Eric's Beijing Diary

Raymond's birthday tonight. We went to a one of these new buffet places. This one is different, though. It emphasizes barbecue. What they do, is charge you one price for the buffet, and then leave a checklist on your table. The meat guys come around with different types of meat, and cut enough for your table. It is the meatiest meal I have had for a long time. If I knew how much meat there was going to be, I would have stayed away from the buffet table, or at least taken a lot less. Squid, several cuts of beef, varieties of pork, fish, several parts of chicken, and two or three kinds of sausage.

Got back from Shenzhen last night. I'm sure you know the feeling, so I won't go on and on about it, but it sure is good to be back in my own bed. I have been treated so well, it's not that. I had a nice apartment in Beihai, and the mosquitoes weren't too bad this time, although the humidity was quite significant. Fortunately, Beihai is right on the sea, so you do get a breeze. Shenzhen was a little hot, but not unbearable. Linda was a little concerned that I would not be happy with their humble accommodations. She had actually arranged for me to stay with her uncle, but it was quite a distance from the company dormitory, so I told her that I didn't mind staying in the dormitory. Not luxury, but it was comfortable. Still, although it is fun to go, it is sure nice to come back. "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

But I was dismayed by what I saw in the neighborhood. I think it's part of Beijing's "face lifting" in preparation for the Olympics. It's getting to the point where I am afraid to leave town. I go away for three weeks, and when I come back, the whole place is falling apart. They tore down the Wudaokou Market! Can you believe that? OK, so those guys would rip you off if you weren't careful. But they had just about anything in that place. And the used bookstore! It's history. The used bookstore on the second floor of the Wudaokou Market had mostly Chinese books, but there were a few that I got in English. The books I got were always in mint condition. Old, but in good shape. Here is a sample:

A book on the theology of Paul the Apostle by a Dutch theologian, published by Eardman's.

A fawning, three-volume biography of Kim Il Song (father of Kim Jong Il) published in Beirut. (Did you know that the sun is brighter in Korea since...never mind)

A World War II era novel by a Russian novelist, published in the old Soviet Union (which I bought for 15 RMB, and found on EBAY for $100).

But alas! There's nothing left of the old Wudaokou Market but a few steel girders that haven't fallen out of the sky yet. Just one more sad reminder of China's excessive image-consciousness. I've heard they are going to tear down the whole West Side. I hope that's not true. There are lots and lots of restaurants on the West Side of Beihang that serve food from every corner of the country. Good stuff for a very reasonable price. Boy am I going to miss them if that rumor becomes reality. As they say in China, "What a pity."

Last night, Linda, George and I walked around downtown Shenzhen. We started at the large city park right near the central business district. It is a beautiful center, somehow similar to the "town square" of any number of cities I have been to, but bigger and obviously much better financed than most. Lots of tree lined paths, and a lake (probably man-made) area. Much like the other town squares I have seen in China, it is a place for local people to come and unwind. But Linda told me that some time ago, there were young people camped out in the park--young people from all over China. For so many years, the thought, "if I can only get to Shenzhen..." has propelled hopeful job/adventure seeking individuals here for the purpose of seizing opportunities that might be unthinkable in their home communities. The surprise of it is that for so many years, the roaring economy of Shenzhen has actually been able to absorb these people and give them work.

It is just about impossible to even know how many people live here. I have heard estimates of anywhere from 10-12 million. But just about any population figure you see is sure to be inaccurate, because the population has been changing so fast. And the city is really a city "out of place." This is South China. The street language of South China is Cantonese, or some form of it. Even the citizens of Beihai speak a version of Cantonese, but certainly Guangzhou nearby, and Hong Kong, directly to the south. But the street language of Shenzhen is Mandarin. That's because these people are not from South China. They are from all over China. Farmers and working people have come to get work in one of the thousands of factories that have grown up to manufacture every conceivable product brought to them from all over the world. And professional people have come to fill the need for buyers, engineers, and managers in the many foreign companies that have set up offices in this city. Shenzhen is basically catching the overflow from Hong Kong.

I don't know if I would want to live here, not because it is not a pretty city, but because there is something very unusual about a city that is so completely devoid of history. I guess it is not that there are so many new buildings. It is that there are absolutely no old buildings. Actually, that is not quite true. Some of the older apartment buildings were put up in the eighties, when this phenomenon first started. They have certainly had a traffic of thousands coming and going, and they have an old feel to them. But there's just no way you can compare a city like this, where there are no buildings more than 30 years old, to a city like Beijing, which is so rich in history. Get up on a Saturday morning in Beijing, and cycle down toward the Forbidden City, ride around the palace moat, then get lost among the hutongs. Or catch a bus out to the wall, and gaze out through the parapets at the wildness of Manchuria. Shenzhen? Not possible. Yes, you can find a few buildings that look a bit worn out. But there is absolutely nothing ancient in this city.

