New Videos and Thank You!

Followers and subscribers are slowly trickling into the site and my YouTube, so I want to say "Thank You!" to everyone! I have people coming here from the US, Iraq, Fiji, South Africa, Australia, China, Ecuador, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Italy.......the list goes on. 

I'm so humbled that so many people have come by -- It's amazing, and I absolutely love getting comments and emails from you guys. I've even been recognized in Lanzhou a couple of times by other foreigners --- that's insanity!

My numbers may be low to some, but I'm catering to a small market -- people interested in China, Lanzhou in particular. So, low numbers are okay! I'm just happy when people leave comments. It makes it all worth it!

So, I just want to say THANK YOU!

Well, the next order of business is my new videos! I have been on a vlogging streak lately, and I've made a lot of videos lately -- it's been great!

This first video is about me going to a local park on the north side of the Yellow River. It's called the "Idiom Park" by some because it has different sculptures which come from cultural stories throughout the little park. These cultural stories have lessons and morals, and have evolved into idioms that are used by the Chinese to this day! Check it out! If YouTube is blocked in your country, click here to watch the first video! 

So, let's talk about it!

I've forgotten how much I like to walk and vlog --- it's really great! That way, I can say whatever comes to my mind, and then edit out the stupid stuff or whatever doesn't fit within the "storyline" of the video. It's also a good way for you guys to get a sense of what's around me (or at least behind me).

I love living here for many reasons, but one reason is the depth of culture and tradition that this country has. And one result of that is this little cultural park with statues dedicated to idioms. People going around with their children can (and do, actually) stop and tell their children these stories while they're walking in the park. I actually got to listen to a bit of one, so that was great! It's just something that America doesn't have....or at least not in that same depth.

I said in the video that one of the most important things you have to do in a new culture is just to GET OUTSIDE and LOOK AROUND! It doesn't really matter if you completely understand it or not -- you just have to get out there.

-------------------------------

Now, the second video is about my encounter with prostitution in Xi'an.......some of you guys might know that story --- it's my most-commented post, and also one of the most popular. You can find it here.

Now, this second video might be hard to watch on Youku because of the censoring that happens in China. It's already been taken down once, so I don't know if it'll stay up. If it doesn't work, leave a comment, and I'll put it up again! Anyway, click here if YouTube is blocked in your country. 



 So, yeah --- if that was your first time to hear/read that story, then great! Now you've learned a valuable lesson in preparing for China! If you want to come here, then it's best to be aware of this. Technically, it's illegal, but it's tolerated. Kind of like weed in Jamaica.

I don't really want to say much more on that subject haha I think the video and the former blog post are more than enough!

----------------------------------

In other news, I've made some changes to my YouTube Channel - namely in the form of a couple of playlists, and they'll be updated every now and then.

As time goes on, I keep finding little ways to tweak and update my pages, and it's great! They're subtle changes, but I think they'll make a difference.

----------------------------------

As always, feel free to leave comments and subscribe to the blog or to my YouTube! I'm always interested in what you guys have to say!

Until next time,

Austin Guidry

"Don't Lose Your Sense of Wonder..." and Upcoming Projects

Well, I have run out of things to do today, so I guess I will put up a blog post! It's funny, blogging was so important a few days ago, and I have totally neglected documenting this "just arrived and still adjusting" time.

I spent yesterday and today at Lanzhou University of Technology, my old school, to see old friends and help one of them do a crazy difficult and heavily technical translation for a recruiting presentation. It was so difficult and seemed impossible at times, but together, we did it! I feel pretty accomplished because I was able to translate pretty well in my own right except for some really, really technical things (like different kinds of engineering projects and statistics kind of technical).

Basically, that made me realize that I DON'T want to be written translator. Ever. That's just too tedious, and because of the nature of written vs. spoken language (not just Chinese, any language), it's much harder and it takes the human element out of the equation. No fun.

Besides that, I hung out, had a few meals with, and joked around with my friends who are still left at L.U.T. - they kind of became my family during that time there, and it brings back memories of great times to see them.

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about me waxing nostalgic - you came here to read about me and Lanzhou (or just Lanzhou.). 

I met a couple of American teachers who live next door to me at Lanzhou Jiaotong University, and they are really cool - they're in their early 40s and the wife has spent some time in Kunming and Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. They can't speak much Chinese, so I gave them some advice and said I would help them out anytime they needed. I like them a lot, and I hope we can hang out more.

Campus is still kind of crazy with all the new students - I see people giving tours to groups of 30-50 people at a time and people are clogging the shops to stock their rooms with snacks, water containers, etc.

Living in China is a constant exercise of your patience, your sense of adventure, and your capacity to deal with unfamiliarity. Pretty much how you do everything in China is different from how it's done in America. The public transportation system is the best way to get around, which is new to most Americans, water must be boiled before drinking, walking is just part of life, not an exercise regime, people drink tea instead of coffee and soda, eat rice, noodles and dumplings instead of pot roast, steak, hot dogs, and burgers, and live in apartments instead of suburban houses. It's a whole different way of life.

