I've dragged on this blog long enough. I was supposed to finish it soon after I arrived back in the United States. But I failed. Life moved on and I assimilated back into American society rather quickly. Before my trip, I hoped that I would be so moved and changed by my experiences. I would return from the Middle Kingdom a different Kristen Carusos than the one that left. But that's not how life works. I have a friend named Andrew who lived in Spain for a year and came back to work at Bahama Breeze during Grad School. He's gone through a lot of the same experiences and sometimes we argue about our world and life views. He holds this belief that people never really change and that maybe they grow BUT that at their core they will always be the same. I'm starting to agree.
I digress.
Coming back
I have grown up in some ways, but I am still Kristen. Nothing has really changed that much. That sucks to hear. My study abroad experience was life-changing, but not in the way I wanted it to be. It was not everything I had hoped for and more. It was probably what I needed though. I have a deeper understanding about myself, the world, the environment, China, people, my family, my friends, and so many other things. Sometimes, there are just not the right words to explain and I can't really break it down for everyone. The people that I shared these memories with will understand, but I don't even know where to begin. How to describe the last four months. All I can give anyone is bits and pieces. And honestly, I can't break it down for anyone. Somethings cannot and do not need to be said. Life is full of good and bad memories and my experiences in China will always be filled with good and bad memories. I can only hope to remember them and take what I can from those experiences. We shall see.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
China reflection 2: Things that I loved
1. Interesting International people- I lived in an International dorm with people from all over the world. I had friends from Romania, UK, Turkey, Iran, France,etc. I learned a lot from these people and there was rarely a dull moment. I miss being in that international atmosphere. I was always meeting new people with different perspectives. Life was exciting and I got a lot of insight from a lot of different people.
2.My internship as previously discussed. I really felt like I was a part of something that was doing something good for the world.
3. Living in the city- I like living in the city. I am a city girl at the end of the day. I could get anywhere in Beijing for less than 40 cents. and mind you Beijing is a huge city. Everything's always bustling
4. Speaking Chinese everyday. I truly miss it
4. Speaking Chinese everyday. I truly miss it
Sunday, January 15, 2012
some videos for your enjoyment
I was reviewing some of the videos I made throughout my trip that I did not post. Here we go :).
Friday, January 13, 2012
Final Reflection 1 : My internship
Aw so the last fourth months. Life has moved extremely quickly and I have not taken the time out of my life to continue writing this blog. Unfortunately, life moves too fast to capture every moment and feeling.
I should probally start with the last two months before I really start analyzing what these last four months mean for the rest of my life.
There's so much to say and so much that has happened. I don't know where to begin. But let's start with my internship.
IUCN:
So my internship was a really great experience. I can only look back on it with fond memories. I truly learned a lot and my environmental perspective was sincerely altered as a result of my internship. Here's a little paper I wrote about the main dilenmas for China regarding the environment: I wrote my Capstone project on why China invested in billions of dollars in Reforestation projects within the last decade. This thirteen page paper detailed the environmental problems that led to reforestation projects, inefficiencies in the Chinese government's policies, and why
I should probally start with the last two months before I really start analyzing what these last four months mean for the rest of my life.
There's so much to say and so much that has happened. I don't know where to begin. But let's start with my internship.
IUCN:
So my internship was a really great experience. I can only look back on it with fond memories. I truly learned a lot and my environmental perspective was sincerely altered as a result of my internship. Here's a little paper I wrote about the main dilenmas for China regarding the environment: I wrote my Capstone project on why China invested in billions of dollars in Reforestation projects within the last decade. This thirteen page paper detailed the environmental problems that led to reforestation projects, inefficiencies in the Chinese government's policies, and why
Economic Growth v. Environmental Protection
Throughout my internship, my organization was involved in different conferences, projects, and initiatives that served to raise civil society's environmental awareness and collaborate with various organizations to rehabilitate and protect various important and high density biodiversity ecosystems and local communities. Severe environmental damage has been done to the China's ecosystems through the last thirty years of economic development. Some of this damage is irreversible and it will have long term effects on the Chinese people, economy, and society. Throughout China, desertification, floods, air and water pollution, sandstorms, and land degradation and destruction are problems that the Chinese people deal with on daily basis in their respective provinces. Pollution has caused hundreds of thousands of premature deaths throughout China. China's economic prosperity has been powered by significant coal reserves and the type of coal that China uses is extremely dirty. Burning Coal releases carbon into the atmosphere as well as many hazardous chemicals. Coal mining sites in China substantially damage the local ecosystems and local communities suffer from various chronic health problems. Coal miners working conditions are horrific.