Still, the city is interesting in it's own way. This is South China, so it is warm and very humid. I am not a Southerner by nature, so it is definitely not my preferred climate. But this city is pretty. I don't know if it actually is the "richest city in China," as they say, but there is certainly plenty of evidence to support that moniker. There are 30-story high rise apartments that have a beautiful garden every two floors. It's kinda weird walking the foot path of a garden 20 or thirty floors above the street, but it does make for a very nice urban dwelling.

On Sunday's, Linda usually goes to a Chinese church in the morning, and an English fellowship in the afternoon. But she wanted to have a Bible Study this morning, so we went to a coffee bar with George, one of her co-workers who lives in her company dormitory, and had a nice time chatting about God's purpose in our lives. This afternoon, we took the subway to a different part of town where there is an English-language home fellowship. Home fellowships are a very big part of the church in China. Although there is a "small group" movement in America, too, in China, it is basically a way of life. Many Christians go to the Three-Self church on Sundays, and some other small fellowship at least once during the week.

We decided to go back to the dormitory a little earlier tonight, since I am leaving tomorrow. The dormitory where George and Linda live is owned (or, more likely leased) by their company. This is a very common practice in China. Many times companies cannot get employees if they do not provide some kind of basic housing. But there are dormitories, and there are dormitories. I live in the teacher's dormitory at Beihang, but it isn't really a dormitory in the strictest sense. The dormitory rooms at Beihang are actually small, one bedroom apartments. But a company dormitory is much different. In George and Linda's dormitory, the men and women are separated as to sleeping quarters, but they do have to use the same wash area, and there is no washing machine, so they have to wash all their clothes by hand. Linda is the only woman right now, so she has a room to herself, but in the men's area, there are five or six guys in one room. I suppose it is not the worst thing for young working people to be a little crowded, but the part about having to do all their own laundry by hand seems a bit unfair to me. It wouldn't cost the company that much to buy a small washing machine. But those are my sentiments. I never heard any of these young people complain about having to wash their clothes by hand. They seem to take it in stride.

Workers protesting a company and a boss who has absconded with their wages.

Flew into Shenzhen this morning. I have always wanted to see this "miracle city" of China. Shenzhen was born out of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, which began in the eighties. Shenzhen, which used to be a small fishing village, was commissioned as an "special economic zone." The official word was that Shenzhen was being set up to facilitate trade with Hong Kong (which was true, of course), but the more important issue, in my opinion, is that Shenzhen was an "experiment" with capitalism. Picture the situation: You have Hong Kong, the most capitalistic enterprise in history, just across the causeway from a little fishing village in a country where established orthodoxy says that business is evil. Suddenly, the government in that country says, "OK Shenzhen, you can operate like Hong Kong, and we will look the other way for now." The result was an economic force flow that saw a city of 10 million people explode out of the Delta in a 20 year period of time. It is meaningless to talk about what Shenzhen was before this happened, because it's basically irrelevant. There is virtually no relationship between what is here now, and what was here then. This is not a metamorphosis. This is a quantum leap.

Linda picked me up at the airport, and we took the bus back to her dormitory. After a good afternoon nap, we decided to walk around a bit, and happened to walk by some protestors sitting in front of a restaurant that was closed. There was a whole bunch of them. I don't read Chinese very well, yet, but Linda told me that they were protesting because they had worked for many months without pay, and their boss had just absconded with the money. Disappeared. They had no chance of being paid. I took a picture of them, and we walked on...oops, not so fast. The police officer stopped us abruptly and told me that I had to delete the picture from my camera. I told him that I didn't know how to do that. It was the simple truth. When I bought this new pocket camera a few months ago over in Zhonguancun, I went to the Canon web site and downloaded a .pdf file of the manual in English. But I haven't had a chance to go through all of it, and truthfully, this was not one of the things that I needed to know, because when I bought the camera, I also purchased a 1 GB memory stick. I can take hundreds of pictures before having to worry about filling up the space (unless I am taking lots of movies). So I usually offload the jpegs to my laptop, and then decide which ones I want to keep. Anyway, the police officer was definitely not satisfied with my story, and it was beginning to look like it was going to be a long day. Linda to the rescue. She grabbed my camera cheerfully and said, "No problem, I can delete it." She fingered my camera like an expert for a few seconds and deleted the offending picture. She gave it back to me, OK, it's done. The cop let us go. I was a bit disappointed to lose the picture, but Linda assured me that we had no choice, and I didn't want trouble, either.

