China

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Hi everyone!

Sorry for the delay in producing this entry. Yes, I was otherwise occupied – visiting family and friends, getting resettled in the Bay Area, work, the Sierras, band practice/shows, watching Ken Burns' Baseball, Charlie Rose, and Twin Peaks + life in general. I also felt that I needed to ruminate on China. Over the last several months, I have read several pertinent books – all highly recommended:

The Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence
China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
Why the West Rules for Now by Ian Morris
Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China by Peter Hessler
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig (not on China per se but certainly related)

I will discuss the books a little later. To help guide the discussion, I've provided my itinerary (May-June 2011):

Yunnan Province – Kunming → Dali → Lijiang → Lugu Lake
Sichuan Province – Xichang → Emei Shan → Leshan → Chengdu
Xi'an
Guilin and Yangshuo
Shanghai and Suzhou

And here are the pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8870546@N03/collections/72157626665662164/

I'd like to structure this entry a little differently – I do want to give you some sense of what I did but mostly in how it informs what I, and others for that matter, thought. So first I'll write about my trip (including appropriate questions), then talk about China, its people, and placing China within a global context, and finally get a bit personal and look into how my travels have shaped me. Also, please don't be offended by the questions I am asking – I'm not trying to tell you what to think. I'm merely attempting to facilitate a discussion. I didn't even come up with most of the questions – I am nothing if not a pretty decent thief!

So my trip in China started in Kunming. I arrived via a flight from Kathmandu on May 5th:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunming

After arriving, I was struck by the extensive use of electric mopeds. In the United States, have we not been talking about adopting electric vehicles on a large scale for decades now? Do we discuss and dawdle while the Chinese just do?

Another thing that struck me – particularly after having been in Nepal and India – was how analogous China was, at least on the surface, to the United States. Contemplate the similarities – modern, consumer-oriented societies; not conservative about dress like India or the Middle East; people holding hands; capitalist; infrastructure; emphasis on pop culture; big, flashy advertising; secular; people often not being able to speak another language and traveling mostly within their own country; a drinking culture; enjoying regional differences but still united; women involved in daily life; independent travel; etc. Do the two nations have more in common than most people think? Has China largely just copied the United States business model or is it striking out on its own or both? Are the United States and China converging? Have they arrived in similar places by different means?

I thoroughly enjoyed Kunming – the modern lifestyle, clear skies, impeccably kept parks/tea houses, expat cafes, and absolutely excellent weather. After a few days there, I ventured up to Dali and Lijiang – two ancient cities in the mountains:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dali_City,_Yunnan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_of_Lijiang

I hit a bit of a wall in these two places – I was ready to get back home and meditate, play drums, and write – the routine I had in India. But I figured I was over there, I should make the most of it. All this said, I did appreciate the natural beauty which surrounds these two cities. Yunnan is a very rugged and mountainous region – known for the ethnic minorities that live there. Dali is positioned on the side of a mountain (good for protection) and next to a lake (water indicates luck and prosperity) – both supposedly very good feng shui. And Lijiang is similarly idyllically situated.

The two cities also happen to be almost completely overrun with Chinese tourists and shops. Are the Chinese especially prone to what one might call the “Epcot-ization” of their own culture? – because now people have money, people want to see stuff, and people want to make money off of people seeing stuff? Consequently, are Dali and Lijiang almost “too Chinese”?

There are myriad reasons for this: per capita incomes increasing, China's huge population, and the fact that it is oftentimes difficult for Chinese people to get visas to travel abroad – all contribute to making China the largest domestic tourism market in the world. Is this another example of Chinese upheaval? Is allowing things to fall into disrepair or be destroyed (like in the Cultural Revolution) and then rebuilding them for tourists uniquely Chinese? Would it have been a whole heck of a lot easier to have not torn them down in the first place? Is it only a matter of time until the Chinese start traveling elsewhere? Are entrance fees what get you in China because everyone wants to see everything right now?

After Lijiang, I made my way by bus up to Lugu Hu (hu is lake in Chinese) on the Yunnan-Sichuan border. It's a beautiful place (the lake is shaped like a heart) and appropriately enough, I was making my way there with a group of young Chinese couples – everyone gasped as we caught our first glimpse of the lake. Seeing the Chinese discover their own country is part of what I enjoy most about travel in China.

