Concluding Thoughts and Remarks

As this is being written, both of us have now returned to Brussels. Two days after arriving back in Brussels, Jesse flew to Slovakia for a wedding before spending a few days in Prague and Vienna. Dan started work immediately after returning at the NGO he had previously interned at.

Our last few weeks in Beijing were spent doing research for our theses. Trips to the 外交学院图书馆 (CFAU Library) and the 国家图书馆 (National Library) yielded mixed success. While we were able to take out books from our University Library and found many useful ones, several we wanted were not available there and instead had to visit the National Library. This in itself was not an issue, but the requirement of a ¥1000 deposit to loan books dissuaded us from that and instead, we spent several hours figuring out how to find the books we wanted and then paid the equivalent of $5 each to get the entire thing copied. Now if that isn’t copyright infringement, I don’t know what is. Ok, the DVD’s we bought for ¥5 on the street were just as blatant copyright infringement. This is actually a big point of contention between the US and China, with the US saying its companies are losing millions because of these actions. While the government has put forth regulations and whatnot, these are generally ignored and the fact that there are physical stores selling these DVDs shows little is being done. We even saw a boxed set for the TV series 24 of the full 8th season before it had even been aired completion on TV in the States.

We did some last-minute shopping for gifts and a few more custom tailored dress shirts. For $15 and your choice of fabric, style and cut, it was a great deal. Of course, the “Adidas” shoes I bought didn’t last more than six weeks before multiple holes developed. I’d much rather pay four times as much to have them last for a year like the real pair I had before.

One of the best parts of our last few weeks (aside from the World Cup, but we will come to that) was a meeting we had with the Vice President of CFAU, Qin Yaqing. In addition to being a Party member, Professor Qin is one of the most renowned and respected Chinese scholars of International Relations Theory. He has translated many books, including those by Robert Jervis and Alexander Wendt into Chinese. He also wrote an article titled “Why is there no Chinese International Relations Theory?” that questions the absence of a Chinese perspective on international affairs. The hour meeting we had started a little awkward, with him seemingly annoyed by our request for a meeting. But as we got into conversation and asked probing questions about Chinese foreign policy and the thoughts of the party, he opened up noticeably opened up and gave both of us very useful advice and information that both of us have since incorporated into our writing. We were both very happy with the outcome and returned to our papers with a renewed sense of purpose, the theoretical approach more solidly formed in our minds.

Now, the World Cup. My favorite event every four years. With us being in Beijing, the timing of the games was not the most conducive as the games started at 7pm, 10pm and 2:30am respectively. However, because of our research, we informed our Chinese teachers that we would not be sitting the final exam and not attending the final two weeks of class. It was a difficult decision, but the amount of studying it would have taken just to catch up from the classes we missed with our travels would have consumed all of our time. We both hope to continue our studies in Chinese, as it will only grow in importance in the international arena.

Ok, I got sidetracked. Back to the World Cup. Throughout the entire month of football, we missed less than 10 games, meaning we watched nearly 55 games in total. This is by far the most games in a World Cup I have watched, and I loved every minute (Ok, I didn’t love every minute of the final, which was really quite boring and very brutal). I’m sure everyone knows the result, so I won’t go into all of that, but I was quite happy with two teams that had never won the trophy battling it out in the final. The Dutch have now appeared in three finals without winning a single one while Spain marked its first appearance past the quarterfinals with its first World Cup trophy to accompany the Euro triumph two years ago. I will now start saving up for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

This blog was always intended to only be for our time in Beijing, and now that time has concluded, so will this blog. We appreciate all of those who have followed and read our entries. The number of readers we had astounded us. If you have any questions or comments for either of us, please send us an email to the following addresses:

daniel.skillings@gmail.com

jesse.belcher@gmail.com

谢谢朋友 (thank you friends) for reading and we urge you all to travel to China/South Korea/North Korea if and when you get the chance!

Dan and Jesse （大呢尔和杰西）

The DPRK Time Machine – A Unique Vacation

While in the DPRK, I took wrote a journal of sorts so as to aid my memory of this once in a lifetime trip. Our group consisted of myself, Dan and another exchange student from CFAU and 5 exchange students from BeiDa (Peking University). Overall there were two Dutch, two German, a Canadian, an American, a Chinese (who had spent considerable time in the US) and a Hong Kong citizen (though also a Canadian citizen). Below are my recollections from North Korea. Certain aspects of the trip have been removed or glossed over, out of respect to our tour guides who have been known to face repercussions for information that leaves the isolated country. From my perspective I saw nothing that would upset the regime, but you never know how they might view certain incidents.

Day 1:

Well, our first day in North Korea has concluded. Nothing as far as sights, but that’s not to say it hasn’t been exciting and fascinating. We left CFAU at 10:30am and arrived at the airport an hour later. Surprisingly our flight was full, mostly of North Koreans (surprise) returning from China with many packages of goods (including flat-screen TVs). There was also a large group of student athletes who we learned were Korean but lived in Japan (there is in fact a large population of ethnic Koreans who live in Japan and attend maintain North Korean citizenship. The star forward for the North Korean football team in the World Cup is one such person). They, along with everyone else who was from the DPRK, sported a pin on their chest of President Kim Il Sung. Despite passing away in 1994, Kim Il Sung has retained the title of President. The current ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong Il is leader of the military but does not carry the title of President.

Arriving at Pyongyang Airport

The airport itself in Pyongyang was little more than what would be considered a regional airport in the West. While one other flight arrived the same day as us (from Russia), only 6 flights land in Pyongyang every week, with an equal amount departing. The airport has no ‘gate’ so to speak of, so the plane was parked on the tarmac and a bus was used to ferry us to the terminal itself. We could see several Air Koryo planes to the side, their windows and engines covered as they sat idle. It took us 1.5 hours to clear all levels of customs as they throughly searched our luggage and took all of our cell phones, only to return them to us when we left in 4 days. Because of a delay with the phones, we were unable to visit any sites in Pyongyang the first day as originally planned. Instead, we headed straight for the Yanggakdo International Hotel. The drive itself was quite amazing. Rice fields surrounded the airport and runway and, according to our guide, were currently being manned by every type of citizen in the country (white-collar, blue-collar, student, housewife, etc.) as they transplanted the rice into the field. The harvest is in the fall and provides the food supply of the country for the entire year. Well, at least it’s supposed to. As of this entry, the government has supposedly had to allow private markets to remain open as the food supply in the country is so low many are faced with famine. Even food reserved for those in the military is being given to regular citizens, nearly unheard of in a country that places its army first. The number of people walking and riding bikes along the roads was striking. We saw one bus (which had to have been 40 years old) being pushed by 20+ people, as it had apparently broken down.