My dad told me,

"Hey, while you're over there, don't lose your sense of wonder and appreciation at where you are. You have a really unique opportunity, and you need to not lose sight of where you are and where you come from."

That's been rolling around in my head a lot these past few days, and while the wonder is still fresh in my head being sort of "fresh off the plane" for this time, it's my third time to come to China and to Lanzhou. It's more or less daily life, and it's hard to shake your head out of the daily routine and remember where you are. Most days last year, I totally forgot I was living in China - it was just life. Anyway, I'll try to stay conscious of that.

Anyway, I will make a video about all of that soon - I've been a bit busy and distracted to film much stuff. I've got about 2 minutes of raw footage I could spin into a video, but I want to wait until I've got enough for a good video. I want to make good stuff, you know?

I met an American couple online who are in Lanzhou now who said they saw my videos and read my blog about Lanzhou, and they said it gave them a lot of really good information, so I'm very happy about that, and the American couple who live next door to me said they read my blog and watched my videos as well, so it appears that what I'm doing is at least reaching a few people.

I know  that Lanzhou seems like a relatively unimportant place in a world with cities like New York City, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, London, Sydney, and Chicago, but that doesn't mean that it's not a place worth visiting. It's a whole different kind of city, with great people, great food, unique culture, and a long history.

I will be putting together a series of pages/posts about a "Guide to Lanzhou" project, and I'm hoping to get some feedback from my readers and the people I know here as to what they want to see in it. In the future, I'm kind of hoping that my blog will become a significant stopping place for people who want to visit northwest China, and hopefully Lanzhou in particular. It's got it's faults, sure, but I like it just the way it is.

Until next time,

Austin Guidry

2012: The U.S.A. - China Olympics

"International Magical Cooperation," my Harry Potter-quoting sister reminds me while I obsess over the gold medal and overall medal count race of the U.S.A. vs. China.

"Yeah, I know, international relations and stuff.......Ron was wrong in obsessing about 'fraternizing with the enemy' and missed the whole point of the wizarding world's Quidditch World Cup...but seriously, we're beating China!!!! For now..."

    (2012 Olympic Torch - Public Domain photo)
It's strange how The Olympics can bring out such and sudden and fervent outpouring of patriotism. I've been getting up early to watch the U.S.A. women's soccer team play their games, and I've been cheering on our athletes like crazy, and annoying my family in the process, I'm sure.

China's going through the same thing - people all over China are shouting "GO CHINA!!! 加油!! We've GOT to beat America!!"

Everyone's being patriotic and having fun with the Olympics. It's one of those few events that (most) people can put aside their country's politics and just enjoy their team or individual event.

All of the athletes are there for the same reason: they've trained incredibly hard their entire lives and are now at the top of their game and are competing at literally the highest level possible. It's an honor just to qualify.

I don't know about you readers, but I'm still a pretty young guy at 23, so I don't really remember many Olympics. I remember some of the Olympics from 4 years ago in Beijing, but I only watched the opening ceremony and remember it being pretty legit. I wasn't even interested in China at that point - I just remember hearing about this guy Michael Phelps who was supposed to be pretty good.

I don't even remember the 2004 Olympics....where were they?

Anyway, few years later, here I am, and I'm pretty much glued to the action - it's a big deal. There are people from all over the world competing in sports you'd never watch otherwise - it's an opportunity to see something new.

When the spotlight is shined on the different athletes, we hear stories about their lives and their home countries. We heard about the kids from rough neighborhoods who found discipline in sports, the kids chosen at a young age to go to special training camps for years on end, kids who were pushed to excel and were encouraged by their parents and the people who literally do nothing but prepare and help others prepare for these games.

The stories provide interesting glimpses into the different cultures from which they stem, and while some highlight our differences, they all highlight universal truths:

We all want to leave behind a legacy. We want to be remembered. We all want to be great.


Yeah, this is going to be one of those "universality of human existence posts." I mean...I guess it is, I just kind of go and write with my thoughts.

We can't all be Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt or Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan, but we all want to, to a certain extent. We want to be recognized for our skills and for our hard work and we want to be rewarded for it.

While the people who aren't competing are thinking about the implications of China winning the most golds and symbolically overtaking America or America staying on top with the most medals and yada-yada-yada/whatever, the competitors themselves aren't thinking of the political ramifications (except maybe the North Koreans) - they're there to show their hard work and to do their best to represent America or China.

I really wish I could be in China and talk to people about how they feel about the Olympics. I think it'd be a pretty interesting thing to look into, although I can't imagine the sentiments being any different than the sentiments here, but you never know.

But bickering about which country is the best at everything, who has the most medals, and which country takes the moral high ground when it comes to training is not the point of the Olympics, as my sister pointed out - it's "International Magical Cooperation."

About Huan, China (Videos and More)

Today, these videos come from Huan County, Gansu Province. This is the hometown of my best friend, Benjamin Xi.