Definitely check out the pics. From there it was on to Xichang via a very curvy road and finally Emei Shan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emei_Shan

Emei Shan was probably the highlight of my trip – in many ways it represented both an outward journey and an inward journey (you may recall me discussing this in the Nepal blog post). Outward because of the 100km hike I did and inward because I got to think and meditate quite a bit on the mountain – there are Buddhist monasteries all along the way. Many of the Chinese I spoke with intimated that Emei Shan had special powers. It is a mystical place – almost like a cloud forest and I was fortunate enough to see it in fog (Day 1), rain (Day 2), and sun (Day 3). I would recommend doing the three-day trek to maximize your chances of seeing the mountain's many moods.

Fecundity is a word I would ascribe to it – so moist and such a diversity of flora – flowers in bloom, deciduous trees, ferns, bromeliads, and lichens. And while the fog was dense at times, it was often possible to see the mountains, streams, and gorges looming in the distance. It reminded me a bit of a hike I once took in Big Sur – you focused on what was immediately around you. The gray weather was starting to wear on me the second day when I arrived at the Elephant Bathing Pool (highly recommend staying here – nice views + friendly monks, good food, and clean accommodation). And just as I started to accept the fog, it actually started to lift – I enjoyed the light fading and then went to meditate to the sounds of monks chanting and light rain – very pleasant and atmospheric. I stopped at all the temples – it only takes a couple of minutes and adds to the experience of it all. And so many cool animals – pheasants, insects, spiders, butterflies, and caterpillars alike.

If you are open and listening, do people and places tell you what you need to know? Is trekking really about walking? Are people too concerned about having a peak experience and not enjoying the moment whatever is happening? Are they too concerned with comparing their experience with other people? Is Emei Shan particularly capable of helping/healing you? Should we seek out alternatives to peak experiences? Should all experiences be peak experiences?

Day 3 began with a spectacular sunrise – I could see mountains way in distance and the sun popped out in between two cloud formations – one above, one below. I made my way down the mountain in the sun and shared food with the same cleaning woman I shared food with on the way up – she sat in the same pavilion, wearing the same uniform. If you see her, please do likewise. And when doing the steps, move just one foot at a time – it works.

After Emei Shan, I made my way to Leshan to see the world's biggest Buddha (enjoyed the adjacent Wuyou Temple with its lack of tourists and 5 RMB lunch) and then to Chengdu:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu

Pandas yes, and yet so much more! I sort of think of Chengdu as the Seattle of China – moist (it took my clothes two days to dry) and everybody is lounging around in cafes and tea houses – appropriately enough I saw a Qing Dynasty Starbucks there. It's also huge, hazy, and has lots of tall buildings, construction, and traffic. The club scene in Chengdu is completely over the top and totally decadent. I was invited to one club by a “recruiter” at the hostel – he goes by Kid Panda. The club provides free drinks to foreigners (fake Chivas Regal with tea – it tastes better than it sounds) because foreigners bring in more Chinese (it's a bit of a status thing for Chinese to rub elbows with foreigners) and the foreigners are more likely to dance and get the Chinese dancing. The Chinese patrons treated the DJ more like a band – waving light sticks and balloons in unison. There were several performances – one by an all-male hip hop dance troupe and then two different all-female dance trios decked out in bikinis – one trio was Chinese, the other Russian (again the foreign fetish). And yes, all the women were exceptionally attractive.

The rest of my stay in Chengdu was significantly more chilled out: pandas, parks (no one can touch the Chinese for making use of parks though they should get better sound systems), the Sichuan Museum and Qianlong Temple (both worth a look), water shows (don't go expecting the Bellagio and you'll be alright), spicy food, and of course tea houses. I didn't have my ears cleaned out by the dudes selling the service on the street – you still got earwax on that thing?! I did however watch Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2 while I was in Chengdu – the latter in 3D at the theater (it had just come out). Isn't this a once in a lifetime op – a panda movie in Chengdu? Are there no accidents? Does a man sometimes find his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it? Must we believe? Must we find our inner peace and choose what we want to be? Do the Chinese lump all western art together – are they not as concerned with genre distinctions? Is hip hop, metal, and country sort of all the same to them – American music? Do Americans do likewise?