Our hotel, the Yanggakdo International, is situated on an island in the middle of the river running through Pyongyang. Opened in the 1990s, it is furnished with relics of the 1970s. The desk between our beds had a radio built-in that I can only imagine my grandfather sitting next to, fiddling with the dial as he attempts to tune into the news station. The hotel itself has 47 floors, with the upper floor being occupied by a revolving restaurant, the setting for our dinner that evening. As we sat in the restaurant, the sun slowly setting on our first day in the DPRK, we noticed the conspicuous absence of any light emanating from the city. In fact, the railway station and the numerous monuments appeared to be the only things fully lit. Street lights seemed nonexistent. Following a discussion of our itinerary our group descended to the lower levels of the hotel to take advantage of the bowling alley on site. Our guides, Mr. Oh and Ms. Kim joined us as we celebrated our first night.

Mr. Kim is an older gentleman, a tour guide for over 20 years. He has had the opportunity to travel to several other countries, developing tourism ties for his home country. It shows the level of trust the government has with him that they have actually allowed him to leave the country. That is quite rare from what I hear. Ms. Kim is younger, around 23, and has been a tour guide for only a couple of years. Her English is surprisingly good and took over the description of the city as we drove through. As of now, she has not yet been outside the country.

It is difficult to describe my initial thoughts, but given the current events with South Korea (namely the alleged North Korean sinking of the Choenan), fear is not one of them. Even though we saw very little, at no point did we see anything that resembled people preparing for a war (bar the odd army group marching along the highway, but then again I suspect that is normal). I am immensely excited for the next three days of our trip and cannot wait to see what North Korea has to offer.

Day 2:

We began our first full day in the DPRK bright and early, getting a wake up call at 7:30 and in the van by 8:30. Even driving along the streets of the capital is interesting. It looks as if the whole city is stuck in time, with the majority of the few cars from the 70s and the public transportation somehow still able to function. Among the highlights of the day was the enormous bronze statue of Kim Il Sung (erected in the 1970s, before he passed away). Originally it had been coated in a thin layer of gold leaf but China, having subsidized a good portion of the DPRK economy, protested the use of funds and so it was scrubbed clean to the current bronze. Nor word on if they dumped the gold leaf down the drain or actually utilized it for something else. The condition of the statue and the surrounding grounds is immaculate, with citizens constantly at work making sure it looks its best. It could just as easily been erected yesterday so good was the condition.

The group in front of the 30m bronze Kim Il Sung statue

The memorials and monuments in general are all extremely well-maintained, while average buildings and roads have not seen significant work in decades. One of the other stops was the Juche Tower, erected as a tribute to ‘Juche’, a concept conceived by Kim Il Sung (it is also known as Kimilsungism. Original, don’t you think?). One of the main principles of ‘Juche’ is self-reliance, which explains in part the lack of contact with and influence of the global community. It is said the outside world has nothing to offer that is not available inside North Korea. Novel way of keeping people from being curious. We arrived back at the hotel around 8pm and despite the numerous activities available, the bed seemed most appealing and we quickly fell asleep until the following morning.

Juche Tower. It's not small.

Day 3:

During the morning and early afternoon, we visited many other sights, including the Arch of Triumph (it is 3 meters taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and don’t you forget it!). The main difference we noticed is that if you tried to walk across the street in Paris, you would not doubt become roadkill. However, in Pyongyang, we had no problem walking in the middle of the street and the few cars that did pass moved over so as to give us more room on the road. Incredible that a major street in a capital city has so little traffic.

In the middle of the road in front of the Arch of Triumph

We also visited a ‘fun fair’ also known as an amusement park. What an experience. Although it wasn’t until the third attempt that we were able to find one that was actually open. You know, who goes to an amusement park on a Saturday afternoon. But of course, simply because the park was open didn’t mean the rides were working. And given the all looked as if they hadn’t been used in a couple of decades, we though it might have been for the better. However, as we were returning from a stroll around the grounds, we heard the distinct sounds of a roller coaster starting up. Rusting and decrepit, the ride looked anything but safe. But who can say they rode a roller coaster in North Korea? So up we went. Only those of us from CFAU had the guts to take it, along with Ms. Kim who said she has to go to “make sure we were safe”. As soon as we took our paces in the front two rows and began the slow and unsteady ride up, we noticed a common safety feature that was lacking. The bar that swings over your head and locks you in place in your seat in fact did not lock at all. Confused by this, we kept lifting it up, wondering if we had to pull it down harder for it to lock. By the time we reached the summit, we realized there was no locking mechanism and that we’d have to resort to simply holding it down. That with a loop in the track and all. Needless to say we survived the loop, as well as the trees that needed to be cut and hung out over the track.

Surviving the rusty roller coaster

Our next stop was to take a ride on the city subway. This was something we pressed hard to do, as we had heard the stations themselves were magnificently built and indeed, they did not disappoint. Located 100 feet below ground, the stations double as bomb shelters for when the American Imperialists attack the city. Full of chandeliers and Roman-style columns, the stations are indeed beautiful. Murals adorn the wall and a musty smell permeates the air. We were quite the spectacle, schoolchildren staring at us as they closed the subway doors, adults pretending to not be interested yet catching fleeting glances at us when they could. The subway cars were imported from West Germany in the 1980s, so you can imagine they are not anything like those in Beijing or London. Subways would be much more interesting places if they had the design of those in Pyongyang rather than the industrial style seen in every other major city.

Our final stop of the day was to visit a middle school. We thought we would finally be able to see average citizens in normal life, not the fabricated narrative we had been viewing (not that it wasn’t enjoyable, but we were all well aware our destinations were precisely thought out and planned). Of course, when we got there and saw 5 other tour buses, we knew it might be a bit of a disappointment. A children’s show of music and dance was followed by a tour of them studying. While we were told the children had school from 8am-noon, we were there at 4pm. “Extra-curricular” we were told. Though when none of the students looked up from the studies when we entered a room, we became well aware they were used to foreign visitors and simply continued on their work with no hesitation. Odd really. Outside a U-11 boys team was playing football (since I’m not in the US, I am using the correct term for the US sport of ‘soccer’ here). We asked if we could join in and, kindly, they stopped their current game to accommodate us. Despite our best efforts against their team, we fell to a 3-2 loss, perhaps helped by our decision not to totally demolish them. When we return in 5 years we expect to see a plaque dedicated to their young team who beat a team of “international superstars”.

That evening we drove the few hours south to Kaesong, a city on the border of South Korea. We passed several checkpoints at which our driver had to show the credentials to let us pass. If you do not have the proper authorization, you’re not going anywhere. Pyongyang is a city reserved for the party loyal and it is considered a privilege to live there. The checkpoints stop others from entering.

A few of the many propaganda posters throughout the city.

