tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70080293582734631692024-03-13T13:23:55.984-07:00Nanjing MorningThe city outside the dormitory.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-47740015738545098622012-09-27T04:00:00.003-07:002012-09-27T04:07:11.186-07:00Pretty Old Mountain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is Hengshan. It's one of the 5 Great Mountains in China, along with Tai Shan, or Mount Tai, which you may have actually heard of. It's not located in Nanjing, but rather in the eponymous Hengyang, so these pictures are from May 2011. Sorry. But they're pretty, aren't they?</div>
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The rather tenuous relevance of Hengshan to the present is that I visited the mountain with two of my students and a fellow teacher on the May First holiday - when everything that can close, does, and as much of the country as can get tickets temporarily relocates. Well. We have one of those next week, except it's National Day and Moon Festival that got <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Week_%28China%29" target="_blank">smushed together</a>.</div>
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In 1999, China actually instituted a few extra days off - three - in order to facilitate travel and tourism. The other days are "made up" on surrounding weekends, in order to give the maximum continuous time off - 8 whole days!!! Of course it does kind of lose its sheen when you have to come in on Saturday to make up Thursday's classes, but this way, more people can travel!!</div>
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My undergrad just gave us two extra days off for Thanksgiving and didn't reimburse us for the missing class time. So.</div>
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Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-62562629142808418552012-09-25T20:59:00.000-07:002012-09-25T20:59:57.139-07:00Ahh... day new, month different.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday it was old and new, today it's traditional and modern, but they're the same thing, really. It's not hard to spot in China, where donkeys and Audis share the road. Men hack at pavement with chisels as often as with jackhammers (just so you know, chisels can be pretty damn noisy too, when there's 50 of them).<br />
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This is more of Wu Weishan's work. This guy's a little less feisty, more the calm, sage type. He seems to be okay with the girl's HTC smartphone. No word on how he feels about Adidas and Kappa, though.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-17945719841045569082012-09-24T21:58:00.000-07:002012-09-24T21:58:16.213-07:00Maybe the tallest building in Nanjing?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What's a China blog without some gratuitous juxtaposition of the old and the new, hm?<br />
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The building on right is the Zifeng tower, which is the fifth tallest building in China (and if you don't count Hong Kong, it's fourth). We're right behind the Shanghai Pearl of the Orient (the bobbly pink one you always see in PowerPoints about China's growing GDP). <br />
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Wait, <i>we're</i> right behind? Yeah, apparently I've already transferred my regional loyalty to Nanjing, possibly when I registered with the Police Bureau - sorry, Harbin, but your Dragon Tower's 23rd place finish was pretty unprepossessing, despite the students' assurances that "maybe" it was the tallest building in China.<br />
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Yeah, <i>maybe</i>.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-80704172601569697202012-09-24T00:14:00.000-07:002012-09-24T07:23:45.719-07:00Personalities<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can find him on the Nanjing University campus.</td></tr>
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This wise oldster lives on my campus, in a Rodin-like garden full of statues of men laboring, men watching, men reclining. And just look at him - he's not just any oldster. He's a little disapproving, a little amused, and is definitely going to speak his mind any moment now. He's maybe your neighbor. You probably tell stories about him.<br />
