Eric's Beijing Diary

Got out of class at 6pm, rode my bike to Wudaokou, took the light rail to Xizhimen, bought a piping hot ear of sweet corn from a street vendor for 1 kuai, caught the subway to Dongsishitiao, and went to the Poly Theatre, which is right outside Exit B. I was a little uncertain about being able to do it, because the show started at 7:30, and I didn't have a ticket. At the gate to the theater, I was accosted by someone hawking tickets, but I ignored him. I figured if it came to that, I would just give it up. Fortunately, I was able to get a seat in the nosebleed section, literally the very last row of the balcony. Far away, and I should have had binoculars, but at least there were no obstructions--I could see the whole show without having to crane my neck to look over some big guy in front of me.

The Ukrainian Ballet. Every culture has it's strengths, but I think when it comes to this sort of thing, the Russians have it down. I'm no expert. When I was in college, I always stayed away from the kind of P.E. classes where you had to wear tights. And I don't think I would want to do that sort of thing for a living. But if you put it all together, the artistry, the color and the music, it really is a good performance. Beautiful music, and very colorful. Black and white TV would never do it justice.

A lot of ballets come through Beijing. Actually, a lot of different kinds of performances make the tour of Beijing and Shanghai, because there are plenty of people in both communities who are interested. And able to pay for it. The cheap seat I bought was still 120RMB, which is about $15 US, but it is a week's wages for a minimum wage earner. And the tickets go up from there. The most expensive tickets are much more than would be afforded by an average audience in the countryside. There are shows in the countryside, too. But they are uniquely Chinese. In Beijing and Shanghai, you have every possible variety, with some modifications. When the Rolling Stones came to Shanghai a few weeks ago, they had to cut four songs out of their performance.

Tonight Claire and Raymond had a birthday party for me at Sculpting in Time. Sculpting in time has pretty good pizza. After sitting and talking for a bunch of minutes, we decided that a birthday is not a birthday without a cake, so we decided to have a little cheesecake to top off the evening.

Fifty-two. I think it's time I started getting something done in life. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. That's a bit of an overstatement, I suppose, because life seems to have destined me for the classroom. But I have always tended to see teaching as a calling rather than a profession or a job. When I was in 9th grade, my civics teacher said that the we could expect to have four different careers throughout our lives. Depending on how you define the word "career" (that is to say, as a type of work, rather than a specific job), I am already on career number four or five.

Throughout my working life, I have always tended to evaluate a job based on how much I could learn from it rather than how much I could earn from it. This approach is a bit problematic if you have to make a living, but I think it does make you a bit more versatile. The variety of experience, though can be a distraction, because, not being locked into one specific type of job, you do have a tendency to look toward the next bend in the road, rather than just assuming that everything is going to continue to be the same year after year. I can't imagine what it would be like to work for one company for thirty or forty years, and retire with a tea party and a gold watch.

Tsukareta. Flew in from Beihai yesterday, then tried to catch the bus to Tianjin. Missed it. Got up at 4 to leave by five and catch the early morning train by 6. (Would you believe I hired a black taxi without even knowing it? I saw some taxi's sitting outside the North Gate, and I asked one of the drivers if there would be taxis at 5 in the morning. He told me that he would make it a point to be there at 5. He was driving a red car that looked like the old Xiali cabs, and I didn't even notice that it didn't have a meter until he dropped me off at the train station.) Met three other friends at the train station. When we got to Tianjin, we had to bargain for a taxi for a two hour ride to Da Gang.

My Chinese daughter got married today. I have never been to a traditional Chinese wedding before, so I was going to sit in the back and observe, but her dad insisted on seating me in the front with the family, so I just watched everyone else very closely so that I would know when to throw the rose petals. Curious. She had a different dress on every time I turned around--three of them, I think, before the thing was over. I'll have to ask her about that. I don't know if that's part of the tradition--if there is some meaning to each color, or what. Anyway, it was a warm, festive occasion. For Cathy and Olen, it was the third time they had "tied the knot." The first was at the government office. The second was at the church wedding last week. Some people (like Rachel) settle for the official "wedding." But for most people, there is usually a family celebration. In the countryside, the wedding can last a whole day, and it is definitely the one that counts. In fact, there are folks in the countryside who don't even bother with the official wedding.