Day 4:

Today was a visit to the most heavily militarized border in the world. But you wouldn’t know it. Naturally a popular tourist destination, the parking lot was full of buses and people milling around. We were the only Westerners there, aside from a couple single guys on private tours. The rest were Chinese it seemed. We first went to the armistice hall where the cease-fire between the warring factions was signed. The exhibitions there were full of anti-American propaganda, blasting the US for invading the North to start the Korea War. Doesn’t sound correct? Well, according to the version of history depicted there, the US in fact started the Korean War and the North claimed victory by pushing them back to the 38th parallel. We were then taken to the border itself, climbing back on our bus to be driven there. To our surprise, the North Korean Senior Captain who had been giving the tour decided to climb on board our bus for the short ride. He consulted Ms. Kim quickly and, as Dan managed to gather, was asking who the American was. He then walked down the aisle and sat down on my seat, forcing me to scrunch up near the window. I took it probably as I should have, which is as a joke. Others may have seen it as a purposeful slighting of an American. Either way, you can’t be too serious about it. He then proceeded to ask us what the Western media was saying about the Cheonan sinking. He was rather disappointed when we told him there was a general consensus that the DPRK was responsible and responded that North Korea wouldn’t do something like that. Politics aside, it was interesting to have a conversation with him regarding a major international issue.

North Korean officer hogging my seat

From what I’ve been told, a tour on the South Korean side requires you to dress up in slacks and a nice shirt and to not point, wave or shout when looking to the North. This is presumably to show the North how well dressed everyone is and to not “provoke the North” into…shooting you? Obviously propaganda on both sides. In any case, we had great fun waving at the numerous cameras pointed across the border. Of course we were told that if we attempted to step over the border, we would either be tackled by the North Koreans or shot by the Americans. Pleasing thought really.

At the DMZ

We then visited (another) statue of Kim Il Sung and the tomb of a long ago Emperor situated in the wooded hills outside Kaesong. I can’t imagine it would be so peaceful were it a Western tourist attraction. It’s actually rather nice to have it so deserted. We then boarded the bus for the trip back up to Pyongyang. We stopped by the USS Pueblo, a US spy ship that was captured by the DPRK decades ago and remains a tourist attraction. The propaganda on the film they showed us also distorted the historical facts of the Korean War. Consistency is key I suppose. Our final destination of the night, our last in DPRK, was to go to the Diplomatic Club (The Diplo if you’re cool), a former embassy that now houses a club populated mostly with the few foreign diplomats working in the country. We met several of them, an Egyption and a few British, and they described their time in Pyongyang as interesting, if not rather dull. Limited contact with the outside world was afforded, but with no activities outside of work, the average workday seemed to end with them at either the Diplo or the Friendship Club, the other nightspot in Pyongyang. And by ‘other’ I mean those are the only two. In a city of 3 million there are only two clubs/bars and even those are mainly for foreigners (we heard there was a ‘bar street’, but this was met with cagey denial of sorts).

The group in front of one of many memorials to the Kim family

Overall there is a serious lack of color in the clothing of people. Most men wear dark green, black, brown or grey jumpsuits, similar to what Kim Jong Il always seems to be wearing. Minus the sunglasses. And of course the Kim Il Sung pin is ubiquitous. A Soviet style city to rival any other, Pyongyang is certainly an interesting place to be.

Day 5:

The final day, though seeing as how the train left at 10am, there wasn’t much to it. For the others at least. Being an American, I was not allowed to take the overnight train back to Beijing. I was required instead to head back to the airport for the two-hour flight to the Chinese capital. Now, as interesting as a train ride in North Korea would be, I was quite happy to not have to spend 24 hours on one. The flight worked out just fine for me. Besides, as my flight didn’t leave until 5pm, I was able to visit a few more sights by myself. These included a film set that is used for most productions and features towns designed to resemble Chinese, South Korean, Japanese and European villages. Kim Jong Il is an avid movie fan and supposedly visits the set quite often to give advice on the filmmaking. Perhaps we’ll see an entry at Cannes sometime soon. I was also taken to an art museum which displayed artwork from several centuries past up to the present. While the older artwork focused on nature and daily living, the modern pieces depicted Kim Il Sung or Kim Jong Il and other aspects of the Communist society. It was quite interesting, though I was unfortunately not allowed to take pictures. I’ll have to keep that part in my memory.

At 4pm, we arrived at Pyongyang International Airport. While those on the train were subjected to an intensive two-hour investigation of belongings and pictures, I breezed through check-in and customs with no questions asked.

While certainly not a vacation, I knew I would have left China disappointed if I had not been able to visit the reclusive state. Only 2000 or so Americans have ever been to North Korea in the last 50 years and, given the US continues to play a major role on the Korean peninsula, it is a shame so few people know more about the country. With rumors of Kim Jong Il’s son preparing to take over in the next few years, the future of the DPRK will be interesting to follow. Only a couple of pictures could be uploaded here. To see more, please visit the Flickr site on the left hand side. Comments are welcome and encouraged.
Jesse

EXPO 2010 in Shanghai (上海）

With Dan’s girlfriend in town, Ida, we decided that it would be a perfect time to visit the East Coast city of Shanghai during their hosting of Expo 2010. Expo is composed of pavilions from most, if not all countries in the world, designed to encourage tourism to that country. The theme for the Shanghai Expo was “Better City, Better Life” and was designed to showcase green efforts in the various countries.

We took an overnight bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai on a Friday evening, leaving around 9pm and arriving 11 hours later to a grey, cloudy, rainy city. The train itself was quite new and stopped at no stations along the way. The three of us were staying in a 4-bed sleeper, meaning more than likely there was going to be one other person in the same room. As we had not had dinner at the point, we had visited the McDonald’s in the station and went about eating it once we entered the car. Not two minutes later, a young Chinese girl walks in, our new roommate, to see three Westerners gorging themselves on fast food. After putting her stuff down, she went into the hallway and started texting on her phone, no doubt to tell her friends about the horrible position she was now in. We had started playing cards, but we decided that we would let her have the privacy of the room and we would take our game to the dining car. When we arrived, we found all of the tables taken, but no one was eating and very few were drinking. A standing table, occupied by train workers, was graciously offered to us and we say down. It wasn’t until a few hours later, with the exact same people still in the dining car, that we realized these people bought tickets for seats and came to the dining car to sleep, as it was more comfortable than the seat the paid for. It didn’t make sense to us, but then again many things in China don’t make sense to us. As can be imagined, with a train car full of sleeping people, someone is bound to snore. This poor soul was rather overweight and could not have been comfortable. As we were not trying to sleep, we just laughed, but we could see other people who were not quite so amused by the situation.

