Bike spray painting

Check it out! My friend Kyle made the Nanjing news in a two minute puff piece: 30元换新装：老外校园摆摊给自行车美容

When we lived in Nanjing, my friends and I all got cheap bikes to cruise around town and tempt death between busses and a nation of people who all only just learned how to drive a few decades ago. However, it's pretty easy for bikes to get stolen--and often returned to the place you just bought it from to be sold again--since all clunkers look the same.

Kyle solved that problem by making stencils of flames, scallop shells and stars and spray painting bikes so they would stand out and theives would pass them by. For 30元 (yuán) or less than $5 US, Kyle will paint up your bike in a couple minutes flat.

internet censorship in Nanjing (Originally posted May 27, 2011)

I'm sure you know, but many websites such as FaceBook and YouTube aren't accessible from China unless you're using a proxy server. However, even these can be compromised, like we saw during the minuscule Jasmine protests in Beijing.

Now these proxies are failing again as the Chinese government consolidates its internet monitors to one government agency.

For the past few weeks, the internet has been particularly spotty in Nanjing, China. And even more particularly, in places of education. It's almost impossible to log on if I'm connecting at the school I work at or the campus I live on. Skype is just as equally difficult to get onto.

Some of my friends have been traveling to Beijing for vacation--apparently the internet was working fine there, although they weren't really on any campuses. And as far as I know (because expats would raise hell about it on every blog and news site) Shanghai isn't under such restrictions.

So why (presumably) just Nanjing?

A few theories include the fact that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited Nanjing a few days ago to look at factories. Can't have dissidents on the internet then...! Slightly more concerning--is Nanjing an experiment for what the rest of the country will be like once the holes in the Great Firewall are completely sealed over? Only time will tell.

In other words, updates to this blog will be sporadic for the time being as Livejournal is one of those websites that doesn't agree with proxies and firewalls...

pets in Nanjing, China (Originally posted May 16, 2011)

Just some photos and a little food for thought. CNN recently did a story about live animals sold as keychains in Beijing. It's not limited to the capital city, however; you can buy these keychains in Nanjing as well.







These keychains were in the Confucius Temple market in Nanjing. There are also several pet stores were animals are sometimes crammed into cages. Some are more fortunate and have space, but turtles and smaller animals seem to be particularly unlucky.










I had the misfortune of seeing a deceased bunny tossed into the garbage. No lunch was eaten that day by yours truly.

Also, once spring rolls around rabbits and gerbils go on sale, typically outside of elementary and high schools for the kids alongside comic books and candy. These rabbits were driven to school by motorcycle, then the seller waits outside. My friend bought a rabbit last week for 20 RMB, or $3 US. Inbreeding is fairly common; the rabbit my friend bought is blind, much to his surprise. I used to have a blind cat and was able to tell pretty quickly with the aid of a pen light.






But, as for the people buying the pets, I can say that dogs and birds are usually treated very well by their owners. Dogs are the pets of choice, and enjoy long walks around town usually without a leash. Men buy birds and have clubs outside in parks where they show them off, talking about the best type of seed. Usually if a pet can survive the actual pet store, it seems like they'll have a good life afterwards.

Anyway. It's tough resisting buying all of the turtles and setting them free in a lake, regardless...

Yangtze River & Mufu Mountains (Originally posted May 10, 2011)

Out on the eastern edge of Nanjing is the Yangtze River. Last weekend two friends and I checked out some of the sights including the river itself, the surrounding Mufu Mountains (which are more like hills) and a little park called 'Yan zi ji' where swallows fly around. The park area is pretty small and about 10 yuan to get into, but there are three interesting things to see:




This is the wine cup stone, which is actually hollow and able to hold wine, though I doubt you'd want to drink any out of it. According to legend, the poet Li Bai--who is now my favorite Chinese poet and you'll see why in a moment--sat by the rock, composing a poem, and getting hammered, as artists are known to do. Suddenly, he had a totally awesome (drunken) idea that he'd like to drink the Yangtze. And so he signed his drunken calligraphy, 吞江醉石 (Tun jiang zui shi) or "Swallowing the Yangtze, drunk at the stone."

And here you thought rock bands were hardcore.







