"Because Taiwan is historically part of China, and other countries are interfering with our discussions." "Taiwan won't cooperate, because Japan and the United States are supporting its position."
These are strong words for a society that is generally very mild and believes strongly in "indirect communication." So I told them we would engage in a "thought experiment" where we would talk about what would happen if China just let Taiwan be independent.
The immediate response was that then many groups would want independence, like Mongolia and Tibet. I said, fine, continue with the experiment, what would happen if you let everyone who wants to become independent. I told them about some of the very small nations in the Carribean.
The reply was that if every province becomes independent, then China will be full of warring factions, as it was historically. Small countries will have multiple parties, and they will war among each other, and political parties will come to power based on the strength of their militias. I reminded them that Europe spent a long time as warring factions, and has only recently emerged as the European Union. Chinese factions do not have a monopoly on past bad behavior, and China has the kind of strong cultural and economic ties that bind a country together.
I suggested that if sections wanted independence, they could leave China over time, giving them an opportunity to build a stable government before they left, and preventing the problem of violent factions. I pointed out that if China had a vote tomorrow, only a very few areas would really want to leave, and even those that left would still have strong cultural and economic ties. Most of China wants to stay together, and it may not fundamentally undermine Chinese nationality and Chinese identity if some small sections become independent.
I do not flatter myself that anyone was convinced that Taiwan should be permitted independence permanently, but I did ask that they try to keep an open mind. And the class had a useful experience in thinking about whether the worst they think can happen is in fact the worst thing that could happen.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
One Child Policy
My students are the product of China's One Child policy, which was begun several decades ago to control population growth. In terms of raw numbers, the policy was a success, as China's population has almost assuredly grown less than it would have. There were other countries that now have declining populations, like Japan and Italy, but they had much lower populations to begin with, and were wealthier.
All that being said, only about half of my class is an only child. Many have one sibling, one has two, and one of my students is the third of four children. It appears that there was uneven enforcement of this policy. I have been told that later born children are not even registered as births, but this cannot be so, as I have a goodly number of them in my class, and they all have identity cards. Yet it is clear from their stories about their own families and others that the One Child policy caused a lot of misery.
I see a lot of children, especially little children in the streets. They are extremely well cared for. It is well known that the One Child policy here is relaxing, and that for professionals, two children will be possible. But my students still resent the unhappiness caused by the policy. I try to focus them on the future, and point out that China, like Italy and Japan, may in the end have a falling population without a One Child Policy. Not everything has to be government enforced.
All that being said, only about half of my class is an only child. Many have one sibling, one has two, and one of my students is the third of four children. It appears that there was uneven enforcement of this policy. I have been told that later born children are not even registered as births, but this cannot be so, as I have a goodly number of them in my class, and they all have identity cards. Yet it is clear from their stories about their own families and others that the One Child policy caused a lot of misery.
I see a lot of children, especially little children in the streets. They are extremely well cared for. It is well known that the One Child policy here is relaxing, and that for professionals, two children will be possible. But my students still resent the unhappiness caused by the policy. I try to focus them on the future, and point out that China, like Italy and Japan, may in the end have a falling population without a One Child Policy. Not everything has to be government enforced.
What I teach my students
The assigned textbook concentrates mainly on the problems of intercultural communication, and uses primarily examples of Chinese-American exchanges. But my students, mostly young adults between the ages of 19-21, have seen American movies and television all their lives. Very little surprises them about Americans. What they don't understand is the huge numbers of people worldwide who speak English as their second language, and the difficulties in communicating with people where everyone in the conversation is not using their native language, and no one is very familiar with the other's culture. So we're talking about that, talking about trying to think about what other people might be experiencing.
My class is mainly engineering students, but I have one accountant, and one English major. The engineers include industrial, chemical, environmental and explosives. They are, as a group, very bright, very hardworking. Their limitations in English frustrate and embarrass them, but they often do a very good job of putting complex ideas into simple language. I wish that I was an engineer, I lack the vocabulary to give them English words for engineering technical terms, and I know if they work abroad they will need those words.
In three weeks I can give them an opportunity to practice English, to gain confidence in the skills they already have, to reinforce what they already know about international business transactions, and try to get them to think a little more about what they haven't spent much time thinking about, particularly trying to communicate with a lot of different people from a lot of different countries.