It is a really great little town nestled in the mountains of southeastern Gansu.

As you can see on this map, it's in that weird little fin that borders Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the southeast of Gansu.

Huan is one of my favorite places because it's one of the places that is pretty much untouched by Western influence, or at least as untouched as it can be. There are no McDonald's, no KFCs, no Pizza Huts, Starbucks, foreign investors, foreign teachers, foreign firms or anything like that. It's a completely Chinese city, and that's cool. Lanzhou is pretty much a Chinese-only city, but the number of foreigners in the city has definitely increased in the past few years. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing - I'm just saying it's a trend. I'm not one to really make that kind of call.

I visited Huan last year as well, and it's still pretty much exactly as I remembered it.  It's still a great place that's way out of the way of most foreigners.

Huan is a very old city, with parts of it dating to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) and before, including this wall.

Amazing, yeah?

 It's crazy, nothing this old stands in America and as someone who studied and has a degree in History, it's beyond amazing to be able to see and touch something that's been around for so long. 

I'm not knocking America for being too young or anything - it just hasn't had the chance to stick around for that long yet.

Seriously though, how cool is that?!

One of the things Huan is famous for is its embroidery, particularly its handmade insoles. It may not be famous abroad, but in China, Gansu is the home of artful embroidery. This photo on the left is an example of it, although not a great one. Unfortunately I am away from the pair I was given by Ben's mom -- it's much more beautiful than this one. This one's only so-so.

The amazing thing about these is that they're totally made by hand. The firm inside is basically extremely hardened dough (that will never cook again), and the outside white cover is handsewn.

Then the fun begins.

It's all done by needle and thread. One needlestick and colored thread at a time. Ben told me that the pair I was given took about 300 hours of solid work. Wow. 300 hours - imagine putting that kind of time and energy into something that you'll walk on and ruin.

I didn't wear mine. They're too beautiful.

I can't wait to go back again - the people of Huan are hard-working, friendly, very hospitable people. The only complaint I have is that their dialect is hard to understand, but maybe that's because I'm just a white boy who can't speak enough Chinese to understand......

---------------

That's about all I have to say about Huan County at the moment - maybe when my friend Benjamin comes to the States, he can write something about his hometown for you guys! Until next time! My comment section is always open for you!

The Cave Homes of Gansu Videos!

Hey, guys!

I finally finished putting together my second video about visiting rural Gansu (赵台，in the country) and staying in a cave home with my friend's relatives. It was a rare opportunity, and I'm really happy that I got to experience it. Hopefully, I'll be able to go back soon!

For those of you who don't know, I visited an area in rural Gansu Province with two of my friends to visit some of their relatives. They live in some of the most beautiful (and remote) countryside I have ever seen. I was blown away by the difference in our lives, and I think about it every day. Please watch these videos. There are embeds from both YouTube and Youku.






This was my original video about going there - I'm sure some of you have already seen it, but I thought I'd put it up again anyway so you guys could watch them in order. As always, it's on Youku and YouTube! Thanks for watching! I'll have more to say on the second video! Scroll down!

 


The second of the two videos is the one that deals with the underlying reality and what I was (and am still) thinking about in regards to the experience. I hope it'll give you something to think about! Please watch them and enjoy them - it's not a huge investment of your time.

Feel free to comment or to subscribe to my blog - it's totally free and no sign-up and I would love to hear from you!

6-23: The Big Bang Theory

"Hey Austin, let's go to the cafeteria and get some beef noodles."

hahaha I finally saw my buddy Ryan the other day - this is his most famous line. He was in a movie that me and my friends made together, and that line interrupts someone else trying to speak to me in broken English. 

We had a lot of laughs about that, and many other things.

One thing that surprised me was that, out of all the things Chinese college students could attach themselves to from the American media, "The Big Bang Theory" seems to be the most prevalent of them.  Me and my buddies literally talked about the Big Bang Theory on and off for hours, because they love it so much and because I love it so much - it has become an international show, apparently.

"Remember when Amy got that painting for Penny?"

"Remember when Leonard proposed to Penny in bed?"

"[Knock knock knock] Penny. [Knock knock knock] Pennny. [Knock knock knock] Penny."

"Did you see the latest one when Howard was about to go into space?"

"Was that REALLY Stephen Hawking in that episode?"

Hahaha it was really funny, and an unexpected pleasure!

"The Big Bang Theory" aside, we all had a lot of laughs. Me and my buddies went to Lanzhou University of Technology's West Campus to meet up with people, play some pool, get some bubble tea, check out the new 3D movie theater on campus. Yes. 3D movies. On Campus. Dude.

Awesome.

The only downside of the day was the sandstorm and the rain, but hey - it didn't ruin our friendship or anything, it just kind of cramped our style.

It really was a perfect day - one of those where you just spend time with people you love to hang out with, have a few laughs, and just waste the day away. You won't remember the details, but the feelings you all shared will be there, and the ease of conversation and laughter will not soon be forgotten. 

