DIMINISHED THOUGHT

So on Friday I gave everyone a little scare. I don't know exactly what it was but for about an hour I felt very unwell. Most of the time that foreigners don't feel well in Beijing it's the food. They've eaten something that doesn't sit right with them and they begin ...well I figure you have a good enough idea of what probably happens. I don't think it was something I ate. I just think that my body finally told itself, "Scott, you're exhausted!".

I was sitting in class trying to judge the singing competition (which with all the backstreet boys and disingenious, sappy love songs the Chinese love was painful enough) my heart started to beat extremely rapidly my chest felt like it was becoming a bit constricted. I stuck it out as long as I could. I sat there listening to someone sing Westlife's "My Love" for as long as I could before telling my American volunteer, Dale (yes it's a girl actually) that I was feeling unwell and slipping out. Outside I was sitting on the floor, kind of slumped against the wall thinking, "Well this sucks!". Finally, Dale came out and asked me if I was feeling well and I just took her hand and stuck it on my chest so that she could feel how crazy my heart was pumping.

She made me lay down. Women always overreact to everything.

Anyway what I thought was so funny is how some of my students handled it (most were in class and unaware of anything going on). That ones that did find me were like, "Teacher! Are you ok?" They tried to support me like I was lame as I walked. I ended up down in the headquarters office drinking water before insisting on going back to class. I think that in the long run it was just exhaustion from working so hard and never sleeping. It might have been a food allergy but I've never been allergic to any foods before. I've still got a month and half until I'm 26.

Labels: China, ESL, food, teaching

I'm a rock star. I just finished my first couple classes teaching and I feel pretty good about it. I really kind of know what to do after last year and it really makes all the difference. I'm hoping that I will continue to be able to perform on this level for the rest of the summer camp.

This year I have students that have a somewhat higher level of proficiency in English than the ones I had last year. It seems to me to be somewhat counterintuitive that now that I know what I'm doing I get the more advanced classes as I remember how frustrating it was trying to break through to the classes with more spotty English. I'll keep everyone appraised as to how it goes.

Labels: China, ESL, teaching, tsinghua

So recently I was asked to share my experience in China with someone who was thinking about applying to the same program. This is what I came up with as advice.

____________

Student's are very helpful and will want to do things for you or spend time with you. They will not, however, tell you when they get bored or need to do something else. Read between the lines and when they tell you that you look tired or need a nap let them go home.

Accommodation's for the program are nice especially by Chinese standards. You'll have your own bedroom if you're a "volunteer" and a small suite if you're an instructor. The bathrooms are manageable but odd. Do not drink the tap. You will get sick. More on that later. You'll have a fridge, a tv, maybe a microwave (I don'tremember), and the Tsinghua dorm staff is very nice. Your students live 4-6 to a room. It's not really bad but once you see it you'll feel a bit guilty. They have washing machines on every other floor but I did most of my laundry in the sink.

You will get your stipend in cash. If you're an instructor you're making about the 10,000$ from a Chinese perspective. Don't tempt fate. Hide your money in your room and wear a money belt when you travel. A vast majority of Chinese are super, super, super honest but theft can occur. One of my students told that she was pickpocketed of her cell phone and bicycle's routinely roll away. People think I'm paranoid about the money belt thing it's a good idea.

Buy a bicycle. The Tsinghua campus is huge and you need a bike to traverse it. I bicycle at Purdue for transportation so it wasn’t a huge adjustment to me. Bikes are cheap and second hand bikes can be bought for about 10 dollars. Second hand bikes are a good idea. They're less likely to roll away on their own. Use the bike on campus. Never take it off campus unless accompanied by aBeijing native (more on this later).

