Eric's Beijing Diary

Went to the dentist today. I have been going to an office over in Zhongguancun that provides English speaking dentists, but there has been some kind of management change there, and their pricing seems to be a little more arbitrary. Sorta depends on what you're wearing that day, and how much money they think you have when they eyeball you. Fortunately, Sophie told me about a good dentist out at the Air Force hospital. He doesn't speak any English, but he seems pretty competent. That's the big problem in China. Local medical professionals charge much more reasonable rates, but you have be able to communicate had a tooth that was hurting, and I didn't want to go back there, so I did what I sometimes (sometimes??) do in such situations. I prayed. The other day I got a call from Sophie. I couldn't remember for sure who she was, but she reminded me that I had prayed for her on the street once. I told her I would get back to her so that we could arrange a time to meet. The next day, I met her on the street by accident. I asked her if she knew a good dentist. She said, "Yes. I can take you there tomorrow." This guy is out at the Air Force hospital. Not as fancy as the other office I have been going to, but he seems pretty good, and he charged me the local rate. I really do need to learn to speak this language.

Sunday. Lately, I've been going to the Chinese service at 9am, and the new English service at 11am. In the Chinese service, the pastor was talking about Thanksgiving. He told how the pilgrims came to America, and why they left England.

American holidays are not always well understood in China, but they do get some attention. Christmas much more, I think, because it is such a money maker for the retail industry. Not anything like the States, to be sure. There is no official Christmas holiday, and parents are not "obligated" to buy presents for their children. China is a bit more like Japan that way, I think. Christmas is sorta like Valentine's Day or something. Nothing official, but a special day for going to dinner.

Thanksgiving does not have the market potential of Christmas, which is probably why it doesn't get the same attention. But there are a couple exceptions. English teachers often celebrate it with their students, and all the official Three-Self churches tend to have a Thanksgiving service on the Sunday nearest the fourth Thursday in November. This, I suppose, is due to their missionary roots. Family churches would not be so oriented.

But although most of Chinese society tends to be unaware of Thanksgiving (witness the government's refusal to allow the Kitty Hawk to dock in Hong Kong so that sailors could have Thanksgiving dinner with their families, who had flown over from the States), at least you could say that there is no hostility toward it. All the objections I hear come from foreigners, particularly foreigners who are not Americans, and are a bit miffed that a totally American holiday should get so much attention: As an Englishman, I find all this 'Happy Thanksgiving!' popping up all over China quite an irritation. I wish someone would just explain to the students that Thanksgiving is very parochial, limited to some 300 million people in the USA and others either have it on different days or, more often, don't have it at all.

As I explain to my students, I'm English. We don't have a Thanksgiving Day. The English are a phlegmatic race dedicated heart and soul to giving the impression they have nothing for which to be thankful... But Thanksgiving isn't going away. I doubt that it will ever gain the prominence of Christmas, but it will always get some attention, if for no other reason than that the hotels make quite a bit of money providing American style Thanksgiving dinners at a price that brings in a lot of money for one evening. The other reason is that although China does not have a Thanksgiving holiday, there is, of course, the "Mid-Autumn" festival. Most cultures understand and accept the idea of a harvest festival of some kind or another.

Thanksgiving. This is my fourth Thanksgiving in China. I usually look for a place to have a special turkey dinner. The first year I went to the John Bull Pub. The second year, I took Amber to the Swissotel. Last year, I went with Jean to Tim's Texas Bar-B-Que. This year I decided to do something different. I really believe that Thanksgiving is a time for Christians to show gratitude to God for what He has provided for them. I wanted to find a way to include my friends from church in what is a very American holiday, and yet recognized throughout the Chinese churches as a time when we should give thanks to God. So I called a few people, and we put together a meal here at my apartment. I pretty much gave up on turkey from the start, but I did ask if anyone could cook chicken. Cindy said she knew how to make "Cola Chicken." I know, I was wondering, too. Believe it or not, it's actually quite tasty.

Jesson brought his guitar so we could sing a bunch of songs that we usually sing in the English service on Sunday. After this, I asked each person to think of something they were thankful for from the preceding year. It's really interesting the talk that emerges from people trying to think of what they are thankful for. It makes for very positive and enlightening conversation.

I will admit that Thanksgiving without turkey is a little strange. But Thanksgiving without thanksgiving is even stranger. This year, I decided to focus on thanksgiving instead of Thanksgiving, and I'm glad I did. I fed 12 people for less than it would have cost me for one American style Thanksgiving dinner over in the embassy district. And we ate like kings. But more importantly, a bunch of people getting together to sing and give praise and thanks to God leaves a much richer memory than one foreigner at an over priced restaurant pigging out on exotic imported food.

Happy Cola-chicken Day!

Grace stopped by in a taxi and picked me up this morning, and we proceeded to a meeting at her company. Grace works for a publishing company that publishes childrens books. She is looking for ways to incorporate Christian ideas and stories into Children's curriulum. I told her I thought this was an excellent idea, especially given China's opening up in recent years.