My class is mainly engineering students, but I have one accountant, and one English major. The engineers include industrial, chemical, environmental and explosives. They are, as a group, very bright, very hardworking. Their limitations in English frustrate and embarrass them, but they often do a very good job of putting complex ideas into simple language. I wish that I was an engineer, I lack the vocabulary to give them English words for engineering technical terms, and I know if they work abroad they will need those words.
In three weeks I can give them an opportunity to practice English, to gain confidence in the skills they already have, to reinforce what they already know about international business transactions, and try to get them to think a little more about what they haven't spent much time thinking about, particularly trying to communicate with a lot of different people from a lot of different countries.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Chinese Chess
While I am teaching class every morning, James goes to Chinese classes. One of the things he's learned is to play Chinese chess. It's played on a board similar to a chess board, but with some patterns on it. The pieces look like checkers with writing on them (hallmarks of a literate civilization, you don't have to be able to read to play Western chess). Instead of putting the pieces on the spaces, you put them on the intersections of the lines. The pieces move in different ways, James has explained it to me, and tried to make me play, but I don't enjoy chess, Western or Chinese, so he plays at school.
On our way to the grocery store, there is often a game of Chinese chess going, and James likes to stop and watch for a few minutes. This has attracted attention, so last night he was invited to play against another little boy, who is 11. James is 8. James lasted a long time, I was very proud of him. Various passers-by provided suggestions, even bending down and moving the pieces for him, which I gather is typical no matter who is playing.
There were five little boys watching, squatting down on their haunches, making suggestions and speaking slowly and loudly to me in Chinese, as though that would make me understand. It was quite funny.
James played soccer with a couple of boys while I was taking Tai Chi class yesterday. Many children speak a few words of English, and James now has some Chinese, so they find a way to play together. I'm happy to see him reach out to play with other kids. Sarah is thick as thieves with a number of my students, and I feel like the reason I came has been fulfilled.
I wanted to do something other than tour around and see sights. I wanted my kids to experience the culture in a way you can only do in one place. To meet other kids their age and try to communicate with them, to see and talk to people who are not exactly like them.
On our way to the grocery store, there is often a game of Chinese chess going, and James likes to stop and watch for a few minutes. This has attracted attention, so last night he was invited to play against another little boy, who is 11. James is 8. James lasted a long time, I was very proud of him. Various passers-by provided suggestions, even bending down and moving the pieces for him, which I gather is typical no matter who is playing.
There were five little boys watching, squatting down on their haunches, making suggestions and speaking slowly and loudly to me in Chinese, as though that would make me understand. It was quite funny.
James played soccer with a couple of boys while I was taking Tai Chi class yesterday. Many children speak a few words of English, and James now has some Chinese, so they find a way to play together. I'm happy to see him reach out to play with other kids. Sarah is thick as thieves with a number of my students, and I feel like the reason I came has been fulfilled.
I wanted to do something other than tour around and see sights. I wanted my kids to experience the culture in a way you can only do in one place. To meet other kids their age and try to communicate with them, to see and talk to people who are not exactly like them.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
17 Tigers, 15 Bears
Today we visited a recreational area just outside of Nanjing, called the Pearl Stream. It is sort of a combination hiking, camping, amusement park with a zoo. It was not far away, only about an hour by bus. It is remarkable how the population density is very high in Nanjing, south of the Yangtze River, and becomes much lower, like the suburbs, just north of the River. The most notible thing we saw on the way was a group of beautiful Western style three story apartments, with stucco exteriors, and huge windows. There were probably 300 units spread over 10 acres and they were all completely empty. Someone on the bus said that they had heard that they'd been built, but they were so expensive that no one could afford them.
At the Pearl Stream, we walked along paved trails past the bumper cars and the roller coaster to see the source of the stream. The stream sort of seeps up from the stream bed, and people stand by the edge and clap, which makes more bubbles rise. I don't quite understand why.
We were then herded into the zoo area, and entered a large covered arena, where the stage area was set back over a twenty foot trench. We sat on plastic seats for about ten minutes, and then, from a stage made to look like cliffs, 17 tigers, 3 lions and their handlers emerged. The 17 tigers each sat on a riser, so there were two little mountains of tigers, going up and down. The three lions sat on their own risers in front of the tigers. The handlers had no whips, but they each held what looked and sounded (they sometimes rapped them on the concrete stage) like hollow aluminum sticks, about 4 feet long. they would prod the tigers with them when they weren't moving along.