After Chengdu, I made my way to Xi'an, the capital of China on and off for approximately 2,000 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi%!a(MISSING)n

Did you know that the Qin Dynasty unified the language and the land and that the Tang Dynasty unified the culture? And did you know that the Qin Dynasty, and specifically Qin Shi Huang, were responsible for the terracotta warriors? This was another highlight of the trip:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_warriors

The main things that struck me when I visited were a. the vastness of the site/excavations, b. how many people were involved/killed to complete the tomb, and c. the fact that each warrior is completely unique and approximately 2,200 years old. I think it's important to remind yourself of these facts when you visit. Did you know that it's going to take them another 50-60 years to excavate the whole thing? Fascinating.

I did not like Xi'an as much as Chengdu but it still has some cool stuff to do – definitely check out the Muslim area (interesting seeing all the taqiyahs and hijabs), the Mosque (Arabic script + Chinese architecture = utter awesomeness), the Beilin Museum (could really see the progression through the various dynasties), and you have to take a bike ride on the city wall. The skyscrapers in Xi'an are mostly outside the city walls. Here's a statistic I'd be interested in – how many cranes are actively being used in China at any given time? A street vendor in Xi'an wanted to charge me 10 RMB to take a picture of a “Maobama” t-shirt. Were these people really communist just 30 years ago? I mean, really?

My trip was nearing its end after Xi'an and I wanted to go somewhere where I could relax for about a week before heading to Shanghai. I decided to visit the karst peaks of the Guangxi region in southeastern China:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Li

I almost went there in 2009 and I figured I'd better seize the opportunity this time. I arrived in Guilin – a lovely city with a nice promenade along the river – complete with parks and lakes. And the weather is very much like a lot of the rest of Southeast Asia – muggy. I took the river cruise down to Yangshuo – the scenery is striking – the beautifully lush peaks and rice fields contrasting with the blue sky and clouds. Are Yangshuo river cruises a shady business? Is it necessarily a good sign when your boat stops upstream from river cops?

The rest of my time in Yangshuo was pretty relaxed – a combo of hanging out and reading, bike rides through the countryside, watching movies like The King's Speech, Toy Story 3, and Knocked Up, and playing beer pong with girls from West Virginia. Do chance events lead to particular conclusions? And does karma win out in the end?

While you contemplate that, let me say that I then made my way to Shanghai. Shanghai has the distinction of being the only city that I visited on both my 2009 around-the-world trip and on my 2011 around-the-world trip. In 2009, I went from east to west and in 2011 from west to east – Beijing was the first stop in February of 2009 and Shanghai the last in June 2011. Is China not a very appropriate set of bookends for my travels?

The last time I visited China, it was kind of like a honeymoon. I enjoyed it this time but it was periodically difficult for a variety of reasons. I was going for depth (as opposed to breadth) on this trip and when we go deep, don't we get a fuller picture of what a place is like – realizing both the good and bad things about it? By the way, if we have a preference for a certain country, is it because we haven't looked closely enough to see the bad things? And vice versa for places we don't like? Do preferences fade away once we more fully understand places?

Travel fatigue and language difficulties made for some frustration. I think not speaking Chinese may be the biggest obstacle to travel in China – this is changing but slowly. I tried to learn as much as I could while I was there. Another difficulty in China is the censorship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Firewall_of_China

Did you know that unless you have a proxy, you can't access Facebook, Youtube, or Twitter in China? And don't even think about looking up or talking about the three “T's” – Taiwan, Tibet, and Tiananmen Square. And while one can usually access Google, it (along with a lot of other stuff on the internet) is oftentimes exceptionally slow. Is this due to monitoring by the authorities? Has the speed gotten worse since the Arab Spring? Is China going to blaze the path through the 21st Century with slowass internet?

I actually decided that I wasn't going to do my blog from China because of the monitoring. Perhaps a bit paranoid but I figured I would be back in the U.S. soon enough and could write it from there. Does it seem like China is going in two completely different directions at the same time? – market freedom increasing and personal freedom decreasing? China has a history of great inventions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Inventions

Can China continue to invent great things without free markets and the free exchange of ideas? Are the Chinese copying things like the Roman Empire did? Is China almost always inward looking? Is this the first time in history that China really must start actively engaging the world outside its borders?