As the temple is high up on the cliffs, a century ago it was a pretty popular place for jumping off and, well, I'm sure you can imagine the rest. Anyway, this upset an educator in the area and he erected the Admonition Tablet which basically says (in Chinese, of course) to think twice before throwing yourself off the cliff--you only have one life to live. It's credited for saving quite a few lives. The original tablet was wooden, this one is now in its place:





Another tablet in the park area is one erected in memory of the Chinese citizens and soldiers who lost their lives during the Japanese invasion in the 1930s. (The road you take to get to the park is actually the same road--according to my Chinese friends--that the Japanese troops marched down to get to Nanjing city.) Many citizens and troops were trying to cross the Yangtze to safety but were killed.




But I digress. Let's go back to the poet, drunk on the rocks, contemplating the Yangtze--and let's think of all the reasons why he shouldn't drink it. The first and foremost is that, like most rivers these days, it is disgusting as you can imagine. It's primary use is for the shipping of goods.




But that doesn't stop people from treating the shore like a beach. After all, China is pretty bereft of proper 'beaches' and you have to take what you can get, right?






People bring tents, grab a beer under the power lines, eat a hot dog or tofu on a stick, play games and win prizes at the little po-dunk 'theme parks' squatters set up on the side of the shore... And of course, there's the kites.




Kites are huge in China, ranging from the kids with Hello Kitty ones to seasoned veterans who tether the strings to their waists with utility belts. Cheaper kites can be bought for less than five bucks--just look out for the power lines.




My two favorite kites: a squid and legendary warrior Guan Yu.







For more photos, click here.

Lady Gaga yogurt (Originally posted May 09, 2011)

I bet you didn't know that there's totally a rip off Lady Gaga inspired yogurt in China.





Well, now you do.

matchmaker market (Originally posted April 19, 2011)

Springtime is upon us and love is in the air, especially alongside West Beijing Road where an open-air matchmaker market has sprung up.



Hopefuls compile short biographies about themselves (date of birth, job, height, etc.) and a list of what they're looking for in a mate. Then the info is printed onto signs, pink for women and blue for men, and hung like laundry out to dry. Find someone you like? Leave your phone number on the placard.

Interestingly enough, most of the attendees to the markets are parents with thick journals, copying down phone numbers and bios for their daughters and sons. A friend even suggested to me that many of the bios are actually written by parents—which explains why some of them require a potential mate to be respectful to their own parents. Who wants a daughter- or son-in-law that isnt'?



About 90% of the female signs say that they want a mate who has his own apartment or house. Unfortunately, Nanjing is pretty notorious for expensive apartments, leading to a lack of individuals who actually own one. The apartment system is pretty interesting; people don't really rent apartments, instead they buy them. But you don't really 'own' the apartment after you buy it, so you can't leave it to your children in a will. This is done—supposedly--because of the high population in China; everyone gets a fair chance at an apartment instead of them being left in one family through generations.

The male signs with the most phone numbers—like this one below—are written by men who have their own living accommodations and work for the government, earning a nice steady paycheck.



This sign says that he's looking for someone who was born in the year of the rabbit, but tigers are okay too.



Another good way to get phone numbers is to be a lone foreign girl, presumably perusing the signs looking for love.

Woman: Hey! Hey, what are you looking for?
Me: What?
Woman: What kind of man are you looking for?
Me: Er, no, I have a boyfriend, he's standing over there--
Woman: Then do you have a cousin? Or a sister in Nanjing?
Me: I... need to go...



Have another intriguing discussion said behind my back at the matchmaker market:

Man: Hey, why do foreign girls have such a nice curvy-cut figure?
Another man: Don't you know? It's because their diet is different from Chinese girls. The foreigners eat raw beef.



I don't eat raw beef, just for the record.

an outsider's thoughts on sex-ed and such in China (Originally posted April 06, 2011)

Thought #1: You know that you've lived in China for a few months when you get on a public bus and all of the adverts are for abortions and you don't even blink.

This one advertises them for about 300 yuan, or, say, $50 US abouts. The commercials on the TV have green hills and girls dancing in white skirts. I thought they were for laundry detergent until I saw the hospital name.




