ITALY FUN STUFF

There are many history books on Italy. Take your pick. I'm listing lighter fare that will let you travel with a bag of popcorn and a deep sigh of anticipation. Your suggestions welcome! I'll add to this list as we go along.

MOVIES

A Little Romance (1979) Two kids on the run wind up in Venice. Charming.

Three Coins in a Fountain (1954) Enjoy an advance visit to the Trevi fountain.

Summertime (1955) Touring Venice is Katherine Hepburn as a secretary from... oh, you have to see the film!

Only You (1994) Enjoyable fluff as Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. frolic in Venice, Rome, and more.

HISTORICAL FILMS

The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) Must see as prelude to Sistine Chapel.

Dangerous Beauty (1998) Courtesan in Renaissance Venice.

Room with a View (1986) Brits, romance, Italy, Merchant-Ivory = delicious.

Rome (HBO series 2005-06) Watch out! Highly addictive series set in Caesar's Rome.

Spartacus (1960) Stanley Kubrick and Kirk Douglas. "I am Spartacus!" Classic.

Francesco (1989) and Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1973) Get ready for Assisi and St. Francis.

Romeo and Juliet (1968) Verona, here we come!

Artemisia (1997) Female artist, a rarity in Renaissance Italy, faces huge challenges.

Tea with Mussolini (1999) World War II disrupts the lives of haughty Brit ex-pats.

BOOKS

Sarah Dunant has just published Sacred Hearts, the third of her novels on Renaissance Italy. I haven't read it yet but it's a must after Birth of Venus about Florence in the time of Savonarola and In the Company of the Courtesan which brings Venice to life. I can't recommend these two enough!

ART & ARCHITECTURE

Ross King makes the creation of the sites we are going to see as exciting as a novel!

Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

Bucket List

PackLite Bucket List

Where I would like to lead trips

YOUR FEEDBACK WELCOME. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

History & Culture tours

Israel — West Bank — Jordan (Jerusalem, Petra, Bethlehem, Caesarea, old stuff)
This trip is under serious consideration for March, 2011, or summer, 2010—but I think summer is too hot there.

Eastern & SE Europe: Some combination(s) that would include Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Slovakia, Slovenia (this is a HOT destination)… Romania, Bulgaria?

Russia

Istanbul, Ephesus... and I'd really like to see the Gallipoli battlefields

Buenos Aires… Rio?

India

Southern France

Spain including Barcelona, Portugal

Scandinavia (too expensive?)

China of course

Adventure Travel

Nepal (whitewater, trekking, nature—tigers)

Amazon (Peru? Kayak and/or whitewater, wildlife)

Australia (snorkel, hiking, biking, whitewater, sightseeing) or New Zealand

Another African safari in the south — Botswana or South Africa

Ethiopia

Italy 2010 Air Travel

Air travel for Italy 2010

Off we go:

11 Mar Delta 6820 CLE/JFK Noon/1:43 pm 5 hour layover :o(

11 Mar Delta 186 JFK/VCE 7:15 pm/9:55 am landing in Venice Friday morning

Return trip:

21 Mar Delta 71 FCO/ATL 8:45 am/3:30 pm out from Rome

21 Mar Delta 5040 ATL/CLE 5:10 pm/ 6:56 pm just enough time in Atlanta for customs

Italy 2010 Travelers

Spring Break 2010 ITALY traveler roster. Updated as new names are added. Latest: Dec. 12

Laurie Craven
Shannon Egert

Paige Gallion

Emily Getz
Joshua Grayson
Gail Greenhut

Kenneth Hanson

Tracey Hanson
Catherine Koegler

Steven Koegler

Steven Langer

Misty Dawn Little

Marilyn Messina

Melissa Messina

Nicole Ostrovich

Linda Ross

Anne Vitale
Barbara Weinstein

Paul Weinstein

Michael Wolf

Toni Wolf

Let's go to Italy in 2010

Back from China and thinking about my next venture. After going on hiatus while I was in China, PackLite Travels flies back into Europe with a spring break tour of Italy. Click on the image below to make it bigger. You can sign up and be among the 20 people going. Contact me with any questions at packlite@uakron.edu

I'll use this blog to update so check back as you can and wish.

Professor reflects on time spent in Orient

My last article in The Wooster Daily Record appeared on Sunday, June 28. I'll keep this blog alive as I plan my next travel foray. Spring, 2010: PackLite Travels swings back into action with a trip to Italy!
_________________________

Ni hao. Make that hello, because I am back in Wooster after a semester at Henan University in Kaifeng, China, where I was teaching for a semester.

What did China teach me?

I learned that the Chinese people are friendly and hospitable. They're always ready for a laugh and generally easy to get along with.

Just about every price in China is negotiable. The shopper should sharpen her bargaining skills. Still, I often could break through the process and chat a little with the merchant. Most of the time they treated me as a person and not just another wallet.

Chinese culture is very focused on health. Good diet and exercise are fundamental components in their lifestyle. I was a reluctant witness to this since my apartment was right across the lane from the university's main playing field. Just about every morning at around 6 a.m. I was awakened by army candidates drilling and tennis balls bouncing off the walls. Kids jogged around the field, sometimes in their school clothes since they didn't have anything else. A walk around campus revealed an invasion of retirees who trooped to the quiet spaces to do tai chi and other unique activities. All day long birdies hurled across badminton nets real and imaginary. At night groups of women practiced synchronized fan dances and couples flooded outdoor clubs for ballroom dancing. Chinese like to do everything in groups.

The young women watch their weight on the free scales in every pharmacy. If the indicator points to slightly over slim they're likely to skip a meal or two.

I learned that China is a country in transition. In one of the largest migrations in human history, a rural nation is transforming to an urban society. People moved from the countryside to the cities in America about a century ago, but there is a crucial difference in our national experiences. Many Americans came from faraway farms in the Old World. The Chinese retain a connection with their ancestral homes. If the economy slows or business fails, they return to the family patch. With time that connection will loosen but for now, people are still obedient to natural rhythms. Most Chinese are early to bed and to rise. The cities are fairly dead after 11 p.m.

I saw that China is pouring money into infrastructure. It has the advantage of starting almost from scratch. The airports are new or redone. The tollbooths explain how China has so quickly built a network of superhighways. The train system is extensive and the state-of-the-art D-class trains are fast, comfortable and clean. Although capitalism has been loosed, the government remains coordinator of the economy. It's building a formidable powerhouse.

I learned how important harmony is in China. From family to nation, from philosophy to politics, from Confucius to Hu Jintao, the current leader, harmony is the central idea that defines Chinese society and life. It helped me understand guanxi, the system of connections and influence. Harmony underlies Chinese pride and nationalism. It explains why dissent is so muted and the necessity for those out of synch to apologize, repent and conform.

Harmony gave me insight to face, the Chinese version of pride and dignity. Failure in America means picking up and trying again. In China it's disgrace. That's why I had to make up two sets of final exams. If a student failed the first, there was a second chance. It's hard to get into a Chinese university but it's darn near impossible to flunk out.

The Chinese strive for harmony. We settle for consensus. Conflict is the stuff of American life. We are a community of individuals restlessly jostling one another, protective of our privacy, and often eager to assert our independence and our opinions. We never give up trying to convince others to agree with us.

I loved the students in China but I missed the readiness to question and to argue what one finds in an American classroom. If we are going to retain our position as the world's preeminent superpower, it will be by freedom of thought. Our greatest strength is the willingness to grapple with new ideas and courage to put them into action.

