Thailand

This promises to be an extremely busy semester. I have scheduled guest lectures for almost every weekend into June, in addition to my regular two courses, and frequent media appearances. I just returned from Bangkok, where I was invited by the JFK Foundation in association with their Fulbright program, and by former US Ambassador Robert Fitts who operates the International Security for Chulalongkorn University, Thailand’s premier academic institution. I presented a lecture on the US election and its implications for US foreign policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand. That was a first for me, and to have middle and senior level foreign ministry and military figures (colonels and generals) in attendance made it more high level. I was also surprised that a delegate from the Chinese Embassy was also in attendance. That event went well, and we had some interesting questions as we delved into the US-China aspect. Later that day, I taught a class at Webster University, an American created graduate school with an extension in Bangkok. And the next day I presented a formal talk on “China’s Rise and America’s Return: Implications for Southeast Asia.” About 40-50 attended from former ambassadors and current foreign ministers from other nations, as well as US State Department, and other academics and interested observers and media. Three other Thai panelists made presentations alongside me; one suggesting that Thailand should move closer to China and was very critical of the United States, another who focused on theoretical considerations of the rise and fall of great powers and balance of power hypotheses, and the final one from near the Lao border focused on human rights, poverty, development, and environmental challenges.

I also had the chance to meet Pandit Chanrochanakit, who got his PhD with me at Hawaii and now teaches at Ramkamhaeng University and has affiliation with Thammasat University. We ate some pretty good food at Baan Khanitha, and even in such a short time, one of the major highlights was the food. This is my fifth trip to Thailand, and first in three years, and it was so wonderful to taste the fresh but spicy flavors that come alive in Thailand. This was the first time I didn’t eat street food and spend most of my time at Khao San Road, instead staying at the “5 star” Pathumwan Hotel at the MBK Center near Chula’s campus. Even the food court, freshly prepared food was excellent, and still cheap (30-60 baht per dish; $1-2), and full of flavor. I could keep going on, but in my personal rankings, Thai food is #1, followed in second by Italian, third is Chinese (in China), fourth is Mexican, and fifth is Arab/Lebanese. The top two are fairly static, though sometimes Greek, or Vietnamese, or Indian may pop up onto the list. The main point is that Thai is always my favorite, especially to finish a meal with sticky rice, fresh juicy mango, and coconut cream, or a papaya milk smoothie. Otherwise, bought a few shirts, wanted to buy more, but I only had my carry-on and didn’t want to buy a new suitcase just for the occasion. I forgot about bringing a second bag for shopping. I’d really like to find a way to spend longer time in Thailand, it’s a surreal country to me, especially riding the elevated trains at the level of the buildings, everything crowded on top of each other, neon tuk-tuks, motorcycles flying around, hordes of traffic, make-shift restaurants under every overpass, trees and vines busting through the cement jungle, and the occasional wat and Buddhist monks tucked into small alleyways. And on this visit, I was able to eat at the “Sports Club” with its grass horse-racing track, polo field, golf course, cricket pitch, and cool colonial air in the thickness of the 36 C (97F) humidity and smog (not as bad as Beijing).

Next up, I have a guest lecture in Chengdu, Sichuan (another chance for great food), followed by a five day trip to Qatar to lecture on post-conflict peacebuilding and transitional justice at Georgetown University’s Doha campus. Then, a string of guest lectures across China: Hefei (Anhui province), Urumqi (Xinjiang province), Dalian (on the coast of Liaoning province), and Guangzhou (Guangdong province). Also to be finalized are lectures at other schools in Anhui and Guangdong, along with one in Chongqing. And in July, Georgetown will bring me to East Timor as a guide for their program. And in between all of that, my eldest sister will visit for the May 1^st (Labor Day) holiday, and I will visit the US in the late summer, before returning to Beijing to teach for one more semester; likely here at the same school. Though I just found out that I received a grant from the CSU system to conduct research here in China, and for that I will be affiliated with Beijing University, the top comprehensive university in China. Busy, busy, but a great time.

NPC & CPPCC

China's political transition is in midstream, and this month are two big showcase events: the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; both in Beijing. Security is about 20 times normal; police emerge at street corners and then leisurely stand around and chat, ignoring the countless scofflaws and traffic rule violators. I'm more worried that these added police who tend to stand in the street are going to be killed by the speeding cars that run red lights.

