temple of heaven park

你好
ni haaaaao

last saturday i revisited my favorite place in beijing with my BLCU classmates... the temple of heaven! i loved visiting over the summer on my weekend trip to beijing, because of the unique architecture, the old-china atmosphere, and the huge procession ways that send your imagination spinning. you can totally envision an imperial ceremony taking place with hundreds of people, animals, etc.

somewhere in the temple's history, the surrounding park became a gathering place for beijingers... the opening scene of "farewell my concubine" takes place in the 1920s and there are kungfu groups and opera singers performing, people selling street food, and socializing. today, those traditions live on, as you can see below! i really feel this is the most authentic place to spend time in the city. it's lao beijing [old beijing] at it's proudest.

calligraphy using water and brush-shaped sponges on a stick


calligraphy for beginners


bakhtiyar and i overlooking the actual temple complex


one of countless groups of senior citizens drinking tea and playing cards, majong, or dominos


a father and son watching a chorus performance (which eventually made my day by switching gears and belting out celine dion's "my heart will go on"). everyone knows that one of my favorite things about china is seeing parents and especially grandparents out with grandchildren. spending time with the extended family is paramount here, and people truly enjoy it. it makes your heart happy to see!


the piercing, high-pitched peking opera with traditional music


ballroom dancing! at least a hundred couples, some with loads of style. these two old men gave emma and faith a warm welcome and included them with some simple steps. sooooooo cute... i got a turn eventually too!



so that was our lovely saturday morning at tiantan, temple of heaven. in the afternoon, we had lunch together, then went to the famous beijing pearl market. al the boys got sweet gifts for their ladies back home, and fake cologne downstairs for themselves, ha. i may or may not have purchased some gifts for a loved one back at the ranch...!!!! anyway, the highlight of this shopping expedition was testing how much our bargaining skills have improved (aka, a lot). the pearl market has a reputation for being much more reasonable than other markets... and i still managed to take 1/3 or 1/2 off my prices. i think my strongest points are:

1) even when i am trying, i sort of look like a slob. i am always too lazy/forgetful to put on jewelry or anything nicer than tennis shoes, so the "poor student" thing goes a long way for me.
2) my chinese has gotten good enough for me to talk in circles and at least nudge for native-speaker pricing.
3) i give harsh speeches about how my mother is chinese and will get angry and "DA" me if the quality of what i am buying sucks (oops... did i just give something away?!)
4) i will take the tiiiiiime. from my experience, this is the most effective method. people get so tired of you! they eventually want to have money in their hands and have you go away. on my biggest ticket item i spent 45 minutes choosing, getting to know the salespeople, haggling, and finally buying.

on the downside, shopping in china is exhausting. you come home feeling like you have run a marathon or fought a battle. if xmas shopping kills us at home, can you imagine what it would be like here?!

all in all, saturday was a very "beijing" day :)

chinese film museum

ni hao ni hao. it's 12:30 in the morning and i haven't begun a chinese essay due tomorrow. the logical thing to do instead? blog :) really... it's been too long!

this week, our chinese film professor is in america (first stop: stanford university for a speaking event!) so our class had a field trip in place of our usual lecture and screening. we went to beijing's chinese film museum, which is very cool but awkwardly large and in the middle of nowhere. anyway, i will take this opportunity to share some of the stuff i have learned about chinese film.

the picture below is from the imax theater inside the museum, which most recently showed "avatar." interesting backstory: the film industry in china has been historically controlled by the party because of its precious propaganda function. the government used to be the sole financier of films, and today it still finances the majority made in china. although blatant propaganda has gone out of style, patriotic films are still encouraged. "confucius," an epic about the sage which propagates education, traditional values, etc. was released this february. unfortunately, this was right alongside "avatar," whose hype was unbeatable and attracted the largest box office sum in chinese history. china only allows 20 foreign films to be screened here a year, so for one to steal the spotlight this way was a huge issue. at first, the government reacted by canceling "avatar" showings and increasing "confucius" showings, but the backlash was intense so they let off.


here are jimmy and i with a familiar face... jackie chan in "rumble in the bronx" attire. from talking with my language partner, i understand that chinese actors/actresses that "go international" like chan are judged by their countrymen on the level of "chineseness" that they maintain through it all. gong li for instance... traitor. she starred in many of china's most important films thanks to her working relationship with china's golden director, zhang yimou. but after a falling out with him, she became famous abroad and married a singaporean businessman/attained singaporean citizenship. not cool. chan, on the other hand, is famous abroad but stays true to a chinese art (kungfu) and plays distinctly "chinese" characters.


bruce lee, emma, ollie and jimmy in the last scene of "fists of fury." i am ashamed to say i still haven't watched a bruce lee movie. aiya!


below, an exhibit about the film "地道战“ or "tunnel warfare." did you know... "tunnel warfare" is the most watched film in history? i had never heard of it until forced to watch in class! but this film (1965) is like, i don't know, the "lion king" of china. everyone has to see it and kids especially love it. it's about clever villagers who overcome their lack of arms and experience by building a network of tunnels to fight the japanese in the 1937 war of resistance. it's militant but also comedic, most of the film is (1) rallying around mao zedong's writings (2) outwitting dumb japanese brutes who chase the villagers around, fall into booby traps, etc. my language partner confirmed, along with many others, that this was her childhood favorite, which inspired my final research project topic: media influence on chinese perception of the japanese.


