上海 Shanghai (The Last-Minute Adventure)

Again, the updates are not coming as quick as I would like, but they will come when I am able to write. The Shanghai trip originated from one Wednesday night, when I was at an artist's studio for my Chinese Arts and Culture class. I received a text message from a kid in my program who told me that there were relatively cheap tickets to Shanghai Friday afternoon. We decided to go ahead and get the tickets since our class was postponed that afternoon and we weren't going to go to Shanghai during the end of the year trip. Flash forward to the day of the trip...three of us headed out to the airport and flew a little over 2 hours to Shanghai. We arrived at about 6 and found our way to a hostel that a friend recommended. It was in the downtown area right on the Bund. The location was great and the place was clean and cheap. After checking in, we went out to grab dinner and explore the Bund area. It was a really spectacular sight at night (as you can see at the top of my blog now). Across the river I was just overtaken by a sea of lights coming from futuristic skyscrapers. Was I really in China or a different country or a different world? I still do not know. Of course on the boardwalk along the Bund there were lots of people trying to sell me stuff. I did see some interesting things, such as DJs blasting and selling their mixes, people selling kites flying in the building-lit sky, lots of plastic pigs and tomatoes being thrown into the pavement, and small metal light-up spinning tops. Immediately we were all hit with the stark contrast between new and old and China vs. the outside world. On one side of the river, the skyscrapers tower above all else, representing the future of China, while directly on the other side of the river lies European architecture. The old WWI era spheres of influence were clear everywhere I could see.

The next morning we went on a river boat tour of the Bund and got a little bit of history about the area. Going to the side of the Bund with the skyscrapers, we had to go through the "Bund Sightseeing Tunnel". This tunnel was no ordinary tunnel. It was from the future. Upon getting on a silver pod connected to tracks the doors magically closed and we were off. Soon lights began flashing all around us and we were sucked into another world, filled with magma, shooting stars, and dummies filled with air. It was perhaps the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. The special effects coupled together with the B-movie presentation put this one over the top for me. If you go to Shanghai, GO ON THE BUND SIGHTSEEING TUNNEL. We were all happy that we chose the round trip ticket, to say the least. The river tour was pretty neat but we couldn't go up to the roof since we were cheapskates and refused to pay the extra 10 kuai. After the tour, it we went up to highest bar in the world (actually this happened before the river boat tour but you don't know the difference). At the highest bar in the world, all of Shanghai looked like a scale model. Actually seeing Shanghai from above reminded me of Seoul from the Seoul Tower. Skyscrapers were literally everywhere the eye could see, except for the river. After our time in the Bund area it was onward to the French Concession. We took some time to go on the Lonely Planet communist sites walking tour and saw Sun Yat-Sen’s former residencce, Zhou Enlai’s place, where the PRC was officially signed into existence, and places where Mao crashed for a few nights. After the Communist sightseeing tour we all went to the Paulaner Brauerei! That’s right the Paulaner Brauerei! This is one of München’s finest beers, and in Shanghai there was an actual Paulaner Brauerei German restaurant. Incredible. The French Concession felt like I was being transported to Europe. The architecture showed no resemblance at all to traditional Chinese buildings. Most that we saw in the residential areas had huge gardens and ornate metal fences serving as garage doors. The shopping areas were filed with American and European expensive brand name stores and malls. We definitely had arrived in China-Europe. Well, after a great German dinner it was off to a place called ARK for some great Chinese pop, featuring pop stars in-the-making. The highlight of the night was definitely the 40-something woman wailing on the guitar with extended guitar solos. If you (the Chinese woman on guitar) are reading this, I want to tell you that you have an incredible skill and can do anything you want in life. She was that good!

The next morning we all woke up, grabbed some zaofan (breakfast), and checked out. We went off to one of best art museums in China, the Shanghai Museum. The museum was huge and we ended up seeing the calligraphy, bronze, Buddah, porcelain, traditional garmets/minority groups, painting, and other exhibits. I enjoyed the bronze exhibit the most because of the wide variety of bronze and incredible carved details. The museum as a whole was very clean and well laid-out. If you go to Shanghai, definitely stop here. They have an amazing collection. After the museum with a quick lunch break at a Uyghur restaurant, we stopped at a restaurant in the French Concession. This restaurant literally had no sign. The only way you would go there would be if you knew about it ahead of time. So, we went to the solid metal door and we saw a bunch of holes. We thought this was strange so we tried putting our hands in the holes to open the door. Suddenly a door slid open on our right and a mirror appeared. I could see the restaurant but I was looking at the restaurant’s reflection. So I turned and walked into the dark, shady restaurant laughing at the hours of thought that it would take to think of such a novel idea.