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The only woman in the statue garden has no face, no personality, and no defining characteristics other than her gigantic breasts and the baby. Woman-as-mother. Hm. I suppose the <i>wenrou-</i>delicate<i> </i>traditional heroines did not tickle the artist's fancy, and neither did the badass barbarian ladies, nor the powerful supernatural females.<br />
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Anyway, these beauties were sculpted by local - and world-renowed - artist <a href="http://www.rmhb.com.cn/chpic/htdocs/english/200704/9-3.htm" target="_blank">Wu Weishan</a>, who, according to that website, decided to apply the depiction-of-the-inner method of Chinese brush painting to sculpting. It sure seems to have worked, for the male sculptures, at least.<br />
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Here's the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Weishan" target="_blank">wikipedia</a> article, in case you were going to look it up. It's classic Chinglish and doesn't say much of anything.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-6691162185298711202012-09-23T07:30:00.004-07:002012-09-24T05:15:37.162-07:00Lengleng Qingqing *<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUveuIbS5xoq1wF2KwuN8RJOu9JsGa-YUeIoMCiPvJPY4Bnzb-CamXCUg60EIJGq3sCk-yaTC4y2DewD-_v32EJHg_Dz382Dwxl1iLHoOPzZ6qwerKvcKosAFkF1lqc4YZu0cf7QL0TAY/s1600/Screenshot-Wenlin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUveuIbS5xoq1wF2KwuN8RJOu9JsGa-YUeIoMCiPvJPY4Bnzb-CamXCUg60EIJGq3sCk-yaTC4y2DewD-_v32EJHg_Dz382Dwxl1iLHoOPzZ6qwerKvcKosAFkF1lqc4YZu0cf7QL0TAY/s1600/Screenshot-Wenlin.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">* See Wenlin's Instant Lookup for translation of how my life currently looks.</td></tr>
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Nah, I'm just kidding. My school is awesome, the classes challenging (even my one English class - we got 76 pages of reading for the next week), and I've learned about Guangzhou's college entrance exam retaking habits (they are poor) and hukou rules (you used to be able to buy a Shanghai hukou) and leaders (it was Zhao Ziyang that said "We're already old, it doesn't matter"). I love it.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-78915583022209151212012-08-31T23:16:00.001-07:002012-09-01T02:14:49.556-07:00Wrong Side of the Desk<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixikNESmxF2TlDvE7Rdb32HHoRLkx0DUSDO7wOpdXnTPyZ6xK3l6zr8B2t7IunSxG5K6NtWXVhgST92JFndecdSoGRTBgWmISp1iVtQQSblWK4arjstRt94iISVRtQ2rO0VquDdS31caI/s1600/IMG_2824.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixikNESmxF2TlDvE7Rdb32HHoRLkx0DUSDO7wOpdXnTPyZ6xK3l6zr8B2t7IunSxG5K6NtWXVhgST92JFndecdSoGRTBgWmISp1iVtQQSblWK4arjstRt94iISVRtQ2rO0VquDdS31caI/s640/IMG_2824.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A student, leading Mafia as the storyteller, in English. :')</td></tr>
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After teaching for two years, going back as a student is weird. I miss my students, I miss my classrooms, I miss drafting semester plans with little school oversight and coming up with goals and assessments and practice games and mindbending questions. I miss my Hunan students' pride when they finally got how to write solid thesis statements, and my own pride when most of them delivered solid persuasive speeches. I miss my Harbin mechanical engineers and the warmth and supportive spirit that pervaded their classroom, even when some back-row prankster slipped a Japanese porn star's name into our "famous person" impromptu speech topic bank... my sweetest male student got it and spent most of his minute laughing, after choking out a few pithy sentences that got the class giggling hysterically. I miss our two weeks of English-language Mafia games during finals season. I miss our several actually interesting discussions, about obesity, about the environment, about ways to limit chopstick and water-bottle waste on campus.<br />
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To be totally fair, teaching also kind of sucked, when class sizes and student ability ranges were huge, when I wasn't allowed to fail anyone so students had little extrinsic motivation to try, when I had to leave the house at 6:30am and finally got home eleven hours later, when helicopter parents went off on my students and me during class... but all of that fades pretty quickly. Selective memory. The kids were ridiculous sometimes too, and there were tears and rants and repetitive complaints on my part.<br />