The semester seems to have a very lackadaisical feel; that one month Chinese New Year holiday where everything shuts down, its just hard to restart the society after that long of a layoff. I've been very busy however with continued media appearances; even if a bit outside of my expertise. Three have been on CCTV, one on China's Navy (http://english.cntv.cn/program/dialogue/20120227/123516.shtml) and four on US foreign policy (http://english.cntv.cn/english/special/01/20120307/104963.shtml; http://english.cntv.cn/english/special/01/20120312/103597.shtml; http://english.cntv.cn/program/dialogue/20120322/103559.shtml; http://english.cntv.cn/program/dialogue/20120327/103937.shtml); and another two appearances on CRI radio to discuss the Super Tuesday results on the US election (http://english.cri.cn/8706/2012/03/08/2861s685595.htm) and North Korea (http://english.cri.cn/8706/2012/03/16/2861s687401.htm). Tomorrow is another discussion on US foreign policy in light of the NPC, and tonight is Death Cab for Cutie!! yeah! my favorite band is visiting Beijing for the Jue Festival, tickets were only 280 yuan, just over $40, not bad. Then Tuesday I have a presentation at the US Embassy on the modern 2 party system in America, and still preparing for my end of the month trip to Thailand for a discussion on Sino-US relations with the Thai Foreign Ministry and a presentation at Chulalongkorn University. Still need to find time to prepare for my classes, and this week I alerted my home university, Cal State Sacramento, that I will spend one more semester in Beijing to take advantage of all of these opportunities, before returning in January 2013. We will see if the faculty is on strike at that time, or the university and state owns up to the past contract raises that were promised and not fulfilled, or in the new bargaining can give us a decent contract or attempts to clawback our benefits. But no time for me to worry about what I can't control right now.

Friends of Syria

The semester has started, and once again I have two classes to teach, though enrollment is way down. I guess many students take an internship in the second semester of the MA program, and though my classes are now for credit, few students want to take on the workload of having both an examinations and a term paper. Registration is still in flux, so will see if I can at least get to double digits in each class.

Meanwhile, I had my first television opportunity on CCTV News (formerly CCTV 9) Dialogue show hosted by Tian Wei http://english.cntv.cn/program/dialogue/20120224/122701.shtml. We had an interesting discussion, or series of Q&A responses on the topic of intervening in Syria. I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to the next opportunity, which I was invited to discuss the Chinese navy. They are obviously starved for foreign guests, as I explained that I am no expert in the Chinese military, especially not the future of its naval operations. But I will do some research and combine it with my limited knowledge. For that matter, I am not a Mideast expert, but at least I follow events there. In any case, I made it through gaffe-free, no Rick Perry memory loss.

Spring is Here! (according to the Lunar calendar)

After a fairly dismal trip to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), perhaps China's most famous natural landmark, and subject of thousands of rice paper and ink brush paintings, ruined by dense fog that prevented seeing anything for 3 days on top of the mountain, I am off to the Fulbright mid-year conference in Xiamen, on the southern coast (around 20 degrees C). The spring semester fulbrighters will arrive, and we will review our collective experiences. Its supposed to rain the whole time, but I am still excited. Beijing has had clear skies recently as the cold western winds have swept away the pollution leaving frigid but crisp and clean air. Aside from that, doing the usual, appearing on the China Radio International program (a discussion of Obama's reorganizing government, http://english.cri.cn/8706/2012/02/02/2861s678826.htm), preparing my syllabi, getting ready to submit grades (they are due 2 months after the fall and even after start of spring).

Otherwise, my first Chinese New Year was worthwhile; I imagined I was in Iraq during Shock and Awe 2003 and tried to feel what being terrified by bombs exploding all around me with no idea whether one might land on my house would feel like. I even went out for a drive with flashes of light and rockets being set off on the street whizzing past the car. I thought one might hit the car, and perhaps even break the glass. There are no rules about fireworks, people run out into the street and set them off and you have to dodge them, on the street you might stumble into some like an IED, the fuse is already lit and might explode in your face. The smoke hangs and the white lights and multicolored hues splash across the horizon. And it goes on all night, and for weeks, culminating in the Lantern FEstival, two weeks after the Lunar New Year, when the government mandates they must all stop (i still heard a few pops afterward). I do like that the whole city lights up, you don't have to go to single destination like July 4, it envelopes the whole city. I am a bit noise averse, so I look forward to not being startled by massive explosions all around me at any time of the day or night. The last time I remember such combustibles was living in Belfast and the IRA detonated their largest bomb ever (it was 1992), several miles away but I thought my dormitory was going to collapse and my 12th floor perch no longer seemed like such a wonderful location.

