Tonight was the FESCO party -FESCO is the government run organisation that every foreign owned company must use to pay its taxes and staff. It was a typical-ish chinese party with the mask-switching guy, the singers and party games, plus of course a tombola. Always fun, as long as the awful music they play is not too loud, especially as one of only about 5 foreigners there out of 300.
Since I came to China i have had to go to ktv a few times, and voluntarily gone a few times too -a south-east and east Asia thing, karaoke is hugely popular and high-tech. It helps being quite cheap and being open 24 hrs including free buffet/drink (not normally alcohol though this is normally what us foreigners need to get us to sing!). Once you realise how bad half the chinese men are and that everyone expects foreigners to be bad, then it's not too bad -and quite good fun (also comfortable to sleep in).
Well there is a link between karaoke and the FESCO party -since at the FESCO party, a woman by the name of Yun En Feng was singing; she is the most famous singer in the province of Shaanxi, celebrating her 70th tomorrow and apparently famous throughout China in the 80s. She sings the kind of music that us foreigners listen to and at first say: hmm, different; then -ah, so it's a cultural thing; then -ok, that's enough with the screeching already.
However at the FESCO party, there was a slight difference, since I (with 2 days notice) was nominated by Plan's HR Manager to sing with this lady in a love song duet (me first verse, her second verse then a final verse together). And as you ALL know singing is probably the one thing i am worst at. Let alone singing in Chinese (i had the words in advance) and in a song which involves screeching (i.e. high pitches -that does not suit my growl!). After making a total fool out of myself on stage in front of 300 people (with 50 Plan colleagues cheering me on, making things worse) I then managed to ..... if you can guess... slip on/break the stairs (obviously designed for flimsy chinese girls not meant for big white men) and fall on my ass (whilst holding the flowers i was given during the love song). However there were no injuries physically and no more pride to lose -and the flowers survived.
Anyway the kids in the audience loved it; my colleagues admire me for my guts (and not for my singing, so hopefully i won't get asked to do anything like that again for their sake) and I can say i sang with one of the most famous singers in china (once-upon-a-time) -and get 4 of her CDs as a gift (yay!)
Otherwise things are ticking along ok; since i moved into a new apartment, committed to a new year resolution of writing at least 4 chinese (very short) essays a week before class, and go back to an AIESEC conference tomorrow as an Alumni (am delivering training and making an interesting announcement and launching something even more interesting -hardly an inactive alumni!)
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
the best alley in beijing
3 weeks after arriving in China I went looking for some bar where there was supposed to be a meeting called BINGOs -Beijing International NGOs. Arriving 30 minutes late after really struggling to find the place, I was told it was not on that night. I eventually went to another BINGO meeting a few months later, and never again after that (i believe it stopped meeting) -but i did go back to the bar again: Pass-by-bar has been legendary for ages it seems... stuck in a very old and decrepid hutong (traditional beijing alley) and actually in 3/4 of a Si He Yuan (4 sided courtyard building, which is a very traditional beijing house from a long time ago -many of which were knocked down but are now being preserved/restored).
The toilets are outside; since no houses in the area have any toilets: they share communcal ones, though they have been done up to be rather posh in the last 3 years. Since that day I used to often return to the bar, since it is actually more like a cafe/bookshop, where one relaxes read books, eats good food and has a cheapish drink in a wonderfully comfortable, relaxing environment. Well since then most of Beijing is now covered in bar/cafe/lounges -most are nice, but Pass by bar alwyas stood out.
Especially compared to the lake 1 km away, that is pretty at night and day, winter and summer..but with tens of similar places, just more 'barsy' and more 'tacky' (though 1 or 2 nice places). Thus Pass-by-bar, hidden in an alley was a great retreat -plus there was a cheap muslim style restaurant nearby too!
8 months ago, a few more tasteful places had cropped up on the street.. now the road is redone, there are loads more tasteful places; a few boutique shops and more people. but the alley (xiang) keeps its style with old buildings tastefully decorated as a wonderful place to go and mix with others eating, reading, sipping and 'surfing'. Plus its possible to pop off and check out the untouched 'hutongs'.
Long live (in its current state) South 'something' Old Alley!
