Colorful Chongqing

On Wednesday we drove out of the city and up into the foothills to Jielong Middle School. School is out for the summer, but the school runs a summer program, so there were some students theres. When we arrived, students were preparing for a music and dance performance for us on their outdoor stage.

We were treated to a number of performances. There were these flute/recorder-type instruments that now are made of plastic, but used to be made of a gourd and bamboo. Next, students played an instrument that seemed to be a hybrid of an oboe and a trumpet. It was not a beautiful-sounding instrument. My parents should be glad it was not an option when I chose the clarinet in middle school band. The third performance was girls with bamboo and sticks. Both pieces had ribbon attached to them, and they played a rhythmic beat as they danced. It was great! Finally, we watched the girls do what they called Tai Chi Boxing. As soon as the kids finished, they transformed from serious performers to giggling, excited teenagers. (They all said they were 13, but look at how young they appear in the photos!) They were eager to teach us tai chi and their instruments. We all were taking pictures of each other, with each other, for each other. It was so much fun, and I think everyone had a great time.

We had another chance to interact with some older students after a short tour of the school. This time we broke up into small groups. We were loosely supposed to be teaching a mini English lesson to the kids in our groups, but I just ended up talking with a couple of girls and showing them photos on my phone. The girls' English was very basic (but a lot better than my Chinese!) so one of the teachers helped to translate. I guess it wasn't much of a lesson, but I think it was meaningful to all of us.

We had lunch in the little town, and I think we found the elderly folks hanging around the restaurant just as exotic as they found us. I can't say that I'm getting used to being stared at, but here in China it feels more like a curious stare than the leering stare I've felt in other places I've traveled. My blue eyes and freckles have, however, made more than one child cry out and run to their parents in terror when I've smiled and, "ni hao-ed" at them. Oh well...

In the evening, we took a short walk to the city squared where there were more people out dancing and hanging around. Here are a couple of photos:

I just realized that I didn't post any of the people dancing, but trust me, it's a battle of the boombox out there with different groups gathered around the square, each moving to their own songs. It's very lively and friendly.

Today was: lecture, eat a 28-course meal, lecture, lecture, eat a surprisingly bad vegetarian meal, and then go on an evening river cruise on the Yangtze River, get back to the hotel just in time to miss a gigantic thunderstorm. I'm having some trouble with the photos right now, so the cruise ones will have to wait. But here's one of ping pong tables at the university we visited today.

Out of the Furnace and into the Hair Dryer

"I feel like I just walked into a hair dryer!" complained fellow Fulbrighter, Elaine as a few of us left the weak but acceptable air conditioning of The Trade Union Hotel to venture out onto the streets of Chongqing on our first night in the city to see what we could find. What we found, after exploring the park: ladies doing aerobics, kids at rollerblade practice, men either A. sitting around with their shirts off and smoking, or B. playing basketball, was the lobby of the Hilton Hotel where we luxuriated in American style couches, air conditioning, wine, and prices. (English teacher note: I'm aware that the previous sentence probably had numerous grammatical errors. It was for effect, OK?) We had landed in 102 degree heat around mid-afternoon, and a few hours later, things hadn't changed much. Thankfully today was relatively cooler, and our Chongqing guides kept the outside activities to a minimum.

Chongqing, also known as the "mountain city," is situated within Sichuan Province, but it is its own municipality that reports directly to the Central Government. It's comparable to Washington, D.C. It is noticeably hillier here. Our manual transmission bus has had some interesting stops and starts on the hills, and yesterday we attacked a huge staircase in our neighborhood.

According to our scholar-escort, Nevan, it's the largest city in the world, but don't try to check that fact on Wikipedia because you won't find it. I'm really not sure on all the details, but what I understand is that the city proper is only (only!) around 7 or 8 million, while the rest of the municipality, which is approximately the size of not Rhode Island, but Maine, holds another 24 or 25 million to make a grand total of 32 million people and counting, thus, the largest "city" in the world. Personally, I don't think it counts if you're trying to tell me the city is the size of Maine. Flying in here I saw a lot of green open space.

