Impressions from China - And It Begins...

Whoa. Talk about clampdown.

Today - July 20, 2008.

Beijing starts its odd-day-even-day car plate traffic restrictions. You can only drive your car on even days if your license plate ends with an even number & vice versa for odd days.

No more major construction in the city. Which means no work for construction workers.

No more trucks bringing in goods into the city.

It also looks like our satellite TV channels (probably not so legal) has been cut off. Which means no more Star World. AXN, Second Avenue (which has current TV programming from the US) etc.

This is supposed to go on for the next 2 months. Just as well that we will be away for one of those months.

Impressions from China - Back in BJ

We arrived back in Beijing last weekend to sweltering heat, humidity & torrential rain. As we landed, we could hardly make out the terminal buildings because of the haze (and there are how many more days to go before the Olympics, hmm?)

Entering the spanking new terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport was like entering a greenhouse. True it has lovely architectural design, beautiful lines & is shaped like a dragon. But when it is mostly covered with glass, & the airconditioning doesn't work properly... well, you can imagine.

This is the Departure Hall. Beautiful, isn't it?

It certainly didn't prepare us for our arrival back!

I thought that with all that extra space, getting out of baggage claim wouldn't be such a crush compared to crummy old terminal 1. But the same old bottleneck happened. It seemed like everyone arriving there was exiting through the same door surrounded by throngs of people holding signs with names of the guests they were waiting for.

Some things never change.

Yup, we're back in China.

Impressions from China - Friday the 13th

We could have gone fishing...

...in our basement.

The night before we were supposed to leave for our vacation, there was a HUGE downpour. And thanks to the superior quality of Chinese construction, our basement was flooded. Fortunately, my kids' musical instruments & equipment were saved in the nick of time, but our handwoven wool carpet...well, we'll just have to wait & see...

After an hour and a half of scooping water into buckets using cups, a dustpan & floor towels, we finally managed to clean up the mess.

There are now sandbags sitting outside our garage door, & at the door that leads from the garage to the basement. Hopefully, the next deluge that hits us (summer is usually the wettest time of the year in Beijing) will not result in another wading pool in our basement.

We are in San Francisco now....will try to post from time to time, as long as we can get free wi-fi. :)

Impressions from China - Tragedy

Limbless children.

Lifeless bodies.

Devastated buildings.

Agonized faces of people crying for their lost loved ones.

A small hand in a death grip clutching a pen amidst a pile of rubble.

These pictures we have been inundated with in the last week. It is fortunate that many have rallied to provide help to the survivors unlike in another country where people are dying because of politics.

Yesterday, for three minutes in the afternoon, one week after the Sichuan earthquake struck, China came to a standstill as a sign of mourning for those lost. Traffic stopped, horns blared & sirens sounded as everyone bowed their heads in silence. It is amazing (& heartwarming) that amidst this push-and-shove (literally) society, such empathy and sensitivity can still be seen.

Local TV, however, has taken openness & transparency to an extreme level. It almost seems like propaganda to me when for almost 24 hours a day, pictures of rescue workers are shown on almost every local TV channel, & TV cameras & reporters enter medical tents to show patients being treated. What's happened to privacy for the patients?

Impressions from China - Tremors

I felt my first earth tremor this afternoon. I was in the ladies' room of my kids' school chatting with another mom, as ladies are wont to do, & suddenly felt vertiginous. I had to take a step back to prevent myself from toppling over, & thought I had either developed an inner ear problem or was having a stroke of some kind!

It was quite disconcerting, that feeling of imbalance & instability.

I later found out that the tremors were due to aftershocks from an earthquake (7.7 on the Richter scale) in Sichuan. I hope there aren't too many casualties :(

Impressions from China - James Blunt

James Blunt's concert was wonderful. I have read about how many people dislike his "whiny, annoying" voice but I disagree. And by the looks of the sold out crowd at the concert last week, many are with me.

