Mao Zedong

Just some background for those of you who don't quite know about Mao Ze Dong and his Cultural Revolution:

China is a Communist country which means that the gov't controls everything. From what they read and write, to what they know, to where they work, to how much money they make! Now after WWII, a man named Mao Ze Dong was in power and he essentially made China uber-communist. He worked to "socialize" industry and agriculture, or in other words- bring everything under gov't control. In the 1960s Mao worked to transform society. He did this by executing intellectuals, writers, high officials-- all people that would oppose him. He distributed the "Red Book" which was Mao-ism, or basically all of his thoughts and ideas about how China should be. The army was forced to read this and everyone basically looked at it as the Christians would the Bible. Now another thing with Communism is that they are "Atheist" or don't believe in God. (not REALLY, but technically-- the gov't says they are-- so they are) So during this "Cultural Revolution" Mao went around burning all Buddhist and Confucian temples, and a lot of Christian churches. All of this instilled fear, violence, mistrust and basically a pretty bad time.

Now that Mao has been dead since the 70s the people somewhat idolize him and want the country back to the way it was!!



(Caption: a car that drove high government officials around in the Mao-era)

So today we went to a "Mao Era Restaurant" which was just so crazy!! They were all dressed in Mao-era garb, we ate Mao-era food (much blander than today's food), and ate off of Mao-era plates! (Man-look at that rust!!)(The beer was even Mao-era beer!!) We had SOOO much food (some was blech!) but it was crazy how they just kept putting plate after plate after plate onto the turntable. They had crawfish, which I have never had so don't know what really to expect, but they reminded me of my Scampi adventure in Italy- blech! (I did not touch them, just to let you know)

Evidently the place was a REAL nice dinner establishment where the Chinese "Go Out for the Evening" and get dressed up and all. It's a dinner-theater where the servers put on dances and sing songs (which they are all REAL good singers, btw.. even though we had NO CLUE what they were singing, lol) from the Mao-era. People from the audience get up and dance with them and then when they are all done with the show audience members get up and do karaoke. All of us Americans got onto the stage for the finale and got our picture taken and it was HI-larious the amount of Chinese audience members that were taking our pictures! They are really fascinated by white people, it's funny. It's not un-common to be stared at, talked about, checked out... (esp. those of us with blonde hair!) So needless to say, a bunch of white Americans on stage was just so surreal to them.

What's even more interesting was that everyone seemed to be rather serious and sentimental about this Mao-era time machine. None of the workers were alive during that time period but it's crazy to see that they are clueless as to what it was like back then. In America, we have freedom of speech and knowledge everywhere but here there is none of that. Individuals are not taught freedom of speech or thought and they just don't talk about politics b.c. it's too risky. We spoke with our guide "Sebastian" about the Cultural Revolution and Tiananman Square and his remarks were rather interesting. He said that he knew there were tanks there but that was it. He heard a "lie" about how a person was standing in front of the tanks and about how people were killed but he doesn't think any of that is true!!! Now this is a VERY educated Chinese man that has numerous degrees and speaks fairly good English and it's just shocking to me the amount he has been brainwashed. To not have books available to you unless they have the communist propaganda in them is just so foreign. (Which, btw, in addition to the library segment from earlier: China did not have even ONE public library until 10 years ago!!! When they did come about they were what I described and the one here at the University is the ONLY ONE in the ENTIRE country where you can look at the books!!)

So there's your info for today and I'm off to my rock bed.
Wan-an!

Just some history...

