Snow Cripples The Country

The effects of global warming are alive and well in China. Changing weather patterns are reeking havoc in the southern provinces (namely Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Guizhou) as snow blankets a region known for its mild winters and multiple yearly harvests. These catastrophic storms happen to coincide with the most chaotic traveling period of the year when hundreds of millions of workers and students travel back to their hometowns to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The recent storms have put a tremendous strain on China’s infrastructure and emergency response system. Millions of people are without electricity as power lines are affected and with most highways closed and trains backed up, power stations are quickly running out of coal to fuel their generators. Many factories, in fact, have been ordered to shut down to conserve the much needed energy.

Many en route find themselves stuck in their idle vehicles for days or camping out in relief tents as complete train stations and airports shut down. In Guangzhou, for example, over 500,000 have taken shelter outside the Guangzhou train station waiting for electricity and a ride home. It is estimated that over 20 million travelers are currently in limbo in the affected provinces.

Conditions aren’t that much better for the local residents. In the south, apartments and buildings are not built with any central heating and with snow piling up and temperatures dropping well below freezing, many people are clearly miserable. Electricity has become sporadic, water pipes have frozen, and food shortages have jacked up the costs of living. Cell phone towers are also responding poorly to the weather – so forget about telling your family that you’re ok.

The central and local governments say they are doing everything they can. Premier Wen Jiaobao has flown down to tackle the crisis and restore hope in the people. The disaster relief seems to be extensive and hefty donations and aid is on its way.

I don’t really know how bad it is down there for the average person, but if CCTV reporters (who love to sugar coat everything) says it’s horrible, then it must be pretty bad. Today’s English news broadcast (on CCTV 9) was fully devoted to reporting on the current disaster: an hour of correspondents saying the weather is bad, normalcy with come at some point, and the government is doing everything it can to address the problem. A typical in depth look at the situation without any interviews given or contingency plans laid out.

Perhaps, I don’t have the right to criticize a developing country’s capabilities to withstand major natural disasters….and I don’t think any American can be proud of the way we handled Katrina. But at least we saw the mess on TV and were deeply affected by the tragedy through images and personal stories. It was a wake up call that although devastating was vital in making us stronger by highlighting our weaknesses. I don’t see that in China. I think the infrastructure will be somewhat reinforced, people will buy more insurance, and possibly buy a gas heater. But major investments made by the country to take preventative action, like buying real snow blows and snow shovels (they use brooms to clear the highways), will not take place if you try to cover-up the misery.

But maybe I’m wrong – China is the best when it comes to playing psychological games. The Communist Party is never to blame since they are always the hero in the story, right? Nonetheless, the propaganda machine becomes less effective when a quarter of the country (larger then the population of America) can not feel their toes.


Today's weather in Beijing is a bit nippy but absolutely gorgeous (can see the mountains from my room).

"The Race": A New TV Drama Globally Broadcasted

For the last few weeks I have been glued to my computer screen reading the latest New York Times articles about the current presidential campaigns while watching speeches and debates on CNN.com. It is of no surprise that I, a young American, would be so concerned and interested in the follow-up to what seems to be the most significant election of my lifetime thus far. Living abroad with Bush as my president has certainly been no walk in the park. I am proud to be American but am ashamed by the actions of our current leader, and more ashamed that he has been democratically elected by my fellow countrymen (its easier to lay compete blame on tyrants and communist leaders). We need change, leadership that will diminish this awful “American shame” that plagues us abroad, a leader that will help America become the largest exporter of hope and optimism once again, a leader that the world can respect. This election will unquestionably be a turning point in our history and the worlds.

At first, I felt disappointed in the notion that I was going to miss all of the action and the juicy political discourse that runs rampant in America during such election years. However, I am finding that the coverage of this primary season is being reported and discussed worldwide, and many are listening in as intently as I am. It is almost as if everyone has something at stake.