The tigers walked on narrow walkways, walked around on top of huge balls, jumped through flaming hoops, and lay in a long row and rolled over simultaneously. The lions just sat there and looked lionesque. Tigers not actively engaged in tricks sat on their riser. I do not understand why none of the trainers was eaten. I do not understand why the tigers did not jump the barrier and eat the people.
We next walked past some tigers and bears on display in sort of 1970s style habitats (no bars, but sort of limited space) to a horse track, with covered stands, and a dirt track, and then a concrete track inside the dirt track. There we saw a sort of Chinese play with trick riders, who were the best I've seen since I was at the Calgary Stampede as a kid. Then they had trained bears. The bears were Chinese bears, sort of thin and their faces looked different from North American bears. They had long claws, and seemed much more stupid than the tigers.
The bears rode bicycles and balanced on balls and one balanced on a motorbike on a high wire, and a lady was suspended under neath. The bears were led around by rings through their noses. The Chinese crowd seemed to enjoy both shows very much, but I think the Americans were by and large mortified.
The hit of the day was when the kids, and parents who could not escape, rented a bamboo raft and used long bamboo poles to push up and down the stream. We had two rafts lashed together with wire, and four poles. I tried to hand a pole to Sarah, but she looked horrified, so I gave her my purse, and took a corner. It was hot, sweaty, involved several near misses of other bamboo rafts pushed by other urbanites, and was altogether a great deal of fun. The bamboo rafts were slightly leaky, nobody had a life preserver, and the water was noxious. James, because he is a boy, was jumping from one raft to the other, because he did not care that I might have to fish him out. Sarah, who has a greater sense of self-preservation, sat with the other two girls on a narrow bench at the end of the raft and looked nervous. Nobody made us sign a waiver, either. When we successfully docked after our little voyage, the other members of our group who did not go out applauded.
As we were walking out to the bus, one woman said she bet my colleagues at work would have been surprised to see me out there poling along on a bamboo raft. I told her that I spent four years in the Navy, and had done some skydiving, so I didn't think my colleagues would be particularly surprised that I could pole a bamboo raft. I was not always middle-aged.
At the Pearl Stream, we walked along paved trails past the bumper cars and the roller coaster to see the source of the stream. The stream sort of seeps up from the stream bed, and people stand by the edge and clap, which makes more bubbles rise. I don't quite understand why.
We were then herded into the zoo area, and entered a large covered arena, where the stage area was set back over a twenty foot trench. We sat on plastic seats for about ten minutes, and then, from a stage made to look like cliffs, 17 tigers, 3 lions and their handlers emerged. The 17 tigers each sat on a riser, so there were two little mountains of tigers, going up and down. The three lions sat on their own risers in front of the tigers. The handlers had no whips, but they each held what looked and sounded (they sometimes rapped them on the concrete stage) like hollow aluminum sticks, about 4 feet long. they would prod the tigers with them when they weren't moving along.
The tigers walked on narrow walkways, walked around on top of huge balls, jumped through flaming hoops, and lay in a long row and rolled over simultaneously. The lions just sat there and looked lionesque. Tigers not actively engaged in tricks sat on their riser. I do not understand why none of the trainers was eaten. I do not understand why the tigers did not jump the barrier and eat the people.
We next walked past some tigers and bears on display in sort of 1970s style habitats (no bars, but sort of limited space) to a horse track, with covered stands, and a dirt track, and then a concrete track inside the dirt track. There we saw a sort of Chinese play with trick riders, who were the best I've seen since I was at the Calgary Stampede as a kid. Then they had trained bears. The bears were Chinese bears, sort of thin and their faces looked different from North American bears. They had long claws, and seemed much more stupid than the tigers.
The bears rode bicycles and balanced on balls and one balanced on a motorbike on a high wire, and a lady was suspended under neath. The bears were led around by rings through their noses. The Chinese crowd seemed to enjoy both shows very much, but I think the Americans were by and large mortified.
