Eric's Beijing Diary

"For without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire and has no choice but eventually to try to join Europe, but on conditions of democracy and legality that Europe enshrines. But if Ukraine falters and is reabsorbed, then Russia is again an Empire, with all of the insecurities that it generates on the Eastern edges of Europe."

(Zbigniew Brzezinski, in a speech to the World Affairs Councils of America on January 30, 2004)

Pay attention, folks. While we are preoccupied with the Middle East, Russia is creeping up on us on the blind side. Russia cannot be an empire without the Ukraine, and can only be democratic if it is not an empire. Russia's interest in the current situation in Ukraine is certainly understandable. But the rest of us should be interested, too.

Labels: Russia, Ukraine

Yesterday, at Claire's birthday party, Xiaofeng asked me to give him an English name. We started talking about it a bit, and he mentioned that he really admired Jack in the movie Titanic, because he gave his life for the woman he loved. But Jean didn't like that name. So we started thinking of other possibilities. Finally Jean said, "Just think of someone in the Bible that you really admire." His response was immediate: "Jesus." Well, I told him that might go over in a Spanish speaking country, but probably wouldn't work for people from America.

This afternoon, they asked me if I had come up with anything yet. I told Xiaofeng that I still thought Jack was a nice name. But he wasn't satisfied. "Jack died for a woman, but I want to die for God." I told him that Peter was crucified. That made him happy. He wanted to be Peter. But Jean and Claire both felt that Peter was too common. The process didn't seem to be going anywhere. Then Xiaofeng said, "Can you find a name that means "honest?" I want to be honest. I went to behindthename.com and did the search, but the only thing that came up was "Nazih," an Arabic name. I said, "Sorry, there's no name that means honest." We were stuck. We had all but given up. But Jean saved the day when she suddenly remembered the scripture where Jesus says, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" (John 1:47) Jesus was talking about Nathaniel. So Nathanael it was. Nathanael agreed. All we had left to do was to teach him how to pronounce it. He's working on it.

I checked out several places for Thanksgiving dinner. The top price was the Swisshotel. More than 200RMB. The best price was the Holiday Inn at Temple of Heaven, but it is not very convenient to get too. They told me it is not near a subway station. I would probably have to take a cab, and the price for that added to the cost of the meal would make it less than a bargain. I decided to compromise and went to the John Bull Pub, because it is a ten minute walk from the subway station in Jianguomen. It may seem strange that I would choose a British restaurant to eat Thanksgiving dinner, but the first Thanksgiving celebrants were, well, quite British, including Squanto, who had lived in England and spoke the King's English.

The first years of the Pilgrims were tough. They had all things in common. But those who were strong and worked hard got no more than those who were lazy. This tended to discourage initiative. In 1623, Governor Bradford abolished Socialism, and announced that every family would have their own parcel of land, and be able to keep the profit from whatever they produced. That was the end of famine for the Pilgrims. But what impresses me most about the Pilgrims is the way they changed the world, not by forcing their beliefs on those around them, but by their determination to just be themselves, and worship God as they saw fit. I will never forget when I stood on the beach by Plymouth Rock in the summer of 1988. It seemed like such an insignificant piece of geology. Not something I would have been impressed with if I had happened upon it incidentally. Seen in isolation, it was really nothing. But Plymouth Rock became great because of the people who stepped on it. They were great people. And they were great people not because of their determination to change the world. They were actually most concerned about separation from the world. And in daring to be themselves, they made history.

I remember reading about the "Mayflower Compact" when I was in elementary school. But when I actually visited the area, I realized what it was really about. The Pilgrems were separatists. They did not want to associate with "Strangers." But they had landed in the new world, and the ship and crew could not return right away. So they were forced to live with people they would normally not associate with. The Mayflower Compact was a compact between the "Saints" and the "Strangers." When viewed in this light, it really is a fascinating document. The Pilgrims had much to be thankful for. And one of the things we have to be thankful for is the Pilgrims, and their determination not to let the world tell them who or what they should be. If you ever get a chance to visit the Plymouth Plantation and the Mayflower, I assure you, it will be a trip well worth your time.