We ended our card game in the early morning and retired to our bunks to catch a little sleep before arriving in Shanghai. Despite it being too early to check in when we arrived, the hotel in Pudong where we were staying had the rooms available, so we were able to put our stuff down and take a shower before heading over to the Expo sight. It’s situated on two sides of the river running through Shanghai, with the area to the north reserved for individual city exhibitions and various corporations. The southern part was home to the main area of country pavilions.

We were excited to see what the various countries had on offer and were greatly disappointed when we approached the Japanese pavilion to find a line that twisted back and forth through the barricades an endless amount of times. Now, none of us are big fans of waiting in lines, but we did make several exceptions while there. However, standing in a large pack of other humans for 3+ hours did not sound inviting for any of us, so we swallowed our disappointment and continued on our way. The same occurred at the Republic of Korea pavilion, another one we wanted to go in. Instead, we decided to simply enjoy the outside designs of the pavilions, most of which are quite ambitious in their construction.

At one point, we happened to notice the DPR Korea pavilion, and considering Dan and I were headed there the week after, we decided to check it out. A bonus being there didn’t seem to be a line. As we were walking over there, we started to see a few people jogging, then running towards the entrance. This was followed by more people. Curious, and also worried about having to now wait in line, we joined the scamper only to discover that the majority of the people were only running because they saw other people running. Most likely because they saw what we did in that there was no wait involved. Groups of people act in strange ways.

In total, we were able to enter the DPRK, New Zealand, Norway (Ida’s home country), Canada (Dan’s home country) and Cuba. Naturally, we would have gone to the USA, however Hilary Clinton happened to be in town that night and was hosting a dinner there, so the one day they are closed the entire Expo was when we happened to be there. We decided to take a picture showing our displeasure with this outcome, only for a young staffer of the pavilion to laugh at us and insist that she take a competing picture.

Protesting the closure of the US pavilion

After talking to staffer for a few minutes, she informed us that we should check out the Cuba pavilion, as it was essentially just a bar. Intrigued by this, but perhaps not at all surprised, we ventured over. Sure enough, the only real exhibition about Cuba was the bar serving mojitos and cuba libres and the numerous Cuban cigars for sale. What intrigued me about the way the mojitos were made was that the bartender added a splash of Angostura bitters at the end. I had never thought of that before, but they were delicious nonetheless.

The next day we visited the Bund, the famous riverfront avenue along the river that sports many buildings built in the early 20th century by, mostly, wealthy British businessmen. The other side of the river, Pudong, used to be a ghetto until it was designated a Special Economic Zone within China in 1990 and grew rapidly. It is now the financial center of Shanghai and houses the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and will soon showcase the Shanghai Tower, scheduled to be completed in 2014 and will be the 2nd tallest building in the world (behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai). At one point, Pudong had nearly 1/3 of all tall construction cranes in the world in operation, the result of which can now be seen.

Looking across the Bund to the Pundong financial district.

We took a nice leisurely stroll around after, ending up in Renmin Park (People’s Park) with a few beers. We sat there for at least 5 hours; talking, laughing and occasionally engaging in conversation with the many passing pedestrians. Our stomachs growling, we searched for food, eventually successful, before stumbling upon a karaoke bar. This was perhaps the bad idea. I’m not sure why, but we had to rent the room we were in for six or so hours. Seeing as how it was already nearly midnight, this meant we either paid a large amount for an hour or two or just sucked it up and took all of our allotted time. Well, six hours later we emerged to a shining sun, illuminating the pedestrian boulevard and causing us to squint our eyes against the unfamiliar brightness.

I decided to visit the Yu Gardens, a walled paradise situated in the old part of the city. With it being so early, I was fortunate enough to be one of, if not the first, visitor that day. In the end, it turned out to be quite the blessing, as I was able to experience the true peaceful nature of the enclave. I in fact found a nice place to lay down, so I put up my feet, closed my eyes, and dozed away to the sounds of the nearby waterfall.

The view from my secret napping place in the Yu Gardens

The day ended with us catching a flight for the two-hour ride back to Beijing. Dan and I then had just two days to prepare for our trip to the DPRK. Stay tuned for that…

Jesse

Weather and Socialism

1. Does spring exist in North East Asia?

Around six weeks ago, the heating was turned off all over China (except far north) and we were unable to turn it back on – gotta love socialism! The reason: Spring had arrived. Up until a week or so ago, I was wearing my winter jacket and shivering in bed wondering to myself if I was being punished for something (probably). The common response if I complained? “You are Canadian – this is like summer!” Followed by a laugh or giggle. I love the generalizations made about Canada and Canadians…yes, yes….we all live in igloos, hunt seals, and only play hockey. We live in subzero temperatures year round and say “eh” at the end of every sentence.  Anyways, back on topic. The good news is that the weather has immensely improved over the past week. However, spring is still nowhere to be seen. It is now t-shirt and shorts weather and the AC needs to be on periodically in order to be comfortable. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining…I am really enjoying the weather now. Yet, I would like to point out that I don’t think spring exists in North East Asia anymore. While this may not be a big deal to you, you must understand that Koreans and Chinese strongly believe that they have four distinct seasons…. and based on my experience of living in this part of the world for a few years, I strongly disagree. Spring and fall may last for a day or two…no more. Winter to summer and back again! Just because it is April, does not mean it is spring. Some one needs to inform those that control the heating to understand this point.

Springtime at 外交学院。

2. Chinese socialism is not enough for us!

While we have experienced censorship to a certain degree here in Beijing, we are going to travel to North Korea later this month to truly find out what lack of freedom and expression means. We are going there with 6 other students and will spend a few nights in Pyongyang and bask in all of its glory! We will also stay in Kaesong in the southern part of the isolated country as we will be visiting the DMZ. We will be taking the train in and out (except Jesse – he must fly because he is an “imperialist (fill in the blank) Yankee” and cannot be trusted to take the train according to the North Koreans ). This will probably be our only chance to see the country for what it truly is and take snap shots of the real living conditions of most North Koreans. The rest of the time we will be subjected to North Korean propaganda – let the indoctrination begin! I have been looking forward to traveling to North Korea for quite some time….so I am truly excited for this trip. I cannot wait to see such gems such as the massive Kim Il Sung statue, captured USS Pueblo, and the May Day Stadium. Of course, I am very eager to sing songs about the dear leader during Noraebang (Korean karaoke), learn about all of his mystical powers and various talents, and drink beer that he created himself! Did you know that Kim Jong Il once played golf and got a hole in one on every hole? hahhaa…18 strokes for an 18 hole golf course! Of course…no problem.  For those interested, here is a great documentary done a few years back that should be similar to our trip:

http://www.vbs.tv/newsroom/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-14

Other points of interest…Shanghai Expo in a few weeks and, ash cloud permitting, a friendly Norwegian will be arriving in a few days.