Anyway, Chongqing is also a city of over 4,000 bridges. Remember the theme: China does nothing on a small scale. It is located at the confluence of the Yangtze and a smaller tributary. There is a point that juts out into the river that looks much like lower Manhattan, except that there is no end to the high rises here. You might think there are a lot of tall buildings in NYC, but they are nothing compared to the skyscrapers in Chinese cities. China wins at having lots of skyscrapers.

Let's see, Chongqing is also called the "fog city," because it's foggy here much of the year. Today I learned that this was helpful during WWII when Chongqing became a wartime capital for China and Japan was bombing the heck out of it.

When it's not the "fog city," it is also one of China's "Three Furnaces," because, as our trip pamphlet says, it "is unbearably hot in the summer." (See the beginning of the blog for proof.)

Things here feel a bit calmer than Beijing and definitely more real than Xi'an. There is the modern: elevated trains and high rises, but there is also some of the old: people carrying baskets of fruit suspended from either end of a pole across their backs. So far, so good.

We will spend one of our evenings here out on a river cruise, so I hope to have some interesting photos from that night. For now, here's the morning and evening view from my hotel room:

Experiencing the "Rural" Life

On Sunday we headed out for our homestay in the country. Our itinerary said “Experience the Rural Life,” I'd been a bit nervous about it. My vision was of me sleeping on a mat on the floor of some teeny house in 90 degree heat with no bathroom and no ability to communicate with my host family.

As it turns out, we're staying in this little rural Chinese B&B compound. The peasants (and that's the word they use in Chinese, and it's not pejorative) were forced off (paid-to-move-but-they-had-no-choice) their land and then they had to buy their home here. They no longer farm, but instead run these little bed and breakfasts for tourists looking to get out of the city. Suddenly our rural homestay turned into hanging out with my roommate in someone's living room that has wifi--with air conditioning!. It's not exactly “experiencing the rural life.”

When we arrived at the...I'll keep using compound for lack of a better word, we first met an artist who was taught by a famous painter who was not allowed to continue painting during the Cultural Revolution. Instead of painting, he taught others to paint...sounds like the ultimate way to get back at an oppressive government, right? Anyway, the art was beautiful, and I bought some!

Then at lunch, we got to make dumplings. It was fun, but all we really did was stuff them; we didn't make the dough for the wraps or the filling, but it was still good fun.

Working on my pinching and scalloping.

After lunch our Xi'an guide, Tiger, asked us if we wanted to go on a “little hike up mountain.” Sure! We enthusiastically agreed. So, we set off from the compound and walked up the street to this place that was a kind of river recreation area where people were eating at picnic tables and playing in the river. There were also incredibly smelly toilet areas as well as horses walking around. As we got to the end of the road and the mountain vegetation started, we saw this:

"Endless" staircase

Our trail was an endless, steep staircase. Just a “little hike up mountain.” So, up we went, hanging onto the chain link railing lest one of us fell and took out the entire 2013 Fulbright delegation. After Stairmastering for about 10 minutes, we reached the end of the stairs (OK, they weren't that endless) and got to a little outcropping. The view was beautiful, but the scene was really damped by four main factors:

1. The hazy, surreal view from of the mountains was actually disgusting pollution, not romantic and mysterious fog.
2. The weather was about 85 degrees and a million percent humidity. We were sweating uncontrollably, which normally is no big deal for me, but on this overnight trip we all packed really lightly and didn't have many options for changing into fresh clothes before we were getting on a plane to Chongqing tomorrow.
3. There was trash on the ground everywhere.
4. It smelled like poop. Probably because someone pooped nearby.

Some of us walked on a little farther, but since we didn't really know where the trail went, we soon turned around and managed to descend without incident.

