No Easy Walk to Freedom

I don’t want to come across as too morbid here, but I’m convinced I’m destined to die in China. It won’t be from bird flu, I can tell you that, because the scare has passed and people are eating chicken again. It won’t be from the incredibly bad air because I think I’m healthy enough such that the air, if it’s going to be the ultimate cause of my death, will take its toll after I’ve returned to America.

There’s a possibility that it will be from a bike accident, of course. Though I’m a better bike-handler than most, that may not be enough to overcome the sheer numbers against me. I had a near miss the other day. Coming along the narrow street next to the school I was sandwiched between another bike to my right and a passing car to my left. Something startled the other bike rider and he swerved a little to his left. I had the instantaneous choice of avoiding him and bumping into the car, but in the end I decided (I guess) that a collision with a bike is better than one with a car. His front wheel caught my rear wheel as the car sped on. I was able to keep my balance and kept going, looking back to make sure he was OK. He was, though he had stopped to check his bike. Still, I’m very comfortable on a bike and as long as I can stay really alert (which I know is in question at times), I should be OK.

The most likely means of death in China, for me anyway, is getting hit by a car while crossing the street.

During the winter I did a lot of walking around the neighborhood, it being too cold to ride a bike (and, indeed, too cold to walk). One of the first things you notice when you walk around China’s cities is that there are people everywhere. Almost every sidewalk has a lot of people on it.

As you walk, you notice that they bump into you – not intentionally but simply because it’s too crowded. You may stop and turn, expecting a quick apology. Don’t waste your time. No one apologizes for bumping into anyone else in China (at least, not since I’ve stopped doing so).

As one of you out there (Lynn E.?) put it, the Chinese have a different concept of space than we do, forged of necessity due to the overcrowded circumstances. Don’t get me wrong: they don’t barrel into you intentionally; the Chinese are not mean-spirited people by any stretch. It’s just that bumping into people on the sidewalks is unavoidable and frequent, and so now people don’t waste the time either apologizing or seeking an apology. Same thing in malls and stores and, I suppose, everywhere. (The upscale malls and stores are exceptions in that there are not many people populating them.)

On the sidewalks you see lots of street vendors, many selling the usual food items, and others, like this guy, selling protective, stick-on cover screens for iPhones. This guy annoyingly positioned himself right in a bottleneck, between the short wall to his right and a stairway just out of the picture to his left.

Someone must have said something, which in itself is unusual, because when I returned he was roughly where I stood to take the photo. He was lined up with 2 other people with similar setups selling the same screen covers.

The intersections of main streets in Beijing are large. (I was told that the city was arranged this way so military parades could navigate the city easily. That explanation sounds a bit contrived.) This is the main intersection by the RDFZ.

I took this photo because it’s a rare view of the intersection with no one in it. This is where Zhongguancun Street (straight ahead) and Zichun Road (right to left) meet. The view is looking south, with Zichun Road extending to the right. For each direction there are the following lanes: 3 lanes for going straight, 1 left turn lane, 1 right turn lane, 1 motor scooter lane, and 1 bicycle lane. The right turn and motor scooter lanes merge at intersections. Here’s another look at the same crosswalk looking the other direction (north).

Underneath is the intersection of subway lines 10 and 4.

About half the people crossing a street wait for the green light – which means that about half don’t.

As you cross the street, you need to watch out for bicycles, scooters, and carts, all of which may be in the same crosswalk with you. More dangerous, however, are those that come speeding across the intersection at all angles from every direction, honking their horns and expecting pedestrians to jump out of the way, which they do – mostly. If the traffic allows, regardless of the lights, the scooters (and bicycles and even sometimes pedestrians) will proceed to the middle of the intersection from all directions, waiting for an opportunity to scoot to whichever corner they want to.

Occasionally you see a traffic guy with an armband and a flag. He gives a half-hearted effort to try to control the pedestrians, who simply ignore him and move partly into the intersection.

This lady in Chengdu was much more active as a traffic “cop,” with much better results.

