Goodbye China!

After a month in China I’m finally back home. It’s such a stark contrast from life in Tianjin, a life I had gotten surprisingly used to in just a month’s worth of time. Every day was so full of learning and activity that it seems we were there longer than we really were. Every time somebody asks me how my trip was, I don’t even know where to begin. In such a short span we saw so much of China, not just geographically, but culturally. We saw the important landmarks of China such as the great wall, the terracotta soldiers, and so on. All of the so called cultural heritage landmarks were visited, and appreciated for their history, beauty, and cultural importance. We got to see important sights from different eras of China’s history, and through this we could get a feel for China’s tremendous history and its rich culture. But we also learned about Chinese culture day to day as we went to class and as we walked the streets near our school. Every day as we went about our daily business, we learned more about how things are done in China. We went to the bank and realized people don’t mind cutting lines, and will do so when given the chance. We rode in taxis, and feared for our lives as cars swerved in and out of lanes. By day three, we realized that some of our Chinese acquaintances hadn’t changed their shirt since we first met them, and nobody seemed to find this strange. We walked on the streets and learned that our little group of foreigners was fair game to be stared at by every person we passed. We went shopping and learned that every storekeeper will try to convince you their goods are real, and that you’re not getting a good deal unless you bargain down to around half the original price. We ate in Chinese restaurants and tried things like jellyfish and donkey. We watched people do strange and rude things such as pick their nose in public, spit on the street, or smoke inside buildings. But we also saw that despite some of these rude appearances, nearly every person we talked to or met in China was extremely helpful and kind. Essentially, we lived, ate, and breathed all things Chinese for 3 weeks straight and it was an amazing experience. We learned things that we couldn’t have if we’d just been tourists moving from city to city to see all the big sites. As students we got to settle in, and really experience something resembling life in China. Some things were fantastic and exciting, and other things were not so agreeable, but either way it was an experience I certainly will never forget, and an experience I am extremely grateful to have.

Beijing Opera

Being an Beijing opera character is not as easy as you might think. Trust me, I only had to dress up as one and pose for maybe ten minutes, and I could barely handle it. The whole process of getting made up and watching others get their makeup was both amusing and fun. However, one by one, as soon as the headdress came on, each of us would wince a bit, and after ten minutes we were dying for it to come off. The headdresses are there not only for decoration, but to pinch and lift the eyebrows and eyes up at a more angular slant. The result is a sharp headache within minutes. Apparently real opera actors have their headdresses tied on even tighter so that as they move across the stage there is no risk of their head pieces falling off. I can’t imagine wearing something like that for hours at a time while simultaneously acting, fighting, and singing. Simply posing for a camera while wearing the thing was quite a feat. The teacher would think for a moment then gracefully strike a pose, and I would shuffle my feet about awkwardly trying to mimic her position. She has mastered the art of moving with both beauty and strength, and she carries this poise with her on and off the stage. It is a difficult thing to imitate.

Beijing opera actors and actresses are incredibly talented. Unlike their western counterparts, they must not only act, sing and speak, but dance, fight, and move in special opera styles. The Beijing opera is a culmination of many arts in a single performance. In preparation for being an opera actress, our teacher studied from the age of 12. It is easy to see many aspects of what she learned for the stage carry over to the way she carries herself, and the way she speaks. It is almost as if being an opera performer is more than a job for her, but a way of life. Although Beijing opera is certainly strange from the eyes of a westerner, it is difficult not to acknowledge the talent of the performers involved. I’m glad that we had a chance to learn about opera through class and this photoshoot before finally attending one in Beijing. I think after trying to do some of movements the teacher taught us, and after going through the process of dressing up for opera, we’ll be able to better appreciate the skill and effort needed to do even the most simple of movements on stage.

Xian

The flight from the US to China takes around 14 hours. The train from Xian to Tianjing takes 20. The trip back to Nankai was definitely an experience. We slept in hard beds, stacked vertically three to a wall. From the sheer amount of people at the train station and on the train itself, it seems this form of transportation is much more popular here in China than it is in the US. Riding that train was quite the experience. Jam packed as it was with sweaty people, the odor was quite unpleasant. Add to that the constant chain of smokers and the smell wafting down the hall from the bathroom, and it was near repulsive. However it was a fantastic opportunity to talk to Chinese people. Everyone was willing to talk to the foreigners, if only to kill time on the exhausting trip. I talked to one old lady who seemed very concerned for my wellbeing. She advised me not to wear contacts when I attend bonfire parties. I told her that in America we don’t frequently throw bonfire parties and thus my chances of encountering one were slim and she seemed slightly appeased. Of course, we couldn’t always understand each other perfectly, and there were times when our conversation partners would laugh at us for unknown reasons, but this just added to the intrigue of talking to complete strangers in their native tongue. All in all the train ride was a very interesting experience, worth having at least once in your life.