Actually, the fact that a police officer can walk up to you and tell you what you can and cannot take a picture of, is, in some ways, a bigger story than the protest itself. Or maybe I just feel that way because I have been so thoroughly inculcated with the "right to know" as a divine right. To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what the concern would be here, it is very possible that the cop was acting on his own, I just don't know. After all, these folks weren't protesting the government. They were protesting (a bit futilely, I think) against a boss who was not even in the picture any more (no pun intended). At any rate, it does seem to be another example of the extreme image-consciousness in this country that is so noticeable to foreigners. This is one problem I have with journalism in China. China wants the world to understand and appreciate it's perspective, and even advertises the news show on CCTV as bringing the "Chinese perspective" to the world. But the purpose of journalism is not to present a particular perspective. It is to present the facts. To be sure, that would include the perspectives of parties involved, but the perspectives should be presented as objectively as possible. So I do not completely buy into the Chinese approach to journalism. But the American approach to journalism is so far to the other end of the spectrum, that it becomes repulsive and amoral. Objectivity at the expense of humanity. I will never forget hearing Peter Arnett in "Live from the Battlefield" describing the self-immolation of a Buddhist monk in Vietnam,

"As a human being, I wanted to intervene, but as a journalist, I knew I could not."

So Arnett stood there and watched a Buddhist monk burn himself to death because he didn't want to be come "part of the story." American journalists often go to such elaborate lengths to avoid being "part of the story," that they lose their humanity in the process. That's not good news. And it's not good journalism. Objectivity is not a god to be worshiped, it is a value we adopt as a matter of integrity. But when objectivity becomes detatchment from reality, this detachment itself becomes a more important story than the one being covered.

My purpose in taking a picture like this is not to show how bad China is. It is simply to give a voice (for whatever it's worth) to people who don't have anyone to speak for them. Have you ever been in a situation where you desperately wished you had someone to speak for you? It's a desperate, helpless feeling.

Linda and I proceeded to a coffee bar, where we met a guy from Istanbul who was waiting for his wife to do some shopping. I talked with him about my visit with the Turkic Uygur people in Xinjiang last summer. While we were talking, I was flipping through the pictures on my camera, and realized that the "deleted" picture was still there. Linda said, "I know. I'm not familiar with that camera. I don't know how to delete pictures." Could have fooled me. Did fool me. Anyway, that's the long and short of it. I got the picture, and Linda gets an Oscar.

Labels: Shenzhen, Work

What can I say about Beihai? It's been an interesting experience. Living here on a spot of land that was nothing but rice fields a few months ago is a daily reminder of how quickly this country is changing.

I caught this picture of a farmer coming around the corner with his livestock. What is the future for farmers like this? Do they have any hope of retaining the lifestyle that has been theirs for so many generations. Would they want to? Colleges like this are shooting up out of the countryside all over China. The entry requirements are a bit more lenient, so they serve as alternatives for students who don't quite make the grade at more prestigious institutions. But what is this change like for the people whose neighborhoods are so completely transformed by such rapid development.

Beihai College now has 500-600 students--not sure the exact number. Next fall, they are anticipating 2000-2500 new freshman. This may be wishful thinking, but the number will be significant, because there is a huge demand for institutions like this. Generally, I think these new institutions are an asset to their communities, because economic development brings opportunity. But the breakneck speed with which they are popping out of the rice fields may be hard for local people to adjust to.

It's hard to describe, really. A large, modern university, with hundreds of alert, computer savvy kids preparing themselves to live in a global community. And they're good, too. Ironically, these kids actually adapt better, in some ways, to the courses I teach than the students in Beijing. In Beijing, I often encounter students who have been so oriented to theory, that they don't see the importance of practice. But these kids are different. These are the kids who like to play with computers instead of doing their homework. They all buy the book, and they all go to the Oracle web site and download the Oracle software. In sharp contrast, a few yards away from the campus, a peasant farmer works the rows with a one-bottom plow, like my grandfather did a hundred years ago, when he came to America from Norway. How will these country people adapt to such incredibly rapid economic growth? Is it unfortunate that so many of them are losing their simple lifestyle, or is it the best thing that ever happened to them? How does a country accommodate the change inherent in a roaring economy without heartlessly brushing aside the needs of ordinary country people who might have their own ideas about those changes?

But don't assume too quickly that the peasants are going to be a thing of the past. Eight-hundred-million people in this country live on a dollar a day or less. For all it's changes, China is still very much a peasant culture. The government has recently announced new government programs to help farmers--it remains to be seen whether these programs will alleviate some of the concerns of the rural community. As I mentioned previously, I do believe that many of these changes will be good for the rural community. But that can only be true if there is some means to distribute the wealth so that those who are doing so much of the hard work that makes a country run, are getting a piece of the pie.

I saw a disturbing interview on the Today show with the parents of one of the GIs who was murdered in Iraq. I was particularly troubled by something his father said: "Our son was over there doing a job. The people over there who did this, they are sons, and they were doing their job." Nonsense. Those two soldiers were brutally murdered. There is a huge difference between a killing a uniformed soldier in battle, and murdering POW's who have already been taken captive. This father was obviously in grief, but the moral confusion his comment evinces is just another example of the disturbing lack of moral clarity that has filled every page of this tragic war.