Well, I finally did it. I bought a copy of War and Peace by Tolstoy. It occured to me the other day that I had been pretty much neglecting Russion literature since I came to China. And this is one piece of work I had never gotten around to reading. I read Tolstoy's other epic novel, Anna Karenina some years ago, but I had not taken up War and Peace yet. Not much is known about the precise nature of Tolstoy's religious conversion. We do know that it created a considerable amount of tension in his family, because he took to writing what, at the time were viewed (at least by his wife) as worthless tracts. I don't think the short stories of Tolstoy are worthless tracts. I think many of them are great works of literature. But at any rate, the comaparison between War and Peace and Anna Karenina is interesting, because the first of those two was written before his conversion, while the second was written after. This really is a major piece of work, and I am not going to finish it in a hurry. The good news is that the chapters are short. There are lots of them--well over three hundred. But they are short. If I can manage to read one a day, I should be able to finish this thing in about a year.

I sent Melissa a link for an interactive map of China. This map is hosted by the South China Morning Post. The Post, like many other online news services, has become a pay for use service, but the map itself is still free. For some reason, she missed the map, and ended up at the main website for the South China Morning Post. Instead of an interactive map, she was presented with a demand for payment. She told me her story:

I sat aghast at my computer seat
I'm but I student, I repeat
my funds are low
my mind must grow
henceforth I claim defeat.

For what else shall my money spend
but greater wisdom at days end
I shall not sink to paying fees
for news of action overseas

And so I left that morning post
and headed to a finer host
that offers links at such degree
that I might get the news for free.

and money I shalt now allot,
to, in my mind, a wiser spot
the registrar to which I give
the funds by which I plan to live
oh this payment yet will thrive
and one day soon I will arrive
an education, I'll derive

from funds I spent on my degree
that will one day lib er ate me
to do the things that I love most
.....like pay the fee to China's Post

Labels: Melissa

Richard called me this morning and shared a scripture:

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8)

It was apropos. I had just been contemplating the tragic news about Iris Chang. Her car was found on a side road in California. There was a bullet in her head and a suicide note. I read about it first in the China Daily, and then went to npr.org and listened to the report.

Iris Chang was a young writer who was known most for her book The Rape of Nanking. This book is a detailed account of the sickening massacre that took place in Nanjing during the Sino-Japanese War. Her research was very thorough, but her writing was a bit morbid, and she seemed to feel that her book was the first to bring this atrocity to the attention of the world community. Certainly her book was the most prominent in recent years, but there were others, notably The Other Nuremberg, by Arnold Brackman, a UPI reporter who covered the Tokyo War Crimes Trials.

In her suicide note, she said that she wanted to be remembered as she was before her "illness." But those who knew her best described her as someone who really was obsessed with the terrible event she wrote about. Although her book was not a particularly positive piece of work, I did feel that it had the effect of stimulating others to address the history of this event. But her book was frustrating, because she gave so much attention to establishing her preferred figures for how many people were murdered or raped or tortured, and very little attention to exactly what went wrong in the Japanese command to allow this atrocity. In Iris Chang's mind, the Japanese were all monsters, so it didn't matter who actually ordered the massacre. But Sterling Seagrave pins it down to a particular prince who was on the scene at the time, and wanted to "teach the Chinese a lesson." Certainly countries should be held accountable for how they wage war. But individual commanders should also be held accountable for their individual actions.

This history of China in the Twentieth Century is certainly a painful one. But taken in its entire context, there is a redeeming quality to this history that Iris Chang completely missed. In the study of history, perspective is everything.

Anne Marie wanted some clarification about the piece I wrote on November 6th. She was wondering about "Lao Wang." Everyone on the trail has a nick name, so Judy called me Lao Wang, because my Chinese name is Wang, and Lao is a term applied to someone older than yourself. It means Old.

When I was told, in Arizona, that I needed to have a Chinese name, I wasn't sure how to go about it, because the typical approach is to come up with an assortment of characters, the sound of which roughly approximates one's English name. But the meaning could be quite different, and often ridiculous. In my case, I concluded that a name like Eric Langager would be pretty hard to reduce to a three sylable phonetic, and by the time I did, it wouldn't sound anything like my name anyway, so I decided to just translate it directly.

The Japanese name "Nagano" is a direct literal translation of "Langager." So I asked Ina how to pronounce the Chinese characters for "Nagano." It is pronounced "Chang-ye." Eric means king, so that would be Wang in Chinese. Therefore, my Chinese name is Wang Chang-ye (王长野). Problem is that in China, Wang is a family name and Chang-ye is a given name, so my first name is my last name, and my last name is my first name.