It was a bit strange, this concert, not because of James Blunt & his band, but because of the behavior of the security people. There were three of them standing in front of the stage. This venue is set up more like a nightclub than the typical concert-on-a -stage style. The people standing in the front row (standing room only downstairs) could literally reach out & touch James. And he did try to reach out to them too. But the security guards, whom I could tell, were very zealous about keeping Mr Blunt safe from the hands of his audience, raised their arms whenever the audience tried to reach for James (& vice versa). At one point, I thought they were going to slap James' hands away from the audiences'!!!

And so many people were taking pictures during the concert, flashing away rather annoyingly. I even saw the red point of a laser light shining on one of the musician's faces!!! Chinese concert etiquette certainly leaves a lot to be desired. The security people should have made an announcement before the start of the concert letting everyone know that the use of recording devices was not allowed & so on & so forth. Instead, the above mentioned security guards basically just used their hands to block anyone using cameras in the front area of the audience pit. Which meant the ones in the back could do as they please.

So this is the kind of thing that makes me wonder what will happen during the Olympics....hardware ready, but what about the software?

Hmmm.

Impressions from China - Oh-dear-lympics

We all know about the "disturbances" that the poor Olympic torch has been through the last few weeks. And about Mr Gere's diatribe & Mr Spielberg's "withdrawal" from being part of the production team of the opening ceremony.

But it looks like these outsiders are not the only ones feeling a bit peeved at the coming Games. I am not sure how the local citizens will feel about the inconveniences that they will have to bear with, some more severe than others...

• the residents living around the Olympics venues will need to have special passes to get into the area to go home
• that whole odd-number-even-number car plate tag team arrangement to try to improve traffic conditions & (maybe) air pollution
• apparently, merchants with stores in a large market near the Olympic venues have been asked, oops, I mean told, to close shop for two months.
  

Oh dear.

Impressions from China - Winter Fun

It's been snowing & snowing & snowing in the central, eastern & southern parts of China. And up here in Beijing, where it is notoriously cold in the winter? Nada - Zero - Zilch. Not a single snowflake. Apart from that one snowfall we had in the beginning of Dec, we haven't seen a sprinkling of H2o in any form since. Dry as a doorknob.

Lots of ice though. On the lakes, that is.

Above: This is Qianhai Lake, frozen over. The building on the left is the Gulou (Drum Tower) which has been around since the days of Kublai Khan.

You can bike-skate.

You can ice skate.

And you can chair-skate. Yes, you heard me, chair-skate. One thing about the Chinese is: they are innovative. Strap some flat blades on the bottom of some chairs, add a couple of poles that act as ski poles & there you have it - a nifty little contraption you can use to slide on the ice with.

And, if you really feel up to it, how about an invigorating dip in the icy cold waters in minus 2 degrees weather? This Polar Bear Club member did it. I don't know which was a bigger turn off: the frigid cold, or the filthy polluted water. To each his own...

Impressions from China - C-c-c-cold

It is COLD. Teeth-chatteringly, toe-numbingly, frost-bitingly COLD.

Frigid. Think a high of negative 3 degrees Celsius & a low of negative 10. I can literally make ice cubes on our deck outside.

And thanks to good ol' Chinese construction, & quality of insulation (or lack thereof), our house defies the very laws of physics. Our master bedroom, which is on the top (3rd) floor, feels like a refridgerator. (For those who did not take Physics 101 in high school, heat rises...at least, it's supposed to). But if we turn the thermostat up any higher, the lower floors will become stifling hot.

So it looks like it's gonna be sweaters & socks in bed tonight.

Impressions from China: Whether the Weather...

You know you have adapted to Beijing weather when you step outside & say: ”What a nice day it is today! It’s not so cold!”…

…and it’s a balmy 5 degrees Celsius…

:)

Impressions from China - 366

The Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium

It's been a year & a day since we landed in Beijing. The first few months seemed to drag on, due to occasional bouts of homesickness & frequent attacks of frustration as we slowly got used to the different ways of how things work here & the very different mentality of how Chinese think(I use the word "Chinese" here in reference to mainland Chinese as opposed to ethnically Chinese) .