Well, you-know-Hu finally got his 21-gun salute in the Rose Garden. Funny. The announcer said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the Republic of China." I don't know if the American media noticed, but the BBC caught the gaffe. "Republic of China" is the official name for Taiwan. The talk, of course, tends to focus on the exchange rate and the trade imbalance, but it is unlikely that there will be any major changes in either of those two areas. People criticize Bush for this, but it isn't really a government issue. The trade imbalance doesn't come from the government, it comes from average people who have developed a lifestyle that depends on cheap goods from China. I remember when I was in college, watching several congressmen getting together for the news media and bashing a Toshiba radio with their sledge hammers. Made me sick to my stomach. But Japan somehow didn't seem able to resist the pressure from America the way China has. This, I believe, is one area where the Americans are just plain wrong. American labor problems are not China's fault. Robert Bartley, former editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal, in an article written back in the fall of 2003, does a good job of explaining why floating the currency really does not constitute good policy, but rather, the lack of it. Fortunately for China, and for the many, many middle class Americans whose life styles depend on the ability to bypass the labor unions and get reasonably priced goods from China, the Middle Kingdom does not seem likely to buckle too quickly to misguided American pressure.

The town square. Every city in China of any significance seems to have one. The city of Dalian in Liaoning Province has several of them. I stayed at the Dalian Binguan, which is parked on the perimeter of the Zhongshan Square in Dalian. In the evening, it is very common for towns people to gather and dance, play simple games, or just chat.

Beijing, of course, has Tiananmen. But Tiananmen is kinda different. Tiananmen Square is just a huge slab of concrete. But it is the site of so many momentous, not to mention gut wrenching events. The Monument to the People's Heros in the center of the square is where people brought literally mountains of flowers when Zhou Enlai died. They were brought as a memorial, of course, but also as a protest against Jiang Qing, Mao's fourth wife, who hated Zhou, and who was the "witch" of the Cultural Revolution." For so many reasons, Tiananmen is really more of a nation square than a town square. Still, it is nice place to fly a kite on a Sunday afternoon. But Beijing actually has many smaller community "squares," which serve pretty much the same function as a town square.

As town squares go, I think Beibuwan Square in Beihai is probably one of the prettiest I have seen in China. It has much more of a "park" feel to it. Tall palm trees, spreading shade trees, and grass they actually allow you to sit on. Most places in China, if they catch you sitting on the grass, they will chase you off. Sitting on the grass is like walking on the grass. Grass is for looking at. But here in Beihai, the town square is covered with a lawn that townspeople use for picnics, or just sitting and talking. Situated around the square are several department stores. In one corner is a 24-hour McDonald's. Seems like that place is always busy. The side streets in the neighborhood of the square have lots of small, streetside restaurants. It's very easy to get a delicious meal for a couple dollars. And of course, there are plenty of bicycle rickshaws to take you where you need to go.

This morning, as I was riding through the narrow streets and back alleys of Beihai in a bicycle cab, sipping my McDonald's tea, I was trying to put myself in the place of Peter and John as they ran to the sepulcher that first Easter morning. In one sense, it is more than a bit presumptuous for we who have been brought up hearing the story of Easter, with the benefit of so many infallible proofs, to think we can quite imagine what it would be like to be the disciples of Jesus--how it felt to them. As I entered the church, I could hear the strains of Wesley's old Easter anthem, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today."

On a simply human level, the story is poignant enough. Their dear friend was returned to them. Jesus, who had always seemed to have the right answers, who always put the needs of others before His own. Jesus, the altogether lovely friend and guide. He was back! He was alive!

But far more important for us is the fact that his resurrection was a triumph over death itself. It had never happened before. Lazarus was raised from the dead, of course. But that was not resurrection. Lazarus still died a natural death. He was raised from the dead, but eventually, he, too, went the way of all flesh. The resurrection of Jesus was far different. It was not only a triumph over the power of death for Him personally. It was a massive defeat for the power of death for all who place their faith in Him. This is why Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:25).

I hate death. I will never forget the overwhelming feeling of anger that I felt at Uncle Otto's funeral. As I sat that casket lying there, I knew that death was something I could never, never be at peace with. But Ecclesiastes says, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of everyone, and the living will lay it to heart." (Ecclesiastes 7:2) So the process of thinking through these things is good for us. Some time ago, I was talking with a bunch of young people at the English corner. I said, "Everyone of us is going to die." Of course they did not argue. Then I said, "There is no way you can convince me that it was supposed to be that way." When we contemplate questions of life and death, it is clear that sometime, somehow, something went terribly wrong. This wrong is called sin. And with sin came death. The power, the majesty of Easter is the power over this terrible cancer that has caused so much heartache in this dark world.

