To Urumqi
Friday, August 13th, 2010 in: News, Travel
When we arrived in Xingtai, one of the first things we did was go to the train ticket office to book our sleepers for Urumqi–it was almost a 40 hour train ride and no way were we going to do that without a sleeper compartment. When we got to the counter, the lady seemed dismissive when we asked for tickets, without even checking her computer. Surely Xinjiang wasn’t THAT popular a destination, we asked her to check but she refused. Something was up, but we didn’t quite understand the reason she gave us, so Dan called up Weiwei and asked him to talk to her.
Turns out, the flooding in the southern provinces effectively halted all the trains running on the lines we needed, which meant we were landlocked in Xingtai. Our only remaining option was to fly. (more…)
A Few Days in Xingtai
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 in: News, Travel
“Wow, Xingtai has really come a long way,” Dan remarked as we pulled close to his home away from home. A small city four hours by train from Beijing, Xingtai used to be an industrial center filled with smelting plants. Apparently industry has either improved or moved away, taking with it the acrid stench of development. “It used to hang in the air, the humidity made the stink like a solid wall you just had to put up with.” Dan was delighted by these developments, but realized that the layout of the city had changed so much in three years that he was once again a stranger in his new home. All of his favorite street markets had been replaced with strip malls or construction sites; Poor housing had been demolished to make room for shiny new apartment buildings the former residents couldn’t afford. Posters of new development were everywhere, hiding the ground level of construction sites from prying eyes. The character and personality of Xingtai was being replaced with modernity and cleanliness. Progress, by someone’s account. (more…)
Bye for now, Beijing!
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Throughout my time at the language school, I’d seen many people come and go; for a while, it seemed that almost every weekend was another going-away party for someone or another. I’m not big on fanfare, so we decided to have our last night Beijing style. Near the school is a restaurant with tables spilling into the street, always filled with topless Chinese guys eating roasted lamb on a spit. It’s like Chuar on steroids! We couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to conclude our time in China’s capitol.
I’d decided to check out from the dorm on Friday, when Dan would be arriving back to Beijing. With my scant use of electricity, I’d managed to stretch 50 kilowatt hours out over the course of 3 months. The last week my low-power light was blinking menacingly, but I made it all the way to my final night without the lights turning off. I treated myself by leaving the AC on, and by morning, I had completely used up my 50KW/hr. I counted this a huge win, not just for me, but for the planet. Dan arrived and we got in touch with Bill and arranged our dinner. Anders, one of the other students from Norway was also leaving soon, so we had quite a crowd lined up.
It was a sweaty night, which made it easy to convince everyone to go without a shirt, and we kept cold beers nearby to compensate for the intense heat coming from our table’s coal pits. The dining experience was primal: everyone had a knife with a long handle and a skewer, and it was a free-for-all with blades flying everywhere, trying to gouge out a bites of meat. 
We were hunters fighting for a fresh kill. After gorging on lamb, we went to Helen’s, a new bar down the street from Wudaokou offering free beer to lure in new clientele. The walls were covered in permanent marker graffiti, which I contributed to with a large rendition of Paul the World Cup predicting octopus, which was then promptly vandalized by my friends. We finished the night at propaganda and danced the night away, an appropriate setting to bring closure to my tenure in Beijing. Dan and I came back to crash in the student lounge; a whole new adventure lay before us.
The Mess
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Living in China is a constant confrontation with garbage, a seemingly inexhaustible supply refloods the streets on a daily basis, only to be swept away before the dawn. The Chuar street not far from our school is a good example: during the day it’s mostly a fruit market with kiosks selling whatever they can grow. 
White space is filled in from the plastic chairs of local eateries, offering the usual Chinese fare, including the recently popularized meat kabob known as 串儿, pronounced “chuar.” Its origins in the Muslim minorities of the far west, the most common types of chuar are small bits of lamb and chicken, stuck on wooden skewers and roasted over an open pit of hot coals. When we eat our chuar or eat some nuts or edamame, we carefully put the skewers and the shells back on the plate on which they came. Most people aren’t so considerate, and after an entire day and night of revelry, the ground is thick with refuse of all sorts, enough to make my stomach turn a little.