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But I miss it anyway, and sometimes I fool myself that teaching would be better in the public school system in America. Oh, I <i>know</i> it won't. China hardly has a monopoly on bureaucracy and pointlessness. But either way, I'm sure my first day back on the right (wrong?) side of the teacher's desk will be a little disorienting.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-24077341499812917292012-08-30T19:03:00.000-07:002012-09-01T00:10:26.941-07:00Leaving Soon!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In case you were wondering what packing clothes for a full of year of sweltering-to-damply-frigid-without-central-heating looks like, here it is:<br />
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I could make comfortable do with half, but where's the fun in that?<br />
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And just look at all the warm! Hunan's winter really did me in when I was there... after nursing a cold for over a month, just for it to go away after a 24 hour long train ride because I'd arrived in magical, dry, centrally-heated Xi'an, I've learned my lesson. Two coats, wool tights, warm wintery tops, and cozy, layerable cardigans... hopefully these will keep me from playing host to millions of viruses and their degenerate offspring!<br />
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As a side note, about 3/4 of the stuff up there was bought at thrift stores or was given to me as a hand-me-down (excluding the underwear and tights, duh)! Aaaand I'm kind of proud of that. Not only does it save me my precious pennies, but I can get things like cashmere and silk (warm!! I have one of each) for the price of a plain cotton tee from Forever 21. It just takes patience and good judgement, and if something does wear out, I can ditch it guilt-free for extra packing space. Win win win!Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-37940968647335055962012-08-27T23:07:00.001-07:002012-08-27T23:07:44.024-07:00Joining the ranks of the ThreeI'm shocked. Perhaps the world is truly ending. The Chinese consulate is actually following all the rules<sup>[1]</sup>. TO THE LETTER. Is this seriously the right consulate??!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Didn't expect myself to slim down that stickfigurey.</td></tr>
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Getting turned away at the visa window sucks. Getting turned away because <i>this</i> particular consulate won't accept the copies that two other consulates apparently took... really sucks. Sucks even more for number A005, who sat in line for an hour that morning so as not to end up A095, and got up at 5:30am and got on a train still in the dark, and who has to do this whole dance all over again in two days... I'm a zombie, okay, let me sleep it off and then console me with coffee.<br />
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In other news, our support office is really well-run and efficient, I can't blame the Chinese university because originals cost a-bottle-of-Maotai-and-a-favor to replace, and it looks like I'll get my visa before I board my plane, so no skin off anyone's big nose, really.<br />
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[1] For my visa, at least.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-41349093755315986422012-08-26T16:50:00.000-07:002012-08-27T01:24:59.240-07:00Crowded, or Why Am I Even Here?<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All pictures taken in Harbin markets.</td></tr>
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A Chinese student told me that Chinese people didn't think twice about cramming animals together in unhealthy and unpleasant conditions, because the humans are crammed just the same. Fair point, when you remember the four to eight person rooms and constant water outages in the dorm buildings. And fairer even, when you think about the worker dorms in factory towns.</div>
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Is it messed up to be more viscerally upset by a few trampled ducklings in an overcrowded aviary than by the abstract overcrowding in Chinese factories<sup>[1]</sup> and cities? Is it messed up to feel my hackles rise and my stomach drop when I hear "China has too many people," the excuse and reason which bests all excuses and reasons, and to feel the leaden weight of that appraisal?<br />
