China's Game Plan

This semester’s COR has been a rather different experience for me. As someone from China, I am taking courses about my own country. Has there been any significant change in perspective, after reflecting on the knowledge gained from both COR 330 courses? No, nothing significant has changed for me. However, while some people will think that change signifies progress, this does not apply in every case. For me, the trip to China and the two classes have merely affirmed some suspicions and thoughts I had of my own country.

For one, my experience has, above everything, confirmed that China is just plain complicated. More specifically, things are truly not what they appear to be. For example, while most people will criticize the Chinese government for Tiananmen Square, placing all the blame on their part, I see things just slightly differently. While I too condemn the actions that the government undertook that sad night, there are many reasons why people such as Deng XiaoPing were unable to take things into another direction. Do not forget that Deng himself was exiled, and he himself remembers this very well. Most people will logically assume that Deng took a hard stance towards the Tiananmen Protests because of his belief. What I truly hope, and I could very well be wrong, was that Deng understood that pairing up with Zhao Ziyang, who was charged with communicating with the students (who were actually quite uncooperative and incoherent in their organization) would leave him vulnerable. With Zhao Ziyang and Deng Xiaoping gone, the country would be left in the hands of conservative leaders such as Li Peng, who were opposed to free market enterprise and any change in the economy and politics of China.

Perhaps Deng was truly against the Tiananmen Protests, and it could very well be that he truly wanted to crackdown on the protestors. However, if he is as brilliant as I think he is, then it is quite possible that he was wary enough of the situation as to distance himself from Zhao Ziyang, hoping not to be dragged down along with him, leaving the country in worse hands.

Another thing that enjoyed immensely over the course of the semester was simply learning more about my country. If anything, the China trip has made me realize how much more larger my country is than I assume. It truly is a logistics nightmare, having to link a country of over a billion, scattered all around geographically on all kinds of terrain and habitats. It is not a simple task. In addition, while the country is big, it is not without geographical problems and worries – it is relatively closed in, especially when considering Taiwan is like a thorn, blocking the path Southeast towards the Pacific.

Some may (and they already have) openly point out that China’s actions are indicative of its ambition and aggressiveness, but they are assuming too much and reading too much over a simple situation. I cannot say for certain that China’s latest actions are made with entirely peaceful intent, but neither do these actions confirm in anyway that China is extremely aggressive and dangerous. For example, the country is being criticized for its over-emphasis on economics, but when we consider it, the country’s sheer size in area and population requires it to place emphasis on the economic wellbeing of its people. Let us not forget that the People’s Republic of China was established only in 1949, in a time when the country was in absolute devastation.

To me, we must stay observant of China. The interesting about China is, as my friend puts it, you never really know what they’re up to. There’s always that ‘but’, or that ‘maybe’ that stops you in your tracks. I am quite confident that China’s rise in this century is quite harmless to the world, but you never know. This may sound rather unscholarly, to just simply attach “you never know” to your conclusions. But in this case, and with China, I think it fits quite suitably. If anything, this is part of China’s ‘game plan’.

China Mojo Trip - Part 4

Meet William Lindesay. This guy is the man! He is the founder of Friends of the Great Wall. In 1987, he trekked across the Great Wall, travelling more than 2,470km, in a time when China was still closed off and isolated. I will admit, when I woke up that day I thought we were headed for BaDaLing, a tourist heavy section of the Great Wall. This was much better.It was a very enjoyable hike. The cool mountain air was extremely comfortable. Ridiculously soothing. Just right in my opinion. Perfect conditions for this epic journey. As we walked on and on, the wall became closer and clearer to us. Along the way, William talked more about the history of the Great Wall and some more about his stories.
After reaching the side of the structure, where the wall and fort meet, we climbed up on some piled stones and bricks to finally get onto the Great Wall of China. This section of the wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty.Reaching the Wall felt amazing. I had previously been to BaDaLing twice, but this was in every way much better than what I've experienced. I could only imagine how difficult it was building the fort we were on. Laborers had to build the fort by carrying the bricks all the way from down the mountain.Some parts of the wall were well preserved. Unfortunately, other parts were completely crumbling. We met about 4 people on this hike: a Spanish trekker on his own and a group of 3, from the US.

The most difficult part of the hike: the Oxhorn. This section of the wall forms a large, U shaped curve. Even from afar, we noticed the Oxhorn's presence. It was steep! I tried maintaing my lead along with Max King and William the whole way. It was a difficult section, but definitely worth the view.

By the time we reached the top of the Oxhorn curve, we were far away from the rest of the group. One of my fondest memories of this trip is definitely reaching the top, and surveying the scenery.