And lastly, my pet peeve, or my reaction to all Chinese people's collective pet peeve, the cultural disparty between cold and hot. Yesterday, the temperature was around 35-40F (maybe 2-4C), and I made a dash to the public water machine which is a 3 minute walk from my accommodations; it takes about 2 minutes to fill my jug of drinkable water, and return, at most the whole endeavor takes 10 minutes. I wore lined sweat pants with a nylon shell, and cotton lining, a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and light jacket. As I filled my water jug to the sounds of mechanical music from the water machine (which I think is just ordinary tap water, but that's another story), a woman of about age 60 approached and I greeted her "ni, hao." and she replied 'Hello' in English to my surprise. Then returning to Chinese, she began the inquisition, about why I'm wearing too little clothes, how I must be so cold (but in accusatory not sympathetic tone), and then proceeded to start grabbing and feeling the lining of my jacket, and feeling the lining of my pants, and I protested that I was only out for 5 minutes and my pants had a lining (in my simplified Chinese, just the facts, I emphasized that it was sunny and I live right there and pointed and I am only out for 5 minutes!), and then tried to explain I teach here, but she kept returning to the coldness (leng! leng!), distracting me so that the water overflowed out of the machine and all over everything as I started to feel my feet getting wet from the torrent; then she apologized "duibuqi" and I said "meishi" (no worries), and took off, frustrated why people can't leave me alone, and 90% of the time is solely about this cold issue. In the future, I think rather than explaining that I am not cold, I think I will say that I choose to be cold, i revel in being cold, I live free or die in the cold. That being cold is healthy (there are some polar bear club types in northern China who swim in frigid icy lakes and rivers, a Russian influence I think), or the Eagle Dad that tortures his son to make naked snow angels or something. Obviously, it is apparent that I've had enough advice from the nation on the manner of coldness; I would have hoped that this was part of the feudal superstitions (the "Four Olds") that Mao Zedong eradicated (himself an avid cold water swimmer); perhaps another rectification campaign against the spiritual pollution of old thinking is necessary.

Chinese New Year

Things really crawl to a stand still during the extended holiday surrounding Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year). So slow that all the cafeteria staff have packed up and left leaving dozens of foreigners starving, or struggling to find nourishment. Luckily with a modicum of Chinese language ability I can get produce to cook, but its still a chore, and a rather lengthy one at that, perhaps as long as a whole month. Trying to catch up on other projects during the break, with some success. I managed my first radio appearance in over two months to discuss possible US negotiations with the Taliban (http://english.cri.cn/8706/2012/01/18/2861s676847.htm). And after the official Chinese New Year (which is one day, the official holiday runs about a week, but at least in academia extends to a nearly two month gap between terms). In the interim I will visit my last remaining major site that I have yet to see (Huang Shan, Yellow Mountain), subject of countless works of brush painting and calligraphy, and the most famous of the 5 sacred mountains of China. And mid-February the mid-year Fulbright conference will take place in the southern port city of Xiamen (formerly the Portuguese colony of Amoy), which should be quaint (by Chinese standards).

Next year I expect to teach American Politics again (for credit and grade, see previous posts), along with International Organization for credit and grade, and a third course as a lecture series on American culture and society, which I think shall be fun. That one will be open to anyone and just my free flowing thoughts about life in America and being an American and the like. No grades for that one.

On the political front, the passing of Kim Jong-Il was quite interesting as the newspapers here eulogized the 'Dear Friend' and reported his masterful scholarly and artistic pieces and posted positive statements from Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos, and maybe Iran. I looked into traveling to North Korea for Kim Il-Sung's 100th birthday event anniversary, but it costs around $3,000 for a 5 day trip. still tempted to see the pageantry of Pyongyang in spring, but my frugality will likely win out.