In China Road, Rob Gifford discusses the reasons behind China's authoritarian government – it's partially philosophical (i.e. - Confucius), partially political (authoritarian rule holding China together), and partially social (the Tang Dynasty eliminating aristocratic power). And just as there are Four Great Inventions, there are the Four Modernizations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Modernizations

And of course the Fifth Modernization, as proposed by Wei Jingsheng, is democracy. Sun Yat-sen said government should transition to democracy after the country stabilized – is China now stable enough for this transition? Yes, China has democracy at a local level but most people I spoke to didn't seem to kid themselves into thinking that this necessarily empowered them. And a lot of people are not dead set on democracy but would like to see greater transparency and freedom. Take Han Han for instance:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/04/110704fa_fact_osnos

Is China's government in danger of giving up the whole show if they don't provide more freedom for the people.....like the prohibitionists or the southern slave states unwilling to compromise? China has only taken one real shot at democracy – an aborted attempt in 1912. Is democracy, freedom, and openness like anything else – do you have to work at it? The U.S. didn't have perfect democracy or freedom in 1789 – is it ever-evolving? Is it ironic that the people benefiting least from this new "openness" are the peasants – the people that communism was supposed to help? Are they now the most likely group to rebel? Could the outcome be bloody and if so, will it mostly be Chinese killing other Chinese?

As I mentioned, I read Jonathan Spence's definitive history, The Search for Modern China – a truly excellent book. In my mind, the saddest thing about Chinese history is that with a few notable exceptions (the Opium Wars and the Japanese in World War II being obvious examples), they've mostly been killing each other. When will this Chinese on Chinese violence end?

Is the biggest challenge to both India and China, where history looms so large, to know which traditions to keep and which to jettison? – in India's case, the caste system and religious/gender discrimination. In China's case – thousands of years of authoritarian/secretive government and killing one another. Are some traditions worth keeping – like Taoist and Buddhist philosophy, Ahimsa, and their artistic endeavors? In the U.S., do we have the exact opposite problem - our greatest challenge is establishing traditions?

And does the Chinese respect for authority even filter down into its education system? Does there need to be more questioning of the teacher and less rote learning? Consider this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Higher_Education_Entrance_Examination

From what I understand, this is the only thing that universities look at when considering applicants. Is giving students a single test to determine which college they go to a good way of encouraging independent thought? Enter the Tiger Mom:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html

Is this approach good at producing kids good in math and music but maybe not as good at thinking for themselves? Even though India is a relatively conservative and very old society, is it more likely than China to innovate because it's had more contact/experiences with foreigners? I saw more of the similarities between the U.S. and China when I first arrived and more of the differences as time went on. It was the opposite in India. Is this again what happens when we go deep? Eventually do both the differences and the similarities become equally apparent?

I don't know the answers to these questions. There were times when I got the impression that China was going to be the leader in this century – Maglev trains going up to 430km/hr, huge skyscrapers and all. And of course there are the people that are still in the countryside living off the land and those in the cities that are slaving away in factory jobs. But if we zoom out a little, can we get a different perspective? Should we even think about these things – rise and decline and rise again? Aren't we all human? Highly recommend this article by Adam Gopnik:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/09/12/110912fa_fact_gopnik

Are science, the arts, reason, ethics, and justice what we should be concerning ourselves with? Will there not be a day in the future when people will look back and be astounded that we lived in a world with religions, nations, money, war, and environmental degradation? How far away is this day?

Despite the occasional language problems, I found the Chinese people I met to be exceptionally helpful, friendly, and more often than not, very polite. There were at least two occasions when I had ten or more people (yes, ten!) trying to assist me when I was lost. By the way, stick with the car dealerships – Volkswagen will yield better results than the Seven Dragons Hotel. What certain Chinese people may lack in English skills, they make up for in attentiveness, curiosity or both. A guy at the Volkswagen dealership actually gave me a ride once his English-speaking friend on the phone figured out where I wanted to go.