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It's definitely a little messed up to want to help, as an outsider. Why China, when there's already overcrowding and hunger and a messed-up-just-for-me healthcare system back home? Why waste money on visas and plane tickets?<br />
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Still pondering that. There's definitely value in outside opinions, new ways of approaching problems that may not surface in a country where the education, media and traditional value experience is so standardized. Like it or not, there are generous people in America who want to give their money to people in China, and that money's power should be harnessed as efficiently as possible by a Sino-American liaison. And the international cooperation may prove valuable in unanticipated ways.<br />
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What do <i>you </i>think about international NGOs? <br />
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Anyway. I have a year of structured China study, a year to delve into politics and sociology and maybe even economics, and thankfully, nobody in China is going to let me forget exactly how foreign and white I am. So there's that.<br />
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Without further ado, let's meet some of the non-human individuals inhabiting tiny living spaces! </div>
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[1] Let's make it clear that I'm a total outsider. I've read a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/China-Witness-Voices-Silent-Generation/dp/0375425470" target="_blank">couple</a> of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Country-Driving-Chinese-Road-Trip/dp/006180410X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346022694&sr=1-2&keywords=hessler" target="_blank">books</a> that discussed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Factory-Girls-Village-Changing-China/dp/0385520182/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346022743&sr=1-1&keywords=factory+girls" target="_blank">factory workers</a>,
talked to a few students about where they came from and where
they're afraid they're headed, and shopped and photographed at many
markets across the country. That's it.Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-12625700415859680412012-08-25T15:00:00.000-07:002012-08-26T17:12:51.002-07:00Preview: What I'm In For<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Weather in China feels more immediate than that in America. Air conditioning is a rare luxury, and central heating only exists north of the Yangtze River, making Harbin's Siberian winter easier to deal with than Hunan's moist chilliness. How does Nanjing's summer compare to those of Harbin and Hunan?<br />
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Well, Harbin is hot but fairly dry - evenings can get humid, but it only thunders once a week or so, and there's a breeze. It's not always ideal, but is absolutely bearable and the rain's kind of fun. Until it <a href="http://nanjingmorning.blogspot.com/2012/08/flood-really-old-news.html" target="_blank">floods your street</a>. Although that can still be fun.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5InoRmyOz2Ar40UwqD2qi4pecJIukzqz2OnSpPlS3YuL1giEtSIIOIikLyuw4F-AwrqHsF2IEWeI29yoJx9gYLGQ3rjbVIA0svTe-Ghyphenhyphen9O580IRtCSKkaVWNzlhyphenhyphenAUTcIXmAsDxNHcA0/s1600/IMG_4849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5InoRmyOz2Ar40UwqD2qi4pecJIukzqz2OnSpPlS3YuL1giEtSIIOIikLyuw4F-AwrqHsF2IEWeI29yoJx9gYLGQ3rjbVIA0svTe-Ghyphenhyphen9O580IRtCSKkaVWNzlhyphenhyphenAUTcIXmAsDxNHcA0/s320/IMG_4849.JPG" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hunan summer.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIoSG9EuFTIBn6lYYQg7SPXbVzCmylGYBhaCJbCXNPzA3WMNtBq0wvp9vkhUQe4fGGkHy0u5mRPHQanq_5wHGrI8JBMlIUgdk5TdR5zXuhAnup92E3Y8u8hyz3bpR3LVLuOebHkQgmZog/s1600/IMG_0953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIoSG9EuFTIBn6lYYQg7SPXbVzCmylGYBhaCJbCXNPzA3WMNtBq0wvp9vkhUQe4fGGkHy0u5mRPHQanq_5wHGrI8JBMlIUgdk5TdR5zXuhAnup92E3Y8u8hyz3bpR3LVLuOebHkQgmZog/s400/IMG_0953.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harbin summer.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Summer in Hunan is hairier - really hot, and REALLY wet. It rained almost every day. I woke up before dawn all June and July because it was simply too hot in my non-air-conditioned apartment... my students fell asleep in class, particularly after lunch, because they were running on even less sleep from being crammed four deep in their tiny dorms.</div>
