here I am in some cheesy chinese tshirt shaking hands famously with my roommmate in the "Great Hall of the People"
we were supposed to come together for some great meeting on chinese language. As it turns out, we where shanghai'd into going becuase they didn't want the conference hall to be empty. they needed butts in seats. The conference was really boring, even more boring that you can imagine a pedagogical conference would be. Speeches basically consisted of plattitudes about why the conference was important. Nothing except salutations and congratulations on holding the conference.

Except one speech. Some Frenchy from UNESCO. He had the chutzpah to congratulate China on its protection of minority languages.

no, seriously. i'm not kidding. The gentle, uniformed reader may now ask, why is Kevin so annoyed? Becuase China doesn't allow Uyghurs, Kazaks, Tibetans, etc. to use their native language to write, speak, teach, lecture, converse, etc. in universities across China. Some highschools are the same way. How can you be "promoting" minority languages if you disallow them from using their language in an academic setting. How are they to enrich their cultures?

I expect this kind of clap trap from the deputy vice minister of education (who was present), but from the UN? Do they really need to kiss Chinese ass this much? Or is this guy really ignorant? Either way, it doesn't help my impression of French burreaucrats or the UN.
Feeling annoyed by his speech and by the slick words of our program director, I left in huff, walked to the mcdonald's just south of tiananmen, had an ice cream cone,a nd took a cab back to BeiDa.

well, something happened today that I was expecting for sometime, but it was
suprising none the same. A teacher corrected a sentence on a quiz, not
because of some grammar mistake, but rather because i did not espouse the
proper political line.

I wrote:

It will be very difficult for the Republic of China and the People's
Republic of China to peacefully solve the question of Taiwan's future.

his edits:

Chinese on both sides of the straits will find it difficult to peacefully
solve the Taiwan question.

Notice how he "objectively" classifies the Taiwanese as "Chinese" and then
chooses to change the "ROC" to a group of people. I asked him about it, and
he said that this "is the more correct way to say it."

So i'm sorry that the blog has been somewhat lacking these few days, but
i've been sick and so my concentration and interest has been less than
keen. Unfortunately, I see no end to the sickness and so I will only offer
a few brief updates in my life for the gentle reader.

1. Uncle Sam and the Stanford Board of Directors has come through like
gangbusters. I was informed I recieved additional funding from my school,
so now I have a FLAS for all three quarters for next year--if I wish. In
otherwords, a full ride--tuition + stipend. I do have to do 10/hrs a week
of work, but this will not affect my schedule in the slightest.

2. Delay in job prospects due to paperwork bumbling.

3. I'm tutoring once a week here but i may decide to quit now that i have my
FLAS.

4. I found a very reasonable and legitmate foot massage parlor to my liking.
I'll take some pictures next time.

5. depending on my condition, I may play an open mike night at a local club.
I figure I'm good for at least one song, yeah?

read above article

boring update.
i went to a market. it was really boring. yet good pictures to be found here


notice the spit in this picture.


parents don't like to use diapers; they like to cut holes in their babies pants instead.

Interesting story Sam sent me about how a north korean propaganda film backfired. Don't know if the source is accurate, but basically it said people were astonished that anyone could live in prison for more than 3 years, and that you could go on a hunger strike and that would be a big deal, because all of north korea is pretty much on an involuntary hunger strike.

I went to the great wall with Mei's dad and aunt, and her granddaughter.
to the right you see a famous poem written my Mao Zedong which reads "You are a not a great man if you haven't been the the great wall." He said that to his men during the long march as inspiration. Neat stuff. So I wonder how he would feel that some local decided she could charge 2 yuan (>$.25) for people to take pictures here. When we started to take a picture from a distance, she covered it up so people would have to pay her.

Pictures update:
1. New set created to follow Engrish mishaps. here
2. Great wall photos. here
3. Beijing Photos updated. here
4. Chinese Cultural Quirks--a new set examining things that Chinese people do here in China that are unusual for us Fat Western kids.here
5. Ugly faces. you find them yourself

So coming to China with my background, I had a lot of mixed feelings. For me, it's hard to seperate my experience working in human rights research and advocacy with my experiences in China. It's hard for me to just ignore that stuff and have a good time.

So when I was with Mei's aunt and father at the Ming Tomb between the great wall and beijing, I made friends with a Tibetan. Name withheld. We talked for about thirty minutes straight. Ignoring all of the displays etc. (I seriously can't remember anything), we talked about the human rights situation in Tibet, China's policy, and America's interest in Tibet. He was a little guarded at first, but he opened up once I said I was excited to see the Dalai Lama at Stanford this fall. We also talked about EastT/Xinjiang.