Helping keep that alive is what sends me back into the classrooms of Wayne College. I'll keep my travel kit loaded and my passport current. International travel is one of the reigning passions in my life. The challenges and joys of discovery are ever new. Prior knowledge is like the old coloring books I loved as a kid -- heavy black outlines waiting for color. Every trip I break out the crayons. I'm planning to take a group to Italy over spring break and then ... well, it's an enticing planet. I sure hope I can return to China. There are still a lot of rocks I want to turn over.

Thanks for reading these columns. Maybe you'll see me another time in these pages. 'Til then, zai jian -- see you again.

Politics low-key for most Chinese

Published in the Wooster Daily Record June 7

___________________

Ni hao. Hello from Kaifeng, China, where I am teaching at Henan University for a semester.

Last weekend a group of students from The University of Akron visited Kaifeng. Among them was a political science graduate student. He had been looking forward to engaging Chinese about his area. Much to his disappointment, he hadn't found anybody who shares his interest.
I know how he feels. I've found the same. Don't bother to trying to talk politics with the Chinese.

When I've broached the topic with my students, the response is usually dismissive. "Politics are boring." Students are required to take a course in the philosophy of Mao and Deng Xiaoping and the other architects of contemporary China. I should say, "suffer through." They hate the course.

If we Americans are so inclined, we can immerse ourselves in a sea of political news analysis. The Chinese are to a large degree disinterested. Naturally I think the answer lies in history and the national character it has produced.

Chinese civilization is rooted right here in Henan Province. It was nurtured by the Yellow River which is both revered and feared. The endless silt has raised the river higher than the surrounding plain, posing a constant threat of floods. From earliest times it was the Emperor's job to coordinate defense. He even wore yellow to symbolize his connection with the Yellow River.

To this day the communities along the river are required to provide work groups to maintain the all-important levees. Such a vast effort necessitates strong central control and coordination. Dynasties fell when they flubbed their river duties.

To the Chinese masses, government has long been just another burden to be borne without complaint. Chinese people largely devote themselves to the most important relationships of family and friends. They are intensely proud of their country, its history and culture. When conversations touch on politics they're usually about the shortcomings of the local government. There is never even the hint that the people can do anything about problems. Government acts, we adjust.

There are some anomalies and I recently encountered one of the biggest: Shirley Wood. I've been prodding her grandson who is a student in one of my freshman classes all semester to arrange a meeting. Shirley needed little prodding to launch into a rambling account of her life. An American born on a coffee plantation in what was then Rhodesia, she returned to the USA for high school in Texas. While a student at Michigan State she fell in love with and married a Chinese veterinary student.
She journeyed to China with him in 1946, landing in a nation that had staggered from the Anti-Japanese War to Civil War. Very quickly Shirley found herself a mother pregnant with number two; She was also a refugee moving from city to city trying to stay ahead of the fighting. After a cinematic odyssey through a land roiling with revolution, she settled down while her husband took a position at Henan University. He felt Kaifeng was too backward for her. They lived apart for three years until she said that was no way to raise children. She established the family in a village outside Kaifeng.

Somewhere along the way she renounced her American citizenship and became a Chinese national. A rarity in her new land, she was asked to teach English at the university and settled into a professorship. During the Cultural Revolution of the late sixties Zhou Enlai, Mao's number two, commanded, "Leave that woman alone!" She came through that halcyon time unscathed.

Shirley had in a house on southern border of the university Expansion took it but her bamboo lives on, transplanted all over campus. Now retired, she resides in a nice home only a few blocks north, cared for by some of her grandchildren. Most her family has returned to the land of her birth and lives in New York City. She's got quite a story but, fully a part of her adopted land, she manages to recount it in an apolitical manner.

No, I've not been spied on or censored in any way. No one has told me what I can or cannot say inside or outside the classroom. People do not speak in hushed and feared tones. The police seem to have decent relations with the people. The Communist Party holds unchallenged power. Membership is essential to rise in government or to the top tiers of the university.

The politics of personality play large on both sides of the Pacific. When I showed a picture of George W. Bush during a recent lecture, the Chinese students actually booed. Another slide of our current president and his family brought a cheer of approval. The ultimate accolade: the cell phones came out and they took pictures of the picture.

Most of my students are mostly concerned with getting a good job or starting a business. Above all, they want to make money. Perhaps the gap is not so great. American students often have the same focus.

So long as the Party facilitates these goals and takes care of the river then all is as it always has been in the ancient land of China.

Back!

I'm back in the USA.

I was unable to post in my last weeks in China. Speculation is that the government closed access to all blog providers as the anniversary of Tiananmen neared. There are many Chinese who make use of and view the sites. It was a useful reminder that while the people of China are friendly and fun, the government isn't.

After I collected final exams I traveled south to the area around Guilin, Guangxi Province. Young friend Steve had recommended a quiet place where I could balance fun with grading the mountain of 400 papers that confronted me. This was actually the first trip I made in China alone. I landed in Guilin late and taxied to a hostel in the middle of town. I took a walk and found a beautiful lake featuring twin island pagodas and a nearby pedestrian street where I shopped and had a very good cheese sandwich.

The next morning I took a cruise down the Li jiang River through some of the most beautiful landscapes in China. The scenery would be familiar to anyone who has seen The Painted Veil (and if you haven't, do!). I arrived in Yangshuo in the steadiest and hardest downpour I experienced in China and through what I can only call educated blundering got to the bus station and hence to the small town of Xingping.

The hostel there offered great pizza, good company, and many activities. Over the next few days I relaxed, completed my grading, hiked, boated, rafted, and cycled through the countryside.

On Saturday I returned to Kaifeng and spent the following day calculating grades and filling out the forms. Monday I made my last shopping spree. Tuesday night was a big farewell party for all my students and friends. Mike took charge of the barbeque with Steve providing invaluable assistance, students pitched in, and we had a terrific evening. Wednesday I packed, discovering I had way too much stuff and shipped two boxes China Post surface mail. Hope I see them in a couple of months. Wednesday evening was one last banquet where I held my own on the baiju (Chinese whiskey) toasts and we closed the night and my time in China with a few beers at the pub.

The next morning I left my apartment at 5:30 AM for a journey that involved a car to Zhongzhou airport, flight to Beijing, a 5-hour layover, 13 hours to Newark, a weather delay that brought me to Cleveland two hours late, and the drive to Wooster that completed 31.5 hours of travel.

So ended four great months in China, one of the best experiences of my life. Check back later, I'll post a link to some pictures. Thanks for reading this blog. I'll make further use of it from time to time, especially when traveling. I don't suppose I'll face the same censorship difficulties in the future!