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Guess which one Nanjing resembles?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZmzSWMO5D-mNsA8cF8HTYohdEMTfzbb6_JUyjNcXIe3L4FHwqdLUeTwXHOAh_PVILWqnrAdw-HClj8eCCeu2A0CAa3d60-xBhyphenhyphen8jasLNJWP3obR_KwJjzNNDx8ZBo7lt31H6ww5LKjo/s1600/nanjing+weather+forecast.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZmzSWMO5D-mNsA8cF8HTYohdEMTfzbb6_JUyjNcXIe3L4FHwqdLUeTwXHOAh_PVILWqnrAdw-HClj8eCCeu2A0CAa3d60-xBhyphenhyphen8jasLNJWP3obR_KwJjzNNDx8ZBo7lt31H6ww5LKjo/s640/nanjing+weather+forecast.png" width="640" /></a>It's a testament to my crazy, or maybe to my giddiness about my university and program, that I'm actually excited to leave behind cool breezes and clear blue skies and re-enter the muggy, godforsaken fray.</div>
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Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-33592709493855958182012-08-24T23:56:00.003-07:002012-08-26T12:33:39.078-07:00Beauty Factory (Really, really old news!) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQub_r4GQl1ToFfF14ZyMOU6JCPEj5RH_6QvPuNvdbDFbAgn5fS5UruXturw-vL3h1W6yFxD_h0qGYhs3LxumhaMCSnW8T3PKsxD_bEPoXQBwCfZa2PklqhC1MHm4IYQhrw_BNsYQWQvU/s1600/IMG_6039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQub_r4GQl1ToFfF14ZyMOU6JCPEj5RH_6QvPuNvdbDFbAgn5fS5UruXturw-vL3h1W6yFxD_h0qGYhs3LxumhaMCSnW8T3PKsxD_bEPoXQBwCfZa2PklqhC1MHm4IYQhrw_BNsYQWQvU/s320/IMG_6039.JPG" width="211" /></a>Nanjing Morning sprang from a premature spurt of Nanjing-ward enthusiasm... there's actually still another week before I get there. Yep. And I don't even update it in the "morning". It's all a lie.<br />
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So while I pack, apply for my visa and flip through HSK vocabulary lists, let's embrace the lie with some more Harbin pictures!<br />
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<span class="st">This one's from last November. While wandering around downtown Harbin near Zhongyangdajie (the Center Street) we ran into about forty freezing cold girls, dressed somewhere on the scale from Modern Bride to Sexy Halloween Something. Sneaky spy-work revealed that we were watching our province's preliminaries for the "<a href="http://www.missm.cn/index.asp" target="_blank">International & Professional Model Contest of Beauty Factory</a>". </span><br />
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<span class="st">As a longstanding fan of America's Next Top Model, I was quite excited. Were they smizing?!! (No; they were generally trying to open their eyes as wide as possible, emulating the obsessive-paramour <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLcA7McQPdUnsbK6KcKXFzWBcVB89pxQGcOOT50OTVIGk9fqHqoOCrCO6ycq10DjG2ePx34qjmyVxobTawdgN5Um_aStCHefaFZCmW741htINuSvk0_osmGdtdXoCtHjhF3AeAFsT3ppC/s1600/Meme-girlfriend.jpg" target="_blank">stare </a>of most Chinese <a href="http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%CE%D2%D2%AA%B1%F9%BC%D3%20%B9%E3%B8%E6&in=2690&cl=2&lm=-1&st=-1&pn=6&rn=1&di=61589636200&ln=1998&fr=&fm=result&fmq=1346009468207_R&ic=0&s=&se=1&sme=0&tab=&width=&height=&face=0&is=&istype=2#pn6&-1&di61589636200&objURLhttp%3A%2F%2Fpic11.nipic.com%2F20101127%2F6048269_123151063694_2.jpg&fromURLhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.nipic.com%2Fshow%2F4%2F137%2F3979595kaff7fbcd.html&W661&H898&T8247&S330&TPjpg" target="_blank">ad models</a>). </span><br />
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<tr align="center"><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzIW_45Nax10AscQ4y9V87z42zILmSwms0G3NHfqIvZx6BYB1Bg3tu3exAOtWlxjKkTCdAz4_7-S1qsXyURZFvjaYDUQaaeqwc-beMeCMOCrPNoDN8_G-cdCj7dCrQUQxBG3Tjn5IGHU/s1600/IMG_6000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzIW_45Nax10AscQ4y9V87z42zILmSwms0G3NHfqIvZx6BYB1Bg3tu3exAOtWlxjKkTCdAz4_7-S1qsXyURZFvjaYDUQaaeqwc-beMeCMOCrPNoDN8_G-cdCj7dCrQUQxBG3Tjn5IGHU/s640/IMG_6000.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption">America's Next Top Model contestants only get ONE photographer. Above and beyond!</td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td></tr>
