Eric's Beijing Diary

Echo took me to a Mongolian restaurant this morning. Echo is from Inner Mongolia, and I had expressed to her that I was interested in trying the Mongolian cuisine, especially breakfast. I needed to talk with Echo anyway, because I need a lab assistant for my PL/SQL class next semester, and Echo is only the second student I have met at Beihang who knows PL/SQL.

Somehow, Ghengis Khan's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grand-daughter does not remind me of her fierce and ferocious forbearer. She is bright, friendly, and cheerful. And the Mongolian breakfast is much to my liking. Inner Mongolia is the dairy of China, and not surprisingly, the breakfast cuisine reflects this. Milk tea, several varieties of cheeses, and tasty stir-fried millet. And a Mongolian breakfast is meaty--boiled mutton, which tastes really good dipped in milk tea with a touch of Mongolian butter.

I told Echo that I was hoping to visit Inner Mongolia next summer. Mongolians are one of the most prominent of China's fifty-five minorities. Echo studied Mandarin as a required course in school, but she was educated largely in Mongolian. She speaks and writes Mongolian, in addition to Mandarin, English, and Japanese, since she is in the "Japanese Software" program at Beihang.

Labels: Mongolians

Had dinner with Abdullah tonight. I made a very basic mistake last week. Had a dinner party with my Business Communications class, of which Abdullah was a member. I knew Abdullah was a Muslim, and I knew, of course, that Muslims don't eat pork, but I had assumed that he could just have mutton or something. What I didn't know, is that Muslims only eat at certain restaurants. So Abdullah came to the party, but explained to me that he could not eat anything. I told him that I wanted to meet him later for dinner. This evening, we went to a small Muslim restaurant right outside the West Gate. I had been there before, but that was with Chinese students who were accustomed to Chinese food. Abdullah ordered what is called, literally, "Big Bowl of Chicken." If you are ever in Beijing, I recommend it. Piping hot, spicy and tasty, with an incredible variety of vegetables in a chicken stir fry. Good stuff.

Just got back from the hot water room. I have a shui-ka (hot water card) that I put in the slot at one of the meters in the hot water room, so I can fill my thermos. The water is free, actually, but they make you use a card for a couple reasons. First, it gives them a way to limit access to residents of this campus. And then there is a time limit of ten minutes, so that everybody is basically rationed. It's a pretty generous ration, I think, because you can fill quite a few jugs in ten minutes, but I suppose I say that because I have one large thermos and that's it.

The hot water room is not open all the time. It opens for a couple hours in the morning, and few at noon, and then in the evening. It closes between 10:30 and 11. I use the hot water for tea. At the coffee bar I drink coffee, but at home I drink tea. Mostly jasmine tea or crysanthemum tea, but in China, there are many, many varieties of tea, so I have tried a little of everything. In the morning, I use the hot water to make oatmeal. For some reason, I had a hard time finding good oatmeal when I first came here. Maybe I am just picky. But I finally found this Australian stuff called, "Yorker." It was worth the wait--that stuff is the best oatmeal I have ever had in my life.

I've just been listening to Bush's inaugural address. It's almost 1:30 am here in Beijing. His bold defense of freedom and democracy is admirable, but it is heavily overshadowed by the "war" in Iraq, which is not going to be over anytime soon. It is a war which has demonstrated the folly of trying to reform the world by exporting democracy without the moral foundation which is absolutely essential for democracy to work. And this is the first time in my memory that I have heard the president of the United States pay tribute to the Koran in an inaugural address.

Even after we now know that Saddam Hussein did not manufacture any weapons of mass destruction after 1991, Bush's people are still saying that if Bush knew then what we all know now, he would have made the same decision. Nobody with any sense believes that, but I suppose it would be politically hazardous for Bush to admit, at this point, that he made a terrible mistake. This is an important time to be praying for America. I am not optimistic about the next four years.

National Public Radio has featured several "second inaugural" on their website. They have a segment from Nixon's second inaugural, and the entire recording of FDR's second inaugural. My favorite second inaugural speech, in fact, my favorite inaugural address of all time, is Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural, and I was pleased to see that they printed it in its entirety. Not surprisingly, it is also one of the shortest. Here it is:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Had dinner this evening with the dean of the University of Limerick. The Software College here is attempting to set up a cooperative degree program with that institution. Ireland is one of the largest exporters of software in the world, and the Irish are now very interested in outsourcing software development to China. I first became aware of Ireland's ranking as a major producer of software several years ago when I went to work for an Irish software company in Scottsdale, Arizona. But now, even Ireland is looking to move much of its software production offshore, and China is a major candidate for much of this business.