Back in Kaifeng

Back in Kaifeng after a week on the road and blogspot is still inaccessible. No one knows why it is blocked. China maintains its traditional inscrutability.
My teaching partner Ms. Zhang took care of administering the final exams freeing me so I could travel. Marta accompanied me to nanjing then decided rather than return to Kaifeng for two days of classes to continue for the week. Nanjing was our favorite of the journey, Our three days there included the Massacre Memorial, a somber and well-designed tribute to the infamous World War II atrocities visited upon the city and China. Another highlight was the Presidential Palace, a reminder of the city's long history as the capital. On to Souzhou, the garden city, and Hangzhou, famous for the West Lake. These southern cities are clean and gleaming. As far as we could see, a lot of the old is gone. This appears to be true in much of China. There are many sites of interest but traditional China is rapidly disappearing. Our last stop was Shanghai, the symbol of New China. The famous Nanjing Road pedestrian area is a long strip of pricey shops. The crowds included plenty of Westerners. Whatever the state of the international economy Shanghai seems to be booming. It's a vertical city with its famous Pudong skyscrapers and forests of apartment buildings rising high both in stature and probably in rents. Shanghai wants to challenge New York for status as the world financial capital. Looking at this booming city and a China pouring money into infrastructure, I take this bid for supremacy seriously. I must mention the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, which takes riders on a tram car under river from the Bund to Pudong. I'm not sure what it is supposed to be but can only describe it as a psychedelic fun house ride with a narration that is baffling.
We wanted to take a ride on the Wangpo River and were negotiating a price when we started interacting with a group of Westerners. It was a large class from Arizona State University in China to travel and study. One of the faculty organizers is a historian. They were also going to a boat. We chatted a bit and he invited us to join them. We hopped on their bus to the docks and enjoyed the cruise as their guests. Thanks, Sun Devils!
We returned on an overnight train to Kaifeng. Got back in time to see the last quarter of Cavs-Magic game 5. I've got to start grading my stacks of finals. This week I'll travel south and enjoy some secenery, then back to Kaifeng to prepare for my return to the USA. I hope the Cavaliers are still playing!

Kaifeng visitors

Guiding a group from Shanghai to Seoul, The University of Akron Director of International Programs Dave Ayers brought a group of students and staff to Kaifeng last weekend. The group visited two of my classes Thursday. The students received them with all of the politeness, joy, and enthusiasm one comes to expect here. I organized a mixer at the pub Friday evening. I didn't know if five or fifty students would show up. When we trooped over after dinner, we found the crowd spilling out of the small bar onto the street. The guests were greeted with an ovation, the beer began to flow, and the UA kids had what I am sure is one of the most memorable evenings of their visit. They were given the star treatment. Each of them had an audience a fascinated audience of several students gathered around hanging on their every word. By 11:00 the crowd had dissipated as the students returned to their dorms under curfew. We foreigners were challenged by the remaining inventory at the bar and succeeded in reducing it significantly.

The next day I joined the group as it visited the Millennium City Park (see the April 15 post). It attempts to evoke Kaifeng's glory days during the Song Dynasty a thousand years ago. Later that day we took boats across the Yellow River and visited the Night Market. The day ended at the home of Shirley Wood, a retired Henan University faculty member who moved to China in 1946 with her new husband. I'm writing a bit more about her in my next article for the Wooster Daily Record.

Monday I saw a couple of young foreigners walking on a street near campus. That's always a surprise. I found that they were Brits on an eight month odyssey through Asia. We stopped at the pub and that evening a bunch of us took them out to dinner at the small night market down the street. I left in the middle of the 4th keg of beer since I had class the next morning, but I heard later the reveling went on through another, some whisky, karakoke, and on to about 4 AM. James and Sarah visited my class the next morning. They left that evening after a great Kaifeng experience!

Off to Nanjing this weekend and then points beyond while my poor students sweat through the final exams I've left for them. I hope I can post some pictures soon!

Difficulty

I haven't been able to get to blogspot for several days. I'm trying to post through a proxie server. Has the Great Firewall of China found some reason to block access? I haven't a clue.

For Pingyao pix, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/PackLitePaul/Pingyao# and click the "slideshow" button on upper left.

Pingyao

Serendipitously in March this article appeared in The New York Times lauding the charms of Pingyao:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/world/asia/18pingyao.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=pingyao&st=cse. Research showed that it lies within a half day’s train ride of Kaifeng so I vaulted it to the upper tier of my must-see list. With the warmth of spring and the waning of the semester, I hit the rails with friend Mike for a weekend journey.
We arrived in Yuci, where we had to transfer to Pingyao, and immediately sought return tickets. You can ‘t get round trip tickets in China which plays hell with planning. Tickets are on sale only 10 days from date of use to prevent scalping, which had become a big problem a few years ago especially around the big festival travel periods.
We had intended to take an overnight Sunday and get back to Kaifeng in time for me to teach my Monday morning class but the train was sold out, so we had to get the Sunday morning—there are only two trains a day on the Yuci-Kaifeng line.
We couldn’t get a train to Pingyao so we decided to take the bus. Although comfortable enough it made many stops and the hour train ride we missed became the two hour bus trip we got. Finally arriving at the station, we were about 1 ½ kilometers from the city’s south gate. A persistent tout followed us all the way to the south gate despite our firm “buyao” (don’t want).
Entering old Pingyao, electric carts and bicycles replaced cars. Inside the formidable Ming Dynasty walls that ring the city all was as it had been in the town’s glory days as a major Silk Road station and banking center. Our hotel was closer to the north gate so we wound our way through the city soaking up its medieval flavor.
Our hostel was an old courtyard home as all the numerous guest houses are—there are no new buildings inside the walls and I saw only one large hotel at the end of street next to the wall. You can get an idea of a home layout from the superb Chinese film “Raise the Red Lantern,” filmed in Pingyao and readily available in the USA.
We got the single ticket that’s good for about 20 admissions within the city for RMB 80 (about US $11), rented a couple of bicycles, and set off sightseeing. The town is compact but signage as usual is nonexistent;. You’re on your own in terms of finding everything. As a result we hit and missed, but found our way to the site of the first draft bank in China, residences, and temples. Only 50 meters from the hostel is the county government center including administrative offices, courts, the jail, and interrogation (torture) instruments. We were entering one of the courtyards when a group of guards in period costume herded to where a recreation of a trial was presented. A father pleaded for mercy towards his son, who got off with a beating. However, he had to shoulder the disgrace which would taint his family for generations.
Late Saturday afternoon the predicted rains came, the most steady and hardest I’ve seen since coming to China. We kibitzed with the crowd in the hostel and went out to dinner with a typical international group including a London lady, two Italians, an Argentine, and a Swiss.
One of our tasks Friday was to get the Pingyao-Yuci ticket—we sure didn’t want to repeat the bus experience. We had to bargain hard for the 2 kilometer electric cart ride including the strategic walkaway, but we got our price. As is so often the case, having made the deal the driver now became our friend. Friday night we were walking home from the other side of town. The driver happened by and gave us a free lift to the hostel. We made an appointment for him to pick us up at 6:30 AM Sunday to begin our journey back to Kaifeng.
We took the 7:00 AM. No seats but we relaxed in the dining car and had the standard (vegetarian!) breakfast for RMB 10 (about US $1.50). In Yuci we had a layover extended to 2.5 hours by a late train. Mike had wisely purchased hard sleeper berths so we could stretch out and nap on the long ride home. We finally walked through the gates into our compound at 11:00 PM. A long day, a great trip, a weekend well spent.

I'll post a slideshow of pix as soon as I can put it together.

