Occupy Wall Street

China's government is very excited by these global protests against Western capitalism, though nervous that they could spread to 'socialism with Chinese characteristics', i.e. state capitalism, in an even more unequal society than American has become. So, I was invited to participate in a discussion on China Radio International about the global protests. Of course, I had already left the country when the movement began in NYC, and so I can only observe from a far, though I don't see much different than the anti-globalization protests of the 1990s. Anyway, for those interested, here is the link to the discussion with the hosts, myself, a professor of Sociology at Fordham, and a participant in the Occupy university group. http://english.cri.cn/cribb/programs/today.htm. Tomorrow I am participating in a talk on the East-West Center based in Honolulu that I used to be affiliated with while a PhD student at the University of Hawai'i. And the university hosts its sports event day tomorrow (and thus cancelled my class and scheduled midterm), so I am hoping to take some good photos of a tug-of-war ('jia you!', that is the Chinese rallying cry, 'add fuel,' give it all you got), which we American teachers participated in when I taught English in Yunnan province. We beat one group of students, before losing to a second group of students, and if I recall correctly, the Chinese teachers beat us too. I mostly recall my hands were raw if not bloody after 1-2 hours of pulling a ragged rope, and that the Chinese teams were much more unified (with their chants of 'yi, er, SAN!', 1, 2, 3, and on 3 they pulled in unison), we Americans (including several West Point cadets) just tried to use our own individual strength and will, but miserably failed. (though we did win the basketball match (narrowly) against the PE teachers in a very physical and heated match, that led to some female teachers saying that we should not have competed so hard and risk an insult by winning, but I assume we all appreciated the spirit of the competition. So, I can go cheer on my students in their day-long mandatory day of sports.

End of October 1st Holiday

We have had two Fulbright gatherings in the past week; once at an eclectic hotpot restaurant and the other at a Western pizza joint. Both were quite good. The Chinese hotpot allows you to prepare your own sauce (um, sesame paste + chili oil), and then drop in your favorite meats, veggies, and fungi into the boiling cauldron (most are probably familiar with hotpot). This one, which is immensely popular, also offers free manicures, snack trays, and a performance of 'Dancing Noodles', where a waiter slowly whirls (i.e. makes) noodles before your very eyes, with each spin probably doubling the length of the noodles. As he does his breakdancing routine, he even inserts some martial arts techniques and traditional Chinese art forms where the noodle flies across the room as if suspended in air nearly reaching a patron's face as if out of a Hong Kong film (or Tarantino's Kill Bill). Fulbrighter James McGrath alertly captured some of the dancing from an up close vantage point and I am sharing his video here. Next time we'll have to set up a tripod from the other side of the room.




We also made it to Kro's Nest, a pizza venture run by a former student of the University of Hawaii that I knew some years ago from our regular Saturday morning pickup basketball games. Unfortunately, Olav was not working/managing the night that we stopped by, but we got to meet lots of interesting people somehow tied together by a connection to Fulbright. The pizzas were enormous, and a single slice seemed to be almost a pizza in itself. My first Western food in China, which I usually avoid for several reasons, mostly because of the variety and joy of Chinese cuisines (which come in so many regional forms, even a simple dish of tudouzi, shredded potatoes, I've experienced in endless varieties, most recently crispy like shoestring french fries, that was supposedly a Hunan style). Next week a few of us will try for a Hubei restaurant (Nine Headed Bird, and perhaps check out the massage parlor by the blind next door).

Meanwhile, classes resume next week after the 'Golden Week' holiday to celebrate New China's founding on 1 October 1949. So I spent yesterday reading excerpts of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx that I have assigned to my class but had not read for several years. I rather enjoyed it, and glad that they fit together as I envisioned when I placed them in my syllabus this summer. In my last lecture, I tried to link some of their ideas on the 'state of nature', the 'social contract', a 'good' society, and the role of government to Chinese philosophers like Kongzi, Mengzi, and Xunzi, and connect their philosophies to the Western tradition (the class agreed that Mengzi approximates liberalism for instance; Xunzi was more conservative). It should make for a fun read when they submit their papers in a couple of weeks.