I don't use my Chinese name very often. Most people call me "Eric." My students call me "Eric." My colleagues call me "Eric." My friends call me "Eric." But Beihang is a very Chinese university. I do need to have a Chinese name for some purposes. Actually a Chinese name is really designed for Chinese folks who don't speak English. When I meet people in Beijing who don't speak English, and hand them my business card, they appear very uncomfortable. They want to be polite, but they are at a complete loss as to how to address me. But when they see the Chinese side of my business card, with my Chinese name, I can see them relax immediately. What's interesting is that the next time I meet them, they are speaking perfect English: "Good evening, Professor Wang."

But how about this: If you didn't know any of what I just told you, and you wanted to derive my English name by translating my Chinese name, then my English name would be Longfield King. I don't know what I think about it

Last night I picked up Richard, my friend from South Africa at the airport. As we walked outside and headed toward the taxi line, we were accosted by a very aggressive man who tried to urge us in a different direction. I followed the regular line and headed toward a conventional cab. The man grabbed me and said "bigger taxi." I was taken aback by his impudence, and asked him how much he wanted. He quoted me a price six or seven times the standard rate. I told him I wasn't interested. He then quoted a price which was still highly inflated.

These guys really irritate me. Living in China, especially as a foreigner, you have to get used to hustlers. But most of the time, you really do have an option. If you don't want what they are selling, you just say "No." Again, and again, and again. But the black taxis are frustrating, because they pick on unsuspecting people. I think the cops should clean them out. Another reason the black taxis bother me, is because they give taxi drivers a bad name. Most taxi drivers I have met in Beijing are decent men. Last night, after having dinner with Richard, I took a taxi back to the University. The driver missed a turn, and charged me less than the amount on his meter. This morning, I was heading into town to pick up Richard for church, and the taxi got to the front of the Beijing Hotel, but was across the street and unable to turn in. He shut off his meter, then drove ahead to another side street so that he could turn around and face the opposite direction. As I said, most cab drivers in Beijing are just honest men doing a day's work.

Thinking about all this takes me back to my days as a cab driver in Kodiak, Alaska. Driving a cab is interesting. It is not hard work, but the pay is low and the hours are long. Fortunately for the cab drivers in Beijing, there are lots of people who don't have cars, so the cab drivers keep pretty busy. Still, a twelve hour day is not considered long for a cab driver. Dishonest hustlers who give a bad name to honest men are not nice people.

Veteran's Day. I always liked this day as a teacher, because every year, it meant a holiday regardless of which day of the week was November 11th that year. There is some confusion between Veteran's Day and Memorial Day. Official explanations will tell you that Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have died in defense of their country, while Veteran's Day is a day to honor all who have served, both living and dead. Some explanations go so far as to say that Veteran's Day is actually dedicated to the living Veteran's. These explanations sound good, and true in part, but history is a bit more basic. Memorial Day was originally titled Decoration Day, as a day to decorate the tombs of Civil War soldiers. Veteran's Day was originally instituted to celebrate the end of the First World War. So Memorial Day has a Civil War origin, and is thus uniquely American, while Veteran's Day has a World War I origin, and is thus more international. But enough of history. I leave you with the words of John McCrae, a Canadian doctor who died in World War I:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Went with Judy and her boyfriend to the mountains northwest of Beijing this morning. Judy had gone to the internet and signed us up with a hiking group that meets there regularly. There are several groups that go every Saturday. We started from the North Gate at 6:30, and took the bus to the foot of the mountain, about an hour away. It really was a beautiful day, and an invigorating hike--about 10 kilometers. Lots of friendly people, and they were very solicitous. They kept asking me "Are you OK, Lao Wang?"

The countryside around Beijing, especially on the north side, is blessed with a plethora of hiking trails. I have not been here long enough to become familiar with the names of each peak--I have only climbed a couple of them. I am really too busy to do this every week, like some of the folks on the trail, but I really enjoy the opportunity to get away from my work for a day and get a really good workout. In Arizona, I usually hiked the summit trails on Camelback or Squaw Peak in Phoenix. The trails here are quite a bit longer, which means that they are a bit more of a challenge, but not something you could do in a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. Here, it is an all day affair. We hiked to an area right near the summit, then headed down into a beautiful valley between the mountains, where we had our lunch, and a two hour break. They did an introduction, and had a picture taking session. Judy announced that I was going to sing a song for them. I don't know how she got this idea in her head, because I don't think she has ever heard me sing, but I didn't want to let her down, so I sang "The Old Rugged Cross."