Guanxi

Guanxi means “relationships” in China and is vital to get a job, promotion, or to get anything done. The American analogue is connection but as with many things gunaxi is much more complex in China.
When we went to get train tickets at the booth across from the campus south gate we were rudely surprised. Soft sleeper for Thursday night? Meiyo (no). Hard sleeper? Meiyo. Seat? Meiyo, Only Friday night, which would shrink our weekend trip to invisibility. Then I remembered: Mr. Ma, Director of International Programs, has powerful guanzxi. When I entered his office he was eager to see me. Henan University has a new leader and The University of Akron President Louis Proenza had sent his counterpart a letter of congratulations. Official correspondence carries weight in China. Big news—I was mentioned in the letter. The new president wants to have a meal with me. I have guanxi!
I explained our dilemma. Mr. Ma picked up his phone and began to tap out some numbers. “I’ll call you later,” he said.
A couple of hours later he told me to come to his office and pick up the tickets. Two hard sleeper berths. Guanxi.

Doing the Tourist Thing in China, Too

I just returned from Pingyao and am now busy prepping the last round of classes and getting the final exams ready.  I'll catch up on posting this week but in the meantime here's the latest article published by The Daily Record in Wooster on Sunday, May 10.  The title is theirs.

_____________

Ni hao. Hello from Kaifeng, China, where I am teaching at Henan University for a semester.

This is a great time to visit China if you're a little adventurous.

As a person who has organized 20 since 1994, I am an advocate of the guided tour for a short visit. They're efficient and make maximum use of limited time. The typical China tour includes Beijing (Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven), Xi'an (Terra Cotta Warriors) and Shanghai (China's modern side).

For those with more moxie and time, China offers a long list of enticing destinations on paths not yet heavily beaten. The visitor will find a deep and rich culture, good accommodations and endless shopping at reasonable to joyously low prices.

China has invested considerably in its infrastructure. Airports are shiny and efficient. The railway system is what America had for passengers 60 years ago. The trains run frequently and mostly on time. There are sleepers and comfortable seats. In a nation of 1.3 billion they are often crowded on the most popular routes and during holidays.

Traveling by train gives the traveler a chance to mix with the people. They'll treat weigoren ("outside country person") with a mix of deference and politeness. Food is offered. Chinese lessons are given. Smiles and laughs are frequent.

Many people outside the major centers still regard foreigners as curiosities. I've been asked many times to pose with eager Chinese in photographs. Fantasy satisfied -- now I have had the celebrity experience.

Chinese people are busy taking pictures of everything and everybody, a measure of the country's growing prosperity. Another of the anomalies one encounters on the other side of the world is a sight not see in the West anymore: rolls of fresh film for sale around major tourist places.

Prepare for friendliness. Prepare also for frustration. Despite the government's push, it's still hard to find English speakers. We're told children are learning English from elementary school onward. However, during a recent trip to Beijing I stopped several young people asking directions and not a single one understood me.

Tourist services are sadly lacking. Stepping off the train or plane in a major Western center the traveler quickly finds a tourist center offering advice, maps, suggested itineraries and other help in all the major languages.

Sadly there is no equivalent in China even at the prime tourist spots. We visited Xi'an, home of the famous terra cotta warriors. In the ever-seething mass that is a busy Chinese train station, the only aid as offered by the untrustworthy touts who wanted primarily to separate us from our money.

In a way, the underdevelopment of tourism is part of the charm. You still have the increasingly rare feeling of being in front. The lure of the exotic and the thrill of discovery are palpable. Places of interest are not yet overdone.

To fully enjoy China's culinary delights you must become adept with chopsticks. I was surprised recently in a Beijing restaurant to find a fork on the table. Outside the capital and big tourist hotels you'll not see Western utensils. Eating with chopsticks puts you into the mainstream of society. It is especially important should you have the great pleasure of sharing a meal with Chinese people.

Food is sometimes termed the national obsession. Only the hip modern crowd in the biggest cities tends to mix at bars and clubs. The vast majority of Chinese socialize over meals. A typical Chinese meal begins with a long discussion between the person ordering and the server. Dishes are selected for balance of types, flavors, and color.

The cold appetizers arrive first, starting the parade of dishes. Each new arrival invites discussion and critiques. Large groups eat at a round table with a lazy Susan in the center. As the ever-growing and changing cast makes its way around diners take morsels with their chopsticks.

You'll know the feast is over when two or three steaming tureens of soup arrive. Chinese believe this aids digestion. Hot water or tea is the usual meal accompaniment for the same reason. There are usually no cold drinks (you don't want ice anyway; the tap water is not potable).

When banqueting with locals toasts are frequent. Although nondrinkers can substitute the temptation to join the jollity is strong. Your Chinese hosts will toast you again and again with beer and the native baijiu. Good form requires you take a drink and "Gambe!" means "bottoms up." Polite sipping will get you through but spirits of the moment might burn their way through your resistance.

Many pleasures await the traveler ready to dive in. China will assault your senses and challenge your ingenuity. Ultimately you'll step away from the table full, happy, and already looking forward to the next meal.

Wall Walking and Weekend Encounters

Saturday Zohar and I tried to walk the walls of Kaifeng.  Have I introduced Zohar?  Marta, one of the young teachers from Beloit College, is plugged into the couch surfer network (http://www.couchsurfing.org).  Zohar from Israel was traveling through China and stayed with her.  Since I have a guest bedroom I offered it to him for a night.  He continued to Xi'an & points beyond and later returned to Kaifeng.  He's now a student at Henan University studying Chinese.  You can check out his blog at http://milchblog.blogspot.com

Initially we went to the North Gate but access was blocked.  

We hiked the old canal down to the Dragon Pavilion where we found a path up to the old wall.  We hiked south for some distance.  Sometimes it was wooded path, sometimes garbage strewn areas with signs of homeless camps.  There is a small museum at the West Gate requiring a 10 yuan admission.

This being Kaifeng, the emphasis is on food—of course!

At one point we tiptoed across a short span about half a meter wide with a 10 meter drop on each side—definitely scary.  The south wall was in good shape with a wide rampart but when we reached the South Gate our journey was over.  We couldn't get back onto the wall and since it was getting late we took a taxi back to campus.  We'd walked about 8 kilometers over 5 hours.

From what I gather tourism is one of Kaifeng's most important industries.  Almost all the visitors are Chinese, who are familiar with Kaifeng's history as an imperial capital and its famous sites.  The city government is apparently engaging in some wall restoration. We passed through a construction zone where workers are refurbishing and shoring up the old structure.  There is also a plan to dredge the canal to allow for boat rides from the Lord Bao Temple in the Southwest to the Dragon Pavilion and on to the Iron Pagoda on the north side of campus.  If the city does these things it will go a long way to luring more tourists and maybe some Westerners which would be a big economic boost.  Below, boats filled with holiday crowds on the lakes around the Dragon Pavilion.

Sunday Z and I went to the Kaifeng Museum.  

We signed the register to the usual celebrity fanfare.

There I saw three Western guys and could tell from their accents that they were Americans.  They were visiting from Qingdao where they are teaching.  Hector is making a video log of his China experience.  You can hit his blog at http://chicanohek.blogspot.com.  Scott is Jewish and was excited at the prospect of learning a bit more about this aspect of Kaifeng history so Z arranged a visit to our friend Guo Yan's home  (see my March 8 entry).  

(L to R) front: Hector, Guo Yan, her grandmother and husband / back: Paul and Scott

Hector wrote me subsequently, "We had such a wonderful time in Kaifeng!  I am seriously thinking about going there for a summer gig or simply to soak up the Kaifengness of the place."

It's always nice when people appreciate your home town, even your temporary adopted one.

