It's about to get Cultural. Then boom! Political.

So- it took me a while to type up all my journal entries from my Gansu and Qinghai trip. Now it's time to talk about the here and now.The last two weeks have entailed lots of studying. I had a test this past Friday and I studied the whole week. I think it went really well. I have been running a lot. I have found a new study spot in our dining hall. They just opened up a new cafe with delicious coffee. I have recently been watching a lot of Chinese kungfu movies. I watched this fantastic movie called Reign of Assassins. It was really captivating and I could not stop watching it. Last weekend, we went to Sanlituar bar street with a bunch of our American friends. We took rickshaws...not taxis because that would be too logical,from Sanlituar to a bar called Suzie Wangs. Last night, I went to Spark which is in a very Soho-esque area of Beijing. It's where all the Beijing fat cats go and all the gold diggers go to spot their prey(Western and Chinese alike). I have not seen so many attractive Asian and Western men all together in one place ever.One of our friends knows the owner. It's a cocktail dress and suit kind of place, but the music and DJ are really good.I went with my friend Jordan- the same girl who I went to the Ludacris concert with! We are very alike in a lot ways and different in a lot of other ways. We always make new friends together. Her Chinese is about the same level as mine-hers might be a little better, but we always make international friends that don't speak any English and we speak Chinese to them. We've met a Russian, this hot Turkish guy, and our cab driver last night this way. Our cab driver that was in fact a racist. He was not talking to us initially. We started talking to him and we told us that wo buxihuan heiren whcih We thought meant I don't like black people. This would have been very awkward taxi ride for Jordan who mixed. We found out he was actually talking about non-Han people. Han Chinese make up 90% of the Chinese population which 1.4 billion people. The other 10% are minorities. Sometimes, there is animousity between minorities and the Han majority. Apparently one day, a non-Han took his taxi without paying. FYI, Taxi drivers in Beijing do not speak any English- except for Welcome to Beijing. We can always look to each other if someone does not understand a part of the conversation.
Also there is a Chinese boy who works at the little store on the first floor of our dorm. We have a little running joke that he is my Chinese nanpengyou (boyfriend). He of course speaks no English and is sometimes mean. I told him in Chinese yesterday that if he was not nice, I would find a Japanese boyfriend. Chinese and Japanese people have a long history of animosity so I hope I really drove home the being nice part lol. Our racist taxi driver also did not like Japanese people.


Culture


So I originally thought Culture Shock was something that happened when you initially visit a country, but it has not been that way for me. It's when you really begin to know a culture, you see the cultural differences. Sometimes I honestly don't to know what to do with myself. Here's a list of cultural differences and observations I've made:
1. I do not understand how other international people interact with each other. I have had several misunderstandings because I cannot read how people feel or think. It's very frustrating.
2. Americans are really loud, outspoken, and sometimes obnoxious compared to other international people. I have really learned a lot about American culture and people just from being away from it and being around other people.
3. American self-esteem is based on constant, instant gratification and validation. Complimenting each other on the regular is a part of our culture. One of my American friends told me that she did not feel pretty in China, but did in the United States and I understood how she was feeling. Americans compliment each other all the time and I am now realizing that my self-esteem was constantly being validated by other people. When I got to China, one of our European friends told me that I was one of the most confident people they'd ever met. American (and Western culture?) is all about individuality and being awesome. I do not see that kind of confidence and cockiness coming from other cultures. Chinese people are very humble and humility in Chinese culture is highly regarded. It's not just a reflection of what qualities are highly valued in Chinese society, but of how Chinese people interact with each other. Americans primarily prioritize beauty over intelligence, personality, and especially humility. Being intelligent or personable is nice, but it's more important to attractive in American culture. I used to go around praising myself, but this whole experience has really humbled me. In the United States, it's like you could always fall back on being attractive and utilize that to get whatever you want.If you are smart or interesting, that's nice , but it's very important to be attractive.I'm around a lot of really intelligent people who speak Chinese beautifully. It has really showed me how much I have to work on and reevaluate my self-esteem.


It's time to get political. So if you don't care about Chinese politics-you will probaly be bored.
BUT IF NOT!
CONTINUE!


I've recently realized how important this blog is to me and to the people that care about me. You must know-this is my heart and soul. My blog takes a long time to write and I really try to make it something not only worth reading, but also a candid reflection of Chinese culture and politics through my perspective. My opinions about Chinese society and politics are constantly being challenged and changed through my different experiences.