Driving in China

After hundred of times driving in China, I finally succumbed to the experience of a collision. Well, sort of. Returning from IKEA, I was leisurely driving straight on a rather quiet street, passing a bicyclist at around 15mph (25kmph or so). As I passed him he swerved rather dramatically leftward and thudded into the side of the car. Before continuing, I must say I have a lot of experience driving both in China and the US, and am very acculturated to the driving customs in China and have never had a single incident despite sometimes driving on sidewalks, down the wrong way on a busy street, over lane divides on the freeway (ring roads). I have mastered the merge between pedestrians, bicycles, tricycles, donkeys, rickshaws, public buses, private automobiles, taxis, and all other form of transportation. So, I want to make clear my skill, before describing the incident that has brought me down. As I approached on a reasonably wide street, with a white picket fence divider to my left, and cars parallel parked to the right, a motorized wheelbarrow scooted in front of me, while an elderly man on a bicycle slowly pedaled to his right. I followed behind the wheelbarrow scooter and even particularly gave the gentleman (or so I thought) a wide berth, even though in China one usually drives within six inches of the neighboring vehicle (literally, no exaggeration). Just as I was passing the cyclist, as the wheelbarrow machine had sped up and ahead, the bicycle ride swerved rather dramatically leftward and bumped the side of my car and fell. I instantly stopped, within five feet of the impact and within 1-2 seconds. We were concerned for his well-being and since I speak little Chinese, luckily Xiaodan jumped out to see how he was and help him up. I was driving so close to the left-side fence that I could not get out. Once it seemed confirmed that he was ok, but refused to get off the ground, and Xiaodan started to scold him, I figured we were going to be extorted and perhaps if I didn’t get out of the car, it might save some money (he later complained that I was arrogant since I didn’t emerge until much later).

He complained that we had hit him (he tapped the side of our car, scratching it a bit), and said as a 71 year old man that he had a heart condition and would have to go to the hospital. About ten onlookers came by and started to yell at him, motioning how much space there was between my car and the parked cars, and how he was on the side of the car not in front, so we could not have hit him. One gentleman who looked to be around 50 suggested we pay him 500 yuan (about $80) to settle the issue and move on, but he refused that amount, apparently hoping for something closer to 1-2,000 yuan since we were driving a car we could afford it. We discussed paying the 500, but I suggested 100 yuan since it was completely his fault, particularly by the rules of the road in China, where you simply can never swerve into another vehicle. We all move in unison, as one has said, like a school of fish, when a disruption, occurs we collectively avoid the intrusion, safely returning together to our former flow. You must never swerve for no reason. So, he repeated his contentions that we hit him, that his head was damaged, and would need a hospital. But he had nary a scratch, and his bike had not even one spoke bent. In fact, his basket of groceries, including about ten tomatoes still sat perfectly unaffected. Only a head of cabbage had trickled away.

So, as he refused to budge, cars honked, the crowd gathered, the foreign driver stared ahead blankly, the sympathy quickly draining away toward the humble old bike rider who now was only greedily considering what possible payday could result from such a fortuitous accident. I even wondered if he had carefully glanced to see a foreign driver and made his decision to hurl the bike, albeit gingerly, toward the slow moving Honda Fit. Likely, he was simply a poor bicycle rider. Xiaodan in the end called the police to come, as he now finally standing, continued to plead his case to the onlookers, who universally derided him and again chastised him for his story. A calm, middle-aged gentleman wearing a red tunic said he would not pay more than 100 yuan in this case, and the debates continued. Finally, after about an hour, a police car slowly emerged. Our chief concern was that I am not a licensed driver in China, which is illegal. In fact, I figured we would be paying at least 500 yuan if not to the ‘victim’ to the underpaid police officer. He asked for my license, and I produced my Arizona drivers license (good for 37 years in libertarian Arizona, a good deal for the $15 or so that it cost over a decade ago). He did not care about my license, though he took a digital photo of the crime scene with his smart phone, and supposedly recorded the various testimonials. He also appeared to agree that I was not at fault, and asked if the victim wanted to go to the hospital due to his complaints, and he thus admitted he was now fine. And if the victim did not want to simply ride his perfectly fine bike away, the cop asked after replacing the cabbage, what did he want? “well, not sure” was the seeming answer. The cop said to ask us what he wanted, and he replied to ask if this public servant could do the bidding for him. The police officer responded, no, you should ask yourself. But he could not be so direct as to ask for the money, but would not drop the case. So, the police officer pulled Xiaodan over beside his car, and said, “give him 200 yuan, and lets just end it here.” A meager apology on our behalf and 200 yuan was exchanged, and he grudgingly accepted the deal, though continued to plead his case to the cop as we were then allowed to leave. The officer offering these clear instructions to the victim that this was the end, there would be no follow up, so hospital bills, no lawsuit; that he had recorded the proceedings, and this was the final end. With that, my license was returned, and we departed to the north 3^rd ring road for our journey home as the broad Western sun set in the gloaming of the Western Hills.

