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Published: March 27th 2010
Vermont comes to Beijing
This was a public lecture that we were giving and was posted at the main elevators leading up to the classrooms! We arrived in Guangzhou on the 13th and, heading down the stairway from the aircraft, it took about a nanosecond for the embodied sensations of Guangzhou, imprinted after these extended visits, to come flooding back. The air was soupy with moisture and unmentionables, so much so, that as I was engaged in my usual task of guiding the pilot down onto the runway, I was surprised by the bump of the wheels, the tarmac obscured in the haze. Over the next few hours the smells of Guangzhou (Chinese medicinal teas and garlic), the sounds of angry automobile horns, and the humid blanket of air enveloping the skin served as our homecoming. Not explicitly pleasant, but comforting and familiar the way an encounter with an old Procol Harum album might be.
Ellen, for one, is greatly relieved to be here. She found Beijing a little bit too high and mighty, too put together, and is enamored of the scruffy, “I Hear China Working”, affect of this South China economic engine. But GZ cannot escape the relentless upward mobility of China and as it prepares for the Asia Games, to be hosted this November, signs of cleanup and civic improvements abound. One
Baby you can drive my car!
He Gao Chao, our host, colleague and friend took delivery of a new car last week, one of 30,000 cars to enter China's roads that day! We went out for a "spin"'; I was managing the GPS while Gao Chao was making the best of the crazy Guangzhou traffic. It took several days for my jaw to unclench. of the most striking areas of development is in transportation. Two new high speed rail lines connect GZ to the rest of China, traveling 180 mph. Subway lines cover 150 km and carry over 2 million passengers a day, and plans exist for a two fold expansion of the service. Another important transportation development is the establishment of Rapid Transit bus lanes; I was visiting a part of town earlier this week (my computer is in the hospital, don’t ask) and saw that four lanes of this major thoroughfare had been given over to exclusive bus lanes and platforms for passengers. At the same time, new segregated bicycle lanes were established. Altogether it demonstrates a potent model for integrated urban transportation.
This activity also underscores some of the confusion foreigners experience when thinking about China. All this effort to clean up Guangzhou, pave the streets, fix the shabby exteriors, keep the rubbish picked up, shows the Chinese desire to show the world (or at least the Asian part of it that will be attending these games) that China has arrived, that it can play in the big leagues. This all demonstrates Chinese sensitivity to world opinion and how China’s
The changing heads of China
Most of the women cover their gray and more and more young women are hennaing or whatever, but the dyed hair young men are an increasing sight, especially in the hair dressing salons. worldwide image On the other hand, there is fierce push back when “foreign values” (democracy most prominently) are held up as a measure of Chinese failure to meet the "World City" standards.
I began my first class on the 16th; this year I will be teaching 7 weeks of Medical Sociology and Medical Social Work. In this first class I was surprised to hear their belief that one of the reasons that sleeping late was bad for you was because it caused acne! It recalled our 1960’s shibboleth of chocolate and acne, which may have served the same parental control issues ( if the kids do it and we disapprove, let’s connect it to something they care about) that sleeping late does for Chinese parents today.
Earlier this week I was reviewing some materials at the social work office and met one of the new doctorate students. She is researching the status of the disabled in China and I was reminded of an assignment I gave to a class a few years ago. I asked that they walk around campus and document what it would be like for a student using a wheelchair to attend classes. Their immediate
I will get back to you on that
A new meaning to "love is blind". Phone etiquette is evolved, phones are answered anytime, anyplace and when not talking there is lots of texting. It is all aided by the fact the phone reception is ubiquitous, elevators, subways, you name it response, before touching on the obvious impediment of ground floor classrooms that required climbing dozens of steps (a bit of a Moibus strip of sorts accomplishes this), was to remark that students using wheelchairs were ineligible for admission! This was reiterated in my recent conversation and my interlocutor went on to point out the absence of compassion in China. She attributed this to a lack of a religious tradition. I pressed her on this, commenting that Buddhism was important at one time in China and its emphasis on the eight fold path is in some ways a restating of the Golden Rule. She dismissed this with a wave of her hand, repeating what we have been told in the past, that Buddhism lives on only in the hearts of ritualized Grandmas who light incense and genuflect in front of the representations of one Buddha or another or in businessmen who are asking the Buddha to make them rich!
