On being cynical
I have avoided posting for the last few weeks out of fear that my posts may sound too cynical or negative. I probably surpassed experience overload quite a while ago, and my brain is starting to shut down....resist anything else. I realize that its going to take quite a long time for me to process what I have learned/seen/done in this very short period of time.
While lots has definitely happened in the last few weeks, including me working on a film about rural development which is premiering tomorrow, or me volunteering to teach street children at an outreach center beginning tomorrow, or me being sick for yet another time, or the independent research I have done on Yunnan tobacco, I want to focus this post on one of the best aspects of my experience here: meeting people.
As Larissa and I were at dinner tonight, I thought, damn if it weren't for this place I wouldn't have met any of the people at this table. We could have passed each other a million times and I would never had the opportunity to know them the way I know them now.
Yeah this stuff happens all the time whilst traveling. People are in a different state of mind. Especially when one comes from as dynamic a city as New York, where you can lose yourself, be alone in the crowd of a thousand, or (my favorite part) live multiple lives all at the same time. I've met tons of people while traveling. Some nice, some jerks, I'd some fun, never had my heartbroken, but I think my experiences here have been slightly different.
What I find the most overwhelming at being here is the feeling that I have to be "turned on" all the time. Meaning I can't be a cynical, negative bastard like I can in NYC. I have to be 'nice' and act like I care. Well, I probably always do care, but I like to pretend I don't...NYC allows me that much.
Anyway, my point. As difficult as its been at times, I am grateful to have come here and met the people I have met. I sincerely believe that I have met a good group of very positive people. I hope to stay in contact with a lot of them and hopefully see them again in the near or distant future.
It would be lame for me to say I changed because of my experiences here. Hell, maybe i have, but most likely I will return to NYC and go back to nearly the same life as I had before. Will I look back on my pictures/videos and cry? Doubtful.
What I will take away from this experience, and what will remind me of my time here most, is remembering the people I met. The people who passed through my life for a brief time or, in some lucky cases, a lifetime. In both cases, only time can tell how it all plays out.
One of thousands
I just had to share this picture with everyone. This picture (taken by Tashi) shows our Kunming-based coordinator, Professor Zhao, in a field of tea trees. To me its conveys the genuine warmth of this wonderful man. I wish that everyone single one of you could meet him. He has really gone out of his way to make our stay here as comfortable, safe, and educational as possible. Yeah there have been some disappointments along the way, but we all learned a lot, and have lived to tell about it.
A collections of recent China articles of interest
Just a quick update with some links to a few news articles that I have found of interest in the last few days. I didn't dig for anything here, just ran across them on the front page of a few websites I visit regularly.
I am not going to pretend that I really understand 100% what is really going on here, but whatever it is its been heating up lately.
With out further ado, below are the articles in no particular order.
Enjoy!
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China: 7 U.S. meat importers bannedBEIJING, China (CNN) -- Chinese food inspectors have banned meat products from seven U.S. companies from being imported into their country after finding a range of contamination issues in shipments checked on Saturday, according to China's official news agency Xinhua.
The suspension of meat imports from the American companies -- including Tyson Foods -- comes just weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it would hold all farm-raised catfish, basa, shrimp, dace and eel shipments arriving from China until they are tested for residuehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs from drugs not approved by the U.S. for use in farm-raised fish.
Source:
CNN
Carving Plight of Coal Miners, He Churns China IT is not easy to forget an encounter with Zhang Jianhua’s sculptures of Chinese coal miners; that is, if one is lucky enough to see them.
Many of the life-size works depict miners sitting on the ground in their black rubber boots wearing looks of sheer fatigue. Some stare blankly into the distance or prop up their heads with both hands, their faces fixed in nameless agony.
Source:
New York TimesCollection of information relating to the recent speeches of President Hu
There is a bunch of things here, for example:
CPC recruits 12M members in five years
The Communist Party of China (CPC) recruited 11.85 million members from 2002 to 2006, an average of 2.37 million per year, according to the organization department of the CPC Central Committee.
Official: Transparency key to public faith
A senior official has urged local governments to be more open and transparent, saying their attempt to block media coverage of negative incidents was "too naive".
Hu stresses scientific development
President Hu stressed the importance of implementing the scientific concept of development, promoting social harmony and building a well-off society.
Progress and problems mark elections
Democracy is making big strides in rural politics but corruption and vote-rigging plague some village elections, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. Vote-buying Scandal
Source:
China Daily
China Bars U.S. Trip for Doctor Who Exposed SARS Cover-UpBEIJING, July 12 — A Chinese doctor who exposed the cover-up of China’s SARS outbreak in 2003 has been barred from traveling to the United States to collect a human rights award, a friend of the doctor and a human rights group said this week.
