祝你圣诞快乐。。。

So, as everyone in the West knows, Sunday was Christmas. Stranded in the Far East with no family, no festive recognition from the locals and certainly no Christmas meats, it was set to be a bleak celebration of the birth of Christ. We were happily rescued from this outcome, however, by a Canadian friend called Alex. Having been away from home many a year, even spending one Christmas solo in a random city in China, he understood the lonely hearts of the fellow 'the-chinese-don't-celebrate-christmas-so-we-have-no-holiday-and-are-therefore-stuck-in-china' westerners.

This is Alex

We had our doubts about how the day was gonna pan out, for various reasons. But it turned out to be a very lovely day indeed. Indeed. First of all we had to arrange some presents to participate in what will now be referred to a 'the vicious game' [wait for the explanation], as well as some treats to share with the group. For the treats we just brought a leftover crate of beer [don't ask] and some oranges [most foreigners in China haven't had sight or sound of fruit in about 1 and 1/2 years], which went down quite well. Out presents were a wallet [with a cold-weather face mask], a Tea set and an incense burner, bought by myself, Serrena and Holly respectively. Just a quick side note, Alex's house is pretty frickin' huge. It has two floors, several bedrooms 2 bathrooms and a bar. Yes, a bar. He is the only person who lives there. This is relevant to the latter part of the story.

So after we got there we were anti-social for while, you know, took a short nap whilst the other guests flowed in. Then we found out there was Bailey's and cheese cake, so we got a little more involved in the celebrations. After much chatting and socialising it then became 'Vicious Present Swap' game time [sorry, I changed the name]. So, the idea of this game is that all the presents go under the tree and people's names are picked out of a hat one by one to get a present [see above picture for name-picking example]. However, if you like a present that someone else has already picked, you can steal it. I know, right? Such an American game, just stealin' other people's sh*t like that. I got an alright present out of it, some mini-Chinese bowling pins and a push-out paper dragon from Muji. Serrena very unslyly stole back the incense that Holly had bought and, after having to choose a present for the third time, ended up with the very cool mini-Guzheng. 

I know no one knows what a Guzheng is,
so this is a picture of a girl playing one

After the presents and eggnog were all finished and the first people started trickling out to go to their overpriced [though admittedly western] dinners, people started to find different ways to pass the time. After a few comments about how awesomically large Alex's house is as well as the innumerable amount of cupboards it contains, the idea of hide-and-seek followed by Sardines came into play. It was a wonderous afternoon of play - I think the fact that it was a pyjama party helped the regression into childhood. 

In the evening we didn't really have a any sort of proper dinner...actually we just went to some overpriced Japanese restaurant with about 4 other people. Although later on I went to a bar [where Alex plays guitar, he also has a beautiful voice] and that was nice.

Aaannnd that was my Christmas. Hope everyone who's reading this had a considerably better one! Here, have some pictures, and possibly a video.

This is Tetsuya - he got my present, which you can tell is awesome
by how happy  he looks :)

The tea set that Serrena bought was eventually stolen
by Warren

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P.S The title means 'Wish you a Merry Christmas'. The 'We' is implied...

Just a quick rant

I had gotten used to 随便 [suibian, lit 'as you please', here casually] studying and going to class as I wished, sometimes going out for dinner with friends, sometimes not even doing my homework. However, in the last few weeks everything's 差不多[chabuduo, more or less] gone to sh*t. Excuse the chinglish, you will soon discover why.

So we have exams soon. 'What of Christmas?!' I hear you cry, outraged from your fully decorated, Christmas ready homes. 'What is this Christmas of which you speak?' I reply, while you try as hard as you can to ignore the single tear rolling down my cheek. Do you know what I'm doing on Christmas eve and, more than likely, New Year's? Revising. Why take it to such extremes? Maybe because the Chinese have never heard of study leave. Now, I know my mum's gonna bring up some old school 3rd world crap about how back in her day there was none of this 'study leave' business, but I've already 习惯了d [xiguanle, gotten used to, the 'd' on the end is deliberate]. You can't just take it away like that! So, generally stressed about exams, as one tends to be.