Then as we made friends & discovered where to go to buy safe meat, & got used to having to wash vegetables & fruits so that we don't get poisoned, & figured out the best & cheapest massage places to go to & found things to do in school & with friends, the time has flown by.

These are things that I have realised in our time here (in no particular order)...

• I have yet to learn how to cross a busy Beijing street without going through a panic attack...

• I have learnt to watch where I step to avoid dubious-looking splotchy patches on the ground which, more often than not, turn out to be emissions of the oral, hacking kind...


• I have learnt to be patient with Chinese excuses & reasons they come up with when something goes wrong in the house that they can't readily fix...


• I have learnt that an electrician here may not neccesarily know much about electricity, & a plumber here may not know much about the priniciples of piping...


• I have learnt that if I add a "rrrrr" to the end of every noun/phrase/sentence, & pretend that I have marbles in my cheeks, I can do a halfway decent Beijing accent...


• I have become more confident in my use of Mandarin as my ears slowly attune to the local accent, although I am still far from proficient...


• I have learnt that Northern Chinese food, dialects & even facial features differ greatly from the Southern ones that I am used to in South East Asia...


• I have learnt that being Chinese is not a homogeneous condition, but something far more complicated than what has been argued about in Singapore (i.e. learning how to speak Mandarin does not neccesarily automatically make one more Chinese)...


• I have learnt that the mainland Chinese & the Overseas Chinese may as well be two distinct cultural entities altogether, for all their differences & despite their similarities (as I said...complicated)...


• I have learnt to apply lip balm at least twice a day to prevent chapped lips in the very dry & very cold Beijing winter...


• I have learnt that when one is deprived of good TV programs & good movies, one's attitude towards pirated DVD's drastically changes. (I think Hollywood movie studios/producers have to approach this "problem" from a different direction)...


• I hate the fact that most restaurants still do not have "no smoking zones"...

I'm not sure how much longer we will be here. At the moment, I am still ambivalent about staying here long term. The air quality & health issues certainly play a part in how I feel. (Last Thursday/Friday, the air quality index apparently reached a horrendous 421!!!) On the other hand, I know that if we do stay on, it will be an enriching & eye-opening experience.

Happy New Year to all!

Impressions from China - First Snow

Woke up to a blanket of white this morning...

A lot of it has already turned to gray slush especially on the streets because of the traffic & the salt that was strewn over it.

Here's hoping for a White Christmas!

Impressions from China - I Beg Your Pardon?

...Chinglish...Singlish...
...Pidgin English...

To me, the common thread in the above 3 variations of "English" is the fact that it is, for the most part, incomprehensible to foreigners.

A typical example of a telephone conversation here in Beijing:

Customer Service:
"HellogoodmorningthisiscustomerserviceNancyspeaking!"

Me:
Uncertain pause...
"Uh, hello? Who's this again?"

Customer Service:
"HellogoodmorningthisiscustomerserviceNancyspeaking!Iamcallingaboutyourcomplaintaboutyourdoornotlockingproperly"

Me:
Another uncertain pause...
"Can you please repeat in Mandarin?" (spoken in Mandarin)

Not only do they tend to link every single word & every sentence together without any punctuation whatsoever, but add the Chinese accent to the mix & they might as well be speaking a foreign language altogether.

I admire the fact that many Chinese are learning English in an attempt to keep up with the rest of the world; and there are many who speak excellent English. But then there are those who are not quite up to par as far as spoken English is concerned, which leads to a lot of confusion when they attempt to do so, from the foreigners' point of view.

Similarly, many foreigners in Singapore (including family & friends of mine) who cannot understand the "English" spoken by the average man-in-the-street/waiter/salesperson in Singapore. And it saddens me to hear the repeated insistence by certain circles in Singapore that speaking Singlish should be something we should be proud of.

I don't think we should abolish Singlish. It is a unique "dialect" & instantly recognizable by fellow Singaporeans wherever you may be in the world. However, if the children of Singapore speak Singlish at the expense of knowing & speaking proper English, then it IS a problem.

MOE's introduction of teaching English to pre-school teachers is a good first step. I just hope that they are taught PROPER English, both written and spoken.