I complained about the inactivity of the coal industry to a NGO participant at the Clean Coal Series.He replied that without burning coal millions of people would not have access to power. He asked me how else they would acquire energy and I did not have a viable answer.China's economic development and prosperity has also led to millions of people rising out of absolute poverty and the development of a middle class in China. The average Chinese citizen is so much more well off than they were 50 years, 25 years, or 10 years ago. The same economic prosperity has led to a completely degraded environment and many (un)natural disasters have occurred as a result of Chinese environmental negligence. The environmental degradation has also resulted from foreign companies operating in China with little to no environmental regulations. China has implemented policies throughout the last decade that strive to reverse the damage such as reforestation projects and traffic controls in order to control air pollution. These policies fall short on some accounts for various reasons ranging from corruption to a misunderstanding of the root of the problem. Too often is money thrown at a problem instead of dealing with the real issue at hand.
One of the most significant lessons that I learned through my internship is that all of the elements of an ecosystem are connected and equally important. One of my colleagues addressed this issue as one of the main problems in the Chinese government's environmental policies. She stated that all these elements of the environment (water, forests, etc.) are all connected and that a multi-dimensional approach is needed to really tackle the problem. She discussed how the Chinese government wants to solve a problem and will invest a lot of money in one element. They want to combat desertification so they plant trees when really the desertification issues stems from a variety of different environmental problems not just deforestation.
I found a heightened sense of environmental issues in Beijing compared to Kennesaw, GA. These environmental problems have a daily impact of the lives of Beijingren and it is something that they cannot get away from. Climate Change and increasing energy demand is a global problem that most Americans are unconcerned with. Social awareness and apathy about environmental issues is relatively low in the United States because these issues do not have a direct impact on the average American. The environment is undervalued in American and Chinese society and short-term economic benefits often outweigh the long-term consequences of environmental unfriendly practices. These practices are not sustainable and will lead to huge economic and costs.
These issues are truly complex and have a tremendous impact on Chinese civil society. Environmental preservation are vital to a sustainable economy, but food security, political stability, and economic development cannot be disregarded in Chinese communist party's policies. It is a balancing act that the Chinese government will need to work efficiently to properly tackles these pressing issues.
I complained about the inactivity of the coal industry to a NGO participant at the Clean Coal Series.He replied that without burning coal millions of people would not have access to power. He asked me how else they would acquire energy and I did not have a viable answer.China's economic development and prosperity has also led to millions of people rising out of absolute poverty and the development of a middle class in China. The average Chinese citizen is so much more well off than they were 50 years, 25 years, or 10 years ago. The same economic prosperity has led to a completely degraded environment and many (un)natural disasters have occurred as a result of Chinese environmental negligence. The environmental degradation has also resulted from foreign companies operating in China with little to no environmental regulations. China has implemented policies throughout the last decade that strive to reverse the damage such as reforestation projects and traffic controls in order to control air pollution. These policies fall short on some accounts for various reasons ranging from corruption to a misunderstanding of the root of the problem. Too often is money thrown at a problem instead of dealing with the real issue at hand.
One of the most significant lessons that I learned through my internship is that all of the elements of an ecosystem are connected and equally important. One of my colleagues addressed this issue as one of the main problems in the Chinese government's environmental policies. She stated that all these elements of the environment (water, forests, etc.) are all connected and that a multi-dimensional approach is needed to really tackle the problem. She discussed how the Chinese government wants to solve a problem and will invest a lot of money in one element. They want to combat desertification so they plant trees when really the desertification issues stems from a variety of different environmental problems not just deforestation.
I found a heightened sense of environmental issues in Beijing compared to Kennesaw, GA. These environmental problems have a daily impact of the lives of Beijingren and it is something that they cannot get away from. Climate Change and increasing energy demand is a global problem that most Americans are unconcerned with. Social awareness and apathy about environmental issues is relatively low in the United States because these issues do not have a direct impact on the average American. The environment is undervalued in American and Chinese society and short-term economic benefits often outweigh the long-term consequences of environmental unfriendly practices. These practices are not sustainable and will lead to huge economic and costs.
These issues are truly complex and have a tremendous impact on Chinese civil society. Environmental preservation are vital to a sustainable economy, but food security, political stability, and economic development cannot be disregarded in Chinese communist party's policies. It is a balancing act that the Chinese government will need to work efficiently to properly tackles these pressing issues.
This is my internship journal from Asia Pacific Forestry...also if you want to read more articles google my name: Kristen Carusos IUCN. I had six articles published regarding asia pacific forestry week. Check em out if you are interested.