The clear delineation b.n societies and sorts of people is so clear and evident here. It's like the Chinese live in a 3rd world nation but yet they don't really. They way they live in is such stark contrast to the way we live that when I'm here I'm really glad to be an American! No one has AC in their homes, they ride their bikes everywhere and if they can't afford a bike they walk. With no AC in their homes, they also don't have clothes dryers so instead they hang their luandry on their windowsills. (Now this happens in America a lot, however, here it is everywhere) So I'm sure that w.o AC or dryers they don't have TVs! Imagine that Americans!! Instead of watching tv at night they out and about, socializing, playing cards (I saw this group of four men sitting in a cart playing cards with one another. It was quite picturesque but I didn't take a picture, sorry), people go dancing in the park, they do Tai Chi... they don't focus on the material wealth that we Westerners do b.c they don't have it. (OR they DO have it available but instead choose not to take advantage of it all b.c. by holding back they produce all of our goods which we greedy little urchins eat up but then int turn it gives all of money to them and they back it! interesting. So they also don't have the sewage system (which if you've been reading YOU KNOW!!) Their "sewage system" is a man who rides around on a bike with a barrel behind him and he goes to all the squatting urinals and scoops everything into the barrel! Then once he gets enough barrels he rides out past the city and dumps it somewhere! Europe and America used to be like that but that was back, well, in the 19th century-- but still with a century of progress-- we've really come so far... We read an article in class (yes, yes, I know--I'm bringing in the history!! lol) about how China was FAR more advanced then the rest of the world over a thousand years ago. They had Iron, Coke (a form of coal), STEEL all in the year 1000. They actually had it prior to that but it was being mass marketed by the yr. 1000) These are the things that the West didn't get until the 18th and 19th centuries!! Now the whole article was basically talking about gov't support...In 1000, the Chinese gov't fullheartedly supported the mass production of these metals, however, as they were invaded by the Jurchen (nomadic people from Manchuria in the north) the support disappeared. Once the Mongols invaded them (Genghis and Kublai Khan) they supported it once again however it never reached the mass production level until the 20th century!! At that point it was strictly for the gov'ts use of making weaponry and things for the military which is why at the time the Mongols were greatly feared throughout the entire world as being militarily superior. (which they were) So the gov'ts were always vulnerable to attack from outsiders or even worse the rich merchants bankin money on the Silk Road trade overthrowing the gov't. This skepticism and paranoia of the Emperors was the reason for the unstable support towards progression b.c. they were afraid of overthrow if the people got too powerful.
This unstable support is the reason why the Chinese are peeing into slits in the ground while we have telephones in our nice luxurious bathrooms! Interesting.

Nanjing day 2-- Horse Corrals..

Today was equally amazing- I had a wonderful time and learned SO much! (of course) I decided to take a picture of my lunch so that I could attempt to share with you what I've eaten. (Btw, I still don't know what it all is except for what it tastes like...) The upper left corner is noodles, then something crispy what was not chicken or pork and frankly I don't want to know what it was but it was fried good enough to mask the detection of anything insane! lol. Tofu in water with chestnuts. Then on the bottom there's some kinda seafood spicy noodle thing, Liver, some weird sweet pickle-ish thing, seaweed, and big fat grapes...It really wasnt that bad but I didn't eat all of it.. still questionable on some parts- but hey- I'm being adventurous!!
We went over to the Johns Hopkins Center at Nanjing University today which was boring and long-winded but actually rather enlightening. The center is the only one in the entire country that has a joined American-Chinese post-graduate study program where Am. and Chinese students live, eat, and study together in the same environment. Both have to be VERY fluent in the others' language (which counts a lotta people out) but I think it is a unique and purposeful program. The graduates go on to be big honcho leaders out there in the business world. I took a picture of a classroom, lol, which (*Shocker*) is just like an American University room.
We also went to the library where we learned some fascinating info.:
In China there are no open shelf libraries- basically people can not go into a library and get any book they want like in America. You have to go in, ask for the specific book you want to see, they give it to you, you look at it, then give it back! No looking at the wide range of books nor checking out as many books as you want. Americans feel it is a service to provide libraries and the ability to check out books- when you go to the library, the librarian is happy to serve you and wants you to get the books you're looking for. The Chinese, on the other hand, feel that it is simply their job to give you the book you ask for and instead of libraries serving as a "generous service" they instead serve as a place to keep books. They feel that if people come in to check out books, it is not going with their main mission of "keeping books".. So the Nanjing Library is unique in that it is the only one in the country that allows people to go in, browse around at books, and check them out!! Imagine that sort of control and limitation on your life?!? It was also interesting to see how in this library there were books on Communism, The Berlin Airlift, etc. Even though there are books here that aren't anywhere else they are still censored. (of course) You can't get books into the country they don't want you to have and will hold them at customs-- which makes teaching AP World history in China rather difficult!
For dinner we walked to a place a lot like Las Vegas with the lights and the activity and the liveliness. It was nice (and of course, dripping sweat hot!)

We went to a Japanese restaurant here in China, lol. It was a real interesting experience. No one could speak English and of course none of us could speak Chinese. There was one guy with us, Curt, (who btw, UD- he reminds me SO much of you!!) who had studied the Rosetta stone for about 2-3 mo b4 coming but still wasn't past lesson 4! lol. He was able to semi-communicate with the service but not easily. After 20 minutes and 4 people came over to figure out what we were trying to order (even though we were pointing right at the pictures!!) they finally got it!! YEA!!
During the dinner, Curt got up and took over our chef's role and the chef gave him his hat. It was quite funny and naturally we all enjoyed it. (Including the local Chinese men that were dining there who applauded when Curt was done!) I had the best beer in China- Tsingtao which was 1 Liter of beer for only 15 Yuan (about 2 1/2 bucks) I had three and Curt complimented me on my beer drinking abilities (I gave credit to my Uncles whom taught me well!!)

