As if enough disasters haven't befallen China this year, something so catastrophic and unpredictable as an earthquake renders everyone humble and powerless in the face of nature.
I've been following the news on the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Southwest China, 60 miles Northwest of Chengdu in Wenchuan County . Aftershocks were felt in neighboring provinces Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and all the way in Shanghai and Thailand. 900 miles away in Beijing, friends felt tremors and had to evacuate their skyscraper offices. Thankfully, everyone I know right now, is safe.
At first, the trickle was IMs and emails, then frantic phone calls ensued and I explained that we, here in Beijing, are fine. But as I checked the news throughout the day Monday, the official death toll rose from 4, to a few hundred, to 8500 by late Monday night. As of 5pm Tuesday, the government reported a nearly 12,000 killed and countless more injured as people remain trapped in collapsed buildings.
Over dinner with some friends yesterday, we speculated about the real death toll being much higher than official reports. And I came home, and was shocked to see numbers nearing ten thousand, but all reports so far indicate that the Chinese government is handling this with both a sense of urgency and transparency. Maybe there is a bright spot to be found in this time of need. Many articles have pointed out that the earthquake hit at a place where Han, Hui, and Tibetans live together, where the India and Eurasia tectonic plates collided. But amidst the ethnic turmoil over Tibet and PR blit in China the last few months, devastation has hit the rural poor equally, without regard to ethnic labeling, and the response, also, has been unified.
Media coverage of the earthquake has included many first-person interviews and videos of earthquake and relief effort. Video of Premier Wen Jiabao visiting Dujiangyan both didn't exploit and didn't eliminate images of a sobbing, weather-beaten granny, clearly struggling with her grief after this disaster, standing next to him. I agree with China Law Blog that even a few years ago (example: SARS), the government couldn't be trusted to release an accurate casualty count or allow media at the scene of an event like this, so with all of the ugly censorship and anti-CNN goading that has gone on lately, the government is really trying to rescue and respond to the earthquake victims instead of hiding from potential embarassment. Premier Wen was on the ground within 6 hours, over 1,300 rescue workers were on the ground in Wenchuan county (population: a little over 100,000) within 12 hours.
Later, people will speculate about whether this earthquake could have been predicted (not even with the best technology is it completely possible), and whether humans were partially to fault. Also at dinner, we talked about the argument that the huge reservoir the Three Gorges Dam project has created is predicted to exacerbates earthquakes tremors. But right now, we have to find all the survivors first.
Tonight, as rescue crews have to deal with traffic jams, damaged tunnels, and rain to get to victims still buried underneath rubble, my prayers are with the victims, families, rescue workers, and laobaixing of Sichuan.
Over 65,000,000 RMB (nearly $10 million) has been donated through the Red Cross already.
How you can help (kudos to the Shanghaiist for being so vigilant in updating).
*Edit 0:44am Thurs 5/14: Pandas shaken but OK in Wolong Reserve.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Dinner With Students I: Minzu Daxue
I had dinner with some students from the 中央民族大学 or Central University for Nationalities (CUN) last night and over plates of sweet lotus root and chicken in a claypot, they told me about their experiences in university and dreams for the future.
First of all, the school is still in lockdown after the peaceful vigil convened by some 40 Tibetan students at the university last week (which caused some Chinese leaders to bemoan the fact the Tibet "troubles" had made their way even to Beijing), so I could not meet the students on campus. When asked, the students seemed eager to deflect attention from the issue and insisted that things are normal and peaceful on-campus. But when pressed, they sheepishly explained that there are armed guards in all the dorms and only students with the university's identification card are allowed on-campus. "It is for our safety" they explained the security in place, and few seemed sympathetic to the right of the Tibetan students to protest. There has been no indication when this lockdown will end.
After some introduction the three sophomores and four graduate students spoke to me candidly about their expectations for university, and in most of their cases, their disappointment with the education and anxiety towards entering the job market. These are unique students, several are ethnic minorities themselves from faraway provinces and they attend school with a student body made up of 60-70% ethnic minorities. Several were from the first literate, nevermind college-educated, generation of their families.
The undergraduates were the most interesting. A Shui ethnic student talked about working hard to be at the top of his class in middle school, or as he modestly described, "an OK student" in Qiannan, an autonomous prefecture in remote Southern Guizhou Province riddled with so many ethnic minorities and so much poverty that it is hard to associate any particular ethnic minority or products with this area.
As it turns out, I visited this prefecture on several occasions last year and we traded notes on the bull-fighting and horse-racing competitions common during the largest holiday of the year in October. I watched his eyes shine sparkle with pride as he described the courtship songs and many rituals the Shui are known for. When this seemingly confident lad later talked about being shy and explained that he was speaking from his heart on this night, there was no denying I was surprised, and moved.
This student was lucky - as the youngest in a line of five, he was relatively free from obligations to his family. He was selected to attend a charity school in Guangzhou on scholarship where he received a superior education than in Guizhou, which has trouble attracted and retaining educated teachers.
He was not the only student to talk about missing home. When I asked a Hani student what he thought of Beijing and whether he missed his home in Yunnan, he paused, and answered, "Yes, when I was a first year, I missed it very much, but things are better now", as he looked over to his friend for reassurance. All of the students talked about dreaming about attending school in Beijing, but not really being prepared for all the challenges it brought.
One girl from Inner Mongolia spoke of her buyer's remorse towards the Communications major she had chosen. Perhaps "chosen" is not the correct term to use. Students in China test into universities, and into majors within universities through a baccalaureate exam called the gaokao (高考). This exam comes to represent their entire academic record and in many ways determines their future opportunities in life.
This girl spoke of how she wanted to study English and Law and in previous years her score would have been enough but in 2006, it only qualified her for the Communications major at CUN. Most people's understanding of communication studies, and her own tragically, would be a combination of media studies and media technology, the like. But at CUN, xinxi (信息) means neither xinwen, news, nor tongxin (通信), mobile technology but the science behind how communications technology works so lots of math and physics which for this social humanities lover has been the bane of her existence. She also quickly noted that had she been a minority (She is Han but lives in a disadvantaged and heavily Mongolian area), she would have gained admission into the programs she wanted, just a reminder of the quotas and affirmative action programs in place for minorities in China.
When asked about their ideal careers, even the graduate students, who are only a year away from their own job search, were cautious and guarded in their expectations. Slowly it came out that the girl from Inner Mongolia wanted to be a news broadcaster, the graduate students studying family education hoped to teach and the two minority students wanted to use their financial management degrees to do good. They also expressed frustration that the school offers virtually no career guidance. There was debate about the existence and function of the career service on campus indicating a lack of outreach and education on-campus about career services in general. I asked several times about internships and the students mentioned odd jobs they'd taken over breaks or research projects they initiated independently but there is no structured internship system set up or encouraged for students unlike at the elite universities of PKU and Qinghua just down the street. We were at the consensus that hands-on experience at an internship constitutes the best preparation for the real world.
With the disintegration of state-appointed work unit system, these students face many of the same challenges as university students in the workplace: an increasing competitive and globalized service-based economy with a plethora of choices. The students spoke of struggling with finding what they enjoyed doing and their life's work. The graduate students who majored in English spoke of the possibility of ditching their graduate work and being employed as translators or at a foreign company. When asked why they embarked on a graduate degree in the first place -the explained that just like in America, graduate degrees are increasingly required from civil service to company jobs. It's a matter of wenping (文平）or credentialing where a credential becomes shorthand for ability and (perhaps wrongly) experience.
One encouraging note is that none expressed the belief that a job is just a way to get paid; they all seemed to maintain hope that they could find a job that they both enjoyed and supported them. It will be a difficult search.
At the end of dinner came a deeply humbling moment. The Shui student said he admired me for taking my degree from an elite institution and then choosing to volunteer in China and using it to give back. He called it an inspiration for himself. Earlier, he explained his resolve to use his degree to help his family and people back home in Guizhou. He talked about his parents, both in their sixties, who could scarcely understand the modern world he inhabits and pressures he experiences. But you could see in the way he described them his deep respect for his parents as he expressed his determination to study hard in their honor, make money, and eventually return to set up a company in Guizhou. It reminded me of my parents' own struggle to provide a better life for me and the story of so many immigrants in America. I could hardly express to him how honored I felt and how much more worthwhile and surprising his own story was and continues to be.
As we debated the benefits and drawbacks of the Han's efforts to standardize Mandarin across the nation and bring all ethnic minorities into the fold, I thought to myself, this young Shui ethnic who speaks Shui as well as his accentless Mandarin (now rare I'm told), he truly embodies the hopes of people from his village, of the Shui's, and of all of China. It's a big responsibility. I certainly he gets some good career advice down the line.
