Random Musings

Beijing and aboard the Yangzi Explorer

Email aboard the ship comes and goes depending on the height of the mountains on
either side of the river and the occasional military zone so I've just been jotting down
some random things while waiting for a signal.

The Shangri La Traders Hotel
Our hotel is in the China World Trade Center which is a very modern complex of hotels,
office buildings and retail with an enormous mall, complete with ice rink, below ground
level. The hotel is quite elegant as is the staff. They all seem to be in their mid-20s,
of above average height and look very chic in their Armani suits. Our room was quite
lovely with everything you could imagine or want, even office supplies. Somewhere in
China there is an unlimited source of marble because they use it EVERYwhere: floors,
walls, counters in hotels, shops, airports, even in the mini-marts. The TV receives a lot
of Chinese stations of course that range from news and sports to a lot of soap operas
with a lot of overacting. But we also could watch CNN and ESPN international, BBC TV
and HBO! We had breakfast each morning in the hotel....a series of buffets w/ western,
asian, european breakfast foods. You could have everything from waffles and bacon
and omelets to Chinese congee with pork and onions, rice and a lot of vegetables. My
personal favorite was watermelon juice w/ a splash of orange juice. I'm a cheap date.

Chinglish
There are 6,000 characters in the Chinese language. A university-educated person can
manage to learn and use 1,000. Kevin told us that as a child (he's around 30) they were
taught 20 or 30 characters each day in school and then were expected to write each
100 times as homework.

Now the populace is taught Simplified Chinese or Pin Ying System. Instead of
characters, the words are spelled out in ABCs so there is a uniform pronunciation.
This also solves the mystery of a Chinese keyboard. You type the word in using the
alphabet, hit the button and a Chinese character appears. Instead of right to left or up
to down, the characters are now written left to right. Kevin says this has created a bit of
a communication problem between older generations who know characters, not letters
and the young who don't. As he says, changing thousands of years of a civilization
takes a while.

One Child
Since 1980 the policy is one child per couple. Country people are allowed two. (An
aside: in China you are classified as either city person or country person with different
benefits and privileges for each.) There are some other exceptions, but the policy is firm with serious monetary fines for that second child. If a woman has a second baby in secret the child becomes an "invisible child" with no I.D. and thus no rights for education, health care, etc. If you have twins, you get to keep them both.

Retirement
Women at 55; men at 60. Seniors rarely travel abroad. They stay where they are and
participate in endless senior activities. You see them everywhere in the parks in groups
playing cards, Chinese chess, knitting or dancing. No tai chi. They prefer to do a type of
line dancing done to dance club mix-type recordings. Tai chi is just for foreigners now.

Water
The constant reminder everywhere is Don't Drink the Water in China. It's okay to brush
your teeth or bathe, but cooking, drinking, etc is always with bottled water. Water bottled
in country is cheap, but if you just must have Evian or Fiji or any other imported brand,
you will pay through the nose. I drank a little bottle of Evian from the mini bar at the
Beijing hotel (I was thirsty and it was chilled) and paid 40 Yuan or about six bucks for
that 6 ounces.

Traffic
Think of the worst traffic you have ever been in, now double it. That comes close to
traffic everywhere in and around Beijing. And turn signals? Hah! For wimps. Lane lines?
Merely a suggestion. It might be a three lane highway, but it's quite common to see
the cars going all NASCAR and driving four abreast. Kevin told us he owns a Hyundai.
When he bought it a couple of years ago, he drove to work every day. Now he takes the
BMW: Bus, Metro, Walk.

Street Vendors
The street vendors are relentless. If you say, "no thanks," they consider that interest on
your part and redouble their efforts. The trick is to make no eye contact and just keep
walking. You can buy toys, "silk" scarves, kites, rain gear and my personal favorite:
Lolex, as in the wristwatch. Guaranteed to last maybe ten days.

Language
There are 8,000 different dialects in China but the National Language is Mandarin as
spoken in Beijing. The Yangzi is the Mason Dixon accent line of China; above the river
is northern, below is southern. All Chinese use the same characters, but if they are
speaking different dialects, they can't understand each other. Just imagine someone
from Boston speaking to someone from Alabama: same words but no communication.

Politics
The Chinese will "elect" a new party chairman in a couple of weeks. They already know the winner.

Education
The children now begin to learn English in the primary grades. More than one of
the twenty-something Chinese we've encountered has said that English is the world
language, one the must know. Interesting that so many American students are learning
Mandarin for the same reason!

We happened to be in Beijing during the annual two-day exams that graduating high
school students take for college admission. 9 million students competing for 7 million
places. The state universities are the most prestigious. It is assumed that if you go to a
private college or, even worse, abroad for college, you didn't qualify for the state U and
your parents had to buy you an education. This also makes it much more difficult to find
a job after college.

If you join the army for three years, you are guaranteed a job. Of course, it might not be
a job you want.

After middle school students either go on to high school or to a vocational school. If you
attend a vocational school you can't change to a high school program. When you finish
high school, you sit for the two day exam to determine if you qualify for college. The test
is given once a year. You make take it three times. Preparation for the exam involves
going to class six days a week from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm. Makes those SAT prep classes
look simple. Ditto the actual SAT test.

Arranged Marriages
Mark, our guide for the Three Gorges Dam told us his marriage was arranged when
he was seven and his bride to be was five. When he was in college he fell in love with
another girl and they eventually married. "I was very happy. My mother was not." This
all changed when they had a son. "Now I'm very happy as is my mother." And the
arranged bride left in the dust? She, too, fell in love w/ another and married him. All's
well that ends well.

Mystery Meat?
In one week we have not laid eyes on a single school-age child or cat and only two or
three dogs. The children have long school days, but the lack of pets? I'm just sayin'.

Plumbing
Chinese-style facilities: a trough on the floor w/ painted footprints on either side. Don't
know; don't want to know.