Outside In

Earthquake Relief

By now you've all heard about the terrible earthquake in Sichuan province on Monday.  It was so strong that it was felt all over the country, even in Beijing.  I was out of the country on Monday so I did not feel it.  I'm glad, in that I'm quite terrified of earthquakes!  The stories and the pictures and the statistics pouring in on an hourly basis are really too much to comprehend. The scale of the lives and livelihood lost is staggering.  If you would like to donate to disaster relief in the area, here are some recommended agencies:

Operation Blessing

World Vision

Heart to Heart International

For some good reporting on the disaster, check out these:

NPR: Chengdu Diary ( a blog by NPR reporters who were in Chengdu at the time of the earthquake)

After the Earthquake, by Peter Hessler (New Yorker Magazine)

Beichuan: A Vision of Hell, by by Clifford Coonan (The Independent)

 

A Must-Read Article

The cover story in this month's National Geographic is about China.  The article, titled "Inside the Dragon" was written by Peter Hessler, one of my favorite writers about China. He always seems to be writing the articles and books that I wish I were writing!  Here's a teaser:

Perhaps this awareness of a painful history was also why the 1990s turned out differently. It became modern China's first decade without a major upheaval, and thus far the 21st century has also been peaceful. And yet despite the lack of political change, the nation has been radically transformed. For three decades the economy has grown at an average annual rate of nearly 10 percent, and more people have been lifted out of poverty than in any other country, at any other time. China has become home to the largest urbanization in human history—an estimated 150 million people have left the countryside, mostly to work in the factory towns of the coast. By most measures the nation is now the world's largest consumer, using more grain, meat, coal, and steel than the United States. But apart from Deng Xiaoping, it's difficult to credit these critical changes to any specific government official. The Communist Party's main strategy has been to unleash the energy of the people, at least in the economic sense. In today's China, government is decentralized, and people can freely start businesses, find new jobs, move to new homes. After a century of powerful leaders and political turmoil, Chinese history has become the story of average citizens.

The two books by Hessler that are must-reads:
Rivertown:  Two Years on the Yangtze
Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China

Beijing--The Forbidden City

For the past year or so, as we have been watching the Countdown clock for the Beijing Olympic Games wind its way towards 8-8-08, the question on everyone's mind has been, what will it really be like here this summer, in the run-up to the Games, and during the Games themselves. Of course no one really knew, but that never stopped us from speculating; however, we did know for certain that once we got within that magic 1oo days, whatever interesting things might happen would probably start. 

Well, here we are at 93 days, and full-scale zaniness has broken out.  Keeping track of the rumors of new regulations is practically a full-time job.  New visa regulations over here.  New security procedures for this.  No more doing that.  I'd like to list out all the rumors I've heard just in the past 48 hours, but there's even a regulation against spreading rumors.   Actually the regulation is against spreading false rumors, but the problem is that as the rumors are spreading no one knows if they are false or simply preludes to reality. Only time reveals which it is.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the folks in charge of this fair city are in a state of high anxiety, and if they can make it through August without having collective heart failure, it will be quite an accomplishment.  I've been here a long time and haven't seen this level of nervousness since the early 1990's.  The world is coming to town and they are suddenly afraid of what the world might do.

Slowly, but surely, Beijing is becoming The Forbidden City!

Here are two interesting articles about the mood in town (especially as it relates to foreigners):

China's Fear of Summer (Time)

For Chinese, A Shift in Mood from Hospitable to Hostile

To the Top

While the main Olympic Torch has been making its way around the world, and finally arriving back on home soil today, there is another torch that is being taken up to the summit of Mt. Everest, or Qomolongma, as it is called in Tibetan (and Chinese).  There's a large contingent of reporters (Chinese and foreign) at the base camp tracking the story.  Reuters has a team of reporters covering the story and they are blogging about it.  It's very interesting reading, and the photo shots are great.  Check it out.

Temple of Heaven

Last week I hosted some visitors from the USA for 8 days.  One of them is a semi-professional photographer, so one of the added benefits of being their tour guide was learning some photography tips, both in shooting and editing (something I didn't know anything about before).  On a single day last week we climbed the Great Wall in the morning, and walked around the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon.  The morning was clear and gorgeous, but by the time we got to the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon, showers were rolling in.  Since this was my umpteenth time to the Temple, and since I was very tired, I was tempted to just put my camera away.  How many different shots can I have of this temple, I wondered.  But I was inspired by my photographer friend who kept challenging me to look for shots I'd never seen before. By the time we got to the Hall for Prayer of Good Harvest (the famous round one), a heavy rain shower was upon us.  We sought shelter on the porch of a side temple to wait it out.  And it was here that I got a shot of the Temple that I had never gotten before, with the sky getting lighter from bottom to top as the shower moved by, and was thus reminded of the importance of always having my camera with me. 