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.

Found a Kagoshima sushi bar near the Square tonight. You put down 30 kuai, and belly up to the bar. They give you two hours to eat all the sushi you want. Nice contrast to my seafood experience. The stuff comes around slowly, so it's not like you can pig out in 15 minutes, but that was no problem for me. I always have books with me.

After dinner, I went to McDonald's to get some coffee, and met a guy from the States who has decided to retire in Beihai. He's been here about a year. He does a couple English corners just for kicks. One of them is held every Monday night at McDonald's, so he invited me to join. You know, there are certain elements of culture that vary from place to place throughout this country, but the sense that English language proficiency is something to be valued is pretty much universal.

Last night I went into town to get something to eat. I got off the bus near the town square, and started walking down a side street to look for a restaurant. A bicycle rickshaw guy saw me and rode up alongside me. It was quite obvious that he wanted business. He looked pretty desperate, so I hopped in and told him to find a restaurant for me. He rode around for awhile, and I finally spotted a place, so I stopped him and got out. It was a seafood restaurant. That part was no problem--I like seafood. The problem with these places, is that they have a bunch of different exotic creatures in tanks, and you pay by the jin (500 grams). It isn't cheap, either. And it's really very hard to know how much the final bill is going to be. If something goes for 90RMB/jin, and the thing weighs 3 or 4 jin, you could be in for a lot more than you expected. Well, I just wasn't in the mood for spending that much money. Actually, if you're coming from America, and you have two or three people, it probably wouldn't seem like that bad a deal. After all, we're talking about exotic seafoods--this isn't every day stuff. But when you are alone, and you live on a Chinese income, the price is so much more than you would pay at an average restaurant. Anyway, I left the place. I went back to the Square, and found a little roadside Moslem restaurant--tasty bowl of beef noodle soup for 7 kuai. It was good, but I didn't really intend to go that far in the other direction.

Today, I talked with one of my students who knows the area, and had him show me where some good seafood restaurants were. I went into town, bought a city map, and hired a rickshaw to take me to the harbor. "Seafood Island," it's called. On the way out there, I passed some neighborhood places and told the lady she could stop and let me out. She refused. She kept saying, "That place is no good." Well, she finally brought me to a place, but it was pretty much the same situation as last night, so I started to leave. The rickshaw driver saw me and told me to get in. By now, she really was on my side. She took me to another place that sits right on the bay. Same situation, but I was able to get some shell food (clams, etc.) that weren't too expensive. Actually, if you are going to eat sea food as a single person, the shell food is probably better anyway. You can get fish anywhere.

I guess you just have to be philosophical. This isn't something you would do every day. And the seafood really is good. It's just that, in China, fresh fish is a given. It isn't really a specialty. And you can get it anywhere for much less than what these exotic food places charge. When Mao went to visit Stalin on his only trip outside of China, his Russian hosts gave him some frozen fish. He told his aids to throw it back at them. He was insulted. In Chinese restaurants, they don't keep fish in the freezer, they keep them in fish tanks in the restaurant.

I never understood the significance of this until I worked in the sea food processing industry in Alaska when I was in college. We managed to get some fresh halibut from the packing plant where we worked. That stuff melts in your mouth. It is a tender, boneless white fish that is absolutely delicious. Restaurant halibut is stringy in comparison. Several times since that time, I have ordered halibut at restaurants in the Lower 48. It just is not the same stuff. Fish does not take freezing well.

The obsession with fresh fish in China can be taken to extremes. In Beijing, they used to have a dish where they take a fish and quick-fry the center of the fish. When they serve the fish on the table, the center part is cooked, but the head and tail are still moving. That's a bit much, I think.

A few weeks ago, we were having some fish at a little restaurant outside the West Gate, and one of the cooks brought the fish out to show us before he cooked it. The energetic fish jumped out of the basin it was in and started flopping around on the floor. It was a pretty good sized fish, too. Well, the fuwuyuan managed to catch the uncooperative fish and ten minutes later, Fishy was in our stomachs.

Got an email from Martin Lewis the other day that got me thinking about the issue of capital punishment:

Eric, You have an absolutely wonderful blog. I bet you could transform it into a book. I enjoy reading it. I don't tell you that enough. I like your question about where you're most at home; that theme could be made into a book. Your review on Mao was interesting. Victors always shape history to spin themselves in the best light. It takes a long time for objectivity to set in if it ever does. I have a question on your view on capital punishment. IT is a question that I have been thinking about for a while. I almost wish I could find the blog that began the reflection. Where does Mercy enter uniformity and fairness? It has been said that justice needs to be tempered with mercy. Currently capital punishment tends to be more focused on men and especially minorities. A uniform application would address it but would the value of mercy be dumped in the process? Mercy without prejudice would be difficult. I do not have an answer to the question and would be interested in your thoughts.