And I did meet a bunch of Chinese/Taiwanese people that spoke English very well – for instance, William in Dali, Alex in Emei, and Sabrina in Shanghai. I even got to see Alex here in Oakland – he's going to high school in Fremont. Perhaps the coolest thing about travel in China is all the amazing, friendly, and interesting people you meet.

So I'd like to shift gears somewhat and discuss several of the conversations I had about the differences between the Chinese and Americans. Here are a few questions for you – are the Chinese subjectively ethical and people from Europe and the United States objectively ethical? Are the Chinese more likely to base ethics on how well they know someone? An important word in Chinese is guanxi – connections. One young American I met (he actually spoke Chinese very well) said that studying the language hadn't given him much insight into Chinese culture – was he not paying enough attention?

In a previous post, I asked if Buddha was not the most quintessentially Indian thing that India has ever produced. Is the Chinese language not the most quintessentially Chinese thing that China has ever produced? In a language that has set characters – where there is no tense, no plural, and no subject-verb agreement – and in a country where things change so fast – who's in power, who they are railing against, etc. – does not context become paramount? Do words like “tomorrow” and “three” take on even more importance? Are not all of China's various dialects united by the writing system? Are the immutable characters analogous to China's long history and Confucian ideals? And the fluid context comparable to China's ever-changing political and social environment and Taoist ideals? No other place I've visited has given me such a sense of this bifurcation. Is it analogous to the General Theory of Relativity (order) and quantum mechanics (chaos)? Isn't it entirely appropriate that the idea of yin and yang originated in China and not elsewhere? Are yin and yang not manifested in every facet of Chinese life? Once we start to understand this concept, will we not start to understand China as a whole?

The first book I saw upon returning to the U.S. was one about President Obama's birth certificate. I started laughing at the lameness of it and yet I fully appreciate our right to say stuff here – however asinine it may be. Has the problem in the United States been that people routinely put too much trust in the market? And in China that people have put too much trust in the government/authority figures?

I also appreciate all that we have in the United States. According to the Mayan calendar, 2012 is a turning over, a beginning. Of course, I'd still like to visit Tanzania, Russia, Brazil, New Zealand, and even southern Utah and Yellowstone but two weeks to a month is probably more what I'm thinking these days. I feel like my travel has been an invaluable experience – one that has greatly informed the way I lead my life. I've seen some cool places, met some awesome people, and feel prepared to do something tangible with what I've learned – to be of service. I still have to figure out what that is but I have some ideas – perhaps staying in the non-profit sector and doing something more environmental or service-oriented. Or something involving web development or writing/content generation. Or maybe something educational – especially as it relates to music. My time in India enhanced the way I approach music – please see my blog entry on Kolkata .

Perhaps my problem up to this point has been that I had too much of my ego in my various endeavors – musical and otherwise. I think I've had the right drive but perhaps the wrong reasons for doing what I was doing. Do we not all go through phases of hurting ourselves and others? Does personal growth take time – sometimes more time than we expect? Should we have high humility and high drive? Should we take risks, not judge other generations, and/or not try to change people? Is all of life a work in progress?

So I'd like to end this section with a story about music as it's what I know best. At my work's holiday party this year, one of my co-workers did a completely bonkers and spot-on karaoke performance of Bohemian Rhapsody. I was inspired to do a little research about Queen and came across this:

Many critics and fans consider this to be one of the single best live performances by any band ever. It's difficult to argue with that – I'd encourage you to check out the entire set – the song selection, the order of the songs, the way the set builds to a climax. Perhaps the single most striking thing to me is Queen's, and especially, Freddie Mercury's selflessness. As the set progresses, doesn't one get the impression that this isn't about him or you or me but about everybody – that the message is universal? Should we be selfless in our actions? Art thou that? Aren't quality and truth the same? Is there a middle ground between rationality and romanticism? Are we sometimes so caught up in our own situation and identity, that we don't realize there's a whole other world out there? Did the illusion of self serve us well until the advent of agriculture? Did evolution give us the ability to shape our world and think beyond the present moment? Do we now often betray the present moment? Is it now time to get some of that present moment back?

So with that, I would like to move onto the random thoughts section – yes!