Here’s the situation at most intersections with traffic lights: First, the intersections are large. Second, the pedestrians and drivers are both impatient to continue moving. When the light is green for pedestrians, they walk en masse across the street. Joining them in the crosswalk are motor scooters and bicycles, sometimes crossing in the same direction as the pedestrians, but often cutting across the crosswalk to get to the bicycle or cart lane, honking as they go and expecting the pedestrians to stop and let them pass (which they mostly do).

The big hazard crossing the street, of course, is from cars. This is one of the three things to which I know I will never adapt, regardless of how long I stay in China. Drivers in Beijing (and somewhat less so in other cities) have a level of arrogance and superiority that drives them to being inconsiderate of everyone else on the road to the point of danger. As drivers in the right lane approach an intersection where the green light instructs the pedestrian to cross, they honk their horns and generally don’t slow down, forcing pedestrians to stop and let the car pass through the pedestrians.

At least 5 times, my Chinese companions physically pulled me back so a car could pass in front of me at a relatively high speed. I have had a physical encounter with a car twice: once a Mercedes rushed past me so fast and so close that its rear view mirror hit my arm. I took a few steps toward the car but it was already speeding down the street, either oblivious or unconcerned about hitting me. On another occasion, a Mercedes rolled over the front of my shoe, just missing my toes. This time, at least, the driver waved a quick apology.

I have become more militant on this subject and have taken to refusing to move or jump out of the way. As cars approach the intersection where I’m walking, with the green “walk” sign, I generally refuse to stop for the cars, whether they’re honking or not. (The one exception recently was a bus that came barreling across the intersection, running its red light; I wasn’t sure he could stop if I continued walking, so I stopped with the other pedestrians.) I am almost always the only one who doesn’t defer to the car. Once a couple weeks ago this 30-year old girl driver with her boyfriend as a passenger, wanted to turn right while we pedestrians were crossing (with our light). She came to the intersection and continued without even a token slowing, honking at the mass of pedestrians to get out of her way. I did not join the other pedestrians in jumping out of her way, and I turned to her as continued crossing to yell, “What’s the matter with you?!!!!” (No expletives were uttered.) She ignored me and her boyfriend slinked a little lower in his seat.

So, most pedestrians come to a large intersection and proceed partly into the street, then stop if cars are coming, waiting for the main cross traffic to have a break. In so doing, they block the entrance to the cart and bike lanes, forcing those vehicles to honk to get them to move.

Then, as the traffic from one direction is halted by a red light, the pedestrians will move to the center of the crosswalk and wait for the traffic going in the opposite direction to get its own red light. The real problem comes in that after this sequence of light changes, the next green light is for the cars wanting to turn right. Thus, even though the pedestrian light is still red, they walk across the intersection, dodging carts, bicycles, motor scooters, and cars, slowing the rightful progression of those vehicles.

Here’s what needs to happen simultaneously: (1) pedestrians should wait ON THE SIDEWALK and cross only when the pedestrian green light is displayed, and (2) drivers should (a) stop at a red light before attempting to turn right, then proceed cautiously, and (b) cede the right-of-way to pedestrians. Some statistician may decide to calculate the likelihood of that happening, but I can tell him/her what the answer is right now.

All of the above relates to intersections with traffic lights, where chaos has not yet reached total anarchy. At intersections without lights, such as where a small street comes to a T at a large street, all bets are off. Pedestrians (everyone except me) are very careful crossing the street, and if a car is coming even 50 feet away, they stop because the car does not slow down but honks instead. I, as one might imagine, have taken a near-suicidal approach to this cultural aspect of Beijing. I hasten to say “Beijing” here because it is not nearly as bad in the other parts of China I’ve visited. The real dilemma: if a driver decides to be courteous and wait for a couple people to cross before proceeding (usually to turn right), there are so many people here that a break in the people flow does not come for quite a while and thus the driver is rewarded for his courtesy with a long wait while the cars behind him honk incessantly for him to mow down the throngs and turn. Similarly, if pedestrians stop for an approaching car (which is much more common), there are so many cars coming whose drivers actually step on the gas to close the gap between cars so they can get through that now the pedestrians often have a longish wait.