Sweating profusely and the air smells like poop

Our last adventure of the day was after dinner. Tiger was taking us to the hot springs. I couldn't wait! I imagined a little hike into the woods, bamboo swinging in the breeze (not that that's a thing here in the stagnant, humid air) and sitting among the rocks looking at the stars (which also don't exist here in the pollution). Well, we got into the bus to go to the hot springs, and after just a few minutes of driving, we pulled up to a nice hotel and walked into the lobby. Turns out this is a Chinese hot spring:

While it didn't match my expectations, at least it didn't smell like poop.

Tomorrow we are off to Chongqing: the largest city you've never heard of.

 

Terracotta Warriors

Well, it's been a full weekend here in Xi'an, although I'd say that this part of the trip has felt more like a vacation than did Beijing. We've only had two lectures since arriving, and we leave for Chongqing tomorrow.

On Saturday we visited the Terracotta Warriors Museum. It is really interesting because it's part museum, part archeological dig. The back story is that the first Emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi had this "army" made as a part of his tomb. He started work on it very shortly after he took power, and it's good thing, because his reign was only about 14 years long! Anyway, the making of the terracotta soldiers and horses actually represents great progress because prior to this, kings were buried with their living slaves and soldiers...who quickly became their dead slaves and soldiers. Chalk another one up for living in the 20th and 21st Centuries.

After Emperor Qin died and was buried in his tomb, the empire fell apart, and grave robbers came down into the tombs to destroy them. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, the torches they brought down into the tombs set the tar and wood roofs on fire, and the structure collapsed in on itself. In 1974, farmers were digging a well and discovered part of a terracotta soldier. Soon archeologists realized that there were thousands of these figures buried in the area.

Today there are 3 pits they are displaying and still digging in. They know that there is much more out there, but they are trying to figure out how they can preserve the figures better after they dig them out before they go in for more. Also, apparently Emperor Qin was buried in "rivers of mercury" or some similar Chinese outlandishness, and so the mountain where he's buried is poisonous and they're not sure how to get at it.

Oh, and did I mention it's the largest tomb complex in the world? Of course, right, because like I've said, China does nothing on a small scale.

Pit #1 at the museum

I make a pretty fierce warrior, right?

Close up of a cross-bow soldier

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Some Photos from Xi'an

Instead of writing a post right now, I'm just going to post some photos. This isn't because the internet doesn't work, or because I don't have time. It's because I want to go to Starbucks. (China is not the place to go for great coffee.)

The Lama Temple in Xi'an

One of the Buddhas at the Lama Temple

At the Lama Temple

Individual hot pots for lunch!

The gang at the Terracotta Warriors Museum

Glazes at the Terracotta factory

Replica Terracotta horses at the Shanxi Province History Museum

Xi'an drum tower

Why We Build the Wall: China's Ghost Cities

After my (to me) traumatic Traditional Chinese Medicine experience, I decided to zone out a bit on the bus by listening to some music. With the iPod on shuffle, the song, “Why We Build The Wall,” from Anais Mitchell's folk opera, Hades Town came on. If you've never heard this dark, strange, and haunting song, you should check it out. (And don't think of me as a total weirdo for really liking it. It's a song that says a lot without saying a lot.) Anyway, in this song, Greg Brown sings the part of Hades with his deep and rumbling voice, and he and the chorus sing about building a wall to keep themselves free down there in the Underworld. Here are some of the lyrics:

How does the wall keep us free, my children, my children?

How does the wall keep us free?

How does the wall keep us free?

The wall keeps out the enemy,

and we build the wall to keep us free.

That's why we build the wall.

We build the wall to keep us free.

Who do we call the enemy, my children, my children?

Who do we call the enemy?

Who do we call the enemy?

The enemy is poverty,

and the wall keeps out the enemy,

and we build the wall to keep us free.

That's why we build the wall.

We build the wall to keep us free.

You really have to hear it to get the full effect. Anyway, I was listening to this song as we drove past mile after mile of these skeletal high rise buildings. You may have read in the paper about China's new initiative to move millions more people out of the western countrysides and into the cities. In order to do this, they need to have cities for the people to move into, so they are literally building the cities before anybody moves there. It's so different than how any other city has ever evolved! On the bullet train (top speed: 308 k/h) we passed through a huge city of unfinished highrises and cranes. They had a train station, and roads, but it looked like no one but construction workers actually lived in the cities. The same is true around Xi'an. There is so much construction!