The consensus was that we got off cheap, the bill could have easily been over a thousand. Of course, I am troubled by the lack of integrity, the lack of character. I am naturally very sympathetic, and if my fault, would gladly settle a reasonable amount. I have been hit several times by cars, in my own car, on a bicycle, and even intentionally as a pedestrian in Washington DC, and walked away, as I was not injured. I have just spent several long discussions about the sad state of affairs in China when an elderly man slowly suffocated while choking after collapsing to the ground with a seizure in Wuhan and no one intervened to assist, fearing a lawsuit. That came on the heels of a high profile case where a supposed good Samaritan was sued in court and lost for coming to the aid of an older woman who was hit by a car I think, and claimed that her rescuer was the culprit. Opinion polls have suggested that a majority would follow suit and not lend a helping hand. I still am inclined to help, particularly if I witness the incident first hand, but I am very wary. Possibly, I may not intervene. I hope to be a witness to tell the truth, and make sure a just outcome results. Of course, I only know enough to say something that involves food or travel, not much help as an expert eyewitness.

And of course, this man may be recounting the crazy foreigner driving unlicensed in China and couldn’t even read a street sign that nearly killed him, à la Rashomon (Kurosawa). Well, some other stuff happened during the early stages of National Week holiday, but this was the most immediately impactful to stimulate a blog entry.  

School Begins

The Fulbright experience is definitely first rate. It certainly opens alot of doors in China. I have spoken on the government's international radio station (my first ever media appearance anywhere) on Obama's leadership style and will so again in a couple of days on Six Party Talks on Korea (http://english.cri.cn/8706/more/8908/more8908s2011-09-22.htm). I missed a chance to be on national tv for the 9-11 anniversary as I was out of town for the Mid-Autumn Festival that weekend. Hopefully I will get another chance. I will also give 1-2 day lectures at other universities around the country over the course of the year (though the government is increasingly sensitive about political issues which some university reps said may make it difficult to approve my lectures), with one scheduled next month here in Beijing.

I have finally begun my teaching duties (two MA classes, with a TA for each), though already faced some frustration and a mild confrontation with the university administration. Apparently my courses are not compulsory, and in fact are not in the computer-based system at all, and students will not receive any credit for taking my courses nor receive a grade for their transcript. The students complained to me that I have assigned alot of work, and since they receive no credit they don't know if its worth the extra time (a valid concern). I met with the department chair and post graduate administration officer to no avail, though the professor agreed my assertion that if I cannot assign grades, I have very little ability to compel students to read, write essays, take exams, and take the course seriously. He and the administrator got into a rather heated debate that the professor lost, though I only was privy to the occasional word that I know (like jiade,which means fake, i.e. my course is essentially fake, not in the system). I continued to lobby that students should get credit, but was told that the computer prints out the schedule, this is the system, they cannot control it. And I explained that people control computers, we can change the system. And so they fell back to the red herring that this is a cultural difference between China and America. So, I am deciding whether to take their advice (not likely) and just lecture and students can just sit and listen as if auditing, or teach with grades that are meaningless and try to convince the students that this is a measurement of American standards and set it up as a task, a competition. After some discussion with students, perhaps the system is really set ahead of time; my TA has now told me that next semester my classes will count for credit.

Meanwhile the undergrads are away for their compulsory military training for several weeks, which means I can actually get a seat in the student cafeteria where meals are subsidized for as low as 50 cents per meal (one dish plus rice). One of my classes was also scheduled up against the mandatory PE class for grad students from 3-5pm, which severely cut enrollment. I'm in the process of trying to change the time.

Otherwise, I've joined a gym nearby that has yoga and taichi classes; I will start with yoga, based on watching the last class, I will be the only male among 30+ females and only Western face in the entire gym, so I hope I don't scare them.

I'm anxious to experience more of the classroom environment; and tomorrow the Embassy has sponsored us to bring our students to some ex-pat play of a cross-dressing farce called Love, Sex, and the IRS to further spread American culture; the students appear excited, especially when I told them tickets (which are free) would usually be $50 for the playhouse in Beijing.