Get up early enough and visit the street again, and it’s a different landscape. The ground has been swept clean under the cover of night, and the fruit vendors and chuar grillsmen have set up shop once again, ready to start all over again.
I wonder where it all goes. Sounds like a job for Mike Rowe…
Ok, this one was taken in Xingtai, but that’s a pretty gross pile of cigarette butts and assorted muck.
同性恋结婚怎么样？
Thursday, July 29th, 2010 in: News
你认为同性恋结婚怎么样？我有很多的同性恋朋友，大部分住在加利福尼亚。在2008年，加利福尼亚州最高法院批准了同性恋结婚的合法性。在加利福尼亚很多人思想开放，但是也有很多人接受不了。
在美国有很多不同的立法方式。其中一个是公民表决。那些接受不了的人提出了一个禁止同性恋结婚的法案。这个法案来自于那些宗教团体，尤其是摩门教派的诉求。他们认为婚姻是宗教性的，而在他们的宗教里，只有男人和女人可以结婚。
在美国，有政教分离的原则，这个原则规定教堂无权干涉政治事务。但他们明修栈道，暗渡陈仓，名义上他们说他们没有干涉，但事实上他们暗示了信徒要奉献。然后，他们用信徒的钱在电视上做广告，欺骗那些要投票的人，使他们知难而退。因此，禁止同性恋结婚的法案被以很小的票数差通过了。在这个法案通过以前，很多同性恋人己经在加州结婚了。现在这种朝令夕改的做法让事情变的很滑稽，即使同性恋婚姻再度被禁止，加州事实上仍有合法的同性恋婚姻存在。在美国，这是人民第一次否决关于人权的法案，我以此为耻。
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezwIZo-hKiI
What do you think of gay marriage? I have quite a few gay friends, most of whom live in California. In 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was to be treated the same as heterosexual marriage. California has a lot of progressive, open-minded people, but there are a still a lot of people who couldn’t accept this ruling. (more…)
Bad China Days
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Everyone has them. They’re the days when nothing seems to go your way, and the only comfort you can seek is that you’re stuck trying to get things done in China. Everyone has a slightly different way of expressing it, but I prefer to just call them “Bad China Days.” (more…)
And a Star is Born – 智者无敌
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 in: News, Travel
有一天，我经过休息室的时候，我的同学和他的中国朋友在那儿坐着。他们问我“你要不要上电视？”我有一点儿吃惊，犹豫了一会儿，我说“要”。
第二天，在休息室等着，他的朋友来得有点儿晚。他很着急，问我们“你们有没有两个女性朋友？”因为本来说好的那两个演员没来，他需要新的女配角。我们给我们的朋友打电话，他们有一点儿犹豫，但是最后答应了。
我们坐了一个小时汽车去排电影的地方。在那儿有很多的老式建筑。也有很多的卡车，那些卡车上有中影集团标志。有很多的人穿着日本军队的制服，还有很多女人穿和服，还有人穿着三四十年代的衣服。只有我们四个外国人。他们给了我们一些衣服，帮我们化了妆，让我们演德国大使馆的人。电视秀的名字是“智者无故”。我们刚开始了不久下起了雨，我们搬到屋里。这时候，很多中国演员过来和我们一起拍照。真的很有意思。雨停了，我们又开始。我们只拍了几个镜头，导演说“可以了”，我们就很快地跑去换了衣服，然后坐汽车回家了。到宿舍已经十一点半左右了。他们给了我们每人三百块钱，说“你帮了我们大忙了！”真是非常有意思的一天。
Continuing from the other day…
Come 4pm the next day, we were waiting in the lobby as promised. Almost half an hour late, Alan’s friend arrived in a panic. The two Russian girls flaked and didn’t show up, so we were missing our “wives.” She asked us if we had any female friends who would be willing to join us on the shoot. We called Megan and Adrien, and after some hesitation, they finally relented. We piled into a cab and drove to BLCU, all rather incredulous at the situation we found ourselves in. Megan leaned in and whispered to me “if I wake up tomorrow in an ice bath missing a kidney, I’m taking one of yours.”