I am now immune, in terms of taking defensive action, to honking. One day some old lady or some vindictive male taxi driver will hit the accelerator instead of the breaks, and so I’ve added recent acquisitions to my last will and testament.

One of the biggest problems in Beijing is the dearth of available parking. Buildings are constructed in Beijing intentionally without underground parking because the government doesn’t want to encourage people to drive cars. Unfortunately, that creates a severe parking problem that I believe greatly exacerbates the traffic problem. Drivers will park anywhere they can. If there is an unused driveway, they will park in it, requiring pedestrian traffic to walk around the car, generally into the street. Sometimes the pedestrian can squeeze by in front of the car,…

…and sometimes not.

This guy parked parallel to the street, leaving a small space that a thinner person might be able to use, but no one did. (The space was probably just to protect his rear-view mirror. Am I becoming cynical or what!) I had my red shopping cart so even if I were 40 lbs. lighter, I would still have had to walk around it. The driver was still in the car, so I stopped in front of the van, took out my cell phone, and pointedly took a photo of it. I may have to don a mask if I’m to actually become a crusader for such things – as you will see a few paragraphs hence.

So, you’d think that once you get across the intersection and back onto the sidewalk you’re safe, right? In Beijing there is a lot of parking directly on the sidewalks. Here is the sidewalk about 50 meters from the front of the school, near the intersection I showed above.

It is a major intersection with lots of pedestrian traffic, partly due to the subway entrance and the MacDonalds just out of the picture to the right. Incidentally, note the rough yellow bricks going down the middle, presumably for blind people needing to navigate solo. I do not think I have seen any sidewalk anywhere in China that does not have this addition, which is a nice tribute to blind people. By the way, in my 9 months in China, I have seen only one blind person, who was escorted by someone. Maybe we need to get the word out.

Now this little gray car wants to leave. Note that the cars on the sidewalk are parked in actual, lined parking spaces.

He carefully negotiates, without honking, the path to the corner. No one seems in the least bit apprehensive about the car; indeed, this guy is probably wondering why I’m taking a photo.

He’s going to squeeze past this couple (the girl wearing the requisite mask, even though it’s a beautiful day with no pollution), and neither they nor the driver are concerned in the least.

It’s a different culture when it comes to the relationship of cars to people, and I’ll leave it to you to decide whether it’s better, worse, or neither, just different.

If you can survive the cars and motor scooters driving down the middle of the sidewalk, you can avoid many intersections by using the pedestrian overpasses. They are everywhere in Beijing.

It’s not an optical illusion: the two staircases on this side of the road (one to the left, the other to the right) are not identical. The one on the left is indeed steeper and has only two sections,…

…but the one to the right has three sections to “bridge” the same vertical distance.

Thus the staircase to the right has 50% more steps but each step is shorter, allowing older people to climb the staircase more easily. If there is not a shallower staircase to one side there’s a ramp. This is true for most of the pedestrian overpasses in Beijing. We old people thank you, China.

When I first came to Beijing, I was surprised at the relative cleanliness of the streets and sidewalks. That’s not to say they are any cleaner than American city streets, but, being a third-world country, I expected much more litter, as I’ve seen in other “developing” cities such as Arusha, Windhoek, Lima, etc. At first I thought the Chinese were particularly conscientious about using trash cans. There are indeed many trash receptacles (“recycling and unrecycling”) around Beijing, and people do use them a lot. Furthermore, they generally are not overflowing.

There is a kind of person in all societies, however, who is inconsiderate of his fellow man and has little attachment to his surroundings, and Beijing has plenty of those – more than its fair share, I think. But China has a lot of people that it needs to employ, so you see cleaning people everywhere on the streets and sidewalks, in all kinds of weather, picking up trash. There are others (entrepreneurs) who go through the trash cans for recyclable stuff (plastic bottles, cardboard, etc.)