It was a homecoming, of sorts, and I can only hope that the feeling will be present in my upcoming job at Lanzhou Jiaotong University.

I'll talk about that soon, I promise!

-----------------------

Feel free to comment or to subscribe to my blog - it's totally free and no sign-up and I would love to hear from you!

HyperSmash.com

Top 8 Facts About China (and Thoughts on Vlogging)

Hey, guys! (and ladies.....hello, ladies)

Today I'm coming at you with my Top 8 Facts About China in vlog form. I've been sort of addicted to vlogging because I just love being able to tell stories. I love being in front of the camera and talking about stuff that I love, which is China.

Vlogging is such a great way to do that - it's still relatively new and is exploding all over the internet - from China to Giraffes to Tea to Music, vloggers talk about all kinds of things, and are able to share their gift of storytelling through the medium of video.

Here's my latest one from my YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/austinguidry2





I'm still learning and improving on my vlogging techniques - if you watch the first video that I ever did all the way up until what I've done now, you can see how I've improved.

I've really begun to realize just how much of an art form that vlogging can be - there are so many different facets to the way things are shot, the way you say things, whether or not you have a script or lighting or a microphone, how you use your jump cuts or your silence.....it's really hard, but can sometimes just be organic and in-the-moment.

I really love doing it, and I can't wait to get back over to Lanzhou to do more and share my adventures with you!

-----------------------

Feel free to comment or to subscribe to my blog - it's totally free and no sign-up and I would love to hear from you!

My Daily Life in a Chinese City

I've been really surprised at the number of views on my posts concerning what Chinese cities are like, so I thought I'd post a little something about the subject, since it seems to be a topic of interest.

[by the way, the blog hit 10,000 total hits a few days ago! Great milestone for me!]

Although I'm not in China now, I can remember very well the daily routine of the life of a foreign student in mid-sized Lanzhou (3.3 million people) when school was not in session. Some of the stuff is not exactly pretty, but it's part of what's really in China. I love China just as much (or more) than America, but there's no such thing as a perfect country.

Breakfast

Breakfast usually consisted of 饼子 of some kind (sort of like if a pancake and a crepe had a baby. A wonderful, tasty, baby), and then a short walk to the bus stop to either the West Campus of 兰州理工大学 (Lanzhou University of Technology) or to 西关, a downtown region of Lanzhou. It could be any other place, but for this post it'll be 西关 (pronounced "She-Gwan") and Zhongshan Bridge.

The Bus

In Chinese cities, the bus is what most people take to get places. Depending on where you're at, they can be air conditioned and clean with a few people in them or hot, dirty, musty, smoky, and crowded with all of the migrant workers of the entire city.

It's different from place to place, and you never really know what it's gonna be like when you step on - you just hope to God that it's not so bad.

On an average day in Lanzhou, you'll be standing up in the bus. Only one bus line in the city has air conditioning, and I think it's bus line 1. How appropriate, right? The #1 bus is the only one with air conditioning.

Most buses have windows you can slide open if it gets too hot, but it's generally not too unbearable unless it's the weekend and everybody's going downtown to shop. God forbid. I really didn't enjoy the weekend crowds.

The Streets

Just like every section in this post - it depends on where you are. If you're in Guangzhou or Beijing or any other city that sees a lot of tourist and/or foreign business activity, it's pretty clean and organized with a decent amount of English speakers.

However, if you're in Lanzhou, Huan Xian, parts of northern Beijing, or any other place where not many tourists go and no foreigners "dare to venture", it's a little different. Many streets are dirty or under construction, there's a lot of trash in places, and you can see a lot more of China's poverty. It's in these moments that you are forced to confront the fact that you're in another country. Not many streets in America will have kids wearing only dirty t-shirts run through the street and playing in trash piles and peeing on the street. Seen it.

The People

When walking the streets of Lanzhou, I was usually left alone except for the occasional "Hello," but it was whenever I was idling about by myself or just standing alone looking at the Yellow River that people usually came up and talked to me.

(Okay, this photo is cheating...it's actually on a train, but he DID just start talking to me)

It's true - it's not just some funny story we tell people for fun. People really do come up to foreigners and try to practice their English! If they don't speak English, you'll get to practice your Chinese. This is especially true in certain situations:

1.) The person who comes up to you is alone.
2.) You are alone or are only with other foreigners.
3.) You are just idling about and not really doing anything.
4.) You say you can speak a little bit of Chinese and are friendly.

If you're with another Chinese person, it's rare that a strange Chinese person will approach you if they speak sub-standard English. They'll assume your Chinese buddy will be fluent and that they'll be inferior. Best advice - go alone to a place where you know you can just hang out and chill.

For me, that was the area around Zhongshan Bridge.

The area on the far side of this picture is green, shaded, and dotted with small beaches and areas where you can sit and buy a drink and just chill.

Along that street, you can see a lot of older people in the morning doing Tai Chi, and in the afternoon you can see some doing different types of martial arts or playing the Erhu or any number of activities.