Impressions from China - Trash talk

There seems to be a lot of China-bashing going on these days. The recent rumor that China is banning Bibles from the Olympic village next year is another instance of black-mouthing. Although the official religion is atheism here, Buddhist temples, Muslim mosques & Christian churches DO exist; and as far as I know, believers of these mainstream religions are allowed to practise their faith freely.

I personally have not seen any persecution of people who worship in churches here. There is a church service held every Sunday in the clubhouse here that is very well-attended by the expat population. I have yet to see any police raids on the place. Worshippers walk around freely carrying their bibles to & from service.

So I really don't know where the rumor started from.

Impressions from China - An Olympic Celebration

Last week, my sons' school celebrated International Day with a special focus on the upcoming Beijing Olympics. I was there, & it was pretty cool to be part of the festivities as well as a part of the Olympic flag which was made up of students, teachers & parents.

We also made it into the China Daily news...

Impressions from China - Autumn in Beijing

You know, if you take away the gray haze, Beijing really is quite beautiful...

This was taken from the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall on a clear blue sunny day in mid-October.

Here is another view, this time, of mountain ranges adjacent to the Great Wall.

Awesome.

My attempt at an artistic shot - taken from one of the ramparts on the Great Wall.

In contrast, here are some pictures taken on a typical hazy day. These were taken in the Fragrance Hill & Summer Palace environs*.

View from Fragrance Hill.

This was taken on the grounds of the Summer Palace.

*for non-Mandarin speakers or those who are not terribly fluent (like yours truly), Fragrance Hills & Summer Palace are not user friendly at all. First of all, these places cover acres of ground with directions mainly in Chinese (& not very well placed either!) So if you go, make sure you hire an English-speaking guide.

The picture below was also taken at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, but at the end of October. As you see, the leaves have started turning red & yellow. What a difference two weeks make.

And to top it all off, a beautiful Autumn sunset by Roma Lake, near where we live. (This picture was taken by my fledgling photographer 13 year-old, showing off his recently acquired skills learnt during his Digital Photography module in school).

Impressions from China - Blue

Yesterday we saw blue skies. An unusual occurrence here in Beijing where a grey haze has become what we are accustomed to & a PSI of 90 is called "Good" day. The clear air was a result of a full day of slow drizzling rain, washing away the fumes & pollution coming from the kazillion vehicles, factories & what-have-yous.

It was wonderful seeing the Blue again, with white flurries of clouds interspersed amidst the cumuli nimbus, & breathing in clean air without the smell of exhaust or chemicals. We could even see the mountain ranges north of us - a rare & beautiful sight, indeed.

I wonder how long it will last. Today looks promisingly Blue still. The day is still crisp, with sunlight brightening up this fall day.

Mmmm….nice…I'd better go outside today & & enjoy it whilst I can, before the muck builds up again, which should take, oh, another 12 hours or so, I would think.

Impressions from China - Corn, anyone?

In the past month or so, this has become a familiar site. The end of summer marks corn harvest time, & I have to say the Chinese are resourceful in using what is available to them.

Our neighborhood is built amidst villages. A lot of the land has been taken over by sprawling expat compounds. Previously mostly farmland, there are still large areas where various crops are grown, depending on the season.

When the corn was ready for harvest, all those ears were stacked on the neighborhood streets, for lack of available space, in hundreds of piles, exposed to the elements, road gravel, passing vehicle exhaust & the occasional wandering stray dog or animal (I shudder to think what else these dogs may have done besides sniff at these piles of corn!). After a week or two of drying, the villagers put these ears of corn through machines which de-kernelize(is there such a word?) the corn, after which the kernels of corn are again left on the roadside to air before subsequently being ground into cornmeal.

I really, really wonder if there is further cleansing or sterilizing of the end product before it is sold as a consumable product. Maybe it's meant for the pigs?

Who knows? This is China.

Impressions from China - Danger where you least expect it

Scary, this...