This full employment scheme extends to the stickers I showed you earlier. Little kids (who are close to the ground) are hired to put these stickers ALL OVER the sidewalks, inviting clients to call this number to obtain a fake red stamp on their otherwise unofficial documents in order to convert them into “official” documents.

Then the government hires a team of two people, one to pour some kind of solvent on the sticker…

…and the other to follow behind with a scraper to remove the stickers.

I don’t know whether I mentioned to you my feelings about China when I first came here in 2007. I t hought Fujian Province was wonderful and wouldn’t mind living there, but I swore I’d never come back to Beijing. There are many times I wish I had stuck to my guns on that, but, alas… I’ve now accumulated Beijing 4 things that I know will never adapt to, things that I’m actually becoming more militant about.

The first (not in any order) is the air. It’s really bad, and I’d love to see the lung cancer and emphysema statistics. It tires you out, makes you eyes water, keeps you from sleeping, and generally inhibits your attempts to have a happy life.

The second is the ruthlessness of the drivers. In my view, this is partly a function of the newness of the drivers here and partly a function of their arrogance derived from living in the glorious capital of China.

The third – and you’ll see now why this list is presented in the blog on walking – is the constant, disgusting spitting right in the middle of the sidewalks. It seems that most people here have adapted because they don’t seem to notice either action itself or the product that ends upon the sidewalk. I think I’m the only one who looks down to avoid stepping in whatever.

The fourth is…well, let me tell you my story from yesterday. I hopped on my bike to ride to Metro (the large German-owned “Wal-Mart”), which is the only place I’ve found condensed milk, my substitute for table cream for my coffee. About halfway there I see a couple cars parked weirdly, a knocked-over motor scooter, and a few people milling around. I thought there had been an accident so like any other red-blooded gawker, I stopped to see what was happening. Turned out nothing; the scooter had been down for some time, and the cars were simply parked the way they were thanks to the drivers’ inclinations. I was getting ready to move on when this father and his toddler stopped right near me and the father encouraged the little girl to stoop in the middle of the sidewalk and urinate, which she dutifully did. I saw the same thing earlier in the week and once last fall.

Yesterday I quickly pulled out my phone and tried to get a photo for you, knowing you may not believe me, but the father kept moving to block the view so I couldn’t get a photo. Then we simply stared at each other in an aggressive way, and now that the little girl (1 year old?) was done, I moved on. Guess I’m glad these guys don’t carry guns or knives.

When you see a toddler, look at the back of his/her pants. There is a vertical slit about 8-10 inches in length, just for this purpose. Haven’t Beijingers heard of diapers? So, yes, sidewalk urination is the fourth. I was talking with an administrator here yesterday and he was trying to convince me to stay a third year – did I forget to tell you that I signed on for a second and that I’ll be here until September 2014? – and I laughed and said that wasn’t possible. He pressed the issue and I laughed again, jokingly saying the school would have to triple my salary, pay my wife’s salary, then convince her to move here for a year. He didn’t laugh and said it was no joke and that they could do it. But I know that not even a 7-figure salary would get me to stay here a 3rd year. Guilin, Chengdu, or Fujian Province? Now that’s a different story, but I’m becoming more anti-Beijing every day. Why can’t Beijing be in France, for goodness sake?

OK, now that I’ve got that off my chest, I can talk to you about Japan and Guanxi.

保罗

Alone Again (Naturally)

This is just a quick note to all you KK fans (which abound in warthog-like numbers, I’m sure) that her visit her ended and she is now safely back home. From my perspective, it was an unqualified success, though it’s much easier putting up with her than with me, so she will have to comment on her own, We had a great time both in Beijing and in Guanxi Province.

During the trip I had the opportunity to work my way almost through the entirety of the Steve Jobs biography. I recommend it highly to EVERYONE. At the moment, I’ll just say that his favorite Bob Dylan song was the same as mine: “One Too Many Mornings.” (For me, it’s a toss-up between that one and “Boots of Spanish Leather.”) You need to listen to both Dylan’s own performance and to that of Joan Baez. Very different, very good. (Jobs did not mention Gilbert O’Sullivan.)

