in light of recent events...another comparison, if you will

Ok I don't know how P.C. it is for me to talk about this right now, but the death of Charlton Heston has got me thinking about the difference between America and China in terms of guns. I have talked to just about everybody here that I can about US politics, and guns always come up in the conversation. Chinese people don't have guns. Ever. A policeman has to be on special assignment, such as a drug-bust, and he must account for every bullet. Guns are respected here as the serious and dangerous weapons that they are. I know China also has a violent past, but let me put it this way: Chinese people don't live with the fear that everyday activities, such going to a college class or going shopping at the mall, may put them in the line of fire of a crazed person with a gun. It just doesn't happen here. China's not perfect, but I confess I feel a lot safer here because NOBODY has a gun. Sure people here die just as much as people die in the US, but not from the same violent crimes as in the US. In China I think you're more likely to die from 1. the crazy traffic, 2. the pollution, 3. lack of health care. Of course, the same threats face Americans as well, but the gun factor just isn't here at all. I don't care what anybody says - guns kill people. People with guns kill people. And people with guns kill people easily. The students at Virginia Tech, Columbine, Northern Illinois, and countless other schools, as well as the Christmas shoppers in Nebraska never thought that by going to school or to the mall they would be risking or even losing their lives. It's a sad world when even Sears isn't safe anymore...

Happy Valley and Temple of Heaven

So this weekend was busy for me. The weather here has become downright lovely, and I feel the constant need to be outdoors. Friday was a holiday here in China - Qing Ming Festival. Qing Ming Festival is a festival for people to sweep their ancestors’ graves; it strikes me as being kind of similar to our Memorial Day, where many Americans go to the cemetery to decorate the grave sites of loved ones. Anyways, me and a Chinese friend headed to Happy Valley, and new amusement park in Beijing. This place blew me away. It's set up into various 'sections' that are all themed after ancient cities. There is Atlantis, Shangri-la, the Aegean Harbor, the Lost Mayan City, etc, and the scenery is incredible. It looked like how I envision DisneyWorld, only better for me because I like ancient stuff. The rides were cutting edge too, and I got to go on this one ride that was unlike anything I have ever heard of before. It was both frightening and exhilirating. However, because I went on a Friday and it was a holiday, the place was very busy. I want to go again on a less-busy day.
On Sunday I went with some TBC classmates to see the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan). This was the place where the Emperor would pray to the gods and make sacrifices to the gods as well. I will put pictures in Photobucket, but Google it and you will instantly recognize this building. It's VERY famous. I am still eagerly awaiting our TBC weekend trips to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and of course, the Great Wall. Now that the weather is nice, I am always out and about, seeing Beijing. I still need to visit the Olympic Stadium and the Zoo, for sure... any other suggestions?
I will keep you updated on my adventures. Zai jian.

World Autism Day

So last Wednesday was the first ever World Autism Day and I attended a large meeting on campus here at UIBE. The meeting was in Chinese, so I couldn't follow that part, but I did get to see some familiar faces - Ms. Tian Huiping and Cindy, my China autism expert. As you know by now, Tian Huiping is the leading lady behind Xingxingyu (Stars and Rain) and it was great to see her again - she's one of those people you just have to admire. Anyways, she and Xingxingyu were featured on CNN on World Autism Day, along with the great people from Heartspring that I had the chance to meet in March. Watch the CNN video here:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/03/30/vause.china.autism.school.cnn

At the meeting they also showed the documentary film "Children of the Stars," which is about Xingxingyu and autism in China, so here's the site for the film:
http://www.childrenofthestars-film.org/

Fortunately I have my own copy of this wonderful film. I am telling you, you just HAVE to see this movie.

KTV

If you hang out with Chinese college students enough, you will sooner or later be invited to partake in the universal favorite activity: KTV. KTV is a general term that is applied to all facilities that offer karaoke. And it's not just the awful and embarassing karaoke that we know in the states, that only occurs in specific bars and only by the completely intoxicated. Here, everybody likes to sing, regardless of their level of talent. Karaoke here has gotten high-tech. You and a group of friends get a special private room that is equipped with a huge TV and a computer for song selection. There are two microphones and a large wrap-around couch so that everybody can cram into the room. Now the fun begins. You pick your songs, and yes they have English songs (too many, in fact), and then you basically pass around the microphones so your friends can sing the songs they've picked. For us Americans who still have qualms about karaoke, you can sing with the artist if you prefer. The point of this note is to emphasize just how much Chinese young people LOVE karaoke. I guess it could be a lot worse, like the ways kids in the US find to amuse themselves on the weekends.

Sichuan trip!