Zhongzhou

Campus has emptied out for Mayday.  When China has a major holiday, many people travel, and in China many people means wall-to-wall crowds on trains and at any popular destination.  I thought it best to remain home but, “You don't really have to stay in Kaifeng for the whole holiday actually,” Yufeng e-mailed Thursday night. “How about a small outing to Zhengzhou tomorrow?” She suggested we visit the Henan Museum. I’d heard it was closed for renovation but she insisted that it was open. Turns out we were both right.
I met her by Di Mar, the East Gate, where the day’s narrative was foreshadowed by a group of community musicians who had gathered to do a concert in the park under the old city walls.
We took a new bus line to the provincial capital, about an hour from Kiafeng.  Yufeng tells me she doesn't plan very well, a trait she says is endemically Chinese.  She makes it up as she goes along and asks questions and directions of any willing ear.  People are always obliging.  I find the Chinese treat you pretty much as a blank which is understandable in a 1.3 billion person sea, but when you're dealing one-on-one they are polite and helpful.  

There was a long line at the museum. Must be open! After lunch Yufeng found that we could jump the line by buying tickets to see an afternoon concert of traditional music.  ine, we’ll spend a couple of hours viewing the exhibits and then the show.
Except that only two galleries were open, but what pieces we saw are exquisite. One of the many joys of an extended visit is the chance to explore China’s rich artistic heritage and long history
Yufeng suggested we check out the city center which was as jammed as… well, as a Chinese city center on a national holiday. Back at the museum we were part of a small audience in a new auditorium that enjoyed the concert of traditional music, mostly from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.), considered one of the high points of Chinese history. The short program was worth every bit the 15 yuan (about US$2) ticket. Beautiful costumes, tight playing by dedicated musicians, fine lighting, a thoroughly professional and heartfelt performance.

Back to Kaifeng, dinner near campus at a small restaurant new to both of us with the usual great food—really good corn soup.  A nice outing, just another day in China.  Thanks, Yufeng.

Beijing redux

Back to Beijing.  Barb and I took a soft sleeper.  I'm getting accustomed to this mode of travel, had a very good sleep and awoke in Beijing.  Barb didn't want to stay in a hostel so we had a hotel only about 300 meters from Tiananmen Square.  After resting a bit we found a comfortable restaurant, fortified ourselves with some excellent jouza, and across Tiananmen to the Forbidden City.  We spent a few hours there doing a much more thorough exploration than my first visit in February.  The courtyards are a labyrinth where the emperor and his various wives and courtesans lived.  Now their various homes are each art galleries with exquisite pieces.  China always reminds the visitor of its past glory and wealth, which in turn demonstrate its potential to be great again.

On Saturday Barb wanted to visit the Great Wall so we joined a tour to the Badaling section.  We had a chatty guide and a good crew:  a couple of young lovers from Cambodia and three Intel technicians making a brief stop in Beijing before returning to Costa Rica.  I think the climb up was harder than my previous encounter at Simatai, although of course we didn't subsequently do a long hike.  In fact, getting up and down was all Barb could do.  By the time we neared the bottom her leg muscles had turned to jelly and she was walking like a Robert Crumb character.  You can share her experience at http://picasaweb.google.com/PackLitePaul/BarbAtTheWall#.  She was so tired that evening I had to pry her out of the room just to have a decent dinner.

The next morning she went to the airport for the return flight, regretting that she had not planned a longer stay (only one time:  I told her!).  I taxied to Beijing West train station.  When I got to car 13 lower level seat 25 two young women asked if I taught at Henan University.  They were pre-med students on the new campus who had come to Beijing to visit their boyfriends and take exams for further study.  I graded papers for the first half of the trip, then as the crowd dispersed we were able to sit together and chat.  We were joined by an music student who had graduated from Henan two years ago.  They practiced their English and helped me with my Mandarin, people kept giving me food, the alumna sang beautifully, and altogether we had as jolly a journey as nine potentially tedious hours could be.  Any visit to China is greatly enriched by a few train trips.

This weekend is the May Day holiday.  When even a small percentage of 1.3 billion people take to the rails and buses it's a good time to avoid travel so I'll be in Kaifeng.  But—the weather is great and I'm in my last few weeks so there's a lot of travel I hope to do in May.

Chinese view of U.S. a big puzzle

This article appeared in the April 26 Wooster Daily Record

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Ni hao. Hello from Kaifeng, China, where I am teaching at Henan University for a semester.

Preparing to come to China, I spent a lot of time on my courses. I assumed the Chinese know a lot about America from TV, movies and other sources.

Once I started teaching I re-learned the old saw about what "assume" makes out of you and me.

Perhaps in more sophisticated big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai people have a fairly accurate vision of the West. But here in the provinces we are as mysterious as ... well, as the Chinese are to us. I think the students at Henan University have a fragmentary picture of America. It's like they've got several pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but many are missing.

There is a fundamental difference so great it makes each of us incomprehensible to the other. The soil of China has grown and nurtured its people and their culture like a strong and very old tree. Although there are tribal minorities here, 92 percent of the population is from one root. That makes the Han the largest ethnic group in the world. With the exception of a few areas this is a homogeneous society.

America is a ground on which a great variety of seeds have been transplanted. There are trees growing from everywhere. Every nation, every tribe, every religion, large and small, is represented. In this variegated forest cross-pollination has taken place. So many of us are multi-hyphenate. "I'm Irish-French-German-Cherokee." Like the plant researchers at ATI, sociologists keep busy studying the profusion of cultures and subcultures that never stop appearing in our country.

We Americans are not accustomed to such a large number of people who despite regional peculiarities are more alike than different. Chinese can't quite grasp the motley variety of America.

My students are forever asking what Americans think and how they act. Perhaps they think I am evasive when I keep stressing that Americans hardly ever agree on anything -- politics, religion, lifestyle, education, you name it. I find myself saying over and over we argue about everything but somehow we make it work. And the arguments actually are healthy. We're being Americans by making choices, holding beliefs and voicing opinions.

That doesn't compute. Chinese value harmony. Dissent is rare and muted. In unanimity there is strength.

"In China, all the things we learn are not allowed to doubt about," one of my students complained. "The books and the teachers mean the authority, especially in primary and high schools. All we learn is just to remember the facts and the principles. If you have a very creative thought or if you think in the other way around, instead of praising, the teachers will laugh at you or persuade you to give up that 'stupid' idea, for you are wasting your time on a thought which won't gain a single point on your college entrance examination (just like SAT in America). Maybe this is the reason why we can't think out of the box."

Another of my students shared with me her ambition to study in Germany. She said my classes are helpful because she must learn to think like a Westerner. Chinese tend to see the big picture, she explained, but aren't interested in the details. Westerners are more committed to a thorough exploration of the facts and logical organization of data before reaching a conclusion.

That's the way we're taught to think. That's the way I set up my courses and teach. It's an approach so ingrained I hadn't considered that students here might view it as unusual or instructive unto itself.

At the heart of it all is an essential difference. The Chinese value most highly membership in the community. To belong to the family, the village, the group, the society, the country -- that's of paramount importance.

For Americans individualism is part of our creed and character. We pay the price of being disputatious and stubborn. We work hard to balance our unique identity with the need to work and live with others. Here in China, I'm reminded it makes us quite different.

While at home, it's easy to get caught up in the divisions that are part of our everyday lives -- Democrats vs. Republicans, believers vs. nonbelievers, Steelers vs. Browns. Half a world away, I'm learning a lot about the great, glorious stew that is my country just by having to explain it to others.