So, knowing that we haven't yet finished our courses, you'd think the study-happy Chinese people would leave us to 努力学习[nuli xuexi, study really, really hard] in peace - after all we still have homework on top of revision. But no, ooooohhh no. What do they give us instead. An end of year 外国人[waiguoren, foreigners] production - singing, dancing, acting the lot. Now, in the next case of stressing my life, I wholly blame myself. Not wanting to take part in a mundane international rendition of 'Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer', I volunteered myself to be a bit creative and write a Kungfu Play [stay tuned for a post on that one]. Nothing too complicated, just a bit of 'you killed my father?!' here, a bit of 'Shifu, please teach me well!' there. But it turns out I'm now the director of this play. Now, you know what I'm like when I'm in control - perfection is required. From everyone.

I cast the cast, wrote the story, wrote half the lines, creative and [in places] musically directed and set up and ran rehearsals. Sorry, I'm using the past tense too much. THIS IS STILL GOING ON. This bloody thing is in two days we have a total of 1/2 of the costumes, some of it practised, most people not coming to practise, no props and too many last minute decisions. 'Why don't we add this music here' 'Why don't we fight like this' 'Why don't we make some scenery'. This is why: WE HAVE NO TIME FOR THIS BS. Just read your lines and maybe we'll get away with it being a bit on the jokes side. Please. Just...please. To be honest, thank god I'm in control, if I was just participating I would have killed a few people by now... I refuse to mention names. At least from my position I have the power to inform people they will no longer be participating.

So this has all been going on until now- I had calmed down a bit when I realised that actually the main characters were quite reliable and I'm no longer in charge of every aspect, but then possibly the last thing that I could have wanted to happen JUST happened. Baring in mind this performance is occurring on Friday, and I have a part in this play as narrator as well as having to schedule more rehearsals, my teacher just called me to tell me I would be one of the hosts of the WHOLE production. I'm sorry, what? You want to tell me this................................................................................................now? Right now, is when you're telling me? We're not talking about a week ago, or preferably when I asked my teacher in passing about a month ago and just assumed I hadn't been chosen. You tell me 2 HOURS AGO that I am the 主持人 [zhuchiren, self-exaplanatory, if not look it up]?!?!?!?!?!!?!

Screw you China. Screw you.

So, now you understand why I haven't post anything in a while - because my life, at the moment, is balls. It is so balls, in fact, that I was originally going to call this post just 'Balls', but I thought the meaning would be lost upon those of you not among my immediate acquaintances. And Shinya.
Excuse me while I have no time to go and cry in a corner.

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Concrete Plans

Today I'm just going to outline my holiday plans for the period before I come back to the UK. Be jealous. Be very jealous. After a lot of shifting, sifting, advice and an absolutely disgusting amount of maths, I've kinda, sorta come up with something that looks like a travel itinerary. I use the word 'concrete' extremely loosely, as - since I've just been informed that flights in China are cheaper the closer you get to the date - I haven't booked anything yet. But yeah, consider this a free history [and tourism] lesson!

So first off I'm planning on going to Xi'an.

Here be 西安

Xi'an is, essentially, where a lot of sh*t went down in the past, and  one of the most important places you have to go to if you actually want to be taken seriously when you say 'I've travelled around China'. It was the capital of China for about 1000 years, and is where Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor of China, reigned. If you've forgotten who that is, just watch Hero or The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. So, as the paranoid, I'm gonna say slightly superstitious 1st Emperor of the whole of China from 221BC, Shi Huangdi had his Terracotta Warriors commissioned from the weapons he confiscated from his enemies. Today, they are the number one attraction in what some tour guides and even historians are calling western China. Looks pretty central to me, but I'm just gonna roll with it. I suppose it's pretty west compared to everything else going on in China.