Thought #2: Birth control pills are available in China over the counter for about $3 for a monthly pack, compared to the needed prescription and outrageous prices in most western nations. (I'm looking at you, America.) However, most people here don't know too much about how the pills work—a friend who'd never seen the pills even suggesting to me that you don't really need to take a pill every day, just the days that you plan to have intercourse. (And yes, the instructions in the box are written in Chinese.) And those people that do know about the pills believe they mess with your body's natural chemistry and energy too much to take them. So birth control pills are not a big ticket item; there's actually only ever about two or three brands to even choose from at the pharmacy. Culturally, the pill just isn't big in China. It's easily available and affordable, but the idea of messing with the natural order of a woman's body is unappealing to many.




Thought #3: Sex-ed in the classroom was explained to me by a friend as a chapter in a biology book Chinese high school students read for class, the teacher asking the next day if there were any questions, no one being brave enough to raise a hand, and on to the next chapter. Parent's don't typically broach the subject either. Some simple math for you: Lack of sex ed + wariness of birth control pills + cheap abortions = a high amount of abortions in China.

Thought #4: The one-child rule is pretty heavily enforced. Unless... you live in the countryside where nothing is really enforced, have twins, have an additional child overseas, pay the hefty fine, or get divorced and have another child with your new spouse. Or find some other loophole, of course.

Thought #5: Just a random, interesting note: It's illegal in China for a doctor to tell the expecting parents the gender of their unborn child. According to my friends, a lot of the younger generation don't hope for a girl or a boy one way or the other, though. Kids are doted upon by their parents—and grandparents—which sometimes can backfire and turn them into 'Little Emperors' or stressed out students burdened with the thought that they're the only one around to support their parents when they retire.

live crab vending machine (Originally posted April 01, 2011)

There is a vending machine that sells live crabs.

Yes, you read that correctly.



The man who installed the machine in the Xinjeiko subway station had a simple dream, a dream that every man, woman and child in China—or those that at least passed by the machine—would be able to get an affordable crab to cook and eat or maybe name and keep as a pet. Whatever strikes their fancies.

I am sort of only making up half of that.

Anyway. The crabs are kept at a certain temperature so they go into hibernation until they're bought and woken up before they're killed and eaten. Sort of like Walt Disney.

...that's what they did to Walt Disney, right?

Maybe I'm thinking of someone else.

Also included in the machine are a few sauces and you receive the complementary stares of passersby if you actually purchase one. And if it's weird to Chinese people, then you know it's really odd.



I think I saw one of the big ones on the top rack trying to escape. He blinked at me.

At least he doesn't know where I live.

Earthquake in Japan (Originally posted March 15, 2011)

As I'm sure everyone's aware of... Japan was hit by a huge 8.9 quake, followed by a series of tsunami waves that decimated many towns around Tokyo. And there's the issue of radiation as well. Luckily, all of my friends there are okay for now and will hopefully be safe in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, in Nanjing...

We're pretty far away, so we didn't even feel the quake here. I still have the awful expat tendency to live in a bubble and missed the news about the quake until a friend phoned me about in two hours later. China has sent aid to Japan in the form of a rescue team.

The majority of people I've talked to here have been keeping Japan in their thoughts, worried about the lives lost and long term damage. On the internet especially, people have been voicing praise about how orderly Japanese civilians have been during the chaos. Unfortunately, there are a few people (Particularly some of the younger kids that can't quite explain why they hate Japan) who are cheering for Japan's misfortune; Nanjing and Japan have a pretty sketchy history, in case you didn't know. But the most heartening thing is that for every person who has reveled in the destruction, many more have told him or her to more or less shut up and grow a heart.

However, there has been some fear going around the city in regards to the radiation, particularly between tech-savvy 20somethings. A text message went around today about not going outside in the 'acid' rain without a rain coat, lest you get radiation poisoning.

Allow me to give you the rundown I gave some Chinese pals today:

1) 'Acid rain' comes from the use of coal, not radiation.
2) Regardless, a rain coat won't protect you from the amount of radiation that you'd want to evacuate a city from anyway.
3) If people in Tokyo aren't being evacuated, surely Nanjing is okay.
4) Weather usually hits China BEFORE Japan and moves in a west-east motion anyway.


We're too far away to feel tremors, but for the most part everyone is keeping an eye on the news.

Christmas in Nanjing (Originally posted Dec. 25, 2010)

Nanjing has a pretty strong western community, plus a lot of folks who love shopping. Christmas Eve is a big date night, with people selling flowers and balloons that say 'I love you' on the side. Also, the center of the city is incredibly crowded and reminds you more of New Years Eve than Christmas. There are Christmas lights up here and there, and any mall hoping to attract shoppers has a tree or dancing Santa in the lobby.