This latest landslide by Obama in South Carolina has become a major headline in China. My students are interested in figuring out whether I am a Hillary supporter or Obama supporter (being Republican doesn’t make much sense to them – and I don’t blame them). During a lesson this morning I spent an hour talking about race in America and how although it plays a role in the decisions of many voters, it should be somewhat of a non-issue on the campaign trail – it just happens that the best man with the best vision to lead our country into the 21st century happens to be a black man.

I had a few beers with a group of Kenyan government employees last weekend. Of course they were dreadfully concerned about their own country and the political violence that has recently erupted there while they have been on business (they “don’t subscribe to any violent behavior” nor do they vocally support a side, but rather hope for stability). But, they also can’t help but follow the campaigns in America. They are all rooting for Obama, mainly because his father comes from Kenya, but said that they would be happy with anyone but Bush. They also said they would consider Hillary, except that she scared a few of them.

We talked about Kenya’s corrupt politics and America’s corrupt president for hours but the most captivating thing I learned that night was Kenyan’s preferences to classic rock over faster music like hip-hop – “like Bon Jovi, he's the best” one muttered.

Harbin

Here is an account of an extremely short but fun trip that I took to Harbin last weekend with my girlfrind to see the world-famous Ice Lantern Festival. It's more for personal record, but you can read it if you want.

First, let me start by describing the mafan (trouble) I had to endure while trying to acquire train tickets to this subzero city in the Northeast (Dongbei). The peak season for public transportation, especially by rail, has come. The coastal cities are pumping hundreds of thousands of workers and university students to their hometowns every day in preperation for the Spring Festival, a traditonal family-oriented Chinese holiday beginning with Chinese New Year on February 7th. In China, you must buy your ticket in person in the city of departure. Many hole in the wall ticket vendors scatter the city, regconizable by the long lines that follow on the sidewalks. Usually, these vendors suffice if you arrive the same day the tickets go on sale - 7 days prior to departure. However, this time of year, tickets sell out in the matter of minutes. Because of the low expectations I've learned to bring when dealing with the Chinese railway system, our failure to purchase said tickets was not at all shocking.

FRIDAY

I was still optomistic though - every train has what you call wuzuo piao (standing tickets) that they give to basically anyone who is willing to come to the train station, stand in a long line contstantly halted by tellers with small bladders or cutters with no concept of civil order, and then squabble with the teller until he or she gives in. I had done this dozens of times in the past, and I was confident that I could easily get standing tickets for a friday night train. However, that Friday afternoon, hours before our planned departure, I was crushed to discover that all of the wuzuo piao were sold out - which didn't make sense to me at the time. After collecting myself and realizing all trian (and plane) tickets were sold out for that day, I spent two hours holding a makeshift sign that said "Harbin" in the tuipiao ting (the ticket return hall). I wasn't the only one trying to buy people's unwanted tickets. There seemed to be a mob of us and a few middlemen trying to make a buck - at one point I had three guys working for me in my desperate search. As hope faded, I made one more attempt at the ticket counter, but eventually was stuck buying standing tickets for a Saturday morning train that would roll into Harbin at around 5 pm - God, I hate Chinese train stations.

SATURDAY

The train station was absolutley packed in the wee hours of the morning. That should have been a hint that the train wasn't going to be much different. They had sold so many standing tickets that they literally had to squeeze us in like sardines (this is the first time Iv'e used this phrase and have actually meant it). We were so compressed in the train car that it was impossible to even bend your knees much less sit down on a newspaper (the normal procedure for those without seats). After a few hours of wiggling and vying for space (using my size to my advantage), we managed to sit on our bags for most of the trip. I now understand why they sell out of standing tickets, and in retrospect I am glad that I was unable to get them for the Friday night train – I’m not sure if I would have been able to keep my sanity for 11 hours crouching and suffocating throughout the night. At one point a congenial older man offered us his seat for the last 3 hour stretch, which helped ease the nerves in my lower back.