After reaching base camp again, William's friends cooked us a lot of hot dumplings. I don't think many of us will disagree that this was the best meal we had, especially when each of us had a bottle of ice cold beer to go down with the dumplings. Awesome, awesome day.

The next day, we went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The area was, unsurprisingly, packed. To be honest, the Forbidden City was not as exciting as the Great Wall, neither was it as interesting as Beijing city itself.

However, some of us got the chance to do some purchasing at a store in the Forbidden City, buying different kinds of Chinese painting after some heavy haggling.

I don't remember the area being so heavily populated by the law. Everywhere we went, we saw either Beijing Police, Beijing Security or the Chinese Armed Police. We wanted conduct some more cut-throat business deals, so we headed out from the Tiananmen Square area.

On our way, we stopped at 全聚德, a famous restaurant for its Roasted Peking Duck. Between a few of us, we shared a roasted duck and some other house delicacies.

I purchased a ton of paintings that day. It was really what I was looking forward to in China - price negotiating, and Chinese paintings. With my two desires fulfilled, I declare this trip successful and worthy of the adjective epic.

China Mojo Trip - Part 3

After spending last night with Alex, George and their host families at the Yangtze River bank, playing with sprinklers and floating lanterns, the next morning we said farewell to our host families. We were on our way towards Yi Chang for the Yangtze River cruise.
But before the cruise, we spent some time in Happy Valley (快樂谷). The restaurant where we had our lunch at was attached, quite literally, to the side of the valley, slightly hanging over the river. After lunch, we went on a short hike up a nearby trail path, towards Dragon Spring Cave (龍泉洞). Interestingly, the cave was lit with colorful lighting. While I wish more natural lighting was used, the colors made the cave much more mysterious. Plus, I was expecting an ambush by Justin or Max, who were walking ahead the whole time.After the hike, we went down to the base of the valley for a quick boat ride, through the river we were gazing down at earlier.Eventually, after a short bus ride, a hurried dinner and some quick shopping at a supermarket, we got on the cruise. The cruise ship was called 龍飛輪. The Chinese really do have an obsession with naming things 'dragon'. The cruise ship was much better than I expected, and there were many shenanigans committed on our part. Excellent time well spent on this cruise, I would say.
6 AM wake up. A wonderful view. Boring breakfast was the only tarnish.

We had arrived at Shen Long Stream, a tributary of the Yangtze River. We boarded a smaller motor boat that took us deeper into the stream. The BaDong county, where the stream is located, is home to 13 minority groups. The area is being opened up by the Chinese government. We saw the large pillars of a highway bridge being constructed, straddling the mountain range.We eventually jumped onto rowboats, managed by 5 rowers each. These rowers each earn about 30 RMB a trip, each lasting about an hour of constant rowing. The people leading the tour in Shen Long Stream are called TuJia people. These locals have remained in the area for years, only recently making more contact with the surrounding area, as the Three Gorges Dam has opened up transportation and helped increase exposure.
On the way back to our cruise ship, the crew announced a spot on the side of the valley where inside a large crevice, you can visibly see a hanging coffin. The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the cruise, visiting White Emperor City (which does not look like Minas Tirith, by the way) and another night of fun. We were joined by a Beijing student, who taught us how to play another card game, and it was all fun and games from then on.
The next day, we disembarked. We spent the the day travelling from YiChang back to Wuhan, meeting up with Steve Wilmarth eventually. After doing a little shipping and exploring (mostly exploring), and some Starbucks, we were on our way to Wuhan airport, headed for Beijing!

China Mojo Trip - Part 2

With growling stomachs, we raided 戶部巷, a famous local street for breakfast. Some of the stuff we ate include: soup-dumplings, glutinous rice with tofu and mushrooms, hot dried noodles, soy bean milk.

We left the street with our stomachs filled, but that wasn't enough. I had an insatiable hunger for street food.

Our next spot was Gui Yuan Temple in HanYang. The temple's name literally means 'to return to the origin'. It is named after the following Buddhist hymn/verse:

歸元性不二，方便有多門

The temple was founded in 1658AD by 2 monks. The site is famous for its hall of 500 gold Luohans, or Buddhist Statues. We each picked a statue ourselves, which corresponded to a certain number. After selecting the statue, we each purchased a golden card with a Buddhist verse imprinted that corresponded to our choice of statue.

This was our first, close glimpse of the Yangtze River on this trip. The bridge in the picture is the Wuhan Yangtze Bridge (武漢長江大橋). Apparently, water levels reached 2/3 the way up the bridge before the 3 Gorges Dams were built. Perhaps it is a justified project then.