I have never been an athlete. I guess it is partly because I have always been a bit of a bookaholic. One summer when I was in high school, I started a program of running two miles a day. After doing this for a few weeks, I got in my car and mapped out a 7 mile course. I ran the seven miles without stopping. After this experience, I asked myself, "Why am I doing this?" I couldn't come up with a good answer, so I gave up running and went back to my books. I don't know...maybe if I had nine lives I would spend one of them as a runner. But I only have one life, and I was born to run a different kind of race. So I guess I have to be content with a good fresh air mountain hike once in awhile. This will probably be my last day hike for awhile. I'm feeling winter.

I met a college kid from California at the Lush this morning. He's doing a master's degree at Qinghua University in Chinese history on an Olmsted Foundation scholarship. I told him that I also had an interest in history, and started talking with him about my attempt to get a handle on the ancient dynasties, and their relationship to present events. He said, "I'm an 1840 and after kind of guy." Well, I certainly understand that, because I myself have studied much more of what would be called the "History of Modern China," although I would date it from the Macartney mission in September of 1793. But even at that, you are really going to be handicapped if you limit your study to the history of Modern China. Not only that, but China is an intensely philosophical culture. If you study only the events without the philosophy, you will be really handicapped, because the events in isolation really have little meaning without the philosophy. The history of China in the last two hundred years is certainly interesting, if not always easy to get a grasp on. But an understanding of the persistence of dynastic evolution throughout China's history is indispensable. You can never understand the present without knowing something about the past.

Well, another one has come and gone. Although this one was not that easy to predict, it is not a complete surprise, either. The Rasmussen tracking poll only showed Kerry ahead on one day since August.

There are, however, several interesting things about this election. I live in China, now, and my perspective on this issue is influenced by the way people outside the United States are affected by the election. This goes two ways. Americans are often unaware of how the actions of America are perceived around the world. But it is also true that people outside of the US (I speak particularly about China, now) are often quick to judge American actions in ways which betray a lack of awareness of American priorities.

I have been very troubled by American actions in Iraq. By this I mean both the manner in which America entered the war, and the way the war has been conducted. This puts me on the same side of the issue as many in China. But I also take issue with many in this country who tend to think that the invasion of Iraq is an expression of America's desire to control the Middle East. I have always believed, and believe still, that Bush's actions in Iraq were personal. His father backed out of Iraq without removing Saddam Hussein from power, and then Saddam Hussein tried to kill his father. However, to the extent that there exists much misunderstanding, Bush is largely responsible for this misunderstanding. I should emphasize that the sentiments expressed have usually been shared very politely. From my church friends, it's usually some form of, "Do you really think Bush is a Christian?!" Nevertheless, there is widespread belief that America has bullied a small defenseless nation for reasons which were, at best, not valid, and, at worst, deliberately fabricated.

September 11, 2001 presented an opportunity to go after Iraq that I believe was largely misused. Saddam Hussein was not involved with the attacks on that day. Using 9/11 as an excuse to attack Iraq was not appropriate, and it tended to draw American attention away from Afghanistan. Sometimes it is better to do one thing right, especially in a situation like Afghanistan, where the Americans clearly had a reason to act. But there is no question that 9/11 made the American people willing to tolerate war in a way they probably would not have been if it had not happened. I was listening to Ed Koch (former New York mayor), who is a man of integrity, and probably my favorite American politician of all time, being interviewed this morning on the BBC. He said that he had voted for Bush, and that this was the first time he had ever voted Republican. Whatever else may be said about Bush, he has demonstrated an uncanny ability to garner very strong support from highly respected people.

But at the same time, his support has not been broad based. It is no secret that George Bush's political model is Reagan rather than his own father. But, as Chris Mathews pointed out, Reagan, who was the quintessential conservative, carried New York in his reelection campaign. He was viewed as a national leader, even though his views were very conservative. In the end, there is not much more that can be said about it. Bush is the first president since his father to be elected with a majority of the popular vote. Clearly, the Americans want George Bush to be their president. America is a democracy. End of discussion.