First of all, the school is still in lockdown after the peaceful vigil convened by some 40 Tibetan students at the university last week (which caused some Chinese leaders to bemoan the fact the Tibet "troubles" had made their way even to Beijing), so I could not meet the students on campus. When asked, the students seemed eager to deflect attention from the issue and insisted that things are normal and peaceful on-campus. But when pressed, they sheepishly explained that there are armed guards in all the dorms and only students with the university's identification card are allowed on-campus. "It is for our safety" they explained the security in place, and few seemed sympathetic to the right of the Tibetan students to protest. There has been no indication when this lockdown will end.
After some introduction the three sophomores and four graduate students spoke to me candidly about their expectations for university, and in most of their cases, their disappointment with the education and anxiety towards entering the job market. These are unique students, several are ethnic minorities themselves from faraway provinces and they attend school with a student body made up of 60-70% ethnic minorities. Several were from the first literate, nevermind college-educated, generation of their families.
The undergraduates were the most interesting. A Shui ethnic student talked about working hard to be at the top of his class in middle school, or as he modestly described, "an OK student" in Qiannan, an autonomous prefecture in remote Southern Guizhou Province riddled with so many ethnic minorities and so much poverty that it is hard to associate any particular ethnic minority or products with this area.
As it turns out, I visited this prefecture on several occasions last year and we traded notes on the bull-fighting and horse-racing competitions common during the largest holiday of the year in October. I watched his eyes shine sparkle with pride as he described the courtship songs and many rituals the Shui are known for. When this seemingly confident lad later talked about being shy and explained that he was speaking from his heart on this night, there was no denying I was surprised, and moved.
This student was lucky - as the youngest in a line of five, he was relatively free from obligations to his family. He was selected to attend a charity school in Guangzhou on scholarship where he received a superior education than in Guizhou, which has trouble attracted and retaining educated teachers.
He was not the only student to talk about missing home. When I asked a Hani student what he thought of Beijing and whether he missed his home in Yunnan, he paused, and answered, "Yes, when I was a first year, I missed it very much, but things are better now", as he looked over to his friend for reassurance. All of the students talked about dreaming about attending school in Beijing, but not really being prepared for all the challenges it brought.
One girl from Inner Mongolia spoke of her buyer's remorse towards the Communications major she had chosen. Perhaps "chosen" is not the correct term to use. Students in China test into universities, and into majors within universities through a baccalaureate exam called the gaokao (高考). This exam comes to represent their entire academic record and in many ways determines their future opportunities in life.
This girl spoke of how she wanted to study English and Law and in previous years her score would have been enough but in 2006, it only qualified her for the Communications major at CUN. Most people's understanding of communication studies, and her own tragically, would be a combination of media studies and media technology, the like. But at CUN, xinxi (信息) means neither xinwen, news, nor tongxin (通信), mobile technology but the science behind how communications technology works so lots of math and physics which for this social humanities lover has been the bane of her existence. She also quickly noted that had she been a minority (She is Han but lives in a disadvantaged and heavily Mongolian area), she would have gained admission into the programs she wanted, just a reminder of the quotas and affirmative action programs in place for minorities in China.
When asked about their ideal careers, even the graduate students, who are only a year away from their own job search, were cautious and guarded in their expectations. Slowly it came out that the girl from Inner Mongolia wanted to be a news broadcaster, the graduate students studying family education hoped to teach and the two minority students wanted to use their financial management degrees to do good. They also expressed frustration that the school offers virtually no career guidance. There was debate about the existence and function of the career service on campus indicating a lack of outreach and education on-campus about career services in general. I asked several times about internships and the students mentioned odd jobs they'd taken over breaks or research projects they initiated independently but there is no structured internship system set up or encouraged for students unlike at the elite universities of PKU and Qinghua just down the street. We were at the consensus that hands-on experience at an internship constitutes the best preparation for the real world.
With the disintegration of state-appointed work unit system, these students face many of the same challenges as university students in the workplace: an increasing competitive and globalized service-based economy with a plethora of choices. The students spoke of struggling with finding what they enjoyed doing and their life's work. The graduate students who majored in English spoke of the possibility of ditching their graduate work and being employed as translators or at a foreign company. When asked why they embarked on a graduate degree in the first place -the explained that just like in America, graduate degrees are increasingly required from civil service to company jobs. It's a matter of wenping (文平）or credentialing where a credential becomes shorthand for ability and (perhaps wrongly) experience.
One encouraging note is that none expressed the belief that a job is just a way to get paid; they all seemed to maintain hope that they could find a job that they both enjoyed and supported them. It will be a difficult search.
At the end of dinner came a deeply humbling moment. The Shui student said he admired me for taking my degree from an elite institution and then choosing to volunteer in China and using it to give back. He called it an inspiration for himself. Earlier, he explained his resolve to use his degree to help his family and people back home in Guizhou. He talked about his parents, both in their sixties, who could scarcely understand the modern world he inhabits and pressures he experiences. But you could see in the way he described them his deep respect for his parents as he expressed his determination to study hard in their honor, make money, and eventually return to set up a company in Guizhou. It reminded me of my parents' own struggle to provide a better life for me and the story of so many immigrants in America. I could hardly express to him how honored I felt and how much more worthwhile and surprising his own story was and continues to be.
As we debated the benefits and drawbacks of the Han's efforts to standardize Mandarin across the nation and bring all ethnic minorities into the fold, I thought to myself, this young Shui ethnic who speaks Shui as well as his accentless Mandarin (now rare I'm told), he truly embodies the hopes of people from his village, of the Shui's, and of all of China. It's a big responsibility. I certainly he gets some good career advice down the line.
Monday, March 17, 2008
China in Lockdown
It's been awhile but I can't resist commenting on the recent protests in Tibet, the deadliest in 20 years, that have now bled into other border provinces including Sichuan and Gansu. Estimated deaths range from 10 (Xinhua) to over 80 Tibetan government in exile).
There has been a lockdown on information coming from Tibet on protests that began peacefully fully a week ago and then erupted in a serious of violent clashes between ethnic Tibetans, Han, and paramilitary police on Friday and throughout the weekend. As a result, much of the reporting has been about the difficulty of reporting when everyones hands are tied and people from residents of Lhasa to even foreign NGO workers and academics fear repurcussions for
speaking out.
More productively, several sites have offered historical explanations of China's involvement in Tibet: Wall Street Journal, Reuters
From what I can piece together, it started March 10th with peaceful protest involving over 300 monks in Tibet. March 10th is an especially tense time. It is the anniversary of the deadly 1959 revolt in Tibet which was quashed by the PLA and as a result of which the Dalai Lama left for India where he has been living in exile ever since. This year was the 49th anniversary of that protest against Chinese rule.
The next day, a Tuesday, over 600 monks converged on Lhasa to demand the release of monks detained in the protests. Police and military presence escalated, the number of protestors escalated and them bam! suddently it took a turn towards the violent as rioting began, reportedly ethnically motivated as Tibetans attacked Hui and Han Chinese storekeepers. You could say this is an inevitable escalation of protest, that the Dalai Lama (if he was involved in organizing the protests, a claim he denies) and other monks should have worked harder to ensure protestors were nonviolent, a central tenet of their Buddhist faith. On the other hand, the diversion of planes in midair away from Lhasa and the quick evacuation of tourists, both Chinese and foreign, out of Tibet, seems to indicate that the military anticipated this escalation and was prepared to deal with it with brutal force.
Basically, no one really knows what's going on. Everyone's on edge but twiddling their thumbs. The information lockdown has extended to Gansu, where journalists are no longer welcome after Saturday afternoon. Also, YouTube has been blocked along with websites including the LATimes, and The Guardian.
James Miles of the Economist, just happened to be in Lhasa and is the only accredited foreign journalist filing from Tibet with other journalists perched just outside in Gansu. His dispatches: March 13, March 14, March 16 include this eyewitness account of the rioting last Friday:
At heart is a very complicated issue, well explained by Peter Hessler back in 1999 in a piece for the Atlantic Monthly. His conversations with both Han Chinese and Tibetans in Tibet offer much needed perspective. Hessler can always be counted on for measured and critical readings of controversial subjects in contemporary China. His comparisons of China's mishandling of Tibet with America's own manifest destiny taking of land once belonging to Native Americans is especially worth thinking over.
ESWN author Roland Soong also reminds us of the ease to jump to conclusions by bringing back these words written by writer Wang Lixiong:
Any debate on Tibet inevitably centers around the Dalai Lama, the leader in exile of the Tibetan people and faith. He has drawn criticism for his moderation (while the Chinese government would disagree) and his current advocacy for autonomy for Tibet rather than complete independance. However he does not mince words and his use of the term "cultural genocide" to describe the Chinese government's efforts in Tibet obscures his own message of nonviolence.