After all that we took our long route home-- long b.c. we got lost in the center of Nanjing and also my 3 Tsingtao's were catching up with my bladder with me by this point! lol. We stopped at a WC (water closet) on the side of the road which was the most disgusting experience of my ENTIRE lifetime. I am not exaggerating. Ashley (another beer drinker) and myself desperately needed to go for quite sometime and as the Tsingtao's were messing with our minds as well as our bladders we did not care where we went just as though we did. Bad choice. Walking towards the WC the stench engulfed us and yet we still went in. There were no stalls, just tiny little walls which really held no purpose except to separate individuals. Then instead of having urinals there was just a long opening in the floor- kinda like a horse corral but built into the floor! Of course everything that others left behind were there to greet us! blech. There was a woman who "Worked" there and her 5 year old daughter followed us in. She was in the little cubby in front of me and when she finished, she decided to stand next to my cubby and watch me!!!! I couldn't believe it and thank god her mother called for her or else she woulda cont'd to stare!!
Seriously, the most disgusting thing of my life. woa. I didn't take a picture-which now that I think about it was against my better judgment b.c. I really can't describe what such a place is like.. but maybe I will in the near future.

My rock bed is calling to me once again.
Until then,
Wan-an!

Nanjing day 1

I learned SO much today. As a foreigner, the division between the East and the West is quite clear. So many things are different, which I expected, but it's a lot more than I thought. This is a picture of Nanjing in the morning. It is the smog which stings and burns your eyes! Interesting to see how bad the smog is considering how everyone rides their bike or moped everywhere. When walking around you don't need to worry about cars (which btw, pedestrians do NOT have the right of way anywhere!) you need to worry about the bikers and moped-ers running you over. They don't slow down or even say anything to you, they simply honk their horn and speed up! Goodness has that been a change to get used to.

I can't even tell you what I've eaten b.c. I honestly have no clue! I had rice with all meals but surprisingly it is served at the end of the meal to fill you up from what your main meal did not. By the time you get to the rice you don't even want it b.c. you're already full. I eat less here but I'm essentially slowed up by the chopsticks which makes me realize I'm full quicker! Dr. Cheng (the professor who's idea this institute was) said that you use 70-something muscles using chopsticks whereas you only use 7 muscles with a fork! It's how you "work out" while you eat here with chopsticks, whereas Westerners have the tendency to shove their faces full of food! (lol. That was in my own words, of course!) There are no forks or knives even available here, only chopsticks. Pretty neat.

We went on a tour this afternoon of campus which was pretty neat. The only thing was that it was the hottest I've been in a LONG time and people were about to pass out! Let's just put it this way-- I'm not a "glistener" (or for those blatant folks: a "person who perspires") and I had to put deodorant on 5 times!!! My shirt was SOAKED. I at least was a sport, unlike some other "complainants", and actually enjoyed the hike. It was eye-opening and hey-it's China for goodness sakes!! While on our walk we saw the Nandu (as they call "Nanjing University") gym, library, track!, museum, dorms, etc.

There was actually a man who's job it is to make sure people don't walk on the grass! wow. what a job! He took his job very seriously, esp. with us Westerners who walk right through the grass to shortcut the paved walkways. I'm sure this is one reason why the grass is spectacular looking.


Another interesting difference is that Americans really are spoiled with luxuries that the Chinese don't even think about. For instance, Air conditioning. We Floridians esp. value our AC and go to great lengths to avoid the insanely hot and humid outside weather. The heat and humidity is worse here and yet, there's no AC!!! Now the gym I go to invests large amounts of money in keeping the gym cold for those of us "perspiring", however, you walk into the gym here and it's like walking into a sauna!! my goodness. Coming from background, I can't imagine life w.o such a thing but I can understand why the Chinese don't invest in such a luxury b.c. with so many people everywhere it would be difficult to afford and maintain it. It's weird though b.c. they don't even like it! So different, So different. (also, just as a sidenote: they don't quite believe in deodorant either!! It's near impossible to find here b.c. there's no emphasis on it in their society.. so imagine that!)