The doctor, Jiang Yanyong, a retired surgeon in the People’s Liberation Army, was awarded the Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award by the New York Academy of Sciences. His army-affiliated work unit, Beijing’s Hospital 301, denied him permission to travel to the award ceremony in September, Hu Jia, a Chinese rights promoter who is a friend of Dr. Jiang’s, said Thursday.
Source:
New York TimesA Chinese Reformer Betrays His Cause, and PaysBEIJING, July 12 — Zheng Xiaoyu once ranked as one of the most powerful regulators in China. He rose from modest beginnings to help create and lead Beijing’s version of the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.
But last March, locked up in the Qincheng Prison here, he wrote a short confession. “Why are the friends who gave me money all the bosses of pharmaceutical companies?” he wrote in his letter, entitled How I Look on My Mistakes. “Obviously because I was in charge of drug administration.”
Source:
New York TimesFor 2 Children, Ban of a Drug Came Too Late
BEIJING — While visiting relatives a year ago, Du Haipeng, 5, came down with a sore throat. Doctors prescribed a Chinese antibiotic, Xinfu. The boy’s reaction to the drug was so violent, he had to be taken to a nearby hospital.
“I remember clearly that I was shearing sheep when I got a call from my sister and her husband,” said Du Xinglong, 36, Haipeng’s father. “When I rushed to the hospital my son had already fallen into a coma.”
Source:
New York TimesTo Beijing Games, Bring Your OwnAmerican athletes who normally sling a duffel bag over their shoulders for event travel may opt to lug a steamer trunk as they begin descending upon China in advance of the 2008 Beijing Summer Games — or the B.Y.O. Olympics.
Bring Your Own Crest. This go-to item is important for gymnasts who prefer a pearly Mary Lou Retton-sized smile for a Wheaties box pose instead of the nasty side effects from the recent batches of Chinese toothpaste tainted with a poison found in antifreeze.
Source:
New York Times
Printing Memories
Most of us will be moving on from Kunming in the next few weeks, or days in some cases. We are all (except one who has already left) stay in China till at least August. As a surprise for our China-based coordinator, I've decided to coordinate the collection of the groups' favorite (individually shot) photos, have them printed, and put them all in an album.
Wow! Some of these pictures are simply amazing. It's so crazy that we have seen and done so much in such a short period of time. Larissa and I went to Carrefore already and bought an album that holds 160 pictures. I plan on getting them printed sometime this week at one of this print-on-demand (they have a bunch of them here) places. I am telling you, its really been hard to pick just 160 out of the thousands of outrageously beautiful ones that we have complied over our short stay here.
Once I have everyone's photos complied, I plan on uploading them all to flickr. I will be sure to pass on the link.
Can China Reform Itself?
(Will reserve my comments for a future post)
PHONY fertilizer destroys crops. Stores shelves are filled with deodorized rotten eggs, and chemical glucose is passed off as honey. Exports slump when European regulators find dangerous bacteria in packaged meat.
More product safety scandals in China? Not this time. These quality problems prompted a sluggish United States government to tighten food and drug regulation 101 years ago, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the act that created the Food and Drug Administration.
Like America’s industrializing economy a century ago, China’s is powered by zealous entrepreneurs who sometimes act like pirates. Both countries suffered epidemics of fatal fakes, and both have had regulators who were too inept, corrupt or hamstrung to do much about it.
Source:
New York Times
In Economics Departments, a Growing Will to Debate Fundamental Assumptions
For many economists, questioning free-market orthodoxy is akin to expressing a belief in intelligent design at a Darwin convention: Those who doubt the naturally beneficial workings of the market are considered either deluded or crazy.
But in recent months, economists have engaged in an impassioned debate over the way their specialty is taught in universities around the country, and practiced in Washingthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifon, questioning the profession’s most cherished ideas about not interfering in the economy.
“There is much too much ideology,” said Alan S. Blinder, a professor at Princeton and a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Economics, he added, is “often a triumph of theory over fact.” Mr. Blinder helped kindle the discussion by publicly warning in speeches and articles this year that as many as 30 million to 40 million Americans could lose their jobs to lower-paid workers abroad. Just by raising doubts about the unmitigated benefits of free trade, he made headlines and had colleagues rubbing their eyes in astonishment.
Source:
New York Times
Favorite pictures of Shanghai
Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Shanghai. I tried to post ones that captured the spirit of the city, along with its rapid development, and their startling effects (e.g. that ain't fog you're seeing). All over the city you see remnants of the its not-too-distant past, or what I like to call "out with the old, in with the expensive." My friend told me that in the past (like her family) people were moved to outer areas, in 50-year lease, government-owned apartments. Now, unofficially I am told that, people are given money to move. They can refuse maybe once, maybe twice. After that g-men *may* come in the middle of the night bearing an offer you simply can't refuse. If you're interested, more pictures can be found
here. 
The best reason to visit Shanghai: Bund Sightseeing Tunnel
Agghh...I tried to post the embedded HTML here for youtube, but it doesn't work! Here is a link to the
Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. But be warned...its really out of this world! Enjoy.
