Eric's Beijing Diary

Just got back from Weizhou Dao (Island). I had been wanting to go there for some time, but somehow, it just never worked out. When I was here in April, they had planned a faculty outing to Weizhou Dao, but the weather turned bad that weekend, so it was postponed, and took place after I had returned to Beijing. I tried to go last weekend, but the tickets were sold out, so I decided to go during the middle of the week. Monday, at the English corner at McDonald's, I met an engineer who has worked on Weizhou Island for a year. He invited me to visit the island as his guest, and offered to show me the island. That's how I came to be escorted to Weizhou Island as a guest of the XinAo Liquid Natural Gas Company.

It really was a lucky break for me, because, although I could have done it myself, it would have taken longer. And the company booked the tickets for me, which also saved me some trouble. I think they probably would have paid for my ticket if I had let them, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable with that. We were lucky, the express boat doesn't run every day. It's a little bit more money--75 kuai one way. But it is about twice as fast. The slow boat takes three hours; we made it there in 90 minutes. Ordinarily, a speedboat traveling at the speed we were moving would not be that unusual. But a speedboat with a payload of 250-300 people is quite impressive.

I was curious about the kind of work Doc was doing on Weizhou Island, so I asked him about his own educational background. He told me that he got his Ph.D in cryogenics at a university in Shanghai. I was a bit taken aback by this, because I had not been aware that there was a connection between cryogenics and natural gas processing. I won't go into all the details--you can read it yourself if you're interested. Basically, what it amounts to is that by cooling the natural gas to about -120 degrees Fahrenheit, natural gas liquids (such as ethane) which pollute the gas stream, but which are actually useful byproducts, can be liquefied, thus making them easy to remove.

I am not a petroleum engineer by any stretch of the imagination. My understanding of the whole process is limited to my experience with the Williston Basin, where I lived for many years. I told Doc that in the Williston Basin, drilling for oil was very expensive, because the wells are very deep, and because there is significant salt water contamination. Salt water can't just be pumped out on the ground, it has to be trucked away. In addition to the salt water, there is always the issue of H2S (hydrogen sulfide) gas. Doc talked to me about the amine process used to extract hydrogen sulfide. The H2S is then flared. I'm sure this is pretty much the same process used in North Dakota. There is always some concern about this, because the exhaust from the flaring process is SO2 (sulfur dioxide), which becomes acid rain if it is absorbed in precipitation. But in the pristine air of the Tonkin Gulf, this would not be an environmental issue.

When we got to the island, Doc took me to the Natural Gas processing plant where he works. The island is about 25 square kilometers, with several small villages scattered among the fields of banana trees. The drive to the plant is very pretty, with the fields of banana trees on both sides under a blue sky, with the deep blue waters of the Tonkin Gulf in the distance. Being a software guy, I was fascinated with the interface they use to monitor the process from start to finish. Basically, they have a couple flat panels side by side, with a three dimensional schematic of the plant, complete with real-time readouts of relevant gauges at each location. It's quite impressive.

Economically speaking, companies like XinAo are the best hope for the future development of this country. Private industries are more efficiently managed than public enterprises. And they contribute more to their communities. XinAo has contributed much to the local community, building a road, a basketball court for young people in the community, and improving the infrastructure of the area, as well as providing very good jobs for people whose options are quite limited on a remote island such as this.

After looking through the plant, we went into the village for a sea food dinner. I was glad to be going with someone who knows what to pick out; I am not a sea food expert. But we sat in the shade picking through the exotic crustaceans, and enjoying the cool tropical breeze, interrupted only by a very persistent old lady hawking bananas. Doc finally gave her a couple kuai and set the bananas on the ground. After lunch, we drove up to the volcano park and took the hike that goes down by the water. The scenery was quite spectacular, owing to the beautiful day. I would really like to spend about a week on that island sometime.

In 1869, French missionaries built a church on the island. It was constructed entirely from local stone material. The structure is in amazingly good condition. I am not an expert in gothic architecture--perhaps someone who was would be impressed with that part of it. What struck me was the contrast between this obviously cultured building, and the tropical island surroundings. Because I am a Christian, people expect me to be terribly impressed with church buildings. But I think it is precisely because I am a churchman that the physical building is not really what impresses me about a church. I asked them if this building was still being used for services. They assured me that many people come here for Christmas and Easter.

It was time to head back to the dock. I had considered spending the night, but I am leaving the end of this week, so I have some loose ends to tie up before Saturday. I don't always like to do quick trips like this, but sometimes it can be useful for giving one a preliminary understanding of the area. But my quick-stop approach reminded me of a story a couple backpackers told me last summer in Kashgar. They had somehow hitched a ride up to Karakul Lake, found a place to camp with a good view of the mountain, prepared the area, pitched their tents, cooked their meals, and were enjoying the spectacular view, when a bus load of Japanese tourists came through. The bus stopped, everyone got out, took a bunch of pictures, and got back in. The Japanese tourists were there a total of 10-15 minutes. That was their entire "Karakul Lake" experience. Have you ever been to Karakul Lake? Both the backpackers and the Japanese tourists could answer "yes" to that question. But is it really the same "yes?" Well, today I was a Japanese tourist. Again, no one forced me into that position. It was a personal decision. Throughout the day, Doc was persistent in expressing his willingness to accommodate whatever I decided to do. He is a gentleman of the highest order. But I decided not to spend the night. I will be back.

After we got back to the dock, we had a few minutes before the boat left, so we sat in the shade of a tree, eating leeches. We were again interrupted by the very persistent old lady selling bananas. We told her repeatedly that we were not interested. But she just would not leave. Doc finally pulled out five kuai and gave it to her. Then he took the bananas she had set on the table, and put them back in her hands. It was an indirect message, but she did not miss the point, and boy was she angry! She held those bananas like they were too hot to handle, and dumped them off on another seller. But it was a fair point appropriately made. A beggar is a beggar is a beggar. I told Doc that the beggars in Beijing don't bother to pretend they're selling something. They just hold out their little cups and shake them so the coins rattle. You can hear them coming a mile away.

On the boat back to Beihai, I got in a conversation with the ladies selling condiments. It was a bit stilted, because my Mandarin is still pretty limited. But we had a nice chat, anyway. I encouraged them to learn English. I taught them the literal translation of the exhortation often attributed to Mao: "Good, good study, daily, daily up, up! (hao, hao xuexi, tian, tian shang, shang)" It took quite a while for them to get it right, but they were happy to learn the Chinglish version of something they had all heard many times. Sadly, without the proper reinforcement of a comprehensive knowledge of the language, their pronunciation deteriorated rather quickly. An hour later, they were saying, "Goo, goo study, lady, lady ha, ha." I didn't have the heart to correct them. It doesn't work. You can't learn entire phrases in isolation. That is why I have never owned a Mandarin phrase book. I don't want one. My approach takes infinitely longer, of course, but I think it will be more effective in the long run. Time (lots of it) will tell.