Xi'an

And so, Xi’an… Barb and I took a soft sleeper from Kaifeng—two bunks on each side of a small compartment. We both had upper berths and Barb had a little trouble hoisting herself up. Xi’an is the capital of Shanxi province, which sits on Henan’s western border. It was an imperial capital, reaching a peak during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.). Xi’an appears to be flourishing. It’s a large, bustling center with a lot of modern buildings, clean streets, wide boulevards lined with smart shops, and well-dressed, busy people.
Let’s get the bad out of the way first. In a upscale fashion shop Barb entrusted me with her purse while she tried on some clothes. I looked at my cell phone and when I looked up, it was gone. We lost a little cash but more troublesome were the credit cards. We had to get an international calling card and cancel everything.

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?  Well, we couldn't let a little setback ruin our visit. The highlight was the visit to the Qin Emperor’s tomb to view the famed terra cotta army, every bit as awesome—actually, much more—than expected. We hired a guide who pointed out a lot that we probably would have missed. We also visited the teahouse on the grounds for a formal tasting which was educational and fun. We took a pretty nice public bus out to the area but caught the local back—a jolting and much longer ride that wend through some villages.

Of course we liked the shopping Mecca that is the Muslim Quarter, an area of narrow streets and unending commerce. Barb likes the knock-off purses and has an eye for counterfeit quality. 

During our second foray Barb was experiencing significant pain so we stopped at the blind

massage place. It was twice as expensive as Kaifeng but she got a bone crackin’ make-me-into-rubber hour plus for US$7.50, still a deal.

When Barb was resting on our third day I ascended the old city walls, rented a bicycle, and made the 14 kilometer (9 mile) circuit all around the top. Traveling a medieval rampart past guard towers and over gates, looking over the old and new cities was one of my best experiences in Xi’an and indeed during my whole China visit.We stayed in the Shuyuen Youth Hostel which I recommend highly. Located next to the city’s South Gate with a patient, friendly, helpful young staff. A very good restaurant. I had coffee regularly for the first time in two months, great breakfasts, and even pizza, for which there was a wood-fired oven right off the restaurant. The hostel may be justified in its boast that the basement bar is one of the best in the city.We met an interesting character, Steve of Missouri, who might have been the only person in the hostel older than I. Every two years he comes to Xi’an and stays in the hostel for 55 days. Never saw him go out in my 4 days there, he just hung around talking with guests, visitors, and the staff.
We hooked up with Walt Hixson, a history prof from The Univesity of Akron who is teacing in Beijing on a Fulbright. We shared a marvelous meal at a Hong Kong-style restaurant—the barbequed eggplant was memorable—and returned together on the seven-hour train trip back to Kaifeng, Walt’s first China train ride. He’s delivering a lecturing on drugs and sex (!) to my American Popular Culture classes before he goes on to Qingdao for a conference.
This weekend: back to Beijing! I’m building up my frequent tracker kilometers!

Millennium City Park

A thousand years ago Kaifeng was the Song Dynasty capital.  One of the most famous paintings in China, Qingming Shanghe tu (Along the River During the Qingming Festival), depicts a bustling, prosperous, beautiful city.  Although the original is now in  Beijing, reproductions can be found all over Kaifeng.  Near the historic Dragon Pavilion is Millennium City Park, a privately-owned history-themed attraction.  The International Office took all the foreign experts on an outing including a large meal (of course) and the evening performance.  The spectacular features hundreds of costumed actors recreating the Qingming scroll and a drama complete with an attack on the Emperor's palace.  A mixture of Broadway, summer outdoor theater, Busby Berkeley, and Disney, it has to be seen.

Keeping Barb busy

Barb has been keeping busy during her visit.  On Friday we visited Dengfeng City.  We went to one of the oldest Buddhist temples in China, nestled into the mountains.  Barb thought the setting was just like the Chinese art she studied in college.  We even saw a few foreigners and so unused am I now to other Westerners that I was staring at them as much as the Chinese.  I refrained, however, from taking their pictures.

We spent the late afternoon at the famed Shaolin Temple where kung fu was developed.  It's probably the biggest tourist attraction in Henan province but the demonstration was still cool!  Ya gotta like a guy breaking a sword over his head and another throwing a pin through a ballon and a piece of glass.

Saturday was a wedding feast!  Jackie Chan is the liaison for us foreign experts and his new bride Poppy (English name) is in my graduate philosophy class.   Wonderful couple and they welcomed us like family.The hosts must lay on a sumptuous and plentiful spread so that no guest goes away hungry. Better Chinese restaurants usually have a large dining room on the first floor and a number of rooms on the second where people can eat in a relatively quiet atmosphere.  Jackie & Poppy had the entire floor for their banquet.  Naturally there were numerous toasts and much bai jo (Chinese whiskey) consumed.  Jackie doesn't like to drink but by the time he made it to our room for his third visit he was pretty unsteady.  "Five uncles!" he complained, and by tradition they wanted to ensure he was man enough to marry their relative by seeing if he could hold his whiskey.  No way the groom can refuse a toast!  We lightened him up by the special performance of a rap we had prepared. 

 The newlyweds' reaction is our best review.

Sunday Professors Guo Shangxing, Xue Yufeng, Barb, and I went to Zhuxianzhen, a small town 22 kilometers south of Kaifeng.  It has a temple dedicated to national hero Yue Fei.  The statues above commemorate the capture of the five assassins who took his life.  The town also boasts a fine old mosque.

Zhuxianzhen is famous for woodcuts.  We stopped at a shop and watched the artisans at work.  Naturally we did not leave the town empty-handed.  Back in Kaifeng we met more friends for a great feast.  Did I mention that the Chinese love to eat?
Our day was not yet done—nor were our culinary adventures.  Livia, one of my junior students, had invited us to dinner at her parents' apartment Sunday evening.
Her mother taught Barb how to make jiaozi and baozi (dumplings boiled and steamed).
She spoke no English but Livia could translate and at any rate the international language of the kitchen held sway.  Livia's mother is a terrific cook and we marveled at the spread she laid out using one burner.  No oven, no stove, just a hotplate.  Amazing!
We had a great time,  I never thought I 'd hear Barb claim that she can barely face another feast!  But Monday was another day...

Passover in Kaifeng

Passover in the middle of China! My wife and I amid a crowd of Chinese celebrating the holiday. How did this curious event come about?

A thousand years ago a Jewish community in what is today Turkey got wind of an upcoming persecution. The decision was made to flee far from danger. Off the people went, traveling east on the Silk Road all the way to China. They were welcomed by the Emperor in his capital. So it was that a small number of Jews settled in Kaifeng.

Over the years the people prospered. They encountered none of the prejudice and oppression so tragically common in the West. They embraced their new Chinese lives.

In the wake of Marco Polo’s expeditions missionary Matteo Ricci came to China, where he would spend the rest of his life. One day he received a visitor. The Chinese man had heard that there was a Westerner who was an adherent of the one true God. Completely unaware of the existence of Christianity, he was sure he was about to reestablish contact with the Jewish world.

Ricci in turn thought he might have found a lost colony of Christians. After a discussion they realized their error. Ricci sent to Kaifeng a Chinese Jesuit who confirmed the unexpected existence of a Jewish community—in China!