It's a great little area that reminds you of why you wanted to come to China in the first place.

After hanging out and talking to a few people, it's always cool to go to 西关 (pronounced "she-gwan"), which is the most cosmopolitan area of the city. It's mostly pedestrian roads and has a lot of shopping centers and restaurants and tea houses. It's the perfect place to go for a snack. I don't really have any pictures of 西关 itself, which is something I'll have to rectify, but I've got some video of it here and here if you want to check it out.

Other

Usually, after that, I'd go back home to the apartment and just chill until dinner, which was at one of the local restaurants, but I'd also do laundry every couple of weeks or so. Very involved process you can see here at my YouTube page. If YouTube's blocked in your country, sorry....I'll put them up on Youku eventually

You'll get a few (or a lot) of strange calls. I've gotten calls from:

1.) The International Office of L.U.T. asking if I would hang out with a high school kid who wanted to practice his English

2.) From a local TV producer asking me do participate in a segment about my culture shock in Lanzhou

3.) From a primary school asking me to come down to participate in "English Adventure Day"

4.) From a VERY wealthy businessman who wanted me to help him in some very lucrative (and possibly illegal) business ventures

5.) From many random people that I never met or talked to before.....just to chat! "You're a foreigner in Lanzhou? Oh, what's your name?......etc."

6.) Calls from anyone and everyone inviting me to dinners, parties, just to hang out, help with schoolwork

7.) To travel to Tibet......wait, what? Yeah, I got a series of texts/calls from some random guy who wanted to take me to Tibet. My friend Elizabeth would've jumped on it in a heartbeat haha. Yeah, I don't think I told you about that one, did I? Maybe I should've called you, yeah? haha

I'm a pretty friendly guy, and once I got over there, I made it a policy of mine to never refuse an offer for a new experience unless it was: physically dangerous, illegal, or if I was really ill. I never once did, and I don't regret any of it - I had a lot of interesting experiences, and you've got to be open.

When people find out how open you are to try new stuff, you'll get more and more friends, more and more calls, and you'll be a popular dude! (or chick).

So, if I had to sum up my Lanzhou life in a nutshell, that'd be about it!

See you guys next time,

Austin.

A Look At Chinese Cities

I've been looking at my traffic sources, and it seems like a lot of people are interested in Chinese cities. Most people that end up stumbling across my blog seem to do so in search of a few answers to questions like:

"Are Chinese cities overcrowded?"

"Are Chinese cities polluted?"

"Are Chinese cities ugly?"

------Yeah, are Chinese cities ugly.....well, okay then. I'll just talk about Chinese cities in general, I guess.

A "normal Chinese city", whatever that is, is usually going to be bigger and made up of more skyscrapers and multi-story buildings than most American (or Western, if you're not American) cities.

They'll be more compact, convenient, but a little drab. Most Chinese buildings are pretty much the same dull grey concrete color, so it's kind of dull, but at night, they light up pretty good!

This is Shanghai, so it's a bit over the top, but you get what I'm saying. Most cities aren't quite this crazy, but there's considerably more neon in the average Chinese city than the their Western counterparts.

(When I talk about Western/American cities, I don't mean huge cities like Chicago/L.A./New York/D.C.. I'm talking about the average, below 1 million population cities in America)

Yeah, it's pretty crazy, but that's just the way cities in China look.

I gotta say, the night life in a mid-sized to big city in China is pretty awesome -there are night markets all over the place, karaoke bars, regular bars, clubs, and all kinds of cool stuff to do. And because of the design of the cities, they're often pretty close to each other, which brings me to my next point: the design of Chinese cities.

The Chinese have pretty much mastered the art of building megacities.

This is Lanzhou - a city of about 3.4 million people and the capital of Gansu Province. It's where I lived for 6 months.

When Americans (at least those of us who grew up in suburbia) see cities like this, we get really, really freaked out. We think "how can people live like that?? There's so many people!!"
Well, that's kind of deceptive. Yeah, there's a lot of big buildings, but you've got to understand that somewhere around 1/4 of them are apartment buildings of some kind (at least in Lanzhou). The Chinese have realized that building up is better than building out. It may look scary, but it's really not.

I noticed that the cities I've visited/lived in in China is that cities are organized into districts, with each district capable of serving itself

At one point, I noticed I had lived in Lanzhou for about 3 or 4 months and had hardly seen any of the city, because all of my needs were satisfied in the area surrounding my campus. I started to get out and about, and I noticed that that was true for the other parts of the city. You can find all you need within the different areas of the city. There are shops for everyday needs, food, snacks, and fun everywhere, so you can get pretty much everything you need in a 10 minute walk or a 10 minute bus ride.

This way of making cities is pretty green, like Jonathan Watts mentions in his book "When A Billion Chinese Jump". It encourages people to walk or take public transportation, although a lot of people do try to buy cars. Instead of 1,000 people commuting to work in 1,000 cars, 950 might take the bus or walk while 50 take their own cars. Also, you can put more people in a smaller space, which frees up more land for farming or parks or wilderness - farming is the most important one in China.


