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.