My plan is to write one more post about walking around Beijing, which relates to my experience in Japan, then write about Japan, and then Guanxi. Hope you can wait.

保罗

From the Terrace

Just so you know, KK and I are off to Guanxi Province today and we’ll be incommunicado until May 24. If you’re curious about what we’re going to see, Google – something we can’t do here – the following places: Guilin, Longji Rice Terraces, Yangshuo, and Lijiang River. You’ll see our own photos when we return – after I cover Japan.

保罗

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

When I first came to China in 2007, people were dressed pretty much as I had expected. The attire was conservative, as it is in most developing countries. The men were dressed in pants, collared shirts, and jackets (heavy ones on cold days, light ones on warmer days). The women were dressed almost the same, though both the pants and shirts were nicer looking. On my first day of walking through the neighborhood last August, I was immediately struck by two things.

The first was that the men were dressed almost exactly as they were 6 years previously. Here is a bunch of guys hanging around on a side street, playing Chinese chess.

This is a very common scene (guys hanging around, that is), though more often they’re playing cards. I suspect their wives are in the nearby shops and stalls working while these guys goof off.

On or near the universities, the male students are dressed like most university students everywhere, jeans, sweatshirts, etc.

Like males in most countries, they don’t seem to dwell on their attire or invest much in it. You rarely see a tank top and only slightly more common are T-shirts (though these are more prevalent on the university campuses).

That’s pretty much it for the guys. Quite a different story when it comes to females, however. In 2007, most girls were dressed in pants or jeans, with a shirt or sweater.

In my last post I mentioned that, by comparison, Chinese females are slim. But they’re not skinny, and in the 6 years since my original visit, it’s like Chinese women just discovered that they have legs – and nice looking ones. Now, a large percentage in the 20-40 range (and a few beyond that age) wear very short shorts, very short dresses, or very short skirts, always accompanied by nylons or leggings of some sort. You rarely see bare legs, and those are usually on university campuses.

If they have less clothing down below, this trend has not reached the upper half: I have not seen a low-cut blouse or an bare bellies yet. Still, I’m wondering if the women are dressing this way to attract men. If so, I’m wondering if it’s working, because I have yet to see any male turn his head even slightly to follow a woman with his eyes. Perhaps to do so is regarded as being very rude.

The conscientiousness about women’s weight does not seem to have reached the pathological or obsessive stage. Still, KK, in a recent trip to a local mall, pointed out that the mannequins here are thinner than those in America.

This girl (the one on the right) could be a mannequin.

This young lady is wearing a sleeveless shirt, something that is not very common in China – yet. This was a relatively cool day but she didn’t seem to think so.

Though sleeveless shirts are rare, here is a middle-aged woman doing some arm exercises in her sleeveless shirt in warm weather. I decided against moving closer to examine her armpits.

Even when it’s very cold outside, the girls will wear their short skirts and pants, with thicker leggings and warm coat. You rarely see long coats – don’t want to cover up those newly discovered legs.

Boots, both short and knee-length, seem to be “in.”

The last woman, in the high boots, is holding her hand over her mouth and nose. This is fairly common for women who don’t have masks when the wind is blowing, carrying dust, pollen, or exhaust fumes. I get the impression that it’s more for show or out of habit as opposed to being effective. I rarely see a man holding his hand over his mouth, either to protect himself from the air or to protect others from his sneezes.

Females on university campuses tend to be dressed a little more conservatively than those on the business streets. Is education or sophistication a factor here?

Stripes are definitely in, especially wide ones. A rough estimate today leads me to think that 5-10% of the people I see on the university campus were in stripes of some sort,

Occasionally you see a guy in flashy stripes, but not often.

Here’s one of the park’s gardeners in her striped shirt.

On the university campus you frequently see girls in long, light-weight skirts, but this is much less common on the streets.

There seems to be some relationship between long skirts and cell phones.