Asia Pacific Forestry Week
Asia Pacific Forestry Week was fantastic. I wrote a page for each day and was extremely busy the entire week. It was really great experience in which I learned a lot before, during ,and after the conference. Before the conference, I listened to several different podcasts about forestry to give myself a basis for the conference because I knew little to nothing about forestry. It still did not entirely prepare me for what was in store. The first day was my favorite session because I learned a lot about forestry organizations throughout Asia. The session was called Community Forestry Enterprises for Livlihoods: The Way Forward. I was really impressed by the people first method of implemented reforestation and sustainable forest management. INBAR really blew me away. Throughout the whole conference, there were good and bad speakers. There are so many different ways in which organizations can help alleviate poverty in these forestry communities while also implementing policies that benefit the environment.
On the Second day of the conference, I attended New Challenges , New Opportunities for Forestry Business's Green Development Road. It was mostly in Chinese but they had a translator. They discussed respsonsible business practices and how due dilligence was being implemented in the EU to track where timber was being harvested. One man from Thailand gave this hilarious presentation about the sustainable forest furniture. His use of photos might not have been the definition of proffessional, but it definitely kept our attention. I also went to the Bali plus 20 conference. There were different views about how to control illegal logging. Some were extraordaniraly politically correct while other views were extremely controversial and critical. Generally speaking, it was Western viewpoints vs. Asian perspectives. Second day blog:
Some presentations were really compelling presentations and sometimes I could not understand what someone was saying. During one of the session's coffee breaks, I met one Martin and Jesse. Jesse works at the Clinton Climate Change Iniative and he is from San Fransciso. Jesse worked in Jakarta and Martin was from the Czech Republic. We all went to Asia Pacific Forestry Week Happy Hour where I networked and met other foresters. After happy hour, I took Jesse, Martin, and Rebecca (from Spain works in Cambodia) out to dinner at the jiaozi restaurant. We had a great time and they shared a lot about their careers and lives It was a really nice break spending time with proffessionals instead of college students.
Friday was our presentation. It went very smoothly. I finally got up the nerve to ask a question about how foresty managements projects take into account carbon management and biodiversity. I learned a lot about how IUCN works throughout Asia. Not enough attention is brought to this project. It's really sad because it helps to manage the water supply and tackle some fundamental environmental problems that have a huge impact on the millions of people who live in/around Beijing. I went to houhai with at least ten of the Forestry partipants and none of them spoke Chinese. I ordered everything for them and guided us around Beijing. I acted as some kind of tour guide and I think my ability to speak Chinese ( at whatever level that I may or may not be at) came off really impressive to them. Even though, I was an intern- I was still shown respect. It was a really good feeling.
I also learned a lot about networking. I met a man named Dhanush at the conference who had recently taken some classes at BLCU. He took me under his wing and guided me through the proccess of what to do after I got business cards and introduced me to LinkedIN. A week later, he introduced me to the chief economist at the World Bank in China at a High level Dialogue regarding Ecosystem management and Green economy. I walked away from Asia Pacific Forestry Week with 15-20 business cards. 5-10 of which I sent email corresponses and added them on LinkedIN. It was a wake up call for how important networking was and how I need to be constantly networking and meeting people. I am graduating soon and I really need focus on my future and getting my foot in the door.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Life has been very busy. Last week was Asia- Pacific Forestry Week and as all you know- I am an intern at the IUCN- here's the link to all the blogs I wrote for my internship about the event. I did not write the third one.
China's good. It's certainly full of it's ups and downs.
http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/forest/fp_news_events/asia_pacific_forest_week__november_2011/
China's good. It's certainly full of it's ups and downs.
http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/forest/fp_news_events/asia_pacific_forest_week__november_2011/
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Change through experience
Once upon a time in a first semester Freshman English class, I wrote a paper about Change through Experience using Che Guevera's The Motorcycle Diaries. I wrote about how important it was to learn and grow from your experiences. Ironically, I hadn't really experienced anything. Not at 18 at least. My experiences and life trials and tribulations were so small compared to the troubles of the rest of the world. Here I am after two months in China and I feel like I have had a lot of different experiences that have shaped and changed me. I've evolved from the person I was and these changes won't really sink in until I'm back in the good old U.S.A.
China's not home turf. The rules and customs are just different. I was so comfortable dealing with Americans and now all I deal with are other foreigners and mostly chinese people. My honeymoon period of studying abroad is definately over and I'm enjoying being here, but it certainly does not have the same glamour that it did when I first got here. I am really trying to take in everything around and I'm realizing it's quite complex and complicated.