Up from the grave he arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes!

And finally, the resurrection was confirmation that Jesus was, in fact, exactly who he said he was. The Bible tells us that Easter was a bold declaration that Jesus was the Son of God. He was "declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by resurrection from the dead." There have been many throughout history who have claimed some special connection with God. They came from different backgrounds, and they started different religions with different dogmas. But they all have one thing in common. They are dead. Jesus and only Jesus was able to conquer death. But the beauty, the wonder, the hope, the glory of Easter is that in conquering death, he not only conquered death for Himself, he conquered death for all who love his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8). So now we have peace, not because we have somehow managed to resign ourselves to death as something which, though undesirable, is unavoidable, and therefore something we must accept. We have peace because we know that in dying we live. The great evangelist, D.L. Moody, used to say, "Sometime you will pick up a paper and will read of D.L. Moody's death; don't believe a word of it; I may be asleep, but I shall not be dead; death has no terror to me." When he sensed that death was approaching, he said, "This is my triumph; this is my coronation day! I have been looking forward to it for years." As he climbed the stairs to the room where he would die, it was with a sense of anticipation. And as he passed from this life, he said, "I see earth receding; Heaven is opening; God is calling me." This is a perfect picture of what death is for those who walk with Jesus. This is the power, the victory, the triumph of Easter.

Labels: Beihai

Sitting here at the Taiwanese coffee bar, eating a dish of caged pigeon on a bed of rice, while I am trying to clean some viruses off my USB drive that I picked up in the lab at the college. Their virus protection here is virtually nonexistent. Fortunately, I have good virus software on my laptop.

I feel kinda guilty, sitting here getting ready to eat one of my favorite birds. I used to have homing pigeons when I was a kid. I don't know..the way they serve these dishes seems almost designed to put a guilt trip on you. They arrange that cute little head right on top; I can almost imagine little birdie looking at me pleadingly.

Reminds me of the time Winston Churchill was getting ready to carve the Christmas turkey for his family. Churchill's kids were always begging him to get one kind of pet or another. He was too much of a soft heart to say, "no." So the Churchill Chartwell estate was a veritable menagerie of different kinds of domesticated creatures. One Christmas, dear pet turkey got the axe. Churchill was standing there at the table with the carving knife in his hands, ready to do the honors, and the whole family was waiting for dinner to begin. He hesitated a bit, then handed the knife to his wife. "You carve him, Clemmie. He was a friend of mine."

I think there must be more bicycle rickshaws in Beihai than anywhere in the world. The are all over the place. I have seen them other places, of course. There are plenty of them in Beijing, but in Beijiing, they tend to be used by tourists, so if you are anywhere near a tourist attraction, they will tend to jack the price up, and they can be a bit stubborn about negotiating. Generally, in Beijing, they will charge 10 yuan, which is the same as the basic taxi rate in Beijing. I don't complain about that, because other things being equal--that is, if I have time, and the cost is the same, I will take a bicycle rickshaw. You really do see more. I went to college in a small town in Oregon. Some students from the geography department did a survey. They asked people on the street to identify different locations around town. They found that the one group of people who scored the highest were 12-year-old boys on bicycles. It just seems to be the optimal speed for surveying the scene, so to speak. But as I said, sometimes they will try to charge twice the normal rate, and they dig in their heels if you try to get the regular rate, especially if you are a foreigner It is a frustration for foreign tourists. I was riding my bike through Houhai Park one Saturday morning, and a lady from New Zealand saw me, "Where did you hire that bicycle!? I said, "I bought this bicycle." I felt sorry for her trying to deal with the rickshaws who make their living by taking advantage of weary, unsuspecting tourists.

In Beihai, the bicycle rickshaws are used much more by average people for basic transportation. Some of them charge me 3 yuan, and some charge 5 (again, probably because I am a foreigner). But I don't complain. Bicycle rickshaws are especially handy if you know the name of the place you are going to, but you don't know how to get there. They are slow, though, so it is probably not wise to use them unless you have a pretty good idea what part of town you are in relative to where you want to go. You could end up hiring a rickshaw to take you on an hour journey. Generally, though, if you are careful to get a firm statement on the price, it is a good mode of transportation for short distances.