China is not a Christian country, and never has been. But in today's China, there seems to be much more openness to people of faith, and the contribution they can make to the life and culture of this country. That refreshing change is certainly welcome to believers, and will, I believe, be a great benefit to Chinese society. Understandably, the government does have concerns about how religion can impact society in negative ways, and this concern is not always understood well by Americans, and others from the West. In America, the general belief is that people with strange ideas are not dangerous. American's are inclined to feel that an individual's religious beliefs are personal, and therefore no one else's business, and that individuals should not be discriminated against on the basis of their beliefs, as long as they to their jobs well, and don't bother others.

China has a different history. The Taiping Rebellion in the 19th Century was started by a young visionary who said that he was the "second son" of God. His movement grew to be a major rebellion threatening the empire, and eventually costing the lives of 10 to 20 million people. Most Westerners have limited awareness of the violence and bloodshed caused by bizarre religious beliefs here in China. It could be argued that the Cultural Revolution was an example of this, because the young people who roamed the country like a herd of army ants destroying the "four olds" were possessed by a religious fervor very similiar to the followers of Hong Xiuquan.

But if China feels uncomfortable with the idea of giving free rein to any and every religious idea, we can at least say that this country is much more open to allowing historical, time honored Christianity to have it's place in Chinese society. Though the situation such as it is may not be the perfect model of religious freedom, I certainly wouldn't present Amercan style religious freedom as a model. China doesn't have any "Benny Hinn" types traveling around the country taking money from desparate people. I hate to pick on one person, because he isn't the only one who has been guilty of that sort of thing; my point is that Benny Hinn's abuse of the non-profit tax law is obscene, but he will probably never be prosecuted, because what he is doing is completely legal under American law. It would not be legal in China. Still, there certainly are some things China can learn from the American experiment. But the solutions China comes up with need to be Chinese solutions for Chinese problems.

Rob Gifford, former Beijing correspondent for NPR, showed up at the Bookworm this evening for a book talk and book signing. Although I have not read the book, I was familiar with the content, because I listened to his series called "On the Road in China," upon which his new book is based.

Mr. Gifford made a couple comments that I thought were interesting. He mentioned a recent conversation he had in the States with a young student from China. When he asked her about her impressions of America, she said, "Chabudou (about the same)." I sense a certain measure of practiced indifference in that comment. Nevertheless, the point well taken is that the gap between a prosperous country like America, and the urban communities of China, such as Beijing and Shanghai, is getting narrower. When I first got to China, I made the observation that the difference between Beijing and the countryside of China was greater than the difference between Arizona and Beijing. I should probably qualify that statement, because I grew up in Asia, so many of the things that an American with no Asian experience would react to quite sharply, would only be worth a shrug of the shoulders to me. Still, I think the comparison is still apt, since, if someone who has never been to Asia would experience greater culture shock than I did coming to Beijing, they would react ever so much more strongly to some of the poor areas of the countryside.

The other comment Mr. Gifford made was that he would rather be a peasant in China than a peasant in India. This is a fair statement. When examining the plight of the very poor in any society, I often refer to what I call the "economic virtue" of that society. The economic virtue would be the extent to which very poor people are able to improve themselves economically through hard work and ingenuity. The economic virtue of China is significantly higher than that of India. I hesitate to make this point too lightly, because there are still 800 million people in China who live on a dollar a day or less. But Deng Xiao-ping's economic reforms provided a way out for literally hundreds of millions of people. And many more want to follow. It's pretty tough for people who are poor, but it's much easier in China than in India. The problem in China, as I see it, is that the pathway to prosperity leads to the big cities, which are getting bigger and bigger. For 25 years, people have streamed from all over China to the Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen. From an inconsequential fishing village, Shenzhen grew to be a metropolis of 12 million people. It is an absolutely astounding phenomenon. You really have to see it to believe it. A city with no history. No "old town." No historical markers or buildings. I should qualify that, because, after all, in China, a twenty-five year old high rise doesn't exactly have a new look to it. But there is just no comparison between Shenzhen and the other cities of China, which have so much history. And how many of those 800 million people can either Shenzhen or the other large and wealthy cities on Eastern China absorb?

Is there any place in the world where it is always Fall? If you ever hear of it, let me know. Until then, I think I will stick with Beijing. You know, you really can't beat a North China autumn. Today I went with Cindy and some of her students to Fragrant Hills. The bus ride out there is a little long--about an hour, I guess, but on a day like today, it's really worth it. Problem is, about a million other people thought so, too. So there isn't anything like solitude. But the park is big, so once you get through the gate, it's really not that crowded, except at a few places where things sorta bottleneck, such as at the top of the steps if you climb to the summit. I didn't today. I have been up there twice, and I just wanted to spend time looking at the beautiful scenery.

