It May be the Olympics, but its Still China

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Hey Folks,

This has been the week of all weeks. I've done a lot and think its all really worth writing, so I'll try to keep things brief.

On friday after class some friends and I decided to go to Beijing's underground city museum. During the sixties, Mao Zedong felt that building an intricate system of tunnels under Beijing would be a fabulous idea. Not only was he afraid of nuclear attack from the Russians at that time, but he also thought that the future would not be on the sea or in space, but underground. Consequently, today the system could hold 300,00 people and runs from Tian'anmen Square to the Airport, Great Wall, and many other (albeit undisclosed) locations.

From here, we ate lunch at a tiny hole-in-the-wall (while being constantly stared at) and then went for a walk in the nearby Hutongs. I don't know if I've described these before. These are the one story dwellings that one expects to see when arriving in China. They all face one direction, for the best Feng Shui, and none are taller than one story, because at the time that they were built, it was ilegal to build a structure taller than the nearby palace. With China's current development craze, many of these Hutong neighborhoods are at risk, and this was no excetption. Walking through the narror alleys gave one the feeling that either the area was as relaxed as it might have been 1,000 years ago, or that the people had already given up, and were simply waiting for the wrecking balls. The local residents we talked to all told us that they were going to have to find new places to live soon. It was a sad, though eye opening visit. It culminated not only with playing with some little children in a construction site, and then sitting inside one and having a conversation with an actual family. The father of that household was an online stock broker with a penchant for distance cycling and a distaste for the government. Not what we were expecting, but hey, this is China.

On that note, the next day my friend and I decided we might take a gander at the Olympic buildings I mentioned last week. So we tucked our flannel shirts into our jeans, donned hiking boots and put on airs that we were Western consultants, and should be allowed to go where we pleased. Well, between a luckily timed song and dance show for the workers and it being lunch time, there were simply very few people on the actual construction sights, and even fewer with the wherewithall to stop us. It seemd our little ruse worked. I have now seen the Bird's Nest from inside and out. We walked along the incomplete track, and hiked up the bleechers. While the stadium may be an eyesore from the outside, it looks very cool from within. The "Water Cube" and "Giant Micro Chip" are also very impressive buildings. After having my way inside this construction site, I've now decided that while security may be lax, this venue is going to look fabulous. Well done China.

The weather is getting wonderful here and so are my activities. This week is May Festival, and my school has given us four days off. They also gave each person a modest travel stipend, and told us to do as we please, so long as we can produce receipts. So a friend of mine and I are doing a bike ride for charity. We found an impressive orphanage called China Orphans in the town of Langfeng, about 100 kilometers from here. We are going to bike there and donate the bulk of our travel stipend to them. Its not much, but it is right up my alley.

Until next time folks,
Carl Beien

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