If you're interested, my colleagues told me that there is an interesting PBS program called The Ghost Cities of China, or something like that. I think it might be a Vice program. I plan to watch it when I get home...PBS party at my house in August!

I don't have any great photos of these buildings, but I'll post what I have here.

Thoughts? Please feel free to comment, it lets me know people are actually reading!!

Le Tour d'Xi'an and Why You Shouldn't always be the First to Volunteer when Visiting a Chinese Hospital

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Today was our second full day in Xi'an. In the morning we visited the Shanxi School for Traditional Chinese Medicine. Our lecturer taught us about the history and current uses of acupuncture, moxibustion, and cupping. For those of you who have never heard of the latter two, don't fear, I didn't know either. I did learn during the lecture that moxibustion is a kind of heat and aroma therapy. The plant mugwort is burned above the body, and apparently the warming of the skin and the breathing of the smoke is good. Cupping is when the air inside a vessel like a glass jar is heated and then the jar is placed at key points on the body. The hot air causes a vacuum and the skin is sort of sucked up into the cup. The result is enormous round hickies on the spot of the cup. Our guide said, “Don't worry, they only last about 3 weeks; except, I knew one guy who still had marks a year later.” What??

When the lecture finished, we visited the school's historical museum, but the real action didn't start until we got to the hospital where we were going to see traditional Chinese medicine in action. We entered a cramped little area of the hospital where there was a waiting area, some desk space, and small curtained off areas for patients. We watched one man getting stuck with acupuncture needles all over his head and back. I've never had acupuncture, so I was kind of excited (when I didn't let myself consider that I wanted to be stuck with needles in a dingy Chinese hospital) to try it out. Who do you think was the first to volunteer when they asked for volunteers? You got it.

So, I volunteered thinking I'd be stuck with some needles, take a couple of photos, and then let someone else try it. The doctor-lady asked me what my ailment was. (Remember, this is all through our guide translating.) Having no particular ailment, I told her my left upper back hurt from carrying my bag around, which is sort of true. She sat me down on a little stool facing everyone from my group who was crowding around with their cameras out. She started feeling/massaging the back of my neck and upper back. I was thinking, “Nice, a little massage!” Then she turned my head to the left, still giving a nice little neck rub, and then WHAM! She cranks on my neck and cracks it. It didn't hurt, but it was shocking and a little scary. I started thinking, “Uh, this is how James Bond and Jason Bourne kill people. I hope she doesn't do that again.” Of course, she turns my head again to the left and up and does it again! This time though, I was so tense and anxious that it really hurt! Meanwhile, the whole group is snapping pictures and the translator is telling me to relax in what was probably the least relaxing 3 minutes of the entire trip. She ended her spinal torture by cracking my upper back by jamming her knee in there and pulling my shoulders back. That actually felt good too, but I was very ready to get out of the chair and let someone else try. Lesson: volunteering for random medical activities in foreign countries is probably best left to other people.

I think this photo is me pre-neck torture. Notice I'm relaxed and smiling.

Prayer flags at the Lama Temple.

I think I was still a little shaken up through lunch and our visit to another Buddhist temple. It was beautiful, but it was so hot that it was hard to enjoy and even harder to focus on the information the temple guide was telling us. After that visit though, we went up on the ancient city wall of Xi'an and rented some bikes. They told us it was 8 miles to bike all the way around. Once we got our bikes, Caitlin and I took off. The pollution and humidity were starting to roll in, which is gross, but it also made for a kind of interesting, hazy ride. We stopped to take some photos here and there, and we still “won” the non-race (with no blood-doping, honest!).

The old wall around Xi'an.

Tonight we have the evening off, so we'll just eat in the hotel and relax. Hopefully the internet will be my friend and I can post this along with some photos!