overall, my impression of chinese film so far is: awesome. in reality, that is probably because i am immersed and therefore interested in all-things-china, and because my expectations were really low to begin with (i couldn't sit through "the last emperor" back in the day. could you?!) this is all coming from someone who barely watches movies in the first place and could hardly be considered an enthusiast. but our professor provides a great framework for us to look through. he says, china had a clear-cut, long standing identity for hundreds of generations. then, the 20th (and 21st) centuries brought movements that pulled and pushed china in all kinda of directions, but all were different from what china really was. because film is an art of those centuries, chinese film is simply a great debate. "who were we?" "who are we?" "how did we become this way?" and "who do we actually want to be?"

the never-ending city

every week is an adventure. i thought i would take it easy since i returned from thailand exhausted and with a cold, but beijing decided otherwise! i feel like i could stay here many more months, and still have something to new do, every single day.

on thursday our class took a field trip to the beijing office of the american chamber of commerce. we were hosted by mariel montouri, a 25 year old brazilian woman who grew up all over the world, including connecticut and shanghai. she has now worked at am-cham for 3 months. her intern, maxine, is from davidson university in north carolina. mariel and maxine first gave us the standard speech about what am-cham does, then led a question-answer session all about what it is like to graduate and then come work in china. this was a hugely interesting talk, since many of us have this dream for after graduation, but of course we are intimidated by the prospect of starting from scratch in the crazy chinese business world.

to my delight, mariel emphasized that finding a job in china is (1) easier, and (2) more fun than you might think. as long as you are willing to come to beijing and go through the process in person, it can be done. applying from america is 100% useless. also, you MUST apply through shuren... familiar people or acquaintances. if the person on the other side does not know who you are or wasn't told specifically to look at your resume... no chance. so keep in touch with every single person you meet in china. i'm taking her advice seriously!



on friday, we went as a group to the tailor shop that made our program director's wedding tux, and his wife's gown. when americans come to china, they often get tailored clothing because it is so relatively cheap. for example, my roommate jen got a suit and interchangeable skirt custom made for 850 renminbi... less than 130 usd. i ordered a custom copy of a shanghai tang designed silk qipao (traditional chinese dress) which cost 470 renminbi or 70 usd. jen and i both bargained our items down about 200 renminbi.



on saturday, a few of us went with jada to visit the lama temple (yonghe gong). the temple was built during the qing dynasty as a sign of friendship and respect to tibetan buddhist leaders. jada taught us the proper way to pray with incense at a buddhist temple. the grounds were really nice, but the best part was just being out and about in the pretty fall scenery.




that afternoon, we continued to the confucius temple and "campus" nearby. this is historic epicenter of scholarship in china, where potential civil servants took the confucian-based exams in hopes of attaining positions. during the ming dynasty, the odds of testing at the top level were 1 in 10,000. people think that is stunning, but it seems to me that the situation today is even worse! more and more people have access to education, so the competition literally becomes more fierce every day. pressure begins in elementary school, because elementary school grades and exit tests determine entry into middle school (then middle to high school, then high school to college, then college to career, etc.) i complained about SAT class junior year of high school... but chinese 2nd graders are already in my shoes!

the second picture is from the temple's exhibit on confucius's life. he was basically an ordinary guy... except perfect. and today, 1.4 billion people live by his philosophy. most influential man in the world? maybe it's because i am in the thick of it, i certainly think so.



one more sidenote from this week: in film class we watched "assembly," a 2007 film by feng xiaogang. i highly recommend it to anyone who likes war movies, even though that person will immediately pick up on cinematic elements ripped off from "saving private ryan." nevertheless, it's an amazing movie about a war that the rest of the world doesn't know much about... the chinese civil war, which raged from the end of WWII to 1949. plus, it features an all-star cast from china's contemporary film world. it's easy to find online because the director surrendered the rights... he wants anyone to be able to watch it. just beware: grown men will shed tears watching this film.


andddd finally, i promised more reflection on thailand but i think i will have to do that later. tomorrow i am going to the famous capital museum with faith after chinese class, so i will probably add pictures and comments again soon. maybe i'll get to it then!

bienvenue à backpacker paradise

i guess it pretty much goes without saying... thailand was wonderful! caroline, mallory and i packed a lot of action into 9 days of travel, so once again, i am going to go the "photo-journal" route, instead of trying to narrate every detail. ideally, i can give a summary of our trip, and later (when i have mentally rested and recovered) write about some of my observations and thoughts... especially concerning the worlds of difference between thailand and china.

these pictures are from our chaotic first 24 hours in thailand. it goes like this: on friday at noon, we finished our midterms. we threw our stuff into our bags and headed to the airport, arrived in bangkok at midnight, then our hotel at 1 am. slept from 1-4 am, then got in a cab to the city and on a bus/catamaran combination that put us on the southern island of ko phangan at 5 pm in the afternoon. why? three words: full - moon - party... the legendary, monthly congregation of 10,000+ people on thailand's beaches who want nothing except to party all night. hey, we're young. it's epic. we had to make it. and yes, that is a dog in the refrigerator of the bus stop.