Took the bus into town today to get something to eat. There is a student cafeteria here on the campus, and also a small coffee bar/restaurant, but the roadside restaurants in Beihai are very inexpensive, and serve very good food. After dinner, I took a bicycle rickshaw to the square and did some studying at McDonald's. A woman with her small child sat down next to me and wanted to talk. She was asking me if. American women had to work like Chinese women. I told her that actually, China and America were quite similar in that respect. The main difference is that in China, children are cared for by their grandparents, while in America, they are taken to a day care center, and thrown in with a bunch of other children. She agreed. Her child is also cared for by her parents. I told her that I thought young children needed to be with their mothers. She agreed, but she said that most families could not afford to live on one income. I told her that America is the same way.

Japan is different. Flying back from Tokyo to Beijing, I met a woman who grew up in China, but who is married to a Japanese, and has spent the past ten years in the US and Japan. She told me about her frustration at going to job interviews in Japan and having prospective employers ask her, "Does your husband allow you to work?" That question wouldn't go over very well with many American women, either.

Labels: Women

Well, the Amity church list said there was a Christian church in Beihai that had both Cantonese and Mandarin services. I copied down the address and took the bus into town this morning. Really nice people at the church. They didn't speak a word of English, but why should they? This is China. When I meet young people in China, especially students, I do speak to them pretty strongly about the importance of learning English. But in a situation like this, the onus is on me. I'm learning slowly, but I do have some distance to cover. Which is why I went to McDonald's afterwards to do some studying. There is a nice coffee bar in Beihai, but the coffee there is not cheap, and they really are not set up for studiers. The other night I was there studying, and someone dimmed the lights for the evening. I thought perhaps they hadn't seen me studying, so I asked them about it. They politely brought me a candle. Well, not much you can say. These Taiwanese coffee bars are just not designed for studiers. The coffee bars in Wudaokou are designed for university students. They provide reading lamps. But the Taiwanese coffee bars are really a cross between a coffee bar and a Chinese tea house. If you come in broad daylight, they really are a good place to study, because they are usually quiet, the service is good, and they have some very good menu items if you are hungry. But in the evening, they like to create a romantic atmosphere. Who can complain? It is their right to cater to the type of clientele they prefer.

Fortunately, there is a nice 24 hour McDonald's on the town square. Very clean, not loud, and lots of light for reading. And all McDonald's follow the international policy: free refills on coffee. I met an American there who is retired and just kicking around Asia. He has been in Beihai for awhile now, and seems to be going through a bit of culture shock. He was telling me about taking a bus down through Vietnam. He said there was another foreign tourist who bought two tickets because he wanted to have plenty of room, and then he had to spend the whole trip fighting to keep people out of his extra seat. Amusing. Actually, I don't know whether to say "Amusing," or "Amazing." Never in a million years would I buy pay for two seats on a bus through the countryside of Asia, and expect people to stand or sit on each other's laps instead of taking an empty seat.

A lady from Sweden also talked to me. Actually, she grew up in Beihai. But she has relatives in Sweden. They showed her picture to a Swedish guy they knew, and he decided to marry her. So now she is Swedish. I asked her how she liked Sweden. She said the winters were boring. Much the same thing I say when comparing America to China. America is more luxurious and more boring. China is a bit more rustic, and much more interesting. She asked me if I had ever been to Norway (I had told her that I was Norwegian). I told her that I couldn't afford it. That's one thing about living in China. Travel within China is usually manageable. But travel outside of China is so cost prohibitive when you live on a Chinese income.

Water Buffalo. Beast of burden in Southeast Asia. These docile creatures just sorta amble through life seeming not to mind whether they are pulling a load, or just hangin' out. Something we could all learn from them, I suppose. I took this picture of a cow and her calf this morning in a field just down the road from the gate of the University where I am teaching.

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE
Actually, it seems strange to say, "Southeast Asia," because I am in Southwest China. But Southwest China is in Southeast Asia, if that makes sense. And the water buffalo is the workhorse of Southeast Asia. Living in a city like Beijing, it is easy to forget that in spite of all the many, many changes, China remains very much a peasant culture once you get out of the cities. It is hard to believe that there are still 800 million people in this country who live on a dollar a day or less. There is a tremendous influx of capital, of course, but the distribution of that wealth is not even. Most of the money goes to the cities. In fact, many of the beggars in cities like Beijing and Shanghai are actually farmers from the countryside who have discovered that they can make more money begging than they can farming. The tremendous income disparity in this country has produced considerable unrest. It is hard to get complete information about this, because of China's controlled media, but it is widely believed that there have been widespread protests throughout the country by the nation's rural poor, who have often been left behind in the current rush to prosperity.