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The girls in the cooler dresses had five or six dudes with fancy cameras and ridiculous lenses clustered around them, whereas a model dressed in basically a slimmed-down and sexed-up security guard uniform only had two. Hardly fair. In a culture with such specific ideals of femininity, I'd be mad if I were dolled up in hunter green Dockers and an arm-patch when missy up there's coquetting in a wedding gown.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6POiewFQLw8XeLvteOyv8O_IUnMvUPZyzE5Cn3bYEN0mvEI0O7gnhH3hZinhY6sL2BU6DbKd-R1XLgYA7jOKZCGtzcAcSAcW2Av0bDlFXQEsoZq26_XEx04d-RuqT9zR4s3EYEwGbcAs/s1600/IMG_6069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6POiewFQLw8XeLvteOyv8O_IUnMvUPZyzE5Cn3bYEN0mvEI0O7gnhH3hZinhY6sL2BU6DbKd-R1XLgYA7jOKZCGtzcAcSAcW2Av0bDlFXQEsoZq26_XEx04d-RuqT9zR4s3EYEwGbcAs/s640/IMG_6069.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gotta take my hat off to those two photographers, though, that's some nice light.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBCXvI8_a2dw_FhtAgAvtf9E8gMpOoq2vtG-c0iQc5OwzyT7ZfWeOaUtqBrWEVm1hM9WmEX_I2bjVANVmkP6ybB3P-63pr9b0fGY1I9udFr-VTkcPlY-ecLVRQWHMOqPyH_F-mtxLp9E/s1600/Models.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBCXvI8_a2dw_FhtAgAvtf9E8gMpOoq2vtG-c0iQc5OwzyT7ZfWeOaUtqBrWEVm1hM9WmEX_I2bjVANVmkP6ybB3P-63pr9b0fGY1I9udFr-VTkcPlY-ecLVRQWHMOqPyH_F-mtxLp9E/s400/Models.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy "Optimistic Old Man" on <a href="http://bbs.my399.com/thread-1316180-1-1.html" target="_blank">BBS</a>.</td></tr>
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Some camera-savvy oldster ran into them posing next to the Sofia Cathedral, and snapped a few pictures. Note the traditional Chinese banner pose; your group is not official unless you have a printed banner, and that doesn't count for anything until you all pose holding it. A national landmark is best. These girls really knocked it out of the park!<br />
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He <a href="http://bbs.my399.com/thread-1316180-2-1.html" target="_blank">posted </a>it to the Harbin BBS, a local sub-board of the gigantic nation-wide messageboard service. Other posters remarked on the contestants' beauty and cold-hardiness, which I'd think would go without saying for Heilongjiang girls. But I guess you need to make conversation on message boards.<br />
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Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-54136443893797989952012-08-23T23:29:00.002-07:002012-08-27T23:15:18.870-07:00Harbin Flood! (Really Old News)<div style="text-align: left;">
While Beijing's government scrambles to<a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-08/12/c_131779783.htm" target="_blank"> flood-proof</a> the city after the disastrous July downpours, the International Business Times <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/375956/20120821/china-beijing-shanghai-metropolitan-flood-land-subsidence.htm" target="_blank">reports </a>that my soon-to-be neighbor, Shanghai, is even more at risk, since it's coastal and equally unprepared. Nanjing, too, had its own flood <a href="http://www.hellonanjing.net/iluv-nanjing/nanjing-public-blogs/entry/nanjing-news/flooding-china-wide-nanjings-shanghai-lu-submerged" target="_blank">problems </a>in 2011 thanks to Typhoon Chanthu.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic46TsLvVps6_1Sarqa3GiTTC8LXy1jnI7YnIx9xHRxqNqKFTXPKZabKPJFScDgyHCL7FFzFaIjYj-vJk-iDO56Nkgxni4OfzkA__S1wBoVRRvdIpqcNWk_RvTejIGzhTiWFftc6ue4Y0/s1600/IMG_3212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic46TsLvVps6_1Sarqa3GiTTC8LXy1jnI7YnIx9xHRxqNqKFTXPKZabKPJFScDgyHCL7FFzFaIjYj-vJk-iDO56Nkgxni4OfzkA__S1wBoVRRvdIpqcNWk_RvTejIGzhTiWFftc6ue4Y0/s400/IMG_3212.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, June 2012.</td></tr>
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I'd not want to weather a serious downpour up in my old city, Harbin, either. In June, unusually full underground pipes and a couple hours of afternoon rain gave locals serious gawking material.</div>
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People coming home from work got stuck across the street from home for two hours, while cleanup crews removed the branch, stood around, warmly applauded an amphibian vehicle, and finally drove in a cistern-emptying pump.</div>
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Aside from two cars and two buses, which may have been mechanically revived, nobody got hurt.<br />