If you want to go into town you can take the Taxi or a train (metro/subway/tube/whatever). You'll want to take a Taxi to get to the train. NEVER walk or bike in the street in China. You will see the Chinese doing this. That DOES NOT mean it's a good idea. The third night there I saw the aftermath of a collision between a William and Mary student on a bicycle and cab. He didn’t win. Cab's hold four people and it's a dollar to get to the train. It's worth the quarter to be safe. Cab drivers in Beijing are awesomely polite forthe most part. They will not speak English, they will drive very fast, and most likely will not provide seatbelts. Save yourself a lot of grief by getting someone to write down your destination in Chinese before you leave to go anywhere. Furthermore, if you only learn one Chinese phrase let that be your address.

Some things you must try while in China. KTV Karaoke. You rent out a ROOM and everyone sings. Often snacks are provided. Interesting things will occur. The markets. Buy a Mao watch, sift through junk, learn the real price of that 70$ polo shirt. Watermelons and cantaloupe. You will see these everywhere in July. Enjoy. Massage. I missed this one but everyone told me it was wonderful. Skip the ovary treatments. A girl I knew got one these and had horrible bruises on her back for about a week and a half. Chinese television. One night it’s going to rain. Stock up on beer and snacks and watch TV with friends. It’s best if no one understands Chinese. This is classic. Buy an ice cream cone for 12 cents. I'm not joking when I say my favorite one was corn. However stay away from the one that has green peas on the package at allcosts!

Eat whatever is set before you. Most likely it will be delicious. If you're squeamish sometimes it's best not to ask but most of the time it's fairly"normal" (whatever that is?) stuff. Stretch your comfort limits. In China I ate chicken feet, scorpions, jelly fish, fish eyes, duck liver, lotus roots, bamboo worms, frogs and god knows what else that I didn’t ask about. You will survive and you won't necessarily get sick. If you choose to eat from street vendors use common sense. Look for ones that look fairly clean, that cook their food over very high heat or deep fry, and are moving their food quickly. Additionally, you might wait until the end of your trip before becoming too adventurous with the vendors. It would behoove you to learn to eat withchopsticks before you go.

I did not get sick in China. Many people I knew did. Come prepared with atravel pack of antibiotics and diarrhea medicine. Additionally pack extremely light. When I return I'm literally taking only about three shirts and two pairsof pants. They will provide you with a pair of shirts that will be your uniform and clothing is so cheap over there that you can buy anything else you need(T-shirts and polos - 3 dollars, jeans 12 -15, chopstick sets for 2.5-5 dollars)and bring it home. When you go shopping be prepared to bargain. Everything is negotiable from MP3 players to fruit and only a handful of grocery stores have set prices. Walk away prices drop miraculously. When you go to a market and you see a westerner with something they bought there that you want, ask how much they paid for it. Remember there is a Chinese price and a “cracker” price for everything. They will have overpaid. Now go get it for less.

If you're white you'll be stared at. If you're black, Indian, or any other shade of yellow or brown that's not Asian it'll be even worse. Don’t worry it's not rude and it doesn't mean bad things will happen to you. I once rushed backto my travel companions (3 young women) when I saw a large crowd of primarily men forming around them at about 10 pm in front of a train station. I needn't have worried because they were laughing and just carrying on. In the end they convinced a police officer that was drawn to the crowd to let them take their picture together.

Labels: China

I've been transcribing interviews from Beijing for my masters thesis dealing with cell phone usage among young, urban Chinese. One interview I just finished has a girl telling me about how important it is for university students to own a mobile phone in order to participate in university social life. She told me that parent's often purchased mobile phones for their children when they were accepted to university as a reward, even if it was difficult for the parents to afford it. She related it to the one child policy in China, implying that parent's restricted to one child would go the extra mile to make them happy.

Anyway I'll have to see if that finding is replicated in some of the other interviews but I thought it was very interesting.

Labels: cellphone, China, Purdue

I just want us to question our assumptions. I think there are three major questions here:

1, Who has the right to legislate the internet?
2. Is China being singled out?
3. Is censorship of information good or bad?