He told me a lot about his family. His brother was in the PLA and after being abused by his so called comrades in arms he mistakenly crossed into India. Only to be returned to the Indian government (well done fellas!). He spent many years in a labor camp explaining that he merely got lost. This guy's father was also imprisoned for several years. It was very sad to hear him talk about all of these problems, and then to have him ask me about what i thought about Tibet's prospects, as well as what the American government thinks of all this. What can you say?

Well, I won't get into my opinions, as they should be well known. Fortuantely, the US government does care a fair amount about Tibet, due in large part to the pressure put on them by human rights groups. But is it enough? no. will things improve, or will Tibet go the way of Inner Mongolia and Manchuria, i.e. will it sinocize? It was very difficult to answer his hopeful questions.

At the very least, If i go to Lhasa, I now have a place to stay.

Even though I am often obnoxious, I try not to be an asshole. But sometimes it just flows out of me. This is one of these cases. I debated for a while whether or not I should be catty enough to complain about "Toto" (name spared to protect the guilty). I decided not to take the high road, and instead of confronting her (again), I should just vent on my boring little website.

Anyway, "Toto" is about 24 yrs old and a teacher from LA. And She is quite possible the most annoying person I've met since my flaming roommate from Oakland stole my other roommate's car and used my razor to shave his pubes. Obviously, Toto cannot be quite as bad by virtue of our lack of frequent contact. That and she doesn't pump dance remixes of cher songs through my walls.

So why the hate? After getting some painting supplies off a fellow student on Monday, I arrive about 10 minutes late to painting class. Now, "Toto" is already on my nerves because she has taken it upon herself to be the translator for the teacher* and her voice is as grating and loud as the (male) teacher's is soothing (no I do not mean this in any other way). Halfway through the class, a guy selling supplies comes in as expected, and beginnings handing out stuff outside the class. I go to buy the stuff we were unable to acquire for myself and a classmate Lisa. I return to ask Lisa for 5yuan (63 cents), and she pointedly asks if we "Can talk outside" as if we are disturbing a lecture, which this class is not. Okay, annoying but nothing to write home about it. Later she tells me that she "needs to talk to me." I agree but when I wish to leave and she's talking to the teacher ab out her painting, I suggest we talk another time. No dice. So I agree to her request and she finishes with the teacher and says "What can I do to help you not be late to class, because you are being very disruptive to me and it's disrespectful to our teacher blah blah blah." Her tone reminded me of a mix between the boss in "office space" and a mall security guard. Taken aback by her temerity, I was shocked into being fairly plain in my response, which was simply that my affairs are none of her business, and that she has no right to be so condescending to me.

But apparently I'm not the only one. She's taken it upon herself to inform other students of the rules in a similar fashion....Asking a student if he didn't "respect Teacher Xie" simply because he wanted to have a sip of wine (China's drinking age is 18, he is 19).

I shouldn't be late to class, I admit, but Toto is also in no position to talk to me like a teacher. She's a student here, I'm a student. Besides, it's a major Chinese culture party foul to speak like that to your elders. When in Rome, and all that.

Are all teachers like this? No. My brother is a high school teacher, and he somehow manages not to be a insipid busybody.

well, I plan to talk to her to re-emphasize the fact that she has no business to talk to me like that.
------
*Or maybe someone asked her to do it, and she was nice enough to say yes.

A few interesting videos.
1. American Idol, Beijing Opera style here and
here
2. a chinese version of West Side Story here

So I am remiss and I apologize to my dear readers (all four of them) for a lapse in updates. Since we last talked, which was two weeks ago, i was on my way to Shanghai. Now finally i have steady internet and a way to upload my pictures. Surprisingly, it was easier to do it in the countryside than in Shanghai or beijing. At anyrate, i had a decent time on my train ride. It was a 29 hour trip, and lasted about two nights and one day. I bought a hard sleeper ticket for about 35US. Hard sleepers, though perhaps not quite as luxurious as soft sleepers allow for more contact with random people. Like two girls from Norway that I met. One was boy crazy for a PLA officer from Xi'an, and the other was crazy from feeling like a third wheel. They both were pretty cool, and I ended up hanging out with them for a couple days. It was challenging not to tell the guy who was actually pretty nice what i thought of the PLA, and its history, but that's been an ongoing lesson for me.

In this collection, you'll see random pictures of my trip to shanghai and hangzhou (one of the prettier parts of china).