Curious about this oddity, the Jesuits eventually built a church near the Kaifeng synagogue. Relations between the groups were good when focused on studies of mutual interest. But any efforts at conversion were resisted and resented by the Kaifeng Jews. The only Catholic church in town still stands near the site of the old synagogue. In between stands the city’s biggest mosque. Due to the historical proximity of the three religions to one another, Kaifengers call this area Little Jerusalem

Over time the Jewish community disappeared. It wasn’t suppressed. Many Jews intermarried. Young men neglected their Jewish studies in order to prepare for the imperial examinations. They became more and more Chinese until no one could read Hebrew or say the prayers anymore. When the last rabbi died and the synagogue was destroyed in a flood, the community faded away.

In recent times the Kaifeng Jews have become a subject of curiosity and study. Israeli and American Jews come to town to find out more about this unique outpost. Descendants of the Kaifeng Jews have dedicated increased energy to reviving their dormant heritage.

In the spring Jews all over the world celebrate Passover. All over the world—even in Kaifeng, China. On the evening of April 8 my wife and I attended a Passover seder (service) here. About 50 of the descendants gathered at a local restaurant. The crowd also included guests from as far away as Beijing and Hong Kong—and two from Wooster, Ohio, USA.

Immediately preceding the Seder was an event of signal importance. One of the visitors presented the group with a baby Torah. Representatives received it with the appropriate combination of solemnity and happiness. This scroll is the Five Books of Moses, the Books of Law, the Pentateuch, studied, parsed and combed for every nuance over the centuries. The gathering was genuinely joyful and enthusiastic as the little Torah was taken around the room and everyone stood and touched the box.

The service was led by two earnest young men. While most was in Chinese, it was strange to hear the Hebrew portions spoken with such an exotic accent. The people ate matzo and drank wine as they made their way through the liturgy. A highlight came when a young girl recited the four questions that ask, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” With the focus on task so typical of the Chinese, she had memorized the long Hebrew portion perfectly in only two weeks.

After the service we had a typical Chinese meal. That means a bewildering array of dishes made a seemingly endless parade to the table. There was mutton and duck and beef and chicken. There was lotus root and aloe plant in yogurt sauce and everything else from pickled bean sprouts to sheep intestines. And there was the standard feature of any Chinese banquet—jolly toasts in which everyone must click their cups and glasses. “Kambe!” Drink it dry!

Finally we engaged in another inevitable part of any Chinese event: photographs. Everyone takes pictures of everyone and the weigoren (foreigners) are especially popular. We posed and smiled and said “Qieze.” That’s the Chinese version of “say cheese” but it’s the word for eggplant.

The Chinese Jews were and are a minuscule sliver of a population of 1.3 billion. Most Chinese are unaware of their existence. Among the few who know anything about the Jewish people there is respect. The Jews have a long history and exhibit perseverance. The Chinese can identify.

The Kaifeng Jews are determined to build a future based on a proud and rich past. To China they add a little much-needed diversity. To Barbara and me they gave one never-to-be-forgotten evening.

For pictures go to http://picasaweb.google.com/PackLitePaul/KaifengPassover# and click on slideshow in the upper left corner

Night Market

Mike introduces Barb to the Night Market

Every night downtown Kaifeng undergoes a mind-boggling change.  At exactly 7:00 PM hundreds of vendors wheel their stands into the street and transform the area into a gigantic food bazaar.  This is the famous Kaifeng Night Market.  People come from nearby Zhongzhou and points afar to enjoy the completely Chinese combination of theater and food. Needless to say, Barb was boggled and loved it.

The original fish sticks!         

Yum—roasted cicadas just the way you like them!

Barb's first meal

Barb is fascinated by the menu

Barb flew into Zhongzhou on Saturday.  Jackie, the Henan University International Programs liaison, organized a Buick and a driver for the 2 + hour round trip from Kaifeng to pick her up.  Before we re-entered the new Kai-Zhong tollway we stopped at a hotel for Barb's first real Chinese meal, her Beijing Swiss-owned hotel's Western-style breakfast buffet notwithstanding.

A menu or a stocking list for an aquarium?

Banqueting

One of the great delights of China is the banquet, a convivial meal that features a dazzling array of dishes and endless toasts.  These begin with everyone standing and touching glasses all around—and you must click every glass.  Throughout the meal people walk around the table toasting each person individually.  Teetotalers can abstain from alcohol but you've got to drink something!  Dan and Tamara Yu, Beloit College professors, are spending their sabbatical in China with their daughter, researching language in Beijing.  They came to Kaifeng to deliver a pair of lectures.  Henan University Chancellor Guan hosted a feast for them and was kind enough to invite me.  

We've pretty much exhausted the Australian wine Professor Guan brought, so he and I are drinking corn juice.

Yellow River Outing

The Chinese students do many outings with their classes. I was invited on the spring outing for the Foreign Language postgraduates (grad students in the USA) and was happy to accept, especially since it was my first visit to the Yellow River. The Huang is called the Mother River since Chinese civilization first grew up around it.
We took the local bus 8 kilometers north of Kaifeng. Because the area is suffering from a prolonged drought the river is way down with large sandbars visible over its great width—it must be two kilometers across. The blossoms are out as you can see. We lined up for a considerable number of group photos, a feature of any Chinese outing, and everyone wanted a picture with me. So this is what celebrity status feels like!
No Chinese social gathering is complete without food. We had a little barbeque where the students roasted meat, fish, and vegetables over a fire, and then a peasant meal in a Mongolian-style yurt.  I taught the students Western poker, mostly five card draw, and they taught me Chinese poker—landlord vs. peasants, of course.

Great kids, great day, great fun.

Teaching in China

No foolin'!  This piece appeared in the April 1 Perspectives from the Provost, an e-mail newsletter circulated throughout The University of Akron.

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Teaching in China provides as many lessons for the teacher as his students
By Dr. Paul Weinstein, Professor of History at Wayne College

Hello from Kaifeng, China.

As part of its affiliation with the Confucius Institute, The University of Akron is strengthening its decade-long partnership with Henan University. The university serves China's most populous and poorest province. There are two campuses, a new generic expanse of concrete on the northwest corner of the city that houses the sciences and the old one inside the medieval walls. The latter is home during this faculty improvement leave semester.

It's a mark of prestige among Chinese universities to boast some foreign professors, and Henan has had a difficult time recruiting them. The link with UA is very important to it.

I'm in the happy position of being the first foreign Ph.D. to teach here, and Henan is getting as much as it can out of me. I've got double-size classes, seeing every English major in the freshman, sophomore and junior Foreign Language Department classes (here called grades 1, 2 and 3). I'm trying to satisfy their enormous curiosity about the West with two American Popular Culture classes and four History of Western Culture sections. In addition, I've got more than 100 postgraduates (we would say "graduate") and a few faculty in my History of Western Philosophy and Theology class, which meets every other week.

The Chinese accord high respect to teachers, all the more for an exotic such as myself. While I enjoy my unique status, it is the classes that make this a truly delightful experience. Imagine students who thank you after every class for simply showing up. Who ask you for more readings! Who tell you what an honor it is to have you at their university. Who applaud at the end of class.

I'm also learning a very valuable lesson, one that I look forward to communicating to my Wayne College students. And that is, very simply, look out. They're coming.

Chinese students work hard, and I mean HARD. They typically attend about six hours of class a day, often six days a week. Yet they are cheerful and friendly and enthusiastic. They do their assignments diligently.