when we arrived in ko phangan, every hostel was full to the brim, including the one with which we had been corresponding. no worries... this is thailand! we were offered deluxe and FREE accommodation on the roof. i kid you not. no photos were taken that evening because caroline mallory and i would really like to get jobs some day. but the signage and 10 am "morning-after rave" basically sum it up. this party even has a website, if you really want to know more. http://fullmoonparty-thailand.com/




from then on, we were good little tourists. seriously! we hopped on the first ferry off that island (which IMMEDIATELY loses its appeal when the party's over... yikes) to ko samui, thailand's paradise for all people. high-end resorts or hostels on the beach, you choose. we took a tour around the island on monday. mommy, the first picture is for you. you would be proud, toyota is VERY present in thailand and especially dominates the tourism vehicle market. next is caroline holding a monkey, who got us coconuts to drink from the top of trees. and finally, a picture of the trio :)




on that tour, typical methods of sucking extra money out of travelers were utilized, e.g. dropping us off at the base of this mountain and telling us that we could climb 30 minutes to the waterfall at the top, or ride elephants for 700 baht to another waterfall. of the entire van full of people, the three of us and one brazilian girl were the only to climb to the top! it was rather dangerous work but tons of fun, and the swim at the top was so cold and refreshing and perfect. we definitely earned our [deliciousss] green curries from the night market that evening.




we also used ko samui as a base to make a day trip to an thong national park, an archipelago of 42 preserved islands about 2 hours away. it monsoon-rained the whole ride out, but once we got there the clouds magically cleared and made for an amazing day :) from the boat, we were able to island-hop, kayak, hike to incredible view points, and even have a buffet lunch! all our guides were hilarious, as was the company of other travelers (germans, canadians and brits for the most part)




this is nothing more than the obligatory picture with thai transexuals... yay for the most sexually tolerant nation in the world! the word on the street is true, some of them are more beautiful than women. depressing?


i think the highlight of our trip was rock climbing in railey beach. midweek, we took ferries and buses from the eastern islands to the west coast of the mainland, or krabi province. railey is famous because (1) it's gorgeous and (2) it attracts all kinds of climbers... beginners and experts can both have a great experience there. i have been on many a rock wall in my days as a summer camper, but this was my first time actually scaling rock faces... and in the most stunning scenery i could have imagined. our guide, soley, was so chill and patient, we felt so lucky to have him with us the entire day (which only cost 65 USD for pickup, gear, a guide, lunch, water, and climbing from 9 am to 5 pm).




on friday night, we took an overnight bus from krabi to bangkok, stopping at sketchy jungle bus stations every few hours along the way. sort of a blurry night. arrived in the city at 7 am the next morning, welcomed by omnipresent pictures of the thai royal family. i have seen them so much i feel like they are my bffls!



when in bangkok, tuk-tuk! tuk-tuks are the little three-wheeled vehicles that tote tourists all around. on saturday morning we ditched our stuff at a hostel, nommed some street food, and got straight to seeing the city. this is the grand palace, the craziest, shiniest, most unique collection of architecture i've ever seen. sweet.



in the afternoon we recharged by the river with more street food... things sampled throughout the week include: thai iced tea, fresh fruit juices, coconut ice cream with sweet corn, mango and sticky rice, taro pancakes, banana roti crepes, fish ball noodles, spring rolls, pad thai (duh), fried rice, and finally, the best fresh pineapple slices ever.



these pictures are from wat pho, one of bangkok's most important temples. it is home to the largest reclining buddha in the world, and the sacred art of thai massage (which costs about 6 USD per hour). mmmm.



since we are studying abroad in china, we HAD to visit bangkok's chinatown to explore and have a meal! it was fantastically bustling, with all these restaurants pouring out onto the street and churning out fresh seafood like nobody's business. after so much time in transit and a crazy day all over bangkok... we slept like rocks on our last night in paradise.



on sunday our flight wasn't scheduled to leave till 7 pm, so we spent the afternoon at bangkok's massive "weekend market," which is BY FAR the coolest, hugest market i have ever been to. sorry china... beats anything you can offer. i probably could have spent two entire days there... caroline and mallory did not share my enthusiasm and had to peel me away at noon. my last picture in the city basically sums it up, chang beer tshirt and a seven 11! these convenience stores are EVERYWHERE, even in random villages we passed through. basically, seven 11 : thailand :: starbucks : washington dc.



and that 7 pm flight? that didn't happen. after a suspiciously long wait, we were told our flight was canceled (very bad news for three girls that were supposed to be in class at 9 am the next morning). we were given a $6 meal voucher, which buys NOTHING in an airport, and told to wait until 1 am for the next flight. we were quite bitter as we boarded, knowing we'd arrive in beijing about 7 am in the morning, until we were seated in BUSINESS CLASS and all that bitterness was replaced by giddy excitement, free slippers, reclining chairs, and red wine. i walked into class at 9 am feeling like the queen of thailand :P