A bit of a hectic week. This is a brand new institution, so it is not surprising that there should be some bugs to work out. But in this case it is particularly frustrating, because network administration has been outsourced to China Mobile, so configuration of the internal network must be done by them.

What they have done, is to set up every system in the lab so that the computers can all access the internet. That is not good enough for me. I want them also to be able to see each other, and also the instructor machine. They say this can be done if we use static IP's. In one sense, I should not object to this, because they do that in Beijing, too. But in Beijing, they have someone assigned to manage the IP addresses. I don't like it there, either, but at least someone is in charge. Here, the guy gets up in front of the class and tries to assign individual IP's to each student based on where they are sitting in the classroom, and then expects them to configure their own system. Mayhem.

Here is the issue: Each computer on a network must have an individual IP address. If you are connected to any network (such as the Internet), you can go to the Command Prompt, type IPCONFIG, and see your IP address. This address can be assigned to your computer in one of two ways. It can be assigned manually, or it can be assigned by a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server. I strongly prefer the latter method, because it doesn't require any expertise on the part of the end user. If the user can be shown how to configure his or her system as a DHCP client, which just means configuring the system to get an IP address dynamically, all other configuration, such as subnet mask, and DNS server, can be done from the server side. In addition, the DHCP server takes care of making sure that no two systems are using the same IP address.

They don't want to use DHCP here. It seems crazy, but without seeing the network schematic, I am pretty sure that they prefer static IP addresses because it allows them to create two or more virtual subnets on the same physical network. If you have a DHCP server on your network, any client on the same physical subnet could conceivably grab an IP from that server. Any two machines that get an IP address from the same server, will be on the same subnet. There is no way to keep the machines apart unless you physically subnet the network. But with static IP addresses, you can actually create two or more subnets on the same physical network by changing the subnet mask. Computers with the same subnet mask will be able to see each other (as long as that part of the IP address covered by the mask is identical), but they will not be able to see computers with a different subnet mask, even though those computers are on the same physical subnet.

Sorry for being so technical. Actually, I don't teach network engineering anymore. I have more or less specialized in database. But it sure helps to have a little of that background, given the problems I run into here, such as an institution of higher learning with it's entire internal network configuration outsourced to an offsite ISP. Anyway, I am crossing my fingers and hoping they finally get the bugs worked out by next week. I really need a working lab for the courses I teach. Stay tuned.

I took the bus to Beihai this evening. I met a young lady on the bus who is a student at the football university. She is studying to be a referee. She invited me to come with her to a noodle shop near the square in Beihai. We got off the bus and walked up a side street to a small restaurant. The noodle dish was new to me (not an unusual experience in this country), but very tasty. One thing I really like about some of the side streets in Beihai, is the way they have planted rows of large, spreading shade trees on both sides. I don't know the species, but it really spreads it's branches. The two rows of trees create a "roof" that keeps the sun out and turns what would have been a hot, sunbaked street with melting asphalt into a pleasant avenue that is driving space, walking space, and outdoor living space all in one. The young lady didn't say, but I think perhaps the school she is attending is another one of the many private universities springing up around the country. The phenomenon is really a sort of cultural explosion in China. I don't know a lot about them, but I first became alerted to this phenomenon when I met a couple of young people in Beijing who are students at one of these institutions operated by a well known Chinese auto manufacturer (Geely). And, of course, there is the college where I am teaching right now. They all seem to be based on the same concept, and to be taking advantage of the same reality, which is that there are many, many students in this country who may not be able to fit into the narrow strictures of the National Entrance Exam, but whose parents are affluent enough to compensate. It's hard to get accurate estimates, but perhaps 400 million people in this country have risen from the depths of poverty since the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms. And the moneyed class in this country keeps growing. The increasing prosperity has also increased the demand for education. I expect to see more and more schools like this.