I had visited Harbin on my return to Beijing in 2006 via Vladivostok, but that was during a cool summer month. The temperature had now dropped to -30 degrees Celsius (do the conversion yourself) – but trust me when I say it was damn frigid. By the time I had walked from the train to the taxi, the insides of my nostrils were frozen, my ears were stinging, and I was wishing I had worn long johns on the train. Harbin, a city of 10 million people, was as chaotic as I had remembered it. Last time I was here, we (my father, brother, and I) had no hotel reservation and even worse, no Chinese money. This time, I was better prepared. Still, not having left Beijing for 8 months, I was initially taken back by the shadiness of the Harbin taxi drivers and their horrendous driving. On the way to the hotel and throughout the trip, our drivers would swerve around pedestrians and often slam on the brakes to ask them to jump in – a sketchy attempt to double their intake/profits.

Since we didn’t have much time left in the day, we threw on few layers (double socks, double gloves, triple everything else), grabbed a bite at a local xiaochi (Chinese diner, kinda), and headed to Zhaolin Park (the original location of the Ice Festival). Once being a boy that took pride in building massive snowmen, I was more than impressed when I saw what they had done with large blocks of ice. It felt bizarre walking up a three story building of ice and as you might have imagined, quite challenging getting down – my girlfriend is still recovering from a number of major spills. The park was covered in funky structures, bridges, and statues all made of ice but the highlight, however, was the exhibition of sculptures made by teams from different countries. Some tried to convey the artistic representation of their country while others were merely fun yet detailed dioramas. We ended the night by taking a chance on a massive ice slide (a thrilling but painful experience that we would repeat over and over again throughout the following Sunday).

SUNDAY

We started our day at the St. Sophia Cathedral. This was a Russian church left over when the Russians controlled the region more than a century ago. Russians still come into Harbin in bus loads to go shopping and do business. Throughout the city I would see many Russian signs and vodka shops, with a few locals mistaking me for a lao maozi (The name given the Russians meaning “hairy ones”). As we walked through the shopping streets of Harbin, a commercial area blending new mammoth shopping centers and architecturally preserved Russian buildings, I was taken back by the number of people not phased by the cold. My camera was malfunctioning from the cold yet many were walking around with no gloves or hats on while others chilled at the ICE BAR – an igloo type bar with everything made of ice… including the ash trays.

When we finally made it to the frozen Song Jiang (Song river), we found hundreds of people ice skating, ice sliding, carriage riding, and gliding around on chairs with blades while using ski poles to push themselves along (whatever floats their boat). There was also a section of the frozen river where a race track had been constructed, and for a nominal fee you could speed around to achieve the thrill of drifting at every turn.

On the other side of the river we found another park with snow sculptures. The size of these works of art were considerably larger than those of the previous night. I thought they were again spectacular and can’t even pretend to know how difficult it was to produce them. Some of the human figures were twenty, thirty feet tall with facial expressions so real it gave me the creeps. They park had a frozen pond full of fun activities and figure skating shows performed by Russian skaters while horses, deer, huskies, and even yaks helped in the festivites (and for a dollar you could have your picture taken with one).

After recharging the batteries at the hotel and filling up on some Harbin beer and hot fish pot (yu guo), a popuar dish in Dongbei that keeps you warm as the fire burns under the pot in front of you, we made our way to main event. This was a large amusement type park managed by a Russian company and may be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I was like Disneyland made of ice. We’re talking about close to life size ice structures of the Forbidden City, Thai temple’s, the Corinthian, the Great Wall, Stonehedge, and much more. There were ice slides, mazes, skating, skiing, snowmobiling, rope climbing, and sledding. It was cold, but the wind wasn’t bad and there was so much to do, we hardly suffered. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed feeling like a kid again.