From Pingyao to Datong by Bus

The delays of updating this blog are terrible. I am sorry for the wait. I literally have to force myself to sit down and write to catch up with all that has happened. Being in the midst of a Red Sox postseason and midterms is not a good recipe for blog writing. Well, here it goes: I'm going to try to recall our trip to Shanxi Province a few weeks ago. Above is a picture from the incredible Datong Grattoes which I'll get to later in the post. First we took the bus to Pingyao, which is one of the four cities left in all of China that has retained the architecture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Considering how large China is, I think this is a really sad situation. With China's fast development has come the destruction of a lot of treasured villages, artifacts, and history. In Beijing I see bulldozers and cranes taking out buildings that appear to be hundreds of years old. From talking with a professor who lives here in the international housing, I have acquired a real sense of how much the city has changed in just the past five years. When arriving at the gates of Pingyao's old city, I felt as though I was entering a movie set for "Raise the Red Lantern". We walked toward the hostel we would be staying for several days and all of a sudden, a drum and gong troupe marched past us. Each home along the road was marked clearly in red paint above the entrance. Sudden narrow alleyways would appear on either side of us and continue for what seemed like forever. The sudden quietness in Pingyao was especially prevalent as no cars were allowed inside the town gates. Another quick observation I made, the streets and storefronts were covered in coal. I learned later that Pingyao has one of the deepest reserves of coal in all of China. Ha, it seemed even more polluted than Beijing! Above the traditional roofs in the distance tall smokestacks were always present. The day following a night of exploring the Pingyao streets, we were free to explore all of the museums and other Pingyao sights. The Taoist temple, old government building, and outer town wall were definite highlights of the day. When entering the gates of the Taoist temple, we were greeted by giant 50 foot guards with spears and animal masks. They were pretty intimidating, especially in the position of guarding the entrance. Inside the gate, we came upon huge intense sticks and large statues inside the actually prayer room. It was neat to see Chinese people pray there because the customs were so interesting. After some people prayed, I could tell that the leaders of the temple tried to convert them and ask for donations. Most people refused that we saw for the short time we were there. Later we walked on top of the old wall around the town. The contrast between the old city and "modern Pingyao" was amazing. Outside of the gates, cars raced along the roads and black smoke ascended from the tall smoke stacks. At the old government complex, the highlight was seeing the prison cells and torture equipment. The cells looked really uncomfortable and the torture equipment was brutal. And these facilities were in use until about 10 years ago. That was a disturbing moment when I read a plaque that disclosed that information.

So, later in the day we all met and went off to Taiyuan, which was about a 2 hour drive. Oh, I forgot to mention that the drive from Beijing to Pingyao took about 9 hours. It was a lot of riding in the bus, but I can see how the program wanted us to be able to see as much as possible during our time off from classes. The only problem was that all of China had the same time off because of the national holiday, so it was packed everywhere we went. Haha, every place is usually crowded in China anyway because its China! Anyway, our next stop was a famous temple in Taiyuan called Jinci. Everything in the temple dated back thousands of years. The main temple was built entirely out of wood, which is a very rare sight in China. There were stones that had carved inscriptions of the history of the Tang Dynasty. The temple also had some famous trees that are estimated to be over two thousand years old. It was mind-blowing how old everything was there. After a few hours of exploring the area we were supposed to go to an old military general's residence but the rain washed away the visit. Instead we went straight to Datong to see the Buddist Grottoes. On our bus ride there we drove on roads with giant crater-sized holes. The wild ride consisted of weaving in and out of the potholes, including driving straight onto oncoming traffic. Everyone was slightly fearing for their lives because of the crazy driver's mindless decisions, but we made it safely to Datong. The Grottoes were incredible. Imagine entering caves filled with thousands and thousands of Buddha statues. Imagine witnessing Buddhas hundreds of feet tall. This is what I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see. There were about 20 to 30 caves open to the public, but more that were under restoration. It was saddening to see some of the caves withering away from all of the camera bulb flashes and touching of the artifacts. Hopefully they will find a way to protect the caves and outer statues from being withered away by outside elements. The Datong Grottoes are truly a wonder that you need to see to believe.