Please make sure future developments keep its wonderful atmosphere, and in the summer the alley is not crowded with taxis, drunk people, loud music, neon etc!
p.s. blood diamond is a film everyone must watch. Although it is a gruesome and moving film that is simply horrible to believe, it is all based on truth. Sad how human beings can use other human beings so mercilessly
The toilets are outside; since no houses in the area have any toilets: they share communcal ones, though they have been done up to be rather posh in the last 3 years. Since that day I used to often return to the bar, since it is actually more like a cafe/bookshop, where one relaxes read books, eats good food and has a cheapish drink in a wonderfully comfortable, relaxing environment. Well since then most of Beijing is now covered in bar/cafe/lounges -most are nice, but Pass by bar alwyas stood out.
Especially compared to the lake 1 km away, that is pretty at night and day, winter and summer..but with tens of similar places, just more 'barsy' and more 'tacky' (though 1 or 2 nice places). Thus Pass-by-bar, hidden in an alley was a great retreat -plus there was a cheap muslim style restaurant nearby too!
8 months ago, a few more tasteful places had cropped up on the street.. now the road is redone, there are loads more tasteful places; a few boutique shops and more people. but the alley (xiang) keeps its style with old buildings tastefully decorated as a wonderful place to go and mix with others eating, reading, sipping and 'surfing'. Plus its possible to pop off and check out the untouched 'hutongs'.
Long live (in its current state) South 'something' Old Alley!
Please make sure future developments keep its wonderful atmosphere, and in the summer the alley is not crowded with taxis, drunk people, loud music, neon etc!
p.s. blood diamond is a film everyone must watch. Although it is a gruesome and moving film that is simply horrible to believe, it is all based on truth. Sad how human beings can use other human beings so mercilessly
Saturday, January 20, 2007
China's ambitions and great movies
When I was in the USA I was discussing with a friend about how empires come and go.. and most often empire's (or anyone in a powerful position) do not want to actually go! Hence, the inevitability of some kind of 'war' between the US and China... cold or otherwise. There is simply no reason to expect the US to want to allow China to be the dominant player in the World; why would they want to?
The question then is will China want to be ambitious -and this I feel is the interesting question. Hopefully in the future, sometime, the Chinese leadership will realise it is in their best interests (in the World's best interests) to settle for 2nd place. But, if the recent missile they fired against a weather satellite in space is much to go by, it seems like they are planning on being a Super Power... and recent history doesn't seem to promise a bright future if there are 2 superpowers, separated by ideologies or otherwise (China is not a communist country, but that is probably not relevant).
On a unrelated front, I just watched 'hard candy' a disturbing movie about a young girl and a pedophile. I really don't want to say any more about the plot -its best to watch it for yourself; if you can stand watching it (especially if you are a guy) and my emotions were really flying around about what is ethical or not for the girl to do in the movie... i definitely recommend it -and then you will understand what i mean better. In the end I suppose it depends on whether you think people can change, and whether they deserve a chance to change or not (and what harm they might do if you give them that chance).
It is a great movie, because it is interesting; it raises interesting questions and perspectives and it is gripping to watch.. like all my favourite movies :)
The question then is will China want to be ambitious -and this I feel is the interesting question. Hopefully in the future, sometime, the Chinese leadership will realise it is in their best interests (in the World's best interests) to settle for 2nd place. But, if the recent missile they fired against a weather satellite in space is much to go by, it seems like they are planning on being a Super Power... and recent history doesn't seem to promise a bright future if there are 2 superpowers, separated by ideologies or otherwise (China is not a communist country, but that is probably not relevant).
On a unrelated front, I just watched 'hard candy' a disturbing movie about a young girl and a pedophile. I really don't want to say any more about the plot -its best to watch it for yourself; if you can stand watching it (especially if you are a guy) and my emotions were really flying around about what is ethical or not for the girl to do in the movie... i definitely recommend it -and then you will understand what i mean better. In the end I suppose it depends on whether you think people can change, and whether they deserve a chance to change or not (and what harm they might do if you give them that chance).
It is a great movie, because it is interesting; it raises interesting questions and perspectives and it is gripping to watch.. like all my favourite movies :)
Sunday, January 14, 2007
it's cold in north China!
The recent holiday down South mostly involved either grotty white-tiled towns where you really don't want to stay very long or really cool old villages with all the buildings made out of wood, or stone. Currently I am North of Shaanxi.. which means in the middle from left-right and at the top, from top-bottom. So, very close to Mongolia -which is where Plan works. The villages here are very poor since they are so far from the sea (no trade), have very little water and desertification makes it hard to grow many crops.