Last week I spent the week in Sichuan province with my classmates. Sichuan is right above Yunnan, where I visited on my last journey. Sichuan is known in China and throughout the world for several things, including pandas, food, and beautiful women. We flew to Chengdu, the capital city, but we couldn’t stay there because there were many Tibetans rioting in the streets in response to the recent violence and unrest over in Lhasa. Apparently Chengdu, along with Sichuan province, has a considerable Tibetan population. Obviously, our program directors didn’t want us getting involved in that messy situation, so much to my dismay, we only saw Chengdu as we were leaving it. Our first stop that afternoon was Qingcheng Mountain, a famous and important Daoist mountain in China. We took a cable-car up and down the mountain and visited the village located on the rear side of the mountain. Then we had the chance to sample Sichuan’s most famous food: Hot Pot. Hot Pot requires a special table with a large circular basin in the middle that acts as a stove. A large pot of oil and spices is placed in this basin and the burner is lit. The liquid starts to bubble and then you add various foods, like meat and vegetable, to the bubbling liquid and wait for these foods to cook. It doesn’t take long for the food to cook, and you simply use a spoon or your chopsticks to fish around in the pot for a piece of food. Hot pot is hot in terms of temperature, to be sure, but it is probably called ‘hot pot’ because it is SO SPICY. Sichuan allegedly has the “hottest hot pot” in China, so naturally, after one bite, my entire mouth was searing. Hot pot is not for the weak-stomached.

Day two of my adventures was great because it featured China’s most famous residents, the Giant Pandas. We visited a world-famous panda research and breeding center outside of Chengdu, and we had the opportunity to take pictures with pandas, which was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Pandas are funny creatures because all they do is sit around and eat bamboo, or sleep. They are so big that they have to be constantly eating to stay alive because the bamboo is digested slowly and its nutrients are hard to extract. In any case, I have learned that pandas are very serious when it comes to eating. One panda tried to take another panda’s bamboo and a panda-fight ensued. During the photo session with the panda, one of my classmates tried to take some bamboo from the panda – a bad idea considering that the panda had a piece of bamboo in each paw so that it could eat contentedly and would not attack us.

During my travels I also saw a dinosaur museum, an archaeology museum, and the Dazu grottoes, which are rock carvings made directly into the stone cliffs. Our group also travelled to Leshan to see the world’s largest Buddha statue. Finally, we arrived in Chongqing, a city so big that it became a municipality about ten years ago. China has a couple of large municipalities like this, including Beijing, which don’t belong to any province, but are independent like Washington D.C. Chongqing is interesting, in my opinion, because two major rivers converge here: the Yangzi and the Jialing. This reminded me so much of Pittsburgh. However, I will say that I would not recommend that foreign women venture out into Chongqing alone. I am used to getting attention because I am a foreigner here, but I encountered some people in Chongqing that went beyond fascination and crossed-over into downright creepy and inappropriate – a man on a motorcycle followed me all the way down the street, yelling in Chinese and gesturing for me to come with him. Obviously I escaped from that situation as quickly as possible, but I figure that’s China. Every day is an adventure here and you never know what to expect. All that I know is that I love China and I am sad now when faced with the prospect of leaving.

Sichuan - Day 1

Today is Day 1 of the Sichuan Spring Break trip. So far, it's been okay. We started off the day by waking up too early (6 AM) and heading to the airport. But they forget to mention that we weren't flying out of Capital Airport, which is the HUGE airport for Beijing, but instead we went out into lord-knows-where to this other airport that was quite small, to say the least. It was reminiscent of the tiny airport from the Yunnan trip in Xishuangbanna, complete with like 3 gates and a few check-in windows. Not big enough for a huge group of American college students. We formed a line to get our boarding passes that went out the door, the airport was that small. All the Chinese people there were staring, no doubt completely confused why a huge group of foreigners was at this minuscule airport.
So then we boarded the plane and I was surprised at it's size - 3 seats on each side of the middle path. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but it's just so funny: Flying in China is INSANE. The pilots are allegedly trained by the military (ie. fighter pilots) and therefore their style of flying, especially taking off, ascending, descending, and landing, is like a scene from Top Gun. Your stomach does gymnastics on the plane, it's so strange, I feel like I'm in Top Gun and I can almost hear that Kenny Loggins song "Danger Zone," in the background. Anyways, we flew into Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, but we couldn't even stay there, as was the original plan! Sichuan is right next to Tibet and there have been many Tibetans rioting in the streets of Chengdu because of the hostile situation in Tibet at the moment. So obviously TBC wouldn't let us go to Chengdu and I'm really bummed about that.
So we drove out of Chengdu to this famous mountain, Qingcheng, and we hung out in this village, Tai'an Old Town, which was pretty neat. We took cable cars up and down the mountain... the scenery was gorgeous, of course.
After that we went to try Sichuan's most famous cuisine - hot pot. Let me say this, they aren't kidding when they call it "hot pot." There's a basin in the middle of a big table that has like a mini stove in it, and they place a big pot of oils and spices on the burner. When the liquid starts bubbling, we put various foods in the pot to cook, such as meat, potatoes, noodles, and vegetables. This isn't any ordinary sauce the food is cooking in - it's literally brimming-full of hot dried red peppers and other peppers that are dried or in pods. The liquid is LETHAL. One bite and your nose leaks like Niagara Falls and you start coughing like you have TB. Your lips, mouth, and tongue lose feeling at some point. Regardless of this, hot pot is great. There's a smaller pot in the middle of the big one that is "neutral," meaning that it won't destroy your mouth.
Tomorrow is pandas. I can't wait.

bad blogger!

Sorry it's been so long, but I couldn't log into Blogger for quite some time. I am not sure why, but the site kept coming up in Chinese and denying my username and password. But now that problem has been remedied, I will continue to update you on my adventures over here in Beijing.

I am writing this post from a hotel in Sichuan province. We have come here for a week-long Spring Break trip. Details will follow.