Capital punishment. Hotly debated issue in any society where such debate is allowed. In China, the issue is just never talked about. At least it hasn't been in the past. In all the discussions I have had with Chinese folks about any number of issues, I cannot remember the subject ever coming up. It's changing, though. Amnesty International, which is very critical of China on this issue, has recently commended the growing debate on the death penalty which is developing among Chinese academics.

I am not opposed to capital punishment, but I do not support it lightly. I am concerned that the death penalty in China may be sweeping in people whose cases have been railroaded through the courts without due process. And my criticism of the death penalty is not limited to China. Capital punishment is probably not workable under the American legal system either, because the rules for criminal procedure are so convoluted that the possibility of executing an innocent person are far too high. Recently, the governor of Illinois, who believes in capital punishment, cleared death row, pardoning some, and commuting the sentences of all others. Again, he believes in capital punishment, but the justice system in Illinois (and the rest of the United States) is hopelessly unreliable The risk of executing innocent people was just too great.

Old Testament Israel is often considered a primitive culture, but many do not realize that the rules for criminal procedure in Old Testament Israel were very strict. In a murder trial, lack of a third eye witness was considered a mitigating factor:

"At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. (Deuteronomy 17:06)"

So three eye-witnesses are preferred, but you could find someone guilty on the word of two witnesses who agreed on the details. One witness? No way. Had to turn him loose. And false accusation of a crime carried the same penalty as the crime itself. The point is clear. Ecclesiates says that if sentence against evil is not executed speedily, the hearts of men will be set to do evil (8:11). But if we are going to have swift and severe retribution for crime, safeguards for the innocent must be extraordinary.

So what do we come up with when we apply this principle to China? China executes more people than any other country in the world. I don't know how many. Neither does anyone else. It isn't published. True, many death sentences are commuted. But there are still quite a few executions. The problem I have with many so-called "human rights" organizations, is that they try to "fix" the problem by attacking the whole idea of capital punishment, rather than addressing the basic problems with the justice system, thus rendering themselves incapable of fine tuning a system that needs work, but that is not beyond reform.

Let me try to explain it this way: Think of someone you love dearly. If an evil person broke into this loved one's home and hacked him or her to death with an ax, what should be done to this person? I believe the murderer should be executed. Some would call that revenge, but I disagree. Revenge would be having the person hacked to death himself. I do not believe in torture. I would not advocate that the murderer be drawn and quartered, or broken on the wheel. I believe in humane execution. But a man or woman who takes a life should have his or her life taken. This practice in Old Testament Israel made murder a very rare crime. But it is important to emphasize that execution was not a matter of personal vengeance. Here is what the Bible says about the stoning of Achan:

"And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day." (Joshua 7:25-6)

Stoning was a brutal, bloody way to die. It was cruel and horrible. But it is important to remember that in stoning Achan, the Israelites were assuaging God's anger, not their own. Execution must never be a means of venting one's own rage. There is a huge difference, morally, between a public hanging and a duel. It is the difference between personal revenge on behalf of one's honor, and just retribution on behalf of society.

In a society where life is trivial and not valued, a crime like murder merits a slap on the wrist. But in a society where life is dear and precious, murder demands the price of life. So if we try to "fix" China by attacking capital punishment per se, we will miss the point, as well as a very important opportunity, because, in fact, there are areas where the legal system in China does need reform, and there is a move by several in positions of authority to do just that. I must emphasize this point--there are many people in positions of responsibility in China who are trying to address the needed reform in the justice system. And the government seems to support the idea of reform, because these individuals are given significant attention in the mainstream media.

The problem in China, as well as in America, is that it is still far too easy for an innocent person to be executed. The main difference between China and America is that in America, an accused person is allowed a vigorous defense, assuming he or she can pay for it. So you can get justice in America, but it's going to cost you. In China, on the other hand, vigorous defense can and certainly has been considered anti-social behavior. Many lawyers have been locked up for defending their clients too aggressively.

The most poignant example of this is a case that was quite widely publicized a year or so ago, where a guy who had been tried and convicted for murdering his wife, was released after she showed up alive. He had been tortured to get a confession. Not only that, but his mother campaigned vigorously for his innocence, and they put her in prison for almost a year! After it was discovered that he could not have killed her (because she was not, in fact, dead) attention focused on the police, and the methods they had used in going after him. One of the police officers in question committed suicide.

Here are a few basic areas where I see a need for reform in the justice system of China--reforms that would need to be in place before capital punishment could be justified.