It is difficult to deny China's investment in the infrastructure and economy of Tibet not to mention the education of millions of Tibetans in a region once ruled by monks who functioned like feudal warlords. This may mar the West's image of a shangri-la haven of religious purity but development is always accompanied by a give and take process of change which could be labeled "cultural genocide". Sure, blind nationalism now drives China to keep its country whole and unified from the Tibetan plateau to the deserts and oases in Xinjiang, to "renegade province" Taiwan (which no actually thinks functions as part of China), but its taming of savages idea should be very familiar to the West whose own colonial history extends from the removal of Native Americans from their lands to imperalism in its highest form in Africa - a continent still reeling from colonial occupation and in the throws of actual genocide.
The repurcussions of a truly bloodly putdown in Tibet are great - a clout of fear leading to long-term reduction in tourism, and a potential boycott of the Olympics. The Chinese government cannot afford to have a public relations nightmare on their hands. If they are confident that it is Dalai's "clique" that is inciting these protests and that they are exercising restraint in breaking up violence, then they should allow foreign journalists in to witness themselves just as violent protesting outside Chinese embassies overseas have been uploaded to YouTube. The lack of information only arouses more suspicion about the government's motives and actions. It sounds like the government has most of the violence under control for now. I pray for peace ...and for freedom of information.
Links:
Late last week, Melinda Liu at Newsweek offered some of the most cogent analysis, which wisely referenced history, and made some apt predictions that sadly bode true a few days later.
Danwei also offered some good links.
There has been a lockdown on information coming from Tibet on protests that began peacefully fully a week ago and then erupted in a serious of violent clashes between ethnic Tibetans, Han, and paramilitary police on Friday and throughout the weekend. As a result, much of the reporting has been about the difficulty of reporting when everyones hands are tied and people from residents of Lhasa to even foreign NGO workers and academics fear repurcussions for
speaking out.
More productively, several sites have offered historical explanations of China's involvement in Tibet: Wall Street Journal, Reuters
From what I can piece together, it started March 10th with peaceful protest involving over 300 monks in Tibet. March 10th is an especially tense time. It is the anniversary of the deadly 1959 revolt in Tibet which was quashed by the PLA and as a result of which the Dalai Lama left for India where he has been living in exile ever since. This year was the 49th anniversary of that protest against Chinese rule.
The next day, a Tuesday, over 600 monks converged on Lhasa to demand the release of monks detained in the protests. Police and military presence escalated, the number of protestors escalated and them bam! suddently it took a turn towards the violent as rioting began, reportedly ethnically motivated as Tibetans attacked Hui and Han Chinese storekeepers. You could say this is an inevitable escalation of protest, that the Dalai Lama (if he was involved in organizing the protests, a claim he denies) and other monks should have worked harder to ensure protestors were nonviolent, a central tenet of their Buddhist faith. On the other hand, the diversion of planes in midair away from Lhasa and the quick evacuation of tourists, both Chinese and foreign, out of Tibet, seems to indicate that the military anticipated this escalation and was prepared to deal with it with brutal force.
Basically, no one really knows what's going on. Everyone's on edge but twiddling their thumbs. The information lockdown has extended to Gansu, where journalists are no longer welcome after Saturday afternoon. Also, YouTube has been blocked along with websites including the LATimes, and The Guardian.
James Miles of the Economist, just happened to be in Lhasa and is the only accredited foreign journalist filing from Tibet with other journalists perched just outside in Gansu. His dispatches: March 13, March 14, March 16 include this eyewitness account of the rioting last Friday:
"The mobs, ranging from small groups of youths (some armed with traditional Tibetan swords) to crowds of many dozens, including women and children, rampaged through the narrow alleys of the Tibetan quarter. They battered the shutters of shops, broke in and seized whatever they could, from hunks of meat to gas canisters and clothing. Some goods they carried away—little children could be seen looting a toyshop—but most they heaped in the streets and set alight.
Within a couple of hours, fires were blazing in the streets across much of the city. Some buildings caught fire too. A pall of smoke blanketed Lhasa, obscuring the ancient Potala—the city’s most famous monument, which covers a hillside overlooking the city."
At heart is a very complicated issue, well explained by Peter Hessler back in 1999 in a piece for the Atlantic Monthly. His conversations with both Han Chinese and Tibetans in Tibet offer much needed perspective. Hessler can always be counted on for measured and critical readings of controversial subjects in contemporary China. His comparisons of China's mishandling of Tibet with America's own manifest destiny taking of land once belonging to Native Americans is especially worth thinking over.
ESWN author Roland Soong also reminds us of the ease to jump to conclusions by bringing back these words written by writer Wang Lixiong:
"Today, information on Tibet is duopolized by two different political propaganda machines. One machine is located in Beijing, and the other in Dharamsala. Since Tibet is to a large extent still under a state of blockade, other individuals or organizations find it very difficult to obtain independent information (especially at the macroscopic level). Like it or not, people who are concerned about Tibet are getting most of their information from these two propaganda machines.These polarized lenses make any kind of meaningful debate difficult. Without images to support either side right now, I hope people take the time during this information blackout to rethink their own assumptions on Tibet and review history.
The bad thing is that the information from these two sources is almost surely conflicting with and even completely opposite to each other. Faced with this absurd situation, the solution is to choose your position first and decide which side you want to stand with, and then you treat the information from that side as true and everything from the other side as false."
Any debate on Tibet inevitably centers around the Dalai Lama, the leader in exile of the Tibetan people and faith. He has drawn criticism for his moderation (while the Chinese government would disagree) and his current advocacy for autonomy for Tibet rather than complete independance. However he does not mince words and his use of the term "cultural genocide" to describe the Chinese government's efforts in Tibet obscures his own message of nonviolence.
It is difficult to deny China's investment in the infrastructure and economy of Tibet not to mention the education of millions of Tibetans in a region once ruled by monks who functioned like feudal warlords. This may mar the West's image of a shangri-la haven of religious purity but development is always accompanied by a give and take process of change which could be labeled "cultural genocide". Sure, blind nationalism now drives China to keep its country whole and unified from the Tibetan plateau to the deserts and oases in Xinjiang, to "renegade province" Taiwan (which no actually thinks functions as part of China), but its taming of savages idea should be very familiar to the West whose own colonial history extends from the removal of Native Americans from their lands to imperalism in its highest form in Africa - a continent still reeling from colonial occupation and in the throws of actual genocide.
The repurcussions of a truly bloodly putdown in Tibet are great - a clout of fear leading to long-term reduction in tourism, and a potential boycott of the Olympics. The Chinese government cannot afford to have a public relations nightmare on their hands. If they are confident that it is Dalai's "clique" that is inciting these protests and that they are exercising restraint in breaking up violence, then they should allow foreign journalists in to witness themselves just as violent protesting outside Chinese embassies overseas have been uploaded to YouTube. The lack of information only arouses more suspicion about the government's motives and actions. It sounds like the government has most of the violence under control for now. I pray for peace ...and for freedom of information.
Links:
Late last week, Melinda Liu at Newsweek offered some of the most cogent analysis, which wisely referenced history, and made some apt predictions that sadly bode true a few days later.
Danwei also offered some good links.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Links for 2008-2-22
- Much ado about abang: about.com is launching a Chinese version called abang.com, bang as in 帮. Read Thomas Crampton's interview of Matt Roberts, the founder:
But 1) 一帮人的帮 or bang as in "group" connotes to me a "group" of hoodlums rather than "group" of people who help (帮助） each other. 2) If only they unblocked it, Wikipedia would totally serve the purpose of a go-to online encyclopedia. It allows for a true marketplace of ideas where facts are up for revision and debate by the community as opposed to written by a few salaried "experts".
- This story of suicide was sad because it is both so common and almost always unheard. But in a country full which silences students from talking about their broken-hearted or stressed-out frieds who resort to taking their lives, maybe we need to read a few of these stories for it to hit home, just how precious life is.
- I wrestled with the Danwei question on how to translate "cheng guan" (城管) for awhile. The Chinese in the office thought "city administrative official" was appropriate, but in light of recent stories about just how out of hand their "administrative" duties can be (See beating death story of blogger Wei Wehua also linked in Danwei), maybe "municipal officer" would be more fitting. See comments for even harsher titles.
But 1) 一帮人的帮 or bang as in "group" connotes to me a "group" of hoodlums rather than "group" of people who help (帮助） each other. 2) If only they unblocked it, Wikipedia would totally serve the purpose of a go-to online encyclopedia. It allows for a true marketplace of ideas where facts are up for revision and debate by the community as opposed to written by a few salaried "experts".
- This story of suicide was sad because it is both so common and almost always unheard. But in a country full which silences students from talking about their broken-hearted or stressed-out frieds who resort to taking their lives, maybe we need to read a few of these stories for it to hit home, just how precious life is.
- I wrestled with the Danwei question on how to translate "cheng guan" (城管) for awhile. The Chinese in the office thought "city administrative official" was appropriate, but in light of recent stories about just how out of hand their "administrative" duties can be (See beating death story of blogger Wei Wehua also linked in Danwei), maybe "municipal officer" would be more fitting. See comments for even harsher titles.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
How Humane
As part of a recent reexamination of the death penalty in China from the return of death penalty review to the Supreme People's Court last year to calls for more sparing usage of the death penalty, China recently announced it is changing over from gunshots to lethal injection as the preferred method for executions.