That being said I want to make a distinct correction of something that I wrote about earlier. I wrote that :
It's weird and interesting when you visit a place and it's so different than you remembered...or your preconceived notions about the culture are not exactly spot on. For example, I had these preconceived notions that freedom of speech was so scandalous and not to talk about uncomfortable subjects, but it seems a lot less severe in Beijing than I imagined. Like we talk about controversial subjects on campus in a university or just in public.


I said this during the second week of September. My statement is not completely wrong, but it is very misguided. First of all, I am a foreigner in China and the Chinese government cares a lot less about what I do or say than with Chinese citizens. My perception of this complex issue is only based on what I see and what I experience. There are a lot of things that as a foreigner I am not exposed to. My Chinese foreign policy class and my Chinese Contemporary Society class are both uncensored because not only are they taught in English, but they do not directly operate through the Chinese government or our University.In China, there are two very important lines; the official line and the red line. The official line is the typical official government rhetoric. Taiwan is a part of a China.The Chinese government is advocating human rights and democracy. The official line is the politically correct answer to any sort of controversial question.What do you think of the Chinese government? The Chinese government is good. Now onto the red line. Chinese people have more freedom of speech than they did 40 years and even 10 years ago. Chinese people can talk openly about more issues, but there is a line (the red line!) in which they have said too much or gone too far. This red line is undefinable and scholars,writers, and the general Chinese population does not necessarily know where this line is. Word by Word, they challenge where this red line is and what is okay or not okay to say.When the red line is crossed, there are ramifications like being fired or worse.The red line is different regionally. You can say things in Beijing that you would be crazy to say in Tibet or Xinjiang(Volatile Autonomous regions in China with minority ethnic conflict).Chinese International Relations graduate students sometimes visit my classes and partake in our discussions. One of the students made a remark that you can criticize corruption and society, but don't criticize the government.The Chinese government censors a lot of what the Chinese people are exposed to, but where there is a will- there's always a way. Blogger-which- I am on right on is not allowed in China. I am on a Virtual Private Network(VPN) which allows me to check my faceboook, wrote my blog, and visit various other websites that the Chinese government blocks. Many Chinese people have VPNs and they can access all that the world wide web has to offer. One of the Chinese students made a remark that she had friends in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia and that whenever something was going on in those places- she could not view those friends' renren (Chinese-style facebook).She did not even know that anything was going on in these regions, but she figured it out pretty quickly that something was happening that the Chinese government does want the people to know about. China also has this thing called Weibo where the Chinese government pays someone 15 mao (cents) to say something positive about the Chinese government online.


This brings me to another concept:Reality.


An important part of studying International Affairs is conceptualizing and realizing some form of truth. Through this opportunity, I strive to understand China culturally, politically, economically, and socially.I want to have some form of realistic perception of China. In many ways, I want truth. Truth and Reality, especially dealing with China!, are rarely obvious, simple, or transparent.I don't mean to throw around the words "truth" and "reality" because I understand they are both extremely relative-but i want to find my own (factually and experience based) truth. I've learned that what you see isn't always what you get. In fact, it rarely is. This whole experience has been really humbling on so many different ways. I've come to accept that many of my ideas, perceptions, and beliefs about China are skewed. I might have some form of academic background in Chinese culture and politics, but it is nothing compared to the mass amounts of information and experience that I don't know or have.


Speaking of the unknown.


In my Chinese foreign policy class and Contemporary Chinese culture class, we discuss how the Chinese political system operates. The Chinese government, unlike the American government, is not transparent and most of the inner-workings of the Chinese government are unknown. When we learn about the Chinese political system, it is mostly well-educated speculation. Anyways-here we go. In China, the Chinese Communist Party reigns supreme. Some facts about the CCP from none other than a Congressional Research Report:

The CCP has over 66 million members involved in over 3.5 million organizations.Membership in the CCP is open to any Chinese citizen over the age of 18 who is willing to accept and abide by the Party’s constitution and policies. An applicant for Party membership must fill in an application form and be introduced by two Party members. Every Party member, irrespective of position, must be organized into a branch, cell, or other specific unit of the Party to participate in the regular activities of the Party organization. While joining the Party was once a wholly ideological act, it is thought now that many young people join the Party to make the personal connections important for career advancement.
One of the Chinese students said that it was necessary for her future to join the party. She said something really interesting.She told me that Chinese people do not know how the Chinese political system works or how they can be involved in the political system.She just knows the ideology of the Chinese Communist party and it's importance in Chinese society. 