1. Right to vigorous defense. The client must be given the right to be defended by counsel without fear of reprisal.
   

2. Right to avoid self-incrimination. Not sure what form this would take, exactly, but there must be some means to assure accused persons the right not to be convicted on the basis of their own testimony. This right is critical to justice in a free society. In America, the police are required to tell the people they arrest that they have a right to remain silent. This is based on the assumption that if suspects do not know they have a right at the time they need to exercise it, that is the same as to say that they do not have that right .
   

3. Right to independent judiciary. Some would say that the right to trial by jury is more important, but I don't necessarily agree. Americans are accustomed to a jury system, and it is hard to dispense with it lightly. But I am not absolutely sure that jury trial is needed to ensure justice. But it is absolutely essential that guilt or innocence be based on a finding of fact by a court of law, not by the dictates of a local party chairman.
   

4. Right to face one's accused. This basically comes down to being able to respond freely and openly to the person who is accusing you.
   

5. Right to speedy trial. This right includes the right to freedom from incarceration, unless there is a specific charge for a specific crime. Justice delayed is justice denied.

These rights are considered basic and inalienable in America (except, of course, at Guantanamo). The problem in America, is that the exercise of these rights can be very costly. Good legal help is terribly expensive. Some years ago, there was a popular "lawyer" show called, "Matlock." It is probably in reruns somewhere on the schedule. Ben Matlock's retainer was $100,000. Americans like to boast that accused persons are provided with counsel. But the kind of service provided by a local public defender's office is just not the same as that provided by an accomplished criminal lawyer. So one could ask, "What about Old Testament Israel? Accused persons there didn't have the benefit of high priced lawyers." True. But again, remember that in Old Testament Israel, you didn't need a high dollar lawyer, because the rules of criminal procedure were so strict, and framing the innocent was considered particularly vile. You probably remember the story of Naboth in the Old Testament (1 Kings 21). The wicked king Ahab wanted to buy Naboth's vineyard, but Naboth did not want to sell, because it was part of his family heritage. Jezebel comes in and sees her husband pouting, and she hatches a scheme to have Naboth falsely accused of blaspheming God, so that he would be stoned. After he was dead, she came to Ahab and told him to take the vineyard. Ahab was a wicked king. Probably one of the most wicked in the history of Israel. But when Elijah confronted him, he repented in sackcloth and ashes. Even such a wicked person as Ahab knew that what Jezebel had done was beyond the pale. This value system permeated Jewish thought, making the execution of innocent persons very rare. I can't think of a single other case where an innocent person was railroaded through a kangaroo court, except, of course, for the trial of Christ, which was an outrage. But even there, Jesus had to help them out, because they could not find two people who agreed. (Matthew 26:59-66)

I do not think that China should use America as a model. It would probably be better for China to go back to the basic principles of justice in English Common Law, which, of course, were rooted in the moral principles that originally came from the Torah.

Nobody knows how many executions there are in China. But most observers believe that there are more people executed in China than anywhere in the world. Again, I am not personally opposed to capital punishment. And the fact that there are more executions is not, in itself, prima facie evidence of institutionalized injustice. You would believe that if you believed that capital punishment per se is injust. But this is my primary frustration with those in the West who criticize China. They are so viscerally opposed to any capital punishment, that they render themselves incapable of addressing the issue of reform in any intelligent manner. They are unable to enter the discussion of issues such as rules of evidence, trial by jury, rights of appeal, etc., because they do not believe there can be a just way to implement capital punishment. But these discussions need to be held. And, as I said, the government seems to be open to addressing these issues.

The Davinci Code has been pulled from theatres in China. I saw the news the other day in the China Daily. The reason given is the need to make room for local films. Possible, but I rather suspect that there is another reason. This film was making a lot of money. It's possible that the Catholic Church lodged a complaint, since the movie is blatantly anti-Catholic. Or perhaps the government felt that the movie generated too much interest in Christianity, although I personally doubt that. The movie makes very minimal reference to the Bible.

I didn't like this movie. And I am getting tired of spending my precious time watching movies I know I am not going to like, just so I have something to say to the many, many students who ask me what I think. I come off looking quite biased if I criticize a film I have not seen. But how much of this nonsense must I endure?

I read one Chinese reviewer who bemoaned the superficiality of the movie compared to the book. But that's an old story. The movie is never as good as the book. The reviewer was speaking only in terms of the decoding sequences, which were created with a developing suspense in the book, and sort of fall apart in the movie, mainly because they are so rushed compared to the book.

My problem with the movie was entirely different, partly because I didn't read the book, but mainly because I think the flaw I see is far more significant than the one this Chinese reviewer mentions. There are two things, really. First is the fact that the movie is openly blasphemous. Most people won't react to this, mainly because they don't know what blasphemy is, but also because the blasphemy is presented very tactfully. Jesus is not presented as a "bad guy" or imposter in the movie. Indeed, he is the ancestor of the heroine. But one intent of the movie is clearly to show that Jesus was not God. And the Jesus and Mary Magdalene thing. That is such a tired theme. For me, it started with the 70's rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar and Mary Magdalene singing,

I don't know how to love him.
What to do, how to move him.
I've been changed, yes really changed.
In these past few days, when I've seen myself,
I seem like someone else.
I don't know how to take this.
I don't see why he moves me.
He's a man. He's just a man...