MONDAY

The next day, we got up early and hoped into a taxi to the airport. After receiving a phone call from an important client, the driver tried told us we were going to be late and that his cab wasn’t fast enough to get to the airport on time. After failing twice in having shoving us into other taxis with passengers already in them, we hit the gas and got us there with more than enough time. To add to this tense morning, the airport employees were extremely disrespectful and very short with us. I later found out from my students that Dongbei people have a bad reputation of being generally impolite (because of the cold I guess), so much that many companies will skip over cities like Harbin on promotional tours and product exhibitions.

But all in all, it was great to get out of Beiing, even just for a weekend. I came to Harbin because of the Bing Deng Jie (Ice Lantern Festival). I now realize that the whole city takes part in this festival with no central location. And indisputably I saw some of the world’s best ice sculptures, snow structures, and undoubtedly the most amazing ice city.

Drinking Happiness In My Mouth in North Capital

When referring to proper nouns, I generally think of names like William, Ventura Boulevard, Miami, and Connecticut. In an alphabetized language like English, we are able to create an endless arrangement of letters to create the names of individuals and places. And more importantly, phonetic languages can make a name pronounceable regardless of your familiarity with it.

Chinese, as you might have imagined does not work the same way. Practically every character has meaning. So instead of proper nouns being made up of letters with sounds, they are made up of characters with meanings. Naturally, some of our proper nouns in America may have meant something in a historical context and may have been borrowed from the French, Spanish, and Native American languages, but these words no longer hold any real meaning - they are just names. “America” simply comes from Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer and discoverer of the New World.

But names in China always have a meaning. If you translate the name of China (Zhongguo) you get “The Middle Kingdom.” Beijing means “North Capital”, Shanghai means “Seaside City” and Hong Kong (Xiang Gang in Mandarin) means “Fragrant Harbor.”

In addition to the disadvantages of not having a phonetic language, Communism also plays a role in eliminating unique labels and place names that may glorify any one individual over the commune. So instead of street names like Bleeker St. or Melrose Place, Beijing has names like “Eternal Tranquility Avenue”, “Peaceful Avenue”, and “Diplomatic Gate Avenue.” The schools and hospitals have no proper names, just numbers, and the titles of universities demonstrates how China in many ways is a planned society with names like Geology University, Agriculture University, Petroleum University, and so on. Because I am a non-native speaker, it doesn’t seem that outlandish to me seeing as I learn the Chinese names of most places before I learn their meanings. But if I strictly spoke in English, I would awkwardly describe my residence as next to Forestry University, between Double Clarity St. and Campus St., and in a complex called Clear and Splendid Maple Gardens.

Another struggle is taking foreign names and finding the right Chinese characters to produce the same sounds, more or less, and often at the same time making sure those characters have correlating meanings. For example, KeKou Kele (Coca Cola) meaning happiness in my mouth, MeiGuo (America) beautiful country, and XiTeLe (Hitler) a strange force.

Chinese will continue to be a difficult language to grasp by those in the West with its characters and tones, but with the emergence of Pinyin, the phonetic representation of Chinese characters, it has become easier to learn Mandarin. Not only that, but Pinyin is needed for typing and text messaging, therefore every young person and professional must use it. I am aware of the culture and history embedded in characters and that it would put immense strain on the country as a whole to translate its libraries and historical works, but I do believe that Mandarin will someday transition into a phonetic language. Korea did it not so long ago, and I truly believe that China must follow suit as modern society commands our brain to accelerate the process of learning language in order to spend more time using it for everything else.

No Paper Nor Plastic

China has recently banned the use of plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other shops to chip away at the nations growing consumption of oil and looming environmental crisis. It is reported that China uses about 3 billion plastic bags a day, allocating 37 million barrels of oil annually. The bags also are banned from all public transportation, including buses, trains and planes and from airports and scenic locations.

Environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, praised China's move, and the president of Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization in Washington, said "China is ahead of the U.S. with this policy.” Agreed.