What this area does have is plenty of mud, sand and the like -including coal. Thus there are some wealthy people (who own the coal mines, and drive in Audis), but not very many! There are, though, lots and lots of bricks.. If only bricks were something that could be exported! It means that the buildings look quite nice, though all the same colour! Normally the landscape might be quite dull, except in the winter when it's minus 5 in the daytime, and minus 20 at night... hence though it only snows once all winter, the snow stays for months (and it stays white, unlike polluted Beijing snow that turns black quickly!).
So everything is quite pretty. Toursit-wise, there is some Great Wall to see (though mostly it is just lying in ruins, or covered in mud -several feet of mud, from looking at some bits that are being 'restored'/dug-out). The capital of this county (Yulin, population of a few million i suppose) is a strange place. The old town is inside some old city walls (mostly collapsed, but parts restored); 2 streets inside the old town have changed: 1 is full of neon and shops; the other is full of pagodas every 400 metres and nicely styled chinese buildings (also shops). Everything else is run-down brick places. Then there is the newer parts outside the city wall with fancy new streetlights, paved communal areas, hotels (no idea who uses them though) and a couple of tall office buildings. Plus a 1,000 year old pagoda.
What is cool about the pagoda is that it has 4 windows on each level. Look out of 3 of them and you see brown, brick buildings, ruined city wall and some motorbikes/horse-cart traders. Look out of the 4th and you see the neon, the hotels, the restored city wall, the Audis and buses racing by. You get the idea -quite a contrast. Everything in China is a contrast! I have endless photos of going to places where fancy apartment buildings are being built on the right. In the middle is the remains of something -and on the left is the Chinese equivalent of a slum.
Except in China, there are no really bad slums compared to other countries (thanks to the government limiting migration to some extent; since you can only claim 'benefits' in the city you are registered with -which leads to massive problems for the 200million migrant workers who cannot get healthcare, send their children to normal schools etc for free). Just run down houses, litter everywhere (the resident's fault of course) and awful sanitation conditions (shared toilet blocks).
Tomorrow i'm being shown around some of the villages we are working in (we don't work in the towns) including the projects we are doing, and I will spend the night in a yao dong, which is cave house -where people here live. Should be interesting (I have seen one before, but not stayed in one).
The good news is that, despite staying in a hotel alone, I did NOT get a call on the room phone from a prostitute (yet)... and the guy next to me in the internet cafe stopped smoking. Having said that no-one in the internet cafe is actually on the internet. Every person (guarenteed -and there are more than 400 people in this one) is playing games (and maybe using QQ -like MSN Messenger). They should change the name of these places!
There is an ongoing debate about how much of a threat China is to the World (economically). Some argue a big threat: endless cheap labour, great infrastructure, endless supplies of cheap coal, huge investment and technology transfer from foreign companies etc.. Others say the threat is over-rated: too many internal social issues, environmental issues, endemic corruption (related to the autocratic political system), lack of innovation, dominance of inefficient state owned companies etc.
I say -look at the young people. If all their spare time is spent on computer games.. there is your answer....
What this area does have is plenty of mud, sand and the like -including coal. Thus there are some wealthy people (who own the coal mines, and drive in Audis), but not very many! There are, though, lots and lots of bricks.. If only bricks were something that could be exported! It means that the buildings look quite nice, though all the same colour! Normally the landscape might be quite dull, except in the winter when it's minus 5 in the daytime, and minus 20 at night... hence though it only snows once all winter, the snow stays for months (and it stays white, unlike polluted Beijing snow that turns black quickly!).
So everything is quite pretty. Toursit-wise, there is some Great Wall to see (though mostly it is just lying in ruins, or covered in mud -several feet of mud, from looking at some bits that are being 'restored'/dug-out). The capital of this county (Yulin, population of a few million i suppose) is a strange place. The old town is inside some old city walls (mostly collapsed, but parts restored); 2 streets inside the old town have changed: 1 is full of neon and shops; the other is full of pagodas every 400 metres and nicely styled chinese buildings (also shops). Everything else is run-down brick places. Then there is the newer parts outside the city wall with fancy new streetlights, paved communal areas, hotels (no idea who uses them though) and a couple of tall office buildings. Plus a 1,000 year old pagoda.
What is cool about the pagoda is that it has 4 windows on each level. Look out of 3 of them and you see brown, brick buildings, ruined city wall and some motorbikes/horse-cart traders. Look out of the 4th and you see the neon, the hotels, the restored city wall, the Audis and buses racing by. You get the idea -quite a contrast. Everything in China is a contrast! I have endless photos of going to places where fancy apartment buildings are being built on the right. In the middle is the remains of something -and on the left is the Chinese equivalent of a slum.