Campus Life

Finals week approaches, and so I took a picture of one of my classes (about 45 students officially enrollled), and their dormitories (grad students are 4-5 per dorm, a bed and small desk; undergrads are closer to 8 per room). All students must shower in a bath hall outside the dorms, and walk back and forth in the sub-freezing temperatures. Life in the dorm is primarily about studying; late into the night with a small lamp, or going to the library; relatively little socializing occurs in the dorms, and most are strictly regulated by gender. As one can see, it is cramped, little personal space, though with heat in winter, no AC in summer. Students are surprisingly like American students at college in the classroom, mobile phone usage, want to take an easy path to complete the course, not happy about their grades. The main difference is that Chinese students in high school (in China this is called Middle School/Zhong Xue), are remarkably diligent and disciplined, college is a time to take it somewhat easy, and grad school is even easier, though building pressure to find a job.

But, we all had one collective diversion, which was a fabulous concert sponsored by the US Embassy and featuring will.i.am and apl.de.ap from Black-Eyed Peas, joined by Coco Lee in the role of Fergie (better IMO, especially the more recent Fergie). They belted out their electronified hits, with awesome video backing and lights, and great back-up dancers; and in a rather cavernous National Indoor Stadium, the 'got it started' for sure. Its amazing to see energy created out of nothing! I had about 40 students go along. I liked all the performers John Legend was soulful, Sa Dingding was exotic, flourishing, with a beautiful red dress spinning with a Silk Road sound; Sunza was good; connected to the crowd; Coco Lee knew how to work the crowd as well, with her bilingual abilities (like Shunza); and could move when she joined the Black Eyed Peas. A concert clip on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsasnETT6RU&feature=related
It was really a great show, especially the end. In two days, head back to the US for 10 days for the holidays.

The Manchurian Candidate

I returned from a four day stint in what is called in China as Dongbei (the Northeast), the three provinces that formerly comprised Manchuria (and the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo). I only visited the southernmost province (Liaoning) and its capital Shenyang (formerly Mukden, the imperial city of ancient Manchu kingdom before they conquered all of China and created the Qing dynasty in 1644). I did not make it to Jilin and Heilongjiang further to the north, though i cannot imagine it being much colder compared to the -20 C I felt in the blustery and snow covered terrain near the Korean and Russian borders. I gave two lectures at Northeastern University in Shenyang and two lectures a bit to the south in Anshan at Liaoning University of Science and Technology. In both cases I discussed US-China relations and the 2012 US elections. The audiences were very large, on average about 250 per lecture, and the students and faculty asked very good questions. I was even given an enormous roar of applause when I stated US official policy since the 1972 Shanghai Communique is that there is One China and Taiwan is part of China. My description of official US treatment of the Dalai Lama or criticisms regarding human rights conditions or religious freedom did not receive such a warm welcome, despite the fact that in all cases I was merely describing positions, not personally advocating any view.

But overall, audiences in both locations rarely have American professors visit (though Walter Russell Mead preceded me in Anshan), so the reception was very enthusiastic. One student had memorized some of my past Sac Hornet blogs and published articles to discuss my views. I had no idea what he was referring to regarding a blog about civil rights, having forgotten what I had written over five years ago. When he discovered I was from Iowa, he recited verbatim Obama's speech upon winning the Iowa caucuses in 2008, and delivered it with some flair. He was a very energetic student, from the Bai and Tujia minority groups in Guizhou, he was full of life, and had a seemingly appropriate 'English' name Angelo. Liaoning is a main industrial center, so iron and steel is the backbone of the society there, and many students are prepared for a career in such a field. Interestingly, I taught English in Liaoning in 2004 at a steel factory, so this was all very familiar to me. It was also nice since there are both Manchurian and Korean autonomous minority areas, we could have a wonderful Korean barbecue one night. I also got to meet the US consulate representatives based in Shenyang. It was a bit cold and lonely in the hotel room where I couldn't figure out how to run heat or get hot water (maybe there wasn't any, its not rocket science), but enjoyed the trip overall; despite forgetting to take my passport and having to express mail it up in order to fly back, I usually take only trains which do not require and often ignore the official rules that all, especially foreigners, must check in with official id because the national police have computer links to each accommodation.

Now its time to prepare for final exams and for a week back in the States for the holidays. Ready for a break, and look forward to some time off.