Then it was Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation of Christ." I didn't see either of those, partly, I guess, because I didn't have to. I didn't have bunches of students asking me what I thought. In America, the lines are much more clearly drawn. You know what the movie (or opera, in the case of "Superstar") is about before it hits the theaters. You know what everyone from the established corners (religious right, religious left, etc.) thinks about it.

In China, it's different. There is no "religious right" in China. There is no "Moral Majority." Movies don't generally take on a political identity. If they do, they are probably going to be gone for that reason, if for no other, which may be why "Davinci Code" was pulled.

The other thing that irks me about this movie, is that it deliberately alters history. I am getting weary of this, but I suppose I should brace myself, because there will surely be more. These "Oliver Stone" types are a symptom of a decaying society. America is clearly a civilization in decline. One could say that the audience in China is vulnerable to this kind of thing, because the Bible is not well known in China. You can buy it in any church, no questions asked. But it is not available in bookstores (yet). Most people have not read it. In that sense, perhaps, a Chinese audience is more vulnerable than an American audience. But I don't know...people are just gullible. Several years ago, there was a mini-series on the life of Abraham Lincoln which suggested all sorts of negative things about his life that have no basis in history. I would wager that most of the average Americans who watched the mini-series did not know that it was based on a book (Gore Vidal's "Lincoln") that is found in the fiction section of the library. These days, you can say anything you want, and alter history any way you want, as long as you put the word "novel" on the cover.

I don't mean to suggest that historical novels per se are a symptom of a sick or decrepit society. Great novels have been a part of great literature since before there was America. But a great novel must have integrity. It is assumed that a novel will have some fictitious events. But when a novel addresses real people or events, it must be true to history. This whole spate of historical novels, movies, etc. that deliberately rewrite history are a sickening sign of a society where truth is relative, and , as Tom Hanks says at the end of the movie, "The only thing that matters is what you believe."

Had an interesting conversation this morning with the professor here who teaches history and Mao Zedong Thought. She was complaining that young people are not interested in studying history. They only want to make money. I told her that I felt perhaps the history was not so interesting to students because in China, the history is controlled by politicians. I told her that if I were teaching the course, I would tend to emphasize Deng Xiao-ping theory more than Mao Zedong Thought. Mao was a very adept military strategist, but he was a poor administrator, whereas Deng Xiao-ping really changed the lives of Chinese people, because he was able to change the economic system in a subtle, gradual manner. But I also told her that any teaching of Marxism is going to be boring to students, because they don't want to spend time studying something that no one believes in anymore.

This is the problem with modern China. You have a country where the constitution still embraces "public ownership of the means of production" (Article 6), but where most of the business that the average person encounters is private. Let's say, I stop by KFC for breakfast. Private business. Then I stop by the grocery store to pick up some stuff. Private business. I stop to get my bike fixed. Private business. Now, I work for a public university. Public universities are just that--financed by the government, so that could be called socialist. But they are socialist in America, too. Bottom line: for the most part, businesses in China are not owned by the government. Political rhetoric notwithstanding, France is more socialistic than China. So you have a country that is moving toward market economy status, but still obliged to pay lip service to Marxism from time to time.

Something in the latest ZGBriefs bulletin that caught my eye:

Millions Compete in College Entrance Exam (June 8, 2006, China Daily)

Yesterday was the first day of China's national college entrance exam and a record figure of almost 9 million high school graduates were packed into exam centers around the country. Each one of the 8.8 million students is vying for one of only 2.6 million undergraduate places at the country's universities. Compared to last year the number sitting the exams has grown by 10 percent but the number of available university places has only gone up by 5 percent making competition for places fiercer than ever. In Beijing more than 126,000 students were sitting the exam, said Xian Lianping, vice-director of the city's education committee. He estimated that more than 70 percent of those sitting the exam in Beijing would secure university places thanks to education policies which favored the capital. To ensure students can sit the exam in peace and quiet local governments across China urged construction sites to stop working yesterday and today. Activities like open air Karaoke have been strictly forbidden. High-tech equipment has been deployed in exam rooms nationwide to ensure there's no cheating. Electronic monitoring devices, mobile phone detectors and shielding machines are being widely used. More than 1,600 exam centers in Beijing have been equipped with tele-electric monitoring systems. And supervisors can closely scrutinize exam halls on closed-circuit television networks.

So that means that 5 million plus students are out in the cold? Five million students have no chance at a future? Five million students have to pick up their hoes and head for the fields?