Because these flimsy bags are used once and discarded, adding to waste in a country grappling with air and water pollution as a result of rapid economic transformation, I think this is a positive stride towards a greener China. Clearly, there is more to be done, but such new policies keep more optimistic (compared to last week when I ranted about the end of the world).

Zhang Bin Two-Times His Wife

Last week a live ceremony was held to honor the achievements of CCTV 5, China’s central sports broadcasting channel, and to officially change its name to CCTV Olympics. The host of this very special occasion was no other than CCTV 5 director Zhang Bin. Zhang Bin became a celebrity in China during the last decade through his passionate broadcasting of Chinese football (soccer). His marriage to a Beijing Television (BTV) broadcaster also helped him reach notoriety among the Chinese people. However, in the middle of the event, his wife stormed the stage with a microphone to say this:

“Today it is a special day for the Olympic channel, and it is a special day for Zhang Bin, and also it is a special day for me, because two hours ago I found out that, in addition to with me, mister Zhang has been supporting an inappropriate relation with another woman”

If these were US celebrities, this story would be on the cover of every tabloid and talked about on Good Morning America – and then forgotten. Such incidents can actually propel a person into ultra-stardom as they did for Paris Hilton and Monica Lewinsky. But in China, the media is all hush hush, tabloids don’t exist, and the word on the street is that she is already in jail for smearing the name of a respectable CCTV official on live television, and for indecently exposing private matters that could cause to social degradation and more importantly make the Communist Party television station look bad.

In fact, the Wall Street Journal has already written up a story. As I suspected, the cheating and vigilante justice given was not the concern – today’s Americans couldn’t care less. But, the main concern that the Journal addressed was how unprofessional CCTV handled the events and how seemingly lax the security was in diffusing the situation. If the central government can’t host a live ceremony about a TV station effectively, how can they be expected to host the 2008 Summer Olympics? They do not have any experience hosting anything even close to that magnitude and have never had to deal with any significant terrorist threats. With the limelight on China for the whole month of August, it should be interesting (for the better or for the worse).

Here is the Youtube clip of the wife on the stage (but if you don’t know Chinese, you won’t understand a word) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LoRTJZw2w

I'm OK... for now

For the last few months the New York Times has been publishing a series of articles titled “Choking on Growth” to shed light on China’s ongoing struggle to balance economic development with environmental protection. These lengthy articles are full of stories and interesting facts demonstrating the massive scale of pollution China currently creates as its coal-powered factories continue to blacken the sky, chemical waste is dumped into rivers, and the growing middle class takes to the road on four wheels. It’s a very informative series with some actual jaw-dropping statistics.

However, the latest article in the series, talking about Beijing’s not so blue skies, went a bit overboard. The facts were not fabricated, like they sometimes are in Chinese news publications, but the tone of the article was extremely out of line. The language used to describe Beijing’s pollution problem made it sound as if I was living in a nuclear winter with a low chance of survival. My mother’s coworkers persuaded her to call me to make sure I was OK. I told her that there was nothing unusual going on here, Beijing is often polluted, in fact, the situation has improved since I first came to China.

The author referred to environmental progress as “illusory” and the validity of Beijing’s pollution rating system as a “common” concern, which seems irresponsible to me. After reading this diatribe of speculation and skepticism, clearly playing the tune of anti-Chinese sentiment, I felt a deep sense of disappoint in my favorite source of current information. Clearly, living in Beijing, you learn to smell bullshit a mile away, but I was naïve to ever believe that an American free and independent journalist wasn’t capable of producing widespread propaganda.