Now onto my thoughts about Political Reform in China.





first of all.
86% of Chinese people are happy about the direction that their country is heading. Through China's economic prosperity, 400 million people have been lifted out of poverty. One of my Chinese professors made a very interesting comment that maybe the Chinese government has made one of the greatest human rights achievements in world history. To put this into relative terms, China's 30 year economic boom has lifted the whole population of the United States as well as an additional 100 million people out of poverty. It's an interesting perspective especially when the Chinese government is rarely associated with anything positive concerning human rights. 


The Brookings institute did a study about China's middle class and found out that most of them did not want democracy. This is not surprising to me all. Something that has always stuck out to me from George Orwell's 1984 is that: the Upper Class want to keep their power. The Middle Class wants to be upper class and the lower class want everyone to be equal. The Middle class does not want everyone to be equal. They want stability and comfort.Chinese people over the last two decades have experienced stability that they have not seen before the Opium Wars in the 1840's. The last thing that Chinese people want is another Cultural Revolution or just a revolution in general.The Cultural Revolution  occurred when the Chinese government condemned traditional culture and destroyed many temples, monastery, and traditional Chinese artifacts and persecuted, tortured, and killed many scholars and intellectuals. Universities shut down and many students violently rebelled  and marched across the countryside to promote the Communist cause. This occurred for an entire decade(1966-1976) and was only ended by the death of Mao Zedong. The effects of the Culture Revolution still loom all throughout China. China's top government officials were born in thee 1940's and the 1950's.These leaders lived through all of China's political chaos over the last 60 something years since the PRC was founded in 1949. Political instability is the biggest nightmare of the Chinese government.


       My theory is that political reform and change will occur in China when my generation of Chinese people come into power. Stability is a new concept in China and I think society will change as stability becomes more of a norm rather than a incentive for silence. Also, China's economic growth is not sustainable. Even if the Chinese economy continues to grow, it cannot maintain a 10% growth rate like it has for the last 30 years. It will eventually stagnate or plateau. They have an export-oriented economy and have several fundamental flaws in their economy ranging from high inflation, an aging workforce, crony capitalism which has allowed many state-run banks to make questionable loans, and an extreme dependence on their exports...among other things. Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe I'm right- I think that in the next 20-30 years, the combination of China's changing society and economic stagnation will lead to more democratic reform.China will have a generation that did not grow up with Mao's revolution or the Tianan'men Square Massacre's legacy. China will instead have a generation that grew up with progress and stability. They will not want to continually safeguard security, but promote more liberalized ideals. By this point, the shimmer of stability will have worn off and the people will demand a more, transparent and non-censored government that the people can hold accountable. 
But that's just what I think.
Only time will tell.




Sidebar Rant-People who think that China is going to take over the world are stupid. Really stupid.China's GDP is going to surpass America's economy. It is going to happen. They have four times as many people as the United States does. Their GDP per capita is extremely low and the Gini coefficient ( a study that measures Countries' distribution gap) measures with some Sub-Saharan African countries.It takes more than a high GDP to become a world power. China's hard power is strong, but their soft power is lagging. Soft power is how China exerts it power through diplomatic, cultural, and economic methods rather than through force or coercion. Soft power also entails how much of Chinese culture is spread throughout the world and how much the global population desires to be a part of Chinese society and political system. One of our readings talks about what being a world power ensues. Li Mingjiang in his China Debates Soft Power states that a "a world power should also be a world cultural centre, whose ideas,values, social life and beliefs are attractive to people's of other countries."In spite of all of our political, social, and economic problems, America is the dream for people across the globe.  Also, their currency should be the international currency of business. That's the dollar fools. So everyone can maybe chill out on building their bomb shelter for when China takes over the world.

The rest of my Western China Journey

Day 5
September 27th, 2011
Today we are going shopping and going to yet another monastary... Oh the adventures that await- We got breakfast and then we went to a monastery in Tongren. It was a very cloudy and chilly day. I scarfed up.We walked all the way to the top of the monastery and the view was beautiful. I took a lot of fantastic pictures.

 Tibetan Women

After we visited the monastery,we went to a Tibetan families' home and they prepared an absolutely fantastic dinner for us. There were these noodles in a delicious tomato salsa-like sauce that was real clutch. I sat with Lydia, Jin-ah, and their whole group. I needed to get away from the "family" for a second. We all spend quite a bit of time together and space is nice sometimes. After we ate lunch-we went to this white stupa and took lots of pictures. There were these little monk children putting firecrackers in the incense burner-it was great. No matter where you are- in middle class suburbia or rural children- boys will be boys.

