in, though, could've of used a few sanitary upgrades, and most of all, could've used some more nurses...it's not like China's low on labor supply or anything. The bathrooms lacked, as most do in China, any sort of sanitary devices. Now, normally I don't really mind this, but at a hospital, a little cleanliness could go a long way. The thing that upset me the most, and trust me I got pretty upset, was the smoking. In China, you can pretty much smoke anywhere you want to, and the 2/3 of males who do smoke tend to do so. But, I figured (wrongly) that the hospital was somewhere smoking wouldn't be tolerated. Of course, there are no smoking signs up everywhere. But, no one seemed to really enforce this or worry about it. Well, Teddy (my advisor) and I became the no-smoking enforcers during my short stay. My other main complaint was that the Chinese attitude to healing seems to be to "wait it out". I don't deny that time and rest help with recovery, but when I had a high fever, I wanted to combine hydration and fever medicine with time. The nurses didn't agree. I won out after waiting for 12 hours didn't do anything but raise my fever.

I mentioned Teddy, and I will mention him again, because he took a day out of his life to sit by my side at the hospital. He went above and beyond his job duty of managing the foreign teachers and spent a sleepless night with me at the hospital as well as served as translator and cultural difference explainer to me and the Chinese nurses and doctors. He was great. Likewise, Clay, Dave, and Xingxing were absolutely awesome for staying with me the first night, and Xingxing did a spectacular job translating some pretty specific medical terms. After my experience, I'd say that a stay in a Chinese hospital might not be worth the 'experience' or the stories you get to tell later.

Baoying & Dafeng (Clay's visit)

After hitting up Qufu, Clay and I headed down to Baoying, a district belonging to the greater Yangzhou district. Baoying is in central Jiangsu province, on the Grand Canal (still in use, not as grand these days) North of the Yangzi River. This is the poorer, less developed, much more rural part of Jiangsu province. We went to Baoying to visit Jefferson (real name Wu Meng) one of David's students, but a guy I got to know because of his stellar attendance at English corner and great enthusiasm for learning English. I took Clay to visit him for many reasons. Jefferson lives in the country, as do half of the people in China, so it's good to see that. Chinese people (or all that I've met) are some of the most hospitable and caring people I have ever visited. Very cold, reserved, and sometimes off-putting in public, once you get inside their circle, the Chinese are wonderful, if not occasionally quirky, hosts.

Trying to get to Baoying reminded me again of how much Chinese I have to learn. We had some McDonald's with Kerrin and Ashley in Xuzhou, because we had to switch from train to bus there anyways. I had a blast sharing stories with them, as they were headed home in a few days. I'm not sure if Clay got tired of the crazy Chinese stories or not, but sadly, that's about all we wanted to talk about. We got to the right bus station; but the ticket buying did not go smoothly at all. After three non-sensical exchanges (for the teller and me both) I headed over to the customer service window, trying not to hold up the line. There, it seemed like I was able to buy the tickets, but there was some complication in buying them. There was a key word, lukou, that seemed to very important to the woman helping us. Turns out it means highway exit, which I should have figured out (lu means street, kou means opening), but eventually someone in line who spoke English helped us out. It turns out that the big thing was that the bus didn't go into Baoying, but just dropped us off on the side of the road near the exit...yet another Chinese traveling adventure.

Our time in Baoying, after walking off the highway and meeting Jefferson and his dad by the toll booth, was great. Jefferson has worked very hard at improving his English, and he was a great host. He showed us around the area near his house, as well as walked us into the small town near his village, which was very interesting. We checked out the meat/seafood market, which slightly trails American grocery stores in cleanliness and selection. When walking around the small town, we noticed a group gathered in front of a store. It was a big traveling promotion for selling refrigerators (*note-the Chinese stimulus package includes rebates for appliance purchases by rural residents). What makes this mentionable is that just as we approached, we noticed something very out of place in rural Jiangsu province (or China in general): a Thai ladyboy came out to sing a song or two. Now, transexual Asians have never really convinced me to buy home appliances, but apparently it's worth trying in China.