Internship at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
I just started an internship at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It's in the diplomatic district of Beijing and it's right near the Canadian embassy. It's a 40 minute subway ride and a bus trip away. Growing up in Alpharetta- I never really had any experience with public transportation excluding the school bus. It's been an adventure. Rush hour ion the Beijing subway is a nice mosh pit of Chinese people. My internship is really cool. We are getting ready for Asia Pacific Forestry Week next week in Beijing. My first assignment is to write a blog about each day of Asia Pacific Forestry Week. I am going to a bunch of different lectures about Reforestation, Climate Change, and Governance etc.
So Asia Pacific Forestry Week has been awesome! I've had a lot of great experiences and met a lot of great people. This is the first blog for the first day!
China's not home turf. The rules and customs are just different. I was so comfortable dealing with Americans and now all I deal with are other foreigners and mostly chinese people. My honeymoon period of studying abroad is definately over and I'm enjoying being here, but it certainly does not have the same glamour that it did when I first got here. I am really trying to take in everything around and I'm realizing it's quite complex and complicated.
Internship at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
I just started an internship at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It's in the diplomatic district of Beijing and it's right near the Canadian embassy. It's a 40 minute subway ride and a bus trip away. Growing up in Alpharetta- I never really had any experience with public transportation excluding the school bus. It's been an adventure. Rush hour ion the Beijing subway is a nice mosh pit of Chinese people. My internship is really cool. We are getting ready for Asia Pacific Forestry Week next week in Beijing. My first assignment is to write a blog about each day of Asia Pacific Forestry Week. I am going to a bunch of different lectures about Reforestation, Climate Change, and Governance etc.
So Asia Pacific Forestry Week has been awesome! I've had a lot of great experiences and met a lot of great people. This is the first blog for the first day!
Asia-Pacific Forestry Week
Beijing, China
November 7th, 2011
During the Community Forestry Enterprises for Livelihoods: The Way Forward session , a panel of experts discussed how non-profit organizations, international businesses, and forest communities can work together to produce timber and non-timber products that are not only environmentally sustainable, but also improve the living conditions of the indigenous forest communities. These indigenous people rely on the forests for virtually everything from food and medicine to flood prevention. These Community Forestry Enterprises stretch all across Asia and bring many short term and long term benefits to the local people. For example, in Cambodia, Forest officials help teach forestry community members about sustainable forest products and potential bio-resource enterprises. These forest officials provide the community with skill development training and sustainable resource management. These officials collects data, research market viability, and create business models for these communities. In Nepal, community based forestry enterprises have reached extremely remote areas that are not accessible by roads. These programs incorporate forestry micro- enterprises and lease land to community members. Through the enhancement of natural resources management through enterprises in the Phillipines, forest officials and associates conduct market research and have published information regarding more systematic management of natural resource based enterprises.
The International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) stands out for it's success in South America, Africa, and Asia. Through product diversification, sustainable resource management, and training and production centres, INBAR has used bamboo to substitute virtually every timber product from boats to desks to matches. Their marketing strategy and quality standards allow the bamboo products to compete in the world market. All of these organizations utilize market principles to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of forest communities while simultaneously consolidating natural resources and returning deforested and degraded environments to their original conditions. These different programs empower men, women, and children and encourage further entrepreneurship. Success creates economic incentives and provides tools for sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Making the familiar strange and the strange familiar
It has been a full two weeks since I have written my blog. I am sorry loves. I have been rather busy studying, working out. and living the Beijing high life. Writing this blog is very time consuming. I just had a midterm yesterday over 300-400 characters and I almost feel as though I am wasting time if I am not studying or doing something productive. Not to mention, I am starting to have a stronger connection to my blog. I almost regret the bouncing around beijing name. I only hope that this blog has more potential than that. I don't want my blog to be some mundane description of my daily life or an elaboration of my drunken adventures.At the end of the day, those things do not really matter. They are fun moments, but that's not what I want for my blog I aspire for this blog to be a well-written, experience-based, and personal reflection of the time that I spend in Beijing.
To be honest, the words that I write in this blog are what I hope to be the best of me. My candid feelings about how this experience has affected me and changed the way that I not only view the world, but also the way that I view myself. Life should change us and I strive to constantly be improving myself. We as human beings should live like snakes, constantly shedding the skins of our past and becoming new. I have said before Writing is good for the soul. It cleanses and heals. It reflects and analyzes on the times when we were hurt or hurt others and pay tribute to the beautiful memories throughout our life. Anyways-here we go.
Here's an Ode to the Significant Events that have made their way into my life
Also I have decided at the end of every blog I will add my political commentary because I understand all of yall do not care about politics!