Speaking of cell phones, one of the surprises for me is that Bluetooth earpieces are exceedingly rare here. I’ve seen one. A lot of people walk around speaking into wired earpieces going to their cell phones, holding up the mouthpieces close to their faces. I don’t know whether it’s a cost issue (I doubt it), whether it’s just too noisy on the streets of Beijing (which it is), or whether there are legal/political issues involved. Anyone know?

In some of the pictures above you see the women with little umbrellas or parasols to protect them from the sun. On a warm, sunny day I’ve seen up to 5% of the females with umbrellas. Though a guy and a girl may share one, I’ve not seen a solo guy with a parasol. The girl below is sitting on the bench in the shade, but still she has her parasol. I was sitting in the same place the other day when bird poop landed 6 inches from me. Maybe this girl is savvier about avian excretory patterns than I. *****GIRL ON BENCH

KK fits right in with the local crowd.

My newest friend in this park is Douglas.

He and were talking about the Chinese people involved in one way or another with the Boston bombings. He said that the Chinese girl who was killed was very pretty, adding that foreigners seem to find Chinese women attractive. I simply smiled, not wanting to get myself in trouble.

保罗

P.S. Sorry some of the photos are blurry. I was force to be a bit furtive in taking these photos, requiring me to hasten.

They All Look Alike

[Author’s Note: If you haven’t read “Caveat Emptor” yet, please do so before proceeding.]

When I was a freshman or sophomore in college, I had to take Sociology. For a biology major like myself, this was a particularly boring class, especially in the 60s when it was all touchy-feely stuff with little substance. The teacher was nice and I was generally respectful in class. I listened but rarely took notes. (I didn’t become a good student until I took Entomology as a junior.) I’m not sure I opened the text more than once or twice. Still, I was getting an A in the class.

Then we came to the final exam. As I recall, it was an all essay exam that I knew, when I saw the questions, I could ace. So I’m writing away in my typically sophisticated manner, knowing that all I needed was common sense to get an A in this class. I turned to one of my friends next to me and whispered that this class was so easy that I hadn’t opened the text or studied, and that it looks like I’ll get an A in the class. I did not know that the teacher was standing behind me, listening to every word. She reacted in an embarrassed and hurt way.

To this day I deeply regret that cockiness for both my sake and hers. I got an F on the final and a D in the class, despite the fact that I had A’s on all other assessments. I bring this up at this time because I think she would be the last person on Earth to believe I’m now interested in making sociological observations about populations. Yet almost every day I spend at least an hour in the park watching people and thinking about how they are the same or how they’re different. In this post about the Chinese people, I’m going to discuss their physical appearance.

Several times during each year in each of my classes at TJ there were moments when the phrase “They all look alike” was apropos and, in my typically anti-PC way, would voice it. My Asian students seemed to understand I was making a benign joke because in all ways important to their lives I treated them as individuals, with courtesy and respect.

But the bottom line is that there is in fact much less phenotypic variety in China than there is in America, despite the fact that one can distinguish between people from southern China and those from the north. The only blond Chinese I have seen have bleached their hair (the “odd’ punk kid). Similarly, there is not a high percentage freckle-faced red-heads with curly hair in China. The heterogeneity in nose size and eye shape is miniscule compared to that in America, which probably has the greatest overall phenotypic heterogeneity of any country. (I’ve seen no one with the famous Cammer nose.)

When I was here in 2007 (my first trip to China), hair styles were more uniform than they are now. I remember seeing large numbers of female high school students who all had pretty much the same pageboy hairdo.

Now most women in the 20-40 range style their hair and the variety of hairdos is much greater than it used to be just 6 years ago. Still, there’s only so much you can do with thick, straight, black hair. I’ve seen no curly-haired women, though I have seen some guys with artificial wavy hair. Also, a few women, mostly in their 20s, dye their hair dark brown. Chinese hair, incidentally is thick. One strand on my white kitchen floor can be seen from 5 yards away.

Guys’ hair is still very uniform: it’s cut short like in America in the 50s, and only rarely do you see a young guy with dyed or slicked hair. I’ve seen only one guy, a street musician, with long 60s-type hair.