Next on my trip with Clay was Dafeng, the hometown of Zhao Min, one of three senior English majors with whom I have made very good friends. Zhao Min is a lot of fun, mostly because she's a "traditional" Chinese girl (her words, not mine) so it's pretty easy to shock and embarrass her with certain comments. Jefferson's family showed us off with a quick but plentiful meal that almost made us late for our bus. Zhao Min met us right at the bus station, and her sister drove us to their house in her new Honda Civic. It was decked out in major Hello Kitty style on the inside. Zhao Min's sister's financial success is a story of how many of the free market reforms have allowed all sorts of people to get rich in China. Her sister dropped out of school after junior high, but put in long hours, worked diligently, and now is very successful selling large manufacturing equipment to factories and farmers. Visiting Zhao Min's house was very nice, we stayed in her parents room (which is air conditioned) just like we did at Jefferson's. We had a good time walking around the village and seeing some of the peanut and soybean fields which her mother and father still farm. Her parents also run a small hardware store...which was quite a juxtaposition to the big box mammoths back home like Home Depot and Lowe's. We had delicious frog legs (cajun style...but I bet they call it something else in Chinese) as well as astoundingly good crawfish. Clay said he was reminded of some crawfish boils he's attended down in Houston. Like I mentioned at the top, I can't say enough for the wonderful hospitality we received from my students and their families during Clay's visit.

Qufu (Clay's visit)

As a mid way stop between Beijing and Jiangsu province (where I live) Clay and I went to Qufu, which is best known as the home of Confucius, the ever important ancient scholar. Because he lived 2500 years ago, there’s a fair amount of confusion (or distortion) about the specifics of Confucius’ life (even as to exactly if ‘he’ existed). Regardless, his descendents did a fantastic job of promoting his legacy and spreading his philosophical/religious teachings across China and other parts of Asia. He is revered throughout the country, and thus Qufu, where he (supposedly) lived, taught, and is buried, has been restored and is filled with museums and shops. From what I’ve read or heard, I pretty much disagree with all of Confucius’ teachings, but that’s beside the point.
At the center of Qufu is a walled in old city, which contains the Confucius palace, ancient home, and all the shops, etc. It has been rebuilt as a traditional Chinese village, and offers a very nice respite from the wide streets and white tile buildings that are the norm in the rest of the country. We had a really nice time walking around, mostly people watching, and enjoying some of the snacks from the various street vendors. The Confucius Temple was pretty interesting, and had a fair amount of English signs. It was pretty similar to other temples I have visited, but I think Clay really enjoyed it. I had to remember that I have been here for a year, and seen a few ancient Chinese temples, so they don’t seem as neat to me. After checking the temple out, we bought some beers, some tasty food from a street vendor, and sat on one of the park benches and watched the town shut down. I may get tired of temples, but I’ll never get tired of people watching the Chinese.

Clay got to see just how sketchy of hotels I am willing to stay in while we were in Qufu. It was in the guidebook, and as we sauntered through the hallway after climbing some unmarked stairs, a guy came out of a room, and after I asked, walked us into a souvenir shop out on the street. I chatted with the young girl (presumably his daughter) who was super shy and apparently couldn’t speak in English (despite 6 years of English classes). The room was outrageously dusty, the air conditioning didn’t seem to work, our view consisted of a bundle of wires and scrap metal on a roof, but the naked woman image on the tile in the bathroom made up for it all.
We experienced the best thing Qufu has to offer early the next day. We headed to the Confucius Forest, which is located at the edge of town. It was absolutely awesome. The forest is filled with the tombs of almost all of Confucius’ ancestors, as well as his supposed burial area. There are pretty cool, iconic statues at various places near the trail. It seemed as if you couldn’t look in any direction without seeing a large gravestone. For most of our walk, we were the only people around; it was really nice to get out of the bustle, hear the birds chirp, enjoy nature, and the smallness/historical perspective that seeing graves from forty generations of a family gave me.

The funniest thing we saw in Qufu occurred as we walked on some of the outer streets at night, sipping beer and checking out the city. We heard a loudspeaker blasting from some store on a corner. I listened as well as I could and it seemed like there was some sort of contest or games going on. We crossed the street for a better look. Indeed, it was a children’s birthday party inside a restaurant. This restaurant was China’s Best Chicken, or CBC, an almost perfect copy of the widely popular KFC. If the Chinese are good at one thing (and they’re actually good at many) it’s copying American/Western businesses. It’s done in all industries, to many different levels of proficiencies. You’ve heard of fake iPhones or fake purses, but Qufu is boasting it’s very own fake fast food restaurant chain.