The United States currently has a $200 Billion trade imbalance with China. What this means is that every five years, the U.S. hands China a trillion dollars. China is using part of this money to buy airplanes. Lots of them. The rest of the money is being used to buy the U.S. government, among other things. Anyway, given China's voracious appetite for passenger planes, the competition between Boeing and Airbus is heating up. Boeing owned the market until recently, but Airbus is going all out to grab a 50% market share. The French company has recently invested $80 million in a corporate office/training center in Beijing. Boeing complains that Airbus is able to do this because of subsidies. Old argument. True or not, Airbus' generosity is paying off. Last December, China ordered 150 Airbus 320's. I flew one of them yesterday from Changsha to Beihai. Nothing against Boeing, but I'll have to say the 320 is a comfortable plane. I can see why it is a strong competitor. But China seems to want to keep both big companies happy. Last fall, when Bush visited China, an order was placed for 70 Boeing jets, with options for 80 more in the future. Do the math. Eighty plus seventy...seems like China wants to keep things about half and half. So China is buying three hundred big birds, and is projected to buy 2500 more in the next 20 years. That means China will be doing this again every two or three years. Needless to say, air travel is increasing. And with it, the increase of businesses, legitimate and otherwise, that are trying to cash in on the bonanza. No less than three of them accosted me at the airport in Beijing before I got on the plane. I was ready for them. But it still irritated me. The first time this happened to me, I was fooled for just a minute. Last year I went to the airport for a flight to Dalian. A lady dressed neatly in a blue official looking suit stepped up and politely asked for my ticket and passport. It didn't take me long to realize that she was a huckster. She did a swift job of taking me through the process of getting checked in, and taking me to the security gate, then politely asked for 10 yuan (about $1.25). I didn't give her a dime. For a complete stranger to take my passport under the pretense of official position is an unspeakable abuse of trust. I was quite angry, but I tried to tell her as calmly as I could that I did not request her help, and I wasn't going to pay for it. If you come to China, do not give these guys money. They are criminals, and fraud is fraud. I have the greatest sympathy for working folks (such as bicycle mechanics) who are just trying to get some honest work. But this kind of thing is very different. They will ask to see your ticket. Don't show it to them. Just tell them very firmly that you are not interested.

I landed in Beihai just before midnight last night. Dr. Chen from the college picked me up, and took me to one of those roadside restaurants that was still open at this unlikely hour. I had miscalculated. I thought there would be dinner on the plane, but I guess a flight that doesn't leave until 7:30pm only merits a snack. So I was hungry. And the food was good. Sea food is abundant here in Beihai. Beihai is a small resort community situated on the Gulf of Tonkin, just off the northeast tip of what used to be North Vietnam. The college is a semi-private institution affiliated with Beihang University. The buildings have appeared out of the rice fields in just the past two years. I don't know the whole story, and perhaps this is an oversimplification, but I have surmised that this is one of the many private institutions that have sprung up around China to accommodate the needs of students who, for one reason or another did not score highly on the National Entrance Exam, but whose parents have enough money to pay for an alternative. The up side to this is that schools like this tend to soften the harshness of the National Entrance Examination, because it provides another pathway for students who, under the old system, would be "out in the cold." The down side is that teaching this caliber of student may be a bit more challenging, (in part because their English proficiency may not be quite as good). Beihang University in Beijing doesn't admit students who score below the 98th percentile on the National Entrance Exams. Whatever the case may be, these are some very delightful young people. I think I am going to enjoy working with them.

Hanami. That's what they call it in Japan. I means looking at flowers, and it refers, particularly, to the famed "sakura," or cherry blossoms for which Japan is so well known. Last night, at the English Corner, some energetic young ladies asked me if I had ever seen the cherry blossoms at Yuyuantan Park. I was taken aback by the question, because, in fact, I had just been planning to visit that park the next day. I made the mistake of telling them just that, quite without thinking. Well, in about five minutes, they had organized a group tour, and I was included. I am generally a bit nervous about group tours, but this one turned out alright.

It's a little early. Most people I talked to told me to wait, because the cherry blossoms will not be in full bloom for another couple weeks or so. But I am flying to Beihai on Monday, and I will be gone for three weeks, so this may be the only chance I have to see the cherry blossoms. Most of the largest trees had a number of blossoms that were just beginning to open, so the park will probably be a bit more impressive by about the middle of April. Still, the cherry trees, which were a gift from the government of Japan when relations were normalized thirty years ago, are very pretty. Beijing is certainly not the flower city that Kunming is, and the cherry trees are not nearly as abundant as they were in the Japan I grew up in, where the whole town would turn pink in the spring, but the trees that have been planted do well, and although the climate is very dry in the winter, there seems to be enough moisture in the spring and summer to make up for it.