Well, not quite. It really used to be that severe. But China is quite a bit more fluid these days. Still, it is a much more traumatic experience than anything the average American student can imagine. Read Da Chen's book. Generally written for youthful audiences, I would recommend it also for adults who want to understand this problem. But your reading of that book should be tempered a bit with some present realities. Springing up all over China, now, are private colleges and universities designed to accommodate students who may not measure up to the high standards of the national examinations. So students do have other options now. Problem is, these schools (like Beihai) are not cheap. What to do for the students whose parents don't have large sums of money to spend on a private education? In those cases, a lot of it comes down to the ingenuity of the student. I have met several of these types. Some of them are quite successful. Some of them compensate by going into business for themselves. Others become successful by learning English. In China, if your English is good, you will always have some kind of job.

But, in the end, there will still be millions of young people who are "out in the cold," so to speak. All the news about China's wonderful prosperity may sound like a bit of a mockery to these young folks. For all it's economical development, China is not yet the "land of opportunity" for the dispossessed. Still, it is so much more fluid than in the past, and there are more and more people who are able to develop some measure of success, if they have the creativity to come up with a profitable idea, and the determination to work hard to shape that idea into a business opportunity.

Back in Beihai. Got in last night at midnight. Speaking of "back," I have really been in pain for the past week. It confused me a bit at first, because I felt a deep pain in my back. I was wondering if I had a kidney infection or something. But that was just a stab (no pun intended) in the dark, because I have never had any such malady. Well, I thought about it and thought about it, and did some snooping around on the Internet. Something I read about Sciatica caught my attention:

"Sciatica occurs most frequently in people between 30 and 50 years of age. Often a particular event or injury does not cause sciatica, but rather it may develop as a result of general wear and tear on the structures of the lower spine."

Yep, that's me. I just seem to have problems that did not seem to be an issue when I was younger. I think I must have gotten out of the trucking industry just in time. Then again, maybe not. Maybe I stayed in it a little too long. I always tried to guard my back when I was trucking, but sometimes it is hard. I jumped down from trailer beds more times than I can count, and that cannot be good for your spine. I remember one time I was chaining a load and carelessly using my body as a fulcrum. I felt my back snap like a whip. I let go immediately, and didn't seem to have any injury, but that sort of thing is not very good for you.

I don't have sciatica, by the way. Nothing wrong with my legs. But I probably did manage to get a pinched nerve somehow. Just not sure how it happened. I called Rachel and asked her about the massage hospital she had told me about previously. I described the condition to her, and she texted the Chinese version to my phone, as well as the address to the hospital. That way I could go to the hospital on my own and explain to them what was wrong with me. But I procrastinated, and since I was leaving for Beihai, I decided to just let it go. Slowly get better. Well, Sunday night she called me and said that Eason had twisted his back, so he was going to be going there anyway. Lucky for me, but not for him. He couldn't bend over.

So, that's how I ended up going to the traditional medicine hospital yesterday morning. I had lots to do before I left, so I really didn't want to go, but I don't like pain, so I decided to go ahead and take the opportunity. One of my students told me I could take Bus #47 and get off at the Huguosi stop. Eason met me at the bus stop, and we walked to the hospital, where Rachel's mother was waiting. She knows that place really well, and she was able to get us right in to see the doctor. Good thing, because it might have been a long wait otherwise. In fact, I probably would have left. I just didn't have time to wait.

The massage doctor was a great big guy with powerful hands. If what he did to me could be called massage, I am going to have to change my whole view of the subject. 'Course, I have never been to a massage therapist of any kind, legitimate or otherwise, so perhaps I am not a judge, but this was definitely not a soothing back rub. I laid first on my stomach, while he dug into my back. I couldn't believe it. I started to grab the table, but Eason kept telling me to relax. Yeah, right. Then this guy turned me on my side and dug his elbow into my hip socket. Wow. Believe me, it's pretty brutal treatment. The last thing he did was to pick me up by one leg and snap my body. This job could not be done by a small person. It was a painful process, but believe it or not, I felt better afterward. Somehow all that pounding and grinding and shaking managed to convince those pesky, delinquent vertebra to let go of the nerve they were pinching. OK, I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm trying to picture it in my mind.

After he was through torturing Eason, we both went to the other side of the hospital to do the porcupine thing. I have never had acupuncture needles stuck in me, and I have to honestly say that I don't really know if they help or not. After the acupuncture came the hot bottle treatment. They put these hot jars upside down on your skin and it sucks your skin into the bottle. Very weird looking. I think perhaps the acupunture and hot bottle treatments did help as pain relievers, but I just can't say whether they had any other effect. It was good for me, though, because I had a long flight ahead of me. The flight was uneventful, except that when I got off for a few minutes while we were on the ground in Changsha, the ground crew took my Wall Street Journal. Oh, well. Have to go online and get caught up.