(Right: A street in Beijing close to Lishi Hutong, February 2011. Below: A Chinese-like street somewhere in America)

Besides being the slightest bit greener, it makes life really convenient and cheaper. I would trade in my car right this minute if I could have a well-developed transit system in Texas' cities. It's just so much cheaper.

However, I don't think many Texans would agree with me. Oh well.


Visiting and living in these huge, tall, closed-in Chinese cities has forever changed the way I view America's cities.

This is Dallas, Texas, where I live and work (I split my time between Tyler and Dallas). Here’s the skyline. That’s it. Just that. 

You're in and out of it in less than an hour if you take one of the main avenues. 

And that scares the crap of the small town natives of Texas.

Now compare Dallas and Beijing’s skylines. There's a freakin huge difference. 

This is just one part. You could do a 360 and see this view on every side. You're totally closed in by this monstrous city of roughly 19 million people. 

When you’re in downtown Beijing, it goes on forever and forever and forever - it takes hours to get out of Beijing’s downtown area - not because of traffic, but size. 

One thing that I never really noticed until I was back in the States was that I hardly ever got a glimpse of uninterrupted sky when I was in China. Sometimes I'd go to the top of a mountain and be able to see the uninterrupted sky, but most of the time other mountains would get in the way. It's weird to think about it, but it's true. 

Here, in Texas, especially in the Fort Worth area, I can get a full helping of sky because of the openness of the land. It's not better or worse - I'm not judging China or anything. It's just different. I had a better picture to exemplify the openness, but I can't find it at the moment. Oh, well....

That's probably the single biggest thing that has changed within me personally - I will never see cities in the same light again after living in China. America's suburban sprawl compared to China's urban skyscrapers has really changed my view of what a "big" city is. It has also changed my view on urban smog and pollution. I never really noticed smog and pollution in America before I saw the heavy urban smog of China, but that's a whole other post, and I've done that before, check it out here. My experience has made me appreciate America's small towns more and see American cities through a different lens.  

There are so many things that are different between China's cities and America's cities. It's hard, nay, nigh impossible to list all of the differences because the concept of a 'city' encompasses so many different factors. Well, this is a start, and hopefully this will satisfy some people's curiosity. We'll see! 

I'll try to be back soon with a more introspective and interesting post soon! 

No Education, No Upward Mobility

(My "Beautiful China, Part 2" post is having some serious issues with uploading pictures...I'm not such a huge fan of Blogger right now. I wrote this post a couple of days ago and I wanted to share it because it is a huge part of Chinese society today.)


Chinese society places a great deal of importance on education. A great deal.

From elementary school until high school, students study, study, study. It is not unusual for a student from late middle school all the way through high school graduation to study until around 11pm or midnight, and then wake up at 6am the next day to review before going to school. They take the same basic classes every student in the world takes: math, science, history, etc., with the exception of English. From primary school until high school graduation, every Chinese student must study English because English is an international language. 

All of this is done for the chance to go to college, which is an opportunity that a lot of students will not be able to realize. The Gao Kao, the Chinese college entrance test, is probably the biggest and most important event in the life of a Chinese high school student who wishes to go to college. 

Every year, millions of students take this test and those who were unlucky enough to pass suffer the disappointment of the failing score and the knowledge that all the work they did for their entire life could not be rounded and filled out by their college education. It is possible to retake the exam, but few people do. 

Without a college education, there is little to no hope that a person can live the successful, comfortable life with a high social status that they dreamed about when they were growing up. The best hope that a Chinese person can have for their life is to open up a small shop or business and make enough money to pay the bills. There is very little hope for a really comfortable life. 

For the fortunate few who are very street smart, they are able to build a decent company that is capable of moving them up, but in China, much fewer opportunities for this kind of thing exist without an education than in America.

(Me with one of the fortunate few - my friend Benjamin Xi's uncle started a water company, 黄河原, with customers all over Gansu and branching out to Ningxia and other regions!)

In America, one can make a comfortable and happy life for themselves without a college education. They can become singers, interior designers, real estate agents, businessmen, entertainers, sports players - any number of careers are open to the non-college educated. In China, these careers also exist, but they are for the very, very, very privileged and elite of society.  

Chinese people know this and it is one of the defining characteristics of Chinese society. Upward Social Mobility exists in China, but it is only real to very few people. In  more developed areas of China such as Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, this mobility exists in greater numbers because of the Westernization, development, and greater opportunity of these areas. 

It's a sad fact of life, but it's just the way life is in China. But I guess that means there are less Justin Biebers in Chinese society...

A Lack of Greenery (2)

If you missed it, Click here to read Part 1 of this series.