A week before departing for China last August, one colleague quipped, “Well, Paul, how is it going to feel to be in a place where everyone is your own height?” As it turns out, everyone is taller than I, including the middle school kids, though clearly the average height in China is less than that in America.

Chinese women are well known for being very pretty and, as I think I mentioned, this was FII’s first comment about China when he arrived. While everyone has his/her own tastes, I think I know why Chinese women have this reputation (though it’s scarcely a revelation):

• Chinese people have delicate bone structure, which emphasizes daintiness in the females. This is enhanced by the delicacy of their hand movements.

• This bone structure is especially evident in their hands, which are very delicate and suited for playing violin but less so the piano.

• From looking at ONLY their arms and legs, there seems to be very little body hair.

• Chinese skin seems generally clear and smooth with clear complexions. The incidence of acne seems to be very low (though not absent) in this country. It would be interesting to study the relative influence of genetics and diet.

• High cheek bones give the impression that they are smiling. (In fact, the Chinese seem very happy indeed and the girls in particular seem to be always smiling, laughing, and joking with their comrades.)

• Chinese are thin in comparison to Americans (but, then again, so is the rest of the world). In 8 months I have seen only 1 clinically obese person, and I see only a small percentage of people whom I would call overweight. (Yeah, I know, who am I to judge? I’m such a spectacle that even a stranger who is introduced to me is tempted to rub my belly in public.) Still, Chinese women are constantly aware of their weight and they eat very carefully.

One thing I’ve noticed is that there seems to be a higher incidence of teeth problems. While certainly there are those with perfect teeth (see above), I run into a high percentage who, if living in America, would undergo orthodontic work.

I think orthodontia will become more common as wages increase.

I’m not sure whether the relatively low incidence of orthodontia is a function of money, vanity, or what. Certainly this country is still building its middle class, and there are a lot of families without the means to pay for merely cosmetic changes.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that there seems to be a higher incidence of people of all ages wearing glasses than there are in America.

I’ve seen no one, student or adult, fumbling with (or even talking about) contact lenses. In one of the malls there is a sunglasses store with an ad for contact lenses cleaning liquid, so I’m sure they exist in China. So why don’t more people use them? It could be the expense; it could be that dust and pollution in the air prevent their use; it could be a cultural thing because there is the feeling here that glasses make you look more intelligent, and job hunters are encouraged to wear them during interviews.

The delicate bone structure of the Chinese does not give the men a fierce or tough-looking appearance, though occasionally you stumble across a stocky guy.

The selection of safety razors in the stores is very limited because most Chinese men seem to use electric razors due to their relatively hairless faces. Some women (percentage unknown) in their 20s & 30s do not shave their armpits (sorry, no pictures), though I think in another generation or two this will disappear (pun intended).

All in all, I get the impression that over years since I first came to China, men’s awareness of their own appearance has not changed much, if any, while women’s self-awareness (vanity?) has skyrocketed. It is for that reason I forecast that two of the three best businesses ripe for investment in China are decorative hats and cosmetics.

The third area, at the moment, is chicken.

保罗

Put Another Penny in the Old Man’s Hat

(Sorry that punctuation doesn’t appear in blog titles.)

Yes, it’s Christmas time again. I am delighted that one of my former students KK has decided to visit Beijing. I was scheduled to pick her up at the Beijing airport. She was taking the usual mid-day United flight, as I noted on the itinerary she sent me. That was all I noted, unfortunately.

That plane arrives, generally, at 3:25 p.m. On Fridays I have a Neuro class that goes from 2:45-4:15, so I arranged for a substitute to take my class. My plan was to get the class started, ask the students a few questions, then turn the class over to the sub and leave for the airport. Thursday night I decided to confirm her arrival time by actually reading the itinerary and discovered that her plane was arriving 90 minutes before it was “supposed to.” (Later I learned that the flight this day went east over Greenland and not west through Russia, evidently knocking off an hour and a half from the flight.)

I met my sub at 2:35, gave him the quiz, then headed out to the airport by subway. I found her waiting patiently at café, looking either sleepy or glum (because of my tardiness).