Except in China, there are no really bad slums compared to other countries (thanks to the government limiting migration to some extent; since you can only claim 'benefits' in the city you are registered with -which leads to massive problems for the 200million migrant workers who cannot get healthcare, send their children to normal schools etc for free). Just run down houses, litter everywhere (the resident's fault of course) and awful sanitation conditions (shared toilet blocks).
Tomorrow i'm being shown around some of the villages we are working in (we don't work in the towns) including the projects we are doing, and I will spend the night in a yao dong, which is cave house -where people here live. Should be interesting (I have seen one before, but not stayed in one).
The good news is that, despite staying in a hotel alone, I did NOT get a call on the room phone from a prostitute (yet)... and the guy next to me in the internet cafe stopped smoking. Having said that no-one in the internet cafe is actually on the internet. Every person (guarenteed -and there are more than 400 people in this one) is playing games (and maybe using QQ -like MSN Messenger). They should change the name of these places!
There is an ongoing debate about how much of a threat China is to the World (economically). Some argue a big threat: endless cheap labour, great infrastructure, endless supplies of cheap coal, huge investment and technology transfer from foreign companies etc.. Others say the threat is over-rated: too many internal social issues, environmental issues, endemic corruption (related to the autocratic political system), lack of innovation, dominance of inefficient state owned companies etc.
I say -look at the young people. If all their spare time is spent on computer games.. there is your answer....
Thursday, January 11, 2007
dog and snow
After a visit to the largest waterfall in China (and the much better scenic site down the road that no-one goes through) and a trek through fields (can't beat the look on villager's faces when a white boy just wanders down from the top of a mountain -seemingly from nowhere); I left a town with more dog restaurants than cars (pretty dogs smiling all over the windows; no tourists in sight) met with my dad in the capital of one of China's poorest provinces.
After a meal outside on the street the weather just got colder and colder, but the villages got prettier and prettier (as did the comfort and length of the bus and train journeys). My dad managed the 2 hour bus journeys sitting on 6 inch tall wooden stalls fine, although did not try any of the local rice-spirit, for some reason!
It was pleasant to stay in local villagers' houses, go for treks, boat rides, hike through snow storms and ride bikes on the ice. But it was even better trying out my new camera and taking pictures of the beautiful river-side towns and talking to the chinese students we came across at new year's eve and in the awful 'hotel' on top of the mountain.
There was nothing too special about the trip, but it was nice and off-the beaten track.. good exercise (though its easy to order and eat way too much when your dad is paying!) and the occasional nice hotel. I got lots of practise talking Chinese -which has now got much better and i can even talk about micro-finance, achieving balanced development and government policies :)
There are a few things that are typical of China: losing a bank card and waiting for 20 minutes at the window as the bank guy signed, stamped, printed, stamped, chopped and printed documents; whilst also writing everything into a computer; trying to find anywhere in southern china that is warm (no where south of china has heating, and in the villages people sit round a bucket with heated coal in it) and settling for KFC; wondering around Beijing ('s only) international airport and not being able to buy any English language newspaper (even the government's one; though there are a few novels available upstairs in the empty shop) .
After a meal outside on the street the weather just got colder and colder, but the villages got prettier and prettier (as did the comfort and length of the bus and train journeys). My dad managed the 2 hour bus journeys sitting on 6 inch tall wooden stalls fine, although did not try any of the local rice-spirit, for some reason!
It was pleasant to stay in local villagers' houses, go for treks, boat rides, hike through snow storms and ride bikes on the ice. But it was even better trying out my new camera and taking pictures of the beautiful river-side towns and talking to the chinese students we came across at new year's eve and in the awful 'hotel' on top of the mountain.
There was nothing too special about the trip, but it was nice and off-the beaten track.. good exercise (though its easy to order and eat way too much when your dad is paying!) and the occasional nice hotel. I got lots of practise talking Chinese -which has now got much better and i can even talk about micro-finance, achieving balanced development and government policies :)
There are a few things that are typical of China: losing a bank card and waiting for 20 minutes at the window as the bank guy signed, stamped, printed, stamped, chopped and printed documents; whilst also writing everything into a computer; trying to find anywhere in southern china that is warm (no where south of china has heating, and in the villages people sit round a bucket with heated coal in it) and settling for KFC; wondering around Beijing ('s only) international airport and not being able to buy any English language newspaper (even the government's one; though there are a few novels available upstairs in the empty shop) .
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