Pop-Up Cities: China Builds a Bright Green Metropolis
Three years ago, Alejandro Gutierrez got a strange and tantalizing message from Hong Kong. Some McKinsey consultants were putting together a business plan for a big client that wanted to build a small city on the outskirts of Shanghai. But the land, at the marshy eastern tip of a massive, mostly undeveloped island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, was a migratory stop for one of the rarest birds in the world — the black-faced spoonbill, a gangly white creature with a long, flat beak.
Source:
Wired Magazine
Shanghai: What the f*** am I doing here?
For many, place like Shanghai and Beijing are as far as their exploration of China goes. Many come with planned tour groups, hitting the "highlights" of China in a neat 10 or 14 day tour. Upon returning to wherever they call home, most can barely contain their excitement when they can brag to their friends about their adventures. Most likely they will skip the negatives and highlight the perils of this exotic country with its unique culture.
Some will feel it necessary to speak loudly (and give authoritative commentary) to (at first) their friends and families and later (when the former merely walks away) to complete strangers about the wonderful development and progressive policies of China.
Meanwhile, others will begin to track news about China, shaking their heads. They will be convinced that they knew all this would happen when it finally does. Although in reality it had been happening for decades before direct, overnight flights to Shanghai even existed.
Still, for most they will probably file their 5-star escorted adventure as another successful summer trip: quite enjoyable, not too pricey.
Then there is me. Pitiful. Unrelenting. Unimpressed. Cynical.
While I sincerely doubt it was my first thought upon landing in Shanghai, I am pretty certain that my thoughts quickly turned to exactly why I chose to spend my non-existent income on a visit to here. Sure, I visited a friend, whom I rarely see. I also got away from Kunming for a long weekend. Not to mention I've now seen another side of China (aside from Hong Kong).
My impressions of Shanghai, in no particular order:
There isn't much for cultural exploration here. Ok, you can find a few gardens that were "preserved", but they are no where near the city center (the city has been gradually expanding over the last 20 or so years---out with the old, in with the very expensive).
It's hot as hell here. For example, it was about 90 degrees F at 10pm last night. (my friend is convinced that the use of ACs has forever altered the summer environment).
It is way too expensive (I went from paying 23 yuan for dinner for 4 to paying 80 yuan for a simple, light lunch--prices only reflect what the market will bear).
The environment is completely f****ed up (I have pictures to prove it!). Counting the stars is completely out of the picture in Shanghai! We are forever encased in perm-o-smog. After thinking about it for a few days, I'm now convinced that its worse than Mexico City.
Malls. malls. malls. Oh and luxury condos. That is the biggest physical feature here. Besides that lots of expats. And not the mildly harmless types you find in Kunming. Nope, these people are dangerous! (Sorry, very hard to describe in a few sentences, but most will know what I am talking about).
And now for the reasons why I am so very glad I came here:
--The malls, the lack of historical context outside of a few tourist traps, the messed up environment, and the outrageous prices.
These things are as important to witness as the quaint, underdeveloped side of China. The Chinese development that I have experienced for last two months has been largely represented by the repressed and poor south. My experiences alone are one thing, but it has been so very helpful to have a local friend to show me around--all while she openly laments about the past.
--The chance to live in a "typical" Shanghai 50 year leased, government-owned apartment.
It's something that you will really never experience in your lifetime unless you come here. My friend's family was literally moved from the downtown (when there was still not so much of a downtown) to what was then a remote suburb. They were given an apartment that was assigned based on the size of their family. They own nothing and the government can (as they have in the past) rapidly changed their policy. You can't fully appreciate the implications of ever-changing Chinese property rights until you experience it first hand (of course 4 nights is just a start).
--The Bund Tourist Tunnel.
It was truly one of the most unique experiences of my life. I made a video of it. Will post it ASAP. In the meantime, I urge you to google it.
Overall, I am really glad I came here. Yeah it was boring at times. Yes the condition of the environment is really depressing. But its another side of Chinese development, a side that simply can't be missed by even the most casual of observer.
I'll be landing in Kunming this time tomorrow. I never thought I'd hear myself say that I can't wait to be back in my little provincial city again; where I see the same people everyday and practically eat at the same restaurants every night--but I am.
PS: I will update this post with links to pictures and video as soon as I upload them!
Consumption survey of "post-1980s" people
In China, those who were born in the 1980's and are now aged between 17 and 26 are called thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife "post-1980s" generation. In the next few years the 200 million people belonging to this generation will play the leading role in China's consumer market. Having experienced economic globalization and Internet development as well as growing up in a market economy, the "post-1980s" generation has a totally different consumer attitude to their parents and an increasing influence on the social consumption structure.
Source:
People's Daily Online
Sunday @ The Bird & Flower Market, Kunming