KK also is known as the decorator because during the years she was in my classes she decorated the room for each holiday of the year, hanging flowers and cool yellow stuff for Easter, Valentine’s Day (red hearts etc.), and so on. She used appropriately decorative paper to cover the door. All this was against the fire laws, of course.

But let’s back up a bit. Because I hadn’t ever really cleaned the spare bedroom and bathroom well, I figured I needed to do so this time. I washed off 3 mm of dust on the credenza and beside tables, cleaned the toilet, bought a new bath towel, hand towel, and bathroom rug. It took me 2 days to ready the apartment.

Earlier I had purchased a small brown rug to put the guest sandals on, and now I thought it would be prudent to wash it, as it had accumulated a lot of dirt from the air. I threw it into the washer without giving it a second thought – which I should’ve done, having witnessed the effects of washing on dish rags.

I put a new plant on her credenza.

Upon arriving at the dorm from the airport, we were told that (a) if I wanted to have a guest I needed to have applied for this in advance (which I have not done heretofore), and (b) non-family guests of the opposite sex cannot stay in the same apartment. What kind of silly policy is that? Somewhere along the line someone murmured something about my needing to do a better job of following the rules. Imagine that.

I wasn’t worried, knowing I had sufficient cachet to weather this storm. I spoke with one of my contacts in the main office who called a higher up person who called the principal. Kaitlin was shown to a wonderful 3-room apartment just like mine and just next door. She now has 2 bedrooms, an office, a fridge, water cooler, and 2 bathrooms.

So, it was like Christmas again because KK brought me a Care package with things I can’t find easily here in China (or would rather be purchased in America). She arrived with a large suitcase full of stuff for me from my wife, including more books, which is fortunate, considering I’ve just read the last book I had. It was “Awakenings” by Oliver Sacks, given to me years ago by a student. It was a very revealing book, and I was drawn in particular to Footnote 45.

I’m sending the books I’ve already read back with KK (though she doesn’t know it yet). Two of them are “The Book of Illusions” by Paul Auster and “Essays from the Nick of Time” by Mark Slouka.

Paul Auster is one of America’s most outstanding and most imaginative novelists, and this is a great (and unusual) story. I had never heard of Mark Slouka but had picked it up because I liked the cover. His writing is a bit difficult to follow at times, and it can be slow in places, but in the end I loved the book and found myself agreeing with almost everything he said. He complained about politics, technology dependence, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised by one book, a gift from a TJ student with a delightful note on the inside (which means more to me than you know). Thanks SM!

Right behind the books, in terms of importance, were two boxes of cigars. Unfortunately, the third box I was expecting arrived at my house the day KK left for Beijing. Pits.

There were essential medical supplies…

…and 3 olive oil bottles.

One surprise was a Swiffer, something my wife has been after me to get for this apartment since she’s been here. There’s a statement if I’ve ever seen one. Here’s my new Swiffer, lovingly displayed by K “Vanna” K.

保罗

On the Outside Looking In

It’s interesting watching the news from another country:

• Marathon bombings by a citizen.

• Massive explosion in fertilizer plant cited previously for violations.

• 3 women held captive for a decade in a house not far from their homes.

• 26,000 sexual assaults in the armed forces (a 37% increase in 1 year), and the person in charge of fixing that problem is arrested for sexual assault.

• Governing body rejecting gun-sale background checks when 80-90% of the population wants them.

• Governing body generally dysfunctional.

• Almost executed a possibly innocent man because prosecutors didn’t want to do DNA test.

If Americans were to read about these events in another country (China, for example), what would they say to each other over coffee? How would the news media cover it? What should people in other countries (China, for example) think about America when they watch CNN (except that they’re not allowed to watch CNN)?

When will we start looking beyond mere individual perpetrators at the big picture, societal evolution? No more ostrich. We have met the enemy…

A Chicken in Every Pot

Been a busy time lately, but took this evening off to cook.

Coq au vin, Part 1:

Coq au vin, Part 2:

Part 3 will take place tomorrow morning.

Need I say more?