Right next to the bank is a monument dedicated to Da Yu (Yu the Great), the legendary founder of the Xia Dynasty. He is known for taming the Yangtze River through irrigation and channeling, according to the legends. This monument, right next to the Yangtze River, is a testament to how important people regarded his achievement as.

Right next to the monument, is 晴川閣, a tower with a few hundred years of history. The tower is a memorial for those who have struggled in the fight against the Yangtze River floods. Right across this monument is another very famous tower in China, 黃鶴樓, or Yellow Crane Tower.After the monuments, we arrived at the Hubei State Museum. The museum is famed for its exhibition of the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng (曾候乙). The tomb is dated back to ~433BC. One of the greatest findings inside the tomb was a set of 64 bronze bells, and various other musical instruments. The museum had a short concert arrangement, where replicas of the instruments were used. The last song they played was, oddly, Auld Lang Syne.

Following the museum visit, we finally met up with our host families. Dan and I were welcomed by Sara and Brian. Our dinner was at 口味堂, a local restaurant. Pretty upscale in my opinion, and the food was delicious. Scrumptious! Dan had a little trouble eating it though, as it was extremely spicy.

The rest of the night was spent at the World City we visited before. The mall is apparently a hotspot for the young (go figure). It was dazzling to say the least.

We spent the next few hours in a video arcade. We spent a lot of time racing each other, and playing some other games. It was almost surreal - Fun? Video games? In China?

In the morning, our host family served us some real awesome dumplings. Scrumptious, once again! These dumplings were undeniably the best I had on the trip.

Huazhong University No. 1 Middle School is a wonderful school. It is also very odd, but we're talking about China here.

If, as Steve Wilmarth says, China is really going to roll out more schools like Huazhong University No. 1 Middle School, we have much to 'fear'. My fellow countrymen will provide intense competition.

This was probably the most intimidating part of the whole trip. Standing in front of 6000 students, lined up perfectly in formation, while they go through their routine flag-raising ceremony, singing the national anthem. I sang along with them, but man it was awkward standing in front of them.

Inside one of the classrooms, we watched a Chinese painting demonstration by one of the art teachers. The emphasis in this class is 逸 - loosely translated into 'leisurely' or 'loose'.

Steve Wilmarth, who was leading the tour in the Middle School, mentioned that the International program was funded by the Ministry of Education. Next year, they are expanding the program to 8 other schools. His opinion is that the government recognizes the need for education reform. They do want to introduce elements like critical thinking. The caveat of this condition is that you can't simply turn critical thinking 'off'.

China Mojo Trip - Part 1

The beginning of our epic journey, as depicted from my scrapbook

I still couldn't believe we were on our way to China when I arrived at Burlington International. Spring break arrived fast, and I wasn't completely prepared. However, I was extremely excited to return to mainland China - the lack of authentic Chinese food in Burlington has been irritating me.

Interestingly enough, the only movie I finished on the flight to Beijing was a documentary on the Yangtze River. I had never been to the Yangtze River before the trip, and I was curious to learn more. For a Chinese national, I know shamefully little about this important river.

What struck me about Beijing's airport was the amount of smoking rooms available. There were numerous smoking rooms interspaced between gates, so many that some of us had to go inside to check it out.

Ultimate relief came once we touched down at Wuhan's airport. Here, we met up with our China Mojo companions, Steve Wilmarth, Lily and Linda.

Before we even step out into the streets, we can already smell the smog. Immediately, I think to myself: "It smells like China". Lily explains to me that the smog is culmination of the governments economic prioritization - increased amount of road construction, building construction and industry. According to Lily, after heavy rain or snow, the sky is apparently clear for a few days. We were unfortunate not to have witnessed it.

After checking into our hotel, 新大谷商務酒店, we went for a stroll with our guides. Lined along the streets were numerous construction development plots. Our area was surrounded with commercial properties, malls and plazas either in the process of being built or soon to enter that phase.

Some of us decided to get our first taste of 'street food'. The 老闆, or boss, of the store was quite friendly. When he learned that I was from Hong Kong, he used the term 龍的傳人. I rarely hear that phrase used anymore, it's significance has decreased in the modern age.

Nevertheless, a good start to the trip. I am rather surprised by how friendly and outgoing the people generally are. It was probably because there were 20 other Americans floating around my immediate vicinity, but I am glad that China is less gloomy than I thought it would be. I realize that this could have been a very localized emotion though.