Outsourcing is a big part of China's future. In the last several years, thousands of jobs have moved to China. Many of these jobs are in manufacturing. More and more companies are contracting with factories throughout the Pearl River Delta to manufacture their stuff for a fraction of what they could get the job done for in the United States. This trend has drastically altered many traditional manufacturing communities, especially along the East Coast of the United States. For example, as far as I know, there are no shoes manufactured in the United States. Moving an entire production process to China is a major undertaking. But software can be produced anywhere. It is so much easier to outsource software production. There are issues, of course--chief among them being language. But computer code is very easy to move back and forth from the US to China. Right now, the lion's share of the software outsourcing business is going to India, because English is one of the official languages of India. But China has been very aggresive in bidding for some of this business. And they are getting it, both from the United States, and from Japan, which is not interested at all in going to India. People in India don't speak Japanese.

I was at the coffee bar in Wudaokou this evening reading the Wall Street Journal, and I was pleased to see that the editorial page included a tribute to Zhao Ziyang, who died in a Beijing hospital.

Zhao Ziyang was held under house arrest for the last 15 years of his life. The last time he was seen in public was the day he walked into Tiananmen Square to speak to the student protestors in 1989. As a member of the Politburo, he had inside information. He knew, at that point, that the decision had been made to remove the students by force, and he wanted to urge the students to leave voluntarily to avoid bloodshed.

In recent years, much attention has been given to "American based intellectuals," who have been arrested. This is a source of irritation to me, because it is largely a phony issue. What is an "American based intellectual?" The term is used by the media in the US to describe someone who is not a US citizen, but has obtained some sort of residence permission for the purpose of study and research. Some of these have returned to China to raise some sort of human rights issue, and then expect to be given the same treatment as US citizens. The US media, in many cases, buys into this fraud. Even the Wall Street Journal a few years ago published an editorial under a headline stating that Americans were being harrased in China. Baloney. The entire article was about a lady who happened to have US residence, and was imprissoned in China because she went to China to campaign openly for the rights of a religious cult. She was treated as a martyr by the US media, and eventually released. I was disgusted. And I was not at all surprised to read, a few months ago, that she was arrested in the US for spying for the Chinese government. Most of these people are opportunists. The have no principle, and no loyalty.

But the case of Zhao Ziyang troubles me, because I believe he was a sincere man. It must be said that he openly challenged the established order, and that is not a smart thing to do in a country like China. But his reason for challenging this order, was because he genuinely believed that the students had some legitimate concerns. His death has to be at least an inconvenience. Security has been tightened. But I think the authorities have little to worry about. China is a different place now. Most of the young people don't remember him. Students these days are occuppied with trying to get a good job. They have little time to worry about a left over from a bygone era.

Women in China. It is difficult to generalize about any group of people in any society, and this is especially true about China. China is a very, very diverse culture and an even more diverse society. There are the very very rich, and the very, very poor. Given the varied socioeconomic strata, anything I could say about women (or any other group of people) would be more or less true depending on which group those women belong to. That being said, there are several things one can observe about what life is like for women, which would be true for them because they are women.

I became aware of this issue before I came to China. During the years that I lived in Arizona, I noticed that women from Asia usually don't want to return to Asia. Of course I met men from Asia who didn't want to return either, but the feeling seemed to be much less intense on the part of men then women. Since I have come to China, I have noticed that most of the sea turtles are men. There are lots of men in China who return to China alone. Their wives or ex-wives choose to stay in Canada or the United States. I knew this was true before I moved to China, but I wasn't quite sure why it was true. Having been here for a year, I think I can identify several reasons.

First of all, China doesn't seem to have a strong tradition of chivalry like that which exists in western culture. The idea of equality in an economic sense has been in place in some measure since the founding of New China, because Mao said that "women hold up half the sky." But respect for women as people who should be protected just is not part of the social ethic. The first example that comes to mind is my experience with the tour I took with Linda and Ida last May, when the men who were operating the bus they rented actually threatened to beat them up if they didn't pay more than the amount they had originally agreed to. The lack of respect for women in China is very similar to the lack of respect for men in America. I believe this is why so many of the sea turtles are men. They get more respect here. But their wives feel greater respect in the West.

Another issue is cleanliness. Toilets are filthy. That isn't any more pleasant for men than it is for a women, but most of the time it isn't as big a deal for men. But no woman should have to put up with the kind filth that is a matter of course in most public facilities. And you have to use them, because many of the small restaurants and shops do not have toilets.