- In the China Daily article, Jiang Xingchang, VP of the Supreme People's Court is quoted as saying that lethal injection, "is considered more humane and will eventually be used in all Intermediate People's Courts". Although there is no timetable for this changeover, "The SPC will help equip intermediate courts with all required facilities and train more professionals, particularly in the central and western regions," ...sounds like an involved process, whereas I guess all the relevant authorities were familiar with death by firing squad already. The China Daily article then quotes SPC Chief Justice Xiao Yang about the future application of the death penalty:
This is a non-response for 2 reasons: 1) Even strict retributive logic would be hard-pressed to justify the death penalty for non-violent crimes such as embezzlement or drug offenses or some of the 68 total ways one can receive the death penalty. 2) There's no justification of the state's right take away life, just a general assumption to maintain the status quo. But who should be the ultimate judge? Nearly four millenia after Hammurabi, Ghandi responded, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind".
Click on the China Daily link for the picture.
- The AP, and Reuters, didn't have too much to say about this yet since they were all working off the same China Daily report. BBC was a little better offering a comparison with the US:
And then some statistics:
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For comparison, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, 36 states plus the military and federal government in the US maintain the death penalty and around 1100 people have been executed since the Death Penalty was brought back in 1976. For most states, lethal injection is the sole option, and while Idaho and Utah still allow death by firing squad, it is only offered to inmates who chose it before it was eliminated through legislation. More gruesome statistics here.
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Beyond being seen as humane, is lethal injection (legalized in 1997, but not really used until 2000) also possibly considered a more expedient solution? The end of a BBC article from 2000 writes:
There are certainly concerns over implentation of the death penalty in China and not just from the outside. The Duihua foundation translated an editorial from The Beijing News on the SPC being flooded with death penalty cases to review and resorting to using lesser qualified judges to review them.
---
While on this topic, pictures from the last hours of a Chinese death penalty inmate, originally from daqi.com
- In the China Daily article, Jiang Xingchang, VP of the Supreme People's Court is quoted as saying that lethal injection, "is considered more humane and will eventually be used in all Intermediate People's Courts". Although there is no timetable for this changeover, "The SPC will help equip intermediate courts with all required facilities and train more professionals, particularly in the central and western regions," ...sounds like an involved process, whereas I guess all the relevant authorities were familiar with death by firing squad already. The China Daily article then quotes SPC Chief Justice Xiao Yang about the future application of the death penalty:
Though the country retains capital punishment, it should be applied only to "an extremely small number" of serious offenders, said Chief Justice Xiao Yang in a separate interview with China Daily, adding: "Each death sentence has to stand the test of time."
Xiao said abolishing the capital punishment or strictly limiting the use of the death sentence are a global trend and "China is also working toward that direction."
He, however, stressed that the goal cannot be achieved overnight.
"We cannot talk about abolishing or controlling the use of death sentences in the abstract without considering ground realities and social security conditions," Xiao said.
The chief justice has also said it is unrealistic for China to abolish the capital punishment - even for non-violent criminals - in the short term because of the strong belief among people of the concept "an eye for an eye and a life for a life".
This is a non-response for 2 reasons: 1) Even strict retributive logic would be hard-pressed to justify the death penalty for non-violent crimes such as embezzlement or drug offenses or some of the 68 total ways one can receive the death penalty. 2) There's no justification of the state's right take away life, just a general assumption to maintain the status quo. But who should be the ultimate judge? Nearly four millenia after Hammurabi, Ghandi responded, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind".
Click on the China Daily link for the picture.
- The AP, and Reuters, didn't have too much to say about this yet since they were all working off the same China Daily report. BBC was a little better offering a comparison with the US:
In recent months, the lethal injection has become a subject of much debate in the US.
The US Supreme Court is currently considering a case brought by two death row inmates who say the method inflicts unnecessary pain and suffering.
And then some statistics:
China does not release official statistics of its executions.
Rights group Amnesty International says that based on media reports an estimated 1,010 people were executed in 2006 - more than 60% of global executions - but it described this number as only the tip of the iceberg.
CHINA'S DEATH PENALTY
China is believed to execute more people than rest of the world combined
Non-violent crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement carry death penalty
Other crimes include murder, rape, robbery and drug offences
China does not publish official figures on executions
Many cases are based on confessions and trials often take less than a day, observers say
---
For comparison, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, 36 states plus the military and federal government in the US maintain the death penalty and around 1100 people have been executed since the Death Penalty was brought back in 1976. For most states, lethal injection is the sole option, and while Idaho and Utah still allow death by firing squad, it is only offered to inmates who chose it before it was eliminated through legislation. More gruesome statistics here.
---
Beyond being seen as humane, is lethal injection (legalized in 1997, but not really used until 2000) also possibly considered a more expedient solution? The end of a BBC article from 2000 writes:
There have also been concerns expressed that execution by lethal injection might be used to aid the harvesting of transplant organs from executed prisoners, although officials deny using organs from executed criminals without their permission.
There are certainly concerns over implentation of the death penalty in China and not just from the outside. The Duihua foundation translated an editorial from The Beijing News on the SPC being flooded with death penalty cases to review and resorting to using lesser qualified judges to review them.
---
While on this topic, pictures from the last hours of a Chinese death penalty inmate, originally from daqi.com
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Links for 1/2/2008
Happy 2008 everyone!
Just some links from the last week:
- LATimes' article on blacklash of the new China Law Labor that went into effect on the 1st.
- Fake baozi BTV producer Hu Ziwei strikes back at husband at CCTV Olympics unveiling ceremony.
- LATimes' article on Wen Jiabao wife's bling.
Just some links from the last week:
- LATimes' article on blacklash of the new China Law Labor that went into effect on the 1st.
- Fake baozi BTV producer Hu Ziwei strikes back at husband at CCTV Olympics unveiling ceremony.
- LATimes' article on Wen Jiabao wife's bling.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Mama Gump ...Censored!
This makes me so ANGRY!
Who doesn't love Sally Fields (aka Tom Hank's mom as my mom calls her)? Well she just won an Emmy - yay! that's the good part. She looked fabulous all night in a magenta strapless gown and perfect skin even at 61!?!
This year, Fox aired the Emmy's for the first time, hired insipid Ryan Seacrest as host, used a stupid round stage making it all the polish of a bad reality show.
Sally Fields starts giving an emotional acceptance speech for her Best Actress Emmy and totally gets bleeped out (at least the 3rd instance that night)
See from 1:55-2:10:
http://www.youtube.com/v/m0Ftq9N4fzo
Here's what Fields was trying to say:
"Surely this belongs to all the mothers of the world. May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised. Especially to the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait..wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm’s way, and from war. I am proud to be one of those women..let's face it, if mothers ruled the world" [silence, cameras dramatically pan away]...if they only let her finish, she was trying to say: "there'd be no goddamned wars in the first place."
Is that so earth shattering? Isn't the complete screw up of the "war" common knowledge by now...hence troop withdrawals finally? eugh
Note to Facebook: Please don't go the way of Myspace and get bought out by Rupert Murdoch* ...EVER!
*Did you know Murdoch married some golddigging Chinese woman half his age who convinced some nice unassuming English teacher to sponsor her back in the 80s, only to run off with the nice teacher's husband whom she divorced promptly after the 2 year wait for her visa. Now onto her second geriatric marriage, she's part of a huge media conglomerate and quite buddy buddy with the Chinese govy which Fox is desperate to mollify - shameful really. Right you probably didn't know all that - Murdoch has very successfully surpressed profiles of his wife from being published.
Ironically I'm citing a China-based blog for info censored elsewhere: http://www.danwei.org/media_business/murdochs_wife_censored_profile.php
Right so this post was about Sally Field. I'm pissed!
Thankfully I'm not the only one: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/16/fox-censors-sally-fields-anti-war-speech-at-emmys/
Who doesn't love Sally Fields (aka Tom Hank's mom as my mom calls her)? Well she just won an Emmy - yay! that's the good part. She looked fabulous all night in a magenta strapless gown and perfect skin even at 61!?!
This year, Fox aired the Emmy's for the first time, hired insipid Ryan Seacrest as host, used a stupid round stage making it all the polish of a bad reality show.
Sally Fields starts giving an emotional acceptance speech for her Best Actress Emmy and totally gets bleeped out (at least the 3rd instance that night)
See from 1:55-2:10:
http://www.youtube.com/v/m0Ftq9N4fzo
Here's what Fields was trying to say:
"Surely this belongs to all the mothers of the world. May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised. Especially to the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait..wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm’s way, and from war. I am proud to be one of those women..let's face it, if mothers ruled the world" [silence, cameras dramatically pan away]...if they only let her finish, she was trying to say: "there'd be no goddamned wars in the first place."