Random Thoughts:

1. Do people in the U.S. travel predominantly in the United States because we get relatively little vacation and we're relatively isolated from other countries? In China, does relative isolation also play a part? Did the Chinese overreact to foreigners trying to "slice them up like a melon" in the 19th Century? Did the Chinese have to get their own stuff together before they felt comfortable inviting others back in?
2. Have you forgiven the September 11th hijackers? Have you forgiven George W. Bush? Have you forgiven yourself?
3. Do people really listen to what you need? Do some people give you advice based on what they would do? Do I really need a two-year immersion course when I just want to know the price of something?
4. Many Chinese eat at the same times as many Americans – 12 noon and 6pm.
5. Did you know that Taiwanese is related to the Fujian dialect? Or that Taiwan nationals need two documents to go to China? – their China I.D. card (which China recognizes) and their Taiwan passport (which they need to get back into Taiwan)?
6. Did you know that Bermuda has one of the highest per capita GDP's in the world? – thanks to it being a tax haven and a tourist destination. It also lies on an extinct volcano that sits along the mid-Atlantic Ridge.
7. Do most Israelis travel in groups? If so, why is this?
8. Are certain expats prone to complaining about the Chinese even after having lived there for ten years or more? Do they stay because of the money/status they enjoy? Should they shut up or leave?
9. Are certain Chinese people obsessed with turning everything into a tourist attraction?.....like Po's dad with the noodle joint in Kung Fu Panda 2?
10. North of the Yellow River, can most people understand the other North-of-the-Yellow-River dialects?
11. China doesn't allow dual citizenship.
12. Are Chinese cities the ones benefiting from capitalism? Are rural areas still suffering?
13. Do Hiragana and Katakana (Japanese phonetic alphabets) help with learning? Should mainland China adopt such a system?
14. Did you know that the German constitution doesn't allow the government to control the media? T.V. is funded by a tax on T.V.'s.
15. Did you know that pandas are “living fossils” that diverged from other bears millions of years ago? Or that reproduction for pandas is difficult? The male has a short penis and the female a long vagina + they don't get together often. Is panda sex a bit like Luke Skywalker's shot on the Death Star? And what about lightning bugs? Did you know that females of certain lightning bug species sometimes mimic the mating flashes of other species? Instead of getting busy, our unsuspecting male victim is summarily devoured. Do women view previous sexual encounters as “getting duped” and men as “doing the duping”? Are these roles completely reversed with lightning bugs?
16. Should people start focusing on first-wave Axial Thought (starting around 600 B.C.) – original Buddhist philosophy, the Tao Te Ching, Confucian philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy – and not second-wave Axial Thought (around the beginning of the Common Era) – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mahayana Buddhism? Is the latter too caught up in power structures to be all that helpful in our present situation? What is the U.S.'s place in the 21st Century? like England – less influential politically and economically but more so culturally and artistically? Are the largely secular Chinese going to take over while the Jews, Christians, and Muslims duke it out over petty religious differences?
17. I saw a fist fight break out at the Teddy Bear Hostel in Emei Shan.
18. Did you know that the Yao people are matriarchal? Or that the Yao have traditionally been hunters and corn farmers in Guangxi, Yunnan, Myanmar, and Vietnam? Which nationalities visit Hainan Island, “China's Hawaii”, the most? – 1. Chinese, 2. Russians (because they don't need a visa to visit), and 3. other foreigners. The government may make Hainan a visa-free zone for other nationalities as well. Did you know that I learned most all of this while talking to bartenders in Yangshuo?
19. If Indians are the Italians of Asia, does that mean that the Chinese are the Germans? Is there a certain amount of organization that both the Germans and the Chinese require? Are not both countries interwoven into the fabric of their respective continents? Don't both countries have an incredible (some might argue supreme) aesthetic sensibility? And haven't both the Chinese and the Germans been known to take things too far from time to time?
20. Is China's government biting the hand that feeds it by dissing the U.S.?
21. Do the English try to make every animal sound cute, even ones that are inherently not? Yes, woolies (sheep) but also mozzies (mosquitoes) and creepy crawlies (bugs).
22. Is English a victim of its own success? Is it not only the most widely spoken language but also the one most likely to be mangled to a point where it doesn't resemble itself?
23. Why is travel in Africa more expensive than travel in Asia? Importing more food? Less infrastructure? A lower standard of living? Less competition? Or all or none of the above?