Dan

A statue of Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Chen Yi who served as President of CFAU between 1961 and 1969

The West Gate of the University

I Think China is 很好！

1. Attack of the midget stinkbomb.

As Dan so eloquently described in his post, we were accosted last week on our way back from the Kent Beijing alumni reception by a newspaper-selling midget who most certainly could be classified as a WMD. Our interactions with him as he passed us numerous times caused us to get closer and closer to regurgitating the delicious meal we had just consumed. Dan, in fact, was the one who couldn’t handle him. After getting an arm hair pulled, he searched around in constant fear of a repeat attack. On the stinkbomb’s last run past us, Dan decided he had enough and ran off towards the opposite end of the train, waving his hands in the air and screaming like a little girl. I, on the other hand, decided it would be safer to huddle in the corner with my gaze averted and hope he wouldn’t see me if I remained perfectly still. I probably should have followed Dan. I slowly turned around, only to see the short salesman standing right beside me, pointing a grimy finger at my water bottle. Having made the mistake of trapping myself in a corner, there wasn’t much I could do except gesture for him to continue on his way. Finally, after forever (here forever = 5 seconds +/- but it certainly seemed longer), he decided I wasn’t much fun and marched on up the train, leaving Dan and I to recover from our ordeal. With only one station between us and our destination, we were hoping we would be safe from another encounter. Unfortunately, as we pulled into that last station, we sensed a familiar stench and soon saw an equally familiar figure making his way towards us. Without a seconds hesitation, both of us headed for the exit, feeling a 10 minute wait for the next train was a worthwhile sacrifice in order to deter another experience. Walking back to our room, Dan dry-heaved a couple of times, proving that he was actually the one who had the most difficulty.

2. Kent Alumni reception.

Ok, ok, we’re not technically alumni, but when you’re invited to such an event by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, obviously you’re going to go. Held in one of the nicest hotels in Beijing, the reception drew a relatively younger group of alumni. As was explained to us earlier, the group of alumni from Hong Kong was a larger and more organized group that spanned a larger age range. The associations that Kent has developed with Universities in mainland China has been growing in recent years, and the young alumni in attendance was testament to that. In fact, we were specifically invited because we are the first Kent students to attend China Foreign Affairs University as exchange students. They were very interested in our experiences so far and, to our surprise, had been keenly following our blog. After a brief presentation and the indulgence of wine and hors d’oeuvres (yes, I had to look up how to spell that), we joined Vice-Chancellor Julia Goodfellow and others for a late dinner in one of the hotel restaurants. As we have mentioned before, the recurring meal of ‘gai fan’ has become quite the burden, leaving us feeling bloated and weighted down as we leave the campus restaurant. In stark contrast, Dan and I both opted for pizza, chardonnay and blueberry cheesecake. Grinning with pleasure as we downed our meal, we learned more about Kent in China, the travels of those involved in the international promotion of Kent and indeed the reputation of the school worldwide. In all, it was a delightful evening and after dinner we reluctantly said goodbye and hopped in a cab home.

Thank you to our generous hosts for a lovely evening.

3. Chinese food isn’t all General Tso’s Chicken.

I’ll admit to a little ignorance in this regard. Had I been asked last year to describe Chinese food, it would have been “chicken with broccoli in garlic sauce and fried rice.” That was my usual order at the Hunan 1 restaurant just across College Ave. when I was at Lawrence University and I naïvely assumed it was all like that. You know what they say about assumptions… When Mr. Da Wei took us to the Xinjiang province restaurant for dinner, the food that appeared on our table was nothing of the sort. Legs of mutton, dishes with lamb, pork and chicken crowded our plates. And not a grain of rice in sight. The conversation with Mr. Da was just as interesting. One remark that stuck out for me was his belief that most Chinese tend to have Realist views of International Relations. It was mentioned that Chinese scholars have not advanced a theory of their own, forcing them to use Western theories to explain actions of their 国家 (home country). In order for China to be truly understood by the West, it seems they need to explain it in their own way, rather than forcing it through the Western perspective and hoping it is then understood. We have had several conversations with Chinese scholars in the time that we’ve been here, and at times it has been eye-opening. When reading media accounts and political rhetoric, especially in the US, China is portrayed as a threat to US/Western/freedom/democracy and must be stopped. While I have been interested in hearing the views from a Chinese perspective, I am also interested in how friends, colleagues and family view China. Please use the comment section at the end of the post to share your views.

Traditional food from Xinjiang province

4. Travel plans.

On Monday, Dan and I reapplied for a Chinese visa, one that will give us multiple entries into the country. For some reason, we were not able to do that with our original application, and so we had to do it here. In this case, being an American is definitely a downside. While Dan only had to pay a couple hundred 元, I had to pay 1000. Simply because I’m American. In any case, we’re planning on heading to South Korea in early June to coincide with the World Cup game of South Korea v. Greece. Apparently it’s a great atmosphere and with a free place to stay, the only real cost is flight and food, both of which are relatively inexpensive. We’ll also be there for the England v. US game, certainly one I wouldn’t want to miss. Our second use of the new visa will hopefully be to North Korea the week before we leave back to Brussels. With Dan writing his thesis on the DPRK, it could prove valuable for him, despite the guide that will be glued to our side the whole trip. For myself, I find it fascinating how closed off it is from the rest of the world. Obviously I can’t quite comprehend it and certainly China is no where near as protected as North Korea. Supposedly North Korea is today what China was 30 years ago. But will North Korea be in 30 years what China is today? Hmm, I guess Dan should answer that. In between we plan on going to Shanghai for the World Expo, Tianjin for a day to sample the renowned seafood and hopefully a sunny getaway to Dalian.

5. English Corner

I’ve started teaching a little English on the side, only two hours a week, to college students and recent grads who need it to pass the IELTS English Exam or simply because they want to learn. The majority of them speak quite well already, with minor grammar or vocabulary mistakes here and there. It makes me even more disappointed that the US doesn’t rate foreign language instruction as high as it should. Generally, the main idea is to engage in conversation, working on expanding their vocabulary and sentence construction. Several of them have been out of the country, though interestingly not everyone has a desire to explore outside the borders. Of course, with China as big as it is, there is plenty to explore inside first. I’ve only taught one week, so I’ll see what happens in the next couple weeks.

That’s it for now. Comment below, we love to hear from you!

Jesse

Skillings’ Perspective

This entry is long overdue. I will get right down to it.

1. Mandarin Studies

The positive:

I can introduce myself! I am proud to report that I can not only introduce myself to my CLASSMATES in spoken Putonghua (standard Mandarin), but that I can also do so in writing….in Hanzi! (characters). This may not be exciting to you but you must understand that for the first 4 weeks I felt like a toddler in pre-school learning how to sing and draw. I have moved up in the world…graduated…and have now started Kindergarten! My mom is so proud!