The hit of the day was when the kids, and parents who could not escape, rented a bamboo raft and used long bamboo poles to push up and down the stream. We had two rafts lashed together with wire, and four poles. I tried to hand a pole to Sarah, but she looked horrified, so I gave her my purse, and took a corner. It was hot, sweaty, involved several near misses of other bamboo rafts pushed by other urbanites, and was altogether a great deal of fun. The bamboo rafts were slightly leaky, nobody had a life preserver, and the water was noxious. James, because he is a boy, was jumping from one raft to the other, because he did not care that I might have to fish him out. Sarah, who has a greater sense of self-preservation, sat with the other two girls on a narrow bench at the end of the raft and looked nervous. Nobody made us sign a waiver, either. When we successfully docked after our little voyage, the other members of our group who did not go out applauded.
As we were walking out to the bus, one woman said she bet my colleagues at work would have been surprised to see me out there poling along on a bamboo raft. I told her that I spent four years in the Navy, and had done some skydiving, so I didn't think my colleagues would be particularly surprised that I could pole a bamboo raft. I was not always middle-aged.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
A night on the town
I ran out of western style provisions like cold cereal and peanut butter on the same day I had promised the kids to take them out for American food, so after Chinese cooking class ended today, we were going to head out for downtown to the big shops, like Wal-Mart and the French Carrefour. We had a short rain delay while it poured buckets for about 35 minutes, but then caught a cab and went downtown. I'd never been to downtown Nanjing at night before, with the skyscrapers and neon lights, there are squares that remind me of New York, London and Tokyo all at the same time.
I thought I'd been very clever to take the kids to Pizza Hut on a weeknight, but there was still a line outside. You stood in line and they handed you a little time and date stamped ticket. After a while they brought us tiny paper cups of cold green tea. There is no ice in drinks here. We waited about 25 minutes until we were admitted.
Pizza Hut in China has several varieties of what we think of as Pizza, plus additional offerings for toppings such as octopus. They also offer soups, and an array of smoothies and other drinks. We had American style pizza, which was pepperoni with cheese. One of my students was with us, and received the pizza politely, but I don't think she's about to become a regular pizza consumer.
The kids raved. They've had Chinese food two or three times a day for almost two weeks now, and they thought it was the world's greatest pizza. Although the dinner at about $11 was by far the most I have spent on a meal for four since I arrived, it was worth it just because the kids were so ecstatic.
Because it is such a furnace here during the day, many people sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoons, and the streets are very lively at night. So even though we entered Wal Mart after 8 PM, it was still packed with people shopping. Wal Mart is on the second two floors on a tall downtown building. On the first floor are upscale clothing shops and jewelry stores. There is, blessedly when you are carrying bags of milk and water, a taxi stand right outside the building.
Tab, including shopping, restaurant and taxis, for this big night on the town for four people was $ 30. Because it is a weeknight, I still had everybody in bed by 10 pm.
I thought I'd been very clever to take the kids to Pizza Hut on a weeknight, but there was still a line outside. You stood in line and they handed you a little time and date stamped ticket. After a while they brought us tiny paper cups of cold green tea. There is no ice in drinks here. We waited about 25 minutes until we were admitted.
Pizza Hut in China has several varieties of what we think of as Pizza, plus additional offerings for toppings such as octopus. They also offer soups, and an array of smoothies and other drinks. We had American style pizza, which was pepperoni with cheese. One of my students was with us, and received the pizza politely, but I don't think she's about to become a regular pizza consumer.
The kids raved. They've had Chinese food two or three times a day for almost two weeks now, and they thought it was the world's greatest pizza. Although the dinner at about $11 was by far the most I have spent on a meal for four since I arrived, it was worth it just because the kids were so ecstatic.
Because it is such a furnace here during the day, many people sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoons, and the streets are very lively at night. So even though we entered Wal Mart after 8 PM, it was still packed with people shopping. Wal Mart is on the second two floors on a tall downtown building. On the first floor are upscale clothing shops and jewelry stores. There is, blessedly when you are carrying bags of milk and water, a taxi stand right outside the building.
Tab, including shopping, restaurant and taxis, for this big night on the town for four people was $ 30. Because it is a weeknight, I still had everybody in bed by 10 pm.
OSHA would have a field day
Let's just say that worker safety standards are a little more relaxed here than in the United States. The building next door to us was replastered, and the workers were suspended from the roof with ropes, sitting on seats that looked like 8 x 1 x 18 boards. I saw stone cutting, with sparks flying like an arc welder, and the workman not even wearing glasses, let alone a face shield. Children sit in the back seats of cars without car seats or safety belts. It's 1965 out here.