The Chinese are a bit behind us in areas of critical and analytical thinking. The instructional style tends to be didactic. The students spend so much time studying they don't have a lot of time for research or creative thinking. But the work ethic is unbelievable, the mutual support among class groups is palpable, and the determination to succeed for self and country is extraordinarily strong. The Chinese are putting their shoulders to the wheel and that is a lot of collective power. We're going to have to work very hard to stay ahead — or even.

The students today at The University of Akron and all across the United States should heed the words of baseball legend Satchel Paige: “Don't look over your shoulder. Someone might be gaining on you.”

Don't come to China if...

Some possibly helpful advice:

Don’t come to China if you can’t use chopsticks. I know I’ve written about this before but it bears repeating. A necessary part of the Chinese experience is dining. There is food everywhere from stands to teeny restaurants to night markets where a cart becomes a kitchen and a makeshift canopy the seating to elegant establishments with smothering service. Eating with a group is so much fun in China. It is the primary venue for social interaction. If you like food you’ll enjoy China as one of the world’s top dining environments. Which leads me to…

Don’t come to China if you are not open to food. You will NOT see the Chinese food you know in the USA, at least not where I’ve been eating. You’ll have some familiar dishes prepared in new ways. Take eggplant. It’s all over. At every restaurant it’s a little (or a lot) different and it’s always good. You’ll have some new foods. In season now are willow leaves—yes, from the willow tree and don’t weep, they are delicious. The Chinese could make rocks taste good. You’re in for great food if you’re willing to dip in your sticks and enjoy.

Don’t come to China if you don’t like mushrooms. A large variety graces a number of dishes and they’re really good. I’ve had some spectacular mushroom soup.

Don’t come to China if you don’t like hot peppers. They’re not in everything but they are one of the most common ingredients. Hard to avoid.

Don’t come to China if you’re addicted to salt. There’s none on the table and rarely any in the food. I like salt too much but I don’t miss it at all. In fact, I’m hopeful that I will cut way back when I return home.

Don’t come to China if you expect water fountains. There aren’t any here. The tap water is not potable. Bottled water, juices, and other drinks are readily available (but very rarely cold). All apartments are outfitted with clean water, the big upside-down dispenser jugs you see all over the USA.  Oh, forget about ice, also.

Don’t come to China if you can’t squat. The sit-down toilets here in the foreign experts compound are the only ones I’ve seen so far in Kaifeng. The common toilet is a slit or hole that one straddles.  

Don’t come to China if you’re squeamish about toilets. Good news: China is very good on providing public toilets everywhere. Bad news: While those in Beijing are pretty clean and well-attended, the experience elsewhere can only be described as noxious. Older readers will remember the original roadside rest stops, where in summer one fought through a horde of yellowjackets to use the outhouses. Those were palaces compared to the Kaifeng street privy. Take a deep breath and try to do your business as quickly as possible. You’ll live. And always carry your own toilet paper.

Don’t come to China if you don’t want to make friends. If you are around long enough you’ll build relationships and the Chinese will teach you profound lessons in hospitality, respect, friendliness, openness, and undisguised warmth. Prepare to learn and to change your life.

"Xmas Story," Henan University

This article appeared in the Wooster Daily Record March 29

________

Ni hao. Greetings from Kaifeng, China, where I'm teaching at Henan University for a semester.

The Chinese love Christmas.

Don't get too excited. It's not what you think.

To them the religious aspects of Christmas are hazy. It has something to do with Jay-soo, but few know much more than that.

The Chinese government is tolerant about religion -- to a point. You can practice but you can't proselytize. Perhaps it would be accurate to say you can preach but not teach.

I don't know all the reasons behind the policy. I suspect in part the Communist Party doesn't want any potentially uncontrollable rivals. There's also some history. While missionaries are remembered to have done good work, they also represent the intrusion of Western values and power. The Chinese are quite sensitive to that. One of my students wrote on a recent paper, "I'm proud of being born in such a great nation, though it suffered a hard time and even was once bullied and shamed. That is long gone! We're conscious of our strong points as well as weaknesses and more, we are moving forward swiftly. One day the revival of our nation will shock the world."

The great majority of my students tell me they have no religion. They are materialists. That doesn't mean they are into the accumulation of worldly goods. It refers to a basic tenet of Marxist ideology. They've been taught this just as Americans learn about liberty and democracy in school.

I've told them people in America have different beliefs and levels of commitment to them. That we have people of strong faith and some who have none, but most Americans would consider themselves to be at least somewhat religious. Here in China there are far more similarities than differences. Diversity and variety are very difficult for young provincials to grasp.

But the Chinese love festivals. Christmas intrigues them. It is full of concepts they embrace. There is light and color, and these people have a whole festival devoted to lanterns. There is singing and joy, and the Chinese do karaoke even at funerals. There are peace and harmony, all very Confucian. The giving of gifts has deep meaning here, so the importance of that part of Christmas is readily recognized.

Santa Claus appears to be just below Mickey Mouse in popularity. His image graces the doors of many stores year-round. At first it was a bit disconcerting to see a thoroughly American Santa welcoming me to a typical hole-in-the-wall Chinese eatery, but now I see him as just part of the jigsaw Chinese cityscape.

Recently I showed my American Popular Culture classes "A Christmas Story," the 1983 classic about Ralphie and his tireless quest for a Red Ryder BB gun. You had to be there. The students laughed in all the right places. It would have been perfect to record a laugh track for a TV sitcom. Their uproarious responses had me in tears.

The following week they submitted essays on their reactions to the film. They were puzzled why the father went into the "smoky room." I failed to realize they have no grasp of basements or furnaces. Even their dormitories have no heating or air conditioning. I guess four people sharing a room generate all the heat they need in winter.

They thought the kids in the movie were admirably independent and creative, an example for Chinese children. However, they were upset with the bully. The Chinese abhor conflict. They appreciated the loving family. Many commented Chinese parents, especially fathers, do not openly express their emotions to their child.

Yes, that's singular. China has the one child policy so most of the students have no siblings. Although they acknowledge the necessity, the students envied Americans kids with brothers and sisters.

I heard unexpected "ahs" when the mother finished cooking Christmas dinner. They were fascinated by the big turkey which would be a great feast here. Ovens are quite rare. In a country that long ago consumed its forests most cooking, including in small restaurants, is done over one or two burners (which is why dishes parade out one after the other instead of coming all at once). The wok was developed for flash cooking using little fuel.

One of my American friends here offers the opinion the Chinese like Christmas because we buy so much of the stuff (his word was less kind) they produce. I'm not so cynical. The Chinese may not embrace the religious aspects but they still understand something very important.

As one of the students concluded in her essay, "The night on Christmas was so beautiful and the family were happy. I am happy too."

Language Class

I visited an English class today.  One of my freshman groups was hard at work in a new language lab.  The instructor employs a Finnish software system, playing words and an essay to her class The students have headphones and monitors but no keyboards—no messing around.  A student read a joke, the one about the woman who hurts wherever she touches (I've heard it as a blonde story) and three classmates simultaneously recorded their Chinese translations in booths located in the rear.  These were played back for review.  The students were rewarded with another installment of a film they had selected which they watched intently on their monitors.  Look below right—can you tell what it is?  

I met a few of the kids after class and took them to lunch.  How many hours they take.  They are in class about six hours a day, six days a week.  Yet they are cheerful and friendly and enthusiastic.  Any instructor has to love their indomitable work ethic.  I begin to wonder whether fast food-fed Americans will long keep China in check.

The film is:   

               The Godfather