IUCN Internship
Through my study abroad program, I landed an internship at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. I am waiting to start it, but they have to file all the internship papers through the Corporate Regional Office in Bangkok which is currently flooded so it is taking a lot longer than usual.
Here's the website-http://www.iucn.org It's an environmental inter-governmental organization in the diplomatic district. It's about an hour subway ride from my dorm in Wudaokou. Oh! I just discovered Podcasts and Itunes U. I don't know how I did not know about podcasts. I've downloaded a lot of french and chinese podcasts, as well as some lectures about International Affairs. It's like crack for nerds and it will be perfect when I have that long subway ride 3-4 times a week. What an awesome concept. I can learn anytime anywhere as long as I've got my Iphone. Oh the things I'll learn. Update! I am starting my internship on Thursday.
These days I spend a lot of time with my friends Jordan and Nicole. We all get along and have a good time together.
I have been studying Chinese everyday. It's one hell of a hard language and I now realize the I will spend a lot of my life trying to master it.
Halloween weekend in Beijing was just not the same as the United States Halloween. We went to a warehouse party in the Art district of Beijing on Friday and then Sensation for another Halloween party on Saturday.
This Occupy Wallstreet Business- View from the Middle Kingdom
So I hear all of this discussion about Occupy Wallstreet. First of all, if I were to occupy Tianan'men Sqaure or occupy Beijing ...I would end up occupying a jail cell or worse a coffin.
The American economy has serious fundamental problems and the distribution gap between the rich and the poor has increased over the last few decades. I understand the high unemployment in the American economy and the questionable relationships between American and foreign companies alike and the U.S. government. I am aware of corruption in our government. I will not deny it's presence in our political system.
But here's some fireballs of truth for some of you.
Corruption occurs in all governments. Honestly, it is a natural element of all politics. Every political system has corruption to some extent or another. Every society has a distribution gap between the rich and the poor because that's the way the world works. The world cannot exist without polarity. There is no intelligence without stupidity. No beauty without ugliness. Wealth cannot exist without poverty. Governments should strive to somewhat bridge this distribution gap, but the problem is the economy also needs to bring in profits in order to fund projects that bring more people into the middle class. It's a political dilemma that does not really get the attention that it deserves.
Another problem is that the American economy is changing. The United States can no longer afford to produce tee shirts and shoes. American companies along with western companies have moved to Asian countries with little to no environmental and labor standards. Even if these jobs had not moved to China, they would be moving to Vietnam, India, Taiwan, or other export-oriented Asian markets. Unemployment in the United States is unfortunately for many structural unemployment which is a result of changes in the American economy. These blue-collar jobs are not high in demand in America anymore.
These are not problems that the American economy can necessarily fix. This movement has no clear agenda. No reasonable goals. Really worldwide debt forgiveness? I understand that it's an outlet for angry and unemployed Americans. It's a nice scapegoat for a lot of people. Unfortunately though, this movement has no clearly defined goals or leadership. It's just an arena for Americans to voice their frustration. Most Americans according to a Gallup poll are uncertain of what this movement in trying to accomplish. http://www.gallup.com/poll/150164/americans-uncertain-occupy-wall-street-goals.aspx
I'm going to wrap this topic up because as I have just realized- I could write an entire blog entry on this. Maybe it's the fault of the American education system or just how we are all brought up as Americans-but everyone seems to have this ideal version in their head of what the United States of America should be. That's the problem. People sometimes complain and criticize America because it does not measure up to their idealistic vision of what our country should be. Instead, maybe- they should compare the United States to other democratic and non-democratic countries. Look at the levels of corruption in China, Egypt, Ukraine, or any other European countries. Unfortunately, America will never meet up to most of your standards. Sorry. It's life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Keyword being pursuit not god given right. Wealth and Prosperity are not written as rights in the Constitution only the pursuit of them. Obviously I'm in Beijing right now. And from where I'm sitting, Americans take their rights for granted. They don't appreciate the comfortable lives that they live. I'm sure I will post more on this. If you disagree, please message me and educate me. I am open to new opinions and different ways of thinking.