Buddhist prayer wheels

After we went to the "place" to get thangkas. I bought a thangka with the Buddha of compassion. I could not decide between the tantric sex buddha or the compassion buddha. Rudy and Nicole convinced me that the purpose of the Buddha was to pray for something to that Buddha. Hypothetically- I would rather pray for compassion. Great sex will come. I really need to be more compassionate and I need to be more selfless and helpful to others.The thangka place was filled with beautifully colored and handcrafted thangkas. There was a whole room of them.

After we bought Thangkas, we went to a Tibetan school and gave little Tibetan 5th graders an english lesson-We were separated into groups of 4 and it was me, Jeremy, Katie, and Ian. We taught them tall and short, the days of the week. Example Xinggiyi shi Monday. We sang head, shoulders, knees, and toes. It was precious. After we taught them some english, we went outside and played with them. We jumped rope, played basketball, soccer, and socialized with the kids. Dave kept on shooting the basketball and saying "Wo shi Yaoming, Wo shi Yaoming ( I am yaoming, I am yaoming)."It was real precious. The children were adorable and it was a real cool experience. We are all going to hangout in Dave's room.

Onto Day 6
September 28th, 2011

We went to Kambula National Park. It was quite chilly and windy in Qinghai. The park was really beautiful and scenic, but the bus ride was probably the bumpiest one throughout the trip. We had to go an alternative route because there was a rockslide. We stopped at four checkpoints to take picture. The views were breathtaking and it was hard to imagine that these places were real. There were canyons, a bright blue lake, and steep hills. After we stopped at the four checkpoints to take picture we went on an hour and a half hike through the national park. We passed this village on our hike in which all the houses were made of brick and mud. They were carefully nessled in the mountains.
Sidebar- As we were driving through rural China on a rickety ass bus, Sydney was reading out loud Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life. It's a detailed description of some of her more interesting sexual encounters and experiences. A lot of my memories of our fun bus rides are intertwined with Chelsea Handler's scandalous sex life.
 All these pictures are from Kambula national park.

I think one of the most important concepts or a theme of our trip was to really understand the different living conditions, culture, and demographics of rural, Western China. As Chinese language and culture students, we need to understand China as a whole country. From Tibetan farmers and shepherds to Beijing high rollers partying in Sanlituar ( Beijing’s bar street). This is a country so culturally diverse that it is hard to fully grasp what China is. I am trying day by day to put all the pieces together.

First of all, before I say anything. I love America- the idea of America- the dream, civil liberties, freedom, and individuality and many other aspects of American culture....but cultural imperalism breaks my heart. I know it's a result of globalization, but when there's a KFC and/or Pizza hut on every corner in Beijing-it's disheartening. American culture has a lot of positive elemnts to it, but I feel like in some ways Chinese Culture is americanizing. China's traditional culture is long gone, but it's beginning to be a mixture of Chinese and Western culture. Xiahe was one of the purest versions of Chinese-Tibetan culture that we saw on the trip-with little to no western influence.  (Present Day-we were talking about contemporary chinese culture in my sociology class. A few of us made the comment that china does not really have a modern culture- our prof quickly addressed the issue. He said it's kind of wrong on a lot of different anthropological and social levels to say that China has no Modern culture- but I understand what you mean what you say that- China does not have a lot of clearly defined elements of contemporary culture.) Xiahe also had poor infrastructure and was relatively impoverished. Does western/american influence correlate do the more modern social and economic development? I have to say yes for the most part. Globalization enables the introduction of different aspects of different cultures throughout the world. China cannot be America's most important trading partner without some aspects of American culture to seep through-not mention worldwide mass communication( internet, cellphones).

On to Day 7-
September 29th, 2011
We went to the Qinghai museum which was of course extremely politically correct especially in reference to ethnic minorities. There was a lot of beautiful artifacts and paintings.We went to a nightmarket which had lots of food-fruit, vegetables, hanging meats, pig heads, chips-the works. We went into a Chinese restaurant to eat and there was dead mouse in the fountain. None of us were really bothered by it...a sign that I've been living in China for two months. A lot of the restaurants that we went to throughout our western China trip had C-grade health reports ( not the one with the mouse though!) Dave made an interesting comment about it. He said "I would not pay too much attention to it. They probably bribed their way out of it." So true. Corruption in China is certainly not unheard- in fact it's mostly who you know. We returned to our hotel in Xining- the capital city on Qinghai province. This was a relatively modern city. Our rooms had not only a shower that was not connected to the rest of the bathroom, but a bathtub. In celebration of this fine advancement and upgrade in hygiene, we all partied in Dave's room in our bathrobes. Marketus told us to meet in the lobby of the hotel at 7:45 for a surprise where we then headed onto Karaoke or "KTV". We had some good laughs and sang some songs. I started to feel congested and felt even worse on Day 8.