The first two questions deal with matters of policy, while the third is evaluative. The internet obviously requires some legislation to protect copyright, children, and personal information. The frontier metaphor that dominated the World Wide Web is applicable here. Eventually laws and codes had to be instituted in the Wild West to control the violence and anarchy that existed in the absence of such things. The question in my mind is not whether we need laws but who has the right to determine internet legislation. Laws differ from country to country so that what is illegal in one place is legal in another. What makes the most sense is that countries have the right to govern internet usage within their borders. Therefore, I feel China is within its rights as a sovereign nation to make legislation and policy decisions that effect its citizens.

China is not alone in internet censorship. Most notably many Middle Eastern nations provide far reaching censorship of sexual content on the web. Again, these policies and laws are a reflection of the dominant Muslim culture of the region. Does the United States have a right to demand that they introduce internet pornography to their culture in the name of free speech? China seems to have been singled out for political reasons, both due to its high international profile and because its rapid urbanization stands in stark contrast to the conservative national policies the country holds.

I think the third question is a bit stickier and one with which most American’s have a problem. Censorship from an American perspective is bad. Our society is rooted in the value of free speech to the point that it is explicitly addressed in our constitution. I would not like to have my words censored or to have access to information restricted. However, I acknowledge that free speech has not been the historical norm and that our modern society is the exception rather than the rule. I value my free speech but I have a hard time imposing my value system on another culture.

Labels: China, internet regulation, net neutrality

I’m going to say something controversial. I know, I know. The internet is for free speech. It is the last remnant of the American sixties counterculture. It’s about self-expression and information sharing. So why do I think it’s being blown out of proportion that the Chinese can’t access the same web content as Americans?

CNN.com is running an article on Chinese access to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia blocked again in China BEIJING, China (AP) — The easing of a ban on the popular online encyclopedia in China was short-lived. Barely a week after Wikipedia viewers were able to access the Web site – after a year-long ban — they reported Friday that it was blocked again in several parts of China. Web surfers and free-speech advocates had earlier welcomed the apparent lifting of a ban on the English and Chinese versions of the site that provides free information written and edited by its users, although skeptics had voiced fears the end of the ban would be temporary.

So, you might say, why isn’t this a bad thing?

First, despite the belief that China stifles discourse online there are vibrant web communities. Internet bulletin boards are popular forms of communication at Chinese universities creating the potential to networked communities. It’s my understanding that these university communities have considerable freedom to address topics that interest them. Additionally, many of my Chinese acquaintances here in the United States use blogs to keep in touch with their network of dispersed friends and family.

Second, I’m not sure it matters that much to the average Chinese. When I was leaving for China one of my initial concerns was that I wouldn’t be able to access internet utilities that I use in the United States. When I spoke to professor Jian Wang about this he assured me that it would be a non-issue. However, when I got to China I found many of my favorite sites inaccessible and Google was crippled. This frustrated me but didn’t seem to bother the Chinese. Why? The web adapts. A majority of the content currently online is in English but that simple fact may make it inaccessible to most Chinese. Rather than relying on American web sites China has many which are homegrown, such as Baidu, which allow them to accomplish the same tasks.

Articles such s the one on CNN assume that China is trying to restrict the exchange of information. However, Wikipedia really isn’t an encyclopedia, it’s a community that exchanges information. The real issue at hand is not whether a government has the right to stifle free speech but whether they have the right to legislate cyberspace. I think they do. Creating codes of conduct and accountability in cyberspace is a good thing and serves to strengthen the community. Furthermore, when this legislation is enacted it will reflect the values of the societies that put them in place. We don’t have to look to China to see this. For example, American internet legislation protects copyright and prevents child abuse. The American government has a right to create these laws just as the Chinese have a right to legislate their citizens use of cyberspace.

In conclusion, blocking Wikipedia probably isn’t as earth shattering as journalists would like you to believe. Chinese communities are thriving and as China continues their rapid industrialization will probably become more prolific. When American journalists complain about policy decisions of the Chinese government they are imposing American values on a foreign country.

Labels: China, Community, internet regulation, net neutrality, wikipedia