In my next entry I'll tackle the Shanghai trip that two friends and I undertook a few weekends ago. The title picture is from that trip, showing The Bund at night in all its glory. I will be regularly changing the title picture so you can see new pictures before I upload them to my Picassa album. It takes forever to do and sometimes doesn't work at all, so have patience with the pictures. Anyway, I just want to let you all know in case you haven't heard...THE BOSTON RED SOX ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!

The Epic Bicycle Voyage from Beida to Tiananmen on National Day

This crazy adventure started after lunch on October 1st, National Day. After eating some tasty Baozi (bread with various meat/vegetable fillings), I was walking back to Shaoyuan, the international dorm on campus, with a few friends and then George asked me if I wanted to bike to Tiananmen Square. Before this moment, I thought we would just take the Ditie (subway) and brave the huge crowds trying to make it to the Square on the day the PRC was founded. After thinking for a moment, I thought why not bike there?! It would be a great adventure and I would get to see a lot of Beijing that I'd never seen before. At that point, I was still leery of riding my bike on the street with cars, buses, and lots of other bikes everywhere. In Beijing, transportation really is just one big free for all. Anyway, we took off at around 1pm out of the Southwest gate and headed south for a while. Ha, before we left, we glanced at a map for a rough idea of the route to get there. The trip consisted of lots of weaving amongst the traffic, walking our bikes over overpasses, and trying to maneuver in the bike lane for a clear path with the other bikes. The weather was perfect for a long bike ride, it was in the high 60s with a nice breeze. Along the way, we found some interesting things. One such thing was a museum with a giant dinosaur outside. I don't think that I have ever seen a life-size scale model of a dinosaur outside of a museum before. On the way back from Tiananmen, we spotted the PLA Sing and Dance Center. Anyway, throughout the ride, I could get a real sense of the city's pulse. Starting out in the technology district near Beida quickly became residential and then finally traditional architecture came upon us. We knew that we were near Tiananmen when all of the store fronts had traditional roofing and the crowds started to pick up. Eventually we arrived at the outer wall of the Forbidden City and then came to Tiananmen Square. What a sight it was on National Day! The sidewalks leading to the square were so packed you could not see pavement. It was like my old Chinese professor said, "Ren Hai Ren Shan" (people mountain people ocean). The streets around Tiananmen were closed off in anticipation of all the people so the road was totally empty. Riding along the outside of the Square was a cool moment. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as if each frame lasted an entire minute. From the kids waving the Chinese National Flag to the massive security presence around and in the square to the families posing in front of Mao Zedong's huge portrait in the background to the beautiful flowers everywhere. It seemed surreal. After locking the bikes up, we headed out into the Square and saw a lot of special showings for the occasion. A large portrait of Sun Yat Sen was in the center of the square with large banners on his right and left. Sun Yat Sen is thought of as the founder of modern China, although he was a Nationalist, not a Communist. We also checked out the Olympics exhibition created for the holiday. There were giant hedges carved to appear like various Olympic athletes (tennis, basketball, soccer, badminton, etc.). Then, on the opposite side, was all of China's great wonders, such as the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, and the Forbidden City. It was quite the sight, and we didn't spot many foreigners. We were quite the popular photo-op for the Chinese tourists. It helped that I was wearing my Wo Ai Zhong Guo" shirt (I love China). Since it was written in characters, a lot of people asked me about it and wanted their picture taken with me. China's National Day reminded me of the 4th of July without the party atmosphere. Everyone celebrated their country with family and friends without all of the bells and whistles that we attach to the day in the US. I think part of it has to do with the commercialization of the holiday over the years. After the day was over, I logged about 3.5 to 4 hours on my new bike. The day was another experience I won't forget anytime soon.