The negative:

The locals have ZERO idea what I am saying. The mile stone of graduating pre-school and moving on to Kindergarten gave me new found confidence and I took to the streets to test my skills with the locals. I figured if I just pronounced the words like I have practiced so many times before in class – where my teacher gives me a ‘Hen Hao’ (very good) and my fellow classmates can usually decipher what I am trying to say – I would have no problem! Even if I slightly mispronounce the words, the local Chinese will still understand….won’t they? I mean, I can usually understand the broken mispronounced English when the roles are reversed (laughing as I write this because you all know what I am talking about). Well, let me tell you….no one on the street can understand anything I say. I slow it down and I swear that I hit the proper tone on the right word….I even use my hands to indicate the proper tone for each word…but nope….no chance. Then after a few minutes they finally get it…and then repeat it…and it SOUNDS EXACTLY THE SAME AS WHAT I JUST SAID. And then they laugh. Great…back to pre-school for me.

2. The University of Kent Beijing Alumni Reception

The positive:

Kent is first class. From the moment we arrived at the 5 star venue at the China World Hotel Beijing until we left waddling out the door after devouring pizza and blueberry cheese cake, I was very impressed with the first class service of our gracious hosts and am very proud to soon be part of the alumni family. The Vice Chancellor, Professor Julia Goodfellow, the director of the international office, Mr. Stephen Wallis, and other University of Kent representatives hosted an excellent evening and treated us to dinner afterwards. During the reception, I was able to meet a distinguished list of former Kent students who were very curious about our studies at CFAU and a few recent CFAU graduates currently working within the Chinese MFA that are heading to Canterbury….fantastic contacts for the future.

The negative:

People are paying attention! I discovered that the international office is actually reading our blog….oops; I better keep on top of it then! Also, I wish I would have eaten more blueberry cheesecake….and maybe taken a pizza to go. It is hard to go back to slop on rice in the student cafeteria after eating such great food.

3. Intercontinental Experience

The positive:

Lots of laughs. I have started to teach English to staffers at the Intercontinental Hotel on Financial Street a few hours a week to make some extra cash for our travel plans to Seoul and Pyongyang. I have had a blast teaching reception and concierge staff as well as some middle management business English and casual conversation. Essentially, the 1.5 hour Tuesday – Friday class is a non-stop laughing experience. We do role plays of common (and not so common) situations in the hotel and my students never fail to surprise me with their answers and questions (would like to elaborate but perhaps would not be suitable – but just imagine them venting their frustrations by mimicking guests and accents…. so good). I have certainly made some friends for the future.

The negative:

Staff discount needed for Norwegian delegate. I don’t think they will give me the staff room rate I want for a two week period in May when a certain Viking from Norway comes to visit me. I will press this issue further and see what I can do.

4. Xinjiang Province Meat Feast

The positive:

Meat and politics – what could be better? Jesse and I recently met up with a contact of mine from my days at the EastWest Institute. I met Mr. Da Wei in Brussels during EWI’s Trialogue 21 Chatham House meeting last November and we have kept in close contact since. He is the Deputy Director of the Institute of American Studies within the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations – China’s largest think tank by staff size. He treated us to a wonderful dinner at a Xinjiang Province restaurant and the food and conversation was wonderful. We ate so much lamb and talked about a variety of Chinese domestic and foreign policy issues. We will certainly meet him again as we promised to take him out for a few beers to thank him for such a great evening.

The negative:

Lost travel opportunity. I don’t think I will actually have the time to visit Xinjiang Province during my stay here. It is the massive province in the North West of China that borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan and numerous other ‘stans.’ The Province became the centre of attention last year due to ethnic tensions and is home to the Uyghur people.

5. The Attack of the ‘Special’ Midget Stink Man

The positive?

Umm, you can think of anything positive about being targeted by a psychotic midget on the metro for a 30 minute period who just so happened to attain the status of being within the top three of the worst smelling human beings I have ever encountered in my life thus far…..please let me know! We could smell this little guy coming for a few train cars away and the smell lingered for a few minutes after he left. He was walking up and down the train giggling like the joker in Batman and would attack us every time he passed by. He pulled my arm hair on one occasion while repeatedly making a Michael Jackson high pitched squeak. I was in shock and asked Belcher if that had actually just occurred. To our dismay he returned and this time latched himself on to Jesse….I was laughing very hard because it looked like Jesse was trying to shake a little dog off his leg who was “enjoying” itself. Again, the little dude passed by and then came back for round three…and then round four. With one stop to go before we reached our destination we saw the little guy approaching again…and we couldn’t bare the smell or the thought of him touching us again….so we just got off the train and caught the next one. We both felt ill and I may have dry heaved a few times on the street. However, for the record, I could totally handle the situation but got off the train because I thought Jesse was going to start crying

Alright…that is enough for now. Besides the fact that I am apparently a member of the Irish travesty Boy Zone, there is nothing else to report. Comments are welcome.

Dan

CFAU has grown on us

There is no doubt that our first post was a little pessimistic about CFAU…perhaps a little sarcastic regarding the facilities, the food, and Beijing in general. However, we must say that over the past two weeks we have grown to appreciate the university and what the city has to offer much more than before.

1. Total focus – Both of us are thoroughly enjoying our Mandarin classes and are working quite hard at it. We are able to push each other a little bit as it isn’t easy to slack off when the other guy is doing his homework. We can now read and write some simple sentences with Hanzi (Chinese characters) and can even have some simple conversations with the locals. Additionally, our teachers are excellent and provide us with a wonderful learning environment. Well, for the exception of one teacher who seems a little insane – but has a fantastic “comb – over”  which at least provides us with a morning laugh.

2. Networking opportunities are endless – David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary was recently on campus giving a speech as part of his visit to Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart. They wouldn’t let us meet him but he was still here so we must give some credit to CFAU for being able to bring in the heavy hitters.

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband at CFAU

The other day we were watching CNN and a live interview was being done with a professor at CFAU. Just so happens that he is an expert on China –  Canada relations and was staying in one of the diplomatic rooms in our international student building a few floors above us! Jesse made contact with him and went up to talk to him and he will be a great resource for both of us while writing our dissertations. He is part of the China Institute at the University of Alberta and will return to Beijing in late April to teach a basic politics course at CFAU.

CFAU is currently hosting “African diplomats from English-speaking countries.” haha – yes that is what was flashing across the electronic notice board in front of the International Exchange Center. Although the sign is ridiculous, we hope to engage with these individuals over the next few days.