Because Chinese city-dwellers grow up and live their lives in these surroundings, they hold very different ideas about the environment. For example, because all cities have street sweepers who clean up the city litter, when people buy something in a shop, they unwrap it on their way out and toss the wrapping on the street without hesitation. When they are done smoking a cigarette or eating a banana, they toss the leftovers aside, no hesitation. Because someone will clean it up for them, they simply do not care. Let me be clear - this isn't everybody. But it's a sizable amount of people. 

The same, unfortunately, can be true in parks, tourist sites, and what would otherwise be very nice, clean, green environments. Generally speaking, parks and tourist sites are kept pretty clean, but litter can sometimes be seen. 

When you travel to lakes or see rivers or just look out the window of your train compartment, you will see many places on the edge of town where, just behind people’s houses, they will throw their trash on the ground. 

Outside of Shanghai

Outside of Guiyin

This trash builds and builds and isn’t destined for anywhere. It is their personal garbage dump. Also, on long train trips, people will eat a lot of instant noodles, and upon finishing them, will open the train window and throw out what they didn’t eat. However, a lot of China's poor people take advantage of their recycling policy and pick up the plastics to get some money back.

This is one of the most sad parts about being in China. From my experience, the average Chinese city-dweller has little awareness of being green and environmentally friendly because of the environment they grow up in. Many children in the cities would rather just sit and watch TV than go outside to see the green of a park or visit scenic places. When they get to these places, they say “Oh, that’s cool. Can we leave?” The lack of appreciation of natural beauty is a reality among more than a few Chinese young city people. The older generation, being more traditional and more likely to come from a rural village or suburb, know how to appreciate nature’s beauty and appreciate when people do not waste food, waste water, and litter the streets. 

The people who live in the rural areas also have a better appreciation of the environment, not because of environmental education classes, but because it is where they live. They treasure the environment they live in. 

Re: From Drinking Songs to Pet Theories

I was reading a post by a friend of mine from high school, Michael Rogers, and was really struck by it. In a small nutshell, the post is about the lack of unity and community amongst people in American society, with one example of unity being drinking songs (personally, I think that's a great example).

Read his post here

I completely agree with what Michael said in his post - Americans are not very unified. Our society has become so individualistic that it is pretty difficult to have true community with people outside your immediate social circles.

I felt this way the entire time I was in China - I felt as if I had been missing something my whole life and I found it in China. Part of that missing something was the community in Chinese society. It's a truly indescribable feeling within - when you're at a restaurant by yourself in China, people you don't know might ask you to join them - sure yeah, probably because I'm a foreigner, but if they see their friends on the street, they do the same. People playing chess together on the streets, doing Taichi or other martial arts/dances in groups on the street - there's an energy and spirit within a community-based society that America just doesn't have, and it's America's loss.

There's a variety of reasons America seems wired for individualism. Here's my opinion. I've got a few big reasons, or "pet theories" (thanks Michael) about why I think America's so individualistic.

1. City planning/use of space - most of America's cities are really big in terms of area. We have so much space that we put stuff way too far apart and it's impossible to take a bike or walk anywhere outside of major cities like LA, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, etc. Chinese cities are jam-packed together and people are always visible on the street selling food/clothes/trinkets etc. or just walking. People are just around each other more often in China, and that gives people the opportunity to create a community.

2. No public transit - everyone has their own personal car. This seems like a weird reason, but I've had some interesting conversations with strangers in a taxi or on the subway in America and in China. People  bored on a subway car or taxi have a chance to talk to each other.

3. Social stigmas - In the American south, alcohol has a kind of stigma attached to it because of people's religious affiliations. This is something Michael touched on in his post. I've had some good conversations in bars in America and in China. Bars are a good place to go have a drink alone or to meet people, if you want.

4. Technology/media - the iPod, iPhone, laptops, TV, magazines, etc. draw us away from the world around us and get us focused on these little spheres of information and make us completely forget the fact that there are people all around us who have their own stories and their own lives that, in reality, are probably more intrinsically more interesting than Kristen Stewart's. These things are finding their way into Chinese society, especially in big cities like Beijing and Guangzhou. The traditional culture of China is dying among young people today because all they care about it having an iPad or seeing what shows are on TV or what the NBA is up to. It's a serious problem

5. History- our entire country was born out of the spirit of "F**k you, we're gonna break away [from England's tyrannical government] and run this country ourselves!!!" Individuality is in our blood. That's just the way it is.

6. Childhood Shaping - from the time Americans are babies, they are asked to make individualistic choices. "What color do you want your room?", "Where/what do you want to eat?", kids are given their own bedrooms as children, and the list goes on. "My parents raised me to be an individual" is a pretty common phrase in American society.

7. Money-driven society.

Michael wrote this in his post, and I think it's written very well:

 "It’s not about beer and it’s not exactly about drinking songs. It’s about the cultural traditions that unite people."


Yes - I agree completely.


But the thing is that America hasn't been around long enough to have developed a lot of cultural traditions. Cultural traditions are born out generations and generations and generations of practices. It's only been a couple hundred years - look at China's rich cultural traditions - it took them 5000 years to do that! Give America some time - we'll get there eventually.