First Class

Today was my first class, American Foreign Policy for graduate students. 40 seats, 48 students wanted to take the class (reminded me alot of Sac State in that regard). Decided to spend alot of time to introduce the syllabus to the students (they are pretty worried by writing a 10-12 page paper in English on US foreign policy, though one student confirmed that if using Chinese A4 paper which is larger than US paper it could be a bit less). They are also concerned about the exams, though I assured them that their past experiences taking exams should well prepare them. Students prefer Power Point supposedly, so I will use that frequently. Interestingly, as I took roll, of the 48 or so students, 13 came from one province (Shandong, home of Qingdao beer; I can only assume as an ocean city and province, that spurs more interest in external affairs), next was Anhui and Henan with 5, most only had 1 or 2 and many none at all (and none from Western and Southern provinces). Students seemed to be basically evenly mixed between male and female; all relatively young, directly out of undergrad I believe. I spent half an hour to explain my life in America to paint that picture, and will do so again in my other class (American Politics) next week. One student asked if they have freedom of speech in my classroom; I said certainly, the topic is America, you can say whatever you want, I don't care. I said that you can say what you want about China, but that is your decision and preferably only if it is relevant to US Foreign Policy.

Otherwise, just finished my 3 yuan (45 cent) cafeteria dinner; its not that cheap outside campus. And I joined a gym and completed my second workout today; one guy was pounding the hell out of the punching bag, like a 50 year old Bruce Lee, wouldn't want to mess with him. Good to have the familiarity of some dumbbells and sweat; Beijingers have already quit wearing shorts as temperatures have sunk into the high 70s temporarily, and think its odd to see my bare legs, but I try to remember that I will get stares regardless so I can wear whatever I want. Hope to get into some pick-up basketball game soon too before winter hits.

Orientation

I made my first ever radio appearance on China Radio International (the state run radio station), which was alot of fun (http://english.cri.cn/8706/more/8908/more8908s2011-09-01.htm). You can hear me discuss President Obama's leadership online. My American Foreign Policy and American Politics graduate courses are basically prepared. Ready to begin Monday when I find out that classes will be cancelled the first week for graduate student orientation, which I'm rather disappointed as I'm ready to start teaching. Then the next week is Mid-Autumn Festival (mooncakes!), so no class Monday. All the students arrived this weekend, 5 students per dorm room. I hope to visit the rooms and share pictures of the living conditions. Saw my classroom, better tech equipment than Sac State, but classroom is pretty old. Very busy with invitations to speak etc. Actually, some Americans are teaching here, Oral English. Paid around 5000 yuan per month ($850), with free housing. Weather has cooled, anxious to start teaching, and post more.

Fulbright orientation was excellent, 5 days in Beijing Renaissance Hotel. First class all the way! Ambassador Gary Locke gave us a nice introduction, and lots of good info from the Embassy staff, Chinese students, and Chinese professors. We also enjoyed some great meals and a sightseeing tour through the old city neighborhoods.

Arrival in Beijing

I am getting settled into my new digs at the China Foreign Affairs University International Exchange Center, which is a hotel run by the university for long-term 'foreign experts' like myself and short-term diplomats or scholars here for a conference of presentation. The campus itself is very small, about a five minute walk from end to end, with only one primary building for classrooms, a library, and some basketball and volleyball courts. There is also a 'canteen' or cafeteria that runs about $1-1.50 for rice and two servings of a dish, not bad. There is also a Muslim 'canteen' that serves food halal, which I am anxious to check out. Location is pretty good, 15 minute walk to Fuchengmen subway stop, and across from the enormous Tianyi wholesale market that sells everything one could imagine; Angry Birds appear to be hot everywhere, as are the Smurfs, though they look less cuddly than I recall as a child in the 1980s.

Today, I will get my office, which word is contains only a chair and desk and nothing else. I also hope to check out the classroom where I will teach, and next week will meet my teaching assistant, whom I hope is willing to do some major photocopying of texts (shhh, don't tell the publishers.) I think I've mostly got my syllabi ready to go, and next week is the in-country orientation, which can hopefully answer remaining questions.

Beijing itself is starting to cool from the normal hot and humid summertime, though still rather muggy. After 2 weeks, the tally would be 12 smog days and 2 blue sky days, that is probably a fairly accurate gauge of the norm, maybe a bit better this fall. I'm certainly not gonna keep track. Crowds on the subway (mostly young people) continue to swell, automobile traffic is even worse. 20 million people in the city, perhaps 30 million in the municipality. Prices are certainly inflated, as are housing prices and rental prices in dramatic fashion. A 1,000 square foot condo in the city probably costs $1 million (US); rent for a one bedroom runs about $1,000 per month. A middle class salary is probably $10,000 per year. You can do the math, but upwards of 50% of income goes to housing.

Looking forward to settling into a routine after classes begin September 5, and by then temperatures should be in the low 80s and more dry, like Sacramento perhaps.