Day 8
September 30th, 2011
On day 8, we headed to Qinghai lake. The largest saltwater lake in the China and second in the world. There is no swimming in this lake because not only in the lake extremely important for Tibetan Buddhism, but many Tibetans send the dead into the lake. This is one way that Tibetans say goodbye to the dead. I may or may not have talked about sky burials-so if I did I am sorry for repeating myself. Tibetan Sky burials are when they leave bodies on top of mountains and leave the body for the birds to pick. The reasoning behind this is that you come into the world with nothing and you leave with nothing. Moving on- we took a three hour bus  ride there and we rode bicycles 16km around Qinghai lake. It was a very cold day at Qinghai Lake, but it was also very beautiful. The sky was bright blue with a backdrop of snow white mountaintops and pasture. I had my I-pod and just rocked out and biked.

We ate lunch near the lake and we saw two Tibetans riding horses.

Sidebar-there is a book called Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows. It's an abomination and a complete misreading and misunderstanding of Chinese culture. Throughout our 9-day trip, Syd, Jeremy, Dave,Rudy, and Antoinette read this literary train wreck. Point Blank- Do not try to oversimplify a culture and not everything is as it appears.

Day 9

October 1st, 2011

On our final day in Western China, we earned our food. We picked potatos and put them in bags. It was hard work and I had a runny nose. The family cooked us dinner. Ironically this family made baijiu-white liquor and various members of our group did shots with the family. I did not because of the condition of my health. We flew back to Beijing that night for Ross's 21st birthday. On our way back he called us to tell us that he was having a bad birthday. So being the great friends that we are, we went up to his room to cheer him. As it goes-he had only his shorts on and a lady friends in the room. Can you say awkward?

But two weeks later I am back and Beijing. Glad to be back. I will write another post soon updating you on the last two weeks. I have written a lot today and need to give my brain a second to rest.

Love you all!

Day 4

Day 4

September 26^th, 2011

We just took pictures on top on this beautiful grassland. One thing about photography is that it can’t always capture the beauty of nature. Throughout the trip, I have taken many many pictures, but they don’t encompass everything that we saw and felt when the pictures were taken. You see the green grasslands and the scenic mountains, but being there was so much more than that. There I was standing on top of a huge hill overlooking mountains, villages, and a perfectly blue skyline. The air circulating through was my veins was as clean and fresh as air gets and the light breeze lighting blowing against my skin. It was a good moment. Truly beautiful. It’s the same thing with how steep the hills and mountains that we’ve climbed are.

Right now, we are on another rocky bus ride through rural Gansu. The houses are made of brick and mud and there are single rows of “houses” from time to time. It’s so beautiful, but the living standards are really low…Regardless- I feel like these people are probally really happy in the lives they live. They most likely enjoy their simple, peaceful, and serene lifestyle-not to mention it’s all they have ever known.  This whole area is wildly underdeveloped. Obviously- their lives would be improved by more modern infrastructure-social and medical advancements, ,but I wonder if more western modern development would be considered an infringement of their culture. I know that minorities in China strive to maintain their culture and differentiate it from Han Chinese culture. Dave made a comment that it’s not like anyone in Gansu wishes they were sitting in a Starbucks in Beijing.We just missed a rock slide on a cliff by about 20 minutes- that would have been bad news bears. We went from the Grasslands to the Bon monastery. We sat down in this classroom-while a living Buddha spoke Chinese and marketus kind of translated.I understood some of it-but  some of the things he said really stuck out. The living Buddha told us that it is the monks mission to have a clear and clean mind without vices and to live tomorrow better than you lived today-that is to constantly be improving yourself. He told us that philosophy students study philosophy for 13 years and then after studying philoshy they study tantra.Tantra (as described by Jeremy) is the physical application of Buddhism. Basically like- controlling your body as a means of controlling your soul. An important aspect of Buddhism is that Buddhism must be learned from someone else. You can read all the Buddhist texts in the world, but until you study under a llama, master, or monk- you are just a Buddhist noob. We walked around and then ate lunch- our bags and bags of snacks-on top on a mountain. There were several occasions where we needed to buy snacks in advance for our lunch on our trip. The mountaintop view was breathtaking.

After lunch, we climbed yet another steep hill. This mountain was the steepest and I was wearing my Chinese knockoff Ugg boots. It was one of the scarier experiences of my life. We were all climbing vertically at one point and I was seriously afraid that I was going to fall off the mountain.