Minority Theme Park
So Cultural Differences. There are certain things in China that would be deemed so culturally and politically correct in the United States. One of those things is a Chinese minority theme park. China has 56 nationalities-Han Chinese represent about 91% of the China's 1.4 billion population. This minority theme park in Beijing shows all the 55 Chinese minorities in their "traditional" clothing doing "traditional" minority activities. Before I entered this park, I was required to write a two page discussion paper about the minority theme parks based on our readings. So here it is:
So post-minority park trip
This minority showed many different elements of traditional minority culture, but as a whole presented all of these minorities as uncivilized. There was no modern presentation of any of the minorities and this minority theme park served more as a minority zoo. Han Chinese could come into this theme park and get a skewed and condescending view of these minorities. We read this article by Steve Harrell called Civilizing Projects and the Reactions to them. He makes a really excellent point about how "civilized and/modern" people view the "uncivilized" minorities. He describes three metaphors that the civilized people attribute to minorities or less civilized people; the sexual metaphor, the educational metaphor, and the historical metaphor.My favorite metaphor has to be the sexual metaphor.Steve Harrell states that "Civilizers" of all sorts have seen peripheral people as both erotic and promiscuous in their behavior, as being at a lower level of culture where they have not yet learned about the proper civilized morals of sexual repression and/or hypocrisy".Just Chew on this: Do more "civilized" or "modern" people have a more hypocritical view of sex? The educational metaphor view the less "civilized" group as people who must be civilized and educated with mentalities of people.The historical metaphor depicts the people as ancient, unchanged, and far from modernity(historical metaphor). This is illustrated through the minority theme park because the minorities are shown as uncivilized, exotic, and far from modernity. I hiked and traveled all throughout the Gansu and Qinghai province in Western China. Never once did I see any Tibetans wearing traditional bright Tibetan garments. It's a mockery and an exaggeration of these minorities' culture.
To be honest, the words that I write in this blog are what I hope to be the best of me. My candid feelings about how this experience has affected me and changed the way that I not only view the world, but also the way that I view myself. Life should change us and I strive to constantly be improving myself. We as human beings should live like snakes, constantly shedding the skins of our past and becoming new. I have said before Writing is good for the soul. It cleanses and heals. It reflects and analyzes on the times when we were hurt or hurt others and pay tribute to the beautiful memories throughout our life. Anyways-here we go.
Here's an Ode to the Significant Events that have made their way into my life
Also I have decided at the end of every blog I will add my political commentary because I understand all of yall do not care about politics!
IUCN Internship
Through my study abroad program, I landed an internship at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. I am waiting to start it, but they have to file all the internship papers through the Corporate Regional Office in Bangkok which is currently flooded so it is taking a lot longer than usual.
Here's the website-http://www.iucn.org It's an environmental inter-governmental organization in the diplomatic district. It's about an hour subway ride from my dorm in Wudaokou. Oh! I just discovered Podcasts and Itunes U. I don't know how I did not know about podcasts. I've downloaded a lot of french and chinese podcasts, as well as some lectures about International Affairs. It's like crack for nerds and it will be perfect when I have that long subway ride 3-4 times a week. What an awesome concept. I can learn anytime anywhere as long as I've got my Iphone. Oh the things I'll learn. Update! I am starting my internship on Thursday.
These days I spend a lot of time with my friends Jordan and Nicole. We all get along and have a good time together.
I have been studying Chinese everyday. It's one hell of a hard language and I now realize the I will spend a lot of my life trying to master it.
Halloween weekend in Beijing was just not the same as the United States Halloween. We went to a warehouse party in the Art district of Beijing on Friday and then Sensation for another Halloween party on Saturday.
This Occupy Wallstreet Business- View from the Middle Kingdom
So I hear all of this discussion about Occupy Wallstreet. First of all, if I were to occupy Tianan'men Sqaure or occupy Beijing ...I would end up occupying a jail cell or worse a coffin.
The American economy has serious fundamental problems and the distribution gap between the rich and the poor has increased over the last few decades. I understand the high unemployment in the American economy and the questionable relationships between American and foreign companies alike and the U.S. government. I am aware of corruption in our government. I will not deny it's presence in our political system.
But here's some fireballs of truth for some of you.
Corruption occurs in all governments. Honestly, it is a natural element of all politics. Every political system has corruption to some extent or another. Every society has a distribution gap between the rich and the poor because that's the way the world works. The world cannot exist without polarity. There is no intelligence without stupidity. No beauty without ugliness. Wealth cannot exist without poverty. Governments should strive to somewhat bridge this distribution gap, but the problem is the economy also needs to bring in profits in order to fund projects that bring more people into the middle class. It's a political dilemma that does not really get the attention that it deserves.
Another problem is that the American economy is changing. The United States can no longer afford to produce tee shirts and shoes. American companies along with western companies have moved to Asian countries with little to no environmental and labor standards. Even if these jobs had not moved to China, they would be moving to Vietnam, India, Taiwan, or other export-oriented Asian markets. Unemployment in the United States is unfortunately for many structural unemployment which is a result of changes in the American economy. These blue-collar jobs are not high in demand in America anymore.