Adults riding bicycles do not wear helmets. Motor scooter riders do not wear helmets. Nobody wears helmets. When you walk, it seems that pedestrians yield to both cars and bicycles, but I don't know what the law actually is. Bicycles and cars and pedestrians, sometimes all traveling at markedly different speeds, pass within inches of each other. In vehicular traffic, lanes are not clearly marked, and sometimes cabs work their way around buses in what can only be described as a high stakes game of chicken.
Yet, I haven't seen a car crash, or even a bike crash since I've been here. Go figure.
Adults riding bicycles do not wear helmets. Motor scooter riders do not wear helmets. Nobody wears helmets. When you walk, it seems that pedestrians yield to both cars and bicycles, but I don't know what the law actually is. Bicycles and cars and pedestrians, sometimes all traveling at markedly different speeds, pass within inches of each other. In vehicular traffic, lanes are not clearly marked, and sometimes cabs work their way around buses in what can only be described as a high stakes game of chicken.
Yet, I haven't seen a car crash, or even a bike crash since I've been here. Go figure.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Lunch with Students
This week, every day after class, we are eating lunch with a small group of students, so they can all have an English speaking lunch. We're eating at the student cafeteria, which is a high ceilinginged space with two levels of seating. You can sit eight people at a table, so with Sarah, James and me, there is room for 5 students, which means it is taking all week to eat with the whole class. The students find James's use of chopsticks very entertaining.
As all of my students are from areas outside Nanjing, and the regional cuisine varies quite widely across the country, the cafeteria makes an effort to provide selections familiar to all of its students. This diversity makes for a very wide variety of choices for a university cafeteria. The first day I was there, there were probably fifty selections
The students know some words to describe foods in English, but frankly, I did not expect the diversity and excellence of food here. It's like France. It's amazing. Today I had rice, greens, and tofu that had been flattened, rolled, sliced into pinwheels and then sauteed in spices. The food is fresh and flavorful. Outside of the Italian galley we used to eat at when I was stationed at a NATO base in Italy, it's the best institutional food I've ever had.
As all of my students are from areas outside Nanjing, and the regional cuisine varies quite widely across the country, the cafeteria makes an effort to provide selections familiar to all of its students. This diversity makes for a very wide variety of choices for a university cafeteria. The first day I was there, there were probably fifty selections
The students know some words to describe foods in English, but frankly, I did not expect the diversity and excellence of food here. It's like France. It's amazing. Today I had rice, greens, and tofu that had been flattened, rolled, sliced into pinwheels and then sauteed in spices. The food is fresh and flavorful. Outside of the Italian galley we used to eat at when I was stationed at a NATO base in Italy, it's the best institutional food I've ever had.
Sarah is very popular
With the other English teachers. They like her to come to their classes and answer questions from their students about popular culture in America. Sometimes she brings her i-pod and plays some of her favorite music for them. She and about two thirds of my class like to talk about some program called, "Prison Break" which I had never previously heard about. Apparently it is a series which can be downloaded from the internet.
Today she said the most interesting question she received was one asking if she met a Chinese boy and fell in love with him, would she stay in China. Sarah said that she was only 16 and she would have to go home, even though she was sure that she would want to stay. I was impressed with the diplomacy of her answer. My students, when they heard this, thought it was very funny that anyone would consider leaving their country to marry someone.
I told them that one of the English teachers with us was from Spain, and that she had met her American husband while at university in the U.K., and now she lived in Miami. I told them that one of the real perils of associating with foreigners is that you might fall in love with one and move far away and be very, very unpopular with your parents. They clearly found this to be a novel idea, but one worth considering. As a foreign teacher, I think it is my job to introduce novel ideas to them.
Today she said the most interesting question she received was one asking if she met a Chinese boy and fell in love with him, would she stay in China. Sarah said that she was only 16 and she would have to go home, even though she was sure that she would want to stay. I was impressed with the diplomacy of her answer. My students, when they heard this, thought it was very funny that anyone would consider leaving their country to marry someone.
I told them that one of the English teachers with us was from Spain, and that she had met her American husband while at university in the U.K., and now she lived in Miami. I told them that one of the real perils of associating with foreigners is that you might fall in love with one and move far away and be very, very unpopular with your parents. They clearly found this to be a novel idea, but one worth considering. As a foreign teacher, I think it is my job to introduce novel ideas to them.
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