Chinese Curiosities: Question 1, Why Kaifeng?

In August of 2007 I moved from Chicago, IL to the Chinese city of Kaifeng. I relocated there with the intention of imersing myself in the culture and to study the Chinese language.

I'll admit that this is not the most obvious choice of places to decamp to from America. I'm pretty sure that my choice probably even baffled most of my Chinese friends (very sure in fact). And yet I chose it all the same. But why?

First a little background on Kaifeng. Kaifeng is a smallish Chinese city of around a half million people. (I always introduce it this way in some feeble attempt to try to shift people's understanding of both the scale and depth of China.) It is located on the North China Plain just a few miles south of the Yellow River. It was once a great Imperial Capital about a thousand years ago, probably the most important city in the world at the time. Then came the barbarians (first the Jurchen followed up quickly by the Mongols) and then a disasterous flood of by the Yellow river (one of many) which completely inundated the ancient city and permanently buried it under meters of sediment. (That ancient city is still beneath today's Kaifeng streets.)

Chinese Menu Guide: The tastiest lesson

In my time in China truely my favorite language lesson took place after school let out in the morning and I headed out with my friends to one of the many restaurants surrounding the campus. Our campus had three gates: East, South, and West. And each gate let out on to a streetscape full of vendors and hole-in-the-wall restaurants. In our world we organized each collection of gustatory choices around these three groupings. South Gate was the first to be explored as it was nearest to our dorms and classrooms and also because the South Gate was the main entrance of the old campus of HeDa.

View down the "restaurant alley" out of the West Gate

Chinese Geography: Lesson 2; China Proper

Well I had so much fun making that map and writing the last post that I think I'll continue. I think maybe I'll just start zeroing in on Kaifeng, and then see where we go from there.

So the in the last post we looked at what China isn't. So now we're going to explore what remains, which would be China proper. Cue the new map!

Click on it to make it big as well.

Well as you can see I've further narrowed down the map of China to "China Proper". I've also further divided it into various regions. A lot of this is my own interpretation as there is no standardized way of further subdividing the place.

Chinese Geography: Lesson 1; What is China?

In order to understand the geography of China one must first understand what is China and where is it. When people ask me, "Where in China were you?" "Where is Kaifeng?". I pause because this is not an easy question to answer. (Perhaps that's just what I get for studying up on it ;-)

Often I will say it is in North China or in Central China. But I don't know if it is clear what exactly that means. Probably not. So I am going to delve into one of my favorite topics: Geography. Hopefully it will be enjoyable.

What is China? A difficult question really, in my opinion. China is a country, right? Yes, but... Its more than that. I like to describe China as a sub-continent, at least geographically. Really it is just too big to be understood in the same terms as a country like say France or even the U.S. But why?

First, it is huge. Both in terms of size and population. Everybody knows that China has lots of people (and does it ever!) 1.3 billion. All though that is really an estimate. The place is too vast and varied for everybody to be counted exactly. I have heard that the margin of error in the common estimate of 1.3 billion is 300 million. That's the same as the population of the U.S.!
So it is possible that there is another United States inside China. Or, for that matter less another United States. But more on population another time.
In terms of size China is geographically about the same size as the U.S., maybe a little bit bigger, depending on whose calculations you look at.

China Links

Well lets get these fascinating Chinese links (see above, hehe) out there:

Evan Osnos writes a fabulous article in the New Yorker on Chinese tour groups out exploring. He joins Chinese tour group to Europe, and is a much braver man than I.

Bob Dylan goes to Beijing and plays some music. Some people fret others are circumspect.

A revolutionary (for China) Chinese University in Shenzhen China opens. It is revolutionary because it does not accept the Gaokao or entrance exam, and it is backed in its efforts to foster independent thought and research by the local government of Shenzhen. It will not be accredited by the National Education Ministry, but it is trying to carve a new path for Chinese education. I remember reading an interview with Mr. Zhu in Science which I discussed with my Chinese grad student class back in Kaifeng many years ago. They were less excited. Perhaps because they had already invested a lot of time in their traditional Chinese educations of suspect value. hmm

Chinese Ministry of Culture bans time travel!...
...on TV.
Ok less amusing but still pretty weird. The censors in China don't just go after things overtly political or that which might cause social upheaval. They also are pretty puritanical on pornography and I guess time travel too. Perhaps they really are worried about differing historical narratives being put out there.

