Eric's Beijing Diary

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Beautiful late autumn day on the trail today. I joined Michael the Mountain Man and his friend Charley for a hike over the hill into Cherry Valley out at Fragrant Hills this afternoon. The park is usually jam packed, but Michael knows a lot of trails outside the park that are actually better. I say, "better," but I suppose it is a matter of preference. If you prefer climbing a concrete stairway up the side of a mountain, then I guess you might like the actual park better. And to be fair, the concrete stairway does lead through some very pretty trees. At least they are pretty during the Fall of the year when the leaves are turning. But you see signs all over telling you not to pick the leaves, and then you see guys sitting on the side selling them. It's disgusting. And crowded.

The trail we were on today is actually quite popular too, though. Maybe that's because it leads over the hill into the Botanical Gardens. But there are lots of trails in the area that are actually quite secluded. During the fall of the year you might see someone once in awhile, but even then, you can actually find a bit of solitude--a rare commodity in China.

Thanksgiving. It's not hard to find a place to have Thanksgiving dinner in Beijing. But the prices are getting higher every year. The Bridge Cafe had one for 258 RMB, and Grandma's Kitchen was charging 198 RMB. Grandma's Kitchen told me that they could also deliver a fully cooked turkey--for 600 kuai. No thanks. So I decided to do the Cola Chicken thing again and fed 15-20 people for less than it would have cost me to do the Thanksgiving extravaganza at the Bridge. Ran out of chairs, but we sure didn't run out of food! Christmas is an international festival now, but Thanksgiving is uniquely American. Except for Christians in China. All the Three-Self churches celebrate American Thanksgiving.

This was the first baptism I have seen at the new English service at Haidian Church. I say "new," but it has actually been going for more than a year now. This is the only English service I know of that has been officially approved for operation at a Three-Self church. There are international services, but they are not allowed to admit local people. The English service at Haidian Church is open to everyone. There are strings attached, of course. Churches in China must not appear to be controlled by foreigners. They are allowed to have guest speakers once in awhile, but having a foreigner speak regularly would be out of the question. The Catholics get by with it, but you would never see it in a Protestant church. For some reason, the government has always been a little more wary of Protestant churches. Since the Church does not have enough English speaking pastors to cover the English service every Sunday, they use students. It would hyperbole to say that you get baptized one Sunday and preach the next, but that's almost the way it happens. The majority of speakers at the English service are new believers. They are not formally trained in theology or the scriptures, but they are Chinese citizens, so this makes them politically acceptable to the Religious Affairs Bureau. But the fact that they are young and inexperienced does not mean that they are not good speakers. I quite like listening to them, actually. They are some of the best minds in China, and they are bright, alert, well educated, thinking people. If ask me, I would say the situation is a blessing in disguise. After all, I have been around church long enough to know that professional preachers are not necessarily better speakers.

The English service was a bold experiment. Success was not by any means guaranteed. But after watching it develop for the past year and a half, my impression is very positive. I sometimes wondered if Chanel knew what she was getting into when she kept pushing for this, but she was right. So many Chinese young people who would never come to church are now regulars at the new English service. This is a very effective ministry.

Went to the embassy today. Believe it or not, I had never been to an embassy of any kind in my life until today. Everybody thinks Americans are supposed to know where the embassy is, but in fact, Americans have no reason to go there. Except when your passport expires. Hard to believe that it's already been ten years. Actually, my passport doesn't expire until next March, but my visa is up in January, so I figured it would save me some trouble to renew my passport now, before the slap the new residence sticker on for next year.

I had filled in the online form, which includes an option to apply for the new wallet sized passport card. But when I brought in the form, they insisted that I had to have two separate forms, with separate pictures. I explained to the lady that the online form clearly gave the option to apply for both at the same time, but it was evident that she didn't believe me. It turns out that the website has been set up to accommodate dual applications, but the passport card isn't ready yet. Basically, the web site is ahead of the technology. Fortunately for me, the supervisor was a really nice lady, and she told me they would figure it out if I didn't mind filling out a separate form by hand. Simple solution, and it only took me a few minutes.

The embassy has just moved to the new location, so that may be why they are so disorganized. The website definitely needs work. For one thing, they tell you to leave your cell phone home, because you will not be allowed to bring it in. But it's really not necessary to leave it home. They just put it in a little box for you and give you a number. Much, much simpler, of course, than having to leave it, and then not be able to communicate when the need arises. The website should tell you that. And the phone system at the new embassy is atrocious. It has literally been completely dehumanized. Nothing but a series of computerized messages. But I have to say that they do respond to email promptly, so if you do a little planning ahead, you will generally get an answer by email within a day.

Standing at Fifth Crossing (Wudaokou) this morning waiting for the train from Inner Mongolia. They built a new gate for the Olympics; it replaces the old wooden bar. It's probably a good idea, because I have seen more fast trains coming through these days; we never used to see those in the past. Life is becoming complicated. In the old days, there was no fence along the tracks. People got off their bikes before they even got to the regular crossing, and just lifted them over the tracks. That way they didn't have to deal with the intersection in Wudaokou. Then the government put up a fence along the railroad. The laobaixing promptly responded by cutting a couple holes in the fence at popular crossing points. Now, those holes have been patched up, with warning signs attached. I have been wondering who was going to win, but seeing the fast trains convinces me that it probably really is a safety issue. There is just no way trains like these could ever stop if they had to. They come barreling through at pretty high speeds.