We went to the Nandu Museum and saw things like the Marx Engels' "Communist Manifesto"-- the basis to socialism and communism (China's government) and an example of a master's diploma. You'll see the Xs on the diploma b.c. during the Cultural Revolution in China (1960s) Mao's government was against scholarship which in turn caused them to destroy many representations of such education.





Sebastian (our guide) spoke rather openly about the Cultural Revolution and the Nanking Massacre (more on that later). I found it rather surprising since in the Communist society the government controls what their people know and can talk about. (Then again, Sebastian is rather educated in comparison to many Chinese)


Another interesting thing are the very frequent condom machines on the side of the streets!! I assume this is a way to help control the population, but wow! how interesting! One guy with our group tested it out (how the machine worked, not the condom, lol) and sure enough for something that is equivalent to our quarter- you get a condom on the side of the road!! lol. So funny. I enjoy that.


There's SO much more to share but I'm severely suffering from jetlag and the literally, rock-hard beds so it's off to my rock! I will share so much tomorrow.
Until then,
Wan-An (Goodnight!)

Planes and automobiles..

Saturday morning I got to the airport at 6am ready for my 730 flight. The crew didn't show up until 745 on account of their hotel transportation not showing up! We got under way and I just barely made my connection to Shanghai. 7 hours into my flight I thought "Oh, we're almost there!" Yeah, right! 14 hours of sitting in a seat next to a very quiet and small Chinese man I was about to scream b.c. I had cabin fever so bad. I liked the way we flew here- from Chicago up to Canada and Alaska, across the Bering Sea, Down through Russia, down between Korea and Japan, and into Shanghai. It was awesome! Customs was a breeze and they just let me right through. At baggage claim I was standing next to two European-descent looking women and I figured they must be with the institute b.c. I wasn't seeing European-descent people anywhere. They also had that teacher look! (You know what I'm talking about! lol) I walked over to them and sure enough they were with my group! whew, what a relief. My roommate was one of them and she is SO nice! Her name is Barbara and she's from Boca Raton. She's 55 and short and blonde and so cute! I really like her a lot so far, which is such a relief. So we meet up with two other girls @ my age then wait to get through security on the way out of the airport which was insanely long. Finally we meet up with the Nanjing University representative, Sebastian, and poor kid had no idea what he was doing! lol. But his efforts were greatly appreciated by all and he's as nice as they come.
(Btw, the toilets- aren't toilets! If you are in a public place and need to go to the bathroom you go to a "Squatter Urinal" which is essentially a male's urinal stuck into the floor! It's absolutely disgusting and god help if you need to take care of any serious business there... No toilet paper, the stench is awful, and let's just say there's no flushing involved so you get a lotta run-off. blech.)
At 7 we jumped on the tour bus for our 5 hour drive to Nanjing! I was like "Are you freaking kidding me?!?" I def. thought it was like 2 hours.. not to mention there's an airport in Nanjing! Why didn't we just fly in there?!? So needless to say it was utterly exhausting and disconcerting to get out of 17 hours of flights to jump on a bus for 5 hours! then try to sleep and get situated at 1am before class starts tomorrow at 8!! goodness sakes. oh well, that's the joy of traveling internationally.
Naturally my first thing was to get the internet working and of course everything on here is Chinese so I don't even know if I'm going to publish this correctly, lol.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow- I like the people so far- it will be very interesting getting to know them.
China is way different, but yet, the same. The people are nice.
It's just amazing and still so surreal.

Going to China..

A few months ago I saw mention of an Advanced Placement World History Institute being held in China and I applied, thinking nothing more about it. As it turned out, I was one of 30 teachers chosen to attend the institute to learn more about China, Chinese culture, and my course: AP World History! Very exciting. The Collegeboard is helping me financially and I realized this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to China the very same summer the Olympics are being held there for the first time EVER!
I embark tomorrow morning on my 16 hour flight to Shanghai for the institute. I'm excited, nervous, and feel unprepared.
I'm looking forward to meeting many new people but not looking forward to the food! blegh. They've got some interesting cuisine over there, such as: Fried Scorpion, Fried Snake, Silk Worm, Dog brain!, Dog Liver, Sea Urchin, Cicadas, etc.. (I think you get my point! icky.) I pretty much will be eating vegetables and rice. lol.
Also, the weather will be an insane average of 105 degrees F day and night- whew! wish I could just swim the entire time...
Basically, It should be an amazing experience and I really can't wait...