24. The NBA is popular in China.
25. Do certain people hold contempt for any place whose history does not date back 3,000 years?
26. Was the Korean War the most senseless and stupid war in a century full of stupid and senseless wars? – resulting in 1,000,000 deaths, essentially no exchange of territory, McCarthyism, China deporting foreigners, elimination of the possibility of democracy in China, and a hardening of U.S.-China relations (made absorption of Taiwan into China very unlikely – the U.S. was not planning on intervening on behalf of Taiwan before the war).
27. Is fiction more true because you can say things you otherwise wouldn't?
28. Are a lot of Cantonese in the U.S. because of the Hong Kong connection?
29. Is China's government being more careful about whom they allow in the country and whom they allow to teach?
30. Is American country music popular in China because it uses pentatonic melodies – similar to those in traditional Chinese music?
31. Do Americans like places that have rustic charm?
32. Is it easier for American/European men to date Asian women than for American/European women to date Asian men? If so, why?
33. Did you know that Air China's hub is Beijing? China Eastern's, Shanghai? Or China Southern's, Guangzhou?
34. Could the Three Gorges Dam have happened in a democracy? Is China today closer to Chiang Kai Shek's idea of what China should be or to Mao's?
35. Which Dick Cheney claim is more dubious – that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction or that American intervention in Iraq was the cause of the Arab Spring?
36. Are there more Americans in China because it's relatively easy to reach and travel in (infrastructure, etc.)? China has 10 times as many foreign visitors as India. Are Americans attracted to infrastructure?
37. Should the U.S. support democracy unequivocally even if U.S. leaders don't like the outcome? When the U.S. government hasn't supported democracy, has it come back to haunt the country? – Vietnam and Iran being the most obvious examples.
38. If India attracts “lifestyle” travelers, and Southeast Asia young travelers, and the Middle East all comers, does China attract intellectuals? Or at least people who like to think of themselves as intellectuals?
39. Would most people say that life in China is better now? Is this going to be China's century, India's century, the developing economies' century or the world's century? China is far ahead of India in the infrastructure department but is India perhaps less likely to get derailed in the process? Has democracy allowed for a slower and steadier course? Has history demonstrated that one person in China can mess up the whole thing? Is China's government sinister whereas India's is corrupt and incompetent? And how would things change if India were to reunite with Bangladesh and Pakistan? This may seemed far-fetched given the political and religious differences but is it possible that India's red-hot economy could act as a catalyst for such a reunion?
40. The Chinese used vertical script until 1919 and now write left to right.
41. Are Chinese people mostly just into taking pictures of places?
42. Shanghai has the longest metro in world.
43. Visit Wangshi Yuan, my favorite garden in Suzhou.
44. Is news coverage in China even worse than in the U.S.?
45. Do we sometimes expect that a single pipe over a squat toilet will be the world's worst shower? Are we surprised when it's not? Do we just need to make sure we step on the sides and not in the center?
46. Were the ancient Greeks more focused on making city states and penning heroic tales because their climate and environment were chaotic? Were the Chinese more about creating bureaucracy and describing process because they benefited from a stable government and climate?
47. Did post-war Germany and Japan grow so fast because they started entirely from scratch?
48. Does any English language book capture life in China better than The Good Earth? Is Wang Lung's journey from poverty to riches timeless?
49. Do people routinely want to blame someone else for their problems? Is Johannes Mehserle an easy target? Was Steve Jobs an easy hero? Should we forgive? Do we take hagiography too far? Why haven't Occupy Wall Street or the Tea Party gained much traction beyond their core demographic?
50. Are Twin Peaks and The Wire the most quintessentially American T.V. shows ever? Are they not two sides of the same coin? One the story of a White America – a suburban world where everyone should be happy but isn't and trouble lurks just beneath the surface. The other the story of a Black America – an urban world where trouble and despair are everywhere and yet some people still try to grope their way to happiness. Are Dale Cooper and Jimmy McNulty more similar than most people think? When will we finally enjoy a similarly well-done show about Hispanic or Asian America? And when will the divisions between all these worlds disappear? Should we combine two or more worlds to come up with something that is completely innovative, original, and unique?

So thank you all for tuning in. Until next time, take care, enjoy the journey, and all the best!

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