Church services are usually pretty packed. This is a picture of Sacred Heart in the middle of Nanjing; I was told that it was founded a few hundred years ago by the French and is the only Catholic church in Nanjing recognized in Rome.





In any case, Christmas in Nanjing is--for most people--just another day, but with more lights and an excuse to go have a party and wear a Santa hat while shopping. Then again, that's true for some people back home too. Merry Christmas!

Xuanwu Lake (Originally posted Dec. 23, 2010)

Xuanwu Lake is situated about ten minutes from where I live in Nanjing, just outside the ancient city wall. Islands and bridges dot the lake, and you can easily take two hours to explore all of them and then get lost and end up crawling through a fence to get to a bus stop. Regardless of fence crawling, it's a beautiful spot. There are small paddle boats for rent, little vendors with food--some of which, on the outskirts of the park are of the Uighir minority and not really supposed to be there. But their sweet potatoes smell so good that the average citizen doesn't seem to mind.
















Note the odd effect the mix of evening and smog has on China's sky...

Japan in Nanjing (Originally posted Dec. 15, 2010)

December 13th marked the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre during WWII by Japanese troops. During the morning the army bases around the city blasted their sirens to commemorate the anniversary, much to the excitement of school children and confusion of their foreign teacher.

Before I came to Nanjing, a few of the guidebooks I read mentioned in the etiquette section that one of the few topics to avoid speaking about in China was the Japanese, this holding especially true in Nanjing. (Other things to avoid discussing until you’re good pals includes Tibet, politics, Tiananmen… What you would expect.) A decent amount of the young children I teach have expressed a severe dislike of Japan, going so far as to put huge X’s over the country on maps in their textbooks and express extreme confusion when I inform them that I used to live in Tokyo and loved it. Not all students are like this, of course, but to be honest the vast majority of the elementary students I teach dislike Japan. I’m unsure if it’s a taught behavior from their parents and/or grandparents, or something they picked up innately. It’s unlikely to be learned in a classroom setting, however; they’re much too young to be learning about WWII out of a textbook in their courses yet.

As for the older students I teach in their early teens, fewer of them have the same dislike of Japan--a lot of my 7th graders enjoy Japanese anime and some even take the language as an elective in school. For the most part, the students seem to grow out of their hatred for Japan as they learn that the people who committed crimes during WWII are not necessarily the same people living in Japan today.

***

Recently there have been many anti-Japan protests around China; Japan is still seen through a different lens than, say, how most Americans view Japan. These protests stem from the recent fallout between Japan and China over the Chinese fishing captain who was detained in Japan. He has since been released, and the conflict in North and South Korea has suddenly taken center stage on the political level.

Sometimes in my mind, I feel like… if eastern Asia was a big family, China would be the oldest brother and Japan would be the next oldest, but suddenly ‘grew up’ very fast and had a few crazy years where he acted poorly. His siblings still haven’t quite forgiven him for it yet, and China’s still thinking, “Who does this guy think he is? Doesn’t he remember I’m the oldest?”

Well, that’s certainly an over-simplification, but it helps explain some things to my 7th graders anyway…

Thanksgiving in China (Originally posted Nov. 28, 2010)

So China does not actually celebrate Thanksgiving--as I'm sure you've gathered--but where there's a will, there's a way. Since turkey (or 'fire chicken' as it's called here) is hard to come by, let alone cook in our tiny kitchen, buckets of KFC were substituted. Everyone prepared a dish or brought out the wine and we were able to expose a few curious Chinese friends and bemused British ones to an American Thanksgiving in our building's computer room.





Pictures stolen from Cassie and Thomas, whose blog you should check out for more adventures in Nanjing ♥


Also, my students were genuinely impressed by my mad hand-turkey drawing skills. Finally, my elementary school education is coming in... handy.

Badoom-CHA.

Lake Mochou (Originally posted Nov. 05, 2010)

There's a lake nearby that is tied to a legend of a woman from days bygone. My students tell me she was a princess, friends tell me she was a peasant, some say she was blind... But like most Chinese stories (at least the ones I've heard) she falls in love, her lover dies, and she pines for him. My students tell me she cried so much she jumped into a lake of her own tears--Lake Mochou.

And now kids play in that lake in giant plastic hamster balls.