The University of Kent is having an Alumni Reception in Beijing in mid April and we were invited by the Vice-Chancellor. A former alumni of Kent is the former Chinese Ambassador to the UK and a current Vice Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was a former student of John Groom (our Foreign Policy Analysis Professor) and an invitation has been passed on to her in hopes she will be able to attend. We are certainly looking forward to speaking with her.

We are also meeting with First Secretary Xing Yuchun from the Department of North American and Oceanic Affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs later this week! We hope to get a tour of the MFA and gain valuable insights regarding Chinese foreign policy and politics in general.

Finally, we are meeting with Da Wei – who is the Deputy Director of the Institute of America Studies in late April as he as offered to answer our questions regarding our dissertation topics.

3. Western Food Please? As can be imagined, we develop a craving for something other than rice and noodles once in a while. Amazingly, McDonald’s has a 24-hour delivery service available in Beijing (and a few other major Chinese cities) and we have taken advantage on a couple of occasions. And we’re not the only ones, we see the same guy on his electric bike at least once a day, carrying the box-like container as a backpack. Neither of us are huge fans of McDonald’s, so luckily it’s not a regular thing. Otherwise we might come back several pounds overweight.

Both of us, however, would love to get a sandwich of some kind. There is Subway, but a good french baguette with lettuce, tomato and some sort of meat would probably make us the happiest people in the world.

4. Weekend Activities. Last Friday we were invited to a party by several other foreign students studying at CFAU. The theme was a White Party and is one of 4 themed parties put on by a group every year. We first went to the student area near Beijing University, which was full of expats, before heading to the giant warehouse building that was housing the party. Apparently not everyone got the memo about it being a white party, as a good number of people showed up in whatever it was the wanted, but the atmosphere was great.

Dressed in White

The Yellow Dust. As you may have read in the news recently, Beijing was hit with a horrific dust storm, courtesy of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. A regular occurrence in the spring, the dust forced the closure of the airport and forced most people to stay indoors. It also coated everything in a fine layer of yellow dust and forced its way inside our room, leaving our computers, the tv and our floor with a distinct hue.

Capital Museum. CFAU offers cultural activities every now and then to the international students and earlier this week we were taken on a tour of the Capital Museum, a collection of artifacts from several dynasties (Ming and Qing included) housed in a modern building, enhanced by the architecture that derives from traditional Chinese shapes. It was quite interesting, though with 5 floors of exhibits, it was way to much to look at in just a couple of hours. With a civilization that is over 4000 years old, China has a wealth of culture that was clearly exhibited in the vases, jewlery, statues, tapestries and everything else. Future trips include one to the Great Wall, so we look forward to more of these outings.

Gold and jewel encrusted Qing Dynasty artifact

Thoughts on the First Week

We have completed our first week of classes and here are my ten initial thoughts about life at China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU) and learning Mandarin.

1. Concrete and more Concrete – For those of you who feel that the VUB lacks some charm, it’s unfortunate you cannot visit CFAU to understand just how lucky you are.

2. CFAU means business – We went out to investigate what the campus had to offer and….no social nights, no campus pub, and you can hear a pin drop any time past 9pm. While this may seem sad, it is because this university is set up to produce Chinese diplomats and they take studying very seriously. You can see the lights on in every dorm room late into the evening with students sitting at their desks studying – studying – and studying. It was then that we decided that we should quickly return to our room and try to fit in.

3. Meals cost 80 cents – While it may not be always be tasty and sometimes we are not really sure what we are eating, food is very cheap on campus. It is very difficult to spend more than 80 euro-cents for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When we feel like splurging, we go to the proper restaurant on campus and stuff ourselves with Chinese delicacies for no more than 5 Euros.

4. Tai Chi Quan – We have decided to soak up as much of the culture as possible and we have signed up for Tai Chi Quan. For those of you unfamiliar with this traditional Chinese martial art, you have probably seen people in the park where ever you are from doing super slow motion movements and looking a little suspicious. Yes, that will be us. Looking forward to it.

5. Speaking is like singing – One word, four different tones, and four different meanings. We feel like we are in choir practice. Very enjoyable though.

6. Writing is like drawing a masterpiece – Every Chinese character has a story and particular meaning and it can be very tricky to get it right. You know how you look back at your school work from time to time from when you were five years old and laugh because your printing was ridiculous? That is us right now.

7. Diverse international student body – Our beginner class has three Kazakhstanis (yes it’s Kazakhstanis, not Kazakhs), three Japanese, two Sudanese diplomats, one Yankee Doodle (unfortunately) and myself – a Canuck. While BSIS also has an interesting mix of students, western nations obviously tend to dominate. At CFAU, we are certainly the minority within the minority and I find it both trying and beneficial as we are the outsiders so to speak but there are beneficial contacts and friendships to be made.

8. Professionalism – While the university might not be much to look at, the lecturers certainly know their stuff and demand a lot. We constantly feel under pressure to study and missing a class is not an option as it would set us back from the pack of hard-working students within our classes. It’s a great challenge but one we are enjoying.

9. Curfew? – Yes, that’s right. Apparently we are supposed to be back in our rooms at 11:30pm. If we will not be back by then, we must apply ahead of time so that they are aware of our whereabouts. All I can say is ridiculous. We got back at 7 am on Saturday morning and nothing was said or done…perhaps they thought we were coming back from breakfast?

10. Internet Firewall – Cannot access Facebook, cannot access YouTube, and cannot access legitimate news sources – just wonderful. Hey, but we can sign up and access QQ! This is the Chinese equivalent to Facebook and everyone we meet is astonished we don’t have an account. Hmmm….

    Daniel (丹尼尔)

     

    

    A page from Dan's notebook

     

    Well, we finished our first week of classes. The general consensus is that Chinese is not easy. Part of the problem is that we translate the English words to Chinese pinyin, which is the Latin spelling of the Chinese words. We then have to learn the corresponding Chinese symbols, so we essentially have to memorize the pronunciation and the way to draw the character. Then there is the pronunciation, which requires formations of your mouth and tongue that are not natural in English. Combinations of letters are also pronounced differently than they are in English, so we have to remember that as well when speaking. Overall though, we are enjoying the experience.

    We are taking 20 hours of Chinese (Mandarin) a week, from 8am-noon everyday. While we have to wake up early, it gives us the rest of the day to study, work out, read, nap, etc. We did not study much the first week because the proposals for our theses were due on Friday, but with that out of the way, we can focus more on learning the language. At least until we actually start writing our theses.

    On Sunday evening, we spent a good 4-5 hours studying. We’ve already learned about 30 characters – their meaning and how to draw/write/scribble them. There are certain rules for the strokes of each character, generally in a left to right/top to bottom pattern, but some of them have 10+ strokes and it isn’t easy to remember. It probably just becomes habit after a while.