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And once the water started going down, the street flood became just any other community occasion, and the street food vendors made bank that night. </div>
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One week later, diggers showed up in our apartment complex to dig serious holes and lay cement piping you could drive a food-cart through. Hopefully that fixed it for next time... our road hasn't appeared in the news as having <a href="http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/rash-of-sinkholes-appear-in-china-s-harbin-281681.html" target="_blank">sinkhole </a>issues, but it seems like the feverish subway/bridge construction coupled with the rain and crappy drainage really <a href="http://fmnnow.com/2012/08/20/sinkholes-accidents-killed-2-in-harbin/" target="_blank">took its toll</a> this August!</div>
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Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008029358273463169.post-69344908949620489302012-08-22T16:18:00.003-07:002012-08-26T12:15:35.672-07:00Repercussions of the Three Illegals<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.chinabuzz.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Beijing-cleans-out-three-illegals-expats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://www.chinabuzz.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Beijing-cleans-out-three-illegals-expats.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cartoon courtesy<a href="http://www.chinabuzz.net/buzz/beijing-police-starts-to-clean-out-illegal-foreigners/" target="_blank"> chinabuzz</a></i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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You've probably heard of the Chinese government campaign to get rid of hooligan foreigners, a campaign named, of course, in the classic style following the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Olds" target="_blank"> Four Olds</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-anti_and_Five-anti_Campaigns" target="_blank">Five Antis</a>. Unfortunately, while the whole "stop letting foreigners illegally overstay their visas" is a great idea, a policy crackdown has also made getting a student visa particularly difficult.<br />
<br />While the visa <a href="http://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/visa/student.htm" target="_blank">requirements </a>don't seem to have changed, consulates are no longer permitting photocopies to slide by where originals are technically required. And, more than ever, rubber stamps make any document that much more acceptable.<br />
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Unfortunately, host schools are unwilling to send these precious stamped documents out into the international aether, as replacements are expensive, time-consuming and difficult to obtain. When I taught in China, my universities were equally loath to let me keep my own Foreign Expert Certificate, since I might carelessly set it down in a public bathroom, or leave it on the bus, I suppose.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JAESu1cTwyyJL93XcDvrPHvDf4EVHtO2jbeQ9bSL22cPAEGxPxE_F_byLTo4E3u44OKEhQOFygDEwuYQ4KVSm6K7GwODlyZponCUvSqsi5qjzjB1iKlaz7aDYZ9CHU0L5H7eR8JcULA/s1600/studentillegal.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JAESu1cTwyyJL93XcDvrPHvDf4EVHtO2jbeQ9bSL22cPAEGxPxE_F_byLTo4E3u44OKEhQOFygDEwuYQ4KVSm6K7GwODlyZponCUvSqsi5qjzjB1iKlaz7aDYZ9CHU0L5H7eR8JcULA/s200/studentillegal.png" width="200" /></a>If students lose their original, rubber-stamped invitations and applications, their presence at the Chinese university is in jeopardy, but without the papers, they're stuck thousands of miles away, flushing anxiety down exemplary plumbing, with Chinese consulates apparently denying photocopy-official students right and left.<br />
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While American programs often respond with fast document turnarounds, students enrolling directly in Chinese universities may not be so lucky. Thankfully, those universities have notoriously lax attendance requirements, as evidenced by my darling ex-students, and the foreign students will get a great immersion lesson in linguistics, culture, and the calligraphy of their school address. Pretty neat, eh?<br />
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<br />Xiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09788257666775380002noreply@blogger.com0