Superstition again mixes with science and propaganda in contemporary China.

China's critique on Human Rights abuses in the U.S.

Yes you read that title correctly; China chiding the United States on its record of human rights abuses.

For someone who has lived in China for the last couple of years and conversed with Chinese college students (in my opinion, some of the Most righteous, nationalistic, and critical (and knowledgeable) of the U.S.A. in China) I am familiar with these critiques. For those of you who are not, I can offer you the whole text (in English) or a synopsis of the document by Heather Horn of the Atlantic.

Little rabbit be good

This video circulated on the Chinese internet recently before its predictable pulling. Created by a young group of videographers in China. It depicts Kuang-kuang, a character of theirs, falling asleep and dreaming/ fantasizing of a past and future. (WARNING: this is not a children's cartoon, there is lots of blood, mayhem, and dying cartoon bunnies.) Make sure the in-video comments are on to view the English translations.

The interesting points of this video are a few. First that it was made and posted at all, and that it was able to survive for even a short time without being taken down on a Chinese video sharing site. (It has been long since pulled, but was up long enough that even I, who is pretty slow to notice trends, was able to view it on Youku.)

Second it manages to touch upon a number of sensitive, current trends and topics going around the Chinese internet. The first and most obvious, is the tainted milk scandal, which I discussed earlier today. In the video a truck bearing the name of a "Sanhu" (Three Tigers) distributes poisoned milk. "Sanhu" sounds an awful lot like "Sanlu", and no Chinese person could miss the reference.

Poisoned Milk, and poisoned trust

This is doubly sad, first because there are again reports of intentionally poisoned milk being sold in China, and second because it comes not three years after the first tainted milk scandal.

Two and a half years ago, in September following the Beijing Olympics, it was revealed that SanLu (Three Deers) corporation had been knowingly selling milk tainted with melamine. Melamine is a poisonous chemical which when ingested can cause kidney damage and death. The milk which had been most affected was powdered infant formula.

Amazing video of Chinese Bank Robber

Maybe we will have something a little lighter today. I saw this a while back but it is still great to watch.

This guy is a not a little bit persistent.

And a slew of more links that have been backing up and on my feelings on the matter at hand

Am I really posting everything I can on Ai Weiwei's disappearance, yes it seems like it. Here is Ai Weiwei and Qingming. Here are a few articles trying to take in the disappearances from a wider perspective. Both are very good. Really there is not much to say on the issue. Anyone who has seen or read enough can perceive that the powers that be in China are afraid. There are so many issues which keep them up at night.

Often I was asked pointed questions about what I thought about the CCP by young Chinese people while I was living there.

I suspected that they were trying to bait me, to get me into an argument, in which they could stand up and defend China's honor against the ignorant American who dares come to China to criticize it. I always made it my policy (for good or for ill) to sidestep the question, to deflect it, to answer truthfully and yet to avoid falling into any rhetorical or logical traps.

"Please, anyone who knows the whereabouts of the above, contact the family"

Ai Weiwei, male, 53 years old. On April 3, 2011 around 8:30, at Beijing Capital International Airport, before boarding a flight to Hong Kong, he was taken away by three men. More than fifty hours later, present whereabouts remains unknown.
Please, anyone who knows the whereabouts of the above, contact the family

This was a missing person sign written and signed by Weiwei's family (I copied the photo and translation from Evan Osnos' great New Yorker blog Letter from China.)

Economic Crimes

Rumors have been circulating around the inter-tubes that Ai Weiwei is/will be charged for economic crimes. Not sure what this means; is this like going after Al Capone for tax evasion?