Your Guess is as Good as Mine!

At least we're all safe!!

All the Tea in China

I think everyone who blogs about China has to have a post somewhere, sometime with this title.  I mean, how is one to resist?  The International Herald Tribune has published an interesting article about tea-growing in China, titled  Tea, Wild or Not Enriches Chinese Province.

From relative obscurity a few decades ago, tea from Yunnan, especially Pu'er, has become a fashionable, must-have variety in the tea shops of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. Surging demand for Pu'er tea has made farmers here rich and encouraged entrepreneurs to carve out ever more plantations from jungle-covered hillsides. ...

In the remote southern hills of Yunnan Province, tea has never been something you buy at the market; it grows in your backyard, like blueberries in the woods of Maine.

Domesticated tea plants are trimmed into hedges to make harvesting easier. In the wild, they grow to resemble the old and gnarled olive trees of the Mediterranean but with bigger and more abundant leaves.

Peng Zhe, deputy secretary-general of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, a tea-growing district here, compares the wild tea to fine vintages of Bordeaux or Burgundy.

"To appreciate Pu'er tea is similar to enjoying wine," said Peng, who is also the head of the local tea promotion board. "You need to understand the different areas where tea grows. The fragrance is different from one mountain to the next."

I've had Pu'er tea.  It's quite tasty.  Check out the article.  Better yet, if you have the chance, try the tea.

Alas, It was Too Good to be True

A couple of weeks back, the Beijing city government announced that, in order to ensure a 'smoke-free' Olympics, smoking will be banned in government offices, sports venues, museums, hospitals, schools, and internet cafes, bars, and restaurants.  My first reaction was to jump for joy.  One of the more difficult things to adjust to here in China is the constant bombardment from cigarette smoke.  It's everywhere, and in a country that has 350 million smokers, that's not at all surprising.  My second reaction to the announcement, though was, simply, NO WAY that they are going to be able to ban smoking in restaurants.  Smoking, drinking, and eating are three essential strands of social interaction and networking here.  Take one of the away, and the country could be facing some real social instability.  Apparently something happened to knock the bureaucrats back to their senses, because this week the city government announced that restaurants would be exempt from the bans after all.  Crisis averted. They will, however, be required to offer smoking and non-smoking sections.  That may be fine  for big restaurants that can seat 500 people (yes, Beijing has a lot of those), but what about the holes-in-the-wall noodle shops that have 2 tables and 8 stools?  Sorry folks, it ain't gonna happen.

For a few weeks I enjoyed imagining going into a restaurant and not having to fight my way through a thick blue haze of cigarette smoke.  It was a nice thought while it lasted, but alas, just too good to be true!

Mud!

That's been our weather for the past couple of days.  I didn't know it was possible, but we seem to have had sandy weather and foggy weather all at the same time.  Which means, of course, the air just smells like mud.  And in the morning we know that it rained during the night because all the cars of big sploches of mud on them.  I wonder what it actually looks like when it's raining mud!

The Holy Fire

The big news in town this week was the lighting of the Olympic torch that will be carried in relay for 130 days through 19 different countries.  The flame will eventually come back to China (obviously) and be used to light the Olympic flame that will burn for the duration of the Games in August.  The flame was lit at a special ceremony in Olympia, Greece and transported to Beijing on Monday of this week aboard a special airplane.  With all the pomp, circumstance, ceremony, and ritual that a 5000-year old culture can muster (and it's a lot, believe me), the torch was lit in Tiananmen Square.  In Chinese the Olympic flame is called sheng huo (圣火), which literally means 'holy fire' or 'holy flame,' because if its connection to ancient Greek mythology.

The Games begin 127 days from now.  Interestingly, I have found that this seemingly incontrovertible fact can become a major cultural clash point.  Most westerners (especially those with any type of involvement with the Games) are saying "There are only 127 more days until the Games."  Whereas locals seem to be saying "There are still 127 more days until the Games." 

Which is it?  Only 127 more days to find out!