Is that so earth shattering? Isn't the complete screw up of the "war" common knowledge by now...hence troop withdrawals finally? eugh
Note to Facebook: Please don't go the way of Myspace and get bought out by Rupert Murdoch* ...EVER!
*Did you know Murdoch married some golddigging Chinese woman half his age who convinced some nice unassuming English teacher to sponsor her back in the 80s, only to run off with the nice teacher's husband whom she divorced promptly after the 2 year wait for her visa. Now onto her second geriatric marriage, she's part of a huge media conglomerate and quite buddy buddy with the Chinese govy which Fox is desperate to mollify - shameful really. Right you probably didn't know all that - Murdoch has very successfully surpressed profiles of his wife from being published.
Ironically I'm citing a China-based blog for info censored elsewhere: http://www.danwei.org/media_business/murdochs_wife_censored_profile.php
Right so this post was about Sally Field. I'm pissed!
Thankfully I'm not the only one: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/16/fox-censors-sally-fields-anti-war-speech-at-emmys/
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Vietnam to Cambodia
How'd those sanddunes turn out at 5am in Mui Ne? GREAT! Too bad I can't post the picture of me after I totally flipped over on my plastic sanddune sheet and literally ate it..hard. Took a whole day to get all that sand out ... of my ears! [The whole situation was almost as hilarious as when during Senior Olympics in college I spent virtually the entire dizzy bat race on the ground...at least there was just me and the wide expanse of sand to witness my fall.] I blame our pushy little kid who tried to charge us like $3 for a $1 operation (a rip off if you're as el cheapo as I am, and definitely a rip off in SE Asia). He pushed me really hard, before I was ready, and sent me hurtling down a 40 degree incline on a white sand dune and no way of breaking. It was beautiful though, and before 9am, not super hot. We confirmed our suspicions that the little kid was muttering swears at us the whole time when he said the same things in front of a Vietnamese adult and was rewarded with a smack upside the head. Our next set of tour guides (ie. kids out to make a buck) took us to Fairy River - this stream carved into red sand dunes that look like canyons, sure beat the fish sauce in huge clay vats operation that led up to it. Fish sauce is great, especially on things like bun (cold vietnamese noodles) but it's definitely one of those things that you have to be eating to enjoy and if you're not eating it then it there, the anchovy smell is just overpowering!
After a fun night checking out nightlife in Ho Chi Min City (ie. Jo & Jia going to bed after 10pm for once on this trip) we got up at the crack of dawn again to set off towards Cambodia. After a bus, boat, bus, ferry, bus, boat, bus, boat trip (did you get that straight?), we finally arrived in Phnom Penh. I've pretty much taken all forms of transportation in Vietnam (train - seat and sleeper, bus, minivan, Soviet-era looking jeep, plane, boat - small rowboat and motor-propelled wooden one) ... except for public buses. But nothing compares to the dozens of vans and buses we passed on the road in Cambodia today which saw people and luggage stacked up on the roof of the vehicle! With how small people are here, they can fit a guy and 3 girls on a motorbike too. I'm sure the driver (male) felt pretty pimp.
On the way to Cambodia while still in Vietnam, we stopped by a floating village (village on stilts) outside Chau Doc, a border town where one fishery house can fit over 80,000 fish! We also went to a Cham village, the Cham people are Islamic, once ruled a whole kingdom in Southern Vietnam and are thought to come from Malay stock. There was a guy who made iceys and made a whole village of children happy with his handmade crushed ice + syrup concoctions. Sadly, I also saw a young child who looked very sickly and malnourished with spindly legs and a vacant expression. I watched his mother spoon congee (apparently sounds similar in Portuguese as well!) into his mouth. She patted his head to indicate some kind of head injury perhaps. We also saw 2 young kids massaging a grandpa on his bed. Even though this village regularly entertains tourists, there were few signs that tourism was leaving behind any real benefit to its inhabitants. Our Vietnamese guide encouraged us not to give money to the children who begged as it is "not good for them", Pringles were a hit as a gift though!
I was sad to leave Vietnam where people had been so nice to me. This was a point our Vietnamese tour guide from last night wanted us to hit home as well. He explained that he found Americans especially wary of Vietnam because of the legacy of war (um, which we fought on someone else land and sprayed napalam and dioxide on civilians harming Vietnamese for generations). He kept repeating, "I don't know what Americans teach in schools, but we Vietnamese are friendly...please tell your friends!" It made me sad that this proud man was almost begging us to tell our friends that Vietnamese no longer held hard feelings after the US had waged such an atricious war it really didn't need to out of strategic interest. It also says something about how important foreign tourism is becoming to the economy and I think reflects a continued paranoia of the US towards communist states (China, Vietnam, Cuba). Most people who go to China tell me that they did not envision communism/socialism/maoism to look like this. These countries are changing at a lightening pace and a single politically loaded term cannot encapsulate them. Sure China (and I assume Vietnam) have loads of problems and frustrations (corruption, lack of transparency, lack of free and widespread elections, arbitrary laws) but so many of these issues plague other developing nations that call themselves free and democratic it's no sense discriminating based on a name.
Back to travel notes, just cruising along the Mekong was beautiful though! Lots of waving children (forget split pants, kids don't seem to be fully clothed until 5 or 6), fields of sugar cane, palm trees, and lush vegetation. Crossing over into Cambodia there were rows of ominous storm clouds but the patches of rain in the distance were very distinct and isolated. When it rained on our little boat, the sun was still bright out. Makes for very changeable weather.
One clear sign of poor management in Cambodia is the lack of drainage in the roads. It rained moderately today and when we drove into Phnom Penh, the streets were completely flooded. Walking around the block required wading through foot deep water ... so like playing in the rain but much dirtier. The Lonely Planet guide lists uncovered manholes as a danger in PP, especially with how few street lights there are at night and the deep cess pools of germy water currently covering the streets. We did happen upon a great supermarket today - Lucky Supermarket which had Milanos, gummy bears, and cereal! at cheaper than US prices Who woulda thunk in Cambodia? Also did you know that you can use US dollars pretty much everywhere in Cambodia (even more widespread than in Vietnam)? The AZN Bank ATM I went to only dispensed in USD and the supermarket listed all prices in dollars. Will RMB ever make it this big in its asian neighbors?
Tomorrow, we will go to the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh which thanks to the Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million (or a whopping 25% of the population?!?!) Then we will return to the glory of Angkor tomorrow by heading up to Siem Reap. Also did you know that Thai boxing and dancing actually come from the Khmer civilization in Cambodia? Right, more surprising facts to come!
After a fun night checking out nightlife in Ho Chi Min City (ie. Jo & Jia going to bed after 10pm for once on this trip) we got up at the crack of dawn again to set off towards Cambodia. After a bus, boat, bus, ferry, bus, boat, bus, boat trip (did you get that straight?), we finally arrived in Phnom Penh. I've pretty much taken all forms of transportation in Vietnam (train - seat and sleeper, bus, minivan, Soviet-era looking jeep, plane, boat - small rowboat and motor-propelled wooden one) ... except for public buses. But nothing compares to the dozens of vans and buses we passed on the road in Cambodia today which saw people and luggage stacked up on the roof of the vehicle! With how small people are here, they can fit a guy and 3 girls on a motorbike too. I'm sure the driver (male) felt pretty pimp.
On the way to Cambodia while still in Vietnam, we stopped by a floating village (village on stilts) outside Chau Doc, a border town where one fishery house can fit over 80,000 fish! We also went to a Cham village, the Cham people are Islamic, once ruled a whole kingdom in Southern Vietnam and are thought to come from Malay stock. There was a guy who made iceys and made a whole village of children happy with his handmade crushed ice + syrup concoctions. Sadly, I also saw a young child who looked very sickly and malnourished with spindly legs and a vacant expression. I watched his mother spoon congee (apparently sounds similar in Portuguese as well!) into his mouth. She patted his head to indicate some kind of head injury perhaps. We also saw 2 young kids massaging a grandpa on his bed. Even though this village regularly entertains tourists, there were few signs that tourism was leaving behind any real benefit to its inhabitants. Our Vietnamese guide encouraged us not to give money to the children who begged as it is "not good for them", Pringles were a hit as a gift though!
I was sad to leave Vietnam where people had been so nice to me. This was a point our Vietnamese tour guide from last night wanted us to hit home as well. He explained that he found Americans especially wary of Vietnam because of the legacy of war (um, which we fought on someone else land and sprayed napalam and dioxide on civilians harming Vietnamese for generations). He kept repeating, "I don't know what Americans teach in schools, but we Vietnamese are friendly...please tell your friends!" It made me sad that this proud man was almost begging us to tell our friends that Vietnamese no longer held hard feelings after the US had waged such an atricious war it really didn't need to out of strategic interest. It also says something about how important foreign tourism is becoming to the economy and I think reflects a continued paranoia of the US towards communist states (China, Vietnam, Cuba). Most people who go to China tell me that they did not envision communism/socialism/maoism to look like this. These countries are changing at a lightening pace and a single politically loaded term cannot encapsulate them. Sure China (and I assume Vietnam) have loads of problems and frustrations (corruption, lack of transparency, lack of free and widespread elections, arbitrary laws) but so many of these issues plague other developing nations that call themselves free and democratic it's no sense discriminating based on a name.