Xian itself was a ton of fun. Its crazy imagining that so much work was put into the making of one emperors tomb. 8000 soldiers were hand crafted solely to protect the dead body and spirit of the emperor. There’s almost no way any one person in the world today could have that much manpower put into the creation of a perfect tomb. The actual tomb itself has never been opened or directly observed because of the tons of mercury flowing inside of it. Unlike other ancient graves, it was probably not plundered because any thieves who dared to enter would be killed by the mercury. It would be amazing to be able to see just what is inside the emperor’s tomb. Stories depict it as full of treasure, with replicas of the city and palaces, jewels in the ceiling marking constellations, and models of rivers full of mercury. If so much effort was put into the making of the soldiers which guard him, than the tomb housing his body must be glorious indeed.

Settling In

It’s hard to believe we’ve been here in China for 11 days already. It feels like we’re just starting to get settled in, and that things are just now beginning to feel routine. At the same time I feel like I’ve had a month’s worth of information crammed into my head at crash course speed. Already I can see improvements in my Chinese. Amongst what used to be incomprehensible squiggles, I now here and there make out some of the hundreds of characters we’ve learned in the last week and a half. Speaking Chinese day after day in class has also improved my confidence in my spoken Chinese and I no longer hesitate in speaking to any cab driver or store owner I encounter. In just over a week we’ve not only learned about Chinese history and philosophers, but have also been introduced to Chinese painting, calligraphy, tai chi, and Beijing opera style singing. If this is the typical set up for classes in China, it’s no wonder they consistently test better than us Americans.

One of our most interesting classes is Tai Chi. It’s a welcome break from 4 solid hours of language class, but it is extremely challenging in its own way. Given its focus on slow movement, and the large community of elderly participants, one would think tai chi is not too difficult to learn. I have learned the hard way that this is not so. Every movement is a coordinated effort by the entire body. When one part opens, another must close. ‘Kai’ and‘guan’ is our tai chi instructors mantra. The movements are circular and graceful, with weight constantly shifting so that when one leg is tense, the other is relaxed. It is a constant balance of Yin and Yang. For those experienced in tai chi, that is. My tai chi on the other hand might be considered a tangled mess of yin and yang, full of discord rather than harmony. My limbs are typically awkwardly placed, and my eyes are always fastened to the teacher as I try to mimic his effortless movements. In the last two classes however, my movements have felt a bit less strained, and the first couple of forms at least are starting to flow more naturally. Our instructor likes to emphasize the importance, not of the specific forms, but of the concept of opening and closing, of roundness, and of tension and relaxation. Perhaps I’m starting to get the hang of these. The whole process reminds me a bit of when I learned to swing dance. At first I’d get tangled up in the motions and memorization. After awhile though I started to understand the concept of not breaking frame and how to follow a lead, and everything suddenly fit into place. I could perform moves I hadn’t specifically learned as long as I had a good leader because every move follows the same concept. I feel that in this regard swing dance and taichi, strange as it sounds, are very similar. The fundamental rules of how to move your body are often more important than learning the individual moves themselves. Hopefully in the next two weeks I can teach my body to move in the harmonized manner which is fundamental to tai chi. Perhaps then I will look less like a fumbling buffoon, and more like a practitioner of tai chi.

This Way Please!

This weekend, I walked paths that have been walked by emperors, scholars, and philosophers for hundreds of years. It was a crazy feeling standing in front of ancient Chinese style temples, knowing that at some point in time, an emperor may have stood in that very spot, paying their respects to Confucius. It is a feeling that is simply unattainable in the States. Strangely, what impressed me most was the antiquity of the trees surrounding these temples. Some of these trees are thousands of years old. Thousands of years ago, some simple gardener planted these trees there, unaware that they would withstand the test of time and watch as emperor after emperor walked beneath its branches, lasting past the time of dynasties to see people like us flock to its temples. This, to me, is simply amazing.