These are not problems that the American economy can necessarily fix. This movement has no clear agenda. No reasonable goals. Really worldwide debt forgiveness? I understand that it's an outlet for angry and unemployed Americans. It's a nice scapegoat for a lot of people. Unfortunately though, this movement has no clearly defined goals or leadership. It's just an arena for Americans to voice their frustration. Most Americans according to a Gallup poll are uncertain of what this movement in trying to accomplish. http://www.gallup.com/poll/150164/americans-uncertain-occupy-wall-street-goals.aspx
I'm going to wrap this topic up because as I have just realized- I could write an entire blog entry on this. Maybe it's the fault of the American education system or just how we are all brought up as Americans-but everyone seems to have this ideal version in their head of what the United States of America should be. That's the problem. People sometimes complain and criticize America because it does not measure up to their idealistic vision of what our country should be. Instead, maybe- they should compare the United States to other democratic and non-democratic countries. Look at the levels of corruption in China, Egypt, Ukraine, or any other European countries. Unfortunately, America will never meet up to most of your standards. Sorry. It's life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Keyword being pursuit not god given right. Wealth and Prosperity are not written as rights in the Constitution only the pursuit of them. Obviously I'm in Beijing right now. And from where I'm sitting, Americans take their rights for granted. They don't appreciate the comfortable lives that they live. I'm sure I will post more on this. If you disagree, please message me and educate me. I am open to new opinions and different ways of thinking.
Minority Theme Park
So Cultural Differences. There are certain things in China that would be deemed so culturally and politically correct in the United States. One of those things is a Chinese minority theme park. China has 56 nationalities-Han Chinese represent about 91% of the China's 1.4 billion population. This minority theme park in Beijing shows all the 55 Chinese minorities in their "traditional" clothing doing "traditional" minority activities. Before I entered this park, I was required to write a two page discussion paper about the minority theme parks based on our readings. So here it is:
Kristen Carusos
Week 8 Brief
SOCS 260
21 October, 2011
China’s theme parks give Chinese citizens and foreigners alike the ability to view China as well as the rest of the world through a Chinese perspective. Tourists can see the different “cultures” of Chinese minorities through a politically correct Chinese authorized minority theme park. These theme parks are not politically correct in the sense that they do not stereotype or demean China’s minorities, but rather that they correlate with the “official line” of the Chinese government. They represent the Chinese state as a harmonious society in which different minorities live peacefully among the Han majority.
These minority theme parks showcase the natural beauty and landscapes of minority areas and positive elements of their culture such as dance, art, and habits. Modern history of these minorities and autonomous regions are omitted. Through our foreign policy and culture class, we have briefly mentioned the “good” and “bad” minorities from the Chinese government’s perspective. The positive attributes of these “good” minorities are highlighted while controversial or “bad” minorities are barely represented. For example, there is one “mosque” in the Shenzhen theme park that is supposed to characterize four different types of Muslim minorities. This “mosque” is in reality just a gift shop with Uighur goods. Tibet is represented through its scenic landmarks rather than actual characteristics of Tibetan culture. Chinese government officials visit these “Tibetan landmarks” for political reasons and for the promotion of a unified China (Stanley, 282). Through the representation at these parks, the Chinese government advocates national unity while not equally representing some minorities. Do you think that some minorities are more Chinese than others? Are the ethnicities that contribute more to Chinese society and economy more Chinese than trouble-making minorities (Uyghurs, Tibetans, and now Inner-Mongolians)?
There are several ironic themes that occur through these theme parks. These theme parks are supposed to show Chinese unity and strongly clarify that all these minorities are a part of China, while simultaneously pointing out the distinctive differences between the minorities and the majority Han Chinese. Han Chinese encompass the majority of tourists come to these theme parks. How do you think Minorities feel about these theme parks? Do you think that they are happy that their “culture” is being publicized and recognized to some extent? Do you think that these minorities feel frustrated and patronized because not only is their culture being misrepresented, but also that these theme parks disregard several important historical events? Naturally, it is dependent on which minority it is and how they are being represented. In these theme parks, minorities are often being portrayed by Han Chinese. Theatricality is mentioned several times throughout the article. It is highly plausible that there are exaggerations of minority life simply for the entertainment effect. How do these parks relate to the Han superiority complex?
