a catastrophe

---

while i write this, i am extremely upset. today, i went with yellen and jill to watch my big chinese television debut, all prepared to face mobs of fans and piles of fan mail. we go into the room as excited as can be and sit down to watch BTV 1 on the big screen in one of the classrooms. we wait through twenty minutes of chinese television, which by the way is the worst programming in the world, and then hear the word jing shan from the mouth of the broadcaster, anxiously awaiting our segment. so they go through the thing about how we communicated with this hong kong school and the camera pans the crowd in the room, giving all of the people in our group some face time. then, after a couple of minutes, they show some clips from interviews, starting with a jing shan student. then, they go on to one of the asministrators at the school. so, i assume that i am next. yeah, i was wrong. they never showed me speaking in english or chinese and my face was on the screen for maybe 4 seconds total from when they panned the crowd. all of the people of my posse (all two: jill and yellen) were very disappointed and joined in when i started yelling insults at BTV 1. we have decided to boycot the station, although none of us really watched it in the first place. whatever, at least we won't be talking about its greatness any more. so now i have to go back to my normal life as a common person without the life of fame and fortune. oh well....

because i am writing anyway, i might as well talk about sunday. i went with my host girl to some old street that's kind of famous in beijing. it is the home of the first movie theater in china and also tong ren tang, the most famous medicine shop in china. the architecture was beautiful and it was cool to see a street so obviously full of history. unfortunately, to improve the look of beijing for the 2008 olympics, the government is planning on knocking down the entire street and building more high rises. it seems that they are destroying all that symbolizes the old, historic beijing and replacing it with western style buildings and fast food chains. the demolition had already begun on the street and i hated to see it happening.

well yeah beijing is awesome and i'm loving everything other than the cruel television station people.

talk to everybody soon.
maggie

---

Photos

disappointment
after the segment ended without me

calligraphy, anyone?
wall of paintbrushes for sale

da zha lan street
notice the demolition

tong ren tang
most famous medicine shop in china

Comments

[anonymous]

that stupid
HOLY CRAP! that's SO stupid! The chinese government have no idea what they are doing.

[Zhaonan]

I went to JingShan!!
Hey, I googled randomly online about travelling in Beijing, and got to this blog site... saw you picture and immediately recognized your school uniform!! haha I am from BJ, and went to JingShan from 6 to 17 year old!!!! Then, I left and came to the states, now i am working in chicago. i am sorry about your television thing... BTV 1 and many other television stations in china have their own purpose of showing news, mostly politically influenced.....I am not saying it is bad, but it might NOT show the most exciting part because of their priorities are different than western TV stations~~~~ I am glad you are enjoying your stay there. Are you in middle school? or high school? OMG, I miss JingShan sooo much!!!! Maybe you now sit in a classroom I used to sit in.. :P All the best to you and your freinds!! [e-mail] is my msn. :)