Besides the Terracotta statues, there is also the Ming Dynasty tombs and Drum and Bell towers to explore. Xi'an city wall is also the oldest, most complete CITY wall [yeah, we all know what other wall I'm referring to here] still standing in China, having been built during the Ming Dynasty [1368-1644]. Apparently Xi'an also has a great Muslim quarter, the Muslims having arrived very early on as Xi'an is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, an ancient trading route running from Europe to China through Asia. It's mainly the street food that everyone raves about though.

From Xi'an I will be taking a really long night train [roughly 13 hours] to the modern capital of China Beijing.

Thar' be 北京

We all know what Beijing is and what it's about, but a little reminder is always nice. China's second largest city after Shanghai, Beijing has been the seat of power in China since the Ming Dynasty. Another nice little fact Wikipedia informs me, is that Beijing is really flat and only has 3 hills. I guess that's why so many people cycle there. Obvious top attractions include the Great Wall, the Forbidden City [the largest ancient palatial structure in the world], Tiananmen Square and the more recent Bird's Nest Stadium.

There's plenty else to discover in Beijing of course, as there always is with a major city. The city has many narrow, winding streets called hutongs, something only found in Beijing. Apparently very nice for a wander, but very easy to get lost in as many are not marked on maps. The Southern Gong and Drum lane is one such street and is the most famous and one of the oldest hutongs in Beijing, as well as being very popular with foreigners. The Beijing Ancient Observatory also caught my eye, but that's mainly because I'm a history geek. Also I think it's free to get in. As I'm only in Beijing for 4 days and 3 nights, I found Wikipedia's travel guide very useful for organising my trip, especially in terms of prioritising - 3 Days in Beijing.

After a quick zip back to Dalian and a few days rest, I'm off to my final destination in the frozen North of China, Harbin.

Here lies 哈尔滨...and 北京 again

China's northernmost major city, Harbin has a lot of Russian influence, as well as being famous for being the best place to study in the north-eastern part of China. It's really cold in winter though. If you read one of my previous posts [下雪，下学] you would know that my reason for visiting such a place in the middle of winter is for Harbin's famous Ice Festival. 

I don't really feel the need to show you anymore pictures, so I'll tell you what else there is to do, you know, in case you're thinking of visiting for some reason. There are a suspicious amount of religious buildings, such as the Synagogue [it's actually called the New Jewish Synagogue, but I thought it's Jewishness would be evident from...Synagogue] the St. Sophia [Orthodox] Catherdral and a Confucius temple or 文庙 [wenmiao]. There's also a lot of Russian architecture, which I have absolutely no interest in as well as the Stalin Park, which I'm strangely curious about. Also, I've heard people go swimming in the Songhua river during the deep winter. Now that I gotta see.

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News and Culture: All the Brains in the World

We all know there's a sh*t load of people in China, but did you know they're all really smart? Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but that must be what it seems like to every Chinese parent, high school student and soon-to-be graduate. In a recent lesson, a teacher asked us whether we thought a Chinese student's life was fulfilled. We, of course, replied that we didn't know, we hardly ever see them. The teacher laughed, "Of course not" she said, “Chinese students only go to lessons, to the canteen and back to their rooms to study". And it's true - the university I'm at has no adverts for extra-curricular activities, and as far as sports teams go it seems you're either in them or you're not. There's not even a collegiate Hoodie for crying out loud! 

The point I'm trying to make is that this week's post is going to be about why the Chinese are so obsessed with studying and getting good grades. I feel that this is relevant as I seem to have entered into an educational system where 70% is considered slacking. "Why is China so mean?!" asks Sophie, when I tell her this. Well, this is why.