Kyodo News
Monday August 6, 11:03 AM

Wrong drug combination may be behind S. Korean diplomat's death(Kyodo)

A mistake in the administration of intravenous drugs by a Beijing clinic may have been behind last week's death of a senior diplomat at the South Korean Embassy in the Chinese capital, a source informed about the incident said Monday.
Whang Joung Il, 52-year-old minister for political affairs, died July 29 after receiving intravenous solutions at the clinic he visited for treatment of abdominal pain.
As part of his treatment, Whang received Ringer's solution and an antibiotic that should not be administered simultaneously with calcium-containing solutions, according to the source. Ringer's solution contains calcium.
A written instruction for the antibiotic used in the procedure, obtained by Kyodo News says, "Do not use diluents containing calcium, such as Ringer's solution" with the drug as "particulate formation can result."
The possibility of the clinic's improper use of the drugs emerged as a cause of the minister's death after an investigation into the incident by the South Korean Embassy found that numerous blood clots were discovered in the minister's body.
The clinic has yet to formally inform the embassy about the reasons behind the minister's death, and has not offered an apology over the incident, according to the source.

The Chinese authorities, which are also investigating the incident, have yet to issue a formal report, the source said.
The South Korean Embassy has issued a notice on its website warning South Koreans in China not to visit the clinic in central Beijing, which caters mainly to foreign expatriates, for any kind of treatment.
Whang visited the clinic after falling ill eating a sandwich.

Imagine that. Dying from a stomach ache. I wonder which antibiotic it was that they used.

I am NOT going to that clinic. Ever.

Impressions from China - Clearing the Air

This is Beijing's attempt at clearing the air for next year's Olympics:

Vehicles ordered off road for Olympics drill
By Liu Weifeng (China Daily)Updated: 2007-08-10 07:06

Beijing yesterday announced a drill to test the effectiveness of the Olympic host city's efforts to improve air quality and ease traffic congestion.
From August 17 to 20, about 1.3 million vehicles - nearly half of the total 3 million in the city - will be ordered off the roads as part of pre-Olympic tests, according to the capital city's environmental and traffic authorities.
On August 17 and 19 (Friday and Sunday), only vehicles with the license plate number ending with the odd numeral will be allowed on the roads.
On August 18 and August 20 (Saturday and Monday), it's plates ending with an even number.
The rule applies to Beijing-registered vehicles as well as those from outside the city.
Du Shaozhong, spokesman for the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said air quality will be monitored during the vehicle-reduction days.
"Let's see the correlation between air quality and the number of running vehicles," he said.
"Data from the tests will be collected and analyzed to improve air quality," Du said, adding vehicle emissions are a leading cause of urban pollution.
In addition to the 27 air quality monitoring stations spread across all the 18 districts and counties, three new stations and two new mobile monitor vehicles will be put to use, he added.
Vehicles which will be exempt from the drill will include those of the police, ambulance, fire, postal and breakdown services and the public transit system as well as those belonging to embassies and international organizations.
Zhai Shuanghe, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Traffic Management Bureau said the drill will test the city's public transport.
Rush hour services of the bus and metro systems will be extended to three hours, 6:30 am to 9:30 am, from the usual two hours, 7 am to 9 am.
Civic servants are supposed to arrive in office half an hour earlier at 8 am, and shopping malls will open doors one hour later at 10 am.
Currently, the public transit system carries 31 percent of the traveling public and is the most popular means of transport after walking.
Beijing runs 19,105 buses, two metro lines and two light rail transits lines.
During the test period, the public transit system will operate at full capacity. Besides, another 700 to 800 backup buses will be used, Zhai said.
Some cities around the world - such as Athens, Manila and Sao Paolo - restrict vehicles according to odd or even numbers on license plates.
(China Daily 08/10/2007 page1)

This is a valiant attempt at reducing that gray haze that seems to hang perpetually over the city. I am sure it will work, because the traffic situation here is horrendous. The congestion you see on a regular workday is ridiculous. And it is quite common to see the PSI exceed 100.

What I wish is that they would make such efforts, not just for the Olympics, but, for the sake of the environment (& our health!), that it will continue past the Olympics. Maybe something not as drastic but perhaps some incentives to encourage car pooling or use of hybrid cars.