Sadly in many ways it doesn't really matter. The rule of law does not exist in China in the same way that it does in America or many other countries. You can't look to the letter of the law to explain why things like this happen. For issues like this, it is due to political reasons. By this I do not mean ideological politics, but small ball politics. The rhetoric of ideological politics is everywhere in China from banners pronouncing the "three shoulda's" and the "five woulda's" (Ok I'm being a little sarcastic.) or mandatory political education classes in universities. Even still people don't taken them seriously, every student I spoke with at HeDa dismissed these political education classes as worthless and boring, and even told me that the teachers themselves showed no interest in the subject matter they were supposed to be teaching.

Why Ai Weiwei?

It looks like Ai Weiwei is going to be the driving force at ShanzhaiZhongguo this week.

Other than scrounging for details on Ai Weiwei, I've been reading a lot about the budget, or lack there of, in the American Congress; some on Google in China (and its many missteps there); watching Nicolae Ceausesu's last speech in Romania in 1989 before his execution; and contemplating Bob Dylan's recent performance in Beijing (care to comment or compare yourself to Mr. Ai Bob?).

Here the Financial Times discusses Princelings (sons and daughters of former Party bigwigs) and their connections to Ai Weiwei and the general "Jasmine Revolution" crackdown.

Ai Weiwei round-up on the inter-tubes

First it must really be noted that Ai Weiwei is not the only person by any means who has been detained recently. Check this list compiled at Chinageeks.

Champion of classical Liberalism, the Economist ties Ai Weiwei's detention to the lack of a Rule of Law in China. Also, Weiwei sat down for tea with them last year to vent his spleen on the CCP in this video interview.

The Guardian covers Ai Weiwei's detention. And Foreign Policy addresses the arrests in general.

Sometimes it all makes one say stuff like this.

Ai Weiwei Detained (again)

Artist, critic, and Chinese Communist Party provocateur Ai Weiwei was detained by security personel on his way out of Beijing a few days ago. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Ai, he is a remarkable figure. A conceptual artist in China today who splits his time between making brilliant pieces of art and poking, prodding, and critizing the Chinese authorities. And really doing both at the same time more and more often.

Most resourceful driver in China

Patience will reward you (watch all the way to the end...)

How Chinese View Foreign Elections... and other stories

This article by Yang Hengjun (杨恒均) in China Media Project reminds me of talking to Chinese friends of mine about elections back in early 2008. I had not a few dinners with my friend, Jane, during which I was quizzed about the on-going Presidential election. As you'll remember the Democratic Primary went on and on, and each time we met for a meal I went further into my explanation of the American National election system. First explaining what are primaries, then to having to explain the electoral college (nothing makes you feel like this is a stupid system than having to explain it to people from another country), and ultimately to super-delegates. I told her that, even the most educated people in America had never heard of such things until they came up in the spring of 2008. I was only a little surprised by her inquisitiveness, Jane is one of the most intelligent and hardworking people I've met in my life. But it is a little curious to be grilled on the inner workings of our "American experiment" especially by someone who lives in a country which generally eschews all notions of messy democracy.

Tiny "Egghouse" in Beijing

Compelled by a sense of creativity and desperation, at the high cost of housing in Beijing and other major Chinese cities, Dai Haifei (戴海飞) has built himself an egg shaped house in the courtyard of an apartment building. 

Now this is some big news

China "backs Korean unification"

It was always assumed that the Chinese would be very unhappy at the prospects of united Korean peninsula. (This would of course be a Korea united under the government of the South). The main reason for China to oppose such an outcome was that it would place US troops (the United States has some 30,000 soldiers stationed in South Korea) across the Yalu river from China. Al Jazeera reports on findings from Wikileaks:

The latest documents released by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks on Tuesday detail conversations between US officials and Chinese diplomats, as well as a senior South Korean official's discussion with his Chinese counterparts.

Cheng Guoping, the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, was reported to have told Richard Hoagland, the US ambassador, that "China hopes for peaceful reunification in the long-term, but he expects the two countries to remain separate in the short-term".