Back to travel notes, just cruising along the Mekong was beautiful though! Lots of waving children (forget split pants, kids don't seem to be fully clothed until 5 or 6), fields of sugar cane, palm trees, and lush vegetation. Crossing over into Cambodia there were rows of ominous storm clouds but the patches of rain in the distance were very distinct and isolated. When it rained on our little boat, the sun was still bright out. Makes for very changeable weather.
One clear sign of poor management in Cambodia is the lack of drainage in the roads. It rained moderately today and when we drove into Phnom Penh, the streets were completely flooded. Walking around the block required wading through foot deep water ... so like playing in the rain but much dirtier. The Lonely Planet guide lists uncovered manholes as a danger in PP, especially with how few street lights there are at night and the deep cess pools of germy water currently covering the streets. We did happen upon a great supermarket today - Lucky Supermarket which had Milanos, gummy bears, and cereal! at cheaper than US prices Who woulda thunk in Cambodia? Also did you know that you can use US dollars pretty much everywhere in Cambodia (even more widespread than in Vietnam)? The AZN Bank ATM I went to only dispensed in USD and the supermarket listed all prices in dollars. Will RMB ever make it this big in its asian neighbors?
Tomorrow, we will go to the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh which thanks to the Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million (or a whopping 25% of the population?!?!) Then we will return to the glory of Angkor tomorrow by heading up to Siem Reap. Also did you know that Thai boxing and dancing actually come from the Khmer civilization in Cambodia? Right, more surprising facts to come!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Postcard from Vietnam
Sorry for the lack of updates! Between the great China firewall and general laziness, I just haven't found the time. Now I'm all moved out of my apartment in Beijing and traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia now with Jo, a friend from Beijing. I seem to only write when traveling...especially in transit now so some travel stories and reflections on the year:
Kunming: I stopped by Kunming for a few days to celebrate Mike's birthday and see Julie and in 2 short days I managed to find a new appreciation for this city between it's reasonably priced spas (Dianchi district) and its even more reasonably priced smoothies (5 kuai baby! or 60 cents). Plus I love Yunnan food with its goat cheese innumberable tropical fruits on every street corner (currently obsessed with mangosteens and rambutan although dragon fruit and papaya are not far behind...google it if you don't know what they are!)
2 dirty days on buses and trains later, I arrived across the border in Vietnam ... only to high-tail over to the Chinese embassy and pay more money than everyone else as a US citizen to make sure my Chinese visa doesn't expire - bleh. This whole visa thing for China is just a big scam to get more money, because it's not that they won't let you in, they just want you to pay more and more immigration/psb officials get a cut off the top.
I only had 1 day in Sapa - Northern Vietnam in Lao Cai Province. Absolutely beautiful lush terrace farms, similar to Guangxi, Yunnan, or Guizhou which are right across the border. Also lots of Miao/Hmong ethnic along with other mountain tribes (known as Montagnards in Vietnam, thanks to the Frenchies). Also thanks to the French influence there's baguette for breakfast and lunch if you choose (banh mi sandwiches with cheese, pate, veggies, chilies, whatever you dream of). Personal street food fav is bun - the cold noodles served with a soup of fish sauce that you eat with veggies and bbq pork. Wonderful in the North, but haven't seen much of in the South, much more rice from my observation.
Hanoi: Then 2 days in Hanoi which were a great blur on a lime green bike I rented. The chain came off about every time I stopped but it was lovely zooming around Hanoi anyways. Vietnam is definitely a heaven for mopeds. The nice thing about biking is you don't need to stay to the side because 2 wheeled vehicles have right of way over 4 wheeled vehicles since there are fewer cars. The Museum of Ethnology was a great bike ride (and bun meal) away and well worth it. The War Museum in Hanoi displayed a couple US airplanes captured from the Vietnam war. Eerily, it also had a centerpiece of a pile of b-52 bombs, plane parts, and other military equipment stacked together like a modern art display. I also went to a restaurant called KOTO - know one, teach one, a non-profit restaurant that trains at-risk and disadvantaged young adults. There are many restaurants/organizations like this in Vietnam who benefit orphans, children etc. Would be a good idea for China too!
Halong Bay: After meeting up with Jo in Hanoi, we took the advice of our AMAZING hostel (Hanoi Backpacker's Hostel) and took a trip to a PRIVATE ISLAND (I just like the sound of that) facing Cat Ba in Halong Bay. Think sarongs, grass umbrellas, and soft surf. Jo was hardcore and fell along a cave while kayaking so I just lapped around on these funny animal floaties...definitely regressing age-wise, it's great!
Hoi An: 16 hours train ride from Hanoi later we arrived in the quaint seaside town of Hoi An in central Vietnam. The entire town is a UNESCO heritage site. Hoi An was an important port in the "maritime silk road" and still shows its Chinese, Japanese, and later French influence in the architecture (Japanese bridge, Fujian Assembly Hall, tailoring sweatshops in French colonial buildings). Hoi An is famous for its nearly 200 tailor shops and we definitely took advantage. I finally made my first qipao/cheongsam...in Vietnam. We went to a great store called B'Lan with really friendly staff...to make me feel a little less guilty on taking advantage of such cheap labor (better my business than a cost cutting MNC right?)
Vietnam is a long strip with lush mountains (good cover for guerilla fighting and targeted by American deforestation efforts during the war) so there's coastline everywhere. 2 hours of baking under the sun so hot you couldn't walk on the sand, I emerged burnt as a muffin in Hoi An and so sticky I had to peel clothes off me after clothes-fittings at the tailors.
Saigon: We spent only one day in Ho Chi Minh City (I prefer Saigon) yesterday walking around and I didn't like what I saw as much as Hanoi which was all small alleywalls and curving streets named after traditional guilds in the Hoan Kiem area (Hang Bac = silver street, Hang Dao = silk dyer). Saigon had wide boulevards. We went to the Reunification/Independance Palace where Diem used to entertain before liberation by the N. Vietnamese in 1975. Pictures of its violent takeover along with a series of narrow hallways and rooms full of radio, telephone, and decryption equipment filled the basement. There was also a propaganda piece film shown in English, French and Chinese. More poignant was the War Remnants (former War Memorial) Museum. The exhibit on journalists who died in the war and on the devastating effects of agent orange serve as testament to the combined millions from both sides that died in this atricious war. The guestbook was split between comments from Koreans, Japanese, and Europeans on resisting American imperialism (many touching on the Iraq war), and comments from Americans on resisting Vietnamese propaganda. The other SEAsians and Malaysians especially called for peace.
I've been disappointed that I haven't learned more about the war on this trip. Other expats have asked if I've seen any hostility as an American and I can honestly say that in general, I've encountered really nice Vietnamese. This says alot about how far these 2 countries have come in the last 30 years to normalize relations as well as Vietnam's welcoming of tourist money. I met up with a friend of a friend of a ..(FOAFA) last night who's also a returned Vietnamese (from the Bay Area!) and we peppered the poor guy with our questions and observations of Vietnam. We discussed how Vietnam is becoming a popular alternative to China to set-up factories and for FDI and how money matters more than guanxi (relationships) here. China's policies swerve one way and then another and also is increasingly pickier about the foreign companies it lets set up shop in China and feed off its labor force. It's also interesting to hear the perspective of another returned immigrant to a socialist country. All these comparisons I never thought to make before because I live in the China bubble which is so all-encompassing. This year has definitely expanded my views on what being "Chinese" means, both the Han, and 56 recognized ethnic minorities...from Tibet to Xinjiang, mainland to now HK, Macau, and many many overseas. And also all the dialogue, trade, and interaction with other nations from Japan to Vietnam, Germany to Australia. We talk about how we live in a globalized world and internet is bringing us together, but with trade routes and cross-pollinating religions of centuries ago, maybe we've been a globalized world for a long time and just didn't realize it. With lower barriers to access information from all over the world, its just more reason and responsibility to see beyond our own borders and barriers into the rest of the world.
With that, I sign off from the beach town of Mui Ne. Sanddunes (white and red) tomorrow morning at 5am (no joke). Then cruise up the Mekong across to Cambodia on Saturday. Stay tuned!
Kunming: I stopped by Kunming for a few days to celebrate Mike's birthday and see Julie and in 2 short days I managed to find a new appreciation for this city between it's reasonably priced spas (Dianchi district) and its even more reasonably priced smoothies (5 kuai baby! or 60 cents). Plus I love Yunnan food with its goat cheese innumberable tropical fruits on every street corner (currently obsessed with mangosteens and rambutan although dragon fruit and papaya are not far behind...google it if you don't know what they are!)