It's getting colder now; they've turned on the hot water in my building, so the radiator is putting out heat. But it's still really nice during the day, especially if the sun is shining. Rode my bike through the Peking University campus this afternoon after church. I was sitting on the grass on the shore of No Name Lake when I heard a splash. I looked across the lake to see a little boy struggling in the water. He had evidently been climbing around on the rocky lake side cliff, when he lost his footing. The water was not deep, and I thought he would just climb out, but he tripped. That was too much for his mother, who jumped in after him, got behind him and pushed him out. Fortunately, he had taken his jacket off, so it was dry. She was concerned about keeping him warm, but I was more worried about her. She was drenched. Anyway, she put the kid on her bicycle and hurried away. Although it is chillier now, it was sunny today, so I think she was probably alright.

There is no beauty like the beauty of Beijing in the fall of the year. It really is nice. The leaves are turning, now, and autumn is in full swing. If the day is cloudy, then it can be kinda raw. But Beijing has a dry climate. There are lots of sunny days. People complain about the wind, but I actually like a little breeze, because it cleans the air. Still, I can't help wondering how long this is going to last. Middle class people are rushing to purchase their first car. Beijing has been adding an average of 1000 cars to the road every day. The Olympics motivated a rationing, with odd numbered license plates allowed on the road one day, and even numbered the next. The change was remarkable, and Beijing has since implemented a modified version of it. I even heard that they were talking about limiting the addition of new cars to the road, which would be a sharp departure from their stated policy in the past. In the past, they have always given priority to development of the auto industry.

Had dinner with Michael and his neighbor, who is a doctor, out at Fragrant Hills this evening. I was glad that Michael brought his neighbor, because the medical report I got back recently from the physical exam the Software College faculty had last spring says that I have a problem with liver fat. Before I got this report, I had never heard of liver fat, but since I got this report I have been talking to people about it, and everyone in China seems to be quite familiar with this condition. Wonder what that means? Anyway, the young doctor was quite helpful. He encouraged me to eat more vegetables. I think he might be a vegetarian. I said, "If you are going to be a vegetarian, you need to be careful about balancing your amino acids, right?" I'll tell you where that question came from. I went to college in the Seventies, and the vegetarian types I knew did not impress me as being people of robust health. I like vegetables. I'm one of those people who ate veggie burgers at the health food store because I liked the taste of them. But I never bought into the idea that man was not created to be carnivorous, that meat is evil, or that apple seeds cure schizophrenia. The doctor didn't know this, of course, but he understood my concern. "I know you are concerned about your proteins," he said, "but in your case, you could be a vegetarian for three months without having to worry about it." I guess that was a compliment. Anyway, it did motivate me to learn more about Chinese vegetables.

Missed the Obama party at the Bridge Cafe yesterday. I have three classes on Wednesday. Started at 7 am. I did go there last night and the CNN big screen was still on. Sounds like the Blacks have finally had their day. Barack Obama is not really an American Black, of course; he has no Black ancestors born in the US. He is descended from White America, not Black America. Nevertheless, to his credit, he has always identified with Blacks in America, and he married one. Whatever we may think about Obama, the Blacks have the same right as any other group of Americans to celebrate the election of one of their own. It's their turn.

Lots of people in China ask me what I think of Obama. I tell them that I am nervous about his China policy, because of some of the things he has said about trade with China. Christ Patten (former governor of Hong Kong) expressed the hope that this was mere campaign rhetoric, but I am not very optimistic. Can't seem to find much comfort in the hope that a politician is not being truthful. But there are other factors that may deter him. The fact is that China has gotten rich because the Americans are consumers. Tariffs and other forms of protectionism would be an attempt to curb this consumption. But it isn't only the consumers themselves who are big spenders. The U.S. accumulates debt every year because of operating on a deficit budget. And the massive budget can only be financed by taxpayers who live east of the Mississippi, because it takes all of the taxes paid by all Americans living west of the Mississippi just to pay the annual interest on the national debt, which is over $National Debt and rising by the minute. The Americans are addicted to consumption, and it is this reality that is likely to drive American trade policy with China more than any other. Whether or not the current financial crisis can curb this addiction is an open question.

Republicans have always been known as the party of business. Some would say the "party of the rich," and I think Bush contributed to that somewhat. The Republicans have always defended the accumulation of wealth by saying that businessmen who are willing to take risks in order to generate capital, are entitled to reap the harvests of that capital. But now wealthy Wall Street moguls have taken risks. Big risks. Dangerous risks. Foolish risks. Predictably (or it should have been predictable), they crashed and burned, and now everybody in the country is being asked to bail them out. Clearly this changes the whole picture. They will never again be able to defend the right to keep the fruits of their risks all for themselves. I don't want to get off track; I don't think anyone knows the extent to which the financial crisis influenced the election, but it's hard not to believe that it was a significant factor. This is clearly a watershed moment in American political history, and it is a moment that the world is watching with great interest, because the whole world has been drawn into the sub-prime crisis, which many believe is the origin of the current global melt down.