京666666 (The Beginning of the Reemergence of this Blog)

What you are reading in the title of this post is what might be the luckiest license plate you could own in all of China. I actually saw a truck with this exact license plate at a gas station somewhere in Shanxi province this past week on our National Day Holiday trip and I knew right away that it had to be a person in the government. Who else would have the guanxi (connections) to get a plate with a number like that?

Alright, so due to the lack of updates and the heaps of material pilling up in my head that needs to see the light of day on this blog, I am going to post every couple days until I catch upon everything. I'll start with Fall Break, or you could say National Day Holiday Break. To start off the break, I played some pickup soccer at a nearby park near Tsinghua University which is just across the way from East Gate at PKU. My friend Althea and I biked down to the fields with our cleats and started passing a ball around with random people there. This soon evolved into a full-fledged 4v4 game which I wasn't ready for, at least at the level of play these guys were playing at. A Chinese friend of mine was telling me that I may be able to join his team after the break so I wanted to get some practice in. Communication took some time to get used to in terms of navigating the field and shouting instructions to my teammates but I remembered a lot of the terms from my last experience at Beida playing pickup soccer. The week before Althea and I went over to the soccer fields on a track-like surface and ended up playing in a chain-link fenced field with a bunch of Chinese college kids. I learned the words for "pass" and "shoot", as well as "goal" and "good shot" which came in really handy. I still remember walking out there seeing kids on the opposite end of the fields doing Tai Qi and Wu Shu (Martial Arts) and then other kids playing basketball on another part of the field. It was really interesting to see the mix of people in one place at the same time.

The next day I decided to go to the Temple of Heaven with some friends. This was the one major site in Beijing the program didn't take us to in the Summer so I really want to go see it. We ended up riding our bikes down to the Wudaokou Ditie (subway) and then riding all the way to southern Beijing and walking about 20 minutes from that stop to the Temple of Heaven. Walking down to the site, we ended up seeing beautiful flowers freshly planted alongside tall walls. Inside each section of the wall was a framed picture of some sort of cultural Chinese art piece. This seemed to me like some of the best pieces of sidewalk in all of Beijing. Only then did I realize that behind the walls were what the government was trying to hide with the flowers and framed cultural pieces, ramshackle housing and people living under very poor conditions. It was quite amazing to see such a stark contrast like that. This road to the Temple of Heaven actually continued all the way to the site. When we reached the park on the outside of the TOH, I was surprised by how massive it really is. From pictures I had seen before, I only thought it consisted of one main temple. My preconceptions were altered when I entered through the gates. After a few hundred yards of walking through a lush, green forest and walkway lined with pines, we finally reached the famous temple that the TOH is known for. At this main temple, the emperor would pray to the heavens for a good harvest and a long life among other things. There were a few interesting displaces specially created for National Day and the coming of the Olympics, which included an array of flowers made to look like the Olympic rings and a mosaic of plants shaped like a full moon above cypress trees (symbolizing a happy life and prosperity for all Chinese people). After looking through several smaller temples, we grabbed some tasty lunch (rice, a chicken and potato dish, and some tofu) and then went to the Echo Wall and the Circular Mount Altar. At the Echo Wall you can supposedly hear someone whisper from the opposite end of the circular wall but it was so renao (bustling with noise and excitement...yes that is the actual translation haha) that it was impossible to try it. The Chinese tourists there were yelling things like "NI HAO!!!" and "NI TING WO SHUO MA?!?" It was a really humorous sight given that you were supposed to whisper for it to work in theory. At the Circular Mount Altar, around which sacrifices were carried out, tourists would stand in the middle and put their arms up in the air in a triumphant pose. It was entertaining just to watch the Chinese tourists. I spotted another group taking a family shot at an alter which was used for sacrificing cows and other animals. I don't think I would want to look back at a family picture and see it was at a place used to sacrifice animals. Anyway, we spent most of the afternoon exploring the grounds and walking through the giant park. It was a great day to walk around and enjoy a rare but more common Beijing blue sky day.

Tomorrow I'll work on the epic voyage/bikeride from Peking University to Tiananmen Square on National Day and maybe even get to the Shanxi trip which our entire group went on last week. I'm also trying to post pictures from the past few weeks so hopefully those make it up on the site within the next few days. For now I'll leave you with some YouTube footage of Jay Chou, China's mega-super-pop/rock/rap star. Enjoy.