At the end of last week, I paid a visit to a special education school, accompanied by colleagues from the Qi Chuang (social work community center), an NGO established here in Guangzhou to provide needed social services in the community. We
I LOVE the crazy mouse!
Mickey looms large in the minds of young (and not so young) Chinese females. There are entire stores dedicated to apparel emblazoned with his visage, mostly used without permission of Uncle Walt were there planning some training; it was a well equipped school, they were familiar with contemporary practices and had even instituted an IEP (individual education program) with the assistance of a Taiwanese educator. One big surprise was the use of Fur Elise to announce the end of the work day, saturating the area of the open hallway school.
Yesterday I received some assistance from a student to conduct some bank business, not an experience that lightens ones heart. While we were waiting our turn we had some time to exchange ideas. She is very bright, articulate in English and headed to the US to complete her undergraduate education. She was expressing frustration at the politics here, stating her puzzlement and resentment that the government did not think they were capable of receiving and analyzing information from all points of view. There is some inherent conflict between providing access to higher education while limiting the applications that can be made of it. Something has to give!
“This is a system with very substantial domestic imperfections,” Mr. Lieberthal said. “And the view from afar that this is simply an unstoppable juggernaut — that they have found the keys to the
And through these gates...
Ellen and I have finally made it to a gated community. The complex we are in is certainly upscale by Chinese standards, and accommodates us quite well magic kingdom — is not correct. China’s leaders understand this as well as anyone.” NY Times March 24, 2010
This sums up some of what unbiased “China hands” come to realize, the inherent contradictions in trying to build a modern society, with access to much that the world has to offer, while denying people the right to respect and self-respect. Democracy is a many hued concept, and those of us who are US-based should recall that 60 years after the establishment of the nation voting was highly restricted, slavery was widespread, and many more subtle repressions reigned. Rather than make strident calls for democracy (what flavor, US?, Singapore?, Sweden?) the challenge should call for transparency, accountability, and equality before the law. These are all in short supply here and as the years go by the chances increase for some sort of dramatic upheaval rather that a peaceful transition.
Educated people are well aware of the shortcomings; last evening we had dinner with a friend and colleague and she described in some detail the extent of corruption here. Military officers need to give a portion of their salary to their higher ups, in order to assure good reports and
My local shoe repair/mending establishment
My treasured (German made) backpack was getting a bit tattered; ten minutes and $.70 later all was as new, thanks to the dexterity of this couple working in a small roadside establishment. promotions. There are few elements of society that are immune to these practices, some operating closer to the edge of respectability (large administrative “fees”), while others are moored adjacent to Tony Soprano’s boat. It is important to the world that China gets it right and brow beating from the West is sure to inhibit needed change.
There is tremendous resentment among many for the privileges of the rich. In an exercise I conducted in class where I asked students to propose a solution to a social problem, one student stated that there should be the death penalty for drivers who kill pedestrians. There is an apparent dynamic of the wives of officials or businessman, ineptly navigating their BMW’s down the road and mowing down pedestrians. It seems that this has become a symbol for all the pent up anger of those excluded from the business-government elite. Only a few hours later, I experienced he dynamic first hand as a well appointed women in a VERY well-appointed BMW aggressively moved through a pedestrian walkway with barely slowing down.
Last evening Ellen left me to my own devices and had a very successful meeting, dinner and planning session with the
Cantonese like their food fresh
These birds were being sold on the street. Take your pick of the flock and it will be dispatched and dressed for you on demand. head of the local trade union. In China, trade union officials are government officials and can wield considerable formal and informal authority. The two of them have been working together for three years and the relationship continues to bear good results. The next item on their agenda is for Ellen to train ten or twelve social work students to do a short field exercise with the local union. All goes well there, although she was subjected to a high end Cantonese meal, which ranks as one of the worst dining experiences a vegetarian can have in China. Fortunately, they know her dining habits and did not force any of the various body parts onto her plate, although at one point one of the wait staff did fill the void by placing some unmentionable on her plate!
OK, time to put this to sleep, please keep in touch with us, it is always great to hear from all of you (well, not all at once!)
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Carol David
non-member comment
What?
Chocolate doesn't cause acne??