Then there is the issue of marriage. In China, as in other Asian cultures, there is a lot of pressure on women to get married. Because of this pressure, many women get into a situation that is not really good for them, because their families are pushing them to marry before they get too old. More and more career women are resisting this pressure, but it's not easy. And many, many women are separated from their children for long periods of time. I have never seen or heard of a daycare in China. Most children are cared for by their grandparents. Better grandparents than daycare, I suppose, but the down side to this is that it is far easier for parents to rationalize a lifestyle that includes very little contact with their own children.

Of course, I have generalized about Chinese women. But not all women in China are Chinese. Among foreign women, I have met several who seem to like it. Most of these are living in a foreign community on an expat salary. Another group of women who seem to like China is young women. There are many young women who come to China either as students or English teachers. I met one of them one evening as I was leaving the North Gate of my university. She was from England, and she was here teaching English in a kindergarten. She looked pretty forlorn as I heard her asking the security guard for directions. She was obviously quite lost. I told her to follow me, and I would lead her to where she needed to go. As we were going, I asked her how she liked China. She said, "I love it!" Perhaps the reason young people tend to like China is becuase there are so many young people here from all over the world. Another reason, perhaps, is that most of them come here for a short time to develop some language proficiency, or get a unique cultural experience, so it is easier for them to be philosophical about the things they may not like.

Labels: Women

Read a fascinating article in the China Daily about an MK who was born in China, left when she was 13, and returned when she was over 80 years old, to live in a small village like the one she grew up in. It is not exactly the same village, but the people there speak the same dialect she spoke as a child. I'm sure a lot of Americans would think she is crazy, but she's having the time of her life, and I would be willing to wager there are plenty of folks in luxurious nursing homes who would gladly trade places with her.

Got my curtains back today. Grace brought them to church with her. She had taken them home to wash them the other day. I never even thought about washing curtains. Once in a blue moon I wash my sheets, but curtains? Hmmm.... Interesting.

O how sweet the glorious message simple faith may claim
Yesterday, today, forever Jesus is the same.
Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick and lame
Cheer the mourner, still the tempest, glory to His Name.

Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never! Glory to His Name!
Glory to His Name! Glory to His Name!
All may change, but Jesus never! Glory to His Name!

A couple ladies from church came over today and brought a medicated plaster for my back. They also stayed and cleaned my apartment! I should hurt my back more often (not really). Anyway, it was really kind of them to help me. I feel pretty helpless right now. I am still showing up for class, because even though it is very painful to walk, it doesn't hurt at all to ride my bike. But I am moving pretty slowly. The past couple days, I haven't even been able to walk across to the cafeteria. I ride my bike. I know it looks stupid, but it's just too painful to walk that far. God bless Grace and Claire.

Sprained my back today. It was one of those stupid moments when you just aren't thinking. I was a truck driver. I know the rules. "Bend your legs, not your back." I was parking my bike, and the one next to it was lying on the ground. I was in a hurry, so I bent over quickly to pick it up. Big mistake, but I realized it too late.

I went with Jean and Claire today to visit a child who had been in the orphanage in Shanxi Province. She had spina bifida as a baby, and had thus developed a habit of standing on the side of one foot. She gets around quite well, but cannot walk. A non-profit organization has sponsored her treatment. She's lucky. Most of them don't get that. Of course, I take my hat off to those organizations that are trying to help as many kids as they can. I just wish there was a way that we could spread the help out to more people. I continue to remain convinced that the old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" applies, very aptly, to children in the countryside. Most of the handicaps I have seen are much more severe than they would have been if there had been early intervention. What happens is that when a handicapped child is born to a very, very poor family, they take the baby to a doctor, and the doctor tells them what needs to be done, and how much it is going to cost. Of course, the cost is just not livable, so they take the child home and do the best they can. But in a totally agrarian community, a child who cannot help with the farm work is dead weight. Eventually the burden is overwhelming, and the child is abandoned. No birth certificate, of course, because nobody wants to take responsibility. So the child has no identity. And the handicap has progressed beyond the point of remediation. It's all so very preventable. But somehow people of good will must be involved with the problem of poverty at the village level. That way, if a problem like this came up, the family would have somewhere to turn, and the child would receive treatment when it could do some good. I am still haunted by the face of that sweet little girl staring up at me from her crib. Her legs were permanently crossed. She spends her entire life lying on her back. She would have had a very different life if she had had access to pre-natal corrective surgery. Still handicapped, but much more mobile, and active, and able to live.