This is how I see it. The Chinese journalist writes propaganda because that is his job. He is an employee of the government, and must focus on or omit certain stories and details to propagate the policies and morals of the Communist Party while ensuring social stability. In the US, we take pride in our ideals, especially the freedom of speech, and expect our media to report as a free and independent entity without any agenda. But journalists are individuals from all different backgrounds, races, religions, and nationalities and to write without showing personal bias is no easy task. The New York Times is an American newspaper, and the majority of the journalists are Americans with American families. With pollution becoming a global issue and China becoming for the first time this year the largest emitter of CO2, those American families are starting to feel threatened by this detrimental trend in the Far East. Consequently, American journalists like to spout nationalistic propaganda to paint a picture of an irresponsible and menacing China that must be dealt with and pressured to change their ways…

That’s were my logic begins to contradict. On one hand, every country has the right to develop. Every person has the inalienable right to live a healthy life and purse happiness and prosperity for him and his family. The West does not have the power to restrict a developing country from growing at a certain rate that creates a certain amount of pollution. In fact, it’s awfully hypocritical to even suggest emission caps for a country like China considering most factories (China’s largest source of pollution) are foreign owned or make products for foreigners, primarily for Americans. China is the world’s factory, and Americans and Europeans have blue skies and clean water not because we have policies and standards supported by our developed economies, but because most of our industry no longer exists at home. And to deny a family a car, just doesn’t seem very American to me. Yes, we will continue to create awareness about the need for energy efficiencies and public transportation networks but unless you want Chinese people to stop supporting their families and stop producing the things we need to live, then you should think twice about blaming China for being in a pollution crisis.

On the other hand, if China and India continues to develop at this rate for the next few decades and the world economy continues to demand the production of goods and commodities to a richer and hungrier proliferating world population, the Earth will become less and less inhabitable. As glaciers melt away the world’s rivers (especially the Ganges, Yellow, and Yangtze), parts of China and India (2.4 billion people) will turn into a wasteland without water, Earth’s gift to man. Sea levels will rise, eliminating whole countries, drowning financial centers, and sparking wars as refugees from the coast overwhelm neighboring countries. Famine, Poverty, War, Disease, Annihilation. A global catastrophe of this magnitude is sadly more than likely, but inevitable unless we as humans change our ways….

But how? The Chinese will continue to provide for their families without any concern for global warming. Americans will continue to consume what the Chinese produce and only “think” about using green technology as long as certain lobbyists and politicians are in bed together. Awareness is the first step, but to point fingers at any one country like China is ludicrous, unhelpful, and should be construed as irrational journalism (that’s why there is an editorial section).

I am afraid, as a human race, we developed too fast. We found a source of energy that gave us a better life, but would eventually take it away. It’s a cynical view of the future - I will continue to cogitate and brainstorm possible preventative actions against this seemingly inevitable Armageddon, but I must go now and pick up my shirts at the dry cleaners.

Xinnian Kuaile!!

Because Chinese New Years followed by Spring Festival is a two-week long traditional holiday celebrated during the month of February, International New Years on the 1st of January (known as Yuandan) is not given much importance. While China’s schools and companies take the day off to relax, expats use this holiday to sleep through their hangovers.

On New Years Eve in Beijing, there are no TVs with a dropping ball, no fireworks, no public gathering of people with funny hats blowing on those things that make the quintessential New Years sound (and can be used to harass the ears/eyes of a younger brother). Nonetheless, this wouldn’t discourage me. The festivities at my girl’s bar were a great success - Koreans ate cake (a Korean favorite for every celebratory occasion), my friends and I took shots of tequila while playing dice games, and when it came time (approximately- I had forgotten to align my cell phone clock with the atomic clock) we counted down and cheered “Xinnian Kuaile!” This naturally queued Auld Lang Syne, long kisses, and the popping of balloons that had been hanging from the ceiling.

My New Years Day, traditionally spent watching football and feasting, was spent tutoring English, eating McDonalds, and watching Sideways (a movie about a depressed wino).

Regardless, I attended a first-rate Beijing New Years Eve bash. Certainly, it wasn’t like the insidious streets of Montreal or the blissful ski slops of Vermont, but I wouldn’t be surprised if future historians refer to 2008 as China’s “Olympic Year” – a coming out party for the whole world to see – a party I can’t afford to miss.