In 2011 [so I'm gonna say now] there will be [are] 7.3 million University graduates in China and in 2003 alone the number of people in higher education was 17 million. In 2009 in the UK, the number of graduates was almost 335,000, whilst the number of people applying for university in 2011 was 633,811 for 490,000 places. Bai Yong, a teacher and expert on graduate employment [no, I don't know what that is either], points out that it's just as difficult for companies as it is for students concerning employment. It's all fine and dandy for those with no education, but graduates expect something for having worked so hard, and that's where they're running into problems. He stays positive however, it's always nicer to have a smart population [Interview]. The point I picked up on however, is that noone wants to end up in a job where the wages are low, the hours are long and the work tiring as opposed to tiresome. Or at least, their parents don't want them to. Therefore everyone wants to get into university to avoid this problem - but surely it can't be that easy? So why is it that so many people are getting into Higher education? Why, it's all that hard work of course.

According to a China daily article, Chinese children have no time to play, to the extent that they spend more time in the classroom than their parents do at work. The story of one girl, Zhuzhu, is actually quite disheartening - she, like most Chinese children, has extra-curricular activities on the weekend as well as tutoring [some people get home tutoring, others go to day school]. All this because her mother is so aware of the competition for University places and, later, jobs. "She'll have time to play after she enters University" apparently. Mate, not from what I've seen.  Another girl apparently committed suicide because she didn't get into the Highschool she wanted. And you thought the job market in the UK was tough. [Article]

My favourite segment from an article I just read about a 'wolf-dad' who has brought up 4 'stereo-typically successful children' reads: "Xiao’s children’s life before college was an endless round trip between school and home. No extracurricular activities, playdates, or sleepovers were allowed. At home, TV, soft drinks, free access to the Internet, snacks and air conditioning were all banned. Even visiting a classmate’s house involved a complicated application procedure, including getting the signature of the kids’ headmaster." Lol? [Article]

In one of our listening lessons, our teacher showed us this video clip:10 Minutes to learn about China [Watch it 0.o]. It's a great intro to China if you've just been perusing my blog without actually knowing anything about the place I'm living in, but the main part I want to highlight is at 3:28, the bit about education [although at 1:50 something hilarious and kinda sad occurs. Just watch the whole thing, it's quite interesting and mainly accurate.] For those of you who didn't bother, it basically says that Chinese kids can memorise a lot of info, but don't have the ability to analyse this information, or do anything else basically. They don't participate in extra-curricular activities, mainly cause they're too busy preparing for those exams they seem to have at every second of their lives. It's actually something you notice in China too - you don't see any children over the age of about 7 out playing, or even out! You'd be surprised how many listening exercises revolve around people's kids not getting into a good middle school because they only have a 75% grade average.

In sort of other news, but along the same lines, a phrase that keeps popping up in my life more and more often nowadays is 'networking'. Not really sure of what it means, I panic less for myself and more for my already graduated/ soon to graduate friends.

"I need to network!" Exclaimed Eva, graduating from the LSE this year.

"I don't want to enter the real world!" I exclaimed in return. Why can't we just continue studying forever? We agreed.

And if we feel like that, how do Chinese students -  who have done nothing their entire lives besides studying -  feel? Do they have this concept of networking? And how easy - in a country famous for corruption - is it for those without connections to work their way to the top? Well, if you continued to watch the video, at about 7 minutes in  when it starts talking about 面子 [mianzi, lit. face] and 关系 [guanxi, relationships/ connections], you'll see that they do have this concept, in fact possibly to a further degree than we do in the west. It's all about keeping/saving face in China, as our teachers constantly remind us.

So something to think about, when you think that it's all going horribly wrong for you at any particular point in your career, or you're finding things a bit 'hard': Life for Chinese children is a competition. An uphill struggle. I would even go as far to say it's a fight. From the minute they enter school, everyday for the next 12 years is going to be hell... Wow, ok that was a bit much, but yes. Life is hard for Chinese children, and now you know why. Pray for them, because they don't have the time to.


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