The two different Taiwanese theme parks further demonstrate the Han superiority complex. One of the parks explores Taiwan’s pre-Han history with research conducted by Japanese scholars during their occupation. The Han-oriented park offers a “modest and unobtrusive display of indigenous buildings, while reserving, in Skansen style, pride of place for Han architecture and life” (Stanley, 272). It is as if the Taiwanese were ancient and uncivilized before the Han Chinese had a presence in Taiwan. (We will not fully understand how these theme parks operate and the extent to which they affect Chinese society and culture until we go to one.)
Week 8 Brief
SOCS 260
21 October, 2011
China’s theme parks give Chinese citizens and foreigners alike the ability to view China as well as the rest of the world through a Chinese perspective. Tourists can see the different “cultures” of Chinese minorities through a politically correct Chinese authorized minority theme park. These theme parks are not politically correct in the sense that they do not stereotype or demean China’s minorities, but rather that they correlate with the “official line” of the Chinese government. They represent the Chinese state as a harmonious society in which different minorities live peacefully among the Han majority.
These minority theme parks showcase the natural beauty and landscapes of minority areas and positive elements of their culture such as dance, art, and habits. Modern history of these minorities and autonomous regions are omitted. Through our foreign policy and culture class, we have briefly mentioned the “good” and “bad” minorities from the Chinese government’s perspective. The positive attributes of these “good” minorities are highlighted while controversial or “bad” minorities are barely represented. For example, there is one “mosque” in the Shenzhen theme park that is supposed to characterize four different types of Muslim minorities. This “mosque” is in reality just a gift shop with Uighur goods. Tibet is represented through its scenic landmarks rather than actual characteristics of Tibetan culture. Chinese government officials visit these “Tibetan landmarks” for political reasons and for the promotion of a unified China (Stanley, 282). Through the representation at these parks, the Chinese government advocates national unity while not equally representing some minorities. Do you think that some minorities are more Chinese than others? Are the ethnicities that contribute more to Chinese society and economy more Chinese than trouble-making minorities (Uyghurs, Tibetans, and now Inner-Mongolians)?
There are several ironic themes that occur through these theme parks. These theme parks are supposed to show Chinese unity and strongly clarify that all these minorities are a part of China, while simultaneously pointing out the distinctive differences between the minorities and the majority Han Chinese. Han Chinese encompass the majority of tourists come to these theme parks. How do you think Minorities feel about these theme parks? Do you think that they are happy that their “culture” is being publicized and recognized to some extent? Do you think that these minorities feel frustrated and patronized because not only is their culture being misrepresented, but also that these theme parks disregard several important historical events? Naturally, it is dependent on which minority it is and how they are being represented. In these theme parks, minorities are often being portrayed by Han Chinese. Theatricality is mentioned several times throughout the article. It is highly plausible that there are exaggerations of minority life simply for the entertainment effect. How do these parks relate to the Han superiority complex?
The two different Taiwanese theme parks further demonstrate the Han superiority complex. One of the parks explores Taiwan’s pre-Han history with research conducted by Japanese scholars during their occupation. The Han-oriented park offers a “modest and unobtrusive display of indigenous buildings, while reserving, in Skansen style, pride of place for Han architecture and life” (Stanley, 272). It is as if the Taiwanese were ancient and uncivilized before the Han Chinese had a presence in Taiwan. (We will not fully understand how these theme parks operate and the extent to which they affect Chinese society and culture until we go to one.)
So post-minority park trip
This minority showed many different elements of traditional minority culture, but as a whole presented all of these minorities as uncivilized. There was no modern presentation of any of the minorities and this minority theme park served more as a minority zoo. Han Chinese could come into this theme park and get a skewed and condescending view of these minorities. We read this article by Steve Harrell called Civilizing Projects and the Reactions to them. He makes a really excellent point about how "civilized and/modern" people view the "uncivilized" minorities. He describes three metaphors that the civilized people attribute to minorities or less civilized people; the sexual metaphor, the educational metaphor, and the historical metaphor.My favorite metaphor has to be the sexual metaphor.Steve Harrell states that "Civilizers" of all sorts have seen peripheral people as both erotic and promiscuous in their behavior, as being at a lower level of culture where they have not yet learned about the proper civilized morals of sexual repression and/or hypocrisy".Just Chew on this: Do more "civilized" or "modern" people have a more hypocritical view of sex? The educational metaphor view the less "civilized" group as people who must be civilized and educated with mentalities of people.The historical metaphor depicts the people as ancient, unchanged, and far from modernity(historical metaphor). This is illustrated through the minority theme park because the minorities are shown as uncivilized, exotic, and far from modernity. I hiked and traveled all throughout the Gansu and Qinghai province in Western China. Never once did I see any Tibetans wearing traditional bright Tibetan garments. It's a mockery and an exaggeration of these minorities' culture.
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