Don't click this link. It's just a tracking code

Seeing the Elephant

If you've ever spent significant time abroad, there's just something about it that is uncommunicable about your experience - that's what I'm talking about today. If you've been abroad, tell me where, when, and if you agree - I'd love to hear about it!

There is a phrase that combat veterans sometimes use when referring to the experiences of war and why they are so often reluctant to talk about it. It's called "seeing the elephant." It's an odd phrase that has some interesting origins, but I don't really want to get into that, but here's Wikipedia if you really want to know:

"Seeing the Elephant" Wiki

What I really want to talk about is the meaning the phrase. 

Currently, the phrase seems to pop up a lot among military combat veterans, particularly the enlisted. When someone has "seen the elephant," it means they have seen combat. 

It sounds simple, but there are a lot of dimensions to seeing combat - I was reading "Shooter" by Jack Coughlin and he talks about seeing the elephant. He says that if you've never felt the sting of smoke in your eyes, never heard a bullet zing by you, never killed a man, never smelled the stench of death, then you can never really talk about war with veterans. 

He says that in order for you to truly understand what war is, you have to be there and experience it yourself. Otherwise, war is just something sterilized you've seen on TV or read about in books.

This may seem like a clumsy parallel, but I believe that living abroad is the same way - you just have to be there to understand what kind of experience living in China is. When you've walked through the Hutongs of Beijing,

                         When you've hung out with people that don't speak your language,

When you smell the garbage dump you pass by every day to get to class (or go to a restaurant),

When you go across the world and meet wonderful friends who become your adopted family,

When you meet a girl you like and she likes you, but her dialect is so heavy you can't communicate well,

When you've been disturbed in the middle of the night by 'women of the night' coming into your hotel room.

When you've tried and failed to understand so much dialect from random cities that you feel like your language study has been worthless,

When you go down to a place as old, majestic, and historic as the Yellow River with your buddies just to skip rocks and kill time,

there's just something that is beyond communication to others. You tell them and they say, "that's cool," but that's all. There's just an added dimension there which is impossible to really convey. You had to be there.

You had to see the elephant. 

Movie and a Little Insight

This is a movie that me and my friends made. Actually, they made it and I just played a little part because I was really busy at the time. The movie is about 4 students and their struggle in pursuing their dreams. It is definitely an amateur movie, but I believe it reveals an underlying truth about the part of the cultural mindset of the youth in China.

*Note - this is an English-subbed Chinese language movie 90% of the duration. There is a 3 or 4 minute section where it is not subbed, but you can just watch and try to figure it out :) and when "Cat" AKA Janson starts singing at the end, keep watching :)



Three of these guys are my best friends. I do not know the "scientist", Jiang Feng pronounced (Jee-ah-ng Fung), the one with the glasses, very well. However, from long talks with all of my friends throughout my time in Lanzhou and other places, the sentiments expressed in this movie are echoed all throughout China's collegiate population.

The theme is this movie is the difficulty and feeling of impossibility in attaining one's dream. It's manifested most obviously in the song 老男孩，The Old Boy, which plays after each of the four guys encounters their difficulty or distraction. It begins at 8:49. Lyrics such as

"Look at the sky and scattered flowers

They withered in their most beautiful moment

Who will remember that they ever came into the world?"

Lyrics like this are so sad and are a real reflection of the feelings of the Chinese students, which is why this song is incredibly popular among China's students and young people. Chinese students have such huge dreams, to go to Qinghua University or Beijing University (China's Harvard and Yale) along with dreams that vary from person to person, such as "Cat"'s dream to become a master guitarist. He really is very good, but there is no outlet in China for him to really make a living from that, which leaves him in the dust. He told me that the times when he is happiest is on stage singing and playing guitar, but the times he can do it are too few as a college student and will only become less after college.

--------

Pay attention to that, THAT is the underlying mindset. People have these amazing talents and dreams, but they have it in their head that no matter what they do, their dream will never be realized, so they do not even try. They don't try. Some of my friends wish to go to America for graduate school, but they feel the competition will be too hard in the English exam, so they are not going to try it because they, in their minds, know they cannot do it!! But their English is wonderful - they have the ability, but something about society has just crushed their initiative and self-confidence. It might also have something to do with the Chinese idea of modesty. They don't want to try because if they get the chance to go overseas, some people might think they are showing off their abilities and are egotistical, which is NOT a label you want to have in China.

This mindset is all over the place and is it one of the saddest things about China. It just breaks my heart to see people like these not go anywhere in life because of something society's drilled into them.

Near the end, there is a screen with Chinese that comes up. It basically says: "No matter how small the seed, because you don't give up, that seed can one day grow into a big and great tree....you can realize your dream in no time, but in order to realize our dreams, we expended great efforts!"

Dreams are something you have to work for - they don't just happen. They are totally right.

However, "Cat" and "Boss" have let go of that to a certain extent, because now they are both in Chicago's NEIU and will be there for 2 semesters! That's such a great thing! They have pursued their dreams!