2 dirty days on buses and trains later, I arrived across the border in Vietnam ... only to high-tail over to the Chinese embassy and pay more money than everyone else as a US citizen to make sure my Chinese visa doesn't expire - bleh. This whole visa thing for China is just a big scam to get more money, because it's not that they won't let you in, they just want you to pay more and more immigration/psb officials get a cut off the top.
I only had 1 day in Sapa - Northern Vietnam in Lao Cai Province. Absolutely beautiful lush terrace farms, similar to Guangxi, Yunnan, or Guizhou which are right across the border. Also lots of Miao/Hmong ethnic along with other mountain tribes (known as Montagnards in Vietnam, thanks to the Frenchies). Also thanks to the French influence there's baguette for breakfast and lunch if you choose (banh mi sandwiches with cheese, pate, veggies, chilies, whatever you dream of). Personal street food fav is bun - the cold noodles served with a soup of fish sauce that you eat with veggies and bbq pork. Wonderful in the North, but haven't seen much of in the South, much more rice from my observation.
Hanoi: Then 2 days in Hanoi which were a great blur on a lime green bike I rented. The chain came off about every time I stopped but it was lovely zooming around Hanoi anyways. Vietnam is definitely a heaven for mopeds. The nice thing about biking is you don't need to stay to the side because 2 wheeled vehicles have right of way over 4 wheeled vehicles since there are fewer cars. The Museum of Ethnology was a great bike ride (and bun meal) away and well worth it. The War Museum in Hanoi displayed a couple US airplanes captured from the Vietnam war. Eerily, it also had a centerpiece of a pile of b-52 bombs, plane parts, and other military equipment stacked together like a modern art display. I also went to a restaurant called KOTO - know one, teach one, a non-profit restaurant that trains at-risk and disadvantaged young adults. There are many restaurants/organizations like this in Vietnam who benefit orphans, children etc. Would be a good idea for China too!
Halong Bay: After meeting up with Jo in Hanoi, we took the advice of our AMAZING hostel (Hanoi Backpacker's Hostel) and took a trip to a PRIVATE ISLAND (I just like the sound of that) facing Cat Ba in Halong Bay. Think sarongs, grass umbrellas, and soft surf. Jo was hardcore and fell along a cave while kayaking so I just lapped around on these funny animal floaties...definitely regressing age-wise, it's great!
Hoi An: 16 hours train ride from Hanoi later we arrived in the quaint seaside town of Hoi An in central Vietnam. The entire town is a UNESCO heritage site. Hoi An was an important port in the "maritime silk road" and still shows its Chinese, Japanese, and later French influence in the architecture (Japanese bridge, Fujian Assembly Hall, tailoring sweatshops in French colonial buildings). Hoi An is famous for its nearly 200 tailor shops and we definitely took advantage. I finally made my first qipao/cheongsam...in Vietnam. We went to a great store called B'Lan with really friendly staff...to make me feel a little less guilty on taking advantage of such cheap labor (better my business than a cost cutting MNC right?)
Vietnam is a long strip with lush mountains (good cover for guerilla fighting and targeted by American deforestation efforts during the war) so there's coastline everywhere. 2 hours of baking under the sun so hot you couldn't walk on the sand, I emerged burnt as a muffin in Hoi An and so sticky I had to peel clothes off me after clothes-fittings at the tailors.
Saigon: We spent only one day in Ho Chi Minh City (I prefer Saigon) yesterday walking around and I didn't like what I saw as much as Hanoi which was all small alleywalls and curving streets named after traditional guilds in the Hoan Kiem area (Hang Bac = silver street, Hang Dao = silk dyer). Saigon had wide boulevards. We went to the Reunification/Independance Palace where Diem used to entertain before liberation by the N. Vietnamese in 1975. Pictures of its violent takeover along with a series of narrow hallways and rooms full of radio, telephone, and decryption equipment filled the basement. There was also a propaganda piece film shown in English, French and Chinese. More poignant was the War Remnants (former War Memorial) Museum. The exhibit on journalists who died in the war and on the devastating effects of agent orange serve as testament to the combined millions from both sides that died in this atricious war. The guestbook was split between comments from Koreans, Japanese, and Europeans on resisting American imperialism (many touching on the Iraq war), and comments from Americans on resisting Vietnamese propaganda. The other SEAsians and Malaysians especially called for peace.
I've been disappointed that I haven't learned more about the war on this trip. Other expats have asked if I've seen any hostility as an American and I can honestly say that in general, I've encountered really nice Vietnamese. This says alot about how far these 2 countries have come in the last 30 years to normalize relations as well as Vietnam's welcoming of tourist money. I met up with a friend of a friend of a ..(FOAFA) last night who's also a returned Vietnamese (from the Bay Area!) and we peppered the poor guy with our questions and observations of Vietnam. We discussed how Vietnam is becoming a popular alternative to China to set-up factories and for FDI and how money matters more than guanxi (relationships) here. China's policies swerve one way and then another and also is increasingly pickier about the foreign companies it lets set up shop in China and feed off its labor force. It's also interesting to hear the perspective of another returned immigrant to a socialist country. All these comparisons I never thought to make before because I live in the China bubble which is so all-encompassing. This year has definitely expanded my views on what being "Chinese" means, both the Han, and 56 recognized ethnic minorities...from Tibet to Xinjiang, mainland to now HK, Macau, and many many overseas. And also all the dialogue, trade, and interaction with other nations from Japan to Vietnam, Germany to Australia. We talk about how we live in a globalized world and internet is bringing us together, but with trade routes and cross-pollinating religions of centuries ago, maybe we've been a globalized world for a long time and just didn't realize it. With lower barriers to access information from all over the world, its just more reason and responsibility to see beyond our own borders and barriers into the rest of the world.
With that, I sign off from the beach town of Mui Ne. Sanddunes (white and red) tomorrow morning at 5am (no joke). Then cruise up the Mekong across to Cambodia on Saturday. Stay tuned!
Thursday, March 1, 2007
International Women's Day Benefit for Orphans
Just got back from the Philippines which was awesome (specifically Boracay, unspeakably beautiful and fun)...will write more on that later. But in response to my last post on volunteering weekly at an orphanage, I'm helping to organize a big benefit event next Thursday, March 8th. In case any of you are in Beijing, I'd love to see your happy shining caring faces! Details follow:
All are welcome! Please share this with your friends, family and colleagues.
欢迎参加庆祝
You are invited to celebrate...
International Women's Day 2007
Benefiting the Beijing International Committee for Chinese Orphans (BICCO)
Thursday, March 8, 2007
7:00-11:00pm
@ Pavillion
Gongti Xilu, Across from the Workers' Stadium West Gate
Y100/person, includes one free drink and hors-d'oeuvres
Buy one drink get one free, 7-8:00pm
Presentation at 9:00pm
Silent auction from 7-10:30pm
Hosted by Jo Kent & Friends
Business Casual Attire
Business Casual Attire
All are welcome! Please share this with your friends, family and colleagues.
For more information, please contact Jo at jolingk@gmail.com or 15901409570.
欢迎参加庆祝
2007年国际妇女节
赞助北京国际救助中国孤儿委员会慈善晚会
2007年3月8 号 （星期四）
晚7点至晚11点
@ Pavillion 在万龙腾飞吧
工体西路, 工体西门对面, 电话: 6507-2617
100元/位，包括一杯免费酒水和小吃
晚7点至晚8点，酒水买一赠一
晚9点，讲演
晚7点至晚10:30，无声拍卖
承办人：康久龄及其朋友
商务便装出席
欢迎所有人参加！请将邀请信息传与你的朋友、家人及同事！
关于更多的信息，请联系康久龄，邮箱jolingk@gmail.com ，电话：15901409570
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Abandoned Children
I volunteer at an orphanage every Saturday. Every Saturday, I spend four hours on trains, buses, and subway lines to spend three hours at small care facility for children attached to the elder care center in a suburb of Beijing. The center is not an official registered orphanage. All the boys and some of the girls are physically or mentally challenged in some way although some of the girl babies seem fine, although I surmise they will end up developmentally challenged from lack of care and stimulation. These children are not up for international adoption. They are the forgotten abandoned children in China. Actually, there is also a mental hospital next to the center which we are not allowed to enter although we hear screaming occasionally and we speculate that there are many disturbed children inside.
These children are mostly well fed and clothed. Basic necessities are taken care of through international donations, and I assume some support from the government via the elder care center it is attached to. On the surface, the orphanage is well lit and heated. There is a colorful plastic jungle gym in the hallway and this week, Valentine's Day cards on the wall, a reminder of an activity done with other activities during the week.