In one sense, if you live on a university campus, you really don't need to travel for an hour to a park to see beautiful scenery. The park here at Beihang doesn't perhaps have all the variety of Fragrant Hills. But it is pretty colorful, and it's right outside my door. That's why I said, "If you know any place in the world where it is Fall all the time, let me know." You really can't beat a North China autumn.

Had another bike crash last night. Elisha ('Elisha' is how you spell 'Alicia' using Mandarin phonemes and the Pinyin alphabet) and I were heading down toward the Haidian bridge on the way to our Thursday evening fellowship. The guy we collided with was riding an electric bicycle, and you would think he would be the "winner" in a contest with an ordinary bike like mine. But he was complaining furiously about his hand. Elisha kept telling me that he just wanted money, and that we should leave, but I didn't really want to ride off leaving him angry. The funny thing about it is that he was doing exactly the opposite of what he should have been doing if he wanted to make me think he was hurt. He should have been holding his hand hanging limp and wincing in pain. Instead, he was moving it about vigorously to show how bad he was hurt. In fairness, I guess it's possible that he really was hurt, and was trying to make sure he was OK. Anyway, a cop saw us standing there and came up. He didn't seem to be too sympathetic to the guy, but he suggested that I give him 50 kuai, so I did.

John is a self-taught lawyer who has been a lawyer and judge in the countryside of Hunan Province. He is now enrolled in a special graduate program at Peking University. Join us on the Beijing Diary Podcast for a very informative interview. The first file I uploaded last night turned out to be corrupted--only about a third of it was intact. So I had to delete the post and start over. I apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced by that interruption.

Cockroaches. I hate those critters. I didn't used to. My position with cockroaches has always been, "You leave me alone, I leave you alone; you crawl on my face, I flush you down the toilet." But recently, my feelings toward those totally innocent creatures have become increasingly malevolent.

I think it was last summer that pushed me over the edge. Not that I was so terribly fond of cockroaches before that. But somehow, they were more or less tolerable. The cockroaches here are not as big as the ones in Arizona. But maybe that's because in Arizona I lived, for a time, in a basement apartment. Believe me, I learned my lesson. Never live in a basement apartment in Arizona. The cockroaches in that place were huge. Here, they are much smaller, and they tend to pretty much disappear in the Winter. Cockroaches are tropical, and Beijing does get a little chilly in the Winter, although it's certainly nothing like the American Midwest.

But last year was an El Nino. I'm not sure how often an El Nino occurs, but the last one I remember was in the summer of 1997, when I was up on Alaska processing fish. That time it messed up the fishing season, which didn't break my heart, because they ended up shutting down the fish processing plant, so I traded the back-aching labor for a job driving a tour bus in Denali National Park.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that last winter was unusually warm. Cockroaches are tropical critters--winter usually kills them off, at least mostly. You see very few of them. But last winter was different. They just never seemed to go away. But the worst of it was that when the weather really started to get warm during the summer, they got particularly bad. It got to the point where, if I poured myself a glass of yogurt, I could hardly turn my head without having one or two of them crawl in and help themselves. I have never seen anything like it. In a way, though, it was the best thing that could have happened to me, because I realized that I had to do something serious. It's not that I had never tried anything before. I guess I had just hesitated to get too aggressive toward creatures that had never done anything to hurt me.

As I said, I had tried several remedies in the past. Like chasing them with a thermos of hot water. It cooks them instantly, and it's much better than spraying poison all over the house. Listen to me. I sound ruthless. What is it that makes an otherwise peaceful person chase harmless creatures with boiling water? I always felt guilty about it, but I didn't want to let them get out of hand, you know. But this past summer, I lost my patience. As I said, I have never seen anything like it. So I had to take action. I did two things. First, I hired a cleaning lady. Actually, my apartment wasn't really that bad before, but, well, it wasn't really that good, either. This lady I have now is pretty good. She really cleans the place up nice. But the cockroaches were really upset. There was nothing for them to eat. They went on strike. They didn't exactly carry picket signs or anything, but I could tell they were very unhappy. So I invited them to a banquet. They all came and feasted on the delicacies I placed before them. And then you know what happened? The miserable creatures all died. And I was glad to see them go.

The traps that I bought at the Walmart Super Store aren't really traps in the strictest sense. They are miniature "forts" with tiny openings the cockroaches can crawl through to feast on the tasty, poisonous morsel contained within. On the box it says that they return to their nests and die. That's false advertising. It's just not true that they all make it back to their homes to die in peace surrounded by their loved ones. No. More than once I saw them writhing in agony in front of me. And many more that I did not see, I had to sweep up off the floor. What unearthly madness would drive a man to such mindless genocide against completely innocent creatures? What is wrong with a world where one person's peace and contentment depends on the death and destruction of a whole population? I will admit such questions gave me pause, but they did not deter me. My apartment is cockroach free.