    We’ve discovered that we are the laughing-stock of most everyone that works here. The people at the cafeteria laugh at us because we simply point to the things we want, oftentimes not even knowing what it is. We’ve only struck out a few times though so far, so no harm done and we’ve been lucky with the food so far in that it hasn’t affected either of us negatively. It’s all quite good, even when we have no idea what we’re eating. The other night we were out on the town and wandered into a street vendor’s little shack and tried various things that were stewing in a spicy broth. We have no idea what we ate, but it was all pretty tasty and we didn’t die, so I suppose it was safe? We also have no idea how things work in our dorm/hotel, so we tried to change our sheets today and carried all of them downstairs in a large bundle, only to be told they get changed on the weekend only. They must have felt sorry for us though as they went ahead and gave us clean ones anyway.

    We haven’t done any other tourist stuff. We did take a shopping trip last week, practicing our haggling in the stores. At a stall that had “designer” jeans, we were initially quoted a price of ¥960 ( 100, $140). After offering us a “special price” of only ¥600 a pair, we spent 30 minutes haggling her down to ¥150 a pair, a price she said was “killing her”, though we suspect we still overpaid. It is certainly an interesting place. If you so much as even look in a stall, they’ll pull things off the racks for you to try on. And heaven help you if you do try it on; they won’t stop badgering you until you walk away and turn a corner.

    The weather has been quite drastic here, though we’ve actually seen the sun several times! It was quite nice out Friday and Saturday, but when we woke up on Sunday, there was 4 inches of snow and more coming down. Today it’s mostly melting away and it’s supposed to get up to 60-65 on Friday. Unless they do something to alter the weather.

    In some good news, we found a cantina on campus that offers individual meals for quite cheap that taste, which we generally do for both lunch and dinner. It’s much better than spending, ¥50 for dinner, no matter how cheap even that is. We’re looking into a few trips, but it’s difficult with classes five days a week and not wanting to miss any, as we’ll fall behind. Well, it’s time for bed now.

    明天见 – See you tomorrow (Míngtiān jiàn)

    汉语 – Chinese language (Hànyǔ)

    美国人 – American (Měiguórèn)

    天安门 – Tian’ anmen

    不客气 – You are welcome (Bù kèqì)

    对不起 – I’m sorry (Duìbùqǐ)

    再见 – Goodbye (Zàijiàn)

    Jesse (杰西)

Fog (smog), Communism and Food

Welcome to Dan and Jesse’s blog while in China. We left Brussels on March 22nd, flying through London Heathrow on British Airways. The 10 hour flight from London to Beijing was delayed by 90 minutes as they had to change the plane, due no doubt to “mechanical issues”, but we arrived in Beijing safely, if not an hour late. We were picked up by a driver and taken to our accommodations on the campus of the China Foreign Affairs University where we will be studying for their spring semester. The International Exchange Center, where we are staying, is set up like a hotel, with a reception desk and maids to clean our rooms. We also get hot water delivered to our door every morning, good for tea or to cook our noodles. I though I was done with ramen noodles after undergrad, but this has proven me wrong.

Arriving a week before orientation, we had several days to look around the capital city. We’ve taken in Tian’ amen Square – with the ever-present giant portrait of Mao Tsetung and the mausoleum with his embalmed body – and the Forbidden City, home to Chinese emperors for 600 years, ending with the Qing dynasty in the early 20th century. Off-limits to commoners for hundreds of years, the Forbidden City exists essentially as it did when in official use and is the central focus point of Beijing. Consisting of 9,999 rooms (9 is one of several lucky numbers in China), the Forbidden City is an enormous footprint at the center of Beijing. We spent over an hour inside the walls, but saw less than half of what was available to explore. A future trip will have to be made to see the rest of it.

Part of our time was spent watching the Olympics, though much of the coverage on CCTV was focused on the Chinese athletes, so we saw much aerials, curling, figure skating and short track speed skating. Luckily however, we were able to watch several hockey games, including the gold medal game between Canada and the USA. Seeing as how Dan is Canadian and Jesse is American, the 4am game provided a spicy atmosphere inside the dorm-style room. Despite the early time, both of us were enthralled by the action and managed to keep the insults to a minimum.

Several of Dan’s friends from his time in South Korea came over to Beijing several days ago and we joined them for dinner on a couple nights. Our meals consisted of Peking duck, friend rice, veggies, sizzling beef, prawns, spicy chicken wings, ribs and many bottles of Tsing Tao. Both meals were amazing and for what we got, the 150 RMB price per person (about 18 Euro or $21) was well worth it. But even here that is rather expensive. Our first meal was at a Hot Pot, where you are given a flavored broth in which you cook cabbage, lettuce, carrots, radish, tomatoes, tofu and your choice of meat as well as noodles. This meal, along with a beer, was 33 RMB and took us nearly two hours to eat. Additionally, a restaurant near campus, appropriately named “Beef Noodle Restaurant” serves a beef noodle dish for 8RMB. Both of us are rather sick of noodles however, as they are more popular in Beijing while rice is a more prevalent dish in the South.

Naturally the smog here is ever-present, yesterday being the first day we’ve seen blue sky since we’ve been here. It’s constantly gray, making the atmosphere quite drab and the older buildings display the classic hallmarks of Communist thinking. Chinese are constantly spitting, a vain attempt to rid their bodies of the pollution. People rarely wait for others to get off the metro before pushing their way on. The green walk light at intersections means you can cross the street, but if a car comes, it’s not going to stop for you. Both of us decided to take a full 20 hours of Mandarin classes, as the IR classes on offer are essentially the same as what we took at Kent. We are going to audit a couple classes (Foreign Policy Analysis, American Foreign Policies) just to see what they say in them, but we decided that our time in China would be best served by learning as much Chinese as possible. As a notoriously difficult language, our progress may be slow, but if we establish a good base, both of us will be satisfied. We both will have to write our Master’s Thesis while here, so when classes start next week, our days will be quite full.

As can be imagined, many websites are blocked from inside China. Facebook, YouTube and the like are unavailable, while several others are blocked randomly during the day, forcing us to wait 15 minutes and try again. While our TV has CNN and BBC, they regularly monitor the stories that are broadcast. Several days ago, CNN was airing a piece about the Earthquakes in China last year and the parents who protested the shoddy construction of the schools. Several minutes into the show, the TV screen went black and only returned when a new story was being aired. It is amazing the lengths they will go to block any criticism of the government.

That’s it for now, more will be forthcoming as our adventures continue and classes begin.

Chinese words of the day:
Dan – 丹 (Dān)
Jesse – 杰西 (Jié xi)
Hello – 您好 (Nín hǎo)
Thank you – 谢谢 (Xièxiè)
Beijing – 北京 (Běijīng)
China – 中国 (Zhōngguó)

Dan and Jesse