Of course, our understanding of the temples, cemetery, and tai mountain were facilitated by the fact that we had not one, not two, but three tour guides accompanying us. Apparently tour guides in China are territorial, and for each new region we visited we acquired a new tour guide. We first picked one up in Tianjin, then Tai an, then in Qufu. In America we most likely would have needed only one tourguide. However the abundance of tour guides meant that each of us had the chance to ask our own questions, and to practice our Chinese, so this tradition certainly was useful.

Of all the places we visited this weekend, I enjoyed Confucius’ cemetery the most. It was vastly different from anything I could’ve expected of a cemetery. When I thought of a cemetery I thought of a solemn place with orderly rows of well-kept graves. I envisioned well trimmed grass and lines of tombstones. Confucius’ cemetery was nothing like this. It is a huge plot of land that is at once free and serene. The cemetery is essentially a forest where both elaborate and simple gravemarkers can be glimpsed from behind trees and among wild grass. Confucius’ grave itself was a giant mound of dirt covered in grasses and plants, with two slabs marking it as his. As the tour guide told us about what was written on the stone, I saw two butterflies flitting across the mound which covered his body. I immediately loved this cemetery because it feels like the bodies of the people who were laid to rest there were given back to the earth, and their energy became a part of nature, which is both unconstrained and beautiful. Their resting places are not kept trimmed and tamed, but left untouched to this result. Adding to the beauty of this cemetery is the fact that Confucius is surrounded not only by nature, but by his family. The cemetery contains more than a hundred thousand of Confucius’ family and descendents. He is buried with his wife, and his son and grandson are buried around him. Between this and the beauty of the cemetery, I cannot imagine a better resting place for the great sage Confucius.

Finally here!

It’s still hard to believe we’re finally in China. Of course after struggling through 32 hours of travel and suffering from the effects of jet lag, my body has no question that I have in fact landed on the opposite side of the world. Add to that the never ending barrage of all things Chinese from the uniformity of the crowd, to the bizarre foods, to the Chinese signs, and you’d think it’d be difficult to forget that we are yes, indeed in China. However, being in a nation so different from your own tends to boggle the mind. Despite having visited China before, there are still moments where I abruptly grasp the concept that I am in CHINA.

The days have passed by in a whirlwind and there’s been hardly enough time to absorb everything I’ve seen, heard, and learned. And we sure have seen, heard, and learned quite a bit in these last few days. Every day we have four hours of intensive language classes. I have never in my life had so much Chinese crammed into my brain in one sitting, and now it has become a daily occurrence. Afterwards we go off to either a culture class, where we learn things such as Beijing Opera and Chinese painting, or to a meeting with Dr. Liu. Afterwards we head off for an hour of Taichi and finally we have some time to rest. I’ve learned that rest here in China has so far consisted of writing emails and doing homework, while trying not to pass out on the bed. But I’m sure things will become easier over time.

It’s not only the academic aspect that overwhelms the brain. Just walking through the university campus or in the city floods the mind with new experiences and glimpses of culture. It’s interesting to note how many things are different here in China. Of course there are the obvious differences. Everyone here is Chinese. It’s a stark contrast to our own ‘melting pot.’ The food is different, often consisting of mysterious components. The signs are all different, the language is different, and so on and so forth. However since arriving I have seen a lot of other interesting cultural differences. For example everyone here likes to beep their horn at every possible occasion. I often wake to a chorus of never-ending honking. In the US, in all places that I’ve visited, this would be considered rude, but here it seems to be the norm. Another interesting thing is that people here are not afraid to stare. A group of students like ours garners a lot of attention here, which is to be expected. What I didn’t expect to see was heads literally turning to follow us as we walked by. People on the streets, on bikes, and in stores all would unabashedly stare at our group in a way that would be considered socially inept at best in the US. Another thing that surprised me here in China wasn’t specifically about Chinese culture. In our classes, we have international students hailing from all across the world. Each and every one of these students speaks some English, many nearly fluently, and some with hardly any accent. It’s strange being surrounded by students of all different nationalities, yet have the ability to speak my native language and be understood by them all. These students are all attempting to become at least trilingual. This is very impressive to me. In this matter at least, I think America is lacking.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next post!