After an unexpectedly long drive to the set, we arrived at a large outdoor studio full of old-looking buildings. The driver assures us that these are actual old buildings that are mostly used for shooting period pieces these days. We pull around the back and step out into a crowd of people wearing Japanese military uniforms, kimonos and historical costumes. Several people gather around to get photos with us, as we are the only foreigners in a sea of Chinese actors.
They gave us some costumes and had us change, then put us through hair and make-up. The girls were put in ballroom gowns, Alan and I in tuxedos. My hair was carefully combed to the side to complete the illusion. I apparently looked quite “dapper” as a German diplomat. Fortunately our part was just to add some “color” to the scene, and we had no speaking parts.
Just as we were put in our places and began filming, it started to rain, and we were ushered indoors to protect our outfits. Once inside, we were swarmed by the other actors who produced cameras, ready to get their photos taken with the token foreigners. One girl said she was studying English, and exchanged e-mail addresses with Megan. It was pretty amusing.
The rain let up and we moved back outside. We only had to do a few takes of three or four different shots before the director shouted out “that’ll do!” and everyone clapped and chanted “guo le! we’re done!” Everyone dashed out to the waiting costume vans to change out of their stifling costumes so they could go home. The four of us piled back into the van and headed back to the dorm, arriving sometime after 11:30pm. Alan’s friend handed us each our 300 RMB salaries, thanking us for helping them on such short notice, then asking if we knew a white guy in his 40’s who would be interested in a similar role later this week. There’s no business like show business!
The name of the show is 智者无敌, zhizhe wudi, wise man has no origins. If you’re ever watching a Chinese drama and see a dinner party scene set in Japan with some German diplomats, look again: you might see someone you know.
Strange Encounters Round 2 – Casting Call
Monday, July 26th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Walking through the lobby to visit a friend who had finished his term at the school and was heading back to England, I saw one of the other students sitting with a Chinese friend, chatting excitedly. As I passed, I saw them nudge each other and motion towards me, and they both stood at once, and asked if I was interested in being on TV…
“uh, I guess so? What’s this about?”
It turns out the friend does extra casting for TV shows and commercials, and they needed some people to play background foreigners for a party. Specifically they were looking for guys to play German ambassadors at a dinner party for a TV drama about the final years of the Qing dynasty (1840’s ~ 1911). I don’t think I look very German, but I guess I was foreign enough for the role. They had two Russian students from BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University, down the road from us) to play our “wives.” Oh whatever, it sounds interesting. I agree, to the tune of 300 RMB.
OK! we’ll pick you up at 4PM sharp tomorrow afternoon! Don’t flake! 不要失信！
Um, alright. I walk away bewildered, unsure of exactly what it is I’ve gotten myself into.
Field Trip to Shidu 十渡
Monday, July 26th, 2010 in: News, Travel
The second field trip organized by the school was announced shortly after I suggested to Alan we take the students somewhere nice to forget about city life for a bit, a place with clean water we aren’t afraid to step into, maybe with some nice mountains to boot. Within a week there was a sign-up sheet for a field trip to Shidu, the land of Ten Ferries. (more…)
Life in Beijing – Sanlitun
Monday, July 26th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Sanlitun, just off the third ring road, is a slightly more grown-up Wudaokou. An even greater hub for foreign revelers and lushes, Sanlitun is full of shopping malls, restaurants, bars and night-clubs. The latter attracts a majority of the night scene, which interests me little although I’ve had some chance to experience it. While no clubs are quite as seedy and crowded as Propaganda in Wudaokou (OK, some of them are), some of them are still quite fun. I was warned to avoid shots, especially the vials they pass out at the dance clubs–they either water down their liquor, or put something sinister in it. Vic’s, Mix, Lantern, I’ve only been to a handful of Sanlitun night clubs. I couldn’t see myself going there with much frequency, mostly for the cost, but also because I lacked the will to maneuver through crowds of drunken revelers walking the fine line between their adulthood and their immaturity, looking for some street food to fuel my own eternal youth. As much fun as can be had in this place, there are just moments when I can’t help but realize that it’s just a distraction. (more…)