Faced with the one-child policy, everyone's preference is for a healthy boy. Parents who have a mentally or physically disable child are allowed to have another child, and many of those first-borns are abandoned. Few parents are willing or prepared to take care of mentally or physically disabled children so they take the chance to have another "normal" child. Even in this outskirt of Beijing, preference for boys can be seen since there are some baby girls at the center who do not exhibit developmental problems. This preference fades amongst well-heeled city-dwellers who spoil their daughters as much as their sons.
What is most disturbing is the little attention each of the children receive. But who is responsible? It would be easy to blame the ayis who mostly treat the children with indifference. But most are uneducated and probably have never been taught how to handle cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, the adorable cleft palate babies, or the innumerable other ailments these children have. Their misfortune for being placed at a dead-end job in an orphanage, and the daily toil of their lives shows in how they treat the children. I see them casually pick up and plop down babies a foot above the crib bedding. They yell commands at the children and there is some swatting of heads, at least this is when we are present. These ayi's who work for this center are paid something like 800 rmb (100 USD) a month and only have one or two days off a month. They work around the clock to make sure that the children are fed and generally stay out of trouble. When asked what will happen to these chilren over Spring Festival when most of the ayis will go home to their families, one ayi replied, "oh, there will be a few who will alternate and the security guards will help out too". I can only hope that these chilren won't develop diseases or get into trouble with minimal care and supervision the next two weeks.
When I go with a group of volunteers, we clean and one group does activities with the older children who do not attend school or seem to have any regular structured teaching or activity time. I usually spend more time with the babies who are given so little care. They cry so little because they've been conditioned to believe that crying doesn't necessarily mean you will be picked up, wiped, spoken to or any of the other things parents would do. My job is to encourage them to roll over, crawl, walk, make sounds and achieve other developmental milestones.
There is one baby boy. Last month, he was sick with an awful mucus-y chest cough and had trouble breathing. Then he developed a skin infection and rash all over his face which means he is no one's favorite to pickup. Everytime I hold him, his entire body is completely stiff, his little hands and feet completely clenched together. His eyes dart around and he cannot make eye-contact. I try to massage his little muscles, but none of us know what is wrong with him, and I'm not trained to know what to do.
Some of the volunteers are organizing a benefit for these children in March, but we worry what will happen to these children long-term. Without a chance at school, or physical therapy, and caretakers who understand their specific conditions, these children have little chance of being able to take care of themselves one day. It's not just about donations for food or toys, these children need long-term care. The ayis need to have more time off and be paid more so they can afford to care for these children. They need training on how to deal with children with disabilities. Everyday just becomes waiting it out for these children. I try to imagine life from their POV and I fail. But I do see their faces light up and the countless "bao bao's" (hold me!) that assault us the second we come in the door every Saturday afternoon. I know how much I look forward to seeing them on Saturdays. I know how worried and frustrated I am when we leave around 5:30pm every Saturday, fretting over whether that baby with the cough will get better, or whether that adorable cleft palate baby with 2 teeth sticking out will finally get surgery, or if the girl who is always left in a playpen in the hallway will be picked up by anyone this upcoming week, or if she will be left to waste away...
I also know that these children are the luckier ones. If orphanages exist like this on the outskirts of Beijing, what must they be like in other more remote provinces? in Henan where over 200 HIV/AIDs orphans are supposedly quarantined into a warehouse? As orphans, these children are given a surname by the center. They are all named 党 "dang" or party, as in Communist Party. Ironic since for me, they stand for the emptiness of promises for communal welfare. We are all responsible for these children, most of all the government that put in place one-child policies that incentivize parents to abandon handicapped children.
This is what keeps me in China.
These children are mostly well fed and clothed. Basic necessities are taken care of through international donations, and I assume some support from the government via the elder care center it is attached to. On the surface, the orphanage is well lit and heated. There is a colorful plastic jungle gym in the hallway and this week, Valentine's Day cards on the wall, a reminder of an activity done with other activities during the week.
Faced with the one-child policy, everyone's preference is for a healthy boy. Parents who have a mentally or physically disable child are allowed to have another child, and many of those first-borns are abandoned. Few parents are willing or prepared to take care of mentally or physically disabled children so they take the chance to have another "normal" child. Even in this outskirt of Beijing, preference for boys can be seen since there are some baby girls at the center who do not exhibit developmental problems. This preference fades amongst well-heeled city-dwellers who spoil their daughters as much as their sons.
What is most disturbing is the little attention each of the children receive. But who is responsible? It would be easy to blame the ayis who mostly treat the children with indifference. But most are uneducated and probably have never been taught how to handle cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, the adorable cleft palate babies, or the innumerable other ailments these children have. Their misfortune for being placed at a dead-end job in an orphanage, and the daily toil of their lives shows in how they treat the children. I see them casually pick up and plop down babies a foot above the crib bedding. They yell commands at the children and there is some swatting of heads, at least this is when we are present. These ayi's who work for this center are paid something like 800 rmb (100 USD) a month and only have one or two days off a month. They work around the clock to make sure that the children are fed and generally stay out of trouble. When asked what will happen to these chilren over Spring Festival when most of the ayis will go home to their families, one ayi replied, "oh, there will be a few who will alternate and the security guards will help out too". I can only hope that these chilren won't develop diseases or get into trouble with minimal care and supervision the next two weeks.
When I go with a group of volunteers, we clean and one group does activities with the older children who do not attend school or seem to have any regular structured teaching or activity time. I usually spend more time with the babies who are given so little care. They cry so little because they've been conditioned to believe that crying doesn't necessarily mean you will be picked up, wiped, spoken to or any of the other things parents would do. My job is to encourage them to roll over, crawl, walk, make sounds and achieve other developmental milestones.
There is one baby boy. Last month, he was sick with an awful mucus-y chest cough and had trouble breathing. Then he developed a skin infection and rash all over his face which means he is no one's favorite to pickup. Everytime I hold him, his entire body is completely stiff, his little hands and feet completely clenched together. His eyes dart around and he cannot make eye-contact. I try to massage his little muscles, but none of us know what is wrong with him, and I'm not trained to know what to do.
Some of the volunteers are organizing a benefit for these children in March, but we worry what will happen to these children long-term. Without a chance at school, or physical therapy, and caretakers who understand their specific conditions, these children have little chance of being able to take care of themselves one day. It's not just about donations for food or toys, these children need long-term care. The ayis need to have more time off and be paid more so they can afford to care for these children. They need training on how to deal with children with disabilities. Everyday just becomes waiting it out for these children. I try to imagine life from their POV and I fail. But I do see their faces light up and the countless "bao bao's" (hold me!) that assault us the second we come in the door every Saturday afternoon. I know how much I look forward to seeing them on Saturdays. I know how worried and frustrated I am when we leave around 5:30pm every Saturday, fretting over whether that baby with the cough will get better, or whether that adorable cleft palate baby with 2 teeth sticking out will finally get surgery, or if the girl who is always left in a playpen in the hallway will be picked up by anyone this upcoming week, or if she will be left to waste away...
I also know that these children are the luckier ones. If orphanages exist like this on the outskirts of Beijing, what must they be like in other more remote provinces? in Henan where over 200 HIV/AIDs orphans are supposedly quarantined into a warehouse? As orphans, these children are given a surname by the center. They are all named 党 "dang" or party, as in Communist Party. Ironic since for me, they stand for the emptiness of promises for communal welfare. We are all responsible for these children, most of all the government that put in place one-child policies that incentivize parents to abandon handicapped children.
This is what keeps me in China.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
welcome to my blog
To kick off this blog, a little ditty on the states and countries I've been to. I know quality > quantity (oh boy has living in China taught me that lesson), but it's nice to have a geographic imagining of the places I've been, and oh, the places I'll go!
United States of america:
create your own visited states map
I've been to (the airports of) other states in passing but I'm trying to be honest here. Have I really never been to Michigan? or the Carolinas? Looks I really need to roadtrip through pretty much all of the West. It's a shame that my cousin is from New Mexico and yet I've never been...Route 66 anyone?
Now for this earth:
create your own visited countries map
Here I thought 2 years abroad was finally licking my wanderlust now looking at the map makes me dream about all the places I have yet to see: Cambodia, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, North Korea, South Africa, Egypt, Denmark, Australia, Spain, Italy, India, and Nepal are at on the immediate short list. And in two weeks, the Philippines will also be highlighted red.
United States of america:
create your own visited states map
I've been to (the airports of) other states in passing but I'm trying to be honest here. Have I really never been to Michigan? or the Carolinas? Looks I really need to roadtrip through pretty much all of the West. It's a shame that my cousin is from New Mexico and yet I've never been...Route 66 anyone?
Now for this earth:
create your own visited countries map
Here I thought 2 years abroad was finally licking my wanderlust now looking at the map makes me dream about all the places I have yet to see: Cambodia, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, North Korea, South Africa, Egypt, Denmark, Australia, Spain, Italy, India, and Nepal are at on the immediate short list. And in two weeks, the Philippines will also be highlighted red.
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